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The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America Kindle Edition

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 661 ratings

An exciting new voice makes the case for a colorblind approach to politics and culture, warning that the so-called ‘anti-racist’ movement is driving us—ironically—toward a new kind of racism.

As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimistic about the state of American race relations than his own grandparents–who lived through segregation.
The End of Race Politics is the culmination of his years-long search for an answer.

Contemplative yet audacious,
The End of Race Politics is necessary reading for anyone who questions the race orthodoxies of our time. Hughes argues for a return to the ideals that inspired the American Civil Rights movement, showing how our departure from the colorblind ideal has ushered in a new era of fear, paranoia, and resentment marked by draconian interpersonal etiquette, failed corporate diversity and inclusion efforts, and poisonous race-based policies that hurt the very people they intend to help. Hughes exposes the harmful side effects of Kendi-DiAngelo style antiracism, from programs that distribute emergency aid on the basis of race to revisionist versions of American history that hide the truth from the public.

Through careful argument, Hughes dismantles harmful beliefs about race, proving that reverse racism will not atone for past wrongs and showing why race-based policies will lead only to the illusion of racial equity. By fixating on race, we lose sight of what it really means to be anti-racist. A racially just, colorblind society is possible. Hughes gives us the intellectual tools to make it happen.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Humans have dignity and rights because of their ability to flourish and suffer, not their pigmentation. The affirmation of that moral principle here is humane, judicious, eloquent, and timely.”–STEVEN PINKER, professor at Harvard University and author of Enlightenment Now

“No one gives me greater hope that we will one day come to our senses about race than Coleman Hughes. He is the living example of our future sanity.” –SAM HARRIS, New York
Times bestselling author of Waking Up

“When I started writing on race twenty-five years ago, I hoped young people would read me and be assured that being melodramatic, tribal, and pessimistic on race issues is not higher wisdom. Coleman Hughes is exactly what I hoped would happen, and this book is spun gold from start to finish.” –JOHN McWHORTER, associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University and New York Times bestselling author of
Woke Racism

“[Hughes’s] thesis ought to become required reading for students of all races on every college campus in America.” –GLENN LOURY, professor of economics at Brown University

“With unusual clarity, [Hughes] offers not merely a damning critique of all the ways the all-American skin game has failed us—he provides a compelling, positive vision of the heights we could reach together were we to finally stop playing.” –THOMAS CHATTERTON WILLIAMS, author of
Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race

"Contrarian and pointedly provocative, with arguments worth discussion on campus and beyond."– Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster and opinion columnist who specialises in issues related to race, public policy and applied ethics. Coleman’s writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, The City Journal and The Spectator. He appeared on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2021.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C4J8QL8M
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thesis (February 6, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 6, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.9 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 254 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 661 ratings

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4.7 out of 5 stars
661 global ratings

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Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the author's insightful and observant writing style that challenges their views. The book provides factual information to support its ideas, which resonate with most readers.

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46 customers mention "Readability"46 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and interesting. They appreciate the clear writing and arguments on a complex topic. The book is described as an easy read with simple, direct, and reasonable arguments. Readers mention it's a must-read for those interested in diversity and anti-racism.

"This readable book is interesting on several grounds. First, it is a compendium...." Read more

"This was a great read. I enjoyed a different perspective on race issues...." Read more

"...general arguments with a few bits of convincing data, but the book really takes off and becomes almost electrifying when he starts laying out the..." Read more

"Still well written and make one think" Read more

42 customers mention "Insight"42 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and challenging. They appreciate the factual information and well-researched arguments that make sense and provide a reasonable perspective on a complex issue.

"...that surprised me. Key statistics are marshalled..." Read more

"...I enjoyed a different perspective on race issues. This book contains facts to reveal how the experiments that are sited for racism against one group..." Read more

"...This book is passionate but calm, not a simpleminded rant...." Read more

"...can only hope that this book is widely read, because his arguments will resonate with most, if not all reasonable people who recognize out common..." Read more

