Kotlowitz discusses ‘The Other Side of the River’ at One Book | One Buchanan

Tribune Staff Report
·2 min read
Author and journalist Alex Kotlowitz will talk about his book “The Other Side of the River” — about the death of a Black teenage boy from Benton Harbor and how it brought unhealed wounds and suspicions for the people of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph to the surface — for the third annual One Book | One Buchanan on Aug. 30, 2023, on the Buchanan Common.
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BUCHANAN — Author and journalist Alex Kotlowitz joins the discussion of his book “The Other Side of the River” for the third annual One Book | One Buchanan at 6 p.m. Aug. 30 on the Buchanan Common, 122 Days Ave.

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the book in small groups and then be part of a conversation with Kotlowitz, led by Buchanan Community Schools Superintendent Patricia Robinson.

One Book | One Buchanan chose “The Other Side of the River” because it is the 25th anniversary of its publication and because of its setting.

In the book, Kotlowitz takes readers to two towns in southern Michigan, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, separated by the St. Joseph River. Geographically close, but worlds apart, they are a living metaphor for America’s racial divisions.

When the body of a Black teenage boy from Benton Harbor is found in the river, unhealed wounds and suspicions between the two towns’ populations surface as well. The investigation into the young man’s death becomes, inevitably, a screen on which each town projects their resentments and fears.

"The Other Side of the River" portrays the lives and hopes of the towns’ citizens as they wrestle with this mystery — and reveals the attitudes and misperceptions that undermine race relations throughout America.

For 40 years, Kotlowitz has been telling stories from the heart of America, deeply intimate tales of struggle and perseverance. He is the author of four books, including his most recent, “An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago,” which received the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, and the national bestseller “There Are No Children Here.”

A former staff writer at The Wall Street Journal, Kotlowitz’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and on “This American Life.”

For more information, call 269-695-3681 or visit buchananlibrary.org.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Kotlowitz discusses his book written in 1998 at One Book│One Buchanan