Customer Reviews

Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is written by a doctor who has been working with innner city patients for over two decades. He understands their medical and psychosocial issues very well but he was puzzled by many things. Including, how is it that there is such sharp geographical clustering of poverty, how is this cycle perpetuated from one generation to the next, how does 'govt. assistance' work and how is it designed?

He tried to find the answers by surveying the sociological, economic, and public policy literature. He describes his book as the type of resource he wished he had access to in medical school. The book itself is only about 130 pages (not including endnotes which were quite interesting). Anyway, I found it to be very interesting and it is totally readable in one sitting so busy people might like it.

Because my understanding of what he was trying to explain is very unsophisitcated, I couldn't read the book with a critical eye (except one type where I'm quite sure he meant "integration" instead of "segregation" but that was just one word.)

I do warn you that it isn't a cozy book (although it wasn't a screamin' shockin', bleedin' liberal tryst either, thank goodness). Just so you're prepared.

As a physician, David Hilfiker saw first hand the effects of crushing poverty on the black inner city poor. Rather than blame them for thier situation, he dove into the underlying problems and the deep seated racism that had created the ghettos. He handily demolishes many of the urban legends about the poor and builds a much different picture in it's place. For such a slim volume, this is a powerful work. I highly recommend it.

I bought this book for a psychology class I am taking and this book is very knowledgeable and easy to follow.