{"product_id":"back-essays-on-the-soul-and-spine-of-america-9780063043909","title":"Back: Essays on the Soul and Spine of America","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAcclaimed \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e contributor Lauren Michele Jackson delivers an essay collection devoted to the back--and the conflicting ideas we load upon it.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoving across literature, film, sport, visual art, and U.S. history, Jackson probes how the back carries powerful ideas about beauty, gender, labor, race, and political solidarity. Here the back emerges as a site of vulnerability and desire, embodiment and rhetoric, dependence and resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJackson's prose effortlessly shifts between conversational and intellectual, inviting readers into digressions that illuminate rather than distract in a set of ranging essays, alighting upon subjects such as bodybuilding, ballet, portrait photography, \u003ci\u003eGone With the Wind\u003c\/i\u003e, horse racing, copyright law, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBack\u003c\/i\u003e opens a broad door onto the body as both structure and metaphor, linking artistic and political representation through a mutual attention to what--and who--is made to bear weight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Lauren Michele Jackson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Amistad Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.68lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.54h x 5.70w x 0.85d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780063043909\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/10\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJackson, Lauren Michele:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eLauren Michele Jackson \u003c\/b\u003eis an author, national fellow, cultural critic, and academic. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eWhite Negroes\u003c\/i\u003e, which was short-listed for the 2020 Museum of African American History Stone Book Award. She is an assistant professor of English at Northwestern University and a contributing writer for \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e. Her essays and criticism have also been published in \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, \u003ci\u003eHarper's Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e4Columns\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Yale Review\u003c\/i\u003e. She is an alumna of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and received her PhD in English from the University of Chicago. In 2025, Jackson was awarded the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, from the National Book Critics Circle\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e She lives in Chicago.","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Lauren Michele Jackson \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":67729074290845,"sku":"9780063043909","price":32.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_a75cfece-df58-47ec-8149-d3476395aec9.jpg?v=1792578447","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/back-essays-on-the-soul-and-spine-of-america-9780063043909","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}