This engaging and well-written book addresses a puzzling question: why middle-class black men and women are less likely to marry than middle-class Americans of other races. Drawing upon compelling in-depth interviews with professional black men and women in a number of cities, Ralph Richard Banks presents some surprising and revealing findings. His analysis of the marital preferences of educated and economically stable black women is especially intriguing. Facing a severe shortage of comparable black men, they nonetheless are more likely to prefer African American men with less education and income than more affluent white and other nonblack men. Banks’s illuminating study is a must-read for those concerned about the overall decline in marriage among African Americans.

—William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University