{"product_id":"between-the-river-and-railroad-tracks-9780316564304","title":"Between the River and the Railroad Tracks","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeticulously crafted and unflinchingly vulnerable, Nicole R. Fleetwood’s multigenerational family portrait braids the intimate life of a neighborhood with the historic arc that shaped it to offer an untold story of the black Midwest.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In 1973, Hamilton, Ohio, was a mill town so typical it prided itself on being quintessentially American. In harder times, it proved to be a bellwether. Here, young Nicole is born into a fourth-generation household in the second ward, a segregated neighborhood between the river and the railroad tracks. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In this tight-knit community, most of Nicole’s neighbors are like her relatives: large, intergenerational families a few decades up from the South. They build their own institutions, create music with global influence, and uphold a code of conduct centered around safety and belonging.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e But the legacy of slavery and the entrenched racism of the Midwest cast a shadow over the second ward. The Fleetwoods bear their struggles as an ancestral curse, one that dooms their menfolk and burdens their women. The family lore echoes in Nicole’s earliest memories.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e As Nicole grows up, the curse spreads through her community. She witnesses the second ward undergo devastating changes that impact her family and neighbors. The loss of factory jobs, growing political divides, and the crack epidemic wreak havoc, seeping through the walls of her family home and replacing the sense of community and familiarity with destitution and violence.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Nicole nurtures her intellectual curiosity and independence, dreaming of college and the world beyond. But she fears that leaving the second ward means abandoning everything she’s known—the neighborhood map that kept her safe, the community that raised her, and the family that loves her. In a powerful testament to black love and inheritance, \u003ci\u003eBetween the River and the Railroad Tracks\u003c\/i\u003e asks whether we can ever leave home. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47031669522610,"sku":"9780316564304","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0536\/7418\/0786\/files\/O_008d73e2-e158-4176-9d4e-8313f751bdfb.jpg?v=1777435289","url":"https:\/\/shop.hachettebookgroup.com\/products\/between-the-river-and-railroad-tracks-9780316564304","provider":"Hachette Book Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}