Radical South

Kiese Laymon's debut novel is a Twain-esque exploration of celebrity, authorship, violence, religion, and coming of age in Post-Katrina Mississippi, written in a voice that's alternately funny, lacerating, and wise.

Laymon detailed his experience of racism at Millsaps, and as a coming-of-age black man in Mississippi, in his essay for Gawker, 'How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America'

Argues for non-traditional approaches to studying the Black experience - a focus away from race relations and issues of class and an emphasis on intragroup interaction. Investigates the processes, social institutions, and structures within the Black community of a small college town that influence social change and social action since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

eBook. In the 1990s, residents of Anniston, Alabama, began a legal fight against the agrochemical company Monsanto over the dumping of PCBs in the city's historically African American and white working-class west side. A compelling narrative exposing how systemic racial and class inequalities reinforced during the Jim Crow era played out in these intense contemporary social movements.

eBook. When Zandria Robinson returned home to interview African Americans in Memphis, she was often greeted with some version of the caution "I hope you know this ain't Chicago." In this important new work, Robinson critiques ideas of black identity constructed through a northern lens and situates African Americans as central shapers of contemporary southern culture. Analytically separating black southerners from their migrating cousins, fictive kin, and white counterparts, Robinson demonstrates how place intersects with race, class, gender, and regional identities and differences.

eBook. Leading African American sociologists assess the current state of race theory and racial discrimination in order to chart a path toward a more engaged public scholarship. They contemplate the paradoxes of Black freedom and the paradoxes of equality and progress for the progeny of the civil rights generation in the wake of the election of the first African American president.

eBook. Internet commentary-reviews, fanfic, likes, tweets, posts, and comments-provides a fascinating look at human behavior in an environment that dissociates us from social norms and allows for instantaneous and anonymous participation. A look at - "the bottom of the web"- to find out what drove a bookstore owner to visit the home of a negative reviewer, why businesses invest in fake reviews and Twitter followers, and why people ask Reddit "Am I Ugly?"