Like Family

"In this remarkable book Margaret Nelson takes us to a place so familiar, yet overlooked, to relationships that persist over time. Like Family provides a mirror to intimate, long-lasting ties that live on through thick and thin. Margaret Nelson has a remarkable gift for uncovering the bewilderment of intentional relationships." -- Carol Stack * author of All Our Kin *
"Margaret Nelson has a strong reputation as a writer and scholar, and writes about how even biological family is chosen these days.  Like Family will contribute to pushing intellectual activity, research, and theory forward." -- Barbara J. Risman * author of Where the Millennials Will Take Us *
"This unique and richly-detailed study brings into view three distinct types of family-like arrangements that are missing in current accounts of fictive kinship.  The book abounds with insights about family boundaries, their internal relations and varied meanings.  Nelson's volume stands as a principal contribution to the family field, one that deepens our understanding of the American family tapestry." -- Maxine Baca Zinn * Michigan State University *
"What does it mean to say someone is 'like family' in a society where blood and legal bonds seem to dominate political, economic, religious, and academic conversations about family life? Nelson honestly and compassionately brings wisdom from a career of sociological investigation to an innovative project: how fictive-kinship relationships can help us understand creative and generous experiences of social support in (and between) today’s families. Nelson uncovers important truths about these relationships."  -- Michelle Janning * Raymond and Elsie Gipson DeBurgh Chair of Social Sciences & Professor of Sociology, Whitman College *
"In the Pandemic, Close Friends Relied on Their ‘Chosen Families’" by Ray A. Smith * Wall Street Journal *
"An interesting, thoughtful addition to the study intimacy and social relationships. The book addresses an understudy topic and generates central questions about race, class, gender, and intimate relationships. This book would make a nice addition to a seminar on family and kinship—it is very readable, and can work well in both graduate and undergraduate courses." * Social Forces *