Gunnar Myrdal and Black-White Relations: The Use and Abuse of "An American Dilemma," 1944-1969

In 1944, the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal published An American Dilemma, his report on black-white relations in the United States. A large work of more than one thousand pages, the book was an important subject of race for twenty years, helping to influence government studies and Supreme Court cases. This book, by David W. Southern, is the story of the long and troubled process of the making and completion of the Myrdal report.