The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood by Julian Rubinstein

The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood Reviews

• 
  Karen Ashmore

  I live in Northeast Park Hill in Denver so this incredible account of gang activity and its intertwining with corrupt law enforcement and city mismanagement in my neighborhood was spellbinding. This true story is told through the eyes of my friend Terrance Roberts, a former Blood and anti-gang activist.
  
  A fan of social media, I gotta admit some of his real life FB posts seemed far-fetched at times but careful research and documentation by the author supported his claims.
  
  I have always admired Terrance for his staunch support of our community, his love of Haïti, and his fearless challenges of the criminal justice system and Denver’s racist and classist law enforcement. It was rewarding to see him held up as a community hero in the book.
  
  Many of the events described, I clearly remember since I was in attendance. And it was fun to read the names of many of my good friends in the book such as Alex, Lindsay, Soul, Lisa, Candice, Jeff, and others. And the three Mikes who I don’t particularly care for. I will leave it up to you to figure out who those three Mikes are.
  
  Highly recommend to anyone in Denver, as well as all criminal justice activists, anti gang advocates, city leaders, and community organizers.
  
  Note: the Holly is the name for a 2 block area called Holly Square that is headquarters of the Bloods. I go there all the time to visit the Pauline Robinson branch library - and sometimes the post office and the Blazin Chicken Shack. And the guys at the garage on the corner fixed my car.
• 
  Isabel

  Doggedly reported story of Denver's northeast Park Hill and anti-gang activist Terrance Roberts. I'm not sure if I would have been so enthralled if it was set in another city, one that I didn't know, but damn, I was captivated by reading about people and places I know. I especially appreciated how the author weaved in Black Denver history and shed light on law enforcement's problematic reliance on informants. This should be required reading for all Denver residents.
• 
  Kristin Pazulski

  Well-written and fascinating all the way through, this is an important book for anyone who wants to understand gangs, violence, the BLM movement, police reform, etc. in or outside of Denver (though I live in the area this boom speaks of, so I am partial). Albeit a bit one sided, it’s strong activist journalism. A damning and revealing narrative that will have Denver bigwigs squirming, as they should be from their conscience. I am curious what the Park Hill community thinks of this. Definitely moments I felt the author was a bit too into the story, but I think that’s an honest portrayal of his work and risk.
• 
  Amelia Germain

  I absorbed this via audiobook and really appreciated the story and how it was told with 2 narrators. I live in Northeast Park Hill and learned SO much about the history of these blocks I walk along every single day. Grateful to have had this book recommended by a friend and look forward to continuing my journey of listening and learning.
• 
  Lizzie

  The Holly tells a complicated story. It’s messy. Everything doesn’t all get tied up in a neat bow in the last chapter (though of course there is a story arc and some things do get resolved). The author becomes a part of the narrative partway through. Sympathetic characters make bad decisions even after “reforming,” motivations are hard to unravel, and cycles repeat themselves. There are unanswered questions, unsettling events, and characters making contradictory claims that are all but impossible for even the most intrepid journalist to definitively prove.
  
  I live in Denver, so this story was especially fascinating to me as I encountered people and places I was familiar with … and so many that I was not: The invisible Denver.
  
  Some might argue that the book is one-sided, and while there may be some truth to that claim, the author clearly did his due diligence is talking (or trying to talk) to all the major and many of the minor players, tracking down records, and keeping an eye on local news and social media posts. And, this is advocacy journalism, investigative journalism. The people whose stories we learned the most about were those without big platforms, power, and, in many cases, protection. And with a story that is still ongoing in so many ways, with tensions that run high, sometimes all you can do is make an invisible community, with all its messiness and pain and anger and joy, visible at last, pointing out the threads and connections that reveal themselves, tenuous as some of them may seem at first glance, but which are essential in understanding how we got to where we are, and how much further we have to go. And after all, there are at least two sides to every story, and most people haven’t heard this side until now.
  
• 
  JessicaC

  The Holly is at first, the story of Terrance Roberts' work as a gang member turned community leader and the violence that seemingly went against everything he stood for when he shot a gang member in 2013. But Julian Rubenstein's detailed investigation into why Terrance would take such an violent action after spending so many years building up his Prodigal Son Initiative, tells a bigger story. The story seems sensational at times, with shocking connections between city officials and long time OG gang members who are calling the shots. But Julian's writing makes those connections clear and his sources are credible. From the mayor's office to local community leaders to the national and local media, this book names everyone as being complacent. It tooks him years of research and this story comes at a time when this nation is reconsidering the term "public safety" and police budgets. Centered on the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver from the 20's to today, The Holly is an amazing reflection of how racism, poor city planning, and corruption hurts our most vulnerable communities.
• 
  CJ

  An absolutely incredible book about the part of Denver that's been left behind as the city has boomed. A lot of the major power players in Colorado do not come across well here, and I'm curious to see how this book will be received and whether it will prompt any changes. Some of Rubenstein's reporting is pretty shocking, particularly the claim that the Denver Police Department is using active gang members for anti-gang efforts and dropping serious charges for gang informants. If Colorado is serious about any of its criminal justice reform efforts, that's going to need to be addressed. I appreciated all the historical background that the book provided, and it was an important reminder that so many of the issues the region is currently dealing with have deep roots and require genuine community investment to solve. At the same time, it was sobering to read how problems that plagued Black Coloradans in the 60s and 70s are still manifesting today in different forms.
• 
  Juliet

  Gripping, I couldn't put it down from the moment I started. I need to read it again in fact, given how much Julian Rubinstein has packed into this story about a complicated man named Terrance Roberts and his quest to save his neighborhood and himself. Rubinstein's storytelling is brisk, insightful, and mesmerizing, a product of the relationships he built through candor, humility, and journalistic skill over many years.
  
