Racist America

"This thoroughly updated edition of Racist America is an unflinching indictment of the US, arguing that racism is not an aberration but a deliberate, enduring system that undergirds the nation’s social, economic, and political structures. Moving beyond discussions of individual prejudice, the text cements the theory of systemic racism, tracing its roots from slavery through Jim Crow to the present. This powerful, data-driven analysis compels readers to understand why incremental change has failed, positioning reparations as a logical, necessary mechanism for justice. This edition expands focus on the White Racial Frame—the collective, deeply entrenched mindset that upholds racial inequality—a key conceptual tool developed by Feagin. Feagin and Ducey masterfully demonstrate how this frame operates across institutional sectors, allowing racial oppression to be reproduced seamlessly in areas like housing, healthcare, education, and finance, often under the guise of 'colorblindness.' The analyses successfully link the WRF to recent phenomena, such as the rise of ethnonationalism since the first Trump administration. This book provides the necessary historical context and sociological vocabulary to understand why racial inequality is so stubborn and pervasive. The final chapter offers a clear blueprint for a future centered on political action and, ultimately, reparations."

L.T. Grover in Choice Connect, April 2026 Vol. 63 No. 8

"Racist America is simply the most comprehensive, concise, and useful textbook on systemic racism in the United States. For more than a decade now, I have used previous editions in my racism courses with great success."
Noel Cazenave, Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut

"Racist America provides multi-disciplinary analysis of "systemic racism" for my classes (Race and Racism). I wholeheartedly endorse this new edition."
James V. Fenelon, Professor of Sociology and Director of Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies, California State University, San Bernardino

"Racist America forces readers to take a hard look at the world we live in. Feagin and Ducey's book is a modern day Rosetta Stone for understanding why and how racial inequality is maintained and reproduced."
Charles A. Gallagher, Professor and Chair, Sociology and Criminal Justice, La Salle University

"Racist America is an excellent text that provides thorough historical and sociological coverage of systemic racism and power in the United States. This new edition will be ideal for students, instructors, and readers who want to understand the historical roots of the dynamics still very much alive in today’s society."
Stephen C. Poulson, Professor of Sociology, James Madison University

"This new edition of Racist America is a comprehensive analysis of the enduring racism embedded in the development of the United States. The text is unique in that it takes the theory of systemic racism and the white racial frame as guides to explaining the persistence of racial inequality."
Rhonda F. Levine, Professor of Sociology, Colgate University