Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity by Laura Meckler asks the question: is it possible to set out to create a truly integrated town and succeed? Meckler was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, so her interest is natural, even if the circumstances she writes about are before her time. Because she is an award-winning journalist, she does the research and asks the right questions. Among them, if the people of the town are making the effort to integrate the town, why are there still disparities in income, education, and achievement? Were the people of Shaker Heights complacent? Did they underestimate the social and systemic forces they were battling? It’s hard to say. But, Dream Town provides many insights. Meckler digs into the town’s history, interviews residents, and examines the issues to come up with this compelling account that leaves most questions unanswered. I received this Advanced Reader Copy of Dream Town: from Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns and Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, Dream Town is about a community in Ohio that is about racial equity in schools, communities, and housing. The book does bog down in places and I can see where it could have easily been a long magazine or academic journal entry. Painstakingly researched with some very poignant personal interviews, I would recommend those who are interested in racial and socioeconomic inequities in the public school system.

I found this book to be very interesting and intriguing. I would recommend this a friend because this is a book for everyone. I really enjoyed emerging myself into this book and it was just wonderful.

Thank you to Net Galley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was interesting read of the history of Shaker Heights and its history. It starts from the beginning with the Shakers when the town was established and then the Van Sweringen brothers buy the land in 1905 with a vision for the perfect community, a dream town of sorts. Not anyone could belong and they had the capitalist spirit of rewarding the rich with the finest money could buy - parks, schools, etc. Yet, unstated race rules were that no Blacks, Jews, and Catholics although exception were made for the wealthy. By 1930 it would become the third largest metro area in the US. The story develops through the perspective of certain people that made contributions throughout the years. Black families that moved into the neighborhood; white families that were against them moving in; other white families who wanted integration and supported blacks. The town has gone through many versions in the attempt for race equity and the fight still goes on now.

Happy publication day!

As a sociologist I had to read this one. It really made me think about planned communities, white flight, and desegregation.
It was incredibly well researched.

I first became interested in this book when I read Meckler's article in the NYT this summer about integration. As a past student and an award winning WashPo journalist, Laura is the perfect person to write about
the long process and history of integration in Shaker Heights, Ohio,

First Merkle provides the history of the town and it's founders and then she details, the long process began in the lat 50's of the pursuit for equity in the town in terms of education. Most importantly, Laura prompts the question, "if Shaker Heights has worked so hard at racial equity, why does a racial academic achievement gap persist?"

Truly masterful and enlightening reporting, this is a must read for any parent, teacher or community member interested in the achievement gap and how to finally close it.
#Henryholt #DreamTown #LaruaMeckler

Wow. I am fascinatd by Shaker Heights and "Dream Town". Things both are, and aren't, what they seem. There is good happening. Racial diversity in towns is so rare. But Meckler goes deeper and shows all sides of the story. This book really, really made me think.

3.5 stars. I was expecting a book with more of a conclusion, or a roadmap for other areas of the country. It is a well-researched history of Shaker Heights, but I was expecting more. I especially was hoping for a more clear view of why the racial gap exists in education in Shaker Heights.

"Can a group of well-intentioned people fulfill the promise of racial integration in America?

In this searing and intimate examination of the ideals and realities of racial integration, award-winning Washington Post journalist Laura Meckler tells the story of a decades-long pursuit in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and uncovers the roadblocks that have threatened progress time and again―in housing, in education, and in the promise of shared community.

In the late 1950s, Shaker Heights began groundbreaking work that would make it a national model for housing integration. And beginning in the seventies, it was known as a crown jewel in the national move to racially integrate schools. The school district built a reputation for academic excellence and diversity, serving as a model for how white and Black Americans can thrive together. Meckler―herself a product of Shaker Heights―takes a deeper look into the place that shaped her, investigating its complicated history and its ongoing challenges in order to untangle myth from truth. She confronts an enduring, and troubling, question―if Shaker Heights has worked so hard at racial equity, why does a racial academic achievement gap persist?"

Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

DREAM TOWN by Laura Meckler has much to say about the local values and efforts to foster and maintain an integrated community in a Cleveland suburb throughout the twentieth century and more recently. Meckler, a writer for the Washington Post, recounts the "Quest for Racial Equity" by sharing stories and exploring the idea of "belonging." She identifies essential questions like "How can and do people of different races live together? And what does it take to make diverse communities succeed?" In her conclusion, she writes, "Seven decades of experience show us that creating shared community is hard and takes constant commitment, constant work. The forces of systemic racism and white privilege, the tendency of the Black community to disengage, mistakes made by flawed human beings -- they are all real." Honestly, the beginning of Meckler's text is probably too focused on the local characters and history of Shaker Heights, Ohio, to hold the interest of our students, but there are numerous parallels to their experience on the North Shore near Chicago. Both students and faculty would likely relate to those she interviews, particularly student-teacher-administrative interactions like those described in the chapter on Olivia McDowell and Jody Podl. Excerpts from Meckler's text would certainly prompt important discussions. Meckler, who spent five years interviewing more than two hundred and fifty people, includes a Note on Sources, a Selected Bibliography, an Index, and copious Notes (at least fifteen percent of the book). DREAM TOWN received a starred review from Booklist.

