Heroic Efforts: The Emotional Culture of Search and Rescue Volunteers
“Jennifer Lois’outstanding in-depth ethnography of mountain search and rescue teams yields insight not only into the specific heroic culture of rescue workers, but also more generally into that of other risk-takers such as firefighters, police officers, and ER doctors. Lois focuses on the way emotions drive some and impede others, how difficult emotions are handled in crisis situations and released afterwards, and the emotional currency or repayment between heroes and those they rescue. She skillfully shows the way heroism intertwines with masculinity, producing an organizational culture stratified by gender. Finally, she discusses the transference of the hero identity from the group to individual members and their subsequent self-effacement in a culture of false modesty when interacting with their support community.”-Patricia A. Adler,University of Colorado at Boulder“Lois takes readers inside the social world of search and rescue volunteers, offering sociological insight into topics such as gender, emotions, and identity.”-American Journal of Sociology,“Heroic Effortsbegan as a dissertation, but ends as one of the best book on emotions I have read in years. If you want a glimpse into the power of really good ethnography and the reason we need both qualitative and quantitative research, this book will provide you with both entertainment and sagacity.”-Contemporary Sociology,“[Lois] examines how rescuers construct meaning in their lives and define themselves through their risky, demanding work.”-Seattle Times,