James W. Messerschmidt s groundbreaking book Crime as Structured Action demonstrates that to understand crime, we must understand how crime operates through a complex series of gender, race, and class practices. In the second edition of this powerful book, Messerschmidt brings the structured action thesis into the perspective of current research, updates several of the original case studies, and provides two new case studies to bring theories to life. The book also features expanded discussions of whiteness and sexuality, and their relationships to crime.