Overview

A history of America's Stand Your Ground gun laws, from Reconstruction to Trayvon Martin In the aftermath of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, conservative legislators and school administrators shocked some observers when they proposed armed public school patrols to protect children. Yet this kind of DIY security activism predates the contemporary gun rights movement. As Caroline Light proves, support for good guys with guns relies on the entrenched belief that certain bad guys with guns threaten us all. Stand Your Ground explores the development of the American right to self-defense, and reveals how the duty to retreat from threat was transformed into a selective right to kill. In her rigorous genealogy, Light traces white America s attachment to racialized, lethal self-defense, from the original castle laws to the radicalization of the NRA. A convincing treatise on the United States deadly ascension as the world's first Stand Your Ground nation, Light shows how violent self-defense has been legalized for the most privileged and made the most marginalized more vulnerable.

Full Product Details

9780807064665

Table of Contents

Reviews

<i>Stand Your Ground</i> is timely and sharp, a potent antidote to historical amnesia. Mark Anthony Neal, professor of Black popular culture in the Department of African and African American Studies, Duke University In this brilliant and timely history of the well-armed citizen, Caroline Light reveals the logic and lunacy of the perceived reasonableness of lethal force in America, and the collective myth of the ideal, gun-toting savior against the threat of the other. Patricia Williams, Professor of Law at Columbia School of Law Caroline Light traces the history of self-defense in America from the early republic to the present, and reveals how gun use policies have consistently compromised the contours of our democracy. Paying careful attention to the roles of race and gender in structuring gun control politics, Light ultimately provides us with a profound reflection on belonging and exclusion in American society. Essential reading. Elizabeth Hinton, award-winning author of <i>From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America</i>

-The author is a keen legal analyst, deftly examining obscure cases that underlie this historical narrative...A weighty consideration of the cultural politics behind disturbing flash points like the death of Trayvon Martin.---Kirkus Reviews -Light's readable account deserves strong notice by those seeking understanding of the roots of today's polarizing debate over gun laws.---Booklist -While some may believe that the prevalence of 'stand-your-ground' narratives is a new phenomenon, Caroline Light's Stand Your Ground is timely and sharp, and a potent antidote to historical amnesia. Light reminds us that these defenses are as old as the republic; they have always protected those with privilege and jeopardized those at the margins.---Mark Anthony Neal, author of New Black Man -In this brilliant and timely history of 'the well-armed citizen, ' Caroline Light reveals the logic--and lunacy--of the perceived reasonableness of lethal force in America and the collective myth of the ideal, gun-toting savior against the threat of the 'other.'---Patricia Williams, professor of law at Columbia Law School -Caroline Light traces the history of self-defense in America from the early republic to the present and reveals how gun-use policies have consistently compromised the contours of our democracy. Paying careful attention to the roles of race and gender in structuring gun control politics, Light ultimately provides us with a profound reflection on belonging and exclusion in American society. Essential reading.---Elizabeth Hinton, award-winning author of From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America

Stand Your Ground is timely and sharp, a potent antidote to historical amnesia. Mark Anthony Neal, professor of Black popular culture in the Department of African and African American Studies, Duke University In this brilliant and timely history of the well-armed citizen, Caroline Light reveals the logic and lunacy of the perceived reasonableness of lethal force in America, and the collective myth of the ideal, gun-toting savior against the threat of the other. Patricia Williams, Professor of Law at Columbia School of Law

The author is a keen legal analyst, deftly examining obscure cases that underlie this historical narrative...A weighty consideration of the cultural politics behind disturbing flash points like the death of Trayvon Martin. --<i>Kirkus Reviews</i> Light's readable account deserves strong notice by those seeking understanding of the roots of today's polarizing debate over gun laws. --<i>Booklist</i> A timely and far-reaching new book...Light deftly analyzes how this lop-sided treatment has survived, in our legal system and also in the distortions that help define the historical memory of white America...It's far from obvious that repealing Stand Your Ground laws would break that loop. As Light shows, the right to claim the protective mantle of self-defense has never been equally distributed in America. Stand Your Ground laws may be stark symbols of that reality, but they didn't create it. Stand Your Ground didn't kill Martin or keep Zimmerman out of jail. And it didn't protect Peterson. Truly facing the problems of violence in America will mean following Light's lead and digging deeper. --Peter C. Baker, <i>Pacific Standard</i> A powerful new book...studded with striking statistics and sobering facts. --Nina MacLaughlin, <i>The Boston Globe</i> While some may believe that the prevalence of 'stand-your-ground' narratives is a new phenomenon, Caroline Light's <i>Stand Your Ground</i> is timely and sharp, and a potent antidote to historical amnesia. Light reminds us that these defenses are as old as the republic; they have always protected those with privilege and jeopardized those at the margins. --Mark Anthony Neal, author of <i>New Black Man</i> In this brilliant and timely history of 'the well-armed citizen, ' Caroline Light reveals the logic--and lunacy--of the perceived reasonableness of lethal force in America and the collective myth of the ideal, gun-toting savior against the threat of the 'other.' --Patricia Williams, professor of law at Columbia Law School Caroline Light traces the history of self-defense in America from the early republic to the present and reveals how gun-use policies have consistently compromised the contours of our democracy. Paying careful attention to the roles of race and gender in structuring gun control politics, Light ultimately provides us with a profound reflection on belonging and exclusion in American society. Essential reading. --Elizabeth Hinton, award-winning author of <i>From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America</i> Provocative and original. --Mike The Gun Guy Weisser, author of the <i>Guns in America</i> series

Author Information

Caroline Light is director of undergraduate studies in the Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Harvard University. She is the author of That Pride of Race and Character- The Roots of Jewish Benevolence in the Jim Crow South.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available