Carl Maida has brought together historical, sociological, and contemporary case studies to demonstrate how members of poor minority groups cope with crises. . . . Maida's book should be welcome in urban communities everywhere.

Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles, Yale University

“This is wide-ranging sociology, public health, and local history on a grand scale. This book, with its calm and deliberative prose and in-depth look at different kinds of urban crises, can serve as a guidebook for policymakers, health professionals, and community leaders striving to repair the torn social fabric in any urban environment.”

Robert Louis Chianese, California State University, Northridge

In Common Worlds, Carl Maida has laid the groundwork for a public anthropology centered in the notion of praxis. Over twenty years of fieldwork has produced a book that is ethnographic, philosophical, historical, but also action-oriented. It is a must-read for those interested in the ethnography of Southern California and the impact of the political economy on the lived experience of working people.

Sam Beck, Cornell University

Carl Maida has crafted a dynamic crossover work that is penetrating, profound and highly readable. Common Worlds contains a powerful historical narrative and a mother lode of theory – anthropological, environmental and geographical. He has worked among the public/private partnerships and the community coalitions as a critical participant observer and now tells their stories in a crisp comparative framework. This is a compelling book that takes us through hidden histories and unforeseen waters – traversing art, economics, and everyday life; providing viable answers as to how we can confront the environmental tragedies of our time; and offering a discourse of hope that will help guide us to take back the land, and the country.

Brian McKenna, University of Michigan, Dearborn

Carl Maida has written a book that does something most scholars hope to accomplish at one point in their career—successfully produce an interdisciplinary integration of a complex topic that stretches beyond one’s original area of expertise…. [I]t really will engage a wide variety of curious scholars--especially those with interdisciplinary urban interests.

The Pennsylvania Geographer