Research Guides: 2021-2022 One Book: Works by Alex Kotlowitz

Articles

The Other Side of the River, Revisited: The New Yorker (2021) Alex Kotlowitz revisits the death of Eric McGinnis after the reopening of the case.
Across the River: Death of a Teenager Widens a Racial Rift Between Two Towns --- Authorities and Whites Say Eric McGinnis Drowned, But Blacks Call It Murder --- One Cop's Search for Answers: Wallstreet Journal (1993) The article that inspired Alex Kotlowitz to write The Other Side of the River
Colorblind: NY TImes Magazine (1998)
The Trenchcoat Robbers: The New Yorker (2002)
In The Face of Death: NY Times Magazine (2003)
The Smugglers' Due: NY Times Magazine (2006)
The Killing of Adam Toledo and the Colliding Cycles of Violence in Chicago: The New Yorker (2021) Alex Interviews violence interrupter Eddie Bocanegra about the police shooting of Adam Toledo

Films

The Interrupters (Documentary)
The Interrupters follows three individuals who with bravado, humility, and even humor, work to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed.
You're Not Alone (Short Film)
Short documentary film where people who have lost friends and family to gun violence tell their stories.

Radio and Podcasts

In Country, In City: This American Life A veteran from Afghanistan and a young man from a troubled Philadelphia neighborhood tell us what they’ve experienced. It’s eerily similar.
Harper High School - Part One: This American Life We spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. 29. We went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances. We found so many incredible and surprising stories, this show is a two-parter.
Harper High School - Part Two: This American Life We pick up where we left off last week in our second hour from Harper High School in Chicago. We find out if a shooting in the neighborhood will derail the school's Homecoming game and dance. We hear the origin story of one of Harper's gangs. And we ask a group of teenagers: where do you get your guns?
Exodus of One: This American Life When she was three years old, Georgia was caught by immigration officials when a Milwaukee woman tried to bring her into the country illegally from Jamaica. She ended up at a residential detention center in Chicago. Alex Kotlowitz met her there, four years ago. At that time she was adored by some of the teenagers living at the center, and also by the staff—especially Hugo Ruiz, the center's director. Then, after living in Chicago for six months, she was sent back to her mother in Jamaica—to the same woman who gave her up. Years later, Hugo couldn't stop wondering whether it was the right thing to do. So he decided to go to Jamaica with Hugo to find Georgia. Alex Kotlowitz's most recent book is Never a City So Real.
Mike and VIctor: A Family Story: WBEZ Chicago The story of how one family is made and then remade.
Interview with Alex Kotlowitz: Longform Podcast Interview with Alex Kotlowitz where he discusses his various works and approaches to journalism.
A 30-Year-Old Cold Case Reopened, And Why It’s Still Relevant Today: WBEZ Chicago Meha Ahmad interviews Alex Kotlowitz about the Other Side of the River and the reopening of the Eric McGinnis case.

Books

There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz
Call Number: General HQ792.U5 K683 1992 & eBook

ISBN: 9780385265560

Publication Date: 1992-01-05

Examines the lives of two inner-city brothers who live in a Chicago housing project and their daily struggle for survival and enduring hope.
An American Summer by Alex Kotlowitz
ISBN: 0385538804

Publication Date: 2019-03-05

A richly textured, heartrending portrait of love and death in Chicago's most turbulent neighborhoods. The numbers are staggering: over the past twenty years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire. What does that do to the spirit of individuals and community? Drawing on his decades of experience, Alex Kotlowitz set out to chronicle one summer in the city, writing about individuals who have emerged from the violence and whose stories capture the capacity--and the breaking point--of the human heart and soul.

Lectures, Talks, and Interviews

Other Side of the River Mr. Kotlowitz talked about his new book, The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death, and America's Dilemma.
The House of Secrets: Storytelling and Human Rights
Growing Up Poor Alex Kotlowitz, Writer-in-Residence and Senior Lecturer at Northwestern University, speaks to the myths and realities of those growing up poor in the cities of the world’s wealthiest country.
Conversation With Ta-Nehisi Coates and Alex Kotlowitz The Washington Ideas Forum 2014. Hosted in partnership with the The Atlantic, the Washington Ideas Forum has developed a reputation for fostering creative thinking about the critical issues affecting our national identity, politics, and core values. Celebrating our six-year anniversary, we relaunched our flagship program at the stunning Harman Center of the Arts. A mix of programming on multiple stages, preview sessions, and custom events covered topics ranging from energy and technology to health care and urban renewal.
The Philadelphia Citizen: Alex Kotlowitz on the Power of Storytelling to Fight Gun Violence Author Alex Kotlowitz joined Citizen co-founder Larry Platt along with journalist Jo Piazza, producer of the "Philly Under Fire" podcast, for a virtual conversation to explore Kotlowitz's latest book, "An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago," and what it means for the gun violence epidemic today. [Alex discusses the reoppening of the Eric McGinnis Case around the 45min mark]
Alex Kotlowitz: Love and Death in Chicago Lolly Bowean of the Chicago Tribune interviews Alex Kotlowitz about his book an American Summer.

2021-2022 One Book: Works by Alex Kotlowitz

Articles

Films

Radio and Podcasts

Books

Lectures, Talks, and Interviews

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