A Dreadful Deceit

A selection from a review of the A Dreadful Deceit--The Myth of Race From the Colonial Era to Obama's America is worth repeating:
"To explain how racial conflict has masked power struggles for control over others' labor, Jones surveys compelled work in its many varieties, from slave labor under the lash on tobacco plantations in Maryland to mandatory overtime in unsafe and sweltering auto plants in Detroit.  Racial ideologies, she argues are like mob violence, disenfranchisement and discriminatory laws--merely tactics used to secure material advantages in social contexts perceived as zero-sum"
         review by Tommie Shelby in the New York Times Book Review, Feb. 16, 2014