The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood | 
 enlarge | Authors: David Simon, Edward Burns
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy Used: $7.00
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Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 14210
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0767900316
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.177097526
EAN: 9780767900317
ASIN: 0767900316
Publication Date: June 15, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
This is a powerful book, a window on aspects of America most people would rather ignore. To their great credit, the authors--David Simon wrote Homicide, the basis for the popular television show; Edward Burns is a former Baltimore police officer, now a public school teacher--refuse to sensationalize their subject or make its people into stereotypes. For a year the two hung out in a West Baltimore neighborhood that was a center of the drug trade. At the center of the narrative is the McCullough family--DeAndre, age 15, and his drug-addicted parents, Gary and Fran. While reading The Corner, there are times when we pity them, times when they make us angry. The book's strength, though, is that we always understand them.
Product Description
The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad.Through the eyes of one broken family--two drug-addicted adults and their smart, vulnerable 15-year-old son, DeAndre McCollough, Simon and Burns examine the sinister realities of inner cities across the country and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades, and the welfare system have accomplished so little. This extraordinary book is a crucial look at the price of the drug culture and the poignant scenes of hope, caring, and love that astonishingly rise in the midst of a place America has abandoned.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 The Corner, maybe the most relevant book on the topic September 19, 2008
The Corner clearly tells us about the life of inner-city neighborhoods and its inhabitants. The dark side of the world is revealed through extremely realistic descriptions, terrible moments of life that are so usual in there. The gap is deep, the suffering is obvious, hope just behind, so present in minds, but so abstract. Future is only tomorrow, violence is evidence, fear is everyday...I advise to watch The Wire, a good complement to this amazing book!
 Well written, hard hitting August 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although not as good as Homicide it does a good job of painting a bleak portrait of the inner-city Baltimore drug scene. Many people mention HBO's "The Wire" in their reveiws. Don't forget that HBO made a mini-series out of this book too - aptly titled, "The Corner."
 Like The Wire except with real people! July 1, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
You'd think that if you watched The Wire this won't have anything you don't already know, and you'd be about 70% right. Long and sometimes pedantic, but the characters are all real and the book lets the authors get deeper into their heads; worth a read if you're a Wire junkie. (And if you're not a Wire junkie, this will all be new to you anyway. ...but you might as well start by watching the show. Thank me later.)
The Devastating Truth March 3, 2008
Fans of David Simon who are preparing to mourn the imminent end of The Wire on HBO should definitely check out this massively powerful book, if they haven't already done so. Simon and Burns's impressively detailed and nuanced depiction of one year on a drug corner in an impoverished Baltimore neighborhood grows into a scathing indictment, not only of the narcotics business but of a failed criminal justice system as well. This is not light reading by any stretch of the imagination, but well worth it. A hard book to forget, and that's a good thing.
Not for everyone but great for those seeking a different view February 7, 2008
I've lived in Baltimore my entire life. Well to be fair. near Baltimore. I found this a compelling and interesting look at a social epidemic. For those of us that don't understand addiction or the situation in the inner cities first hand this is a mind blowing and outlook changing look at the situation from the side of those that live it every day. This series changed my entire outlook. If you like this try watching 'The Wire' and 'Homicide: Life on the Street'
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