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Reviews
How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood by P.E. Moskowitz
ralowe's review against another edition
3.0
in p.e. moskowitz' *how to kill a city*, gentrification is largely portrayed as an immovably entrenched sociological stone that can be both epitomized and meaningfully overcome at the sites of human interest narrative. the book's best feature, the various multi-person portraits which linger (more or less) on john and alicia winter vs ashana bigard in new orleans, cheryl west and lauren hood vs dan gilbert in detroit, jimmie fails and joe talbot vs dropbox bros in san fran, and the author alongside alicia boyd in nyc, is also it's most irritating weakness. seems to just stop short. of what? a yearning for redistributive triumph over land struggle seems to be weeded out at either the editorial or authorial level in favor of an equivalence between accessibility and compromise of both the dilemma's description and what are imaginable activist aims in overcoming said dilemma that will not alienate anyone's middle class aspirations or positionality. the section on new york where the author talks about taking a tour through the neoliberal carnage wrought by bloomberg, giuliani, et al to their childhood home before they were of legal age to revel in it comes the closest to the muted outline of this radical longing. the strength here is that it offers a by all accounts more than serviceable articulation of the gentrification problematic, especially well in the book's second section on detroit, that can circulate with ease among those living its harm whom could find use in another set of eyes to not be battered by feeling gaslit as well as the gentrifiers themselves who need content to fill awkward conversational silences in under-utilized luxury square footage. we needn't be preoccupied with fixing the schulmannian mental gentrification of the latter. the entire anti-gentrification movement as shepherded by professional activists and thorough institutionalization predominately caters to the elite's incitement to discourse and rarely strays outside these constraints. i guess i want something other than speaking truth to power; i want something that will ergo soundly leave power in shambles. like techies should only be allowed to live next to poor people if the their employer shares 99% of all its company earnings, assets and other residual income and oh yeah also the company dissolves, shutters, goes kaput. if that sounds hyperbolic i didn't come up with it. on page 216 moskowitz all but conjures the contours of something like gay shame, the radical queer direct action group in san francisco i'm a part of that has tried to fight against gentrification for years. page 216, it's radical yearning, speaks a lot to a long gripe of mine as a bay area resident as to what the hell's going on in nyc? nonprofits in protest pins? but that's a more involved discussion of how disparate regional hirstories have produced precious dwindling activist privileges differently, for lack of a better word for the fairly established expectation that the arrests following say a demonstration against ice will most likely maybe not be prosecuted either harshly or at all in san francisco [knocks on wood]. but other than the typical shortcomings that pervade the genre of an anti-gentrification activist tract identified from the perspective of someone living in section 8 housing the book is fine to pass along to one's elite powerbroker friend i guess.
honnofor's review against another edition
Absolutely chilling reading the words “Borough President Eric Adams” in 2022 and not being able to go back in time to warn anyone
martinasaieva's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
duparker's review against another edition
3.0
The author of this book is too emotional, and creates a review oof gentrification that ignores basic market information and systems. He focuses on people who make unconventional employment choices and ignores that jobs have a market value, and that those with low value get low pay Erich means they afford lower rent.
There is some good history and commentary here, but it is overshadowed by bias.
There is some good history and commentary here, but it is overshadowed by bias.
dangosaffron's review against another edition
5.0
“how do you solve a problem as old as the united states?”
excellent writing and journalism. the depth of feeling in this is incredible, you can really feel just how angry moskowitz is about the subject matter. small gripe but i wish the aspects about urban community-oriented living and the loss of human connection were more stressed, but the structural analysis was still really enlightening and well done
excellent writing and journalism. the depth of feeling in this is incredible, you can really feel just how angry moskowitz is about the subject matter. small gripe but i wish the aspects about urban community-oriented living and the loss of human connection were more stressed, but the structural analysis was still really enlightening and well done
19kalwhi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0