Cover of Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago

Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago

Every once in a while, voices emerge from a part of the world that we have forgotten or chosen to ignore. Sometimes their words ignite our conscience and rekindle our sense of justice. Our America, the work of two young men living in one of the most notorious public housing projects in America, does just that.

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LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman have made it their mission to be loud voices out of a dark place, through two nationally acclaimed radio documentaries and now through this book.

Informed by stunning photographs taken by a talented young photographer from the projects, Our America opens up the world of these two amazing young men, and tells the tragic story of the death of another, Eric Morse, a five year old who was dropped to his death from the fourteenth floor of a building in their project by two other little boys.

The book is sometimes funny, often painful, but always full of the promise of Our America - that one day, the talent, the gift, the vision, of our children who are being raised in circumstances that should make us all weep will he heard and praised and understood. Our America is a step toward that goal.

Audience
young adult
Length
medium · 208 pages

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Liked Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

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“People who read Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago tend to reach for these next.”

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