A wonderfully vivid account of how children learn about the 'first R'-race-even before they start school. The authors show how children as young as three have entered into and are experimenting with the tangled ideologies of race of the adult world.

Barrie Thorne, author of Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School

A landmark study that should change our understanding of the social genesis and maintenance of racism and the dynamics of hegemony. It is a must-read for anyone, especially parents and teachers interested in how these dynamics come into being, and it should be required reading in all school systems and universities.

Lewis R. Gordon, professor of philosophy and Africana studies, University of Connecticut

A sensitive and politically sophisticated work of on-site observation and engaging scholarship which ought to shake our nation from its equanimity. The lessons we were given long ago by Dr. Kenneth Clark and, nearly a hundred years ago, by W.E.B. Du Bois have yet to be internalized. Perhaps, as the authors of this valuable and stirring work suggest, it is our children who will prove to be our wisest teachers.

Jonathan Kozol, National Book Award winner and author of "Savage Inequalities" and "Death at an Early Age"

Vivid and provocative.

Kirkus Reviews

Van Ausdale and Feagin challenge conventional theories of child development that are 'adultcentric' and removed, based mostly on attitude testing and behavioral checklists. The authors spent a year at a racially diverse day care center, observing children from three to six years old. The authors suggest that racially hostile and discriminatory behavior among children needs far more study and attention than it has had to date.

Booklist

Van Ausdale sought honesty from the children by never playing the role of 'sanctioning' adult, so that children learned to act more freely in front of her than they did in the presence of teachers. . . . The implication [of the author's work] is that racism will be much harder to root out than once believed, which makes the active teaching of tolerance all the more important.

The Instrumentalist