9781422284162

Abandoned buildings like these in Detroit become havens for crime and drugs.

Inner-City Apocalypse A knot of young people laughs and jokes on a corner: just boys having fun or a robbery in waiting? The respectable citizen scarcely knows what to think or which way to look. A harassed-looking mother hurries by, eyes down, her chil- dren stumbling after her. Every second on these streets, it seems, is an ordeal. Remembering the days when this was just like any other urban community, the elderly move about, blinking as though disbelieving the sight that meets their eyes. It is not an attractive scene: 20th-century high-rise buildings stand like medieval ruins; the surrounding buildings stand derelict or have been cleared from these scorched-earth wastelands. This neighborhood has no function now but the nurturing of criminal acts.

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In the War Zone