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On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries) Hardcover – May 1, 2014

by Alice Goffman (Author)

178 customer reviews

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Forty years in, the War on Drugs has done almost nothing to prevent drugs from being sold or used, but it has nonetheless created a little-known surveillance state in America’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Arrest quotas and high-tech surveillance techniques criminalize entire blocks, and transform the very associations that should stabilize young lives―family, relationships, jobs―into liabilities, as the police use such relationships to track down suspects, demand information, and threaten consequences.

Alice Goffman spent six years living in one such neighborhood in Philadelphia, and her close observations and often harrowing stories reveal the pernicious effects of this pervasive policing. Goffman introduces us to an unforgettable cast of young African American men who are caught up in this web of warrants and surveillance―some of them small-time drug dealers, others just ordinary guys dealing with limited choices. All find the web of presumed criminality, built as it is on the very associations and friendships that make up a life, nearly impossible to escape. We watch as the pleasures of summer-evening stoop-sitting are shattered by the arrival of a carful of cops looking to serve a warrant; we watch―and can’t help but be shocked―as teenagers teach their younger siblings and cousins how to run from the police (and, crucially, to keep away from friends and family so they can stay hidden); and we see, over and over, the relentless toll that the presumption of criminality takes on families―and futures.

While not denying the problems of the drug trade, and the violence that often accompanies it, through her gripping accounts of daily life in the forgotten neighborhoods of America's cities, Goffman makes it impossible for us to ignore the very real human costs of our failed response―the blighting of entire neighborhoods, and the needless sacrifice of whole generations.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An exceptional book. . . . Devastating."

(Malcolm Gladwell New Yorker)

“A remarkable feat of reporting.”

(Alex Kotlowitz New York Times Book Review)

"This is a remarkable chronicle, informed by Goffman's scholarship, detailed from personal experience as 'participant observer,' and related with honesty and compassion."

(Publishers Weekly)

"Alice Goffman's On the Run is the best treatment I know of the wretched underside of neo-liberal capitalist America. Despite the social misery and fragmented relations, she gives us a subtle analysis and poignant portrait of our fellow citizens who struggle to preserve their sanity and dignity."

(Cornel West)

“This is a truly wonderful book that identifies the casualties of the war on drugs that extend beyond the prison walls. The punitive ghettoisation of the poor leaves few families untouched. The detail is incredible. The research is impeccable. Read it and weep."

(Times Higher Education)

"Extraordinary. . . . The best work of ethnography I have read in a very, very long time."

(LSE Review of Books)

"On the Run is riveting--a clear-headed and sobering account of the 'way it is' for too many of the nation's young black men who live in the killing fields called American cities. It reveals how the everyday lives of these men--their loved ones--are closely monitored and mined for evidence that is then used against them, exacerbating their alienation and fueling the prison-industrial complex. This brilliant book should be required reading for everyone, including President Obama, Congress, and public officials throughout the nation."

(Elijah Anderson, author of Code of the Street)

"On the Run tells, in gripping, hard-won detail, what it’s like to be trapped on the wrong side of the law with no way out--the situation of so many young Black Americans today. A brilliant fieldworker and a smart analyst of what she saw and heard, Goffman has made a lasting contribution to our understanding of the administration of the law, urban life and race relations, in a book you will never forget reading."

(Howard Becker, author of Writing for Social Scientists)

"By turns On the Run is heartbreaking and clear-eyed, sad and entangled. With rich ethnographic detail, Alice Goffman reveals the emotional arc of deceptively complex young lives that are criminalized daily in one Black neighborhood in Philadelphia. A triumphant achievement!"

(Carol Stack, author of All Our Kin)

"Powerful. . . . It's clear that Goffman didn’t just research this book; she lived it. . . . Goffman has a gift for bringing to life the troubles and anxieties of ordinary people. . . . Invaluable. . . . A dramatic record of how race is still a key predictor of whether or not some young Americans will have a chance at a 'pursuit of happiness.'"

(Los Angeles Review of Books)

About the Author

Alice Goffman is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She lives in Madison.

Series: Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: University of Chicago Press (May 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 022613671X
ISBN-13: 978-0226136714
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 178 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #648 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Urban
- #1646 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Criminology
- #1792 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > African-American Studies

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Jason

and epistemological challenges make for great discussions in class

June 30, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

While not without its problems, I've taught this book several times now in my anthropology courses. It's a compelling book. The ethical, methodological, and epistemological challenges make for great discussions in class. My biggest complaint-- by far the most interesting and thought provoking part of the book is the almost ignored methodological "note" in the back of the book. This "note" is longer than several of the chapters and is CRITICAL to the book. Why does Goffman try to hide it at the end. You must read the "note" to really understand the whole book and Goffman as an ethnographer. I hope in subsequent editions it is upgraded to chapter status and placed toward the front of the book.

4 people found this helpful

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Alex Perlin

Good book good insight

December 15, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is interesting and thought provoking. I work in the field, and this book made me realize things that never occurred to me. It is obviously not all encompassing but she did good work here.

6 people found this helpful

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JDTop Contributor: Poetry Books

Extreme Research

August 13, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fascinating account of research. Recommended for those who want to see an extreme example of research in the field.

3 people found this helpful

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Cynthia K. Thornton

If you want to understand why the poor make the choices they do, read this

October 23, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As a middle class American, I have a hard time getting past, "Why don't they just . . ." People on the whole make rational choices including the American poor. This book give the back story - aa must read for understanding poverty today.

3 people found this helpful

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March 4, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great book. Will change your views of the justice system and its functioning in the inner city.

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May 12, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It was an interesting book learning about the experiences but felt like the author only blamed the police instead of the individuals. Either a balance or simply stating the facts would have been better in my opinion.

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daysb4tomorrow

Ethnography or Exploitation?

March 7, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Felt exploitative at times, rather than an ethnography....just me I suppose.

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November 1, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

On the Run presents a key perspective in how poverty becomes so persistent in America.

2 people found this helpful

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Most recent customer reviews

Institutional racism is not a good idea?!

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” (Ida B Wells)

The first step to solving a problem is recognizing the problem.Read more

Published 2 months ago

Sara

It is view changing and such a good read.

Everyone in America should read this book. It is view changing and such a good read. :)

Published 4 months ago

Janix Varnell

Five Stars

Amazing book! A must read.

Published 7 months ago

Goffman's writing about women is absolutely garbage, and her whole lack of examination of whiteness ...

So this book was..... meh but acceptable? Until the methodology section when things just spiral out of control.Read more

Published 7 months ago

Amazon Customer

Great read!

Great sociological study of race and the criminal justice system.

Published 12 months ago

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