Violence in the Heights

Book excerpt: Given the media attention and research focus on big cities with large minority populations, people have grown accustomed to associating violence with these attributes. Violence in the Heights counters that narrative to provide a fresh perspective on inner-city violence with a close look at violence and associated social disorder in a cluster of neighborhoods in a mid-sized, predominantly White city. Eileen M. Ahlin studied 42 residents and their perceptions of and responses to violence to give voice to their experiences. Ahlin provides a historical overview of the neighborhoods and highlights a series of pivotal violent events, and discovers how they differentially impacted residents and their perceptions of safety. Residents reveal how institutional and demographic shifts reduced interpersonal connections and weakened the community's social fabric. A unique take on inner-city violence, Violence in the Heights also details why residents move to other communities when violence increases or, if they remain, adapt to changing conditions. This book will interest mainstream readers interested in learning about urban affairs and the human-interest story as it will track why inner-city residents stay in their neighborhoods or move to other communities when violence increases. This book will also serve as an academic text to outline the changes in violence and community disorder in a mid-sized city that is predominantly White, an understudied aspect of urban violence.