This book is not really about poverty. This book is about segregation & the violence it inflicts.

A terribly heartbreaking must-read. In a first world country lies a city left forgotten in a midst of racist and classist segregation. Kozol is admirable because he is not only sympathetic to the people he meets but creates something much more as he wanders the ghettos of New York and speaks with its citizens who recount their stories of disease, poverty, crime and the desperate cries that go unheard. Please read this. It is worth every minute.

This is one of the best books I have ever read.

Originally bought this book as required reading for one of my Religious Studies classes but didn't read it properly the first time. On second reading I'm glad that I didn't toss this book to the curb. Kozol crafts an eye-opening piece on the impact of inequality on the lives of children living in the South Bronx, touching on the education system to healthcare to living conditions.

One thing that I really appreciated from Kozol was his approach to writing this book - he did not pretend to have solutions for the issues he highlighted (which would have come off dismissive and ingenuine), but simply documented what he saw and heard during his time observing the Mott Haven neighborhood. That being said, because of Kozol's approach, it was hard for me to put this book down with a sense of there being any "amazing grace" for the future of children living in these impoverished communities.

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Some quotes I liked:

""The poor are frightening," [St. Vincent] answered, "as frightening as God's justice.""

""The message of the gospel is unalterably clear. 'Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away.' Those are the words of Jesus." No exception... is made for the stranger who talks too loud in crowded trains, or who may be partially deceiving us about his actual condition, or who offends us by his importunity or by his dirtiness, or color."

"If [people] cannot sing, they scream. They are vessels of the spirit but the spirit sometimes is entombed; it can't get out, and so they smash it!"

It is hard to find words to express what I think about this novel. The content is not ground breaking. It is the experience of the ghetto through the eyes of a middle class white man. The experiences in this book may not seem special to those millions who experience it every day. However, for the people who live sheltered like me, this book is a powerful instrument for exposing the profound evil, the genocide perpetrated by this nation against its own people every single day.

I'm having a hard time getting into this...

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Okay so I'm officially giving up and being done with this. It's outdated and repetitive. Although Kozol brings up a lot of good points and I respect him immensely, I just don't think he's that talented of a writer. Oh well.

A good book, but there are plenty of others (ie/ Alex Kotlowitz) that I've enjoyed more on the subject.

Probably a bit outdated now, but the realities of life where he researches are sure to be the same today. Severely depressing book, but extremely eye opening. Well worth reading although at times hard to swallow. I definitely shed a few tears reading this book.

Amazing Grace : The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol (1995)