An American Summer
Love and Death in Chicago
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4.5 • 32 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
2020 J. ANTHONY LUKAS PRIZE WINNER
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 staggering: over the past twenty years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire. What does that do to the spirit of individuals and community? Drawing on his decades of experience, Alex Kotlowitz set out to chronicle one summer in the city, writing about individuals who have emerged from the violence and whose stories capture the capacity--and the breaking point--of the human heart and soul. The result is a spellbinding collection of deeply intimate profiles that upend what we think we know about gun violence in America. Among others, we meet a man who as a teenager killed a rival gang member and twenty years later is still trying to come to terms with what he's done; a devoted school social worker struggling with her favorite student, who refuses to give evidence in the shooting death of his best friend; the witness to a wrongful police shooting who can't shake what he has seen; and an aging former gang leader who builds a place of refuge for himself and his friends.
Applying the close-up, empathic reporting that made There Are No Children Here a modern classic, Kotlowitz offers a piercingly honest portrait of a city in turmoil. These sketches of those left standing will get into your bones. This one summer will stay with you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here) examines the epidemic of violent crime in Chicago through the events of the summer of 2013, narrating the stories of victims and their families, social workers, and perpetrators. A high school student and former gang member's one-night spree of violence threatens to run his entire future off-course. A mother finds the strength to forgive her son's killer, arguing on his behalf in court. A teen haunted by a friend's death at a birthday party watches helplessly as another friend is gunned down. A man spends a "day of atonement" each year on the anniversary of the day he took a life, visiting with victims of violent crime. A witness to a teenager's death comes forward to tell the victim's mother that police officers shot her son and planted a gun at the scene. Kotlowitz has a ruminative, almost poetic sensibility, describing for example how "the acronym RIP... is everywhere... tattooed on people's bodies... scrawled on the sides of buildings. Embossed on T-shirts and jackets. It's as if these communities are piecing together the equivalent of a war memorial." The violence is made palpable but never romanticized. Kotlowitz's approach is empathetic in this a bold, unflinching depiction of an ever-lengthening crisis.
Customer Reviews
Eye-opening
I didn’t know if I would enjoy this book when I first came across it, mainly because I was required to read this for school. However, Alex Kolowitz managed to prove me wrong and this book seriously impressed me. Born in Oak Park and raised in the suburbs, I’ve always been very familiar with Chicago (and, consequently, its reputation for violence). But this book drove past the reputation and gave the victims names, lives, stories: things I didn’t realize could deepen my connection to this city so strongly.
Thank you Alex for writing this book.
A Great Read
I finished this book within a week. It was hard to stop reading at times, because I wanted to quickly find out how each story ended. As a young person from a northern suburb of Chicago, and also someone who lost a best friend to violence, I recognized a lot of my emotions in the people interviewed in these stories. It was nice to know others understand what I’ve gone through.
I highly recommend this book!