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

took mi ages to finish reading it.

this book is absolutely amazing

An absolute masterpeice of journalism, threading together with ease both the big picture of America's war on drugs with the reality of what that means to the people who live at the bottom of its actual outcome. Must read. Absolutely outstanding. Very few books do I describe as a must-read, but I would genuinely encourage anyone and everyone to seek this out. A masterful piece of...more

An absolute masterpeice of journalism, threading together with ease both the big picture of America's war on drugs with the reality of what that means to the people who live at the bottom of its actual outcome. Must read. Absolutely outstanding. Very few books do I describe as a must-read, but I would genuinely encourage anyone and everyone to seek this out. A masterful piece of journalism - insightful and moving. Briefly, a year in the life of a Baltimore drug corner, and the way American's war on drugs is failing its inner-cities. Trite to say that fans of The Wire will love it, but true.   hide

Gritty, heartbreaking, and honest. Lacks some of the warmth of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets without the camaraderie of the cops, but the exploration of everyone's unique pursuit at the American Dream is nowhere near as boring as it sounds. People are open and at their best and worst in this book, Simon and Ed Burns get people to talk like no one else can. The HBO miniseries The...more

Gritty, heartbreaking, and honest. Lacks some of the warmth of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets without the camaraderie of the cops, but the exploration of everyone's unique pursuit at the American Dream is nowhere near as boring as it sounds. People are open and at their best and worst in this book, Simon and Ed Burns get people to talk like no one else can. The HBO miniseries The Corner is kind of bland, but if you like this, you should see The Wire immediately.   hide

The best book I have ever read.

nothing's harder than seeing gary mccullough fall in the show and then read about it again in the book. this gives a better perspective of simon & burns's theories behind the heroin blight and provides a pretty dim assessment of our ability to address it, let alone stop it.

Very good book.... having witnessed some time on the wrong side of the tracks I can concur with a lot of the observations herein. As soon as I watched "The Wire" (season 1) on TV - before knowing it was the same writers - I could see the origins of a lot of the characters and situations. A thoroughly enjoyable, though often sad, insight into some inner city lifes. It...more

Very good book.... having witnessed some time on the wrong side of the tracks I can concur with a lot of the observations herein. As soon as I watched "The Wire" (season 1) on TV - before knowing it was the same writers - I could see the origins of a lot of the characters and situations. A thoroughly enjoyable, though often sad, insight into some inner city lifes. It is exactly what it says on the dust-jacket.   hide

"On ethical grounds, do we have the right to use the machinery of government to prevent an individual from becoming an alcoholic or a drug addict? For children, almost everyone would answer at least a qualified yes. But for responsible adults, I, for one, would answer no. Reason with the potential addict, yes. Tell him the consequences, yes. Pray for and with him, yes. But I believe that we...more

"On ethical grounds, do we have the right to use the machinery of government to prevent an individual from becoming an alcoholic or a drug addict? For children, almost everyone would answer at least a qualified yes. But for responsible adults, I, for one, would answer no. Reason with the potential addict, yes. Tell him the consequences, yes. Pray for and with him, yes. But I believe that we have no right to use force, directly or indirectly, to prevent a fellow man from committing suicide, let alone from drinking alcohol or taking drugs."--Milton Friedman, "Prohibition and Drugs" (May 1, 1972)   hide

Tomes about the lives of drug dealers and drug addicts are exceptionally hard to get through, but this one is well worth the read. The roots writing style that fans of The Wire soaked up jump out at its readers.