A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an

A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City

A young college grad buys a house in Detroit for $500 and attempts to restore itâ€”and his new neighborhoodâ€”to its original glory in this â€œdeeply felt, sharply observed personal quest to create meaning and community out of the fallenâ€¦A standoutâ€ (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Drew Philp, an idealistic college student from a working-class Michigan family, decides to live where he can make a difference. He sets his sights on Detroit, the failed metropolis of abandoned buildings, widespread poverty, and rampant crime. Arriving with no job, no friends, and no money, Philp buys a ramshackle house for five hundred dollars in the east side neighborhood known as Poletown. The roomy Queen Anne he now owns is little more than a clapboard shell on a crumbling brick foundation, missing windows, heat, water, electricity, and a functional roof.

A $500 House in Detroit is Philpâ€™s raw and earnest account of rebuilding everything but the frame of his house, nail by nail and room by room. â€œPhilp is a great storytellerâ€¦[and his] engrossingâ€ (Booklist) tale is also of a young man finding his footing in the city, the country, and his own generation. We witness his concept of Detroit shift, expand, and evolve as his plan to save the city gives way to a life forged from political meaning, personal connection, and collective purpose. As he assimilates into the community of Detroiters around him, Philp guides readers through the cityâ€™s vibrant history and engages in urgent conversations about gentrification, racial tensions, and class warfare.

Part social history, part brash generational statement, part comeback story, A $500 House in Detroit â€œshines [in its depiction of] the â€˜radical neighborlinessâ€™ of ordinary people in desperate circumstancesâ€ (Publishers Weekly). This is an unforgettable, intimate account of the tentative revival of an American city and a glimpse at a new way forward for generations to come.
Country USA
Manufacturer Scribner
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2017-04-11
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Scribner
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2017-04-11
Format	Kindle eBook

A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City

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