The United States will enter the twenty-first century with an increasingly diverse, unequal, and divided population. Longstanding tensions persist between ethnic groups, rich and poor, and immigrants and the native-born. New sources of strain involve sexual and gender minorities, those who possess alternate family forms, and white and nonwhite immigrants, as well as the widening gulf between rich and poor Americans. A Nation Divided offers a fresh approach to these controversial issues. In this volume, leading social scientists explore the potentially explosive combination of diversity and inequality. Using the latest theory and research, the authors show how different groups become socially and economically unequal and how such patterns of "durable inequality" affect national stability. They also discuss strategies for reducing durable inequality and creating social harmony. Their contributions address the changing demography of diversity and inequality and the interplay of diversity, inequality, and community in educational institutions, the military, the family, popular culture, and religion. - Back cover. This splendid book addresses what more than a few sociologists consider the most urgent problem facing this country today: the social and economic realities that characterize the lives of different groups of people and, most importantly, the "durable inequalities" that persist over time and make breaking out of old patterns difficult, if not impossible. The almost uniformly first-rate writing in this volume is divided into four sections. The first, "Diversity and Inequality," includes a wonderfully lucid chapter by Melvin L. Kohn countering The Bell Curve. The well-argued, carefully documented chapters in the second part look at race and ethnicity and socioeconomic inequality. Part 3 looks at inequality in educational, military, religious, and familial institutions and in the mass media. The book concludes with approaches to "intergroup tensions." Those not familiar with the terminology of sociology may have trouble with this volume, which is otherwise very highly recommended for academic, research, and larger public libraries. - Library Journal.