About this Event
ABOUT THE EVENT
Tickets include a signed, paperback copy of UNJUST DEBTS, guaranteed entry to the event, and a seat in the reserved section. Melissa will be in conversation with J. Rich Leonard and will sign books after the program.
All live author events are subject to change. More information about our events can be found at quailridgebooks.com/eventsfaq.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A groundbreaking look at the hidden role of bankruptcy in perpetuating inequality in America, from an expert in the field
Bankruptcy is the busiest federal court in America. In theory, bankruptcy in America exists to cancel or restructure debts for people and companies that have way too many—a safety valve designed to provide a mechanism for restarting lives and businesses when things go wrong financially.
In this brilliant and paradigm-shifting book, legal scholar Melissa B. Jacoby shows how bankruptcy has also become an escape hatch for powerful individuals, corporations, and governments, contributing in unseen and poorly understood ways to race, gender, and class inequality in America. When cities go bankrupt, for example, police unions enjoy added leverage while police brutality victims are denied a seat at the negotiating table; the system is more forgiving of civil rights abuses than of the parking tickets disproportionately distributed in African American neighborhoods. Across a broad range of crucial issues, Unjust Debts reveals the hidden mechanisms by which bankruptcy impacts everything from sexual harassment to health care, police violence to employment discrimination, and the opioid crisis to gun violence.
In the tradition of Matthew Desmond’s groundbreaking Evicted, Unjust Debts is a riveting and original work of accessible scholarship with huge implications for ordinary people and will set the terms of debate for this vital subject.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MELISSA B. JACOBY is the Graham Kenan Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A frequent commentator on bankruptcy and debt in national media outlets, she has published over fifty articles, book chapters, and op-eds. She lives in Chapel Hill and Brooklyn. Unjust Debts is her first book.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Quail Ridge Books, 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road, Raleigh, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 28.00
