African American Power And Politics

The first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Reagan revolution on African-American political life, this book explores the ways in which conservative elites mobilized the American public around issues of race as ideology, discourse, strategy, and political elections from the Reagan victory of 1980 to the Republican congressional triumphs of 1994. The book also critically assesses the Clinton administration's record on race and the Democratic party response to affirmative action, welfare, and other aspects of the African-American political agenda.

Columbia University Press

Recipient of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists Book Award, 1998

The first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Reagan revolution on African-American political life. The book also critically assesses the Clinton administration's record on race and the Democratic party response to affirmative action, welfare, and other aspects of the African-American political agenda.

Ron Brown

A timely and much needed empirical investigation of African American politics. Hanes Walton, Jr. exposes us to studies of African American political life during the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton presidencies that focus not just on presidential politics but also on congressional races, the Clarence Thomas nomination, and black mobilization in the foreign policy domain. The book trenchantly demonstrates how race structures determine and even constrain the political choices of black and white political elites and voters. For anyone seeking to understand how the political theater of race is played out, this is a must read.

HANES WALTON, JR. is professor of political science at the University of Michigan.