Understanding affirmative action : politics, discrimination, and the search for justice /

Kellough (public administration, Univ. of Georgia) has produced a concise yet thorough work on the controversial, often misunderstood topic of affirmative action. It is a topic on which he is well versed, having previously written Federal Equal Opportunity Policy and Numerical Goals and Timetables: An Impact Assessment (1989) and coedited Civil Service Reform in the States: Personnel Policy and Politics at the Sub-National Level (2006). The goal of this book is to "synthesize and summarize existing information" in order to "promote a fuller understanding" of the subject matter. In that, the author is completely successful, by covering in successive chapters the myriad definitions of affirmative action, its historical development, the rationale for and against such policies, the decisions of the courts in this arena, and the effects of affirmative action on employment and hiring patterns in the US. In an area where so much that is written is polemic, this work provides a balanced analysis and examination of a critical topic. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through practitioners. M. W. Bowers University of Nevada, Las Vegas