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American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow. By Jerrold M. Packard. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002. Pp. xii, 291. Paper, $14.95, ISBN 0-312-30241-X; cloth, $24.95, ISBN 0-312-26122-5.)
In American Nightmare, Jerrold M. Packard attempts to inform the reader about the terrible past of Jim Crow in the U.S. Painting with a very broad brush and targeting his work at a popular audience, Packard presents a picture that is both appalling and fascinating as he traces the emergence, practice, and demise of Jim Crow. However, the book contributes little that is new to our understanding of segregation, black resistance, and the legacy of Jim Crow.
Packard begins his story with slavery and racism in the colonial period. He explains, accurately though with little detail, the evolution of racism and a codified system of race in the United States. Utilizing an engaging narrative style, perhaps...