In this powerful and disturbing book, Rogers Smith traces political struggles over U.S. citizenship laws from the colonial period through the Progressive era and shows how and why throughout this time most adults were legally denied access to full citizenship, including political rights, solely because of their race, ethnicity, or gender. "An important and original argument that ranges through a long period of American history and makes a major contribution to the debate about the bases of American nationality and civic identity."-Eric Foner "Civic Ideals is a work of scholarly ambition on a Victorian scale."-Jeremy Rabkin, Public Interest "Extensively documented, grand in its aspirations, bold in its arguments, and highly significant, . . . Smith's book is a towering achievement. . . . [It] will be of great interest to specialists in American history, political culture, and ideology, and particularly to those who are interested in race, gender, and ethnic relations."-Michael McCann, Law and Politics Book Review "Each chapter is learned, provocative, full of telling quotations and appropriate statistical or institutional facts. The book will be carefully read and deeply mined. . . . Wonderfully learned, passionately argued, carefully constructed."-Jennifer Hochschild, Political Science Quarterly