Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America

Urban murders tend to be reported as lump sums, statistics with the descriptor "gang-related" attached. A homicide connected to a gang lets those watching the nightly news relax a little by assuming that the victim was involved in nefarious activities and is perhaps partly to blame for his death. Reporter Leovy started the Los Angeles Times' Homicide Report blog to combat the inattention paid to the victims from poor, predominantly African American neighborhoods in South Central L.A. Here, the author digs deeply into the story of one particular murder, exploring the long history of racism, discrimination, and poverty that created both the shockingly high murder rate for young black men and the indifferent response to those crimes. Like the best narrative nonfiction, the book burrows into both heart and brain, resulting in the reader reeling for the families left behind and more suspicious of news reports that paint slain teenagers as brutal career criminals.