Following a summer break, Van Alen Book Club returns in September to discuss Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea by Mitchell Duneier. The book traces the idea of the ghetto from its beginnings in the sixteenth century and its revival by the Nazis to its current contested meaning for urban America. We’ll explore how the history of a single word has enormous implications for how neighborhoods and cities are perceived, governed, and designed.
As always, this meeting of the Van Alen Book Club is open to new and returning participants, and a casual dinner will be provided.
E. Tammy Kim is a writer and editorial staffer at The New Yorker magazine. She worked previously as a staff writer for Al Jazeera America, a fellow at the Ms. Foundation for Women, and an attorney at the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center. Read her review of Ghetto in The Nation.
