A riveting, groundbreaking account of how the war on crime has torn apart inner-city communities by a rising star in sociology
Forty years in, the tough on crime turn in American politics has spurred a prison boom that disproportionately affects black communities. It has also torn at the lives of those on the outside. As arrest quotas and high tech surveillance criminalize entire blocks, a climate of fear pervades daily life. Alice Goffman spent six years in one Philadelphia neighborhood, documenting the routine stops, searches, and beatings that young men navigate as they come of age. We see how families endure raids and interrogations and how "clean" residents struggle to go to school and work as cops chase their neighbors. While recognizing the drug trade's damage, On the Run reveals a justice system gone awry. This exemplary work highlights the failures of the War on Crime, and presents a compassionate chronicle of the families caught in the midst of it.
• For readers of Michelle Alexander, Cornel West, and Sudhir Venkatesh
• Explosive topic under national debate
• Extensive university and college tour with appearances by the author