An American Summer by Alex Kotlowitz
An American Summer by Alex Kotlowitz
"In the masterwork by Kotlowitz, journalist and author of There Are No Children Here, the summer of 2013 comes vividly to life and Chicago's most violent neighborhoods are illuminated in a way you will never, ever forget. Kotlowitz offers up profiles of ordinary people affected in some way by gun violence—former gang members, parents who have lost children, and teenagers afraid to testify against their assailants—and shows just how deep their trauma goes. This is moving, essential reading for all Americans... especially you, fellow Chicagoans. " - Recommended by Erika
The numbers are staggering: over the past twenty years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire. What does that do to the spirit of individuals and community? Drawing on his decades of experience, Alex Kotlowitz set out to chronicle one summer in the city, writing about individuals who have emerged from the violence and whose stories capture the capacity--and the breaking point--of the human heart and soul. The result is a spellbinding collection of deeply intimate profiles that upend what we think we know about gun violence in America. Among others, we meet a man who as a teenager killed a rival gang member and twenty years later is still trying to come to terms with what he's done; a devoted school social worker struggling with her favorite student, who refuses to give evidence in the shooting death of his best friend; the witness to a wrongful police shooting who can't shake what he has seen; and an aging former gang leader who builds a place of refuge for himself and his friends.
Applying the close-up, empathic reporting that made There Are No Children Here a modern classic, Kotlowitz offers a piercingly honest portrait of a city in turmoil. These sketches of those left standing will get into your bones. This one summer will stay with you.