Rick Loessberg has written the most interesting and thorough analysis of the Kerner Commission Report and its impact that I have read. He provides background information and insights that I never knew about—and I was on the staff of the Commission.
— John Koskinen, Special Assistant to Kerner Commission Deputy Executive Director
Few government reports have been as influential as that produced by the Kerner Commission and no one knows more about the Commission than Rick Loessberg. This thoughtful book, the product of more than a decade of research, offers a fresh new perspective on the Commission and its significance. Loessberg not only sheds light on race relations in the 1960s, he helps us to understand the many challenges the nation still confronts in providing equal opportunity to all Americans.
— Steven M. Gillon, Author of Separate and Unequal
Rick Loessberg’s academically solid, well researched, and highly informative book, Two Societies, is an excellent assessment of the Kerner Commission’s operations, findings, recommendations, and impact.
— Fred Harris, Kerner Commission Member and Former U.S. Senator
The 1968 Kerner Report was the most profound and prophetic policy paper ever produced in this nation. Rick Loessberg is the consummate student and translator of the same. Both the report and Two Societies make it plain that Black masses in this country are still chief among the last and the least.
— John Wiley Price, Texas Commissioner
Responsible and clearly written, Two Societies confronts the central, tragically enduring question of the chasm between the Kerner Report’s findings, recommendations, and impacts.
— Gary T. Marx, Kerner Commission Sociologist
In tracing the story behind one of the most controversial presidential commission reports ever written, Rick Loessberg has made a highly valuable contribution to the literature on the federal government’s response to racism in the United States.
— David Chambers, Special Assistant to Kerner Commission Executive Director