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An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago
From the bestselling author of There Are No Children Here, a richly textured, heartrending portrait of love and death in Chicago's most turbulent neighborhoods.
The numbers are 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.
The numbers are 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.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2019
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About the author
Alex Kotlowitz
18 books266 followersFROM HIS WEBSITE:
Between writing books on urban affairs and society, Alex Kotlowitz has contributed to "The New York Times Magazine", "The New Yorker" and public radio’s "This American Life". Over the past three years, he has produced three collections of personal narratives for Chicago Public Radio: "Stories of Home," "Love Stories" and "Stories of Money." Stories of Home was awarded a Peabody. He has served as a correspondant and writer for a "Frontline" documentary, "Let’s Get Married", as well as correspondant and writer for two pieces for PBS’s "Media Matters." His articles have also appeared in "The Washington Post," "The Chicago Tribune," "Rolling Stone," "The Atlantic" and "The New Republic." He is a writer-in-residence at Northwestern University where he teaches two courses every winter, and a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame as the Welch Chair in American Studies where he teaches one course every fall. He has also been a writer-in-residence at the University of Chicago. Kotlowitz regularly gives public lectures.
Kotlowitz grew up in New York City. His father, Robert, is the author of four novels and a memoir of World War II, "Before Their Time." His mother, Billie, who died in 1994, ran the Thematic Studies Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. His brother, Dan, is a professor of Theatrical Lighting Design at Dartmouth. Kotlowitz graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Ct..
His first journalism job – after a yearlong stint on an Oregon cattle ranch – was with a small alternative newsweekly in Lansing, Michigan. After a year there, he freelanced for five years, producing for "The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour" and reporting for NPR’s "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." From 1984 to 1993, he was a staff writer at "The Wall Street Journal," writing on urban affairs and social policy.
His journalism honors include the George Foster Peabody Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. He is the recipient of three honorary degrees and the John LaFarge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice given by New York’s Catholic Interracial Council.
He currently lives with his family just outside Chicago.
Between writing books on urban affairs and society, Alex Kotlowitz has contributed to "The New York Times Magazine", "The New Yorker" and public radio’s "This American Life". Over the past three years, he has produced three collections of personal narratives for Chicago Public Radio: "Stories of Home," "Love Stories" and "Stories of Money." Stories of Home was awarded a Peabody. He has served as a correspondant and writer for a "Frontline" documentary, "Let’s Get Married", as well as correspondant and writer for two pieces for PBS’s "Media Matters." His articles have also appeared in "The Washington Post," "The Chicago Tribune," "Rolling Stone," "The Atlantic" and "The New Republic." He is a writer-in-residence at Northwestern University where he teaches two courses every winter, and a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame as the Welch Chair in American Studies where he teaches one course every fall. He has also been a writer-in-residence at the University of Chicago. Kotlowitz regularly gives public lectures.
Kotlowitz grew up in New York City. His father, Robert, is the author of four novels and a memoir of World War II, "Before Their Time." His mother, Billie, who died in 1994, ran the Thematic Studies Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. His brother, Dan, is a professor of Theatrical Lighting Design at Dartmouth. Kotlowitz graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Ct..
His first journalism job – after a yearlong stint on an Oregon cattle ranch – was with a small alternative newsweekly in Lansing, Michigan. After a year there, he freelanced for five years, producing for "The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour" and reporting for NPR’s "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." From 1984 to 1993, he was a staff writer at "The Wall Street Journal," writing on urban affairs and social policy.
His journalism honors include the George Foster Peabody Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. He is the recipient of three honorary degrees and the John LaFarge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice given by New York’s Catholic Interracial Council.
He currently lives with his family just outside Chicago.
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November 17, 2019
In 2013, journalist Alex Kotlowitz attempted to answer this question: Why is there so much gun violence and death in Chicago? He immersed himself in the city that summer, meeting with and interviewing numerous residents, getting their perspectives and learning about their experiences. How do they grieve? Why aren’t things changing? How do they move forward? In An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago Kotlowitz shares their stories.
”In Chicago, the vast majority of murders and shootings go unsolved. Murder someone, and chances are only one in four that you’ll get caught. Shoot someone and injure them, it’s only a one in ten possibility that you’ll get charged.”
Much like other cities across the U.S., the tension is high between residents and police in Chicago, where many witnesses don’t cooperate with law enforcement in their investigative efforts. Some of this is due to fear of safety (think: Snitches get Stitches) while residents’ lack of trust and their perceived lack of concern by police also contribute to this problem, leading to the alarming statistics noted above.
A lot of Chicago’s gun violence is gang-related and unfortunately innocent victims often suffer as result. In 2014, CNN aired a limited series, Chicagoland, which I watched and thought was well-done, providing a view of the city and the various parties impacted by its ongoing violence. In one episode, a young girl, maybe 8-9 years old, cries as she describes her genuine fear of walking to school, afraid she may be shot and killed. How wrong and ridiculous that such a young child should even have to consider this fear - in general, but especially about simply commuting to school?! This gutted me when I first saw the show and I couldn’t help but think of it again as I read this book.
The stories in An American Summer are powerful and I felt for several of the people portrayed in this book. Many have experienced great loss and devastating tragedy; some have worked tirelessly to silence their inner demons or make amends for their mistakes; and others struggle with fighting the urge to retaliate.
”The shooting doesn’t end. Nor does the grinding poverty. Or the deeply rooted segregation. Or the easy availability of guns. Or the shuttered schools and boarded-up homes. Or the tensions between police and residents. And yet each shooting is unlike the last, every exposed and bruised life exposed and bruised in its own way. Everything and nothing remains the same.”
An American Summer is well-written, compelling, and honest. The stories shared in this book will stay with me for a long time.
”In Chicago, the vast majority of murders and shootings go unsolved. Murder someone, and chances are only one in four that you’ll get caught. Shoot someone and injure them, it’s only a one in ten possibility that you’ll get charged.”
Much like other cities across the U.S., the tension is high between residents and police in Chicago, where many witnesses don’t cooperate with law enforcement in their investigative efforts. Some of this is due to fear of safety (think: Snitches get Stitches) while residents’ lack of trust and their perceived lack of concern by police also contribute to this problem, leading to the alarming statistics noted above.
A lot of Chicago’s gun violence is gang-related and unfortunately innocent victims often suffer as result. In 2014, CNN aired a limited series, Chicagoland, which I watched and thought was well-done, providing a view of the city and the various parties impacted by its ongoing violence. In one episode, a young girl, maybe 8-9 years old, cries as she describes her genuine fear of walking to school, afraid she may be shot and killed. How wrong and ridiculous that such a young child should even have to consider this fear - in general, but especially about simply commuting to school?! This gutted me when I first saw the show and I couldn’t help but think of it again as I read this book.
The stories in An American Summer are powerful and I felt for several of the people portrayed in this book. Many have experienced great loss and devastating tragedy; some have worked tirelessly to silence their inner demons or make amends for their mistakes; and others struggle with fighting the urge to retaliate.
”The shooting doesn’t end. Nor does the grinding poverty. Or the deeply rooted segregation. Or the easy availability of guns. Or the shuttered schools and boarded-up homes. Or the tensions between police and residents. And yet each shooting is unlike the last, every exposed and bruised life exposed and bruised in its own way. Everything and nothing remains the same.”
An American Summer is well-written, compelling, and honest. The stories shared in this book will stay with me for a long time.
November 7, 2019
A powerful grouping of actual tellings of what life is like for the people who live in the urban war zones of the southwest and Southwest sides of Chicago. More personal to me because I lived on the Northwest side of the city for over twenty years, so I'm very familiar with all the locations chronicled within. Violence that touches all, the mother's who grieve, the innocent shot just sitting on their porches, the young men who never return home. Heartbreaking. Gangs rule, for the most part and revenge killings by rival gangs happen often. In different interviews the author shows what life is like there as well as the reasons and consequences.
What he didn't do that I would have liked, is present more interviews with the officers who are also confronted with daily violence, policing these areas. There are no winners here. Not sure there are answers, certainly not easy nor easily available ones. There are so many different problems, I'm not sure how one confronts nor stops this unending circle of violence. Socioeconomic problems are always the hardest to solve. Yet, it is hard not to grieve for the families who have little choice, mother's alone, kids who cant be kids, nor feel safe in their neighborhoods.
The audio was narrated by the author and he did a fantastic job.
What he didn't do that I would have liked, is present more interviews with the officers who are also confronted with daily violence, policing these areas. There are no winners here. Not sure there are answers, certainly not easy nor easily available ones. There are so many different problems, I'm not sure how one confronts nor stops this unending circle of violence. Socioeconomic problems are always the hardest to solve. Yet, it is hard not to grieve for the families who have little choice, mother's alone, kids who cant be kids, nor feel safe in their neighborhoods.
The audio was narrated by the author and he did a fantastic job.
July 13, 2019
5 big ones.......so much to think on.
