This book is a biography of University of California-Berkeley sociology professor Troy Duster. Troy Duster received an MA and PhD in sociology from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Duster is a black man who was born in South Chicago. His maternal grandmother is the famous Ida B. Wells. He initially had a research interest in the sociology of law and later in human genetics. He worked with approximately 100 graduate students at Berkeley, all minority students. Each of his research interests had a special slant given that Troy Duster is an African American.

Troy Duster has always been firmly committed to the idea that race is a sociological not a biological concept.