The Color of Law
The Color of Law by Richard Rothsteinby Richard Rothstein
Shares rank 28 of 51 history books by recommenders
Recommended for a well researched, scholarly history of how government policy segregated America, including zoning as a tool of racial exclusion.
Recommended for a well researched, scholarly history of how government policy segregated America, including zoning as a tool of racial exclusion.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Well researched and scholarly
“offer perspectives that are well researched and scholarly”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “High Density Living, 2000 Years Ago: Inside the Roman Apartment Building” Explains how government policy caused segregation
“Richard Rothstein wrote a great book about it called "Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America"”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “A sitting US president launched two memecoins that wiped out $4.3B+” “covering how racist governmental polices played a role”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Americans' social activity has steeply declined in the past 30 years” Covers zoning as racial exclusion
“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.”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “San Diego Photologs from the 1970s”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| The Color of Lawby Richard RothsteinThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“covering how racist governmental polices played a role”
“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.”
“offer perspectives that are well researched and scholarly”
“Richard Rothstein wrote a great book about it called "Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America"”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.