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The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation
by
Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel have touted and promoted Chicago as a "world class city." The skyscrapers kissing the clouds, the billion-dollar Millennium Park, Michelin-rated restaurants, pristine lake views, fabulous shopping, vibrant theater scene, downtown flower beds and stellar architecture tell one story. Yet, swept under the rug is the stench of segregati
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Hardcover, 258 pages
Published
March 22nd 2016
by St. Martin's Press
(first published March 1st 2016)
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Start your review of The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation
100% required reading if you a) live in Chicago, b) have ever lived in Chicago, c) are interested in Chicago, d) care at all about Chicago, e) care at all about the way Chicago was segregated by its corrupt government...etc etc etc.
Natalie Moore has written this really, really readable book, and I can't recommend it highly enough. This isn't an academic tome that'll make you fall asleep while reading. Far from it. It's relatable and personal, but also filled with insight and information.
Look, j ...more
Natalie Moore has written this really, really readable book, and I can't recommend it highly enough. This isn't an academic tome that'll make you fall asleep while reading. Far from it. It's relatable and personal, but also filled with insight and information.
Look, j ...more
I remember Roger Ebert commenting on criticism of the movie Hotel Rwanda. There were people who said the movie didn't do enough to convey the broader story of the totality of the horror of the genocide in Rwanda. Ebert noted that sometimes it is more effective to focus on the a specific story to give you an idea of the total horror, which he felt the film did very well.
And, to an extent, that's what Moore does here, weaving in her and her family's personal stories of living on the South Side of ...more
And, to an extent, that's what Moore does here, weaving in her and her family's personal stories of living on the South Side of ...more
A fantastic examination of the issue of segregation by focusing on Chicago and its south side. Moore does a nice job weaving her personal experience in when it's relevant. I'm a slow nonfiction reader, so it took me a bit to get through, but it certainly never dragged. And the examination of race and segregation is especially relevant right now with all the--ahem--things happening in America.
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Few subjects interest me more than the intersections of race and real estate. This book draws on some great sources (Massey, D. Bradford Hunt, Vale, Sugrue) and a compelling personal narrative, but is a muddled mess. This book needed a stronger editor - at times, the sentences did not even appear to be in order.
I suspect it's full of great information, but I will never know, since I very uncharacteristically had to set this one aside. ...more
I suspect it's full of great information, but I will never know, since I very uncharacteristically had to set this one aside. ...more
I've lived in Chicago since the age of 18, and spent 30 years in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's south side where author Natalie Moore went to school. It is a rare integrated neighborhood on the south side, since whites there were smart enough to realize that it made no sense to keep running away from African-Americans, that neighborhoods would go from all white to all black only if people chose to abandon them, and that we can and must learn to live together. With that background in mind,
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Natalie Moore gives us a report on the part of Chicago that she grew up in--the South Side. What made it most interesting for me is that she added her personal perspective to the story. I think the main problem that she identifies is one that is hard to dispute--and that is the severe segregation in the city due to discrimination. From that stem the other problems--the failing education, the crime and violence, and the "food deserts." And the hopelessness and despair. There is a solution and tha
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It was an ambitious and audacious undertaking. Portrait is not the word I would use in the title of the book. It read like snippets of news articles.
We chose this for our February Book Club. Fortunately, the discussion was good, although that had more to do with the topic than the book.
A common pattern throughout the book is to reference a sociological study, transition abruptly to an anecdotal excerpt, and finish with an opinion presented as a fact.
Much of the content is important and interest ...more
We chose this for our February Book Club. Fortunately, the discussion was good, although that had more to do with the topic than the book.
A common pattern throughout the book is to reference a sociological study, transition abruptly to an anecdotal excerpt, and finish with an opinion presented as a fact.
Much of the content is important and interest ...more
I received a copy of The South Side from netgalley for review. As a life-long Chicagoan who grow up in Hyde Park, I thought I knew my city. I did not. This is an important book showing the past and giving some suggestions on how to change. Natalie Moore does not scream so hopefully she will be heard.
Sep 05, 2018
Cathleen
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
book-discussion
3.5 stars. This book takes on a great deal: both location specific (The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago...) and wider application (...and American Segregation), a mesh of journalism/memoir/research, compelling arguments for integration...or maybe not, and examinations of housing, education, crime, and politics -- all with eye to past, present, and potential future. No wonder the urge to exhale at the close is palpable.
The author's framing of complex issues through the lens of her own family an ...more
The author's framing of complex issues through the lens of her own family an ...more
This important book explores the forced segregation of Chicago’s neighborhoods, especially the South Side neighborhoods. She excels at bringing humanity to areas which are much maligned in the media as being high crime, through her personal anecdotes and interviews. The sociological research, while interesting, becomes dry at times especially when quoted at length but I could always see why it was included. Overall, this is an important book to read to understand how segregated neighborhoods cam
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All Chicagoans should read this book. And they should read it before making any pronouncements about the South Side, even if you are from the South Side, but especially if you are form the North Side. And even more so if you are a gentrifier (hipster or otherwise). The history of segregation here is terrifying. We are still suffering the consequences of the racism of the housing policies enacted here for so long. LEARN THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE YOU LIVE.
So nice to end my year in reading on such a high note. Natalie blends the personal and the political in this in-depth look at segregation in Chicago. One of the best books on the city I've ever read, and would be a great One Book, One Chicago choice going forward. I'll be searching out more from her in the future and will be pushing this on all the Chicagoans I know.
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BRB, currently cruising Zillow for homes in Bronzeville...
