IN SHORT; NONFICTION

LEAD:

A COMMON DESTINY: Blacks and American Society. Edited by Gerald David Jaynes and Robin M. Williams Jr. (National Academy, $35.) Not since the publication in 1944 of Gunnar Myrdal's ''American Dilemma'' have race relations in America been subjected to such scholarly scrutiny as in ''A Common Destiny.

A COMMON DESTINY: Blacks and American Society. Edited by Gerald David Jaynes and Robin M. Williams Jr. (National Academy, $35.) Not since the publication in 1944 of Gunnar Myrdal's ''American Dilemma'' have race relations in America been subjected to such scholarly scrutiny as in ''A Common Destiny.'' Twenty-two scholars in the behavioral and social sciences have collaborated since 1985 under the auspices of the National Research Council to produce this report on the present state of race relations in the United States, which was edited by Gerald David Jaynes, a professor of economics and African and African-American studies at Yale University, and Robin M. Williams Jr., the Henry Scarborough Professor of Social Science, emeritus, at Cornell University. The impeccable quality and objectivity of the research are warmly welcomed in a field so given to widespread distortions and unfounded speculations. I am distressed that such a mine of valuable information is not presented in a format and at a level of communication that can reach a wider audience. Perhaps such a challenge might be considered as the next step in meaningful discourse on the very sensitive area of race relations.

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