I bought this to reread, hoping to give it the thoughtful review it deserves at some point. If you’re at all interested in the violence plaguing Chicago, this is a must read.
I bought this to reread, hoping to give it the thoughtful review it deserves at some point. If you’re at all interested in the violence plaguing Chicago, this is a must read.
April 2, 2019
This is perfectly accurate and also at the same time, a tiny bit artificial to which stories have been told in depth. And which remained more "hear say" witnessed.
Also there is immense truth telling to the emotional legacy of viewing violence. This I know about and it never leaves. It may take a break but it doesn't exit the mind's or the body's memory.
His bravery and patience in interviewing and experiences to the extent that Alex Kotlowitz did, I give it a five star commendable. Although in the full stories of love and death, he should have interviewed more police, especially detectives. The style of the telling is somewhat disjointed and at times hard to follow, but considering the abruptness and trauma of the reality of living with this suddenness that doesn't end- I'd still give it a 4.
The chapter on an incident where 13 people are shot in a park with umpteen witnesses and yet no one would ever name or even suggest the nickname for the well known shooter- that one was a 5 star. As was the birthday party scene (Nugget)- I remember that one very well.
So many of these reviews for this book say things like "I cannot fathom" etc. Well I can. I was born and lived for the first 9 years of my life at 5602 S. Racine Ave. The first and only new bike I got was a red Schwinn and it lasted about 10 days before it was snatched. All of the places, locations and especially Englewood, Ashburn (until 2014 I was there every single week at least once or twice to shop etc. and care for elderly), Evergreen Plaza, Back of the Yards, Marquette Park, what's called Little Village etc. etc.- I've been. Or taken buses. More like Berwyn and the hospitals all mentioned-just this month, nearly every one. In fact one of them (Loyola) I just had an adult child there last week. And some of my mid life experiences were EXACTLY where some of these grieving Mom's tales occurred. Like Evergreen Park plaza.
Some of these areas used to be beyond beautiful, I can clearly remember a few of 10 churches too within 15 or 16 square blocks. Some of them now look like they were bombed. My Grandma's house on Carpenter is one of the few houses remaining whole on that street. There was a gorgeous 3 story next door, and it's now a dump lot.
So what are the answers? That's where I feel the author doesn't begin to ask the relative criteria questions, although he tries. He takes Bobby Rush's answers? Pathetic. (Bobby Rush is now my congressman, since 2013 or 2014 when I was gerrymandered away from Adam Kinzinger despite being in Will County and Adam actually answered requests or emails or petitions. We have a 4th District that looks like a huge horseshoe now in Chicago, as well.)
In my experience the only answer for this enabled ghetto building/ violent lifestyle idealized in gangs etc. is changing the culture of violence itself. And in my life, I have gotten at least 10 people to leave it that were born within it, and close to expiring early- every one had physical fall out of "friends" especially. A couple of them students who lived with me for periods. With their kid too in one case. It's about learning how to be self supporting and also having a role model that initiates positive successes that are not centered in the illegal or the lewd. But often the damage of core identity is too birth family or block punctured to occur and this family misery goes on and on. Yes, it's hard. The life there is harder and enabled worse every year by local government supporting the existence of it. The prettier the words and the more effusive, the less the grocery stores- is how I put it. Or nearly any venue that needs to handle cash for business purposes- because that just is not possible.
Although this particular year is much better (less homicide and more carjacking Chicagoland proper) because the jobs and employments have increased, some "outside" of the "usual" worst areas have becoming highlighted more. That's good. Like in Streeterville, Downtown, River North, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village, Lakeview etc. Felons after release (4 to 5 thousand were released just in the periods of 2013-2015- many of them violent repeat crimes convicted, not just property criminal sentences. Cook County jail has the lowest number of inmates in decades right now) do find work, but it sure isn't easy. One of my sons hires both ex-cons and ex-police. I'm not kidding. But you will only hear about the murder rate re Chicago's South or SW side or West sides nation-wide. And not hear at all about the 23 year old policeman shot and killed sitting in a car talking to his friends in River North while completely off duty (his funeral was just last weekend)- because a jerk was mad about a perceived lost bus struggle fist fight by a group of Hispanics so he decided to shoot the first Hispanic he saw after that bus left from the high end restaurant. Complete stranger killing and he saved his fiance with his body- taking 3 shots himself. Or most any other random act of violence or assault in other tourist prone areas, you won't hear about them as you will the common gang banger, drive by, or ghetto block altercation. I just read that Chicago is actually 10th for urban presently USA in homicide per population. St. Louis and several cities South of us have terrible % of population numbers.
A million Head Starts, Jessie White Tumblers, Mercy Homes, high assignment placement district Charter specialty schools, 10,000 social workers and all the money in the universe will not made any difference if the role modeling observed and enabling to "hanging" as a permanent lifestyle choice both remain.
That's an answer to those who lowered the star rating because Kotlowitz gives no answers. He also centered completely on the shooting cases. There are homicides in dozens and dozens for stabbings, blunt trauma, and especially for purposely riding over with your vehicle (women's specialty in recent years). This book is even better than his first one was, which was very good too. But this one has more solid and tested "eyes" for visible and invisible equivalencies.
Because I can fathom. Seeing a family member shot is often harder than getting shot yourself. I can fathom that, as well.
Also there is immense truth telling to the emotional legacy of viewing violence. This I know about and it never leaves. It may take a break but it doesn't exit the mind's or the body's memory.
His bravery and patience in interviewing and experiences to the extent that Alex Kotlowitz did, I give it a five star commendable. Although in the full stories of love and death, he should have interviewed more police, especially detectives. The style of the telling is somewhat disjointed and at times hard to follow, but considering the abruptness and trauma of the reality of living with this suddenness that doesn't end- I'd still give it a 4.
The chapter on an incident where 13 people are shot in a park with umpteen witnesses and yet no one would ever name or even suggest the nickname for the well known shooter- that one was a 5 star. As was the birthday party scene (Nugget)- I remember that one very well.
So many of these reviews for this book say things like "I cannot fathom" etc. Well I can. I was born and lived for the first 9 years of my life at 5602 S. Racine Ave. The first and only new bike I got was a red Schwinn and it lasted about 10 days before it was snatched. All of the places, locations and especially Englewood, Ashburn (until 2014 I was there every single week at least once or twice to shop etc. and care for elderly), Evergreen Plaza, Back of the Yards, Marquette Park, what's called Little Village etc. etc.- I've been. Or taken buses. More like Berwyn and the hospitals all mentioned-just this month, nearly every one. In fact one of them (Loyola) I just had an adult child there last week. And some of my mid life experiences were EXACTLY where some of these grieving Mom's tales occurred. Like Evergreen Park plaza.
Some of these areas used to be beyond beautiful, I can clearly remember a few of 10 churches too within 15 or 16 square blocks. Some of them now look like they were bombed. My Grandma's house on Carpenter is one of the few houses remaining whole on that street. There was a gorgeous 3 story next door, and it's now a dump lot.
So what are the answers? That's where I feel the author doesn't begin to ask the relative criteria questions, although he tries. He takes Bobby Rush's answers? Pathetic. (Bobby Rush is now my congressman, since 2013 or 2014 when I was gerrymandered away from Adam Kinzinger despite being in Will County and Adam actually answered requests or emails or petitions. We have a 4th District that looks like a huge horseshoe now in Chicago, as well.)
In my experience the only answer for this enabled ghetto building/ violent lifestyle idealized in gangs etc. is changing the culture of violence itself. And in my life, I have gotten at least 10 people to leave it that were born within it, and close to expiring early- every one had physical fall out of "friends" especially. A couple of them students who lived with me for periods. With their kid too in one case. It's about learning how to be self supporting and also having a role model that initiates positive successes that are not centered in the illegal or the lewd. But often the damage of core identity is too birth family or block punctured to occur and this family misery goes on and on. Yes, it's hard. The life there is harder and enabled worse every year by local government supporting the existence of it. The prettier the words and the more effusive, the less the grocery stores- is how I put it. Or nearly any venue that needs to handle cash for business purposes- because that just is not possible.
Although this particular year is much better (less homicide and more carjacking Chicagoland proper) because the jobs and employments have increased, some "outside" of the "usual" worst areas have becoming highlighted more. That's good. Like in Streeterville, Downtown, River North, Logan Square, Ukrainian Village, Lakeview etc. Felons after release (4 to 5 thousand were released just in the periods of 2013-2015- many of them violent repeat crimes convicted, not just property criminal sentences. Cook County jail has the lowest number of inmates in decades right now) do find work, but it sure isn't easy. One of my sons hires both ex-cons and ex-police. I'm not kidding. But you will only hear about the murder rate re Chicago's South or SW side or West sides nation-wide. And not hear at all about the 23 year old policeman shot and killed sitting in a car talking to his friends in River North while completely off duty (his funeral was just last weekend)- because a jerk was mad about a perceived lost bus struggle fist fight by a group of Hispanics so he decided to shoot the first Hispanic he saw after that bus left from the high end restaurant. Complete stranger killing and he saved his fiance with his body- taking 3 shots himself. Or most any other random act of violence or assault in other tourist prone areas, you won't hear about them as you will the common gang banger, drive by, or ghetto block altercation. I just read that Chicago is actually 10th for urban presently USA in homicide per population. St. Louis and several cities South of us have terrible % of population numbers.
