The 1964 Civil Rights Act confirmed the central role of the Department of Justice in the national battle against racial discrimination. Congress had established the department's Civil Rights Division in 1957 with a staff of a dozen to combat racial discrimination in voting; its current staff of 500 now prosecutes many forms of discrimination in employment, housing, education, and other areas.

In Enforcing Civil Rights, a former member of the CRD focuses on the role of that agency in combating the racial caste system in America. Brian Landsberg's overview of civil rights enforcement...

Although the heroism of last century's freedom marches will long be credited for ending racial discrimination, civil rights legislation owes much to work done more quietly in the district courtrooms of the South. This book expands our understanding of how the Voting Rights Act came about by focusing on several key cases in Alabama that paved the way for this landmark legislation.

Brian Landsberg--himself a participant in many of these trials--argues that Department of Justice litigation contributed significantly to the content of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. His close analysis of...