Racism is a sad fact of life not only in America but also in most areas of the world. People of different races sometimes appear to be unable to treat others with even the slightest degree of decency. Thus, it is not surprising that racism can be a direct cause of some of the more heinous criminal activity known. For example, during World War II, Hitler's Nazis murdered millions of Jews in an act of terror that we now know as the Holocaust. Such institutional racism points toward the fact that crimes targeting specific social subgroups can lead to the most dire of consequences. In John Wright's Race and Crime readers will learn a great deal about illegal actions based on race. Wright touches upon topics such as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, racial hatred in Europe, and Apartheid in Africa. In each instance, Wright does an excellent job of presenting the major elements of these dark actions. As part of a broader series entitled "Crime and Detection," this volume provides readers with a solid analysis of an influence that continues to weigh heavily upon our modern world. 2003, Amber Books, Romaneck
