what I'm reading: the sodomy consultant, UHA, the gulag, and more

from my personal collection, a picture of that time the brick wall at the Chicago House of Correction collapsed.

I am gearing up for the Urban History Association meeting in Los Angeles next week. First and foremost I am reading the program and an advance copy of Justin Randolph's new UNC Press book, Mississippi Law: Policing and Reform in America's Jim Crow Countryside. Our panel on this remarkable book is on Friday at 3:00pm. I hope historians of policing will turn out to hear my student Robert DuBovy present on "The Philanthropic Origins of Police Training" on Sunday at 9:45am. His discoveries blew my mind.

In the realm of urban history, last week I got to teach Cookie Woolner's article "Women Slain in Queer Love Brawl" on coverage of violence and Black lesbians in 1920s NYC, as well as a chapter on the policing and jailing of gay men in Miami from Julio Capo's magisterial Welcome to Fairyland. In keeping with this theme, I enjoyed this new article from French Historical Studies on "The Sodomy Consultant of Paris."

For those following along– my Soviet history turn has taken me deep into The Gulag Archipelago (volume 2!) and at a colleague's suggestion I am also reading the work of Victor Serge. Serge's work is absolutely bracing– like a blast of wind on a freezing day.

In the realm of pre-orders, might I suggest:

Will Quam's Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago from our UChicago Press series, Chicago Visions and Revisions (real ones know of my obsession with the Chicago House of Correction brick making operation).

Gautham Rao's much anticipated White Power: Policing American Slavery from UNC Press. Watch the book trailer!

In the realm of U.S. carceral history, there is an embarrassment of riches in the most recent Journal of American History:

Obviously the subhead "The Jail, Reimagined" has my attention: Justin T Clark, "Souls in Debt: The Transformation of Carceral Punishment in Early Eighteenth-Century New England," Journal of American History, Volume 112, Issue 2, September 2025, Pages 233–257, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaf099.

Love to see new work by one of my favorite up and coming urban historians: Pedro A. Regalado, "Fixing Capital: Drug Capitalism and Real Estate in Late Twentieth-Century Gotham," Journal of American History, Volume 112, Issue 2, September 2025, Pages 307–331, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaf097.

To toot my own horn: Here's my effusive review of Reiko Hillyer's beautiful book A Wall Is Just A Wall. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaf109

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