“American Government in Black and White” ,was written by Duke University political scientist Paula D. McClain and Steven C. Tauber, a professor of government and international affairs at the University of South Florida. The authors spent years writing this textbook to address the lack of coverage of African Americans in mainstream American government textbooks.

This is the first comprehensive introduction to American government through the lens of racial and ethnic equality. The author team is perfect to take on this task: Paula McClain is a premier African American political scientist who has written extensively on the politics of race and ethnicity for students, scholars, and the general public. Steve Tauber is known for his work on civil rights and liberties and legal studies of a variety of sorts including animal rights and criminal justice. Together, they take on the canon from the U.S. Constitution to key American political institutions and instruments of political behavior to the making of public policy. Engaging the original voices of ethnic actors in our nation's history, the authors show readers how to measure and evaluate the ephemeral value of equality in America from the founding to the current moment.

“We cover the standard classical liberalism and classical republicanism theories, but we also identify a third tradition -- one of exclusion of large segments of those present in the U.S. at its founding,” says McClain, the co-director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Social Sciences at Duke.

In addition to the “tradition of exclusion,” the textbook also covers the U.S. Constitution, key American political institutions, political behavior and the making of public policy. A running glossary of definitions, thematic chapter conclusions and review questions highlight writings by and about racial and ethnic minorities. And boxed inserts provide tools to measure and evaluate equality.