Anthony S. Chen is associate professor of sociology and public policy at the University of Michigan.
This meticulously researched book makes a bold new contribution to the literature on the origins of affirmative action... [T]he book is well written ... a valuable contribution to the literature. -- Paul Moreno, Journal of American History [T]he main narrative of the book, grounded in extensive research and reading on mid-twentieth-century politics, makes a valuable contribution to the growing literature on the opposition to civil rights and its link to modern American conservatism. -- Tracy E. K'Meyer, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society The Fifth Freedom is a thoughtful and challenging book. The chapters on state antidiscrimination measures are illuminating accounts of grass-roots debates over the public policy of race in the North during the heyday of civil-rights activism in the South. Indeed, Chen makes a compelling case that the classic narrative of the postwar struggle for racial justice in the South has obscured the equally fierce, if less lethal, battle for employment rights that raged throughout the northern states during those years... [A] valuable addition to the literature on the civil-rights era. -- Robert H. Zieger, Business History Review