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How to Kill a City

Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood

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How to Kill a City

By: P. E. Moskowitz
Narrated by: Hayden Bishop
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About this listen

“An exacting look at gentrification” (New York Times Book Review)—and the lives devastated in the process

The term gentrification has become a buzzword to describe the changes in urban neighborhoods across the country, but we don’t realize just how threatening it is. It means more than the arrival of trendy shops, much-maligned hipsters, and expensive lattes. The very future of American cities as vibrant, equitable spaces hangs in the balance.

A vigorous exposé revealing who holds power in our cities, How to Kill a City uncovers the massive systemic forces behind gentrification in New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco, and New York. Now with a new preface reflecting on the present-day political landscape surrounding the housing crisis, How to Kill a City is essential listening for anyone who cares about the fate of our cities and our nation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2017 P. E. Moskowitz (P)2025 Bold Type Books
Politics & Government Social Classes & Economic Disparity Sociology Urban Detroit New Orleans Socialism Taxation Capitalism San Francisco

Critic Reviews

"[An] exacting look at gentrification in New Orleans, Detroit, San Francisco and New York, exposing how large institutions—governments, businesses, foundations—influence street-level processes that might appear as organic as the coffee shop's dark roast. ... How to Kill a City elucidates the complex interplay between the forces we control and those that control us."—New York Times Book Review

"Movingly conveys [gentrification's] emotional and sometimes tragic toll as he highlights its stark racial realities in Detroit, San Francisco, New York and New Orleans."—Washington Post

"Peter Moskowitz offers a smartly written and fiercely logical indictment of city governments for selling out longtime residents to aggressive developers and rich investors, and calling it growth. This book is a wake-up call to communities to say no to state-sponsored gentrification and join together to resist their own demise."—Sharon Zukin, author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places

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