This book combines the personal reflections of a civil rights lawyer who personally handled dozens of school desegregation cases with a stunning argument against the perfect precedent of Brown vs. Board of Education. Bell argues that an alternative Brown opinion that retained the "separate but equal" standard, but required its full enforcement, would have been more effective in combating racial discrimination than the decision handed down, A lesson of Brown is that equal opportunities for Africa-Americans were sacrificed to white interests. As a result of these sacrifices - or silent covenants - inequalities continue to haunt the nation. The Brown decision has played an importnat role in maintaining the racial divide its proponents hoped to close.