Between Us

As we approach the New Year, this week’s review offers personal reflections on the benefits of using sociology to process both current events and individual challenges.

Posted on December 30, 2024 in Reviews of the Month

Between Us: Healing Ourselves and Changing the World Through Sociology

ed. by Marika Lindholm and Elizabeth Anne Wood Chicago, 2024
312p bibl index, 9780226827117 $115.00, 9780226833873 $22.00, 9780226833866 $21.99

This collection of personal essays engages the sociological imagination and considers its application to current issues. Contributing authors include some of the leading lights of contemporary sociology, who discuss their personal and scholarly journeys to sociological thought. The book is wonderfully indexed and scaffolded with key terms, discussion questions, and foundational citations, which connect the personal to the sociological in vivid and engaging ways. The book’s 45 essays are grouped into sections on the sociological imagination, social structure and identity, family and community, class and status, borders and ethnicity, racism, sex/gender, and social change. Many of these essays will resonate with vulnerable or marginalized students, demonstrating the achievements of minoritized scholars who have used sociological insights and personal experience to advance the field and come to terms with the challenges they have faced. Many essays also provide insights into effective teaching, either explicitly or through implicit modelling of author engagements with their students. This volume will make an excellent resource for teaching general introductory sociology courses, or for using the book’s subsections as lead-ins to topical courses.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty.
Reviewer: J. L. Croissant, University of Arizona
Subject: Social & Behavioral Sciences – Sociology
Choice Issue: Jan 2025

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