How East New York Became a Ghetto [Hardcover]

Walter Thabit (Author), Frances Fox Piven (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814782663 | ISBN-13: 978-0814782668 | Publication Date: August 1, 2003 | Edition: 1St Edition

In response to the riots of the mid-‘60s, Walter Thabit was hired to work with the community of East New York to develop a plan for low- and moderate-income public housing. In the years that followed, he experienced first-hand the forces that had engineered East New York’s dramatic decline and that continued to work against its successful revitalization. How East New York Became a Ghetto describes the shift of East New York from a working-class immigrant neighborhood to a largely black and Puerto Rican neighborhood and shows how the resulting racially biased policies caused the deterioration of this once flourishing area.

A clear-sighted, unflinching look at one ghetto community, How East New York Became a Ghetto provides insights and observations on the histories and fates of ghettos throughout the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Walter Thabit eloquently tells the story of East New York, a neighborhood in eastern Brooklyn, complementing his close observation of events in the neighborhood with astute analyses of the bearing of larger forces on this big city slum. Events in East New York reveal in microcosm the turbulent national forces that have determined the fate of inner city ghettos across the country over the past 40 years.”
-from the Foreword by Frances Fox Piven

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“Thabit emphasizes the central role of local institutions in contributing to urban disinvestment and decline.”
-Journal of Urban History

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“Walter Thabit has written a highly personal and compelling piece of retrospective analysis.”
-Journal of the American Planning Association

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“Thabit’s writing is lucid and heartfelt.”
-Urban Studies

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“An excellent source of data and intelligence on the formation of ghettos and the life and struggle within them.”
-Science & Society

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About the Author

Walter Thabit has 35 years of experience in housing, renewal, community planning, city planning, and anti-poverty projects. He lives in New York City.

Frances Fox Piven is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate School, City University of New York. She is coeditor of Work, Welfare and Politics. Her other award-winning books include Regulating the Poor, Why Americans Don't Vote, and Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail (all with Richard Cloward).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press; 1St Edition edition (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814782663
• ISBN-13: 978-0814782668
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,015,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but..., July 14, 2006

By 

Francois Bonnet (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How East New York Became a Ghetto (Hardcover)

How ENY Became A Ghetto is about the last 40 years in ENY. It's mainly about housing, inequality, and race. I review the pros and cons.

PROS:
- the book exists: there is something to read on ENY.
- it provides a lot of facts and good stories about ENY.
- some chapters are indeed really good (the chapters about the history of ENY, the chapter on recent politics).
- Thabit tells in details about the scams in real estate.

CONS:
- it is ultra-liberal. I mean, I am myself liberal, but the author is a serious extremist. The book is so biased that it's not even funny in the end.
- the chapters about the history of Thabit's work in ENY are useless and tedious.

CONCLUSION:
You'd rather buy the excellent "Brownsville, Brooklyn" by Wendell Pritchett. Brownsville is just west to East New York, about the same in terms of social processes, and Pritchett is a true scholar, whose work is amazing.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing & Revisionist, June 16, 2006

By 

Former East New Yorker - See all my reviews

This review is from: How East New York Became a Ghetto (Paperback)

The author reveals his bias, apologistic views, ultra-political correctness, and lack of understanding of Economics 101 from the very get-go. And goes downhill from there. Yes I'm sure there has been corruption and mis-management by the "authorities" and community groups (past and present) alike, but that is tangential to the demise of ENY. I was there. If you have rent control, landlords cannot and will not invest or maintain. When housing stock deteriorates, only those who cannot afford better will remain or move in, thus giving rise to a heavy concentration of the poor and uneducated. In turn, this leads to frustration, crime, further flight of the true working class (the old East New York), and inevitable decline. Is it reversible? I hope so. But the author's schemes are nothing more than code for welfare. And that does not work. The author's views on education, law enforcement, et al, follow a similar path - PC at the expense of reality

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read For Anyone Who Is Interested in Cities, February 15, 2005

By 

S. R. Wedderburn (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How East New York Became a Ghetto (Hardcover)

In this very readable book Walter Thabit describes the decline and rebirth of East New York. It is both readable and methodical in desribing how real estate, politics (from the federal level to the community school board)and prejudice (economic and racial) destroyed a viable community. Special interests groups from community based organizations to the teachers unions to uniformed city workers worked against the best interests of the community.

The good news is that East New York is on the rise. The efforts of long time community residents and faith based organizations have made this a community for those on their way to achieving the American dream of if not home ownership, a decent place to live. How East New York Became a Ghetto is instructive in how community residents must organize themselves and align the best interests of their communities to prevent this kind of debacle from happening in their own backyard.