Description
Pietila arrived in the US in 1964 from his native Finland, and spent most of his 35 years with the Baltimore Sun covering the Maryland city's neighborhoods, politics, and government. He takes Baltimore as a case study to show how real estate discrimination toward African Americans and Jews shaped the cities of the US, from the early suburbanization in the 1880s through the consequences of white flight after World War II to the first decade of the 21st century. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Baltimore is the setting for (and typifies) one of the most penetrating examinations of bigotry and residential segregation ever published in the United States. Antero Pietila shows how continued discrimination practices toward African Americans and Jews have shaped the cities in which we now live. Eugenics, racial thinking, and white supremacist attitudes influenced even the federal government's actions toward housing in the 20th century, dooming American cities to ghettoization. This all-American tale is told through the prism of Baltimore, from its early suburbanization in the 1880s to the consequences of "white flight" after World War II, and into the first decade of the twenty-first century. The events are real, and so are the heroes and villains. Mr. Pietila's engrossing story is an eye-opening journey into city blocks and neighborhoods, shady practices, and ruthless promoters.
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