"When Affirmative Action was White" Book Review by Top Papers

The paper reviews Ira Katznelson's book, "When Affirmative Action was White", and discusses the strengths of the text as well as its weaknesses. To start with, the paper looks at the main idea of the book, some key supporting ideas or themes, the reason(s) why Katznelson was prompted to write the text (and in the manner he did), the perspective he assumes with regards to the historical record, and whether or not his text is ultimately successful as a pedagogical text. The paper concludes that Katznelson raises some excellent points, but his biases shine through in ways that can easily give a reader pause.