A million Head Starts, Jessie White Tumblers, Mercy Homes, high assignment placement district Charter specialty schools, 10,000 social workers and all the money in the universe will not made any difference if the role modeling observed and enabling to "hanging" as a permanent lifestyle choice both remain.
That's an answer to those who lowered the star rating because Kotlowitz gives no answers. He also centered completely on the shooting cases. There are homicides in dozens and dozens for stabbings, blunt trauma, and especially for purposely riding over with your vehicle (women's specialty in recent years). This book is even better than his first one was, which was very good too. But this one has more solid and tested "eyes" for visible and invisible equivalencies.
Because I can fathom. Seeing a family member shot is often harder than getting shot yourself. I can fathom that, as well.
April 26, 2019
Chicago writer Kotlowitz recounts the stories of several young men who grew up in places like Englewood, one of Chicago area’s most impoverished, segregated neighborhoods where repeated violence takes a human toll. His subjects have NOT grown hardened, numbed to the atrocities they have experienced and witnessed. Indeed, they suffer bad dreams, flashbacks, survivor’s guilt and more. Their stories are heart-wrenching!
The author interviewed roughly 200 people including social workers, police officers, political officials, a noted beat reporter and convicted killers to better understand the violence. Kotlowitz’s young men have had to deal with enormous pressure to join neighborhood gangs for their (or their family’s) protection. They often subscribe to the street code of ‘no snitching’, and are often distrustful of police. Indeed, only 10% of shooters are even arrested. The good news is that homicides and shootings are actually down from just 20 years ago, and most black and Latino neighborhoods do not experience the violence experienced in places like Englewood.
Communities with strong organizations help to reduce neighborhood violence. And, of course, intact families and religious affiliation are important as well. Excellent reporting.
The author interviewed roughly 200 people including social workers, police officers, political officials, a noted beat reporter and convicted killers to better understand the violence. Kotlowitz’s young men have had to deal with enormous pressure to join neighborhood gangs for their (or their family’s) protection. They often subscribe to the street code of ‘no snitching’, and are often distrustful of police. Indeed, only 10% of shooters are even arrested. The good news is that homicides and shootings are actually down from just 20 years ago, and most black and Latino neighborhoods do not experience the violence experienced in places like Englewood.
Communities with strong organizations help to reduce neighborhood violence. And, of course, intact families and religious affiliation are important as well. Excellent reporting.
August 21, 2018
This is a rough one. I don't know how to recommend this to people, except to say that if you love the city of Chicago, as so many of us do, then you know what it's like to live here and love it while people are being shot and dying, every day. And you know how that makes you feel, and it's not a good feeling. This book attempts to put you, the white Chicagoan, into the thick of it. And the visceral pain is hard to get across in a book, and it's somewhat successful, as much as it can be.
It's so much more pain than whatever bad feeling you, white Chicagoan, have about the violence. It's so much more broken than you can even imagine, though you might have tried. It's the worst, brokenest pain you can't imagine, and even though Kotlowitz tries, you know that you are never going to be able to imagine it, no matter what. And this is your fucking city, your fucking beloved city.
How can you live here? You wonder. And how can you not? You also wonder. How can you love it so, when it is so broken? There are no answers here, you think. You love it because you do. It is broken because people who look like you broke it on purpose, years ago, and no one with any real power wants to admit that or fix it.
There are no answers here. Five years after the events in this book took place, there are no answers. There is the death, and the broken places, and they go on and on and on. Like the city. Like your love for it.
It's so much more pain than whatever bad feeling you, white Chicagoan, have about the violence. It's so much more broken than you can even imagine, though you might have tried. It's the worst, brokenest pain you can't imagine, and even though Kotlowitz tries, you know that you are never going to be able to imagine it, no matter what. And this is your fucking city, your fucking beloved city.
How can you live here? You wonder. And how can you not? You also wonder. How can you love it so, when it is so broken? There are no answers here, you think. You love it because you do. It is broken because people who look like you broke it on purpose, years ago, and no one with any real power wants to admit that or fix it.
There are no answers here. Five years after the events in this book took place, there are no answers. There is the death, and the broken places, and they go on and on and on. Like the city. Like your love for it.
January 2, 2020
This is not a book for you should you be seeking analysis or solutions. These narratives ring with anger, earthiness, love, truth and sadness. The theme is almost - almost enough. Kotlowitz lets the people speak for themselves. He gives voice to those who can no longer speak and those who live daily with loss. He opens us to full and complex lives that are hidden behind government issued statistics.
January 7, 2021
One of the best books that I’ve read on inner city crime. Insightful and humanistic. The trauma and PTSD is pervasive in these communities on the west and south sides of Chicago that are profiled.
A refrain heard over and over in the many homicide vignettes that the author presents here is a mother’s hope above all else. When she first hears that a homicide has occurred she thinks ‘I hope my son is not the murderer’. Let that settle in. Note that she would rather he be the murdered than be the murderer. That’s how difficult life is for young people and parents in these communities.
And the anger that manifests when a friend or brother is shot. Retaliation is such a common response. And in nearly half of these vignettes there is some type of retaliatory violence - either from snitching, testifying or having committed the provoking homicide.
5 stars. Highly recommended.
A refrain heard over and over in the many homicide vignettes that the author presents here is a mother’s hope above all else. When she first hears that a homicide has occurred she thinks ‘I hope my son is not the murderer’. Let that settle in. Note that she would rather he be the murdered than be the murderer. That’s how difficult life is for young people and parents in these communities.
And the anger that manifests when a friend or brother is shot. Retaliation is such a common response. And in nearly half of these vignettes there is some type of retaliatory violence - either from snitching, testifying or having committed the provoking homicide.
5 stars. Highly recommended.
September 27, 2020
Tourists and even most residents are unfamiliar with Kotlowitz's Chicago – neighborhoods far from the city's picturesque lake front. These are neighborhoods like Englewood. Neighborhoods located in the south and west side where shootings are not considered news, unlike a shooting in Lincoln Park or the “Gold Coast.” The snapshots he provides span 4 months in 2013.
Although Kotlowitz provides eye-opening statistics, nothing speaks more eloquently than Chicago Tribune reporter Pete Nickeas' tweets: “12:09 AM....2 people shot....12:45 AM Two people shot a couple blocks from the scene we were just at....2:36 AM [Saturday] At least 9 shot since Friday afternoon. Total does not reflect a recent shooting on Central Avenue, for which we lack details. 3:52 AM Guy calls 911, asking for supervisor: 'Said he was stopped by a unit, made to exit his vehicle, then he took it.' 5:02 AM A man walked into Stroger Hospital [formerly Cook County Hospital] this morning with a gunshot wound....6:13 AM Did a guy just get shot at 76th/Ashland? I think so.” (p.66-67)
Kotlowitz describes the effect this steady violence has on survivors, victims and neighbors. He asks Pharoah, whom he and his wife housed and supported for a several years when Pharoah was a boy, about the murder of a cab driver which Pharoah witnessed nearly 20 years ago. As Pharoah talks it is as if he is reliving the trauma, hyperventilating and crouching in fear. Survivors can't forget. A location, a name, even a dream resurrects the feeling of reliving the trauma, along with a mix of fear, guilt and rage.
Nor do many of those traumatized want to forget. The experience is a part of who they are. Eddie Bocanegra makes a round of visits. His brutal honesty exposes the fact that this day, July 15, marks the day he killed a man 19 years ago. He tries to comfort the recently bereaved. On July 24 Gladys Johnson hosts a barbecue in memory of the four relatives who died in a senseless firebombing committed by some teenaged boys over 25 years ago.
Social workers call the reverberating trauma “complex loss” rather than PTSD. Ongoing losses ignite on-going grief. There is no post -trauma. Kotlowitz admits even he is overwhelmed. He had forgotten the many casualties that affected the students at Harper High School, a list that Thomas had casually told him about over time. "The shootings, the killings, accrue like so many teardrops. Nobody's keeping count. Not even Thomas. He just tells me he's tired, that he's stopped going to funerals." (p.222) Pete Nickeas comments: "The violence damages cops just like it damages anyone else...." (p.71)
Kotlowitz structures his material like notations in a datebook. It mirrors the daily headlines that isolate each incident from a context, so that we can quickly forget the names of the victims. However, he is really telling complicated stories rooted in the past and intertwined with childhood relationships.
