Gone Goose

“Gone Goose provides an insightful look at an American community responding to a changing environment and the sense of loss this change engenders. Leap’s thoughtful exploration of how humans gain identity, values, and social connections as part of their relationship with the ecosystem they are part of is not only nuanced and reflective, but also moving. This is a poignant work that is worthy of attention from readers interested in the meaning of community and place, the implications of ecological change, and human-animal relationships.”
—Richard York, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon

“Gone Goose is a great case study about climate adaptation in unexpected communities. Leap’s work contributes to our conversations about environmental change and adaptation beyond those studies set in liberal coastal cities or developing nations aided by wealthy western governments or INGOs. The idea that communities are adapting to climate change without knowing it—and without explicitly talking about it—and still managing to retain some of the social structures they have always had, is interesting, hopeful, and saddening all at once. Leap tells this story of resilience and how communities can adapt to changing environmental conditions clearly and with passion.”
—Deserai Crow, Associate Professor in School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, Denver

"Timely and sincere.... The book really shines where Leap showcases his nuanced understandings of rural life in this community.... Other major strengths are the clearly close relationships he has developed with community residents and the complexity of the analysis. Leap builds a multilayered story, weaving gender, race, class, and place together in an intricate web. This approach reveals many keen insights.... (T)his is a terrific intersectional account of several overlapping inequalities.... Gone Goose is a model study of how climate change affects communities."
– Men and Masculinities

"Leap’s ethnography is a useful contribution not only to sociology, but also to those who wish to develop resilient responses to climate change.... Leap’s focus on power and inequality and his incorporation of rurality into the intersectional discussion of race, class, and gender are both useful contributions. Another is the author’s in-depth look at the complexity of rural communities.... Leap reminds us that adaptation is always an unfinished process. His book offers some hope that it will continue."
— Social Forces

"Environmental sociologists will be particularly interested in Leap’s analysis of how whiteness was produced through transformation of the landscape with respect to the management techniques used in the refuge to develop duck hunting."
— American Journal of Sociology

" (A)n excellent ethnographic account of how a local community adapts to drastic ecological changes that carry direct economic impacts.... The book is wonderfully written, almost as though one is reading a good novel, with vivid and detailed descriptions of the people and places that make up this small town.... (A)n important read for anyone interested in ecologically informed ethnography and local responses to climate change."
— Symbolic Interaction

"(A) fascinating and timely book that discusses the way citizens in the small town of Sumner, Missouri adapted to serious ecological changes associated with climate change.... The book is incredibly thorough in exploring and analyzing the connections between Sumner’s social inequalities, sense of community, and communal adaptations to specific environmental changes.... The research presented in the book is clear, detailed, and effective in communicating the complex nature of various community topics.... The book (is) insightful and informative."
— Rural Sociology

"There is much to commend in Gone Goose for different audiences. In a world where depictions of rural people and places are often flattened, rural scholars will find an intricate and recognizable portrait of rural life. Environmental sociologists will find a compelling exploration of the localized impact of shifting climatological conditions and how people adapt—or struggle to adapt—to such changes. Scholars of inequality will see the ways that existing inequalities and power differentials inform what changes are possible. Activists will find a nuanced portrait of those on the front lines of climate-induced adaptations that may give hints at ways to forge common ground. And scholars across the discipline might find something worth elaboration in Leap’s idea of a sociology of adaptation.... Gone Goose is the nuanced and complex profile of a town—and a people—in flux."
—Contemporary Sociology