Review by New York Times Review
"The coffee shop is the tip of the iceberg," Moskowitz writes in this exacting look at gentrification in New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco and New York, exposing how large institutions - governments, businesses, foundations - influence street-level processes that might appear as organic as the coffee shop's dark roast. In nations that fiscally support their cities (including, once upon a time, our own), municipalities develop low- and moderate-income neighborhoods for their citizens. Stripped of such support, cities scramble to prop up their tax bases by luring wealthy residents with shiny, bland streetscapes. Moskowitz, a journalist, has seen this firsthand. He grew up in a Greenwich Village whose nonconformist edge got sanded off just when his gay teenage self needed it most. But the scowls Moskowitz gives his parents' well-heeled neighbors echo those he draws as a gentrifier in the parts of Brooklyn where he relocates. While moving nimbly from neighborhood observations to broad national and international contexts, Moskowitz occasionally stumbles into unexamined platitudes. "Gentrification is not integration but a new form of segregation," he says of Michigan millennials moving from lilywhite suburbs to America's blackest city, a conclusion that ignores the complicated disjunction between individual and institutional racism. Still, more often than not, "How to Kill a City" elucidates the complex interplay between the forces we control and those that control us. DANIEL BROOK is the author of "A History of Future Cities" and "The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-AH America."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [May 12, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
Freelance journalist Moskowitz, who has written for numerous major publications ranging from the New York Times to New Republic, takes a discerning look at gentrification in four American cities, focusing particularly on the past few decades. Each city is distinct, but they are all experiencing rapid building and (re)development that is ultimately forcing out increasing numbers of lower- and middle-class inhabitants. New Orleans and Detroit both hit rock bottom economically and populationwise in recent years, while New York and San Francisco have maintained relatively healthy economies and attracted numerous international businesses to their environs, but Moskowitz reveals that all of this building and rebuilding comes at a cost. Mixing documented statistical research with anecdotal evidence and investigative reporting, Moskowitz shows both the direct and indirect ripple effects of gentrification on the less well-off citizens who are often being displaced. Though not a scholarly treatise, How to Kill a City is a convincing and persuasive argument that the U.S. has a serious problem with affordable housing that is not going away any time soon.--Tosko, Michael Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Moskowitz's first book is ambitious but also cluttered and lacking in depth. The book begins by suggesting that gentrification is a misunderstood buzzword. Moskowitz discusses the stages cities go through before gentrification is complete, beginning with policy and planning long before the coffee shops and art galleries show up. Examining the phenomenon through four cities (Detroit, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco) should broaden the scope of the book, but the chapters are too brief and none of the cities is afforded enough time. Moskowitz asserts that current urban planning trends don't favor residents, noting how the populations of two radically transformed cities, Detroit and New Orleans, have declined. The book has too many threads that are not given enough room to unspool, such as the reverse "white flight" back into cities. There are many compelling beginnings. but the book reads like a summary; it's a retread of information for knowledgeable readers and a superficial introduction for novices. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Journalist Moskowitz visits four gentrifying American cities, where revitalization and displacement go hand in hand. Real estate developers buy old apartments and local businesses, city managers deal out rezoning and tax incentives to outsiders, and trendy millennials flock to San Francisco, New Orleans, New York, Detroit, and other gentrifying downtowns. Gentrification causes rents to skyrocket and locals-mostly low-income residents-to be displaced to the suburbs. Moskowitz exposes gentrification as systemic violence against low-income minorities that is rooted in historical inequalities and spearheaded by paternalistic developers and city officials who insist that displacement is the price of progress. The upshot is a "new geography of inequality." Moskowitz laments the decline of gritty urban communities and cultures, as well as the rise of inner cities that he characterizes as bland, affluent, and hipsteresque. He also touches on the growing global phenomenon in cities such as Berlin and London. This is a valuable entry text for deeper analyses found in Matthew Desmond's Evicted and Neil Smith's The New Urban Frontier. VERDICT A forceful critique of gentrification and its impact on disempowered members of American society. Relevant to anyone who values diverse cityscapes and socioeconomic justice.--Michael Rodriguez, Univ. of Connecticut © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
