The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood - Softcover

A staggering depiction of broken urban hearts of America . . . This is reportage of the highest order * * Irish Times * * If The Wire has given you Baltimore fever, read this chunky, streetwise, drug-littered piece of reportage by the hard-hitting show's creators * * The Times * * An amazingly clear-sighted yet sympathetic portrait of the American underclass * * Daily Telegraph * * As thrilling and intense as any psycho-drama . . . this engrossing slice of social journalism is a tour de force that manages to humanise its subjects without exploiting them * * Big Issue * * A profoundly moving and intelligent piece of social history * * Time Out * * A brutal critique of America's failed war on drugs, the equality of Simon and Burns's insights matched by a hardboiled lyricism. This is journalism as art * * Sunday Herald * *

The notorious corner of West Fayette and Monroe Streets in Baltimore is a 24-hour open-air drug market that provides the economic fuel for a dying neighbourhood. 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 USA and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades and the welfare system have accomplished so little.