This book explores the consequences of conservative policy for black opportunity by identifying the economic and social costs of the long-term conservative experiment. The book grew out of a large project studying the changing patterns of opportunities for white and minority youths growing up in five of the nation's urban communities, but primarily focusing on data from Atlanta (Georgia), a city with a booming economy, strong black elected leadership, and many highly educated blacks. The study's findings indicate that the following are true: (1) serious racial barriers remain; (2) the market cannot itself solve the social economic and educational problems of urban America; (3) opportunities were greater for the poor in the less conservative 1970s; (4) black control of government and education cannot solve these problems; (5) blacks must have access to opportunities in suburban areas; and (6) residential segregation has profound impacts. The following are the titles of the eight chapters: (1) "Opportunity in Metropolitan Atlanta: Going Backward in the 1980s"; (2) "Shattered Dreams"; (3) "Metropolitan Atlanta: Economic Boom and Growing Inequality"; (4) "Housing and Opportunity"; (5) "High Schools"; (6) "Declining Black Access to College"; (7) "Job Training"; and (8) "The Lessons of Atlanta: An Agenda for Urban Racial Equality in the 1990s". Included are 194 references. (JB)