Explores the ways science, politics, and large corporations affect race in the twenty-first century, discussing the efforts and results of the Human Genome Project, and describing how technology-driven science researchers are developing a genetic definition of race.

Part I. Believing in race in the genomic age. Chapter 1. Invention of race. Where does race come from? ; A special kind of subjugation ; Racial identity on trial ; The instability of race ; Making race seem biological -- Chapter 2. Separating racial science from racism. How scientists created a racial order ; The progressive science of eugenics ; The end of racial science? The final chapter? -- Part II. The new racial science. Chapter 3. Redefining race in genetic terms. Statistical race ; Is geographic ancestry the new race? ; From segregated gene banks to color-coded genomes ; Where does geography get us? ; The enduring faith in race -- Chapter 4. Medical stereotyping. Racial diseases ; Racial profiling in the doctor's office ; The source of disparities ; Difference under the skin -- Chapter 5. The allure of race in biomedical research. Searching for the gene -- Chapter 6. Embodying race. Life and death in Chicago ; Inequality is bad for your health ; Stress takes its toll ; Unhealthy neighborhoods ; Programming in the womb ; Policy makes a difference -- Part III. The new racial technology. Chapter 7. Pharmacoethnicity. The unfulfilled promise ; From personalized medicine to pharmacoethnicity ; Racial markets -- Chapter 8. Color-coded pills. BiDil's conversion ; The FDA hearing ; The mysterious mechanism ; As common as Viagra ; BiDil's demise ; The future of race-based therapies ; Back to genetics ; Will we forget about race? -- Chapter 9. Race and the new biocitizen. Genetic testing comes home ; Who has access? ; Building better babies ; Obliged to choose ; Biocitizens or bioconsumers? -- Chapter 10. Tracing racial roots. We have a race for you! Recovering African origins ; Ancestry, not race ; Am I Jewish? ; Authenticating Native American blood ; Consumer beware! ; Making racial claims -- Part IV. The new biopolitics of race. Chapter 11. Genetic surveillance. The surveillance state ; The fallacy of DNA infallibility ; Not worth the cost ; Jim Crow databases ; The test -- Chapter 12. Biological race in a "postracial" America. Conservative color blindness and genetic race ; Liberal postracialism and genomic science ; Genes, race, and the emerging biopolitics ; Privatization and punishment -- Conclusion : the crossroads.