View the Table of Contents. Read the Preface.

Praise for the 10th Anniversary Edition

"White by Law remains one of the most significant and generative entries in the crowded field of 'whiteness studies.' Ian Haney LA3pez has crafted a brilliant study, not merely of how 'race' figures in the juridical logic of U.S. citizenship, but of the ways in which law fully participates in the wholesale manufacture of those naturalized groupings we know as 'races.' A terribly important work."
--Matthew Frye Jacobson, author of "Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America"

"Ten years after its initial publication, White by Law remains the definitive treatment of the naturalization cases, and provides a compelling account of the role of law in constructing race. A wonderful combination of thematic development and historical excavation, one leaves this revised edition with a thoroughgoing understanding of the ways in which citizenship functioned not only to include and exclude but as a process through which people quite literally became white by law."
--Devon W. Carbado, Professor of Law and Associate Dean, UCLA School of Law

"White by Law remains the definitive work on how American law constructed a 'white' race at the turn of the twentieth century. Haney LA3pez has added a chapter to the new edition, a sobering analysis of how, in our own time, 'colorblind' law and policy threaten to perpetuate, not eliminate, racial inequality. A must-read."
--Mae M. Ngai, author of "Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America"

aHere is one work that proved challenging to review with a fresh eye, having been widely reviewed and discussed since itsoriginal publication more than 10 years agoa].While oneas first question upon picking up such a book could easily be awhy bother?a with the re-release of an older work, in this case, the strategy worksa].[T]he addition of the authoras personal narrative in the Preface and his intriguing view into the future with the new conclusion will add to the bookas pedagogical value. In sum, Haney Lopez has provided a piece of scholarship worthy of bringing out a curtain call on its 10th anniversary.a
--"Law and Politics Review"

Praise for the 1st edition:

"Haney LA3pez performs a major service for anyone truly interested in understanding contemporary debates over racial and ethnic politics. . . . A sobering and crucial lesson for a society committed to equality and fairness."
--Martha Minow, Harvard Law School

"This book is remarkable for sheer information value, but draws its analytic power from the emphasis on whiteness to make sense of racial oppression. . . . Haney LA3pez convincingly demonstrates that the US is ideologically white not by accident but by design."
--"Choice"

White by Law was published in 1996 to immense critical acclaim, and established Ian Haney LA3pez as one of the most exciting and talented young minds in the legal academy. The first book to fully explore the social and specifically legal construction of race, White by Law inspired a generation of critical race theorists and others interested in the intersection of race and law in American society. Today, it is used and cited widely by not only legal scholars but many others interested in race, ethnicity, culture, politics, gender, and similar socially fabricated facets of American society.

In thefirst edition of White by Law, Haney LA3pez traced the reasoning employed by the courts in their efforts to justify the whiteness of some and the non-whiteness of others, and revealed the criteria that were used, often arbitrarily, to determine whiteness, and thus citizenship: skin color, facial features, national origin, language, culture, ancestry, scientific opinion, and, most importantly, popular opinion.

Ten years later, Haney LA3pez revisits the legal construction of race, and argues that current race law has spawned a troubling racial ideology that perpetuates inequality under a new guise: colorblind white dominance. In a new, original essay written specifically for the 10th anniversary edition, he explores this racial paradigm and explains how it contributes to a system of white racial privilege socially and legally defended by restrictive definitions of what counts as race and as racism, and what doesn't, in the eyes of the law. The book also includes a new preface, in which Haney LA3pez considers how his own personal experiences with white racial privilege helped engender White by Law.

aA lively, smart, combative collection, brimful of ideas and insights, this book takes on athe war on crimea and shows how America might move beyond it.a
--David Garland, author of "The Culture of Control"

aThis brave book challenges us, urgently, to rethink crime and punishment for the 21st century. It is not by accident that the US became the worldas largest incarcerator in just thirty-five years. After the War on Crime exposes how structural inequalities based on race and class and written into our laws, institutions and everyday practices have blackened our jails and prisons and reproduced segregated communities inside and out.a
--Susan Tucker, Director, The After Prison Initiative, Open Society Institute

Since the 1970s, Americans have witnessed a Pyrrhic war on crime, with sobering numbers at once chilling and cautionary. Our imprisoned population has increased five-fold, with a commensurate spike in fiscal costs that many now see as unsupportable into the future. As American society confronts a multitude of new challenges ranging from terrorism to the disappearance of middle-class jobs to global warming, the war on crime may be up for reconsideration for the first time in a generation or more. Relatively low crime rates indicate that the public mood may be swinging towards declaring victory and moving on.

However, to declare that the war is over is dangerous and inaccurate, and After the War on Crime reveals that the impact of this war reaches far beyond statistics; simply moving on is impossible. The war has been most devastating to those affected by increased rates and longer terms of incarceration, but its reach has also reshaped a sweeping range of socialinstitutions, including law enforcement, politics, schooling, healthcare, and social welfare. The war has also profoundly altered conceptions of race and community.

