Ler Ksiazki The Notion of Family
By Dennis C Dickerson
Now available in a paperback edition, LaToya Ruby Frazier s award-winning first book,
"The Notion of Family," offers an incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and
economic decline in America s small towns, as embodied by her hometown of
Braddock, Pennsylvania.The work also considers the impact of that decline on the
community and on her family, creating a statement both personal and truly political
an intervention in the histories and narratives of the region. Frazier has compellingly
set her story of three generations her Grandma Ruby, her mother, and herself against
larger questions of civic belonging and responsibility. The work documents her own
struggles and interactions with family and the expectations of community, and
includes the documentation of the demise of Braddock s only hospital, reinforcing the
idea that the history of a place is frequently written on the body as well as the
landscape. With "The Notion of Family," Frazier knowingly acknowledges and
expands upon
