A Brief History of Social Identity From Kinship To Multirace is, appropriately, a book with a very wide reach. From ancient India to modern America, from Buddhism to the American Constitution, from religion to race, and from multiracial identity to the rule of hypo-descent, the author follows the at times liberating, at times stifling role of identity.

The most fascinating proposition of the book is that a previously marginalized heritage-multiracial-is the source of the next historically significant social identity. After tracing identity from its origins in kinship to its most recent in race, the author argues that the opposition to a multiracial identity, hypo-descent-more commonly known as the one-drop rule-is the last socially accepted form of racism, but that this is ultimately unconstitutional. And so once this is demonstrated-and the author quite convincingly does so-multiracial identity will find social acceptance, allowing a large portion of our population to realize its fullest potential.

Liam Martin was born on the Caribbean island of Grenada. He came to the United States in 1978 with his parents and siblings. He has lived in New York ever since, and is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.