"Scrubbing behind their refrigerators, manicuring their lawns,
reciting the pledge of allegiance in rainy parking lots, the people
of Beltway mold their community with precision and grace. Firm in
their convictions about what makes up a decent place to live, and
fierce in their efforts to protect this place from the forces that
threaten it, Beltway's residents have found in Kefalas a sharp-eyed
yet sympathetic interpreter of their behavior, their homes, and
their dreams. Ethnography rarely penetrates this deeply."--Wendy
Griswold, author of "Bearing Witness
"The perspective of working or lower-middle class whites on
issues of race and culture is often ignored, misunderstood or
treated with contempt by social scientists. Kefalas's perceptive
portrayal and penetrating analysis of a white working-class
neighborhood in Chicago provides an important and much needed
contrast. In this well-written book, Kefalas advances our
understanding of the socioeconomic insecurities of ordinary white
Americans in a changing urban world and shows how these
insecurities influence their world views and efforts to provide
meaning and order in their daily lives."--William Julius Wilson,
author of "The Bridge over the Racial Divide
"Not since Jonathan Rieder's "Canarsie has an urban ethnographer
presented as nuanced an examination of the defended working-class
neighborhood and its inhabitants. Kefalas's meticulous Chicago
fieldwork argues that her subjects rise above the old racial order
as they fight against crime and other threats. "Working-Class
Heroes will provoke endless seminar discussion and debate, and
ongoing research. It establishes its author as an important new
voice in urbanethnography."--Mitchell Duneier, author of "Sidewalk
and "Slim's Table
""Working Class Heroes is an important and original contribution
because it demonstrates very convincingly how the stable white
lower-middle class defines its identity and its status through its
environment and how group boundaries are shaped by ecological
factors. As defenders of civilization living in an imperiled world,
the workers Kefalas studied believe an immaculate household, a
well-maintained property, a clean and safe neighborhood, and a
righteous nation are worth living and fighting for. Her skillful
ethnography truly captures the complexity of their cultural world
and clarifies neglected aspects of the cultural dimension of
inequality."--Michele Lamont, author of "The Dignity of Working
Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class, and
Immigration
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