Race and Reckoning: From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disruptors

Ranging from chattel slavery, through the New Deal to the Covid pandemic, a groundbreaking work that investigates how pivotal decisions have established and perpetuated discriminatory practices, even as the rise of disinformation and other modern advertising techniques have plunged democracy into an ever-deepening crisis. 

Throughout our nation’s history, numerous racialized decisions have solidified the fates of generations of citizens of color. Some of the earliest involved race-based slavery, the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands, and the exclusion of most Asians. More have proliferated over time. While America grew into a superpower in the twentieth century, it continued to discriminate against people of color—both soldiers who served overseas and civilians on the home front, herding Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II and denying Black citizens their right to vote. 

American Politicians have waxed eloquently and endlessly about bettering the nation. But bettering it for whom? journalist and cultural commentator Ellis Cose asks. From Reconstruction to the New Deal to the unceasing fight for civil rights, Cose reveals how the hopes of many Americans for a true multicultural democracy have been repeatedly frustrated by white nationalists skilled at weaponizing racial anxieties of other whites. 

In Race and Reckoning Cose dissects chapter-by-chapter how America’s overall narrative breeds racial resentment rooted in conjecture over fact. Through rigorous research and with astute detail, Cose uncovers how, at countless points in history, America’s leaders have upheld a narrative of American greatness rooted in racism, as he offers a hopeful yet clear-eyed vision of American possibility.

It is a story grounded in history, and it demolishes the myths that ultimately allowed one of the most ill-prepared, unethical, vindictive, and truth-challenged politicians in history to position himself as America’s savior by tapping into the nation’s darkest tendencies. 

A "pointed rebuke of American exceptionalism,” was Publishers Weekly's description of Race and Reckoning. 

Whereas many politicians argue for ignoring or rewriting unflattering history, this is a passionate and incisive argument for accepting—and learning from—historical truth and rejecting ignorance disguised as patriotism. An important work “that merits a place on ethnic studies—and American history—curricula,” observed Kirkus. 

This essential work of American history connects the dots from the past to the present, exploring:

• The Legacy of Reconstruction: How the failures of the post-Civil War era created patterns of disenfranchisement and economic disparity that persist to this day.
• The Weaponization of Racial Anxiety: An examination of how white nationalists have repeatedly frustrated the promise of a true multicultural democracy by stoking fear and resentment.
• Voter Suppression Across Centuries: A clear-eyed look at the long line of discriminatory practices designed to deny citizens of color a voice, from post-Reconstruction tactics to modern-day challenges.
• The Battle for Historical Truth: A powerful argument for confronting the nation's unflattering history and rejecting the myths that have allowed ill-prepared leaders to position themselves as saviors.
• From the New Deal to the Pandemic: An analysis of pivotal moments showing how decisions made during the New Deal, WWII, and the Covid-19 crisis continued to shape the fates of generations.