{"product_id":"between-river-railroad","title":"Between the River and the Railroad Tracks \/\/ (Pre-Order, Nov 17 2026)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeticulously crafted and unflinchingly vulnerable, Nicole R. Fleetwood's multigenerational family portrait braids the intimate life of a neighborhood with the historic arc that shaped it to offer an untold story of the black Midwest.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1973, Hamilton, Ohio, was a mill town so typical it prided itself on being quintessentially American. In harder times, it proved to be a bellwether. Here, young Nicole is born into a fourth-generation household in the Second Ward, a segregated neighborhood between the river and the railroad tracks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this tight-knit community, most of Nicole's neighbors are like her relatives: large, intergenerational families a few decades up from the South. They build their own institutions, create music with global influence, and uphold a code of conduct centered around safety and belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the legacy of slavery and the entrenched racism of the Midwest cast a shadow over the Second Ward. The Fleetwoods bear their struggles as an ancestral curse, one that dooms their menfolk and burdens their women. The family lore echoes in Nicole's earliest memories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Nicole grows up, the curse spreads through her community. She witnesses the Second Ward undergo devastating changes that impact her family and neighbors. The loss of factory jobs, growing political divides, and the crack epidemic wreak havoc, seeping through the walls of her family home and replacing the sense of community and familiarity with destitution and violence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole nurtures her intellectual curiosity and independence, dreaming of college and the world beyond. But she fears that leaving the Second Ward means abandoning everything she's known--the neighborhood map that kept her safe, the community that raised her, and the family that loves her. In a powerful testament to black love and inheritance,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eBetween the River and the Railroad Tracks\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003easks whether we can ever leave home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eOprah Daily's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Best Books of Fall 2026\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNicole R. Fleetwood\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer, art curator, and professor at New York University. A MacArthur Fellow, she is the author \u003ci\u003eMarking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award. Her other books include \u003ci\u003eOn Racial Icons \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Troubling Vision\u003c\/i\u003e. She has curated exhibitions at MoMA PS1, Art and Practice (LA), the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Brown Arts Institute, Aperture Foundation, and Zimmerli Museum of Art. Her work has been supported by Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, American Council of Learned Societies, the Art for Justice Fund, Mellon Foundation, the Gordon Parks Foundation, Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library, Whiting Foundation, Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, Ford Foundation, and Denniston Hill Residency. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePublisher: Little Brown and Company\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePublish Date: November 17, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePages: 336\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eType: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEAN\/UPC: 9780316564304\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDimensions: 9.5 X 6.3 X 1.1 inches\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBISAC: Biography \u0026amp; Memoir, Politics, History, Personal Memoirs, Cultural, Ethnic \u0026amp; Regional - African American \u0026amp; Black\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Nicole R. Fleetwood","offers":[{"title":"(Pre-Order, Nov 17 2026) Hardcover","offer_id":49406818648299,"sku":"9780316564304","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0253\/4014\/9820\/files\/9780316564304.jpg?v=1789429280","url":"https:\/\/rep.club\/products\/between-river-railroad","provider":"Reparations Club","version":"1.0","type":"link"}