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Whence emerges the concept of race in American society? That is the central concern of this lucid book by an anthropologist, who writes good analytic history. The book is a broad-ranging synthesis of much of the historical literature pertinent to the "uniqueness of the race concept and ideology in the United States" since the fifteenth century. Although peoples may be differentiated in a variety of ways, race is "the major mode of social differentiation in our society; it cuts across and takes priority over social class, gender, age, religious, cultural (ethnic) and other differences." Despite the connection with physical form, race as a concept is wholly historical and...