It is a widely acknowledged political reality that African American support for the Republican Party can best be described as abysmal, yet during Reconstruction the party enjoyed far more support among African Americans than did the Democrats. Fauntroy (public policy, George Mason U.) describes how and why the Republicans fell out of favor with African Americans and evaluates Republican efforts over the past 35 years to win more African American support. He also identifies the Republican policy positions that are counter to African American preferences and describes the racial symbolism of Republican appeals to white conservatives. He concludes with a discussion of the negative political implications for the party and African Americans should the status quo continue. This is a paperbound edition of a work first published in 2007. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)