Never a city so real

the long version

"Chicago, like America, is a kind of refuge for outsiders. It's probably why Alex Kotlowitz found comfort there. He's drawn to people on the outside who are trying to clean up - or at least make sense of - the mess on the inside. Perspective doesn't come easy if you're standing in the center. As with There Are No Children Here, Never a City So Real is not so much a tour of a place as a chronicle of its soul, its lifeblood. It is a tour of the people of Chicago, who have been the author's guides into this city's - and in a broader sense, this country's - heart."--BOOK JACKET.