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High-Risers
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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The term gentrification has become a buzzword to describe the changes in urban neighborhoods across the country, but we don't realize just how threatening it is. It means more than the arrival of trendy shops, much-maligned hipsters, and expensive lattes. The very future of American cities as vibrant, equitable spaces hangs in the balance. How to Kill a City takes listeners from the kitchen tables of hurting families who can no longer afford their homes to the corporate boardrooms and political backrooms where destructive housing policies are devised.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Six stars
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American Apartheid shows how the black ghetto was created by whites during the first half of the 20th century in order to isolate growing urban black populations. It goes on to show that, despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, segregation is perpetuated today through an interlocking set of individual actions, institutional practices, and governmental policies. In some urban areas the degree of black segregation is so intense and occurs in so many dimensions simultaneously that it amounts to "hypersegregation".
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The South Side
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Better suited to print than audio
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In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding and eye-opening
- By serine on 11-29-16
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How to Kill a City
- Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood
- By: Peter Moskowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
The term gentrification has become a buzzword to describe the changes in urban neighborhoods across the country, but we don't realize just how threatening it is. It means more than the arrival of trendy shops, much-maligned hipsters, and expensive lattes. The very future of American cities as vibrant, equitable spaces hangs in the balance. How to Kill a City takes listeners from the kitchen tables of hurting families who can no longer afford their homes to the corporate boardrooms and political backrooms where destructive housing policies are devised.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Snobby Socialist New Yorker Gets Hyperbolic
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There Are No Children Here
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- By: Alex Kotlowitz
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 960
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 836
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 838
This national best-seller chronicles the true story of two brothers coming of age in the Henry Horner public housing complex in Chicago. Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers are 11 and nine years old when the story begins in the summer of 1987. Living with their mother and six siblings, they struggle against grinding poverty, gun violence, gang influences, overzealous police officers, and overburdened and neglectful bureaucracies. Immersed in their lives for two years, Kotlowitz brings us this classic rendering of growing up poor in America’s cities.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Six stars
- By Caro on 05-24-13
-
American Apartheid
- Segregation and the Making of the Underclass
- By: Douglas S. Massey, Nancy A. Denton
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11
American Apartheid shows how the black ghetto was created by whites during the first half of the 20th century in order to isolate growing urban black populations. It goes on to show that, despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, segregation is perpetuated today through an interlocking set of individual actions, institutional practices, and governmental policies. In some urban areas the degree of black segregation is so intense and occurs in so many dimensions simultaneously that it amounts to "hypersegregation".
-
The South Side
- A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation
- By: Natalie Y. Moore
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
In this intelligent and highly important narrative, Chicago native Natalie Moore shines a light on contemporary segregation on the South Side of Chicago through reported essays, showing the lives of these communities through the stories of people who live in them. The South Side shows the important impact of Chicago's historic segregation and the ongoing policies that keep it that way.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is a must book!
- By Renee on 03-07-17
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The Color of Law
- A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
- By: Richard Rothstein
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,064
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 952
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Story5 out of 5 stars 945
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation - that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, he incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation - the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments - that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Better suited to print than audio
- By ProfGolf on 02-04-18
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Evicted
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- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,573
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,227
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,218
In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding and eye-opening
- By serine on 11-29-16
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The Last Stone
- A Masterpiece of Criminal Interrogation
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
On March 29, 1975, sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyons, ages 10 and 12, vanished from a shopping mall in suburban Washington, DC. As shock spread, then grief, a massive police effort found nothing. The investigation was shelved, and the mystery endured. Then, in 2013, a cold case squad detective found something he and a generation of detectives had missed. It pointed them toward a man named Lloyd Welch, then serving time for child molestation in Delaware.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What an incredible book, I could not put it down!!
- By D. FOXX on 04-06-19
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Red Summer
- The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America
- By: Cameron McWhirter
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
After World War I, black Americans fervently hoped for a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and equality. Black soldiers believed their participation in the fight to make the world safe for democracy finally earned them rights they had been promised since the close of the Civil War. Instead, an unprecedented wave of anti-black riots and lynchings swept the country. From April to November of 1919, the racial unrest rolled across the South into the North and the Midwest, even to the nation's capital. Red Summer is the first narrative history about this epic encounter.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Strongly recommended!
- By deb on 02-18-19
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Camelot's End
- Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party
- By: Jon Ward
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Ted Kennedy. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Captivating
- By William Woodrow on 02-12-19
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Walkable City Rules
- 101 Steps to Making Better Places
- By: Jeff Speck
- Narrated by: Jeff Speck
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 9
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 8
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Story5 out of 5 stars 8
Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable - for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment - yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his best-selling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent compendium for pro and enthusiast alike
- By Ostyn on 02-23-19
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American Prison
- A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
- By: Shane Bauer
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Shane Bauer
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 420
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 379
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 377
In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. An award-winning investigative journalist, he used his real name. Four months later, his employment came to an abrupt end. But he had seen enough, and in short order he wrote an exposé about his experiences that won a National Magazine Award. In American Prison, Bauer weaves a much deeper reckoning with his experiences together with a thoroughly researched history of for-profit prisons in America from their origins in the decades before the Civil War.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Dark, entertaining, and informative.
