Origin stories are revealing. This one makes clear that ghettos are physical places that are perpetuated by vicious cycles of inequality and are justified by ideologies of cultural or racial pathology...In Duneier’s impressive and comprehensive volume, readers will find a greater sense of the complexity of America’s problem of racial inequality, as well as the urgency — practical and moral — of solving it.
...[A] searing and searching examination of the political and cultural history at the root of this powerfully evocative and inflammatory term...Some readers may leave this volume with the weary conclusion that the American version of the ghetto is the sad reflection of the nation’s failures regarding race. In some of these pages, Duneier shares that view, which bends toward hopelessness. But in his conclusion, he offers a heroic bow to the residents of these places, a salute to their valiant efforts and to their values.
Mr. Duneier is pessimistic about the chances of any immediate political solution to the problem he calls the 'forgotten ghetto' in American cities. But his concerns are born from profound sociological and historical understanding. His book is an incisive, balanced yet commendably biting account of the unfinished history of the ghetto.
Mitchell Duneier’s Ghetto is an arresting, listen-up synthesis of ghetto-living theory and practice over its 500-year history; particular emphasis is paid to the last century, when ghettoes shape-shifted with alarming speed. You emerge with an oh-so-better understanding of the forces that fashioned the ghetto. You will see the ghetto as a complex, dynamic organism, the ills of which will never surrender to a magic bullet, for the ghetto is a vivid expression of institutionalized racism, a rotten way of being in the world.
Engaging a host of classic works of urban sociology, Duneier describes how social scientists have grappled with poor, black, inner-city neighborhoods in the United States. His rich intellectual history of the ghetto raises important questions about how we might address the plight of its residents...Ultimately, Duneier’s vision is bleak. His book describes the ghetto as a historical process rooted in racial discrimination, spatial segregation and political powerlessness. Absent a genuine commitment among the American public to helping the black poor, that process continues.
If you don’t understand the ghetto, Duneier’s book might not be your best starting point. Even though Ghetto is written for a general audience, the author nevertheless assumes a certain level of knowledge about zoning ordinances, redlining policies and federal public housing programs ... What’s missing is a detailed explanation of the specific mechanisms by which the ghettos were created ... Beyond the etymology, Duneier tells the stories of four people who dedicated their professional lives to understanding the problems of the African-American ghetto. And as far as I’m concerned, each mini-biography is ready for the full adulatory biopic treatment.
Duneier’s intellectual biographies sparkle with revealing details ... Duneier offers one of the best—and certainly the most readable—accounts of the transformation of American sociological thinking on race. Like the most accomplished intellectual biographers, he situates his subjects in fierce debate with their contemporaries and with each other ... But this historian wanted to read a little more sociology in these pages. For all the power of Duneier’s intellectual biographies, the topic of ghettoization sometimes slips out of view. His book is ultimately about the idea of the ghetto, not the place itself. He offers only fleeting explanations of why a system of residential segregation by race emerged in early-twentieth-century American cities.
