Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

In her latest book, Bodies out of Place, Combs (Kennesaw State Univ.) draws on the strength of her "second-sight," informed by her expertise as a sociologist and lived experience as a Black woman in the US, to provide a thorough and timely discussion of the intersections of place, Black bodies, and anti-Black violence (p. 1). Combs, whose previous work, From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom (2013), highlights her skillful approach to social history, here presents the concept of "Bodies out of Place" as a smart, broadly supported social theory and methodology in this eponymous text. With a frank approach and broad scope, the book cites both historical and recent anti-Black violence to present a well-founded argument that this violence stems from white people's discovering Black bodies in places they believe Black people do not belong, physically or socially. At turns both conversational and educational, this text will benefit any scholar of American history, African American history, African American theory, race and ethnicity, or gender studies. Likewise, it will engage a general audience and presents a meaningful entry in contemporary sociological theory.Summing Up: Essential. General readers, advanced undergraduates through faculty, and professionals.

Recognizing that natural disasters are also social disasters, Erikson (emer., Yale Univ.) and Peek (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) interpret Hurricane Katrina and its social fallout by placing the storm in a larger context. Katrina hit New Orleans after generations of concentrated poverty had already impacted people and set in motion the continuous dislocation of the city's Black residents. "Where are you a person?" is the question the authors heard from Louisianans when explaining what defines identity and home. For the state's Black citizens who have been displaced, the answer may be that there is no personhood to be had in Louisiana. Even before Katrina, Black residents of New Orleans were subjected to the chronic social disasters of poverty, disinvestment in communities, gentrification, and disenfranchisement, all of which accelerated during the city's post-disaster reconstruction. In detailing the storm's aftermath, Erikson and Peek describe what can be considered, though not in their own words, only a form of ethnic cleansing that took place through bureaucratic competence and incompetence. The one system left untouched by Katrina, it seems, was American racism, which continues to play a role in acute and chronic disasters, from COVID-19 to immigration and border policies.Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty; professionals.

In The Love Jones Cohort, Marsh (Univ. of Maryland, College Park) provides a data-rich examination of a growing demographic of Black individuals who classify as single and living alone, or SALAs. Although SALAs can occupy any Black household, Marsh's work surveys SALAs she has identified as part of the Black middle class, coined the "Love Jones Cohort." She argues that this demographic has been increasing since the early 1990s and that its experiences must be incorporated into studies of the Black family. Along with statistical data on wealth and Black families, Marsh incorporates interviews with 62 members of the Love Jones cohort who detail their lived experiences as single heads of households, their wealth accumulation strategies and challenges, their decision-making practices around choosing where to live, and their coping mechanisms. This well-written, well-researched monograph fills a gap in the literature on Black families and changing definitions of family. Marsh closes her work with a call for the institutionalization of the Love Jones cohort as a family of one that receives the same benefits as other families. This includes a paradigm shift that challenges traditional notions of marriage and family structures deemed necessary for inclusion in the middle class.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.