South Side

by Natalie Y. Moore

**One of Buzzfeed's 18 Best Nonfiction Books Of 2016**

A lyrical, intelligent, authentic, and necessary look at the intersection of race and class in Chicago, a Great American City

In this intelligent and highly important narrative, Chicago-native Natalie Moore shines a light on contemporary segregation in the city's South Side; with a memoirist's eye, she showcases the lives of these communities through the stories of people who reside there. The South Side shows the impact of Chicago's historic segregation - and the ongoing policies that keep the system intact.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Race, Politics, Sociology, Social Justice, African American

258 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2016

Reviews

[Ang · Rating 5 out of 5]

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, just read it.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 Chicago to convey what the impact of the city's severe segregation and discrimination against African-Americans actually is. I say to an extent, because Moore, throughout the book, masterfully weaves the anecdotal to actual research and statistics, shining a spotlight on an overlooked problem in Chicago -- how even the black middle class is negatively impacted by policies and attitudes that, even if somewhat mitigated over time, still exist today.

Moore's writing is concise and she manages to never overplay the research within her narrative. For me, this book is a great companion to Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, as the one thing that frustrated me about Coates' lyrical polemic was that in being so personal, it didn't add any outside research and statistics to help ground its premise (this is really my problem -- as an appellate attorney, I always want authoritative support for my arguments).

The South Side of Chicago is generally mis-perceived by the bulk of white Chicagoans and suburbanites. This book provides a needed perspective and even offers a chapter of possible solutions to alleviate the problem. It really filled in some gaps for me on the topic.

[Rachel León · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Katie Brennan · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Nick Klomstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 interesting, though the presentation and organization (as well as the writing style) make this a difficult book to get through. I wanted to be fired up and have a more comprehensive understanding of the state of affairs on the topic of segregation in Chicago.

I finished feeling marginally more informed and utterly confused as to how this book won any awards.

I would not recommend this book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

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, I was excited to read this book. Although there were some interesting insights, I was ultimately disappointed. I didn't think the book was well edited. It just didn't flow smoothly from one chapter to another or even within each chapter. I couldn't help but compare it to The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson that tells the story of the Great Migration of African-Americans to the north in a beautifully structured and compelling fashion. Moore's book seemed to meander from making big statements about issues to anecdotes about her personal experiences in a random way. It's a worthwhile effort that, in my view, just needed a firmer hand in organizing it in a more coherent fashion.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 that is investment in the black community--but, as a society, we seem to lack the will to make that happen. Interestingly, Moore writes about Harold Washington and his achievement of becoming the first black mayor of the city of Chicago in 1983. But, since his sudden death in 1987, she feels no black leadership has arisen to rekindle hope. However, in this year, 2019, Lori Lightfoot was elected as the first black female mayor. It will be of the greatest interest for all of us to see what she can do for the city, not just "downtown," but for the impoverished South--and West--Sides.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Cathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 and personal experiences not only introduces a relatable element but also establishes her credibility. Moore is a journalist who is willing to put in the work but who still allows her personal feelings to seep through, showing loyalty, nostalgia, frustration, impatience, and even uncertainty as to what would be best for her beloved hometown.

As a whole, this book isn't as accessible as I'd first believed. There are passages that might have been finessed for ratio of heavy fact with narrative flow, but if the reader is willing to hold for an extra beat, the balance is eventually restored. The end chapter undermines some of the accomplishment in throwing a succession of expert commentary in page-sized paragraphs. It is a bit disorienting, though the insight offered is high quality; if a weary reader opts to skip to that oh-so-close conclusion, it's understandable.

The book discussion you plan is rarely the one you have, and I had two that were nothing alike except in that they both offered surprise. This book offers a wealth of topics for groups of different personalities and affinities, even if those participants are taking part in the same conversation.

One of the other attendees demanded to know if I loved the book without reservation and would be giving to 10-12 of my most dear friends and family. Well, no, but truth be told there are few books of my acquaintance that would meet that criteria. Will I suggest, even recommend, this book? Yes, I will -- to the right reader and under the right circumstance. This is a thoughtful, thought-challenging book with personal stakes, and it also has lessons (both individual and societal) to teach. Which lessons we take away are up to us.

[Lissa00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 came to be and ways these neighborhoods can begin to prosper. I received a digital copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jung · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think that I fully understood the extent of Chicago's racial and economic segregation until after I moved here. Still, after 6 1/2 years of calling this city home - on the Southwest side and the Far North side - there is still so much to learn. Enter WBEZ reporter Natalie Moore's book, "The South Side". Part memoir and part historical urban development thesis, it provides an excellent yet engaging overview of the policies, practices, & prejudices of Chicago's hypersegregation. Each chapter reads one installment of a multi-part series with just enough research & reminiscences to tie it all together. Still, I was left wanting a deeper dive, especially in what seemed like an abrupt stop on the edge of how police violence and divestment from Chicago's Black neighborhoods are linked. Despite this, I'd still recommend this as an informative but still accessible introduction to segregation on Chicago's South Side.

