Antero Pietila spent thirty-five years as a reporter with the Baltimore Sun, most of it covering the city's neighborhoods, politics, and government. A native of Finland, he became a student of racial change during his first visit to the United States in 1964. He lives in Baltimore.
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 so that solutions to difficult
problems can be worked upon for the future)! Highly
recommended.
*Midwest Book Review*
...Spellbinding....The scope of Pietila's research over the past
130 years is dazzling
*Baltimore Brew*
With its sensitive subject, this groundbreaking book is a
monumental effort.....Pietila hooks readers with anecdotes and
arresting details.
*Baltimore Sun*
From suburbanization in the late 19th century to white flight after
WWII and, more recently, the targeting of minorities with predatory
sub-prime lending, the picture of Baltimore, once again, isn't
pretty.
*The Review of Higher Education*
Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped A Great American City
offers a powerful survey of a Baltimore issue that shaped a city's
psyche when discrimination policies toward blacks and Jews shaped a
world....Eye-opening and recommended for any college-level social
issues collection.
*Midwest Book Review, May 2010*
Antero Pietila’s sweeping and detailed portrait of Baltimore’s
20th-century blockbusters is a must-read for anyone who wants to
understand how and why the city came to look the way it does today.
Morris Goldseker, the mighty Jack Pollack, “Little Willie” Adams,
James Rouse, Joseph Meyerhoff, and even civil rights legends such
as Juanita Mitchell all played their part—and profited
from—Baltimore’s racially rigged housing business. Clearly written,
fast-paced, and filled with telling anecdotes, Not in My
Neighborhood brings these players to vivid life, even if it merely
nods to some of the larger, more impersonal forces that gave them
their opportunities.
*Baltimore City Paper, December 2010*
Former Baltimore Sun reporter Pietila, who covered Baltimore
neighborhoods and politics for 35 years, has produced an engrossing
chronicle that emphasizes the links between racism, real estate
practices, and urban politics. Indeed, the author argues they have
been inseparable in Baltimore—and the nation. Pietila suggests that
federal housing programs (1930s-60s) transformed the eugenics
movement into national policy, and he significantly places realtors
and developers at the very center of Baltimore politics. Most of
the narrative focuses on the period 1910-68, although the author
traces racial and real estate patterns back to the 1880s. The third
section covers the 1960s and early 1970s....White versus black
racism and black and white anti-Semitism are the main themes here,
but Pietila's...account reveals class and religion added to already
complex tensions. For instance, some Jewish developers would not
rent or sell to Jewish families. Newspapers and personal interviews
provide some colorful details. Secondary scholarship connects the
Baltimore example to the national struggle over access to decent
housing, driven by optimism, fear, and sometimes violence. Summing
Up: Recommended.
*CHOICE*
Not in My Neighborhood offers a lively, informative portrayal of
how real estated practices throughout the twentieth century
contributed to the segregated cities we see today. In a brief
epilogue, the author voices optimism that increasing demographic
diversity in the United States will lead to a more integrated
future.
*Journal of Planning Education and Research*
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