?A history of the conceptualization of the ideas of black progress' and assimilation' in American sociology. Methodologically, William's focus is mainly on the published writings of prominent American sociologists from 1896 to 1945, although much attention is correctly given to the influential writing of Franz Boas and some of his students. Neither an intellectual history concerned with the social origin of ideas, nor a history of the intellectual discipline of sociology, the book is singularly centered on the changes in the expressed ideas of practicing sociologists (occasionally placed in a broader social context). The book would provide an adequate introduction for the beginning student into the development of ideas of racism, prejudice, assimilation, and the theory of race relations.?-Choice