Co-Winner of the 2010 Gladys M. Kammerer Award, American Political Science Association Co-Winner of the 2010 J. David Greenstone Award in the Politics and History section by the American Political Science Association Winner of the 2010 Best Book Award, Race, Ethnicity and Politics section of the American Political Science Association Winner of the 2008 President's Book Award, Social Science History ... Read moreAssociation "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 "The Fifth Freedom is a comprehensive, compelling account of affirmative action's development. Appropriate for graduate-level methods courses, where Chen's incisive use of quantitative models should prompt valuable discussion of scholarly approaches, this impressive contribution to scholarship on postwar US culture should be read by any student of twentieth-century America."
David Kieran, Journal of American Studies "Fifth Freedom is a fine text (appropriate for most graduate courses), engagingly written, stunningly thorough, and certain to be integral to charting the trajectory for future research on affirmative action."
David Crockett, Journal of African American History Show Less