"Winner of the Emilie Buchwald Award for Minnesota Nonfiction, Minneapolis Book Awards"
"Phelps highlights the connection between the culture of policing and politics implicating both in the failure to hold police accountable and to reign in their influence. . . . Phelps then moves on to discuss how these failures galvanized activists within the city and began to lead many of them toward an abolitionist approach. . . . While the failure to abolish the MPD may be seen by some as an indictment of the movement, the fact that they were able to garner so much support for a proposition that prior to 2020 would have been dismissed as an impossibility should give hope to activists."-- "Sociology of Race and Ethnicity"
"Incredibly compelling. . . . Instead of simply providing a historical chronicle of this tragic event, Phelps successfully captures the complex tapestry of interests and individuals instrumental to the pursuit of police reform in Minneapolis. While her commitment to police reform is evident throughout her writing, one of the many commendable aspects of this work is the nuance and balance she brings to presenting the complexity of views of police violence and possible remedies."---David Latimore, Christian Century
"With the rise of mass movements critical of police violence and of the police role in society over the last decade, researchers began looking at policing anew. . . . What [Michelle Phelps] found is the oft documented duality among African Americans of being wary about police but still wanting to have them around to provide safety. Some have referred to this as the dynamic of over- and underpolicing, but Phelps adjusts that to an excess of problematic policing and a deficit of actual security. . . . Throughout [The Minneapolis Reckoning], Phelps provides a detailed explanation of abolitionist demands and organizing."---Alex S. Vitale, American Journal of Sociology
"It is tempting to look back on the summer of 2020 and lament. For those few heady months, the way forward seems so clear. . . . Michelle Phelps' Minneapolis Reckoning is an account of that long, difficult struggle to transform policing in the City of Lakes. Phelps resists the tremendous appeal of a simple elegy. . . . [and] makes a strong case for the possibilities--and perhaps even necessity--of dwelling in the here-and-now of anti-police activism, where those wishing for a new world must relate to 2020 as a practical resource rather than as a revolutionary reverie."---Daniel Fernandez, Inquest
"At the heart of The Minneapolis Reckoning is a nuanced account of the dynamic contests between political actors, movement actors, voters, and other stakeholders that unfolded in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder."---Daanika Gordon, Law & Social Inquiry
"The Minneapolis Reckoning is an essential text. . . . By bringing together scholarship on policing, social movements, political institutions and policymaking, social justice, and race, Minneapolis Reckoning offers valuable contributions to each while demonstrating the importance of examining their intersections."---Ryan T. Steel, Punishment & Society