An eminent authority presents a new perspective on affirmative action in a provocative book that stirred fresh debate about this vitally important issue when it was published in 2005.

In this important book, an eminent authority presents a new perspective on affirmative action, investigating its actual consequences in the United States and in other countries where it has been in effect. Evaluating his empirical data, Thomas Sowell concludes that race preference programs worldwide have not met expectations and have often produced the opposite of what was originally intended.