The New American Dilemma: Liberal Democracy and School Desegregation

Conventional wisdom and democratic theory hold that the best way to achieve controversial policy changes is in small, cautious steps and with participation of the various groups involved. Yet America’s thirty years of experience with school desegregation shows this belief to be false. In this provocative new book, Jennifer Hochschild argues that when incremental and participatory methods are used to desegregate schools, both blacks and whites end up worse off—with little freedom and equalit...