This book display complements the Journal of Law and Social Policy’s symposium. The Unseen: Law, Invisibility, and the Margins of Social Policy takes place on Thursday, March 5, 2026 and focuses on three themes: immigration, housing, and reproductive rights.
All books are on display outside the library and are available to be checked out.
Immigration
Dear America is the memoir of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. As he describes it, “This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book–at its core–is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home.”
Other books featured:
- Once I Was You, NPR reporter Maria Hinojosa’s memoir
- Separated by Jacob Soboroff
- Everyone Who is Gone is Here by Jonathan Blitzer
- Revoking Citizenship by Ben Herzog
Housing
Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty addresses the housing crisis: “Cities are the engines of economic progress and the places that give birth to ideas that shape our lives. For generations, arriving in a major city was the first step toward the American Dream. But as housing costs skyrocket in job-rich cities across the nation, that door to opportunity is swinging shut.” (from the publisher)
Other books featured:
- The New Urban Crisis by Richard Florida
- House By House, Block By Block by Alexander Von Hoffman
- The Housing Policy Revolution by David J. Erickson
Reproductive Rights
Scarlet A by Katie Watson “combines storytelling and statistics to bring the story of ordinary abortion out of the shadows, painting a rich, rarely seen picture of how patients and doctors currently think and act, and ultimately inviting readers to tell their own stories and draw their own conclusions.” (from the publisher)
Other books featured:
- Abortion Beyond the Law by Naomi Braine
- Doctors of Conscience by Carole Joffe
- You Must Stand Up by Amanda Becker
- Abortion Pills Go Global by Sydney Calkin
- Personhood : the new civil war over reproduction by Mary Ziegler
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