Gary Orfield is distinguished research professor of education, law, political science and urban planning and co-director of The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project. Jennifer B. Ayscue, PhD, is an American Educational Research Association Congressional Fellow and was research director of the Initiative for School Integration at The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.

"One of the book’s major contributions is the attention it lends to the highly political nature of civil rights research...provides an illustrative example of ways that discriminatory systems are maintained through uncritical acceptance and defended vigorously by those who stand to benefit the most."—Teachers College Record