A Breath of Fresh Air
5 out of 5 stars
A Breath of Fresh Air
*Side note* from the actual book, I really like the look, size, and cover. Hardback was a good choice and it’s not overwhelming in size.Coleman does a great job at making the enormous and complex topic of racism in America, understandable and digestible bit by bit. I found it to be an easy read on a complex topic. No fancy word play. Just simple analogies and common sense. This was a refreshing, and non-religious take.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2024
    This readable book is interesting on several grounds.
    First, it is a compendium. Coleman Hughes’ book concerning colorblindness as the antidote to neoracism – defined as “racism in anti-racist clothing” (p. 154) -- organizes within two covers some major events of what John McWhorter previously has identified as the “woke racism” of recent decades. Personally I have read, from a sense of duty, more of the literature on this topic (including Loury, Steele, Chatterton Williams, Reed, Fields & Fields, and Sowell) than the likes of myself might have if just left to his own devices. Even so, I found a few events discussed here (e.g., a psychiatrist holding forth at Yale on “The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind,” pp. 74-75; e.g., pandemic relief for farmers and restaurant owners explicitly excluding whites, pp. 68-72; e.g., a dauntingly rigorous process for selecting and retaining air traffic controllers replaced by a biographical questionnaire, in the interests of increasing minority figures among that workforce, pp. 118-119) that surprised me. Key statistics are marshalled (for example, the common perception, including among les bien-pensants, that American police killings of Blacks run into four digits annually when in fact the figure is barely into two digits, p. 98). Taken together, the result is a big picture, and specifically one that otherwise might be less well in focus, even by people knowledgeable on the topic. I found this aspect very useful.
    Second, it is full of analysis. The author cuts through a lot of fog to hone in, in short order, on the core claims of neoracists like DiAngelo, Kendi, Crenshaw, Coates, and Hannah-Jones. In particular, ch. 5, “The Neoracist Narrative,” works through a table of current fallacies. The central claim of Hughes’ analysis is that old racism has shot its bolt; post-racism is neither feasible nor desirable; what passes for “anti-racism” turns out to be neoracism; but there remains a choice between neoracism and colorblindness. Having tried to dismantle the intellectual credibility of neoracism in chs. 1-5, he goes on in ch. 6 to contemplate a colorblind way forward. (Colorblind would mean “class-based rather than race-based policies;” p. 154.)
    Third, it is a model of argumentation. For one thing (and most glaringly) Hughes offers arguments, where his neoracist foils tend to settle for assertion ex cathedra. For another, he pays attention to what conditions would be required to sustain argument (for example, the need to show that racial disparities 1] are malignant not benign and that 2] any malignant ones can only be attributable to racism; p. 108ff). In addition, Hughes makes deft use of analogy to puncture cant and deflate sophistry and special pleading. (Does talking more about race help eliminate racism? Would making baseball central to the curriculum decrease or increase animosities between Yankee and Sox fans? pp. 98-100; Or: suppose your friend Tom calls himself an atheist; but everything he does believe turns out coincidentally to align literally with the King James Version. Is Tom believable? pp 23-24.)
    One could argue with Hughes’ arguments. (For example, I wonder if those who hold to what he calls “The Myth of No Progress” [i.e., after slavery, Jim Crow or the Civil Rights movement] would rest content with his examples like the [uncatastrophizing] fact that the KKK is about the same size as the Flat Earth Society, or that the Blacksonian museum on the Mall has had to turn away overflow crowds [pp. 127ff], rather than push back with examples about Red state legislatures wishing to ban Critical Race Theory.) But opponents are free to seek refutation because he does make arguments. In any case he does play a lot of Devil’s Advocate in anticipating counter-arguments.
    For this reason, apart from being a book on its particular topic, I could see this being assigned not only in logic class but also in speech and rhetoric. It is an exemplar.
    Nit-picking little quibble (and it is merely rhetorical): spot on to highlight the “racism” in “neoracism.” “Reverse racism,” pp. 59-60, undermines this. (As if racism were heritably white, such that neoracism is illegitimately a kind of cultural appropriation?) Otherwise, a very fine book, a good read, and a welcome addition.
    Ibram X. Kendi has refused to debate Hughes on the grounds that 1) he has not been awarded a doctorate and 2) he does not hold a professorship. Hughes recently earned a BA in Philosophy at Columbia. I invite the potential reader to judge whether or not this book goes to show what a rigorous undergraduate liberal education can do for a person, compared with the puffery and credentialism of Dr Kendi & co.
    156 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2025
    This was a great read. I enjoyed a different perspective on race issues. This book contains facts to reveal how the experiments that are sited for racism against one group over another were flawed and inaccurate. I'm all for treating people with kindness regardless of their skin color or any other factor. This book brings into the light the deception that has been used to keep people in constant conflict over race.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2024
    Coleman Hughes, I have observed, is often dismissed as just another right wing person complaining about cancel culture or wokeism.
