Includes bibliographical references and index.

A tour of racecraft --
Individual stories and America's collective past --
Of rogues and geldings --
Slavery, race, and ideology in the United States of America --
Origins of the new south and the negro question --
What one cannot remember mistakenly --
Witchcraft and racecraft : invisible ontology in its sensible manifestations --
Individuality and the intellectuals : an imaginary conversation between Emile Durkheim and W.E.B. Du Bois --
Conclusion : racecraft and inequality.

"Most people assume that racism grows from a perception of human difference: the fact of race gives rise to the practice of racism. Sociologist Karen E. Fields and historian Barbara J. Fields argue otherwise: the practice of racism produces the illusion of race, through what they call "racecraft." And this phenomenon is intimately entwined with other forms of inequality in American life. So pervasive are the devices of racecraft in American history, economic doctrine, politics, and everyday thinking that the presence of racecraft itself goes unnoticed. That the promised post-racial age has not dawned, the authors argue, reflects the failure of Americans to develop a legitimate language for thinking about and discussing inequality. That failure should worry everyone who cares about democratic institutions."--Jacket