.jpeg){kind=small}
An important topic that probably deserves a great deal more attention. Bernstein explores some interesting areas, asking difficult questions and exposing some buried truths. American society really doesn't even debate the question whether the government should be cataloging and categorizing all of the citizens, rather quickly debating the who and the how instead. But tying such classification with potential benefits (or the avoidance of relative penalties in zero-sum situations) naturally causes people to organize and lobby for outcomes that are often far removed from the original intent of initiatives. Bernstein's prose is okay, and the work reads swiftly and without undue verbosity. But it seems he darts around a bit, the rhetorical questions he sometimes asks seem picked out of a hat, and even the larger subjects he chooses leave one feeling that there may be yet more areas to cover. It's no fault that he takes positions and offers them openly at the end, but he is a bit loose with opinionated adverbs and adjectives when giving the "factual" background as well, which actually undermines his work. Overall, the book seems a bit unpolished, which is probably the fault of the editors more than anyone. If Bernstein's work inspires a more complete investigation and reckoning of racial classification, then it will have more than vindicated itself, but standing alone, it seems insufficient. Nonetheless, a good read worth the time.