High-Risers
Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing
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Narrated by:
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Ron Butler
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By:
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Ben Austen
About this listen
Joining the ranks of Evicted, The Warmth of Other Sons, and classic works of literary nonfiction by Alex Kotlowitz and J. Anthony Lukas, High-Risers braids personal narratives, city politics, and national history to tell the timely and epic story of Chicago's Cabrini-Green, America's most iconic public housing project.
Built in the 1940s atop an infamous Italian slum, Cabrini-Green grew to 23 towers and a population of 20,000 - all of it packed onto just 70 acres a few blocks from Chicago's ritzy Gold Coast. Cabrini-Green became synonymous with crime, squalor, and the failure of government. For the many who lived there, it was also a much-needed resource - it was home. By 2011, every high-rise had been razed, the island of black poverty engulfed by the white affluence around it, the families dispersed.
In this novelistic and eye-opening narrative, Ben Austen tells the story of America's public housing experiment and the changing fortunes of American cities. It is an account told movingly though the lives of residents who struggled to make a home for their families as powerful forces converged to accelerate the housing complex's demise. Beautifully written, rich in detail, and full of moving portraits, High-Risers is a sweeping exploration of race, class, popular culture, and politics in modern America that brilliantly considers what went wrong in our nation's effort to provide affordable housing to the poor - and what we can learn from those mistakes.
©2018 Ben Austen (P)2018 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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"Author Ben Austen and narrator Ron Butler create something special in this outstanding examination of Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects. Butler captures the characters of residents, cops, housing officials, and others.... This is a fine, sympathetic portrait of a place and its people, both of which have long been overshadowed by myth and stereotype." (AudioFile)
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Just Like Us tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States, and all four want to live the American dream, but only two have documents. As the girls attempt to make it into college, they discover that only the legal pair see a clear path forward. A coming-of-age story about girlhood and friendship, as well as the resilience required to transcend poverty, Just Like Us is also a book about identity.
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I wanted to listen but...
- By PurpleSage on 03-22-14
By: Helen Thorpe
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A Mighty Long Way
- My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
- By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, Lisa Frazier Page, Bill Clinton - foreword
- Narrated by: Carlotta Walls LaNier
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When 14-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other Black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the “Little Rock Nine”, as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.
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Disappointing
- By SWF in Minneapolis on 04-27-24
By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, and others
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Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
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funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
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Gang Leader for a Day
- A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
- By: Sudhir Venkatesh
- Narrated by: Reg Rogers, Sudhir Venkatesh, Stephen J. Dubner
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatest managed to gain entree into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment.
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Listen to this one first
- By DanO on 01-15-08
By: Sudhir Venkatesh
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Glass House
- The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town
- By: Brian Alexander
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
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The Anchor Hocking Glass Company, once the world's largest maker of glass tableware, was the base on which Lancaster's society was built. As Glass House unfolds, bankruptcy looms. With access to the company and its leaders, and Lancaster's citizens, Alexander shows how financial engineering took hold in the 1980s, accelerated in the 21st century, and wrecked the company.
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What really happened to the American Dream?
- By Bill on 05-10-17
By: Brian Alexander
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All Things Possible
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- By: Andrew M. Cuomo
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
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In this full and frank memoir - a personal story of duty, family, justice, politics and resilience - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reflects on his rise, fall, and rise in politics, and recounts his defining personal and political moments and tough but necessary lessons he has learned along the way.
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I Love This Book AND the Guvnor (Governor, I Know)
- By Igi M. on 09-02-20
By: Andrew M. Cuomo
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Gangsters vs. Nazis
- How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America
- By: Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
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As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style.
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What, you couldn’t find one culturally Jewish narrator?
- By Deborah Bancroft on 12-29-22
By: Michael Benson
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Harlem
- The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America
- By: Jonathan Gill
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of black America, Harlem's 20th-century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In Harlem, historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place.
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Very Interesting.
- By Joyce Mirowski on 06-05-20
By: Jonathan Gill
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Days of Rage
- America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence
- By: Bryan Burrough
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best-selling author of Public Enemies and The Big Rich, an explosive account of the decade-long battle between the FBI and the homegrown revolutionary movements of the 1970s. The FBI combated these groups and others as nodes in a single revolutionary underground, dedicated to the violent overthrow of the American government. The FBI’s response to the leftist revolutionary counterculture has not been treated kindly by history, and in hindsight many of its efforts seem almost comically ineffectual, if not criminal in themselves.
