Sharon Cornelissen’s The Last House on the Block is a powerful and necessary deep dive into the realities of urban decline and failed gentrification in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood. This is not another tale of hipster cafés and rooftop yoga reshaping a city. Instead, Cornelissen shows us what happens when gentrification stalls, falters, and ultimately fails to take root.

Her fieldwork, which included purchasing a $7,000 house and living in the neighborhood for three years, adds a rare authenticity to this ethnography. We meet long-time Black residents fighting to preserve community stability, and white newcomers clinging to the dream of rural life in an urban setting. With nuance and compassion, Cornelissen unpacks the sharp contrasts in values and expectations between these groups.

This book is deeply researched and thoughtfully presented. It challenges common assumptions about gentrification being inevitable and shows how depopulation—not development—is the dominant force in many post-industrial American cities. A must-read for anyone interested in urban studies, racial equity, housing policy, or the complexities of community revitalization.