Edited and with an introductory chapter by Elijah Anderson, the essays in Against the Wall describe how the young black man has come to be identified publicly with crime and violence. Featuring a foreword by Cornel West and sixteen original essays by contributors including William Julius Wilson, Gerald D. Jaynes, Douglas S. Massey, and Peter Edelman, Against the Wall illustrates how social distance increases as alienation and marginalization within the black male underclass persist, thereby deepening the country's racial divide.