I got 17 pages in before I realized that this was going to be a completely mind numbing book. The whole reason I picked up the book in the first place is because it's a very important topic that is more current and pressing now than ever. But if you can imagine trudging across a 110° desert, out of water for days and finally coming upon an oasis only to discover that it is filled with rice cakes...that's how dry this book is. There are no interesting character stories or dialogue to string this along, just stats, figures, graphs and footnotes.

William Julius Wilsonn  n:
A fascinating easy to read study of 4 Chicago neighborhoods and how they each have dealt with issues of integration or self definition. Explains a lot about current tensions in cities.

this is the next book i will read

I admit, I didn't finish this book. But I didn't finish because of the writing and because it wasn't exactly what I was thinking it would be. The first chapters concerned political, state- and/or nation-wide issues that were dealt with in more cooperative ways than the author expected, such as the Utah compact. It was heartening to read about these to a point. But a lot of pages were spent on them. I had been expecting something at more of a local, neighborhood level - person to person.

As a Chicagoan, I found this quite engrossing. The book is a readable ethnographic dive into the racial, ethnic, and class attitudes, tensions, and demographic shifts of four (anonymized) Chicago S & W side neighborhoods (one white, one black, one Latino, one shifting from white to Latino; all lower-middle class except the long-time Latino neighborhood which was slightly poorer).

I’ve read some reasonable critiques that the neighborhood sources the ethnographers drew on weren’t as fully representative of their communities as could be desired, but despite that this is helpful as a snapshot of at least some attitudes and dynamics in a way that’s hard to gain access to (as a neighborhood outsider) otherwise. Though lead author Wilson is frequently critiqued for his 1980 book arguing that the significance of race is declining in America (positing that class is instead the central salient factor), 26 years on he doesn’t stick to that argument here, instead highlighting the importance of both factors in the dynamics he sees.

The authors’ prognosis is poor for the chances of urban neighborhood racial integration, but they briefly offer other ideas for making life and racial harmony better for all urbanites, starting by saying political will needs to be developed across the racial spectrum for more extensive government assistance for the myriad problems faced by cities’ most stigmatized and underserved group: low-income Blacks.

America has often been characterized as a melting pot, constantly creating an ever-changing blend of races and cultures. Indeed, many citizens still cling to the notion that the residential desegregation of neighborhoods is achievable. The research conducted for this book, however, strongly suggests that neighborhoods in urban America, especially in large metropolitan areas like Chicago, are likely to remain divided, racially and culturally. This has profound implications for the future of race and ethnic relations in the United States; national racial tensions cannot be disassociated from tensions originating in neighborhood social dynamics.
p 161

Being very familiar with the neighborhoods analyzed in this book, I expected a bit more graular content. It seems that the researchers completed very in depth research, but only brought abbreviated or truncated content into the book itself.

Also, the conclusion was rather rushed and briefly stated (Republican presidents are bad, and a few more Great Society programs would fix the problems). For all of the research clearly undertaken, the trite conclusion and prescription seemed like it stole few bases.

clearly written, easy to digest, and enlightening, particularly on urban racism in the 1990s. however, it bothered me to no end that pseudonyms were used for the names of the neighborhoods; i can understand wanting to protect individuals, but there was really no need to mask the real neighborhood names -- especially since the book was published a decade after the primary field research was conducted. luckily, it wasn't hard to find out the real names of the neighborhoods, but the poor choice by the authors makes the book less usable.

You can check out my review here:

https://youtu.be/6ERmbtiKOpg

Interesting comparison of four Chicago neighborhoods based on ethnographic research. All nabes except one have become predominantly Latino. The portrayals show a trend of continued segregation.

WOW! This is a great read about the transformation that is happening in a lot of cities but is set in Chicago

Does not tie application into theory strongly enough to make a good sociological point. Also, just not well-written.