Faded Dreams paints a new picture of why racial inequality changes in America - one that challenges existing explanations by putting politics at center stage. The author argues that blacks began to catch up economically with whites mainly when government policy makers, under political pressure by blacks and backed by an important segment of the white community, pushed for greater economic equality. Similarly, the greatest obstacles to black gains in other periods have been government policies.

Policy makers usually assumed away the race problem or used it against blacks and whites for political purposes, legitimating existing inequality and often making it worse. Through a systematic analysis of fifty years of data on income, education, and the kinds of jobs blacks and whites hold, Faded Dreams makes a powerful case that it takes active government to undo wage and job discrimination and to improve the education and living conditions of disadvantaged black youth.