Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. summer 2019. Vol. 31 Issue 1. 2018 WINNER of THE DOUGLAS PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE  Bin Xu The Politics of Compassion: the Sichuan Earthquake and Civic Engagement in China (2017, Stanford University Press). Reviewed by Lily Liang (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Tens of thousands of ordinary Chinese citizens rushed to the southwestern … Continue reading Book Review: Bin Xu, The Politics of Compassion

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Fall 2018. Vol. 30 Issue 3. Review of Ann Swidler and Susan Cotts Watkins. A Fraught Embrace: The Romance and Reality of AIDS Altruism in Africa  (Princeton UP, 2017) Reviewed by: Shai Dromi, Harvard Univ One of the most challenging barriers for humanitarian organizations is the lack of direct access to populations in need. In places like Syria … Continue reading Book Review: A Fraught Embrace by Ann Swidler and Susan Cotts Watkins

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Winter 2018. Vol. 30 Issue 1. Review of Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of Food (Princeton, 2016) by Michaela DeSoucey,  2017 Culture section book award co- winner Reviewed by: Nino Bariola UT, Austin Some readers may at first deem foie gras—that French delicacy made of the liver of ducks or geese fattened by force-feeding—a trivial or frivolous … Continue reading Book Review: Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of Food by Michaela DeSoucey

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Winter 2018. Vol. 30 Issue 1. Review of Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court (Stanford, 2017) by Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, the 2017 Culture section book award co- winner. Reviewed by: Teresa Irene Gonzales, PhD Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell. Crook County, one of the winners of the section’s 2017 Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book, … Continue reading Book Review: Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court by Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Winter 2018. Vol. 30 Issue 1. Reviewed by: Anna Michelson, Northwestern University In Under the Cover (Princeton University Press), Clayton Childress traces a novel from inception to afterlife in the hands of readers, deftly demonstrating the interrelated nature of creation, production, and reception. Traditionally studied separately, Childress makes the case for creation, production, and reception as three … Continue reading Book Review: Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Winter 2018. Vol. 30 Issue 1. Review of The Work of Art: Value in Creative Careers (Stanford, 2017) by Alison Gerber Whitney Johnson, University of Chicago Midway through The Work of Art: Value in Creative Careers, Alison Gerber (Uppsala University) delivers a clever metaphor for the looming threat that some artists might be forced to quit … Continue reading Book Review: The Work of Art: Value in Creative Careers