"For some unknown reason, social scientists focus almost obsessively on the construction of and borders between identities. They pay much less attention to the question of "so what?" - why identities matter in the public realm and in the exercise of political power. Clarissa Hayward is an expert in the ways that power is manifested and used in everyday activities, and she brings that expertise to bear in How Americans Make Race. Identities matter because they are embedded in institutions that matter, and everything from the course of American history to the course of an individual's life chances is shaped by the ways in which "who we are" becomes elided with "what we can do." This is a subtle, moving, important book." - Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government, Harvard University