About the Book

While we hear much about the "culture of poverty" that keeps poor black men poor, we know little about how such men understand their social position and relationship to the American dream. Moving beyond stereotypes, this book examines how twenty-six poverty-stricken African American men from Chicago view their prospects for getting ahead. It documents their definitions of good jobs and the good life--and their beliefs about whether and how these can be attained. In its pages, we meet men who think seriously about work, family, and community and whose differing experiences shape their views of their social world. Based on intensive interviews, the book reveals how these men have experienced varying degrees of exposure to more-privileged Americans--differences that ground their understandings of how racism and socioeconomic inequality determine their life chances. The poorest and most socially isolated are, perhaps surprisingly, most likely to believe that individuals can improve their own lot.By contrast, men who regularly leave their neighborhood tend to have a wider range of opportunities but also have met with more racism, hostility, and institutional obstacles--making them less likely to believe in the American Dream. Demonstrating how these men interpret their social world, this book seeks to de-pathologize them without ignoring their experiences with chronic unemployment, prison, and substance abuse. It shows how the men draw upon such experiences as they make meaning of the complex circumstances in which they strive to succeed.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures xi List of Tables xiii Preface xv THE FOUNDATIONAL ERA CHAPTER 1: Breath-Pipes and Ignivomous Mountains--Early Concepts of Volcanism 3 CHAPTER 2: Basaltes Prismatiques--Lava, Columnar Basalt, and Ancient Volcanoes 16 CHAPTER 3: Fire or Water?--The Debate over the Origin of Basalt 34 CHAPTER 4: The "Insolently Triumphant Dogma"--The Collapse of the Concept of Aqueous Basalt 50 CHAPTER 5: Subterraneous Lava--The Recognition of Intrusive Granite 62 THE PRIMITIVE ERA CHAPTER 6: Wet or Dry?--The Origin of Granite 81 CHAPTER 7: Classes and Orders--Petrography and Classification in the Early Nineteenth Century 104 CHAPTER 8: Basalt and Trachyte--Early Theories of Diversity 125 THE MICROSCOPE ERA CHAPTER 9: Minute Objects, Great Conclusions--The Rise of Microscopic Petrography 143 CHAPTER 10: Basalt or Melaphyre?--Igneous Rocks in Time 167 CHAPTER 11: Provinces and Plugs--Igneous Rocks in Space 182 CHAPTER 12: Spaltung und Kerne--The Emergence of the Theory of Differentiation 199 CHAPTER 13: Physical Chemistry and Petrology--The Mechanism of Differentiation 215 CHAPTER 14: The Language of Petrology--Nomenclature and Classification 231 CHAPTER 15: Meldometers and Thermocouples--Early Experimental Petrology 264 THE EXPERIMENTAL ERA CHAPTER 16: Clearing the Mists--The Theory of Crystallization-ifferentiation 283 CHAPTER 17: An Unsurpassed Natural Laboratory--Differentiated Slls and Layered Intrusions 313 ChAPTER 18: Cone Sheets and Cauldrons--The Mechanics of Igneous Intrusion 333 CHAPTER 19: Magma or Emanations?--The Beginnings of the Granite Controversy 350 CHAPTER 20: Pontiffs and Soaks--The Resolution of the Granite Controversy 368 CHAPTER 21: Modes and Norms--Classification in Crisis 389 THE GEOCHEMICAL ERA CHAPTER 22: Structures and Spectra--The Geochemical Revolution in Petrology 411 CHAPTER 23: The Sea Below, the Heavens Above--The Extension of Petrology 431 CHAPTER 24: Delta and Epsilon--Stable and Radiogenic Isotopes in Igneous Petrogenesis 448 CHAPTER 25: Mathematical Modeling--Trace-Element Studies in Igneous Petrogenesis 472 CHAPTER 26: Bombs and Buffers--Experimental Petrology after Bowen 498 CHAPTER 27: Classification Salvaged?--IUGS to the Rescue 527 THE FLUID DYNAMICAL ERA CHAPTER 28: Rayleigh and Reynolds--The Fluid Dynamics of Magma Chambers 549 CHAPTER 29: Paradigm Lost, Paradigm Regained?--Cumulate Theory under Fire 578 CHAPTER 30: Past and Future--Some Concluding Remarks 602 Bibliography 615 Index of Names 675 Index of Subjects 681