You Think It Strange

The piercing, heartbreaking memoir of growing up on the crime-ridden streets of Philadelphia and charting a new path

“Prostitution, gambling, fencing, contract murder, loan sharking, political corruption . . . crimes of every sort were the daily trade in Philadelphia’s Tenderloin, the oldest part of town. The Kevitch family ruled this stew for half a century, from Prohibition to the rise of Atlantic City. My mother was a Kevitch.”

So begins poet Dan Burt’s moving, emotional memoir of life on the dangerous streets of downtown Philadelphia. The son of a butcher and an heiress to an organized crime empire, Burt rejected the harsh world of his upbringing, eventually renouncing his home country as well and forging a new life in the UK. But in this riveting reappraisal of his childhood, Burt wrestles with the idea that home leaves an indelible mark that can never truly be left behind.