The Stranger Next Door: the Story of a Small Community's Battle over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights - Hardcover

Stein, Arlene

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807079529 ISBN 13: 9780807079522

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2001

Synopsis

The author chronicles the economic decline of a small town in the Pacific Northwest and the concurrent rise of religiously fueled homophobia, a movement promoted by Lon Mabon, an outside agitator from the Oregon Citizens Alliance.

About this title

Review

By combining the meticulousness of an ethnographer with a writer's commitment to storytelling, Stein has written a book that's surprisingly compelling-or, better, compelling because it's surprising.--David L. Kirp, "The Nation"
"A fascinating look at the psychology of fear and persuasion." --Monica Drake, "The Oregonian"
"Every liberal ought to read this. . . . Arlene Stein provides an important depiction of life in a town which became a vortex of national and local issues."
Tex Sample, "Christian Century "
"What's especially valuable about Stein's book is her detailed look at each individual's take on the meaning of the campaign and her patient exploration of the wide variety of forces shifting the ground of these people's lives." --E. J. Graff, "American Prospect"
"This book displays interpretive sociology at its best." --Robert N. Bellah, coauthor of "Habits of the Heart" and "The Good Society"
"In her cogent analysis of just how sickeningly simple it is to create an 'other, ' a 'stranger' upon whom blame for our problems may be shifted, Stein has touched to the very heart of the social upheaval in America today." --Dan Hays, "Salem (Oreg.) Statesman-Journal"

"By combining the meticulousness of an ethnographer with a writer's commitment to storytelling, Stein has written a book that's surprisingly compelling-or, better, compelling because it's surprising." --David L. Kirp, The Nation

"A fascinating look at the psychology of fear and persuasion."--Monica Drake, The Oregonian

"Every liberal ought to read this. . . . Arlene Stein provides an important depiction of life in a town which became a vortex of national and local issues."--Tex Sample, Christian Century

"What's especially valuable about Stein's book is her detailed look at each individual's take on the meaning of the campaign and her patient exploration of the wide variety of forces shifting the ground of these people's lives."--E. J. Graff, American Prospect

"This book displays interpretive sociology at its best."--Robert N. Bellah, coauthor of Habits of the Heart and The Good Society

"In her cogent analysis of just how sickeningly simple it is to create an 'other, ' a 'stranger' upon whom blame for our problems may be shifted, Stein has touched to the very heart of the social upheaval in America today."--Dan Hays, Salem (Oreg.) Statesman-Journal

Synopsis

Stein (sociology, University of Oregon and Rutgers University) tells the fictionalized story of a rural Oregon town and its encounters with prejudice and paranoia when a conservative Christian organization convinces citizens that lesbians and gays are taking over the town and demanding special rights. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (bo

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807079529
• ISBN 13: 9780807079522
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 267