From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up—These books cover their topics in pro and con articles written by experts in the field or journalists with relevant experience. Clearly written, well researched, and far reaching, Discrimination explores the problem in its many forms. Individual chapters examine whether discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion exists in the United States, how these prejudices impact American society, the effectiveness of affirmative action, and the impact of the U.S. government on the issue. Questions are asked about the wage gap between men and women, same-sex marriage, racial profiling of Muslim Americans, the Barry Bonds controversy, and the impact of Title IX on women. Human Rights is concerned with the conflict between the concepts of individual rights, as conceived in the West, and that of group human rights as they have been shaped by religion, mores, and tradition in the East. This intriguing approach has about it the implication that the exportation of such Western ideals smacks of cultural imperialism. The first chapter seeks to define these privileges and sets up a debate between the concept of universal and culturally relative human rights. Other chapters explore the current state of affairs, efforts to curb abuses, and the steps the U.S. government should take to address these problems. This well-debated volume contains an extensive bibliography and contact information for organizations in the field. Both books are good choices for libraries needing more material on these topics.—Carol Jones Collins, Columbia High School, Maplewood, NJ
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
