Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress

(Paperback)

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Description

Here, Katherine Tate examines the significance of race in the U.S. system of representative democracy for African Americans. Presenting important new findings, she offers the first empirical study to take up the question of representation from both sides of the constituent-representative relationship. The first half of the book examines whether black members of the U.S. Congress represent their constituents differently than white members do. The second half looks at the issue of representation from the perspective of ordinary African Americans based on a landmark national survey. These findings are sure to generate controversy, particularly as debate commences over renewing the Voting Rights Act, which is set to expire in 2007.

Reviews

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2003 Winner of the Race, Ethnicity, and Public Policy Best Book Award, American Political Science Association Winner of the 2004-2005 V.O. Key Book Award, Southern Political Science Association Co-Winner of the 2005 W.E.B. Du Bois Book Award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists "A thorough, thoughtful, and sophisticated discussion of the evidence... [Tate] has combined theory, hard data, and real-world politics to produce a concise and interesting work on an important issue. This scholarly yet very readable book is a must-read for students of Congress or minority group politics."--Choice "A major contribution to the field of Congressional Studies and black politics."--Lewis A. Randolph, Journal of African American History

Author Bio

Katherine Tate is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of "From Protest to Politics" and coauthor of "African Americans and the American Political System" (Fourth Edition).