A thoughtful, detailed look at racism and racial equality in a famed small town. Meckler wisely focuses, in large part, on the school system, always a touchpoint for conflict, There are multiple interviews and a carefully nuanced and well thought out review of the policies in the school and their impact. This isn't an easy or casual read (although the writing is clear and concise) but it is an important one. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Thought provoking.

I cannot resist books about the suburbs. I studied them in college and I guess I'm trying to keep my hand in. Shaker Heights is a great study in redlining but also how integration still continues to be an issue today.

Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity is a well-researched book about the history of Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland that has a reputation for it's diversity, integration of neighborhoods, and high achieving school system. It is not a surprise that the story of Shaker Heights is more complex than that.

I first heard about Shaker Heights as the setting for a Celeste Ng novel, and the hype around the town stuck with me, so I was intrigued to read further about it. Laura Meckler wrote about Shaker Heights for the Washington Post, and she has expanded from the original story to cover the history of the town, from it's founding, the continued work around neighborhood racial integration, and the complexities around the school system.

The founding of the town and planned community, led by two interesting brothers was discussed. The original laws for the development were continued as rationale for changes moving forward, especially with regards to housing. Much of the first part of the book then pivots to desegregation. As wealthy Black families wanted to move in, there was the expected resistance. Realtors would not sell to them and often diversionary techniques were needed in order for them to be able to buy. Expectedly, white families in the neighbors started selling en masse. Heckler highlights the work of one particular neighborhood that worked to fight this reverse segregation, and the sometimes unfair tactics they had to use in order to keep the ratio of neighbors reflective of the population.

Meckler then spends much of the book focusing on the well-regarded public school system, known for its high test scores and the elite colleges and universities that its graduates attend. It should come as no surprise that the real story is more complex and nuanced. For many years, the schools tracked/leveled students and Black students made up a very small proportion of the advanced classes. Additionally, in the elementary schools, the district bused primarily minority children to schools outside their neighborhoods. Meckler highlights the changing district leadership and priorities, the systemic racism, implicit bias, and the push and pull of wanting to lift up and support Black students while not wanting to alienate wealthy white parents who might pull their children (and tax dollars) from the district if any opportunities are taken away. It is hard not to get disheartened, but I appreciated reading about the continued spirit and want of those in the community to achieve the ideal that the town is noted for. There are many failures, but I was moved that it is still very much a community that is a work in progress, wanting the best for all its residents. This is an in depth look at a town that highlights many issues going on in the country.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Dream Town is a thoughtful, deep dive into the community of Shaker Heights, a community initially known for its exclusionary tactics, to one nationally known for its efforts to integrate and stem racism. One of the most important lessons this book conveys to me is the importance in recognizing that there is a problem in the first place, and recognizing the value in fixing it. The lesson that comes from that is that fixing the problem is really hard. One of the themes that the reader can pick up on through the decades covered in this book is that there are champions that recognize racism and a lack of equity that decide to create solutions to bring attention to the problem, and the whack-a-mole environment where a new opportunity to create segregation and inequity pops up just as extensive efforts have been taken to mitigate a previous issue. A reoccurring theme is that even with thoughtfulness and careful consideration, it can be difficult to come up with solutions that don't require one-sided efforts, particularly from Black families and students. The book also delves into several sticky issues, the ones I found the most interesting were the argument that Black parents weren't engaged enough with their child's education, the stigma associated with a Black student being perceived as Oreos by Black classmates for spending time around white students or striving for academic excellence, the challenge of balancing treating students equally and in a respectful manner against a teacher's concerns about being punished for how they handle situations, and balancing the different levels of rigor and challenge being offered to students in the tracking system offered. How do you find a way around penalizing a student or their parents when the reason the parents don't have time to be engaged is because their time is devoted to working to keep a roof over the family's head and bills paid? That in some regards leads into the next issue of encouraging minority students that show passion and aptitude to pursue a more challenging form of learning - and receiving the support of their peers in doing so. Shaker Heights clearly screwed up the situation between the teacher and student, which created traumatizing and devastating situations on both sides, and produced no meaningful way to move forward to minimize or eliminate the possibility of similar situation happening again. In regards to tracking, I still feel like there has to be a way to ensure that students face learning situations that challenge them - and I fully acknowledge that I don't know the best way to do this. I took mostly AP classes myself in high school, but opted to take one of my classes as a 'regular' track class because of the reputation that the AP teacher for that class had. I found myself bored, unchallenged and the grading ridiculous because I was used to being held to a higher standard. Being in that class did me no favors personally, though I had classmates that found it beneficial for me to be there, when it came to the questions I asked in class and the heavy hand I had in proofing essays they had to write. Much like Meckler, I think it's important to draw attention to these issues, because you can't fix them if you don't acknowledge that they exist, and also realizing that champions are great, but it takes a dedicated effort that's institutionalized to help ensure efforts to change are sustained in the long run. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.