What emerges with almost painful clarity from a reading of these well-informed pieces is the near intractability of the problem of reaching a consensus on which effective governmental action could be based.

• 1: Davison M. Douglas and Neal Devins: The Pursuit of Equality2: Kathryn Abrams: Equality and Impasse: Mobilizing Group-Based Perspectives in an Era of Group-Blindness3: Reva Siegel: Civil Rights Reform in Historical Perspective: Regulating Marital Violence4: David A. Strauss: The Illusory Distinction Between Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Result5: Jennifer L. Hochschild: The Word 'American' Ends in 'Can': The Ambiguous Promise of the American Dream6: Jeremy Rabkin: Racial Divisions and Judicial Obstructions7: Hugh Davis Graham: The Politics of Clientele Capture: Civil Rights Policy and the Reagan Administration8: Christine H. Rossell: The Convergence of Black and White Attitudes on School Desegregation Issues9: Drew S. Days III: Brown Blues: Rethinking the Integrative Ideal10: Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic: The Social Construction of Brown v. Board of Education: Law Reform and the Reconstructive Paradox11: Gerald N. Rosenberg: The Irrelevant Court: The Supreme Court's Inability to Influence Popular Beliefs about Equality (or Anything Else)12: Erwin Chemerinsky: Can Courts Make a Difference?13: David J. Garrow: The Supreme Court's Pursuit of Equality and Liberty and the Burdens of History14: Neal Devins: The Judicial Role in Equality Decision-Making