    So, let me just start by saying, I am not a right winger, I’m disgusted by most of the right wing today, and Coleman is a fair-minded person who has not himself embraced the word conservative anywhere I’ve seen. And for the record, he has said publicly that he has mostly voted for Democrats for national office, and he has not voted for Trump. Same goes for me.
    This short book takes a little while to get really meaty, but it sure does. What I mean is maybe the first half of the book is somewhat general arguments with a few bits of convincing data, but the book really takes off and becomes almost electrifying when he starts laying out the multi-point argument tearing down the tenets of today’s “anti-racism,” which Coleman calls neoracism. Im sure opponents will accuse him of creating strawman arguments during this part of the book, but he regularly offers anticipatory responses to these criticisms, and he is, again, fair-minded as he does this. This book is passionate but calm, not a simpleminded rant.
    I had a few annoying moments reading. There was one argument he made early on that I thought was unfair (about people judging content and words differently depending on who is saying them), and there were a few repetitive phrases that I felt should have been caught by an editor. It made this very well written book seem a little less professional at times.
    But those are small complaints. I completely loved the book from start to finish. I hope it is part of a movement that creates a bit of a swing back on the path of all of us trying to treat people as individuals, and not as representations of groups—and thus being better able to deal with racism and other kinds of discrimination when they happen.
    59 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2024
    Still well written and make one think
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2024
    Thank you to Coleman Hughes for writing a very concise, well-researched and poignant book on one of the most important issues of our time. I can only hope that this book is widely read, because his arguments will resonate with most, if not all reasonable people who recognize out common humanity and do not wish to live in a world where all we see is race. The ignorance of the counter-arguments (“neoracism” as he accurately calls it) is exposed and the premises of those shoddy arguments are thoroughly debunked. I now understand why Mr. Kendi & Ms. DiAngelo refuse to debate him. He would (kindly as is Coleman’s style) skewer every argument they could raise. I have been a long-time listener of Coleman’s podcast and have been disappointed that they stopped a while back, but I now understand why. Coleman needs to get the word out about this book so that the masses can read it and absorb it. It would be great if high school age children would read this before they left for college. Thank you again, Coleman. This is a masterpiece.
    17 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Avid Reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars A concise yet erstwhile defense of colourblindness
    Reviewed in Canada on June 25, 2024
    Coleman takes the reader on a journey through all the ways in which neoracists, as he calls them, have missed the mark on being truly anti racist. The main argument throughout is that rather than an endless cycle of racial strife and discriminatory policies, what is needed is a state of affairs where one’s race has no bearing on the rights, freedoms, or opportunities afforded to them. This book is long enough to develop a complete exposition of the argument, but short enough to keep the reader engaged. Highly recommend!
  • RitchieV
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must read these days
    Reviewed in France on January 9, 2025
    Great book by Coleman Hughes. 100% recommended to everyone wanting to read a fresh, nuanced, and brave approach to race politics.
  • George Selwyn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Important, must-read book for those who drive the DEI industry
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2024
    This is a thoughtful, well-researched book that systematically dismantles many of the shibboleths associated with the contemporary DEI and 'anti-racism' industries. No one can read this book and come away thinking that what they see all around them in contemporary Western society, in this respect, is either good or truthful. It is a giant sham, and Hughes is meticulous is demonstrating exactly how. The account is entirely convincing, yet depressing and hopeful in equal measure: depressing for the way it describes how quickly and easily hollow and baseless mantras relating to 'anti-racism' inexplicably gained such purchase in society; hopeful in the sense that such intelligent, articulate, and clear-thinking young people such as Hughes are here to critique it and to expose it for exactly what it is - just another form of racism. This is a brilliant book that puts the likes of DiAngelo and Kendi not only on the back foot, but firmly on the ropes - well done Coleman Hughes!
  • itagaki_unlucky
    5.0 out of 5 stars ☆*: .。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆
    Reviewed in Japan on December 17, 2024
    あ、この本は面白いです。読み応え十分!
    最近アメリカの反差別運動で使われるアイデンティティ政治を拒否し、キング牧師直系のcolor blind(肌の色ではなく中身で判断せよ)に帰るように諭す本。
  • Christopher Dainton
    5.0 out of 5 stars The antidote to White Fragility
    Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2024
    Having read and been deeply frustrated by the ideas presented in Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility, I was thrilled to see that Coleman Hughes had produced a compelling, well written book that counters this vision for the future of race relations. Well organized and well argued, I'd recommend it to anyone who has listened to Coleman before (although it reiterates many arguments he has made before) and to those who are new to his intellect.

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