Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life

Hailed by Zadie Smith and Ta-Nehisi Coates, this new edition of the celebrated contemporary work on race and racism “ought to be positioned at the center of any discussion of race in American life” (Bookforum).

Most people assume racism grows from a perception of human difference: the fact of race gives rise to the practice of racism. Sociologist Karen E. Fields and historian Barbara J. Fields argue otherwise: the practice of racism produces the illusion of race, through what they call “race...