It is time to consider the tasks reconstruction must tackle. To do so requires first a critical assessment of how this war has remade our society, and then creative thinking about how government, foundations, communities, and activists should respond. After the War on Crime accelerates this reassessment with original essays by a diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars as well as policy professionals and community activists. The volumeas immediate goal is to spark a fresh conversation about the war on crime and its consequences; its long-term aspiration is to develop a clear understanding of how we got here and of where we should go.

aA lively, smart, combative collection, brimful of ideas and insights, this book takes on athe war on crimea and shows how America might move beyond it.a
--David Garland, author of "The Culture of Control"

aThis brave book challenges us, urgently, to rethink crime and punishment for the 21st century. It is not by accident that the US became the worldas largest incarcerator in just thirty-five years. After the War on Crime exposes how structural inequalities based on race and class and written into our laws, institutions and everyday practices have blackened our jails and prisons and reproduced segregated communities inside and out.a
--Susan Tucker, Director, The After Prison Initiative, Open Society Institute

Since the 1970s, Americans have witnessed a Pyrrhic war on crime, with sobering numbers at once chilling and cautionary. Our imprisoned population has increased five-fold, with a commensurate spike in fiscal costs that many now see as unsupportable into the future. As American society confronts a multitude of new challenges ranging from terrorism to the disappearance of middle-class jobs to global warming, the war on crime may be up for reconsideration for the first time in a generation or more. Relatively low crime rates indicate that the public mood may be swinging towards declaring victory and moving on.

However, to declare that the war is over is dangerous and inaccurate, and After the War on Crime reveals that the impact of this war reaches far beyond statistics; simply moving on is impossible. The war has been most devastating to those affected by increased rates and longer terms of incarceration, but its reach has also reshaped a sweeping range of socialinstitutions, including law enforcement, politics, schooling, healthcare, and social welfare. The war has also profoundly altered conceptions of race and community.

It is time to consider the tasks reconstruction must tackle. To do so requires first a critical assessment of how this war has remade our society, and then creative thinking about how government, foundations, communities, and activists should respond. After the War on Crime accelerates this reassessment with original essays by a diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars as well as policy professionals and community activists. The volumeas immediate goal is to spark a fresh conversation about the war on crime and its consequences; its long-term aspiration is to develop a clear understanding of how we got here and of where we should go.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Preface.

Praise for the 10th Anniversary Edition

"White by Law remains one of the most significant and generative entries in the crowded field of 'whiteness studies.' Ian Haney LA3pez has crafted a brilliant study, not merely of how 'race' figures in the juridical logic of U.S. citizenship, but of the ways in which law fully participates in the wholesale manufacture of those naturalized groupings we know as 'races.' A terribly important work."
--Matthew Frye Jacobson, author of "Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America"

"Ten years after its initial publication, White by Law remains the definitive treatment of the naturalization cases, and provides a compelling account of the role of law in constructing race. A wonderful combination of thematic development and historical excavation, one leaves this revised edition with a thoroughgoing understanding of the ways in which citizenship functioned not only to include and exclude but as a process through which people quite literally became white by law."
--Devon W. Carbado, Professor of Law and Associate Dean, UCLA School of Law

"White by Law remains the definitive work on how American law constructed a 'white' race at the turn of the twentieth century. Haney LA3pez has added a chapter to the new edition, a sobering analysis of how, in our own time, 'colorblind' law and policy threaten to perpetuate, not eliminate, racial inequality. A must-read."
--Mae M. Ngai, author of "Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America"

aHere is one work that proved challenging to review with a fresh eye, having been widely reviewed and discussed since itsoriginal publication more than 10 years agoa].While oneas first question upon picking up such a book could easily be awhy bother?a with the re-release of an older work, in this case, the strategy worksa].[T]he addition of the authoras personal narrative in the Preface and his intriguing view into the future with the new conclusion will add to the bookas pedagogical value. In sum, Haney Lopez has provided a piece of scholarship worthy of bringing out a curtain call on its 10th anniversary.a
--"Law and Politics Review"

Praise for the 1st edition:

"Haney LA3pez performs a major service for anyone truly interested in understanding contemporary debates over racial and ethnic politics. . . . A sobering and crucial lesson for a society committed to equality and fairness."
--Martha Minow, Harvard Law School

"This book is remarkable for sheer information value, but draws its analytic power from the emphasis on whiteness to make sense of racial oppression. . . . Haney LA3pez convincingly demonstrates that the US is ideologically white not by accident but by design."
--"Choice"

White by Law was published in 1996 to immense critical acclaim, and established Ian Haney LA3pez as one of the most exciting and talented young minds in the legal academy. The first book to fully explore the social and specifically legal construction of race, White by Law inspired a generation of critical race theorists and others interested in the intersection of race and law in American society. Today, it is used and cited widely by not only legal scholars but many others interested in race, ethnicity, culture, politics, gender, and similar socially fabricated facets of American society.

In thefirst edition of White by Law, Haney LA3pez traced the reasoning employed by the courts in their efforts to justify the whiteness of some and the non-whiteness of others, and revealed the criteria that were used, often arbitrarily, to determine whiteness, and thus citizenship: skin color, facial features, national origin, language, culture, ancestry, scientific opinion, and, most importantly, popular opinion.

Ten years later, Haney LA3pez revisits the legal construction of race, and argues that current race law has spawned a troubling racial ideology that perpetuates inequality under a new guise: colorblind white dominance. In a new, original essay written specifically for the 10th anniversary edition, he explores this racial paradigm and explains how it contributes to a system of white racial privilege socially and legally defended by restrictive definitions of what counts as race and as racism, and what doesn't, in the eyes of the law. The book also includes a new preface, in which Haney LA3pez considers how his own personal experiences with white racial privilege helped engender White by Law.

Race, Law and Society draws together some of the very best writing on race and racism from the law and society tradition, yet it is not intended to merely reprint the greatest hits of the past. Instead, from its introduction to its selection of articles, this anthology is designed as a 'how-to manual', a guide for scholars and students seeking templates for their own work in this important but also tricky area. Race, Law and Society pulls together leading exemplars of the sorts of social science scholarship on race, society and law that will be essential to racial progress as the world begins to travel the twenty-first century.