- By Mike on 11-20-18
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Uneasy Peace
- The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence
- By: Patrick Sharkey
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 22
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 18
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Story4 out of 5 stars 19
Beginning in the mid-1990s, American cities experienced an astonishing drop in violent crime. By 2014, the United States was safer than it had been in 60 years. Sociologist Patrick Sharkey gathered data from across the country to understand why this happened. Sharkey puts forth an entirely new approach to confronting violence and urban poverty. At a time when inequality, complacency, and conflict all threaten a new rise in violent crime, and the old methods of policing are unacceptable, the ideas in this book are indispensable.
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Zoo Nebraska
- The Dismantling of an American Dream
- By: Carson Vaughan
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 22
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 18
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 18
Royal, Nebraska, population eighty-one - where the church, high school, and post office each stand abandoned, monuments to a Great Plains town that never flourished. But for nearly twenty years, they had a zoo, seven acres that rose from local peculiarity to key tourist attraction to devastating tragedy. And it all began with one man’s outsize vision. When Dick Haskin’s plans to assist primatologist Dian Fossey in Rwanda were cut short by her murder, Dick’s devotion to primates didn’t die with her. He returned to his hometown with Reuben, an adolescent chimp.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life in Royal, Nebraska.
- By Anonymous User on 04-10-19
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The Unknown Mongol
- By: Scott Junior Ereckson
- Narrated by: Jeff Hays
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 500
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 460
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 457
This is the true story of ex-Mongols M.C. National President Scott Junior Ereckson. From a young teen, peering from behind a bush at an unknown Mongol, Scott fulfills his childhood dreams. In later years, after many experiences, he becomes one of the most respected and feared Mongols to this day.
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5 out of 5 stars
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amazing and drags you in
- By justin on 02-18-16
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Palaces for the People
- How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
- By: Eric Klinenberg
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, synagogues, and parks where crucial, sometimes life-saving connections, are formed. These are places where people gather, making friends across group lines and strengthening the entire community. Klinenberg calls this the “social infrastructure”: When it is strong, neighborhoods flourish; when it is neglected, as it has been in recent years, families and individuals must fend for themselves.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved this.
- By Anonymous User on 02-05-19
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Dying of Whiteness
- How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland
- By: Jonathan M. Metzl
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 15
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story5 out of 5 stars 13
A physician reveals how right-wing backlash policies have mortal consequences - even for the white voters they promise to help.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating and intriguing
- By Savita E Eisenberg on 04-11-19
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Seeing Like a State
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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James c Scott at his best
- By Nicholas on 08-13-18
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The High Cost of Free Parking, Updated Edition
- By: Donald Shoup
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 23 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 12
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story5 out of 5 stars 10
In this no-holds-barred treatise, Donald Shoup argues that free parking has contributed to auto dependence, rapid urban sprawl, extravagant energy use, and a host of other problems. Planners mandate free parking to alleviate congestion but end up distorting transportation choices, debasing urban design, damaging the economy, and degrading the environment. Ubiquitous free parking helps explain why our cities sprawl on a scale fit more for cars than for people. But it doesn't have to be this way.
Publisher's Summary
Joining the ranks of Evicted, The Warmth of Other Sons, and classic works of literary nonfiction by Alex Kotlowitz and J. Anthony Lukas, High-Risers braids personal narratives, city politics, and national history to tell the timely and epic story of Chicago's Cabrini-Green, America's most iconic public housing project.
Built in the 1940s atop an infamous Italian slum, Cabrini-Green grew to 23 towers and a population of 20,000 - all of it packed onto just 70 acres a few blocks from Chicago's ritzy Gold Coast. Cabrini-Green became synonymous with crime, squalor, and the failure of government. For the many who lived there, it was also a much-needed resource - it was home. By 2011, every high-rise had been razed, the island of black poverty engulfed by the white affluence around it, the families dispersed.
In this novelistic and eye-opening narrative, Ben Austen tells the story of America's public housing experiment and the changing fortunes of American cities. It is an account told movingly though the lives of residents who struggled to make a home for their families as powerful forces converged to accelerate the housing complex's demise. Beautifully written, rich in detail, and full of moving portraits, High-Risers is a sweeping exploration of race, class, popular culture, and politics in modern America that brilliantly considers what went wrong in our nation's effort to provide affordable housing to the poor - and what we can learn from those mistakes.
Critic Reviews
"Author Ben Austen and narrator Ron Butler create something special in this outstanding examination of Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects. Butler captures the characters of residents, cops, housing officials, and others.... This is a fine, sympathetic portrait of a place and its people, both of which have long been overshadowed by myth and stereotype." (AudioFile)
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Average Customer Ratings
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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- abdelrahmanazmi
- 09-14-18
Not deep enough
Struggled to finish, yet it didn't get deep into human lives and so we didn't really know what the real problem was.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-25-18
Overtly melodramatic, but necessarily so.
Can't really articulate the situation of these populations using rational academic language. Reading something like this is the only way to "get it", and decipher the motivations and mind sets of the disadvantaged African American population.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anthony Cole Engle
- ZIONSVILLE, IN
- 04-14-18
Chicago & Public Housing
A great book about the CB projects and the history of public housing in Chicago. Many residents stories are uplifting while others are terrifying.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-16-18
Skewed
Starts out good but becomes a liberal rant. He lost me when he reviewed the Dantrell Davis shooting.His facts were wrong.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Steve D Renz
- Everett, WA United States
- 05-15-18
Little mention of accountability of the people getting the housing
I see the concept theme about theCabrini green towers but the blame should be on the behavior of the residents and their entitlement attitude. When they moved in the mindset should have been this is temporary even if it was several years and not see it as lifestyle choice for life getting free furniture healthcare food and transportation....even covered moving when they had to be moved to other housing..
1 of 5 people found this review helpful