Customer Reviews

Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American city

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Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City is a revealing expose about how bigotry and residential segregation impacted Baltimore's development - as well as that of America at large, using Baltimore as a mirror to reflect national trends. From how public discrimination shifted to focus especially upon African-Americans and Jews in the late nineteenth century onward, to the racially biased housing policies enacted by the Federal Housing Administration up to the 1960s, to the consequences of white flight after World War II, and much more, Not In My Neighborhood examines the overall paradigm of human behavior and its deleterious consequences resounding up to the present day and beyond. A sharply critical, exhaustively researched, and absolutely invaluable analysis, Not In My Neighborhood is the most important kind of history book - the history that must be studied so that its mistakes are not repeated (and that so solutions to difficult problems can be worked upon for the future)! Highly recommended.

What a fine book--Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped A Great American City by Antero Pietila. I intended to do a quick read but ended up doing a SLOW one--highlighting the book extensively and identifying in a Baltimore mapbook every street location and neighborhood Pietila discusses. I found it to be a highly informative case study, one that has been replicated in cities across America, about how whites, aided by politicians, bankers, realtors, zoning officials, the FHA, churches, and other groups, fought the encroachment of African-Americans into their neighborhoods, and the methods blockbusters used to drive whites out and provide housing and financing for blacks, all the while filling their own coffers. But Not In My Neighborhood is not a textbook. Pietila not only tracks the movement of minorities through urban neighborhoods over many generations, he details the histories of the people involved and tells the most interesting stories about them. After all, Pietila spent thirty-five years with the Baltimore Sun, covering the city's neighborhoods, politics, and government, so he knows where the bones are buried, and he tells all. This book is as much fun as fiction.

Antero Pietila has written one of the best history books on the city of Baltimore. His attention to detail on incidents, people and the struggles of the past that have shaped the current city is remarkable. Once I picked the book up, I could not put it down. He covers many of the famous neighborhoods of Baltimore and describes how segregation shaped the city. He explains the migration from white to jewish to black in many neighborhoods and how exploitation created the slums in Baltimore. I highly recommend the book to any one who is interested in our local and national history.

I enjoyed the book very much but don't know how enlightening it would be for someone not from the local area. Certainly many of the instances of prejudice and segregation cited would be understandable almost anywhere, but the local references were particularly relatable. I've shared it with my neighbor, a retired real estate salesperson, and plan to send it on or recommend it to any number of family and friends. I sort ot wished there had been space for a few more maps of specific neighborhoods.

Even if you've never been to Baltimore, but have an interest in race relations, this book is a must read. If you are familiar with Baltimore, that goes double!

This is one of the best books I've read in the past year. The author, being a newspaperman, has a keen eye for the telling detail. He presents both the big picture and the little nuggets that make the story come to life.

Because I have lived in Baltimore, I am familiar with many of the personalities and locations featured in the book, but I still learned a lot. For example, that Fulton Avenue served as an unyielding boundary between black and white neighborhoods for 34 years -- an eternity! Since Fulton Ave. has for decades been simply a street through the massive black section of West Baltimore, I had no idea of its important role in decades past.

Also, while the subject of the book is quite serious, the writing style is extremely accessible. It's almost like a series of New Yorker-style articles, but arranged in chronological order that works perfectly. Readers will be able to get a clear understanding of how Baltimore's black population expanded from the city center to the boundaries with Baltimore County over the past 100+ years.

For a deeper dive into one of the episodes described in this book -- the "breaking" of Edmondson Village -- I also recommend "Blockbusting in Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story" by W. Edmond Orser. It's written in a more academic style, but is still pretty readable.

If you have enjoyed "Family Properties" by Beryl Satter, you should read this book as well.

By detailing the history the real estate market in Baltimore, the author manages to cast a light on the complex history of bigotry in the US in general. Eugenics, redlining, blockbusting -- this is a fascinating and extremely well-researched glimpse into the not-so-distant past, and one that should make liberals and conservative both think hard about some of the things they make take for granted with respect to the way class and race and religion have shaped our society. If you live in Baltimore and have any interest in finding out why the city is the way it is, this is essential reading. Non-Baltimoreans may not be so riveted (there's a lot of specifics about neighborhoods, and it helps to be familiar with them, at least to some extent), but similar versions of this same story played out in many other cities, so it's pretty universal stuff. I wish there were more in the way of maps, but otherwise, this is a fine, fine book, and one that deserves more than just regional attention.

Very simply, Not In My Neighborhood is most comprehensive, honest and truthful and take no prisoners book ever written about housing segregation and racism in America, not just Baltimore, MD. Antero Pietila deserves a Pulitzer!
JD

I loved reading "Not In My Neighborhood", which defines redlining and white flight in Baltimore. This is an excellent example of what occurred in American history throughout the country at a time when many large cities began to experience racial change and growth, along with the subsequent problems. I could not put it down!

Good gosh this book is terrible. I hate to criticize this much when someone created a work and I didn't. However this book is just one fact or detail after another with very little narrative holding it together. I'm reading it for a Graduate class and unless you're forced to read it like I am, don't.

I did not like this book at all. I was born in Baltimore city and found thihs book very distasteful to me