The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook Is Now Available
Thanks to everyone who stopped by the historic Mercantile Library on December 6, 2022 to celebrate the official debut of The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook from Belt Publishing.
It was great to hear Greg Hand, Pauletta Hansel, and Dani McClain read their wonderful essays aloud, but the most profound and moving moment came when Dani McClain recited the piece authored by the late Kathy Y. Wilson. Focusing on the Walnut Hills neighborhood, Wilson’s essay is my favorite work found within this book’s pages.
All together, 33 different authors came together to create “an in-depth look at the City of Seven Hills, written by the people who live and work there every day.” Edited by my friend and colleague, Nick Swartsell, the book features written work from both lifelong residents and transplants. For my part, I authored a story about two languishing shopping malls in the northern suburbs. These aren’t just institutions that I grew up with (and documented over the years), they’re physical examples of a larger narrative—how malls came to languish across the American landscape.
Belt Publishing, a worker-owned and women-led LLC based out of Cleveland, produced this latest addition to their ongoing “Neighborhood Guidebook” series and I am so grateful to have played a small part in it.
I also want to highlight the incredible work of Nick Swartsell. Thanks for letting me contribute to something so special, Nick
The book can be purchased online through Belt Publishing and Amazon, as well as from brick and mortar retailers such as Cincinnati’s own Downbound Books. It is available in both physical and digital formats.
Praise For The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook:
"This guidebook is an in-depth exploration of what makes Cincinnati’s neighborhoods what they are and how they came to be what they are. It is an exploration of Cincinnati’s neighborhoods written by people who call these neighborhoods home and have real insight into the life and culture of the places that give Cincinnati its personality, history, and diverse culture."
— Mike Templeton, Urban Appalachian Community Coalition
"The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook [. . .] definitely isn't your typical examination of Greater Cincinnati communities. It's not filled with tips about trendy places for coffee, craft beer or condos with great views of the city's seven hills. It's definitely not from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber."
— John Kiesewetter, WVXU
From The Publisher:
Part of Belt’s Neighborhood Guidebook Series, The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook is an in-depth look at the City of Seven Hills, written by the people who live and work there every day.
Cincinnati, Ohio, is a complex mix of many different things: its present and its past, its transitions and its legacies; what defines it and distinguishes it; what makes people love it and what makes some eventually leave it. This collection, written by both lifelong Cincinnatians and recent transplants, offers a sampling of life there today—the tensions, debates, the life-and-death battles, and, not least of all, the joys that make this city so alive. It’s a genuinely felt collection that offers a unique perspective on an evolving and energized city, a homegrown portrait showcasing the voices of people who know something about the way life feels—and why it feels that way—in their communities. It’s about all the ways Cincinnati’s differences are the very things that make the city so alive.
Here, you’ll find stories that look at:
How Mount Auburn changed in the aftermath of the police shooting of Samuel DuBose
The Catholic legacy in Mount Adams
A busy intersection in gentrifying Over-the-Rhine
The fading rural landscape of Camp Dennison
How life by the Ohio River defines and shapes life in Ludlow
Edited by Nick Swartsell and with short essays by Gail Finke, Pauletta Hansel, Dani McClain, Ronny Salerno, Katie Vogel, and many others, this collection offers an intimate tour of the city’s seven hills, its fifty-two neighborhoods, and its countless stories. Natives of Cincinnati will recognize both their streets and their histories, and readers from outside the city will get an unfiltered look at the locale known as “The Queen City.”
Nick Swartsell is a journalist and photographer based in Cincinnati. He lived in Mount Auburn for eight years before moving to Camp Washington while editing The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook.