George Spivey is just beginning to connect with his son Daquan when Daquan is killed – mistaken for another boy who was a gang member. Darren Easterbrook is killed in a drug deal gone bad. His mother Lisa Daniels learns the details on the street and struggles against grief and depression. Only when she insists that Darren's life was not defined by that drug deal and that she will not be defined as simply a “grieving mother,” does she acquire the strength to forgive. She corresponds with Darren's killer, Michael Reed, urging him to follow the path of redemption. Darren is dead but Michael can still make something of his life. Quintell Benson witnesses the murder of 19-year old Calvin Cross – by the police and faces Calvin's mother and sister to tell them what he saw. Despite overwhelming evidence, no one is prosecuted for Calvin's murder.
Nothing is simple. Even racism is complex, mixed with biases about class and poverty. Kotlowitz overhears relatives of Pharoah, the Black child he took in, chastise Pharoah's mother for letting him live with a White couple. Ashara Mohammed leaves Chicago and lands an internship with NPR. Colleagues respond with undisguised scorn at her missteps: “She felt humiliated by the gaps in her education – and angry at how she was made to feel.” (p.133) The sense of not fitting in is pervasive.
Kotlowitz admits he can offer no solution. What he tries to do with this book is to humanize the people affected by this violence. He reveals connections of love, hope and resilience: “And so I came to understand people's capacity to hold on, to aspire, to move forward – and yes, hate – even when there is good reason to give up.” (p.279)
NOTES:
More about Pete Nickeas: https://dartcenter.org/about/people/p...
Update on Chicago: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...? (Nickeas' book shows how the problems are much more complicated than simply police accountability, despite press coverage on that topic).
Although Kotlowitz provides eye-opening statistics, nothing speaks more eloquently than Chicago Tribune reporter Pete Nickeas' tweets: “12:09 AM....2 people shot....12:45 AM Two people shot a couple blocks from the scene we were just at....2:36 AM [Saturday] At least 9 shot since Friday afternoon. Total does not reflect a recent shooting on Central Avenue, for which we lack details. 3:52 AM Guy calls 911, asking for supervisor: 'Said he was stopped by a unit, made to exit his vehicle, then he took it.' 5:02 AM A man walked into Stroger Hospital [formerly Cook County Hospital] this morning with a gunshot wound....6:13 AM Did a guy just get shot at 76th/Ashland? I think so.” (p.66-67)
Kotlowitz describes the effect this steady violence has on survivors, victims and neighbors. He asks Pharoah, whom he and his wife housed and supported for a several years when Pharoah was a boy, about the murder of a cab driver which Pharoah witnessed nearly 20 years ago. As Pharoah talks it is as if he is reliving the trauma, hyperventilating and crouching in fear. Survivors can't forget. A location, a name, even a dream resurrects the feeling of reliving the trauma, along with a mix of fear, guilt and rage.
Nor do many of those traumatized want to forget. The experience is a part of who they are. Eddie Bocanegra makes a round of visits. His brutal honesty exposes the fact that this day, July 15, marks the day he killed a man 19 years ago. He tries to comfort the recently bereaved. On July 24 Gladys Johnson hosts a barbecue in memory of the four relatives who died in a senseless firebombing committed by some teenaged boys over 25 years ago.
Social workers call the reverberating trauma “complex loss” rather than PTSD. Ongoing losses ignite on-going grief. There is no post -trauma. Kotlowitz admits even he is overwhelmed. He had forgotten the many casualties that affected the students at Harper High School, a list that Thomas had casually told him about over time. "The shootings, the killings, accrue like so many teardrops. Nobody's keeping count. Not even Thomas. He just tells me he's tired, that he's stopped going to funerals." (p.222) Pete Nickeas comments: "The violence damages cops just like it damages anyone else...." (p.71)
Kotlowitz structures his material like notations in a datebook. It mirrors the daily headlines that isolate each incident from a context, so that we can quickly forget the names of the victims. However, he is really telling complicated stories rooted in the past and intertwined with childhood relationships.
George Spivey is just beginning to connect with his son Daquan when Daquan is killed – mistaken for another boy who was a gang member. Darren Easterbrook is killed in a drug deal gone bad. His mother Lisa Daniels learns the details on the street and struggles against grief and depression. Only when she insists that Darren's life was not defined by that drug deal and that she will not be defined as simply a “grieving mother,” does she acquire the strength to forgive. She corresponds with Darren's killer, Michael Reed, urging him to follow the path of redemption. Darren is dead but Michael can still make something of his life. Quintell Benson witnesses the murder of 19-year old Calvin Cross – by the police and faces Calvin's mother and sister to tell them what he saw. Despite overwhelming evidence, no one is prosecuted for Calvin's murder.
Nothing is simple. Even racism is complex, mixed with biases about class and poverty. Kotlowitz overhears relatives of Pharoah, the Black child he took in, chastise Pharoah's mother for letting him live with a White couple. Ashara Mohammed leaves Chicago and lands an internship with NPR. Colleagues respond with undisguised scorn at her missteps: “She felt humiliated by the gaps in her education – and angry at how she was made to feel.” (p.133) The sense of not fitting in is pervasive.
Kotlowitz admits he can offer no solution. What he tries to do with this book is to humanize the people affected by this violence. He reveals connections of love, hope and resilience: “And so I came to understand people's capacity to hold on, to aspire, to move forward – and yes, hate – even when there is good reason to give up.” (p.279)
NOTES:
More about Pete Nickeas: https://dartcenter.org/about/people/p...
Update on Chicago: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...? (Nickeas' book shows how the problems are much more complicated than simply police accountability, despite press coverage on that topic).
March 11, 2019
Alex Kotlowitz is best known for his modern classic There Are No Children Here, which covers two kids growing up in the Chicago Horner housing projects. An American Summer is a sort of sequel to that book, and covers life in one South Side neighborhood during the Summer of 2013.
Unlike TANCH and Kotlowitz's other well-known text, The Other Side of the River, An American Summer doesn't hone in on any particular character or scenario; unless the unrelenting cycle of violence and trauma is a character in and of itself.
Kotlowitz is able to successfully humanize his subjects, and helps to give understanding to how a cycle of violence can continually perpetuate itself, and how challenging people living in violent, arbitrary environments like the city can be.
Though I found the narrative engaging, I found it weaker than his two other works mostly due to the lack of focus. Though I was empathetic with the various people he covered (even those who perpetuated violence were often sympathetic because of their own history) I was frustrated by the lack of real policy proscription or recommendation. Yes, the violent cycle is an issue. Yes, the police can be perpetrators as well as victims. And yes, a lack of jobs and hope logically culminates in people immersing themselves in criminality and safety from violence often logically results in aligning oneself with a block faction or gang. But none of that really gets to the question that looms over the text: what is the way out of the cul-de-sac?
Those who can tolerate reading through the book with the knowledge that it is just a chronicle without any real recommendations will find a lot of meat to chew on here.
Unlike TANCH and Kotlowitz's other well-known text, The Other Side of the River, An American Summer doesn't hone in on any particular character or scenario; unless the unrelenting cycle of violence and trauma is a character in and of itself.
Kotlowitz is able to successfully humanize his subjects, and helps to give understanding to how a cycle of violence can continually perpetuate itself, and how challenging people living in violent, arbitrary environments like the city can be.
Though I found the narrative engaging, I found it weaker than his two other works mostly due to the lack of focus. Though I was empathetic with the various people he covered (even those who perpetuated violence were often sympathetic because of their own history) I was frustrated by the lack of real policy proscription or recommendation. Yes, the violent cycle is an issue. Yes, the police can be perpetrators as well as victims. And yes, a lack of jobs and hope logically culminates in people immersing themselves in criminality and safety from violence often logically results in aligning oneself with a block faction or gang. But none of that really gets to the question that looms over the text: what is the way out of the cul-de-sac?
Those who can tolerate reading through the book with the knowledge that it is just a chronicle without any real recommendations will find a lot of meat to chew on here.
February 3, 2019
We are very lucky in these times to have sociologists and journalists such as Beth Macy, Matthew Desmond, Sam Quiniones and Kathryn Edin writing about what's happening in our country. Alex Kotlowitz has been writing about South Chicago since "There Are No Children Here" in 1991., returning now to his old neighborhoods to write about the mad epidemic of murder there.
Kotlowitz says he originally planned to report on the summer of 2013, but he found that the repercussions of each shooting lasted far beyond the end of hot weather. These stories are hard to read, both the killings themselves and the horrible pain the deaths bring to the survivors.
Kotlowitz says he does not aim to find a reason for what's happening in Chicago, which he describes as a collective madness. Ultimately, he suggests fear as the most likely spark of this tragic cycle.
Masterful and heartbreaking, "An American Summer" speaks of tragedy and trauma in our country. How do we stop these killings? Can we? Powerful stuff.
Kotlowitz says he originally planned to report on the summer of 2013, but he found that the repercussions of each shooting lasted far beyond the end of hot weather. These stories are hard to read, both the killings themselves and the horrible pain the deaths bring to the survivors.
