• 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
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (258 ratings)

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How to Kill a City

By: Peter Moskowitz
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
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Publisher's summary

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.

Peter Moskowitz's 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. Along the way, Moskowitz uncovers the massive, systemic forces behind gentrification in New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, and New York. The deceptively simple question of who can and cannot afford to pay the rent goes to the heart of America's crises of race and inequality. In the fight for economic opportunity and racial justice, nothing could be more important than housing.

A vigorous, hard-hitting expose, How to Kill a City reveals who holds power in our cities - and how we can get it back.

©2017 Peter Moskowitz (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[An] exacting look at gentrification.... How to Kill a City elucidates the complex interplay between the forces we control and those that control us." ( New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about How to Kill a City

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Compelling! Need to read

This book is an important contribution to the conversation around how we shape our communities—not only our cities. It challenges the reader to consider hard realities that our systems are built upon and provides some strategies for moving forward together.

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Pretty good!

I didn't expect it to be so straight forward. This book definitely tackles the political aspects of gentrification head on. I highly recommend.

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Organized, succinct analysis, great story

Wonderful balance of analysis, interviews and story telling. Compelling and interesting read, would recommend for anyone tired of the same old commentary on gentrification and would like to hear a bit more umpf behind this concern.

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Speaks to my life

This book speaks to my life experiences like no other book that I've heard before. I found it thoroughly enjoying and very enlightening the current housing situation in the United States

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LOVE THIS BOOK

As a city person, this book made me angry and brought tears to my eyes. I've been to the 4 cities and lived in 2.
written and read beautifully. I wish I could claim it as my work. Bravo!

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So full of insight

The book gives a comprehensive description of the historical underpinnings of gentrification and describes the history and context in new ways. The author discusses the inefficiency of suburbs, the effect of Standard and Poor's ratings on gentrification and other surprises in between!

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Tells it like it is

A great synopsis of 4 different American cities and their own unique approach to gentrification. Interesting to see the contrast of approaches which proves that not all gentrification is created equal except for the people it displaces. This book explains the causes and results of gentrification. It’s not the book to learn a solution to gentrification. Capital over people will live on.

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What a book!!

I went into this book with an open mind and am glad for it. Gentrification is a difficult subject to understand and this book was able to break it down. The humanistic and digestible chapters really made it easy to understand such a complex subject. I even began to understand how I am personally affected by gentrification, far away from the US large population centers. It’s history, economics, social and racial change all wrapped in a stunning and fast paced book, I 100% recommend this to curious or hungry readers.

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Very informative with both style and substance! Touched on subjects too often ignored or overlooked!

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Great listen

Good listen with a nice voice. I enjoyed learning more about gentrification and this book is filled with new info.

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