Ain't No Makin' It

The making of this book has spanned twenty-five years, and scores of people—too many to list—have helped along the way. Katherine McClelland and David Karen supported me from the start and made this edition possible. I am also grateful to John and Winnie Asher, Peter Bearman, Dean Birkenkamp, Jim Car-roll, Stephen Cornell, John Dickie, David Finegold, Richard Harding, Greg Johnson, Rob Malley, Sue Vivian Mangold, Dan Porterfield, Michael Quirk, Ken Reeves, Jane Rosegrant, Debra Satz, John Stern, Andrew Sum, Douglas Taylor, Shelly Taylor, Hugh Thompson, Tina Tricarichi, Loïc Wacquant, David Webb, Paul Willis, and John Womack. Special thanks to John Clifford and Pat Glynn and to Barbara, Robert, Nancy, and John MacLeod. Steve Catalano of Westview Press has been helpful at every turn. I am also grateful to the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, the Monastery of Christ our Saviour in Turvey, and Bishop Woodford House in Ely for their warm hospitality when I holed up to work on this third edition. The Right Reverend Christopher Herbert, the Bishop of St. Albans, has been wonderfully supportive, as have colleagues John Tibbs, Neslyn Pearson, and Karamat Hussain, as well as the people of All Saints Parish Church. Sally Asher and our children, Asher, Kate, and Toby, have been forgiving of my domestic delinquency as I struggled to finish the book. Most of all, I would like to thank the Brothers and Hallway Hangers for so graciously letting me into their lives. To Boo-Boo (1966-1994) and to Sally Asher I dedicate this book.

We would like to thank Jay MacLeod for entrusting us with the important task of writing a conclusion to this new edition. It is a privilege to be included in this decades-in-the-making work of scholarship. We value Jay’s friendship and we are once again beholden (we haven’t forgotten Mississippi!) to him for giving us an inside look at processes of social inequality and social reproduction. We also wish to thank our friends who provided truly brilliant comments on this chapter: Janel Benson, Jerry Karabel, Annette Lareau, Krista Luker, John Noakes, and Judy Porter. They helped us sharpen our arguments, our prose, and our overall perspective. We are quite certain that each of them will see their suggestions in the final product, and we hope they won’t be too disappointed by the errors that, no doubt, remain. We would like to thank Madeline Vellturo for helping us ensure confidentiality of the Brothers and Hallway Hangers by checking all the names and places across the three editions. Finally, thanks to Westview editor Steve Catalano for allowing us to play this critical role and for keeping us properly stoked with rare Springsteen tapes.