While many studies of domestic collective violence, especially of the black riots of the 1960s, emphasize the causes of violence, James Button's is a major investigation of the consequences of violence. He not only analyzes how and to what extent the national government responded to the black urban riots, but he also moves toward a theoretical definition of the role of collective violence in a democratic society. In so doing, the author clarifies the utility or disutility of collective violence as a minority group strategy for effecting political change.

Using a variety of...