Erica Caple James is Professor of Medical Anthropology and Urban Studies at MIT and author of the award-winning book Democratic Insecurities: Violence, Trauma, and Intervention in Haiti.

"One could read Life at the Center multiple times and, with each reading, encounter new dimensions. Erica Caple James's work is exceptional."--Linda Barnes, Professor of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine

"James has written an important book that deftly disentangles the complex relationships between a Catholic institution, Haitian immigrants, and the work of charity in Boston. The compelling ethnography of local worlds is matched by more general explications for understanding religion, immigrants and refugees, and their transformation into Americans."--Arthur Kleinman, author of The Soul of Care