# The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

4 Hacker News commenters recommended The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for a well researched, scholarly history of how government policy segregated America, including zoning as a tool of racial exclusion.

## Why people recommend it

- Well researched and scholarly (1 comments): "offer perspectives that are well researched and scholarly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48370163))
- Explains how government policy caused segregation (2 comments): "Richard Rothstein wrote a great book about it called "Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051049)) "covering how racist governmental polices played a role" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092034))
- Covers zoning as racial exclusion (1 comments): "The book "The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein covers how zoning as used as a new tool for racial exclusion in its third chapter." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48652138))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dawn-of-everything.md): 23 recommend
- [Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cadillac-desert.md): 18 recommend
- [The Box by Marc Levinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/box.md): 16 recommend
- [Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sapiens.md): 13 recommend
- [Chip War by Chris Miller](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chip-war.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1631492853?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781631492853) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein", https://hackerapproved.com/p/color-of-law/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).