[URBANTH-L]NEW BOOK: The Tenants of East Harlem

[L Guevarra]

Dear Urbanth-L:


Dear Collective Behavior Listserv:


The University of California Press  is pleased to announce the publication of:

The Tenants of East Harlem

Russell Leigh Sharman is Assistant Professor in 
the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at 
Brooklyn College.

http://go.ucpress.edu/SharmanTenants

"An excellent contribution to the history of East 
Harlem, history of ethnic immigration and social 
inequality in the United States, and finally to 
understanding the phenomenon of the ethnically 
and class segregated U.S. inner city."-Philippe 
Bourgois, author of _In Search of Respect: 
Selling Crack in El Barrio_

Rich with the textures and rhythms of street 
life, _The Tenants of East Harlem _is an 
absorbing and unconventional biography of a 
neighborhood told through the life stories of 
seven residents whose experiences there span 
nearly a century. Modeled on the ethnic 
distinctions that divide the community, the book 
portrays the old guard of East Harlem: Pete, one 
of the last Italian holdouts; José, a Puerto 
Rican; and Lucille, an African American. Side by 
side with these representatives of a century of 
ethnic succession are the newcomers: Maria, an 
undocumented Mexican; Mohamed, a West African 
entrepreneur; Si Zhi, a Chinese immigrant and 
landlord; and, finally, the author himself, a 
reluctant beneficiary of urban renewal. Russell 
Leigh Sharman deftly weaves these oral histories 
together with fine-grained ethnographic 
observations and urban history to examine the 
ways that immigration, housing, ethnic change, 
gentrification, race, class, and gender have 
affected the neighborhood over time. Providing 
unique access to the nuances of inner-city life, 
_The Tenants of East Harlem _shows how roots sink 
so quickly in a community that has always hosted 
the transient, how new immigrants are challenging 
the claims of the old, and how that cycle is 
threatened as never before by the specter of 
gentrification.

Full information about the bookis available 
online: http://go.ucpress.edu/SharmanTenants