Yesterday I had lunch with two researchers whose work I’ve been following for several years. They are looking at what the social science community calls “return migration” and what poets call “going home again.”

In the course of our conversation, I learned about a book, Call to Home: African-Americans Reclaim the Rural South, by Carol Stack. This morning, I looked up that book, and I found these words:

“Many millions of Americans lack a place to go home to. Their families are no longer rooted in a particular piece of American ground, or never did put down such roots. Generations of migration have taken their toll.”

Needless to say, I will be reading this book.