And now from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Acts Files, with your

host, David Axelrod.

In 1991, Alex Kotlowitz, then a reporter for the Wall Street Journal released a book called

There Are No Children Here.

And it was a searing account of life in the housing projects of Chicago that became a international

bestseller and introduced people to the horror that children in these projects faced.

Alex has stayed engaged on these issues for three decades.

And now he's released another book, Equally Powerful Called An American Summer Love and

Death in Chicago, a deeply impactful account of crime and violence in my hometown.

I sat down with Alex recently at the Institute of Politics to talk about this book and why

these issues have become his passion.

Alex Kotlowitz always great to see you.

I realized when I was going through your biography that we grew up in roughly the same place,

roughly the same time you're a New Yorker.

I am.

Well, Upper West Side, right?

And you're from Stuyvesson Town.

Stuyvesson Town, yeah.

And your folks had interesting stories.

And your dad and like intriguing history of the war.

And so I come by my work, honestly.

So my dad was, well, he was a magazine editor for a number of years.

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