Racism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

I thought that, as far as a highly sensitive topic goes, this was the best possible way to address it in an intelligent and sensitive way. The book is up to date on recent scientific developments and maintains, rightly, that race can never be seriously treated as anything but a social construct. That being said, the author does not dismiss the power and relevance of the social category of race, and talks about the complex ways in which racism(s) play a role in our everyday lives. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the way the author suggests that labeling someone a "racist" can in some ways be as essentializing and unfair as racism in practice is. The Rattansi does not say this in order to dismiss the power or brutality of many forms of overt and covert racial hatreds; on the contrary, he suggests that racism is far too complex a historical and cultural phenomenon to be dismissed as one person's individual pathology. A very good introduction and a good brief historiography. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone.