A part of Belt's City Anthology Series, The Dayton Anthology offers
a portrait of a city recovering from the twin 2019 crises of devastating
tornadoes and the mass shooting that took the lives of nine residents in
the Oregon District.
In over fifty essays and poems, contributors reflect on these traumas
and the longer-term ills of disinvestment and decay that have plagued
Dayton and the Miami Valley for years. But they also draw our attention
to the resilience of the people who call Dayton home. This is the city
that brought the world the Wright brothers' invention of flight, the
cash register, and the hydraulic pump. It also gave us the soaring
poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and the comedy of Dave Chappelle. Edited
by Shannon Shelton Miller and with contributions from Dayton Mayor Nan
Whaley and former Ohio Governor Bob Taft.
A delightful tour of a city that never counts itself out, that captures
the true diversity of Dayton's residents.