Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, And What We Can Do About It

We were given this book to read for summer reading before school started this fall. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got the book. I was afraid that it was going to be a typical text book snooze fest, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. It's a book about people. People with stories. Stories of how their lives were affected by urban renewal. The author gives you a look at these people through a psychological perspective, and from the get go helps the reader understand root shock in a very practical way.I was waiting for her to cover the city of Detroit, but maybe that'll be in a future book that she writes. Roanoke, Pittsburgh and parts of Jersey are the cities she covers.Very well worth the read. Thumbs up.

This is a very moving and highly informative discussion of a phenomenon often ignored by city planners and developers. I highly recommend it for social scientists, city planners and developers, as well as laypeople.

I started reading the book for a school requirement.I must say I found it very enjoyable, the language is easy to follow and understand, and Dr. Fullilove has a great way of getting you to understand how the american population felt during urban renewal and what urban renewal did to many people on a more personal level. She also reaches deep to help the reader understand the importance in communities and community relationships.

A beautifully written book that provides new and profound perspectives on "displacement" of peoples. In this case, the black population of certain cities where, under the name "urban renewal", whole swaths of cities were destroyed and the people "relocated". Touching and wise.

Used to help me prepare for a course I am teaching.

This Book goes far to explaining why there seems to be a lack of a sense of community among too many of our young inner-city youths and young adults. We have destroyed a lot more than "Slums." We have divested millions of people through Eminent Domain of that spirit of togetherness that makes a grouping of people a disinct neighborhood, where self-pride, dignity, and group identity can thrive, and cause future generations to aspire to become like the great members of their society. "Urban Renewal," is a misnomer, a social monster, that must be stopped. I have written a similar Book: "In The Streets of Vinegar Hill, 2007." (Get it at Amazon.com.) I'm dealing with the same problems in Charlottesville, Virginia that Fullilove dealt with in Roanoke, Virginia. My hat is off to Fullilove. She is a great, inspirational writer and thinker. Her Book is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the multiplicity of problems facing poor people in comtemporary American society.

I moved to Roanoke and am working in nonprofits. To have this background information is invaluable.

this is a great book. seriously, everyone should read this book. it's informative, smart, easy to read and incredibly interesting.