Preface : dilemma or dream? The quagmire of race in America -- The social construction of race -- Race : a thoroughly social idea -- What do you think? Prejudice, racism, and colorblindness -- Representing race : popular culture and the media -- Who do you think you are? Racial identities and relationships -- Understanding racial stratification -- Diverse histories/common threads : race and ethnicity build a nation -- Roots of racial inequality : framing the discussion -- Race and social institutions -- Economic inequality : work, class, and poverty -- Bringing it home : families and communities -- Race and place : residential and educational segregation -- It gets to you : health disparities and the environment -- Justice and injustice : race and crime -- Race and social change -- The long search for racial justice.