Stand Your Ground

-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