Today's conflicts over racial equality have inspired a debate reminiscent of the turbulent 1960s. Is affirmative action necessary to maintain equal labor practices, school desegregation plans, and broad social standards of racial equality? Does affirmative action or the laws to roll it back run counter to the idea of equality itself? Should race play any role in college admissions, corporate hiring, or the awarding of government contracts?

Affirmative action cuts across the raw nerves of race, gender, and class - all of which are flash points of social debate and so emotionally charged that they beg for rational discussion and analysis. Affirmative Action: Social Justice or Reverse Discrimination? fills this need by offering fifteen of the finest pieces on affirmative action ever published.