AN AMERICAN SUMMER: LOVE AND DEATH IN CHICAGO By Alex Kotlowitz


It took me over a week to read An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago. Alex Kotlowitz’s reporting of life in Chicago–over 14,000 people killed, over 60,000 injured by violence over the past 20 years–sucked the heart right out of me. Senseless shootings, drive-by incidents where innocents die, drug fueled massacres, and random murders show up on almost every page of An American Summer. Alex Kotlowitz fills in the details and provides the back stories for the residents who live in this brutal world in the shadows of the SEARS Tower.

Kotlowitz is upfront from the beginning: “Let me tell you what this book isn’t. It’s not a policy map or a critique. It’s not about what works and doesn’t work. Anyone who tells you they know is lying.” (p. 6)

What An American Summer is about is Hell on Earth. You’ll understand why I had to take frequent breaks from this book when you read this paragraph: “Shakaki’s cousin, Kywante Shumake, [was] shot two times on Thomas’s block. Thomas’s friend Tim, who held two jobs, invited Thomas to come by to celebrate his birthday. Thomas went to the corner liquor store to buy Tim a bottle of Hennessy, and when he returned found Tim lying beside his house in a pool of blood, a fatal bullet wound in the base of his head. While Thomas was in jail, on the contempt charge, Antonio Clark, a friend and fellow Harper High graduate, died, an apparent victim of the accidental discharge of a pistol. His friend who’s a rap artist and goes by the moniker Skully TV was shot six times, including in both eyes; he lost his sight. Thomas’s friend’s older brother, Vido: killed. Thomas’s friend Nukey: shot and killed by a fourteen-year-old boy.” (p. 222). There’s only so much death and mayhem and slaughter a person can take.

My take-away from An American Summer is this madness and violence in Chicago, caused by drugs and too many guns, could spread. This is the canary in the coal mine. And, as Alex Kotlowitz graphically shows, Government officials have no idea how to stop it…or control it. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PRELUDE TO A SUMMER 1
Chapter 1: May 3–The Tightrope, a story in four parts 13
Chapter 2: May 12–Mother’s Day 18
Chapter 3: May 23–A Conversation: The OGs 40
Chapter 4: May 31–The Tightrope, part two 49
Chapter 5: June 13–The Tweets 62
Chapter 6: June 16–Father’s Day 74
Chapter 7: June 24–The Witnesses, part one 91
Chapter 8: July 5–The (Annotated) Eulogy 99
Chapter 9: July 8–I Ain’t Going Nowhere, part one 106
Chapter 10: July 14–Going Home 126
Chapter 11: July 17–Day of Atonement 149
Chapter 12: July 25–The Two Geralds 180
Chapter 13: August 15–The Tightrope, part three 199
Chapter 14: August 17–Artifacts 203
Chapter 15: August 22–I Ain’t Going Nowhere, part two 213
Chapter 16: August 24–This Is What He Remembers 224
Chapter 17: August 29–The Disco Tour 243
Chapter 18: August 31–The Witnesses, part two 257
Chapter 19: September 8–The Tightrope, part four 269
Chapter 20: September 19–False Endings 277
A Note on Reporting 281
Acknowledgements 285

14 thoughts on “AN AMERICAN SUMMER: LOVE AND DEATH IN CHICAGO By Alex Kotlowitz

  1. wolf

    “madness and violence in Chicago, caused by drugs and too many guns”
    In Europe we just look on, not understanding how this is accepted by politicians and most of the people alike – we just don’t get it!
    A friend once said:
    It’s easier for a teenager to get a gun or opioids than a glass of beer …

    Reply
      1. Rick Robinson

        The gun problem isn’t just in Chicago. But the NRA pushed politicians to obey the “right to bear arms” so we can’t do what New Zeland just did. Damn.

      2. george Post author

        Rick, there are also the courts (including the Supreme Court) who ruled that the “right to bear arms” trumps safety and security. A recent ruling said it’s okay to carry a gun on a college campus.

  2. wolf

    Strange – tried to comment this but got:
    Duplicate comment”???
    “madness and violence in Chicago, caused by drugs and too many guns”
    In Europe we just look on, not understanding how this is accepted by politicians and most of the people alike – we just don’t get it!
    A friend once said:
    It’s easier for a teenager to get a gun or opioids than a glass of beer …

    Reply
    1. Patti Abbott

      Most of us don’t get it either, Wolf. THE NRA finances too many politicians. That is what it is about.

      Reply
      1. george Post author

        Patti, there’s no doubt the NRA and easy access to weapons plays into Chicago’s plight. But there’s a culture of violence to deal with, too.

      1. Cap'n Bob

        He came from Chicago, politically! Community organizer, remember? I don’t blame him for getting out of that place, though; he wouldn’t live in a crime-ridden neighborhood anyway!

  3. Jeff Meyerson

    Pass.

    One massacre in New Zealand and the laws were changed, virtually overnight. Here they demonize survivors and people trying to make things better, while Trump and his minions drag us deeper into the abyss daily.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, you’re right about New Zealand. Action was taken. The U.S. is very different. We’ve allowed a Gun Culture to thrive. One of the guys we met on our trip to Florida told us he has 50 guns!

      Reply

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