"Rebecca Janowitz brilliantly captures the development of the political and social culture of Hyde Park, a famous racially stable and economically diverse community and the current home of President Barack and Michelle Obama. Readers of this engaging book will understand why Hyde Park has provided so many unusual opportunities for its residents, and how many of them effectively shaped developments in the larger city of Chicago. I highly recommend Culture of Opportunity."---William Julius Wilson, Harvard University, author of The Truly Disadvantaged"Rebecca Janowitz's Culture of Opportunity is a smart, insider's view of a dynamic community that made possible Barack Obama and any number of leaders and thinkers. This book will show you what's possible with a committed citizenry."---Toni Preckwinkle, Alderman, City of Chicago"A warm, delightful, and opinionated tour of an iconic community that has housed not only our president but such diverse figures as Antonin Scalia, Bill Ayers, Muhammad Ali, and Louis Farrakhan. Rebecca Janowitz's book tells the story of how this small Chicago neighborhood has always produced figures who were both influential and went in not so subtle ways against the grain."---Richard Taub, Paul Klapper Professor in the Departments of Comparative Human Development and Sociology at the University of ChicagoAs early as the 1960s, Hyde Park reformers were looking for strong black leaders to serve a progressive white constituency as well as the black community. The willingness of Hyde Parkers, especially progressive Jews, to rally behind Harold Washington helped him become Chicago's first black mayor, and one committed to reform. In the course of Obama's rise to power, Hyde Park proved its usefulness again as a sounding board, support system, and launching pad for political change.Culture of Opportunity will introduce you to one of the most distinctive and unusual neighborhoods in the United States, and a formidable cast of thinkers and doers.This portrait of Hyde Park, the Chicago South Side neighborhood long noted for its progressive politics, explains the dynamics of this intriguing community that in many ways nurtured Barack Obama's political career and made possible his run for the presidency. Rebecca Janowitz writes from the perspective of an expert insider who has worked in politics and community affairs in Hyde Park for more than two decades.Her story of Hyde Park begins before the Civil War, when it was formed by a self-taught city planner, Paul Cornell, as an experimental community with remarkable cultural and recreational assets. From the late nineteenth century it became a home for independent politicians and social reformers. Ms. Janowitz explains how scholarly activists---many of them from the University of Chicago, part of the community---as well as clergy and women sought more influence in the city from a base in Hyde Park. The neighborhood offered a political alternative for people throughout Chicago who were dissatisfied with the city's corrupt patronage politics. In the 1950s, after a major community grassroots organizing effort and a massive, publicly funded urban renewal program, the Hyde Park---Kenwood area emerged as a diverse, politically confident community in a key lakefront location within the city, cultivating a rich and congenial cultural tradition. Read Less