Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea

Americans often associate “ghetto” with inner cities populated by the poor. Sociologist Mitchell Duneier examines the history of these places in Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea, which traces the idea of the ghetto from 16th-century Venice — where Jews were forced to live apart from others — to the present day. The New York Times concluded that readers “will find a greater sense of the complexity of America’s problem of racial inequality, as well as the urgency — practical and moral — of solving it.”