High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing (Voice of Witness) - Softcover

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9781938073373: High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing (Voice of Witness)

Synopsis

In the gripping first-person accounts of High Rise Stories, former residents of Chicago’s iconic public housing projects describe life in the now-demolished high-rises. These stories of community, displacement, and poverty in the wake of gentrification give voice to those who have long been ignored, but whose hopes and struggles exist firmly at the heart of our national identity.

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About the Author

Audrey Petty is an associate professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A Ford Foundation grantee, her work has been featured in Colorlines, StoryQuarterly, and Saveur.

Reviews

In 1999, the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Plan for Transformation instigated the relocation of thousands of families and the destruction of buildings that had once held such promise, especially for families who came to the city as part of the Great Migration. In the latest book from the admirable and acclaimed Voices of Witness oral-history series, we hear from public-housing residents. The majority of the narrators, each a memorable storyteller, have mixed feelings about seeing the high rises demolished, and we feel their confusion: these besieged towers were home but also the source of so much pain and neglect. As touching, illuminating, and valuable as these personal accounts are, Petty includes much more. The incredibly useful appendixes include a time line, glossary, and commentary from scholar D. Bradford Hunt and journalist Ben Austen. Also of great interest is an excerpt from a 2011 CHA report on 10 years of relocations and demolitions. This book accomplishes its mission to give voice to public-housing residents tenfold but is equally successful as a significant work of American urban history. --Annie Tully

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781642595376: High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing (Voice of Witness)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1642595373 ISBN 13:  9781642595376
Publisher: Haymarket Books, 2021
Softcover