Customer Reviews

Practicing Community: Class Culture and Power in an Urban Neighborhood

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Dr. Halperin's work on the East End of Cincinnati,Ohio is an easy read for everyone,you do not have to be a Phd.to appreciate this book.The author obviously lived this book and knew not only the neighborhood but the East Enders themselves on a very personal level,only then could she write about this community and the changes it has gone through in the last decade with such knowledge and insight.This should be a must read for anyone undergoing changes in their life or their community.Thank you Dr.Halperin for a book that everyone can understand and learn from.

The book is a interesting read but is less than factual of the events. I was on the RAC and lived in the East End as well as heavily involved in the process with the community council. Dr. Halperin has written this history from a slanted bias personal view point not from a documentary or historical or journalistic point of view. Dr. Halperin wrote this book more from a bias stand point not from a historical view. Rhoda lets her own feelings and political views skew the events and facts of what happened during the East End redevelopment process. Dr. Halperin over emphasizes parts of the community while leaving out other major parts who wanted the area to remain a fabric of income people.

It makes me wonder what Dr. Halperin was teaching the students during this time period as she use the people of the East End and the redevelopment for the studies. This book is interesting but is slanted so far it should be listed as Fiction. In the end the city paid little attention to the EEAC, the RAC and did what they had wanted to do all along. The worst case has happened and the EEAC no longer is a cross section of the people and the city of Cincinnati has allowed high rise development in areas that were supposed to me low rise housing for people of all incomes.

The EEAC under Ms. Burns did accomplish some major goals of subsidized housing for low income people of the East End. This allowed many people who would have been displaced a place to stay and live in the East End. I did not read much about the people who did accomplish some of the fabric of the community. A nice book just keep in mind it lacks many of the facts that tell the whole story of the East End.