When I first moved to Chicago I wondered how I landed in homogenous city of white. Now, California has its own problems with segregation, but everywhere I looked it seemed like I only saw people with skin even whiter than mine! I chalked it up to being in the middle of the US except.... the red line. At State and Lake a magical transformation occurred every day as my train car switched from all white passengers, to a diverse train car, to ...more
When I first moved to Chicago I wondered how I landed in homogenous city of white. Now, California has its own problems with segregation, but everywhere I looked it seemed like I only saw people with skin even whiter than mine! I chalked it up to being in the middle of the US except.... the red line. At State and Lake a magical transformation occurred every day as my train car switched from all white passengers, to a diverse train car, to ...more
In The South Side, Natalie Moore weaves together memoir, feature journalism, historical accounts, and sociological research in a way that brings out—as she puts it in the book’s final paragraphs—“the humanity in the people behind the policies.” Because of that, Moore is able to deliver a narrative richness not found in more thesis-driven, policy-centered works like Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law (an excellent companion piece), but the side effect is that certain chapters and sections are l
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I’ve listened to Natalie Moore’s excellent reporting on segregation for WBEZ for a while, and the book is unsurprisingly good, blending research and reporting with personal experience. Chapters on CPS and “food deserts” on the South Side are particular standouts. At times, the book does seem disorganized, and I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would for that reason; it certainly could have used more rigorous editing. Despite those flaws, it’s an important corrective to what you might read i
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In the alternate universe where I'm a soc professor, this would definitely be on my syllabus.
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This book was super informative and I really learned a lot. I enjoyed the historical information along with her personal experiences. You can tell the author was extremely passionate about telling the story. Sadly, it was not well edited- it read like a very unorganized, choppy repetitive research paper.
It was hard for me to get into this book as I am not a huge fan of non fiction. But as I went on I found it more and more compelling. I think my interest grew as the events which were being described were ones I remembered.
I've lived in the southern suburbs all of my life and I found many similarities between what has occurred in the south side and Park Forest. We aspired to integration and hoped to be like Oak Park. My father was school board President when they voted to bus for integration in ...more
I've lived in the southern suburbs all of my life and I found many similarities between what has occurred in the south side and Park Forest. We aspired to integration and hoped to be like Oak Park. My father was school board President when they voted to bus for integration in ...more
I appreciate the argument that maybe desegregation is not the Holy Grail of curing social ills. Maybe it's more practical to focus on distributing equitable resources fairly to ALL neighborhoods and to allow people to sort themselves out. I'm glad I read this book, but I did sometimes get my whiteness tromped on...So I need to point out that the author sometimes uses succinct but inaccurate shorthand, like using "whites" as a stand in for citizens-who-fought-Harold-Washington. (Yes they were all
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I think the author got lost in the details. Some of the writing and her personal stories were very good. However, there were parts that read like a text book. There really was no chronological order. The book was all over the place. If this is what she was looking for, she succeeded. But, it was a bit too much for me.
I think Moore's analysis was accurate yet thought provoking. I am from the South Side and very proud of it. What Moore described as her childhood is very similar to mine. Yet as I read, I continued to question what New Ways can we discover to improve the conditions of all people. A good read.
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This book joins a few others in my category of must-read for all Chicagoans and those who would say my city's name in a public forum, but I'll get more specific than that: Chicagoans, near-Chicagoans who think they know my city, North Siders who think they know the South Side, transplants who think they know any of the above, educators, realtors, politicians, voters, police officers, journalists, owners of large and small businesses, activists, organizers, and/or anybody who has ever had the kin
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Sep 30, 2018
Cynthia
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
black-girls-read-book-club,
chicago
I left this book wishing it were more memoir/oral history, less historical/sociological study. Natalie Moore’s stories about growing up on the South Side, told with a journalist’s attention to detail and facts, were compelling, but much of the rest was information I already knew from other sources. This would be a good introduction to the subject matter for anyone who is not familiar with “de facto” discriminatory policies and practices in northern cities of the United States, and how government
...more
Growing up on the Southside and seeing neighborhood segregation with my own eyes was something that is acknowledged, but not necessarily analyzed. Natalie Moore's book should be required reading for that reason! There is SO much that is unpacked in this short book; there are also things that need to continuously be unpacked. This book dives into issues on the Southside involving largely African American neighborhoods. Home shapes who we are, but what does that mean for people who are victims to
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An excellent examination of the history and effects of segregation in Chicago. Well researched and written in an engaging way where she intersperses some personal reflections within her broader topics - education, crime, politics, etc... I found myself talking about it after various chapters, which is probably indicative of my interest.
A fantastic, engaging read that blends personal narrative with social essay. Highly recommended if you've not picked it up already. I'm totally ready to get into all kinds of arguments and fights with people arguing about violence in Chicago.
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This was a surprisingly enjoyable read. I picked up this book expecting it to be dry and academic, but it’s really more of a memoir told from the perspective of someone who has experienced various components of Chicago’s South Side over her lifetime. This is a charmingly personal take on how segregation has impacted everything from housing to education to food and beyond.
Super fascinating book about a topic I didn't know too much about. Although most major U.S. cities are segregated, I didn't know much about Chicago segregation specifically. Wonderfully written and captivating.
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Excellent history of Chicago's South Side. Interesting discussion about the challenges facing the community. Ends a bit abruptly and I often got the feeling the writer was struggling to determine her feelings about the history she was reporting on.
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A combination neighborhood tour, history lesson, and love letter to Chicago's South Side; it would have been a different book had it been written by anyone but Moore, whose personal experiences add a richness and authenticity.
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