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Amazing treatment of tough history
- By Steven on 05-13-15
By: Bryan Burrough
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Shortest Way Home
- One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future
- By: Pete Buttigieg
- Narrated by: Pete Buttigieg
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Once described by The Washington Post as "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of", Pete Buttigieg, the 36-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has improbably emerged as one of the nation's most visionary politicians. First elected in 2011, Buttigieg left a successful business career to move back to his hometown, previously tagged by Newsweek as a "dying city", and transformed it into a shining model of urban reinvention.
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Reveals a Person Wise & Experienced & Literate
- By dbbks3 on 03-17-19
By: Pete Buttigieg
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Detroit
- An American Autopsy
- By: Charlie LeDuff
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In the heart of America, a metropolis is quietly destroying itself. Detroit, once the richest city in the nation, is now its poorest. Once the vanguard of America’s machine age - mass production, automobiles, and blue-collar jobs - Detroit is now America’s capital for unemployment, illiteracy, foreclosure, and dropouts. With the steel-eyed reportage that has become his trademark and the righteous indignation that only a native son can possess, journalist Charlie LeDuff sets out to uncover what has brought low this once-vibrant city, his city.
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WOW
- By Avid Reader and Listener on 07-09-13
By: Charlie LeDuff
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What listeners say about High-Risers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Vis
- 04-25-18
Overtly melodramatic, but necessarily so.
Can't really articulate the situation of these populations using rational academic language. Reading something like this is the only way to "get it", and decipher the motivations and mind sets of the disadvantaged African American population.
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- Phil
- 11-07-21
Fascinating story with difficult chronology
The research, writing, and story all are fantastic. As an audiobook, it jumps around chronologically and across storylines frequently/without a clear delineation. Made the story harder to follow, but still definitely worth the listen.
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- JL
- 02-04-20
How do you fight the wind?
As a lifelong Chicagoan, I grew up afraid of different parts of my city. The violence in my neighborhood and others seemed inevitable and undeniable. Through it all Cabrini Green and the other housing projects remained ghoulish reminders not of individual behavior, but of collective neglect and destabilization by the government. This book does a remarkable job exploring the causes for the crumbling of public housing and the lifelong effects it had. When it comes to the failures of some individuals to overcome Cabrini, how could you fight the wind? How can you fight something bigger than you that is omnipresent.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Melissa
- 09-21-22
Wow!!!!
I have learned so much from this book. I am from Chicago and I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about the projects here, but wow!!!! It was like it’s own society and how unfair they were treated in the end.
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- George Dorsey
- 10-13-20
Cabrini was my home
listening to this book brought back so many memories, good and horrible. I'm glad Ben Austen wrote this book and focused on the humanity of the residents that lived in the neighborhood. I am grateful that this book was written.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 06-16-20
Loved it
I grew up in the burbs of Chicago and have lived in the city for 20 years now. I’ve always been fascinated with Cabrini Green and frequently drove by the different parts over the years. Back in the day it made my heart beat fast just driving through...it’s always been a notoriously rough place. If your from Chicago you’ll recognize the streets names and conjure up visuals of the Cabrini buildings in your mind. It dives deep into the beginnings at Little Hell, the gang history and the entire story of Cabrini. Along with its history it is also told through the eyes of some of the tenants that lived there which is really interesting. If your fascinated by Cabrini Green or life in the projects you will love this book. This book is well written/read and very entertaining.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anthony Cole Engle
- 04-14-18
Chicago & Public Housing
A great book about the CB projects and the history of public housing in Chicago. Many residents stories are uplifting while others are terrifying.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Brian
- 01-26-23
Wow.
The book is so powerful and brutally honest about the complex history of the Cabrini Greens and public housing. Strongly recommend anyone interested in urban planning and housing to read.
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- Steve D Renz
- 05-15-18
Little mention of accountability of the people getting the housing
I see the concept theme about theCabrini green towers but the blame should be on the behavior of the residents and their entitlement attitude. When they moved in the mindset should have been this is temporary even if it was several years and not see it as lifestyle choice for life getting free furniture healthcare food and transportation....even covered moving when they had to be moved to other housing..
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4 people found this helpful
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- anne harrigan
- 03-18-23
Very well done.
Not sure exactly what I expected for how it would be laid out, but the way it is done makes for an interesting read. Loved the perspective of the different people & their journey over the years. Growing up in Chicago, I remember a lot of this from the news, but I didn’t understand most of it it until now. Well done.
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