Introduction. The paradox of success: civil rights and the presidency in a new era / Kenneth Osgood and Derrick E. White
Zigs and zags: Richard Nixon and the new politics of race / John D. Skrentny
African American civil rights and conservative mobilization in the Jimmy Carter years / Joseph Crespino and Asher Smith
Ronald Reagan and the leadership conference on civil rights: battles won and wars lost / Mary Frances Berry
Rebuilding institutions and redefining issues: the Reagan Justice Department and the reconstruction of rights / Richard L. Pacelle Jr
Civil rights policymaking in the Clinton administration: in Reagan?s shadow / Robert C. Smith
Old vinegar in a new bottle: vote denial in the 2000 presidential election and beyond / Charles L. Zelden
George W. Bush, compassionate conservatism, and the limits of "racial realism" / Steven F. Lawson
Civil rights and the first black president: Barack Obama and the politics of racial equality / Ronald W. Walters with Robert C. Smith
Conclusion: more equal and less equal since the 1970s / Thomas Borstelmann.