Packing Them In

Sylvia Hood Washington's Packing Them In is an intriguing overview of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and environmentalism. The book confronts orthodox views about environmental justice and environmental racism, calling upon all of us to take a deeper, more historically informed look at an important contemporary subject. -- Martin V. Melosi, University of Houston This unique work offers a balance of wisdom from careful historical analysis with the political passions aroused by environmental racism. While her historical focus is on Chicago, Dr. Washington's creative synthesis of empirical detail and social-historical theories are applied to a broader American canvas. -- Allan Schnaiberg, Northwestern University No issue better defines the ways that white supremacy damages lives across the color line, even as it concentrates misery among poor people defines as not white, than that of environmental racism. No study of environmental racism is more rooted in a rich local history, more steeped in engineering expertise, more conversant with the critical study of whiteness, more theoretically informed, or more politically engaged than this seminal and provocative book. -- David Roediger, University of Illinois Sylvia Washington's investigation of the pathologies of environmental racism in Chicago is a welcome addition to a field in need of urban case studies. Her fine history of African-American and immigrant groups' assiduous efforts to secure environmental justice, and to simply live safely, is instructive for contemporary struggles against similar forces of injustice. -- Paul C. Rosier, Villanova University Professor Washington has done the study of both urban development and environmental justice a great service. In her insightful and well argued book, she has shown how racism, sexism, and classism impacted on the life chances of African Americans when they moved to urban areas. Drawing on a wide range of historical, scientific, and political sources, she has provided a well documented overview of the role of racism in urban development. This book is a must read for American Studies Scholars, urban planners, environmentalists, and anyone interested in the history of the development of public policies regarding cities. -- Bill E. Lawson, Michigan State University With Packing Them In Sylvia Washington has made a significant contribution to American environmental history by demonstrating the centrality of race, racism, and resistance to any adequate understanding of the processes of environmental degradation and 'protection.' Her close empirical studies are informed by theoretical sophistication and animated by a passionate commitment to social justice. -- David Delaney, Amherst College Packing Them In is a welcome addition to the fields of environmental history and environmental justice studies. Indiana Magazine Of History, March 2008 Packing Them In offers the most cogent explanation to date of how environmental injustices are rooted in historic patterns of racial segregation in the housing market. Vivid in its portrayal of urban pollution and disease, this book nonetheless inspires and uplifts as it captures the resilience of a community determined to improve and beautify its environmental surroundings. -- Andrew Hurley, University of Missouri, St. Louis