In this brilliant history and reassessment of our still unfinished journey of race, two of America's most perceptive students of that history and its legal dimensions, President Lee Bollinger of Columbia University and Professor Geoffrey Stone, formerly Dean of the Chicago Law School, put the long-simmering affirmative action debate in its urgent current context and reframe that debate in terms more faithful to what is truly at stake. Anyone concerned about our nation's fate must read what these two chroniclers of our past and prognosticators of our future have to say. * Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus, Harvard Law School * This brilliant and timely book by two of America's greatest educators powerfully resurfaces the original, moral rationale for Affirmative Action: racial justice. It's a startlingly fresh and clarifying book that more than any writing I have seen, roots the discussion of Affirmative Action in basic truths about American history and society. It will change the landscape of these debates, and, as the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, visits this issue yet again, this is the book to read. * Claude Steele, Lucie Sterns Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University * A vital text for our national discourse on race and higher education, A Legacy of Discrimination will grant those unfamiliar with affirmative action's history a rigorously clear accounting of its past and current outcomes and instill all readers with a greater understanding of its potential to remedy systemic racial injustice. * Elizabeth Alexander, President, Mellon Foundation * An important book, one that goes to fundamentals. Bollinger and Stone urge that all of usincluding the Supreme Courtshould see affirmative action as a legitimate response to a legacy of discrimination. Timely, bold, and terrific. * Cass Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University * It is not surprising that Bollinger and Stonetwo widely-respected legal scholars with deep expertise in higher educationhave written a clear and insightful book that lays out a strong case for affirmative action as a much-needed remedy to achieve racial justice. This book is for legal scholars, policy practitioners, higher education leaders, and anyone with an interest in the history and consequences of the legacy of racial discrimination in the United States. * Christina H. Paxson, President, Brown University * Though a relatively short book, Legacy provides essential historical background to this critical moment in race jurisprudence, making it a great book for learning more about the court, American racism, and affirmative action policy. * Choice *