In compiling this collection, the editor posed the question of the meaning of race and ethnicity in the United States at the threshold of the 21st century. The answers provided by the diverse authors as they wrote on issues of education, health, and employment are revealing and disturbing. Their contributions emphasize that race continues to exert a profound daily influence in American life. The country clings to an ideology that advocates racial differences and supports structures that create a reality that validates the myth of racial difference. Many authors have assessed race and ethnic relations in terms of subjective dimensions such as intergroup and intragroup attitudes and prejudice, but the contributors to this volume view the economic, health, and educational conditions that stratify groups as the primary bases for assessing racial and ethnic relations. The focus is on the four major ethnic groups, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. The 26 chapters cover a broad range of topics from multidisciplinary perspectives. Although the reality is revealed as challenging, the essays are not without hope that the country can address its racial and ethnic challenges. References follow each chapter. (Contains 11 figures and 44 tables.) (SLD)