Affirmative action strikes at the heart of deeply held beliefs about employment and education, about the concepts of justice and fairness, and about the troubled history of race relations in America. Published on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, this is the only book available that gives readers a balanced, non-polemical, and lucid account of this highly contentious issue.

Beginning with the roots of affirmative action, Anderson describes African-American demands for employment in the defense industry — spearheaded by A. Philip Randolph's threatened March on Washington in July 1941 — and the desegregation of the armed forces after World War II. He investigates President Kennedy's historic 1961 executive order that introduced the term "affirmative action" during the early years of the civil rights movement and he examines President Johnson's attempts to gain equal opportunities for African Americans. He describes President Nixon's expansion of affirmative action with the Philadelphia Plan — which the Supreme Court upheld — along with President Carter's introduction of "set asides" for minority businesses and the Bakke ruling which allowed the use of race as one factor in college admissions. By the early 1980s many citizens were becoming alarmed by affirmative action, and that feeling was exemplified by the Reagan administration's backlash, which resulted in the demise and revision of affirmative action during the Clinton years.

A colorful history that brings to life the politicians, legal minds, and ordinary people who have fought for or against affirmative action, The Pursuit of Fairness helps clear the air and calm the emotions, as it illuminates a difficult andcritically important issue.

"A good place to get your bearings."--David L. Chappell, The New York Times

"Succeeds in presenting a dispassionate examination of affirmative action--not easy to do.... Anderson's dispassionate treatment of his subject flows from his seeing it as part of a narrow pursuit of economic fairness rather than as part of the broader pursuit of social justice."--Ted Van Dyk, Washington Post Book World

"Excellent...a very well-written, very scholarly, and very fair examination.... His use of sources, both original and secondary, provides the reader with an understanding of the political and economic dynamics of establishing affirmative action programs.... Highly recommended."--The Journal of American History

"A carefully researched and highly detailed analysis of the development of affirmative action policy in the United States.... A useful place for interested people to learn the fascinating history of this controversial policy.... A readable and balanced treatment of an important policy issue that has divided Americans for decades."--J. Edward Kellough, The American Journal of Legal History

"Anderson has written an excellent book that lives up to its claim of presenting an accessible and balanced account of a highly complex story. Everybody who is interested in the issue must start with this book."--Manfred Berg, American Studies: A Quarterly

"A good place to get your bearings. He makes clear that the best defense of affirmative action has always been that the alternatives to it are even worse."--David L. Chappell, The New York Times "Succeeds in presenting a dispassionate examination of affirmative action--not easy to do.... Anderson's dispassionate treatment of his subject flows from his seeing it as part of a narrow pursuit of economic fairness rather than as part of the broader pursuit of social justice."--Ted Van Dyk, Washington Post Book World

"Excellent...a very well-written, very scholarly, and very fair examination.... His use of sources, both original and secondary, provides the reader with an understanding of the political and economic dynamics of establishing affirmative action programs.... Highly recommended."--The Journal of American History

Published on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, this is the only book available that gives readers a balanced, non-polemical and lucid account of the highly contentious issue of affirmative action.

Terry Anderson is Professor of History at Texas A&M University. A Vietnam veteran who has taught in Malaysia, Japan, and was a Fulbright professor in China and the Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History at University College Dublin. He is the author of numerous articles on the 1960s and Vietnam War, co-author of A Flying Tiger's Diary, and author of The Sixties; United States, Great Britain, and the Cold War, 1944-1947; and The Movement and the Sixties.