"Not in My Neighborhood" by Antero Pietila urban studies book

[jjw]

"Not in My Neighborhood" by Antero Pietila is a must-read for anyone interested in urban studies. Although the setting is in Baltimore, it is very relavent to all cities especially Detroit. Growing up in the city of Detroit, I see so many similarities in the book.

I was just wondering if anyone has read this and your thoughts about how it relates to Detroit?

http://anteropietila.com/books.html

[sehender1]

Antero and I worked together at the Baltimore Sun.
Glad you liked his book, which is fabulous... And you're right, it hits on themes that Baltimore and Detroit have in common.
Of course, now that I'm back in Detroit I'm constantly talking about how dissimilar the two are...

[Antero Pietila]

In writing Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City, one of the first decisions I had to make concerned the book’s scope. Was it going to be solely about Baltimore, or a comprehensive review of racial real estate practices and neighborhood transition in American cities. I quickly realized that while many cities share certain features -- which I describe in my book -- each city is a separate story. For example, restrictive covenants against Jews seem to have seldom occurred in Boston, whereas in Baltimore they played a central role. After reading Sugrue and others I am still not certain how anti-Semitic bigotry was practiced in Detroit.
The Jewish Museum of Maryland and other depositories offered an incredibly detailed record of what went on Baltimore. I was able to write authoritatively about subjects not covered by any other book -- anti-semitism so deep that some of the most power Jewish developers in Baltimore discriminated against other Jews, as well as tensions between the Jewish and black civil rights leaders.
Is Baltimore typical? No, it is more extreme. It was the first city in the U.S. to enact a residential segregation law [[1910), a measure copied by some 40 cities, mostly in the old Confederacy. Until the late 1960s ,real estate advertising in the Baltimore Sun was classified according to race. And so on. But variations of the basic narrative could be found in many other cities.
During this period, Detroit’s demographics seem to have differed starkly from Baltimore, which, despite being the No. 2 entry point for European immigrants in the 1910s [[after Ellis Island), had an abnormally low percentage of recent immigrants among its residents. Immigrants entering through Baltimore typically bought a package from recruiters in the Old Country that included a train ticket to the Midwest. Few stayed in Baltimore. Why?
I will deal with these and other issues in a follow-up that hopes to connect the dots from Not in My Neighborhood to The Wire,
David Simon’s outstanding HBO series which has a cult-like following. The follow-up will ponder about why Baltimore became so dysfunctional, which is a subject about which Steve Henderson can educate Detroiters. I will deal with many thorny educational issues, various occupational diseases and so on. I am currently conceptualizing the new book, which again will be mainly a Baltimore story, with references to what happened in other cities.
Having just read Walter Isaacson’s new Steve Jobs biography, I am more convinced than ever that we are at a turning point in the American experience. Many of our museums and document depositories are in a funding crisis which will lead to their demise. Even if they survive, much voluminous archival material will simply disappear because someone will decide it is too costly or unimportant to be digitalized. On local history, this is the time to act. Thus I see my next book as an interpretive rescue mission of sorts.

[Wesley Mouch]

...I was just wondering if anyone has read this and your thoughts about how it relates to Detroit?

No, but thanks for bringing it to my attention. I will read it. Is very important for all of us to know and understand our history, so we can change the future.

[[Also want to read the Steve Jobs bio by Isaccson -- Thinking Different is a rare skill -- with applications to urban policy.)

[Forwardlook]

Having read the writings of this man in a major Finnish newspaper I would not trust a word he writes. He has a very far left political agenda. I don't know his book nor would I support him by buying it so I can't take a stand on it. I can only say that it is best to take this into consideration if one reads it.

[jjw]

Perhaps what you read in the Finnish paper did have some sort of agenda. This book doesn't. It is factual with few opinions. I thought it was great for a historical account of what had occured in many American cities; Detroit being a prime example. I do disagree with the author in his comment that Baltimore is more "extreme" than other major cities in it's past. Perhaps more research on other cities would disprove that statement. Having grown up in Detroit, lived in Milwaukee, Boston, and now Baltimore for quite a few years; I see many similarities.

[Antero Pietila]

The publisher of Not in My Neighborhood has informed me that the planned release of a paperback edition, originally scheduled for August and then postponed until next month, has been postponed again. Until August, 2012. The reason: The hardcover edition is selling too well.
Kindle owners may download a free sample chapter from the Amazon site.