As the world marvelled at a black family moving into the White House, arguments raged over whether America's race relations had truly been transformed. This book looks at the hard facts of life for minorities on both side of the Atlantic, providing an illuminating comparative picture of diversity - as well as insight into the prospects of a British Obama making it to No 10. Injustice, it turns out, still blights the lives of many UK and US minorities, particularly African Americans. And there are signs the new diversity strains community life. Yet in both countries, public opinion is running irreversibly in favour of tolerance. That augurs well for the future - and suggests a British Obama cannot be ruled out. Drawing on collaborative research from a distinguished team at Harvard University and the University of Manchester, The age of Obama asks how two very different societies are responding to the tide of diversity that is being felt around the rich world. Guardian journalist Tom Clark, Robert D.

Putnam - best-selling author of Bowling Alone - and Manchester's Edward Fieldhouse offer a wonderfully readable account. Like Bowling Alone, The age of Obama mixes social scientific rigour with accessible charts and lively arguments. It will be enjoyed by politics, sociology and geography students, as well as by anyone else with an interest in ethnic relations. Book jacket.