Simple Justice

Starred review from July 1, 2004
Pulitzer Prize winner Kluger's 1976 volume is considered the definitive chronicle of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, capturing both the legal and human drama. To commemorate the history-making decision's 50th anniversary, Kluger has added a new final chapter updating civil rights developments since the book's initial publication. Even if your existing editions are still serviceable, you should consider updating with this expanded text.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2004
Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark " Brown "decision, this update and expansion of the widely acclaimed original work, published in 1976, goes beyond portrayals of the major players involved in the decision--the NAACP legal team, including Thurgood Marshall and Charles Houston; the defender of states' rights, John Davis; and Chief Justice Earl Warren, who brokered a unanimous decision shortly after joining the Court; and the complainants, who undertook personal risk to challenge the doctrine of separate but equal. In this volume, Kluger also analyzes the nation's progress on race issues in the intervening 28 years since the book was first published. In a new chapter, he looks at the politics and policies of the Nixon and Reagan eras--courting the South through retrenchment on racial integration and frontal attacks on busing--up to the current national obsession with colorblindness that has fostered a hypersegregation that mirrors conditions before the " Brown "decision. This is a powerful resource for readers interested in reviewing the particulars of " Brown "and the changes that have occurred since that landmark ruling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)