The Lines Between Us: Two Families and a Quest to Cross Baltimore’s Racial Divide

Written by:
Lawrence Lanahan
Narrated by:
Walter Dixon

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
1
Narrator
1
Release Date
May 2019
Duration
12 hours 41 minutes
Summary
The crisscrossing stories of Mark, a white devout Christian who sells his suburban home to move to Baltimore’s inner city, and Nicole, a black mother determined to leave West Baltimore for the suburbs, chronicle how the region became so deeply segregated and why these fault lines persist today. Mark and Nicole personify the enormous disparities in access to safe housing, educational opportunities, and decent jobs. As these characters pack up their lives and change places, journalist Lawrence Lanahan examines what it will take to save our cities and communities: Do we put money into poor, segregated neighborhoods? Or do we move families out into areas with more opportunity? This eye-opening account of how a city creates its black, white, rich, and poor spaces suggests that these problems are not intractable but that they are destined to persist until each of us—despite living in separate worlds—understands that we have something at stake.
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Elise S.

This book goes into excruciating detail about fair housing policies, various laws and hearings around housing policies, etc., all against the backdrop of racial injustice in Baltimore. While interesting, it was just a tad too much, even for someone like me who is from Baltimore and who recognizes the names of most of the attorneys and other "players" involved in the drama, which dates back to the 1940's (and even the red-lining that occurred long before that). For someone who is not from Baltimore, I can't imagine that it would hold the person's attention for more than a chapter or two. All of the legal wranglings are interspersed with the stories of two local families -- one white and one black -- who try to swim against the tide of extreme segregation that grips the city and surrounding jurisdictions.

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