American Apartheid: Segregation

In “American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass,” segregation of African Americans in society is the main focus. The authors, Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton, mentioned that society views that the blacks’ residential segregation is due to the lack of their involvement in social and economic forces. They go on to say that no ethnic group was racially isolated like the blacks have been for over the past fifty years. They also highlights that racial segregation is a system that diminishes blacks ability to be involved socially and economically. Because of this system, blacks where instilled that is normal to be on welfare and to undergo educational failures. The authors clarifies that racial segregation clarifies that black people must live in ghettos with no help due to discrimination by the government and other institutions. In writing this book, the authors were successful. Massey and Denton made it clear that racial segregation was reason why blacks were …show more content…
This book is approached in a unique fashion. This is because the authors let it be known that some laws were ineffective in helping blacks. Not all books do this. Some people tries to defend the law even when it’s wrong, so I liked how the authors mentioned bill and laws that didn’t help. Massey and Denton provided the readers with an index and notes of writings from other authors that were useful in writing this book. So, this book was developed and referenced well.
The book is full of facts and opinions on how the racial segregation of blacks leads to underclass communities such as ghettos. I would recommend this book to students who are entering the field of Sociology and History because they are the ones who would most likely be influenced as a result from reading this book. “American Apartheid” is useful when studying the history of urban areas. I would say that the book was good, but I would recommend that the authors use a better choice of