# Caroline Light's Forthcoming Book Receives Mention in "The Nation" August 17, 2016 Acclaimed legal scholar [Patricia Williams](https://www.thenation.com/authors/patricia-j-williams/) cited Professor Caroline Light's forthcoming book in [her August 15, 2016 column](https://www.thenation.com/article/the-ground-in-stand-your-ground-means-any-place-a-white-person-is-nervous/) in *The Nation*, "The ‘Ground’ in ‘Stand Your Ground’ Means Any Place a White Person Is Nervous." Williams writes: \[\[{"fid":"3279806","view\_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"height":"237","width":"166","style":"float: right;","alt":"cover of Professor Light's Book, "Stand Your Ground"","title":""Stand Your Ground: A History of America's Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense"","class":"media-element file-default"}}\]\]"Harvard professor Caroline Light has traced the history of our romance with legalized vigilantism. She dates it to the Reconstruction era, 'when post-war political and economic turmoil and the enfranchisement of African American men fed late-19th-century gender panic, and the legal terrain shifted to characterize a man’s "castle" and the dependents residing therein as an extension of the white masculine self.' Light (whose excellent new book *Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense* is forthcoming from Beacon Press next spring) asserts that current policies, including defunding basic public services, have led to a situation in which 'the state’s retreat from the protection of its citizens creates a perceived need for (do-it-your)self-defense.' The supposedly race-neutral idea of 'reasonable threat' actually encourages a 'lethal response to black intrusions into spaces considered white.'" All of us in WGS are looking forward to reading [Professor Light's book](http://www.beacon.org/Stand-Your-Ground-P1254.aspx) when it comes out in early 2017! See also:- [ Recent news ](/news-items/recent-news) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)