Arguing that “Affirmative action has been demeaning and disparaging to the accomplishments of people who belong to groups labeled as marginalized,” Swain calls for “better ways” to promote diversity and “give a hand up to underrepresented groups” than established Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. Swain presses the case that DEI initiatives and the Human Rights Campaign’s CEI index have had deleterious impacts on race relations in America, promoting divisiveness and “reverse discrimination” in schools and in the workplace. "At this point in history, the tables have seemingly been turned against Whites,” Swain writes, arguing that “diversity” training is actually tantamount to “divisiveness training.” Swain outlines a solution for creating “true” diversity and inclusion in the workplace with her company Real Unity Training Solutions, which "focuses on equipping CEOs and other leaders rather than attempting the impossible task of trying to change the culture of an organization."

Swain’s ideal version of diversity training would encourage participants to "respect the differences of others," "care about justice and fairness," and "accept personal responsibility for our results," among other things. But with barbed swipes at “radical” and “Marxist” progressives, antifa, and “useful patsy” George Floyd, The Adversity of Diversity tends toward the polemical rather than practical or persuasive. Its most promising arguments—“affirmative action stigmatizes the accomplishments of racial and ethnic minorities who are high achieving”—compete for attention with declarations that “BLM, wokeness, CRT, affirmative action” are “openly anti-white organizations and movements” and angry asides like a complaint about White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre using her “bully pulpit” to “promote her membership in the LGBTQ+ community.”

Readers sympathetic to such claims and grievances may find Swain’s vision of diversity training that “brings together employees around [a] mission without singling out or denigrating any group” compelling, but others will likely be put off by the vituperative language and the author’s tendency to assert rather than compellingly demonstrate that “the tribalism of multiculturalism” has “created a devil’s brew for racial conflict and hatred.”

Takeaway: Politically charged jeremiad against DEI, CEI, and affirmative action programs.

Comparable Titles: Candace Owens’s Blackout, Heather Mac Donald’s The Diversity Delusion.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A