In United States of Rejection, a fascinating and impeccably researched book, Alison Kinney makes a thoroughly convincing argument for how rejection has shaped the country's past and present-and how it can redefine the future. Rejection is the throughline that connects power dynamics and inequality with the potential for transformation through community building and a collective refusal to accept the status quo. 'Our nation's standards . . . have never been fixed, ' Kinney writes. Change is always possible. This book is a testament to that fact.--Michele Filgate "editor of What My Father and I Don't Talk About"

Alison Kinney brilliantly rejects simplistic empowerment narratives and useless pity. By time traveling through history, offering interviews, and even sharing the personal, we land in a place that's firmly rooted in our world and yet otherworldly in its compassion.--Steve Fellner "author of Eating Lightbulbs"

The trick that Alison Kinney manages to pull off throughout United States of Rejection is tacking around the idea of rejection, both personal and universal, and making a book-length argument about rejection and America. Light and often funny, Kinney's narrative voice in this book is great: It's conversational without being glib and scholarly without being dull. Playful and serious at once, this is the best kind of creative scholarship: Everything in these pages takes on emotional resonance and layered meaning. Dazzling, really!--Ander Monson "author of Predator: A Memoir, a Movie, an Obsession"

United States of Rejection is a truly fascinating book with interesting methods and a rich array of case studies. Alison Kinney's wide expertise and stylistic savviness is one that readers need.--Marcos Gonsalez "author of Pedro's Theory: Reimagining the Promised Land"

a thought-provoking . . . take on a universal phenomenon-- "Publishers Weekly"