Nathan Cardon:
McGruder has written a good book and an important revision that should be read alongside the classic texts of 'ghetto formation.'

[Race and Real Estate] challenges the standard saga of the rise of black urban communities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thoroughly researched, the book is an extremely useful reinterpretation of the subject.... Recommended.

[A] fact-filled book... enlivened by personal accounts.

Brian Purnell, Bowdoin College:
In his autobiography, Malcolm X admitted that 'one of my biggest surprises' was that 'Harlem hadn't always been a community of Negroes.' If that surprises you too then you must read this book. Kevin McGruder takes us back in time to a Harlem on the cusp of dramatic change. He shows us uptown Manhattan before Harlem was in vogue. With incredible research and fascinating characters, Race and Real Estate unveils the complicated social and business processes that changed Harlem from an interracial neighborhood into the most recognizable black community in the world.