White by Law 10th Anniversary Edition: The Legal Construction of Race (Critical America (New York University Paperback))
Praise for the 10th Anniversary Edition“White by Lawremains one of the most significant and generative entries in the crowded field of ‘whiteness studies.’ Ian Haney López has crafted a brilliant study, not merely of how ‘race’ figures in the juridical logic of U.S. citizenship, but of the ways in which law fully participates in the wholesale manufacture of those naturalized groupings we know as 'races.' A terribly important work.”-Matthew Frye Jacobson,author ofRoots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America“Ten years after its initial publication,White by Lawremains the definitive treatment of the naturalization cases, and provides a compelling account of the role of law in constructing race. A wonderful combination of thematic development and historical excavation, one leaves this revised edition with a thoroughgoing understanding of the ways in which citizenship functioned not only to include and exclude but as a process through which people quite literally became white by law.”-Devon W. Carbado,Professor of Law and Associate Dean, UCLA School of Law“White by Lawremains the definitive work on how American law constructed a ‘white’ race at the turn of the twentieth century. Haney López has added a chapter to the new edition, a sobering analysis of how, in our own time, 'colorblind' law and policy threaten to perpetuate, not eliminate, racial inequality. A must-read”-Mae M. Ngai,author ofImpossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America“Here is one work that proved challenging to review with a fresh eye, having been widely reviewed and discussed since its original publication more than 10 years ago….While one's first question upon picking up such a book could easily be ‘why bother?’ with the re-release of an older work, in this case, the strategy works….[T]he addition of the author's personal narrative in the Preface and his intriguing view into the future with the new conclusion will add to the book's pedagogical value. In sum, Haney Lopez has provided a piece of scholarship worthy of bringing out a curtain call on its 10th anniversary.”-Law and Politics ReviewPraise for the 1st edition:“Haney López performs a major service for anyone truly interested in understanding contemporary debates over racial and ethnic politics. . . . A sobering and crucial lesson for a society committed to equality and fairness.”-Martha Minow,Harvard Law School