Kotlowitz says he does not aim to find a reason for what's happening in Chicago, which he describes as a collective madness. Ultimately, he suggests fear as the most likely spark of this tragic cycle.
Masterful and heartbreaking, "An American Summer" speaks of tragedy and trauma in our country. How do we stop these killings? Can we? Powerful stuff.
September 9, 2022
Reportaż Kotlowitza zaczyna się bardzo mocno i pierwsze trzy rozdziały czytałem ze szczęką na podłodze, niestety z czasem zaczęło mnie to z jakiegoś powodu ogromnie nudzić i męczyć. Podejrzewam, że dużą rolę w tym rozczarowaniu odegrało paskudne tłumaczenie. Nie mam ostatnio szczęścia do reportaży z serii amerykańskiej Czarnego.
May 29, 2021
Rozczarował mnie ten reportaż. Mimo, że napisany jest dobrze, to trochę za mało o ofiarach strzelanin w książce o ofiarach strzelanin.
June 2, 2023
"The numbers are staggering. In Chicago, in the twenty years between 1990 and 2010, 14,033 people were killed, another roughly 60,000 by gunfire."
(In the Bible, a word "Selah" is used, meaning stop and reflect on this. I will use the word "Selah" now.)
Selah.
"Let me put this in some perspective, if perspective is possible; it's considerably more than the number of American soldiers killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Combined."
Selah.
Violence, it's called. Gang shootings.
In truth, it's war. And on and on it goes.
"...these are young men and women who are burdened by fractured families, by lack of money, by a closing window of opportunity, by a sense they don't belong, by a feeling of low self-worth. And so when they feel disrespected or violated, they explode, often out of proportion to the moment, because so much other hurt has built up and then the dam bursts. They become flooded with anger."
Selah.
"The numbers don't begin to capture the havoc wreaked on the soul of individuals and on neighborhoods, nor do they grapple with the discomforting fact that the vast majority of the shootings are of African-Americans and Hispanics by African-Americans and Hispanics. What to make of all this? "
Selah.
This book is a book of stories of one summer in Chicago. The author, Alex Kotlowitz, interviews victims of violence, perpetrators of violence, those living in the shadow of violence, those living each day with the threat of violence. It's not an easy read. I did read it, and I'm thinking about it still, and I feel sad about it, and I want to take action, and I feel almost helpless, almost hopeless.
Then I think about the story the author tells about Creina Hancock. She and her husband, Neil, lived among the Zulus in post-apartheid South Africa, working to create sustainable agriculture, to mute some of the harm of apartheid. Neil was murdered by Zulus in a tribal dispute, but Creina continued on, doing the work. "The only thing you can do is love, because it is the only thing that leaves light inside you, instead of the total, obliterating darkness," the author quotes Creina as saying. That, I think, is all we can do in this war going on in our own country. All we can do is love.
(In the Bible, a word "Selah" is used, meaning stop and reflect on this. I will use the word "Selah" now.)
Selah.
"Let me put this in some perspective, if perspective is possible; it's considerably more than the number of American soldiers killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Combined."
Selah.
Violence, it's called. Gang shootings.
In truth, it's war. And on and on it goes.
"...these are young men and women who are burdened by fractured families, by lack of money, by a closing window of opportunity, by a sense they don't belong, by a feeling of low self-worth. And so when they feel disrespected or violated, they explode, often out of proportion to the moment, because so much other hurt has built up and then the dam bursts. They become flooded with anger."
Selah.
"The numbers don't begin to capture the havoc wreaked on the soul of individuals and on neighborhoods, nor do they grapple with the discomforting fact that the vast majority of the shootings are of African-Americans and Hispanics by African-Americans and Hispanics. What to make of all this? "
Selah.
This book is a book of stories of one summer in Chicago. The author, Alex Kotlowitz, interviews victims of violence, perpetrators of violence, those living in the shadow of violence, those living each day with the threat of violence. It's not an easy read. I did read it, and I'm thinking about it still, and I feel sad about it, and I want to take action, and I feel almost helpless, almost hopeless.
Then I think about the story the author tells about Creina Hancock. She and her husband, Neil, lived among the Zulus in post-apartheid South Africa, working to create sustainable agriculture, to mute some of the harm of apartheid. Neil was murdered by Zulus in a tribal dispute, but Creina continued on, doing the work. "The only thing you can do is love, because it is the only thing that leaves light inside you, instead of the total, obliterating darkness," the author quotes Creina as saying. That, I think, is all we can do in this war going on in our own country. All we can do is love.
February 15, 2019
An American Summer is another masterfully reported and recorded real-time history of a great American city, warts and all.
Kotlowitz lets his subjects speak. Imagine that. A writer going to the city politicians regularly decry as "the most violent city in America" and letting both the victims AND the perpetrators of violence speak. And then telling their stories. Very little judgement. Just an avenue for the people surrounded by trauma and bitterness and hope and terror to express themselves.
A really powerful book that should be used by teachers across the country to teach advocacy and policy and argument.
Kotlowitz lets his subjects speak. Imagine that. A writer going to the city politicians regularly decry as "the most violent city in America" and letting both the victims AND the perpetrators of violence speak. And then telling their stories. Very little judgement. Just an avenue for the people surrounded by trauma and bitterness and hope and terror to express themselves.
A really powerful book that should be used by teachers across the country to teach advocacy and policy and argument.
March 23, 2021
I decided to pick up this book since the author is scheduled to speak at our local library and I wanted to familiarize myself with his work. Growing up on the south side of Chicago and learning about the extent and impact of the city’s gun violence, and especially having my street called out by name in the book, brought a chill. The author profiles several different cases of gun violence over the course of one Chicago Summer, and I felt he did an excellent job humanizing the victims and their families, the parts of the stories that don’t often make the headlines. I’m looking forward to reading his other work, There Are No Children Here.
September 19, 2020
Doesn't a sense of overwhelming hopelessness, beget violence? These violent zip codes in the Chicago area are a microcosm of sociological theories, a smörgåsbord reasons that violence is prevalent. Kotlowitz captures some of the visceral pain of the citizens that try to survive one death after another.
The numbers are astronomical, when this book was published in 2019 the author noted that over 14,000 killings and 60,000 wounded...
The temptation to despair is in the rearview, we should be in full heartbreak. The lives of 74,000 people have been changed along with a probably near equal number of actors... As sweet little boys turn into "thugs and criminals" and nobody knows why so nobody can explain it.
NO matter where you stand on political issues, you can't help but feel for this kind of pain.... it is a rough read multiplied by hundreds.
Chicago Records 1,901 Shooting Victims So Far This Year, 1,460 Since Lockdown Began
BY BENJAMIN FEARNOW ON 7/13/20 AT 3:24 PM EDT
UPDATED 08/17/2020 4:37 p.m. CHICAGO (CBS) — At least 63 people had been shot this weekend in Chicago as of Sunday night, and five of them had been killed as of 5 a.m. Monday.
CHICAGO (CBS) — At least 35 people had been shot in Chicago this weekend as of Sunday night, and three of them had been killed.
Chicago Staff August 24, 2020 at 11:17 am
At Least 64 People Shot, 4 Killed, In Gun Violence In Chicago This Weekend; CPD Announces 81 New Officers Deployed To Districts
The totals for the MONTH of August 2020
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Police Department released their official August crime statistics Tuesday.
503 people were shot, 63 fatally in August 2020 compared to 268 shot, 49 fatally in August of 2019, CPD's report said.
However, police say overall crime figures in Chicago remain at a 20-year lows when looking at year-to-date figures.
In Chicago, a steep rise in suicide among Black people
By Lakeidra Chavis (The Trace) | July 27, 2020
Midway through 2020, Cook County is seeing an alarming rise in the number of suicides among Black residents. The number of deaths has already matched the total for all of last year, putting 2020 on pace to be the worst year in a decade.
As of July 24, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office had recorded 57 deaths of Black men, women, and children from suicide this year. That compares to 56 — which was a nine-year low — for all of 2019.
Since 2010, the average annual number of deaths has been 65.
The numbers are astronomical, when this book was published in 2019 the author noted that over 14,000 killings and 60,000 wounded...
The temptation to despair is in the rearview, we should be in full heartbreak. The lives of 74,000 people have been changed along with a probably near equal number of actors... As sweet little boys turn into "thugs and criminals" and nobody knows why so nobody can explain it.
NO matter where you stand on political issues, you can't help but feel for this kind of pain.... it is a rough read multiplied by hundreds.
Chicago Records 1,901 Shooting Victims So Far This Year, 1,460 Since Lockdown Began
BY BENJAMIN FEARNOW ON 7/13/20 AT 3:24 PM EDT
UPDATED 08/17/2020 4:37 p.m. CHICAGO (CBS) — At least 63 people had been shot this weekend in Chicago as of Sunday night, and five of them had been killed as of 5 a.m. Monday.
