In the wake of related U.S. Supreme Court decisions of 2007, this reference for general readers and students brings the story of one of the most embattled public policy issues of the last half century up to date, occupying a middle ground between popular overviews of the affirmative action controversy and history, and "dense law-review parsings on race and gender-based public policy." Chapters cover the Great Society and the birth of affirmative action, judicial challenges to affirmative action in higher education in the 1970s, the limits of employment affirmative action in the 1970s-1990s, and desegregation, resegregation, and affirmative action. Two case studies from Michigan are included. A list of selected materials and readings on affirmative action includes primary and secondary print sources, and a 10-page chronology covers 1866 to 2008. Johnson is professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa. Green is professor of education at Clemson University. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)