Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City: Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place [Paperback]

This book offers a qualitative analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City and on the practices of the citys urban prepper subculture, exploring the lived experience of the pandemic in terms of class division and examining the sheltering-in-place practices and community resilience efforts of New York preppers.

1. Preparing for Survival versus Trying to Survive  2. History of Contagions and Chaos in the City  3. Escape from New York: When the Rich Left the City  4. Setting Up: Prepper Closets  5. Settling In and Settling Down: Life During Lockdown  6. Fostering Resiliency: The New York City Preppers Network  7. Prepper Advice for Post-Pandemic New York  8. Resiliency and a Way Forward for the City

Anna Maria Bounds is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Queens College, City University of New York, USA.

Drawing on urban and community resilience literature, Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City: Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place offers a detailed qualitative analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City and on the philosophy and practices of the citys urban prepper subculture.

With a special focus on the height of the pandemic in New York, this book considers the citys unique position as the pandemics first epicenter in the United States. It also explores the lived experience of enduring the pandemic as reflections of class division, considering key themes, including the exodus of the wealthy, sheltering in place for the middle class, the inability to leave high-risk neighborhoods for the poor, and sheltering-in-place practices and community resilience efforts by New York preppers. It analyzes the importance of good government and an engaged citizenry in developing an agenda for the citys continued recoverlã*