CHICAGO (CBS) — At least 35 people had been shot in Chicago this weekend as of Sunday night, and three of them had been killed.
Chicago Staff August 24, 2020 at 11:17 am
At Least 64 People Shot, 4 Killed, In Gun Violence In Chicago This Weekend; CPD Announces 81 New Officers Deployed To Districts
The totals for the MONTH of August 2020
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Police Department released their official August crime statistics Tuesday.
503 people were shot, 63 fatally in August 2020 compared to 268 shot, 49 fatally in August of 2019, CPD's report said.
However, police say overall crime figures in Chicago remain at a 20-year lows when looking at year-to-date figures.
In Chicago, a steep rise in suicide among Black people
By Lakeidra Chavis (The Trace) | July 27, 2020
Midway through 2020, Cook County is seeing an alarming rise in the number of suicides among Black residents. The number of deaths has already matched the total for all of last year, putting 2020 on pace to be the worst year in a decade.
As of July 24, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office had recorded 57 deaths of Black men, women, and children from suicide this year. That compares to 56 — which was a nine-year low — for all of 2019.
Since 2010, the average annual number of deaths has been 65.
March 18, 2019
If you're an educator, particularly of urban youth, then Alex Kotlowitz is your man. I was first introduced to this writer completely by chance, picking up his famous book "There Are No Children Here" at a used book store about 6 years ago. Granted I read it 30 years after its release, it still had a profound effect on me. Unlike other books on the subject of urban life that create a 'poverty porn' atmosphere (you know, exploiting poor people's condition for notoriety or increased book sales), Kotlowitz seemed to be deeply invested in the lives and futures of his subjects, giving them humanity.
In "American Summer," Kotlowitz returns to Chicago, where we all catch glimpses of the headlines year after year about the dangerous gangs, crime, and rampant gun violence that plague this city. He chronicles an entire summer spent there in 2013 talking to men, women, and children touched by violence. Each chapter introduces us to a person who has either lost a family member to violence, committed violent acts themselves and are coming to terms with it, or witnessed the effects of violence first hand. Some people have several chapters in the book dedicated to their story, which are ongoing and run through the entire narrative.
I love this book because Kotlowitz does not pander to critics or make excuses for bad behavior. True, much of the violence is related to gangs and the young people in them, but what about the scores of those killed who aren't? The point that remains is that people are still people, and that gang participation is often a response to external forces (racism, poverty, segregation, poor educational outlooks) that were in play long before this particular epidemic of violence even started. There is also widespread distrust of police due to years of misconduct and overpolicing and a "no snitching" street culture that holds violence firmly into place.
I also love the way Kotlowitz begins his book by stating that it does not pretend to know the answer to why gun violence in so widespread here. What it does do, however, is humanize people from both sides of the headlines and start a conversation toward healing.
I don't give five stars lightly, and I can't recommend this book enough.
In "American Summer," Kotlowitz returns to Chicago, where we all catch glimpses of the headlines year after year about the dangerous gangs, crime, and rampant gun violence that plague this city. He chronicles an entire summer spent there in 2013 talking to men, women, and children touched by violence. Each chapter introduces us to a person who has either lost a family member to violence, committed violent acts themselves and are coming to terms with it, or witnessed the effects of violence first hand. Some people have several chapters in the book dedicated to their story, which are ongoing and run through the entire narrative.
I love this book because Kotlowitz does not pander to critics or make excuses for bad behavior. True, much of the violence is related to gangs and the young people in them, but what about the scores of those killed who aren't? The point that remains is that people are still people, and that gang participation is often a response to external forces (racism, poverty, segregation, poor educational outlooks) that were in play long before this particular epidemic of violence even started. There is also widespread distrust of police due to years of misconduct and overpolicing and a "no snitching" street culture that holds violence firmly into place.
I also love the way Kotlowitz begins his book by stating that it does not pretend to know the answer to why gun violence in so widespread here. What it does do, however, is humanize people from both sides of the headlines and start a conversation toward healing.
I don't give five stars lightly, and I can't recommend this book enough.
March 21, 2019
These are the stories we need to read (or listen to as I did — the audio book is read by Kotlowitz which seemed to make his reporting even more immediate/intimate). Neither the statistics nor the policy pieces are able to convey the tragedy our society has left a significant percentage of its population to live in and with every single day. This is not a book about proposed solutions— this is a glimpse into the humanity of several different individuals and families. I am sick that we have no clear path forward to stop this madness. I know there are many people committed to trying to change these circumstances. How any of us can be at peace until they do is beyond me.
April 1, 2019
Alex Kotlowitz's 'An American Summer' was a challenging read for me. I live in a northwest suburb of Chicago, maybe 35 miles from where his book is largely based, but it might as well be a world away. His interviews reveal compelling stories and, through a 'micro' lens appears to want to explain what has caused violence in the south and west sides of the city, but he never takes that next step. I'd expect the vast number of interviews he conducted to have provided enough context for him to propose a theory, but he pretty much leaves that up to the reader.
Nothing in 'An American Summer' surprised me. If you live here, you're inundated with news about violence. If you don't, you likely hold the opinion that the entire city is the wild west, when that's far from the truth. Kotlowitz rightly focuses on the residents of those sections of the city where violence is commonplace. He succeeds in painting pictures of despair, pain, suffering, and even love, yet a commonality that would allow the reader to theorize causes (or solutions) is lacking. Most of us familiar with the problem have our own theories, but all we get here is confirmation that there are too many guns around, home life for many of the criminals is chaotic, there's not cooperation between citizens and police, and violence is just integrated into 'normal' life.
Maybe Kotlowitz just intends to provide 'food for thought', in which case he succeeds.
Nothing in 'An American Summer' surprised me. If you live here, you're inundated with news about violence. If you don't, you likely hold the opinion that the entire city is the wild west, when that's far from the truth. Kotlowitz rightly focuses on the residents of those sections of the city where violence is commonplace. He succeeds in painting pictures of despair, pain, suffering, and even love, yet a commonality that would allow the reader to theorize causes (or solutions) is lacking. Most of us familiar with the problem have our own theories, but all we get here is confirmation that there are too many guns around, home life for many of the criminals is chaotic, there's not cooperation between citizens and police, and violence is just integrated into 'normal' life.
Maybe Kotlowitz just intends to provide 'food for thought', in which case he succeeds.
May 22, 2019
It’s all so unexplainable. That’s what I learned most from reading this book. No one can even begin to learn about, let alone fix, the Chicago crime and drug epidemic without knowing and embracing the survivors. Kotlowitz’s interviewing and embedding skills are unparalleled. Some of what he does is unfathomable to me and I’m thankful for his voice and light. This is most likely the closest I will get to experiencing what it’s like to live in a U.S. community that has lost all sense of hope. Knowing these individuals and why they do what they do forces you to break down all stereotypes. Anyone who is a critic or ignorant of gangs and urban violence needs to read this book. Anyone who thinks hardened murderers can’t have a change of heart needs to read this book. Anyone who thinks the reasons for all this violence can be simplified to a few talking points needs to read this book.
Kotlowitz doesn’t waste time trying to come up with solutions. It’s clear how the problem is systemic and cyclical and convoluted. He’s much more interested in empathizing with these individual criminals and survivors and I found myself rooting for their recovery and resilience. They are broken, yet brave. This book is full of unsung heroes.
Kotlowitz doesn’t waste time trying to come up with solutions. It’s clear how the problem is systemic and cyclical and convoluted. He’s much more interested in empathizing with these individual criminals and survivors and I found myself rooting for their recovery and resilience. They are broken, yet brave. This book is full of unsung heroes.
November 23, 2020
Violence in Chicago, specifically the south side of the city, only increases every year. Why is this happening and what are the lasting repercussions to residents of these neighborhoods? Well researched and written with such great insight, Kotlowitz interviews hundreds of people about the violence on Chicago's south side and tells specific stories, narrated as if they all happened in one summer. He reveals in the afterword that the book is a result of years of work yet all of the stories are true. It is a gut punch to anyone who is unfamiliar with what is happening day to day in these neighborhoods and the trauma that is inflicted on all who live there. It is so tragic to really ponder how historical racism, systematic divestment and current lack of commitment to invest in these communities to make things better. More police and more arrests are not going to fix the problem on Chicago's south side. Investing in improving the neighborhoods, increased resources for schools, new housing solutions all need to come together on a large scale to help alleviate this problem. I highly recommend this book.
March 27, 2019
I enjoyed Kotlowitz's first book and this one is good and devastating. It's a series of stories of mostly boys who die, are killed, or go to jail because that's just life in certain places. It reminded me of Ghettoside by Jill Levoy and several other ethnographies along these lines. It's not about being tough on crime--we have to fix the circumstances these young men have to deal with every day.
