The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood

When I bought I thought it would be hard to top Homicide, but this may have just done it. It’s heartbreaking at times but a must read.

Unflinching real, this great piece of reportage from David Simmon and Ed Burns reads like great fiction. With more characters that would envy Dickens (also turning West Baltimore into a character itself)and with revalence to today's headlines The Corner is a piece of reportage that goes along in the lines with Kolowitzs There are no children here. And a piece of work that should be read by everyone who is compelled to learn about the inner-city struggles. Truly, stick with it and you be moved by your soul.

This is one of my top ten non-fiction books of all time. Here is why: First, it is well-written and intriguing. There is little to no academic jargon to wade through. It is a plain spoken book about the realities of inner-city life. It is not difficult to read in a literary sense, but certainly in an ethical and moral sense. This brings me to the second reason why I found it to be such an important book: It puts a face on the experiences of poor minorities living in urban areas. I'm 23 and I've been working in inner-city communities since I was 15. When I hear people talk disparagingly about minorities, inner-city youth, single moms, "welfare moms," my heart breaks, and in many ways, I am also angry that people talks so much about a life they know so little about. I found that this book accurately put a face on the people who are so often referred to as one statistics or another (related to drugs, single moms, incarceration, welfare). There was no glorification and little over-victimization of the people in the book and their experiences as poor, black, and affected by drugs and the underground economy. This book should be required reading for all Americans who wish to learn more about and develop informed opinions about poor, inner-city communities and the people who live there. I find it particularly relevant to those interested in drug laws and sentencing, as well as access to drug treatment. I think that this would also be a very helpful book for people who work in urban areas or are planning to someday (social work, education, ministry). The book leaves very big questions to be answered by the reader. How do I judge the people in this book? What would I do if I grew up in such a community? How do I go forth from here? A very powerful book.

this book took me back to an area i grew-up in and escaped from in my early 20s. I've known many persons such as the characters in this book. They are real and do exist unfortantly. I am now employed and daily working with the court system in Baltimore, Maryland where I grew up. I know that some of these characters lives have not changed for the better at least because i've seen them in court. I know that the areas are worse than before because I visit them to do home visits for my job, and I know that the police still perform as they did when the book was written, and Baltimore's crime rate remains the same. Sad as it is, ther are still no real solutions to the problem that the arthors wrote about, and the corners are still in existance, but the players, or shall I say victims are becoming younger everyday. The faces are new and the conditions are worse. The Corner, in my opinion is a powerful story. Unlike some readers, I at times had to but it down, collect myself, and then pick it up at a latter time. To be in it, but not of it was hard and always is. To see that someone else has taken the time to witness it and but it into story is heartwrenching. I know these characters, feel for them, cry for them, and each day I pray for them.

I am a white suburban woman who began to read this book to learn about a life that is very different from my own and because I wanted to learn about the IV drug culture, having a cousin who shot drugs in NYC for 15 years. This book should be read by anyone who thinks that have the answer to the ills of the city, or education, or healthcare, or poverty or whatever. They will quickly see that the problems that plague our inner cities are much like trying to treat a cancer in the human body: you can't try and single out or isolate one specific problem area and try to fix it. You need to look at the entire system, taking into account the interconnectedness of these problems when you try and come up with a solution.It is naive and utterly foolish to think that you can isolate the issues of the city and solve them independently- you can't. I urge anyone who has any influence over public policy of any kind to spend a few days and read this book. It will forever alter your view on how to "fix" the problems of neighborhoods like these and make you realize you are up against something that is much bigger than it appears. And policy makers: it is not as easy as as having a war on drugs. You need to start by bringing a thriving economic job base back into our cities so people have the opportunity to become meaningfully employed and can try and have a chance at life. When you strip away one's economic opportunities- you are cutting off their blood supply. It is just that simple. A MUST READ FOR ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS IN THE USA!

The Corner was given to me by my fiance, who grew up two blocks from the actual 'corner'. Many of the individuals in the book were people he knew from childhood, grade school, the play grounds...I had the opportunity to ask many questions about people like Blue, Fat Curt, Gary, etc. These people became real to me and I was pulling for all of them to make it - to escape - to survive. My fiance left Baltimore for another life - but realizing that he grew up amidst the turmoil and temptation of The Corner - has given me a greater respect for him. He escaped - God help all of those who weren't so fortunate. I highly recommend this book to anyone - but especially to those who have never experienced the harsh reality of the inner city up close and personal. And once you read it, share it with a friend so everyone can come to realize how far this country has to come.

"The Corner," by David Simon and Edward Burns, is one of the best books I've ever read.Nothing I've seen or read humanizes inner-city drug fiends, pushers, gang members quite like this does. By gaining the trust of the people of Monroe and Fayette streets in West Baltimore, the authors were able to put the reader in their shoes, capture their thoughts, dreams, and histories.Rather than glamorize drug use and gang violence as many books and movies do, it plainly shows the heartache experienced and the physical, emotional, and social barriers faced by people living in inner-cities. So many judge themselves to be morally and intellectually superior to those living in the inner-cities of our country. Simon and Burns do a masterful job demonstrating people of inner-city neighborhoods, for the most part, are victims of circumstance and, given the same upbringing, the same surroundings, the same resistance, those outsiders who judge them harshly would live no differently.Published in 1997, "The Corner" has received mostly glowing reviews. The few criticisms hurled its way usually center around a lack of solutions offered. Simon and Burns do not have the answers and don't pretend to. Their book effectively argues society's "war on drugs" has not only failed miserably, but is actually a war on the underclass itself.If a solution is to be reached in the upcoming century, it will be through a drastic change in attitude of the "haves" towards the "havenots." This book and others like it may go a long way towards changing opinions and ultimately sparking a solution. I challenge the Rush Limbaughheads out there to read "The Corner."