  It's incredibly well done. A primer of today's American culture.
• 
  Chris Talbott

  Denver's most famous former gang member, a community developer and peace advocate, shoots a teen in broad daylight, and with that twist this true tale takes off
  
  This book is a brilliant hard-fought expose of an "urban industrial warfare complex" in Denver, Colorado, collusion between gang members, gang "reformers" and the police; all at the expense of true reform and good working people. It also provides a detailed history on African-American gangs from the Black Panthers through the 90s.
  
  Put aside its immediate ultimate relevance as journalism, it is a gripping adventure, a crime thriller, a redemption story, a walk into an exotic world that exists at home. I came to care a lot about the characters, I could not wait to see what happened (and resisted googling).
  
  Where I grew up (between Milwaukee and now infamous Kenosha) gangs were all around me (we were more GD/Latin King territory from what I knew). My neighborhood, my schools, my beach, my parks, my roller rink. We had rival (all in good fun) break dance crews (oh yeah, I did that a minute). I knew many gang members, not well and never asked a question in that direction, but same dance parties, the roller rink, hallway, the mall, the beach, just walking the neighborhood. Gang signs being thrown around u left and right pretty much daily and somehow it’s a code we just ignored or laughed at and co-opted(Beastie Boys much?). So this really resonated for me on that level too, to finally learn a more nuanced and detailed version of a history I mostly knew from hip hop -all the way from Black Panthers through the 90s.
  
  
  I will be watching what happens to Terance. I hope I can help in any small way raise awareness of his persecution.
• 
  Lisa J Shultz

  Illuminating. Denver's invisible side, gang wars in NE Park Hill, was carefully dissected by author Julian Rubinstein. The investigation of a shooting involving Terrance Roberts, an anti-gang activist, was thoroughly accomplished in this book. Much of the gang warfare, policing, neighborhood development motives and underlying politics are hidden from most Denverites. This book shows an invisible part of Denver that few really know or understand. I found the situations described troubling. Denver is losing youth to gang violence and crime is rising. Carrying guns and expressing oneself with shooting people is disturbing. I am not sure what the answers are to this complex issue, but I valued learning more about it. 
• 
  Eaweishaupl

  A journalist investigated the rise of gangs in Denver centering on a portion of north park hill called the Holly. This is the story of poverty, racism, city politics, gangs, drug culture and police and gang violence that tries to explain how the crops and the bloods came to control and terrorize the Holly. It’s the story on one OG Blood who grows up in the streets, joins the bloods, goes to prison and comes out a community activist. Finally it’s the story of how this community activist winds up shooting a blood at a peace rally that he organized and is ultimately tried for this crime. The book is complicated. Relationships and motivations are constantly moving and morphing. But it tries to explain how a man who truly wants to help his community and his people felt compelled to shoot a young blood and his explanation for this seemingly inexplicable action.
• 
  Kelly Dwyer

  By telling the story of The Holly, Northeast Park Hill and Terrence Roberts, Rubinstein is able to share a larger story about politics, race, class and crime in America. About the circumstances that make a neighborhood violent or unsafe and that encourage kids to join gangs. We as a larger society - especially community, elected and business leaders - must listen to and learn from the people who live in a given neighborhood, to better understand the complex dynamics, communicate with each other and work toward solutions. Please read this book!
• 
  Ethan

  Shines a light on violence, politics, and struggles in Denver, and is a must read by anyone in or around NE Park Hill. Good reporting but the actual writing was surprisingly prone to confusing syntax and sentences.
• 
  Kirstie Tudor

  Highly recommend listening to this book as an audiobook! I could not stop listening, it is so eye opening, especially as a resident of Denver.
• 
  Lyndsay

  As a Coloradan, I found this book fascinating to learn about the gang culture and somewhat recent events (2013) of the intertwined police, gangs, informants, and activists in Park Hill region.
• 
  Karrie

  As a Park Hill girl, I found the book fascinating , well-researched, and enlightening.
• 
  Sharon

  I learned so much reading this book. Great investigative journalism & a fascinating account about Denver’s invisible gang war.
• 
  Nicole Vap

  This is an incredibly insightful look at a part of Denver’s history that has been hidden from the public view for way too long. Before we can confront gang violence we need to understand it and this book attempts to do that. It should be read by anyone attempting to cover Denver’s current issues or wanting to know more of a different part of the city’s history. The reason I hold off on a better review is its portrayal of the local media. I agree with the author there is plenty to criticize in how local media has covered this issue in the past (and still covering). However we need to be transparent about that coverage and ask as many questions from those individuals in question as others were give in the book. That was not done here as far as I can tell. Were the reporters or media outlets given a chance to respond or give insight into the claims against them? It made me wonder if others in the book had an adequate chance to respond to allegations made against them as well.
• 
  Steph

  4.5 round down
• 
  Natalie St. Hilaire

  An amazing look inside the invisible part of Denver. It was truly shocking to read about the historical and current events that have happened less than 5 minutes from my own neighborhood.
• 
  Leslie

  This should be required reading for every “Park Hillionaire” — and beyond. I could not put it down. I lived only 8 blocks south of The Holly and was only aware of a small fraction of this story. I am now better informed — but even more appalled.
• 
  Sarah Askew

  I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about American Civil Rights. Gives insight into the relationship between a militarized police force, the New Jim Crow, and the activists that attempt to tear this toxic relationship down.
  
  I live 25 minutes north of the sites discussed here and started living in CO the same year this book was published, and I had no idea about any of these events.