Not in my backyard -- that's the refrain commonly invoked by property owners who oppose unwanted development. Such words assume a special ferocity when the development in question is public housing. Lisa Belkin penetrates the prejudices, myths, and heated emotions stirred by the most recent trend in public housing as she re-creates a landmark case in riveting detail, showing how a proposal to build scattered-site public housing in middle-class neighborhoods nearly destroyed an entire city and forever changed the lives of many of its citizens.

-- Public housing projects are being torn down throughout the United States. What will take their place? Show Me a Hero explores the answer.

-- An important and compelling work of narrative nonfiction in the tradition of J. Anthony Lukas's Common Ground.

-- A sweeping yet intimate group portrait that assesses the effects of public policy on individual human lives.