An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy

Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish social economist undertook the task of developing a comprehensive study of race relations in the United States. Bunche was one of the six top staff. “He established a uniquely close relationship, both professional and personal with Myrdal, and the four monographs he wrote were among the most articulated and the most influential as far as the final work was concerned…In the final book their view often diverged, Bunche's belief in a socialist transformation of society as the best hope for Black Americans giving away, in An American Dilemma, to Myrdal's social-engineering approach and his view that Black Americans should try to adjust as far as possible to the values and behavior of white middle class…(the) book provided a new understanding of the racial problems of the United States as well as a new sense of the urgent need to resolve those problems.”

— Excerpt from Ralph Bunch: An American Odyssey by Brian Urquhart