Cultural Diversity in the United States: A Critical Reader is an unprecedented collection of contemporary writings on the central issues of cultural diversity in the United States by some of anthropology's most notable scholars. Comprised of over 20 newly commissioned chapters and other pieces, and sponsored by the American Anthropological Association, this volume offers a wide range of perspectives from anthropologists as a means of understanding how the discipline can provide critical contexts for the exploration of cultural diversity in the United States. Moreover, the breadth of anthropological inquiry collected here represents a remarkable opportunity for those studying or teaching this vital issue. The contributors to this landmark reader rethink diversity, identity politics, and multiculturalism, and provide tools for the analysis of critical political issues in the United States today. Important areas of discussion include: re-examining U.S. social and political history; establishing a framework for the understanding of inequality; and confronting simplistic images of diversity in an effort to enrich and deepen understanding of difference.

Ida Susser is Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and was the founding President of the Society for the Anthropology of North America. Her books include AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean (edited with George Bond, Joan Vincent, and John Kreniske, 1997), Medical Anthropology and the World System (co-authored with Merrill Singer and Hans Baer, 1997), and Norman Street: Poverty and Politics in an Urban Community (1982).

Thomas C. Patterson is Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Riverside. His books include Change and Development in the Twentieth Century (1999), Inventing Western Civilization (1997), Making Alternative Histories (edited with Peter R. Schmidt, 1995), and Race, Racism, and the History of U.S. Anthropology (edited with Lee Baker, 1994).