[Aventurera Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Sunshine · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Kinza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book & critical for anyone living in chicago but especially for those working in community organizing, legal services, or in any work aimed to improve the city. Also helpful to learn about recent history and the people who many of our buildings, streets, etc are named after.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Most often segregation is examined and explained through the lens of housing and public education. But the mundane task of grocery shopping is an unlikely by-product of separate but unequal. “Food deserts” — large geographic areas with no or distant grocery stores, combined with an abundance of fast-food joints— contribute to health disparities in black communities. Picture grocery shopping at a gas station, liquor store or dollar store. Or trying to purchase (nonexistent) fruit and vegetables at a convenience store that loads its shelves with processed food.
This is the grocery reality in many Chicago black neighborhoods, regardless of income. We see racism, not classism, at work.”

“In a free market society, why should a liquor store owner be responsible for selling any healthy food? Because the government says so… Both the corner store and the gas station accept food stamps and must provide nutritious options, according to federal requirements.”

“Gas stations and corner stores are types of fringe stores. In Chicago, more than 2,200 authorized food stamps retailers serve low-income customers.“

“What white Americans have never fully understood - but what the Negro can never forget - is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”

“To rise out of the abyss of racial segregation and poverty, black neighborhoods need resources, not military intervention.”

[Kyla Lamontagne · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 primarily black... all within two stops. What????

Moore answers the "what" in this book. Although at times haltingly written, she packs years of research and journalistic investigation into 225 pages. From housing segregation, to school system disparities, to violence she breaks down the myths and struggles of Chicago's South Side and suggests ways that we as a society can move forward together. She argues that integration, while not a perfect solution, would solve a lot of problems that the South Side (and the black community within the south side) faces - but, ultimately, what really needs to happen is investment in those communities.

Great informative read, one that anyone who calls Chicago home should check out.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 less focused than they could be, even meandering. In no way, though, does that make her book less important or less worthy of your time, especially if you live in or around Chicago.

[Sam Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 in the Tribune.

[Sterling Hardaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like when journalists use their research skills to dive deep on a topic they’re passionate about while weaving in personal memoir and narrative, this book by South Side native and journalist by trade Natalie Y Moore is a captivating pov on the history and changes over the past 50 years on the varying neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago.

[Shamiram · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the alternate universe where I'm a soc professor, this would definitely be on my syllabus.

[Rylan Ridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 the schools and I saw the reactions people had to him.
I found it fascinating as the narrative was more the last 50 years to compare a 30 something black woman from the south side and a 60 something white woman from the south suburbs.
I didn't feel optimistic about white segregation, a term I learning reading the book, by the end. I felt a little squirmy about having left Park Forest, which mirrored some of her feelings about having left Bronzeville.
I was saddened by some of what I read but not surprised. The only truly surprising thing I read was that Karen Lewis is black. I was shocked and my daughter thinks I'm crazy.
A really good read if you live in Chicagoland. It started out a 3 and ended up a 5 so I gave it a 4.

[Terragyrl3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 white; but not all white people fought him. Young white people were very energized by Harold: I was one of them!) Moore does very well in describing the greater trends at play, especially the politics that prevented Chicago from going ballistic over school bussing: the Machine just made sure there was no bussing. And she outlines the Council Wars well, so that I can process that messy period in a clearer way. We're still living with the fallout of such history: I'm glad Moore puts a spotlight on it.

[Janet Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 kind of love for Chicago required in order to look at it closely. The author is my age, and we grew up in adjacent communities. Her experience as part of a middle class black family and neighborhood (Chatham) and mine witnessing the racial panic in 1980s Beverly dovetail so intricately that I was audibly responding to her mentions of things like the student protest at Morgan Park High School in 1990 or the carefully-not-racist-but-also-kind-of maneuvers of the Beverly Area Planning Association. Extra copies of this book would make a suitable response to just about every tropey reaction to the complexities of our city. Only a lifelong resident with that Carl Sandburg/Nelson Algren kind of love for Chicago could have written it, but everyone who is more invested than the comments section should read it.

[Jay Coyden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one of the best I've ever received as a gift. I could relate to Natalie on so much being a child of Chatham myself. I connected with her through our like experiences as journalists, Chatham residents and Black Americans.
She does a great job of pointing out historically the issues that have shaped the South Side both for the better and for the worse. I share her concern for a part of the city that is so overlooked and misunderstood.
Chicago's segregation practices are one of the things holding it back from being the city it can be. The housing crisis is real and the crime is a concern in many areas. However change will come to this great part of Chicago with hopes of change in political leadership and more community involvement.
Moore does a great job of being fair in her critiques and promotions of the South Side. She is a voice that should be heard on a greater platform.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 deliberately and systematically creates and under-resources segregated black communities.