Winant suggests that as the twenty-first century dawns, movements for racial justice are confronted by new obstacles. His critique of new forms of racial exclusion and inequality (for example, the supposedly "color-blind" racial policies and largely symbolic multiculturalism now in vogue around the world) provides provocative views on such global questions as continuing hostility to immigration, the breakdown of the welfare state, and the weakening of social movements.

This is a timely and important book by a major theoretician of race relations. Winant not only deepens our understanding of race as both a contemporary and historical phenomenon but he also explains the continuing significance of racial justice for our ideals of democracy, of human well-being, and for cultural innovation in the years ahead.