This is the story of a man who searched his conscience, decided that the American Dream should be colorblind, and then set out to change the rules. Part memoir, part history lesson, and part road map, Creating Equal tells how a black man fought against affirmative action in California and Washington state.
It begins in segregated Louisiana with a hard-working, resilient family that refused to be destroyed by personal tragedy or to be defined by race. This is where Ward Connerly grew up. In 1993, he would be called to make the most difficult decision of his life: to convince the regents of the University of California to end affirmative action. Two years later, he did the same thing for Washington state.
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"I already knew much of what Ward wrote about in this book. It is quite inspiring because of the struggle that he went through to get race preferences in California banned."
— Thinker (5 out of 5 stars)
“Memo to Al Gore and George W. Bush: Read this book…[a] warmly personal, highly readable book.”
— Wall Street Journal“Surprisingly good…an outstanding combination of autobiography, polemic, and history…one of the year’s best political books.”
— National Review“Political figures don’t often write books worth reading, but Connerly can both turn a good phrase and tell a good story…Conservatives will applaud Creating Equal, while many of Connerly’s sparring partners will recognize its thoughtfulness…Connerly’s insider account of Proposition 209 will appeal to political junkies of all stripes. Regardless of their views on the philosophical content of Connerly’s crusade, readers will find Creating Equal to be a surprisingly good book.”
— Amazon.com Review“If you’re not sure where you stand on affirmative action, let Ward Connerly present you with the cogent and timely arguments he used in promoting the passage of propositions that ended the policy in California and Washington. His personal observations of George Bush, Al Gore, Pete Wilson, Gray Davis, and Jesse Jackson provide interesting insights into their views of equal opportunity. The author’s strength as a narrator resides in the fact that he is expressing his own polemic views, with a vocabulary that may even send advanced readers to their dictionaries. The audiobook will be a treat for those seeking a new voice with modern ideas.”
— AudioFile“His integrity fairly shines, and this causes his opponents the utmost discomfiture, for not only is he personally invulnerable, his basic argument is almost unanswerable…As a reader, Connerly is effective; his performance is straightforward and uncomplicated. His voice mirrors his ideas. A vital bit of contemporary history for any public and general academic library.”
— Library Journal“[Connerly] explains himself very well….[he] treats his many adversaries humanely…This is top-drawer right-wing apologetics.”
— BooklistBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Ward Connerly is the founder and the president of the American Civil Rights Institute and author of Creating Equal: My Fight against Race Preferences and Lessons from My Uncle James: Beyond Skin Color to the Content of Our Character. He has been inducted as a lifetime member into the California Building Industry Hall of Fame and has been a member of the Rotary Club of Sacramento for over fifteen years. In addition to receiving numerous awards, he has been profiled on 60 Minutes, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek magazine, the cover of Parade magazine, and virtually every major news magazine in America. He has also appeared on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Crossfire, Hannity & Colmes, Meet the Press, Dateline, NBC Nightly News,CNN, and C-SPAN.