There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz
There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz
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There Are No Children Here
The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America

Author: Alex Kotlowitz

Narrator: Dion Graham

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/20/2010

Synopsis

This New York Public Library selection as one of the 150 most important books of the twentieth century is a truelife portrait of growing up in the Chicago projects. This national bestseller chronicles the true story of two brothers coming of age in the Henry Horner public housing complex in Chicago. Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers are eleven and nine years old when the story begins in the summer of 1987. Living with their mother and six siblings, they struggle against grinding poverty, gun violence, gang influences, overzealous police officers, and overburdened and neglectful bureaucracies. Immersed in their lives for two years, Kotlowitz brings us this classic rendering of growing up poor in Americas cities.

About Alex Kotlowitz

ALEX KOTLOWITZ is the author of three books, including the national bestseller There Are No Children Here, selected by the New York Public Library as one of the 150 most important books of the twentieth century. His documentary, The Interrupters, the recipient of an Emmy and a Film Independent Spirit Award, was lauded by numerous publications as one of the best films of 2011. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and on This American Life. His honors include a George Polk Award, two Peabodys, two Columbia duPonts and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. A writer-in-residence at Northwestern University, he lives just outside Chicago with his wife and their two children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tim on January 13, 2009

This book changed my entire perception of the power of journalism. Kotlowitz follows the lives of two young boys growing up in the projects of the near West Side of Chicago. I consider it a seminal book in my life. It was both heart-wrenching and mind-opening. The writing is smooth and thoughtful. I......more

Goodreads review by Anne on May 18, 2012

This book ended abruptly for me. I think it's because I wanted to keep hearing about Lafayette and Pharoah's days...make sure they were okay. I've felt a void not reading about them since I finished it. That is one sign of an exceptional book. There is so much chaos in the Lafayette and Pharoah's li......more

Goodreads review by Carl Audric on May 21, 2022

There are No Children Here immersed me in the tragedies of America. I have always seen articles about drugs, violence, and neglect, but I guiltily felt distant reading those. Alex Kotlowitz, however, made me realize the power of storytelling. Growing up in a housing project in Chicago, Lafeyette and......more

Goodreads review by Teri on August 13, 2009

At the time this book was written, I was nearly the same age as the main characters and living only 12 miles away in the near west suburb of Bellwood. We thought we were poor back then but this book has opened my eyes to bottomless abyss of poverty. I'm now convinced that it is nearly impossible for......more

Goodreads review by Cameron on November 28, 2008

A story of two young brothers growing up in an infamous project in Chicago known as Horner Homes. The book spans 4 years and deals mostly with describing how the boys are affected by poverty, violence, drugs, gangs and run-ins with the police. Won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Journalism. I'd been......more

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