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Taken in its entirety, this edited volume presents broad, sweeping perspectives on race culture, society, socialization and education. The topics are expansive and the analyses incisive. Various contributors to the volume earned doctoral degrees in education, human development, psychology, social work and sociology across four decades (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s). Despite the variety of disciplines, theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches and conclusions, there is an underlying coherence. This coherence derives in part from the authors' shared commitment to an holistic approach, which examines questions around educational achievement in relation to ecological, cultural, historical, political, economic, social and psychological contexts. In a word, these chapters embody an holistic approach to educational research, theory, practice and policy that is very much consistent with the Chicago School Tradition.To be sure, the studies in this volume raise far more questions than provide definitive answers concerning the perplexing problems of race, culture, inequality and education in America. The central importance of these studies and this volume may reside in their very ability to challenge established orthodoxies. By doing so, the studies published here provide a vital heuristic function. Certainly, there continues to be a pressing need for concerted efforts on research, theory, teaching/learning and policy fronts in order to achieve educational equity for African Americans and for other disenfranchised groups. To the extent that this volume fuels the dialogue and continues the quest, then our purpose of honoring Professor Edgar G. Epps, consummate scholar and important contributor to the Chicago School Tradition, has been well served.

Everyone is vulnerable. The degree of balance (or not) between protective factors present (i.e., supports available and accessible) and risk factors present (i.e., cumulative challenges confronted) in an individual's life is always relative and linked to inevitable perceptual processes (see Spencer, 2006, 2008). That is, individuals’ perceptions of risk and protection are just as important as the actual presence of risk and protective factors. Thus, it is inescapable that human beings – particularly Black males in the United States – will experience some level of vulnerability at every point across the life course. In fact, a persistent dilemma has been the narrow focus of social science literature on the risks and persistent challenges confronted by Black males. Unfortunately, the successes achieved or manifested resiliency of Black males remains under-analyzed. Thus, a resiliency theme is generally not integrated into the training of those intended to provide and contribute to the building of protective factors which maximize the accessibility to and use of sources of support. Accordingly, independent of the fact that all humans are vulnerable, for some who experience a disproportionate share of risks and challenges given particularly constructed social conditions (e.g., African American males), the mechanisms which promote the obtainment of good outcomes as expressed resiliency are frequently under-examined either conceptually or theoretically.

In recent years, about one in five American children-some 12 to 14 million-have lived in families in which cash income failed to exceed official poverty thresholds. Another one-fifth live in families whose incomes were no more than twice the poverty threshold.⁸Today's economically based reorganization of the U.S. society is reshaping family structure through distinctive racial patterns. Families mainly headed by women have become permanent in all racial categories, with the disproportionate effects of change more visible among racial ethnics.⁹