Talking at Trena's - Hardcover

Reuben A. Buford May is Professor of Sociology at Texas A & M University. He is the author of Talking at Trena’s: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern (NYU Press, 2001).

"An engaging text. May shows why a space like Trena's is essential and why people become regulars.”

"Like Du Bois, Drake and Cayton, Liebow, and Anderson before him, Reuben May has written a key text for understanding the segregated urban spaces of the U.S. Talking at Trena's is an intimate look at racial identity and racial conflict, hegemonic masculinity, homophobia, and the reception of television culture in black communities. It is an important extension of the urban ethnographic tradition that will be widely read for many years to come."

"By turn sad, hilarious, shocking, and touching, these conversations are always revealing: May makes good use of them in suggesting what they tell us about how these men experience, for example, racism and class bias and ho they behave in various social contexts."

"A tour de force. Readers who begin this engaging and well-written book will find it hard to put down. May captures the subtle aspects of race in the everyday life of African Americans with original insights into informal social interactions in a segregated setting, and the implications of affirming racial identity in a multiracial society."

"As we come to know the participants of this African American tavern, we see the world from their perspective, making us a little more humane and wise in the process. Reuben May, with his quick ears and careful eyes, has performed a valuable service."