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Jonathan R. Wynn

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

https://websites.umass.edu/wynn/

Member Since

November 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/wynnj26

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Jonathan Wynn is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He works at the intersection of urban and cultural sociology.

Bluesky: @jonwynn.bsky.social
Twitter: @wynnsociology

His major publications include Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport, The Tour Guide: Walking and Talking New York, The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities, and his sociological thriller, The Set Up. The Set Up is a ‘Most Anticipated Book of 2025’ by the Chicago Review of Books.

The Contexts magazine review of his work to date, “Jonathan Wynn, Sociological Detective” provides a surprising–both in its existence and in its insight–overview of the connections between his s Jonathan Wynn is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He works at the intersection of urban and cultural sociology.

Bluesky: @jonwynn.bsky.social
Twitter: @wynnsociology

His major publications include Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport, The Tour Guide: Walking and Talking New York, The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities, and his sociological thriller, The Set Up. The Set Up is a ‘Most Anticipated Book of 2025’ by the Chicago Review of Books.

The Contexts magazine review of his work to date, “Jonathan Wynn, Sociological Detective” provides a surprising–both in its existence and in its insight–overview of the connections between his sociological and fiction writing:

“[I]f there is a common thread across Wynn’s books, it is this: Sociologists do well to find their concepts in use in the world—among the expert practitioners of daily life. This is not just an interpretive point, but a methodological one. Wynn’s work suggests that some of the most durable insights of our discipline emerge when we sociologists recognize that people are already doing the work we claim to analyze—and often with more skill, nuance, and improvisational awareness than we might otherwise give them credit for. […] In some of its classic forms, a good detective story does not uncover hidden facts so much as piece together the answer that was always already there.  The joy of the reading lies in your discovery of what you had passed over or ignored—what was obscured by any number of other possible answers. Sociology, in Wynn’s view, seems to work the same way.  It gets us to attend to what has been happening all along—whether in the hospital parking lot and cafeteria, the distribution of music venues across a street grid, or the mystery and surprise that lurk around every corner.”

His work has also been published in City & Community, Media, Culture & Society, Sociological Theory, Qualitative Sociology, Sociological Forum, Socius, Contexts, and Ethnography. He was the co-editor of the ASA Culture Section Newsletter (2011-2014), a 2017 Public Engagement Project Fellow. He was co-chair for the UMass Amherst Common Read committee (2014-2016), an advisory board member for the Penguin/Random House First Year Experience, supports the UMass Amherst Emerging Scholars program, wrote for the Everyday Sociology blog (2011-2024), and is on the Editorial Board for the University of Massachusetts Press starting Fall 2025.

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Jonathan R. Wynn’s books

Average rating: 3.96 · 47 ratings · 6 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Affective Turn: Theorizing The Social by Jean O'Malley Halley (Goodreads Author), Melissa Hope Ditmore, Jonathan R. Wynn (Goodreads Author) 3.64 avg rating — 56 ratings — published 2007 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Set Up really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 15 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Tour Guide: Walking and Talking New York 3.93 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2011 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport 3.79 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities by Daniel Skinner, Jonathan R. Wynn (Goodreads Author), Berkeley Franz 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jonathan R. Wynn…

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Satellites

by Tom Pappalardo (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 12, 2026 04:14AM

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Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism

by Rachel Maddow (Goodreads Author)

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An Oral History of Atlantis

by Ed Park (Goodreads Author)

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Jonathan Wynn started reading Satellites by Tom Pappalardo (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan Wynn and 110 other people liked Ed's review of An Oral History of Atlantis: "The best story collection I ever wrote!"
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Jonathan Wynn finished reading Titanium Noir (Titanium Noir, #1) by Nick Harkaway (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan Wynn finished reading The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan Wynn finished reading The Decagon House Murders (House Murders, #1) by Yukito Ayatsuji	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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