Book reviews

摘要

Nancy DiTomaso, The American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism, Russell Sage Foundation: New York, NY, 2013; 432 pp.: 978 0 87154 080 5, US$42.50 (pbk) Reviewed by: Kevin Stainback, Purdue University, IN, USArnGunner Myrdal's An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944) is a classic and broadly influential work in the race and ethnicity literature. It has spurred debates, initiated new lines of theory and research, and received both praise and criticism. As an indicator of its influence, at the time that I wrote this review, the book had been cited over 5300 times (Google Scholar). In the book, Myrdal argued that the United States was facing a unique challenge as the end of World War II was nearing. The United States had emerged as a world power and a moral leader. The dilemma confronting the US that Myrdal alluded to in the title of his book was the deep conflict between the ideals of the American creed, which espoused the core values of equality, justice, and liberty as enshrined in founding US documents and law, and the harsh reality of persistent racial inequality throughout US society. This contrast created a moral dilemma for white Americans that Myrdal expected to eventually be resolved through social and political pressures for change. Myrdal believed that the change would come about slowly, but that this moral dilemma would eventually lead to a more just and equal US society.