this book provides a comprehensive and compelling history of racist ideas in America, tracking their evolution and the evolution of the different responses to/creators of these ideas. I learned that some of the things I was taught in school about the history of race were wrong, and learned a lot about racist ideas from pre-1619 to the election of Obama. after seeing the importance of antiracist thought and action, I'm ready to read the author's "How to Be an Antiracist" next.