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Paper short abstract

Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City shows how COVID 19 reshaped NYC and its prepper subculture. In 2026, its insights clarify ICE’s expanding reach across U.S. cities and how resilient communities mobilize to resist coercive state power.

Paper long abstract

Drawing on urban and community resilience literature, my book, Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City: Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place offers a detailed qualitative analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City and on the philosophy and practices of the city’s urban prepper subculture. In 2026, this research can also be used as a guide to trace the impact of another disease spreading across New York and other American cities -- the spread of ICE. Most important, this book can also be explored to understand how local communities are using similar network strategies to resist the efforts of ICE to arrest and remove urban citizens.

With a special focus on the height of the pandemic in New York, this book considers the city’s position as the pandemic’s first epicenter in the United States. It explores the lived experience of enduring the pandemic as reflections of class division, considering key themes, including the exodus of the wealthy, sheltering in place for the middle class, the inability to leave high-risk neighborhoods for the poor, and sheltering-in-place practices and community resilience efforts by city preppers. It analyzes the importance of good government and an engaged citizenry in developing an agenda for the city’s future, underscoring the need for cities to develop disaster management approaches that expand traditional “command and control” models to make space for local knowledge and resources. In battling against ICE, urban citizens are embracing the philosophy and strategies of urban preppers.