March 23, 2024
Chicago, lato, 2013 rok. Statystyki policyjne są bezlitosne oraz druzgocące - od kul zginęły sto siedemdziesiąt dwie osoby, a rannych 7 razy tyle. Przemoc na olbrzymią skalę ogarnia amerykańskie ulice zmieniając ten tak zwany American Dream w koszmar. Autor postanowił stworzyć książkę w której znajdą się relacje osób dotkniętych przez los. Przekrój mamy spory, bo swoim świadectwem podzielą się rodziny zamordowanych, ofiary dotknięte przemocą oraz ci, którzy tę przemoc oraz mord sieją.
To był jeden z tych reportaży, który do łatwych w odbiorze nie należy. Zderzamy się z rzeczywistością, z którą nie mamy styczności. Gangi uliczne, posiadające swoje rewiry i walczące między sobą otwarcie w biały dzień przy pomocy broni palnej, noży oraz innych przedmiotów przypomina jakieś migawki filmu sensacyjnego. Jednak to nie amerykański film tylko codzienność mieszkańców Chicago. Niektórych dzielnic miasta lepiej nie odwiedzać, bo nie masz gwarancji, że je opuścisz. Policja jest bezradna. Statystyki jasno mówią, że tej przemocy jest tak dużo, że już nie można tego zatrzymać.
Książka składa się z wielu relacji, pokazując przemoc z kilku perspektyw - tych co ją sieją, tych co jej bezpośrednio doświadczają jak również tych co pośrednio ją poznają lub ją obserwują. Naturalnym jest, że niektóre historie nas szczególnie zainteresują, a o niektórych wkrótce zapomnimy. U mnie wyszło to w proporcji pół na pół. Co więcej, poznanie skali problemu można zamknąć już w trzech "depeszach". Potem z uwagi na bardzo wąską tematykę, skupioną głównie na gangach, zaczynamy odgrzewać kotlety tylko każdy z odrobinę inną przyprawą. Trochę drażniło mnie to, że autor wspominał o swojej poprzedniej książce "There Are No Children Here" w kontekście znajomości niektórych osób, bądź wydarzeń. Mam wrażenie, że Kotlowitz zamiast wysilić się i coś wyjaśnić, nawet jednym akapitem, to zasłania się poprzednią książką, więc jak chcesz więcej zrozumieć to sięgnij po tamtą pozycję. Reportaż to nie seria i takie książki raczej wybiera się losowo niż w kolejności napisania ich przez autora. Poza tym, mówiąc wprost, nie znoszę autopromocji w książkach.
2,5 gwiazdki.
To był jeden z tych reportaży, który do łatwych w odbiorze nie należy. Zderzamy się z rzeczywistością, z którą nie mamy styczności. Gangi uliczne, posiadające swoje rewiry i walczące między sobą otwarcie w biały dzień przy pomocy broni palnej, noży oraz innych przedmiotów przypomina jakieś migawki filmu sensacyjnego. Jednak to nie amerykański film tylko codzienność mieszkańców Chicago. Niektórych dzielnic miasta lepiej nie odwiedzać, bo nie masz gwarancji, że je opuścisz. Policja jest bezradna. Statystyki jasno mówią, że tej przemocy jest tak dużo, że już nie można tego zatrzymać.
Książka składa się z wielu relacji, pokazując przemoc z kilku perspektyw - tych co ją sieją, tych co jej bezpośrednio doświadczają jak również tych co pośrednio ją poznają lub ją obserwują. Naturalnym jest, że niektóre historie nas szczególnie zainteresują, a o niektórych wkrótce zapomnimy. U mnie wyszło to w proporcji pół na pół. Co więcej, poznanie skali problemu można zamknąć już w trzech "depeszach". Potem z uwagi na bardzo wąską tematykę, skupioną głównie na gangach, zaczynamy odgrzewać kotlety tylko każdy z odrobinę inną przyprawą. Trochę drażniło mnie to, że autor wspominał o swojej poprzedniej książce "There Are No Children Here" w kontekście znajomości niektórych osób, bądź wydarzeń. Mam wrażenie, że Kotlowitz zamiast wysilić się i coś wyjaśnić, nawet jednym akapitem, to zasłania się poprzednią książką, więc jak chcesz więcej zrozumieć to sięgnij po tamtą pozycję. Reportaż to nie seria i takie książki raczej wybiera się losowo niż w kolejności napisania ich przez autora. Poza tym, mówiąc wprost, nie znoszę autopromocji w książkach.
2,5 gwiazdki.
June 26, 2020
While somewhat disjointed in its telling (and therefore difficult to follow at times), American Summer is a series of stories about gun violence in Chicago over the course of one summer. There are stories about racial intolerance, police corruption, gang related violence, innocent lives lost, and the trauma and regret that follow everyone involved.
This isn’t really a book that offers answers, but it does showcase how communities are torn apart by violence, something that many of us have the luxury to ignore because of where we live or where we grew up. Just because something isn’t happening around you doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening at all.
See more of my reviews: Blog // Instagram
This isn’t really a book that offers answers, but it does showcase how communities are torn apart by violence, something that many of us have the luxury to ignore because of where we live or where we grew up. Just because something isn’t happening around you doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening at all.
See more of my reviews: Blog // Instagram
March 16, 2021
A harrowing glimpse into a summer of violence in Chicago's impoverished districts. And from what the author writes (and recent news corroborate) it's a typical summer. Kotlowitz shows how random can the violence be, how it impacts individuals and communities, how it is almost impossible to stay away from it. And for someone like me, it shows the mechanics of group stigmatisation.
October 4, 2024
reportaz niemal wzorowy. wszystko jest na swoim miejscu, polecam bardzo
April 30, 2019
During one summer, the author compiled the tragic stories of many kids in Chicago. The numbers killed in Chicago are staggering. In 20 years between 1990 and 2010, 14,033 people were killed, and another 60,000 wounded by gunfire. That is more than all the American soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, combined. What’s exceptional crazy is that Chicago is not even in the top 10 of the most dangerous cities. Even though I didn’t want to read the grimness and despair of these families, I just couldn’t stop reading. If you look at a map of Chicago, you would see that the murders and shootings in Chicago mostly happen in the city’s South and West sides. In a good year in Chicago, roughly 2,000 people get wounded by gunfire, or 5 people a day give or take. Some years the number has risen to over 4,000 or roughly one person every two hours.
In 1999, the city announced a plan to raze all of its 82 public housing high-rises. They housed 200,000 people, equal to the size of Des Moines, Iowa. The units are set on the edge of existing black ghettoes because white politicians didn’t want them built in their neighborhoods. They were constructed on the cheap and ruled by the Chicago Housing Authority, and whose neglect bordered on the criminal. One of these was Cabrini Green, a name familiar to those who live around Chicago.
It was always dangerous to identify a shooter. It was especially dangerous to press charges and testify. The chance that you will live to the court date are slim at best. Threats start right away.
One story after another shocks you and distresses you. Like the mother who was sitting on her top stoop braiding her daughter’s hair when her daughter doubled over, caught in cross-fire. Or the family that was burned alive in their own house (one was 11 and one was 8). Poor Nugget was at a birthday party dancing with kids in the living room when they all heard gunfire. The adults yelled at them to get in the other room, but Nugget didn’t make it. She was shot in the head and the kids had to step around her to leave the house.
Many times the killings are deliberate and the shooter just walks up to a car and shoots the victim. Sometimes they are random, where the shooter doesn’t even know the victim. They are not all in gangs, which is the preconceived notion.
What people don’t think about is the survivor’s guilt. Those left behind that have witnessed the tragedies and are trying to move on.
This book is real. I opened up the paper and on the front page read, “Police: 14-year-old killed by a stray bullet”. This murder happened in Gary, but it is the same all around us. While I was driving home from my gym, I listened to a news channel and guess what, they were talking about crime in Chicago. We need to stop the violence.
In 1999, the city announced a plan to raze all of its 82 public housing high-rises. They housed 200,000 people, equal to the size of Des Moines, Iowa. The units are set on the edge of existing black ghettoes because white politicians didn’t want them built in their neighborhoods. They were constructed on the cheap and ruled by the Chicago Housing Authority, and whose neglect bordered on the criminal. One of these was Cabrini Green, a name familiar to those who live around Chicago.
It was always dangerous to identify a shooter. It was especially dangerous to press charges and testify. The chance that you will live to the court date are slim at best. Threats start right away.
One story after another shocks you and distresses you. Like the mother who was sitting on her top stoop braiding her daughter’s hair when her daughter doubled over, caught in cross-fire. Or the family that was burned alive in their own house (one was 11 and one was 8). Poor Nugget was at a birthday party dancing with kids in the living room when they all heard gunfire. The adults yelled at them to get in the other room, but Nugget didn’t make it. She was shot in the head and the kids had to step around her to leave the house.
Many times the killings are deliberate and the shooter just walks up to a car and shoots the victim. Sometimes they are random, where the shooter doesn’t even know the victim. They are not all in gangs, which is the preconceived notion.
