Gary M. Almeter (EDT), Rafael Alvarez (EDT) Lovely Place, A Fighting Place, A Charmer

Annotation

A part of Belts City Anthology Series, a unique take on Charm City through the eyes of those who live there every day.To many outsiders, Baltimoresometimes derisively called Mobtown or Bodymoreis a city famous for its poverty and violence, twin ills that have been compounded by decades of racial segregation and the loss of manufacturing jobs. But that portrait has only given us a skewed view of a truly unique and diverse American city, the place that produced Babe Ruth, Elijah Cummings, Nancy Pelosi, Edgar Allan Poe, John Waters, and Thurgood Marshall, and a city thats completely its own.In the over thirty-five essays, poems, and short stories collected here, the authors take an unfiltered look at the ins and outs of Baltimores past and present. Youll hear about the first time an umbrella appeared in the Inner Harbor, nineteenth-century grave robbers, and the citys history with redlining and blockbusting. But youll also get a deeper sense of what life is like in Baltimore today, including stories about urban gardening in Bolton Hill, the slow demise of local journalism, what life was like in the city during COVID, and the legacy of Freddie Gray.As Ron Kipling Williams writes in his essay about the citys magnetic appeal, Baltimore has always been a city worth fighting for, and running through all these essays is the story of Baltimores resilience. From Pigtown to Pimlico, this anthology captures the sights, sounds, and feel of this city that so many people have come to discover is truly a lovely place, a fighting place, a charmer.Edited by Gary M. Almeter and Rafael Alvarez, this anthology offers an unfiltered look at Baltimore that will appeal to anyone looking for a portrait of an American city thats far more nuanced than the stories that are generally told about it.