The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America

Stanford law professor Anderson debuts with a hard-hitting yet hopeful look at how impoverished communities across the U.S. are fighting for their survival. Spotlighting Josephine County, Ore.; Detroit, Mich.; Lawrence, Mass.; and Stockton, Calif., Anderson details how decades of deindustrialization and declining state and federal tax revenues have led local governments to make drastic budget cuts, sell public land and other assets, take on risky loans, and delay critical infrastructure repairs. As a result, crime rates and drug use in these communities have skyrocketed while home ownership and employment rates have plummeted. Despite these strong headwinds, however, locals are banding together to save their towns. In Josephine County, citizen watch groups combat crime and provide “anti-overdose medical services”; in Detroit, housing advocates are working to pass new foreclosure policies that give homeowners more time to restructure debt from predatory reverse mortgages; in Lawrence, Mass., public and private institutions have coordinated on specialized training programs for bilingual teachers and medical assistants in an effort to help increase the median income of local parents by 15%. Throughout, Anderson contextualizes her detailed demographic and economic data with vivid portraits of local families and activists. The result is an astute and powerful vision for improving America. Agent: Wendy Strothman, Strothman Agency. (June)