What people don’t think about is the survivor’s guilt. Those left behind that have witnessed the tragedies and are trying to move on.
This book is real. I opened up the paper and on the front page read, “Police: 14-year-old killed by a stray bullet”. This murder happened in Gary, but it is the same all around us. While I was driving home from my gym, I listened to a news channel and guess what, they were talking about crime in Chicago. We need to stop the violence.
April 11, 2021
„Chicagowskie lato 2013 roku. Nie ma w sobie nic szczególnego i tylko przypadek zdecydował, że właśnie w nie postanowiłem się zanurzyć. Przez te trzy miesiące od kul zginęły sto siedemdziesiąt dwie osoby, a siedemset dziewięćdziesiąt trzy odniosły rany. Jak na standardy Chicago było to lato spokojniejsze niż zwykle.”
Wielkie betonowe miasto, czerwiec, zaczyna się robić parno, nad ulicami unosi się kurz, ludzie wieczorami wychodzą na ganki złapać trochę powietrza po upalnym dniu, a lokalny dziennikarz Alex Kotlowitz wyrusza, aby pokazać nam strefę wojny.
Przez trzy kolejne miesiące wędruje przez najbiedniejsze dzielnice Chicago i wysyła depesze z linii frontu. Snuje w nich łamiącą serce opowieść o epidemii przemocy, która rozlewa się po ubogich częściach amerykańskich miast – nie da się od niej uciec, ani przed nią obronić. Dotyka każdej osoby, każdej rodziny, każdej szkoły, każdej ulicy, każdej społeczności.
„Liczby są porażające. W Chicago w ciągu dwudziestu lat, od 1990 do 2010 roku, z broni palnej zabito czternaście tysięcy trzydzieści trzy osoby, a raniono około sześćdziesięciu tysięcy. Do ogromnej większości tych zabójstw doszło w stosunkowo małej części miasta. Ujmijmy to z pewnego dystansu, o ile to w ogóle możliwe: ta liczba ofiar znacznie przewyższa liczbę żołnierzy amerykańskich zabitych w walkach w Afganistanie i Iraku. Łącznie. I jeszcze coś: Chicago wcale nie jest najniebezpieczniejszym miastem w kraju, daleko mu do tego. Odsetek tutejszych zabójstw nie mieści się nawet w pierwszej dziesiątce.”
Kula może dosięgnąć człowieka wszędzie – w parku, na ulicy, w samochodzie, przed domem, kiedy siedzi przy stole jedząc kolację, pomiędzy jednym a drugim kęsem kanapki. Ktoś może chcieć do Ciebie strzelać kiedy mieszkasz w złym miejscu, kiedy zjawiasz się w nieodpowiednim miejscu, kiedy coś mu zrobiłeś, albo tylko myśli, że to ty, kiedy ktoś kogo znasz, albo ktoś z twojego gangu mu coś zrobił, za to, że jesteś w gangu i za to, że nie jesteś, za to, że rozmawiasz z policją, albo kiedy budzisz podejrzenia policji i to oni strzelają. Ktoś też może strzelać do zupełnie innej osoby, ale kule nie chcą słuchać jego intencji, więc co chwilę czyjeś dziecko ginie przypadkiem. W każdym domu, który jeszcze nie ma okien zabitych deskami po wyprowadzce właścicieli, ktoś kogoś stracił. W każdym domu ktoś płacze. Każda rodzina zmaga się ze skutkami wielopokoleniowej traumy. Młodzi chłopcy, którzy byli świadkami czyjejś śmierci walczą z PTSD, jak żołnierze wracający z misji. Całe swoje życie ludzie odczuwają permanentny strach i stres. Matki boją się odbierać telefony. Wszyscy boją się dźwięków wystrzałów, tak samo jak syren radiowozów. Nie ma ucieczki dla młodych mężczyzn – prędzej czy później wejdą na drogę przemocy. Wiedzą o tym i oswajają się z tym od wczesnego dzieciństwa. Jednocześnie wyobrażają sobie, że jest to dla nich jakaś możliwość, że może uda im się wybić, poczuć wreszcie kimś. Poczucie władzy i podbudowanie własnej wartości to bardzo ważny powód, dla którego chce się rządzić na ulicy.
Mieszkańcy tych okolic nie mają na kogo liczyć. Dla państwa są niewidoczni, prawo jest skonstruowane tak, że ani ich nie chroni, ani nie traktuje sprawiedliwie. Nie mają szans na wyrwanie się z biedy, nie mają żadnych perspektyw, nikt nie wyciąga do nich ręki. Wykluczenie, zapomnienie i systemowa przemoc – to filary ich bytowania. Każdego dnia walczą o przetrwanie i zachowanie godności. Tu każdy jest ofiarą. Ale niektórzy próbują się nie dać, próbują coś robić dla innych i siebie, muszą coś robić, bo tylko działanie pozwala nie myśleć. Muszą być w ruchu. Czasem robią coś, żeby sobie wybaczyć. Czasem robią coś, bo tęsknią. Czasem z miłości. Właśnie o takich bohaterach, którzy uporczywie utrzymują się na powierzchni bagna opowiada nam w swojej książce Kotlowitz. Jednak te próby znalezienia jaśniejszych punktów w mrocznym świecie wcale nie podniosły mnie na duchu.
To jest chyba jedna z najsmutniejszych i najbardziej przygnębiających książek jakie czytałam. Wypełniona płaczem matek, bólem, cierpieniem i mnóstwem niepotrzebnej śmierci. Zostawia mnie z poczuciem kompletnej beznadziei i braku zrozumienia dla świata. Zostawia mnie też w ogromnej złości na rząd USA i niezrozumieniu dlaczego w takim wielkim kraju ludzie się godzą na takie cierpienie za rogiem i dokonują wyborów umacniających nieszczęście, głównie nie białych społeczności. Wzbudziła też we mnie pokłady współczucia, bo dziennikarz podchodzi do swoich rozmówców z ogromną dawką empatii, widać że ich lubi, a przede wszystkim szanuje, chce im pomóc, nie ocenia ich i jest bardzo uważny, dlatego czytelnikowi łatwo nawiązać z nimi relacje. Pokazuje, że granica między ofiarą i sprawcą jest bardzo cienka i czasem decydują sekundy, które potem zabierają życie dwóm osobom. Pokazuje jak wyniszczająca jest śmierć kogoś bliskiego. Jego opis uczuć, które towarzyszą stracie doskonale oddaje stan, który znam ze swojego doświadczenia: „Tak działa rozpacz. Człowiek czuje się rozdarty. Połowa chce zmykać, zniknąć, schronić się gdzieś, gdzie nikt nie zadaje pytań. Ale druga połowa chce pamiętać, musi pamiętać, bo jeżeli się nie pamięta, zniknie nie tylko ten dzień, lecz również realność tej chwili. Jeżeli tak się stanie, człowiek zacznie myśleć, że tamten nadal żyje, jest w pokoju obok, na ulicy, w szkole, w parku, gdzieś wystarczająco blisko, żeby zacząć myśleć o tym, co mogłoby być.”. Narracja Kotlowitza nie pozostawi nikogo obojętnym.
Jedyną rzeczą, która mi w tym reportażu przeszkadzała jest jego konstrukcja. Pomysł trzymania się osi czasu dla mnie się nie sprawdził, bo każda z historii w rezultacie i tak opowiada o dużo większym wycinku niż kilka dni określonych na początku rozdziału, a wymusza konieczność rozbicia niektórych epizodów na części, przez co tracą dynamikę i siłę wyrazu. Każda zawarta tu opowieść jest bardzo mocna i powoduje, że zapomina się o wątkach, które niedostatecznie wybrzmiały, dlatego musiałam za każdym razem sobie je odświeżać.
„Amerykańskie lato” to książka, którą powinna przeczytać każda osoba podważająca istnienie rasizmu systemowego, nierozumiejąca jak działają mechanizmy biedy, wykluczenia społecznego i zinternalizowanej przemocy. Powinien przeczytać to każdy zachłyśnięty kapitalizmem i amerykańskim snem. Każdy kto buduje swoja wizję świata na podstawie wiadomości telewizyjnych i filmów gangsterskich bez świadomości złożoności problemu sytuacji mieszkańców niebezpiecznych dzielnic. Każdy, kto podczas protestów BLM burczał pod nosem, że ci okropni agresywni ludzie wybijają witryny sklepowe. Każdy kto chce zrozumieć jak działa świat i jak ogromnym przywilejem jest urodzenie się białym Europejczykiem. Jest to reportaż równie wstrząsający, co potrzebny.
4,5*
Książkę dostałam od księgarni Woblink:
https://woblink.com/ebook/ameryka-nsk...
May 4, 2019
I was torn about this book. It was well-written and full of empathy for the people it portrays--both killers and killed. But the idea of a white man making money off the tragedy of black people's lives didn't sit right with me.
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