Homelessness in The Books Store

From drug addiction and the spread of AIDS to the growing gap between rich and poor in the U.S., the topics in this book get front-page coverage in daily newspapers across the country. Waterston seeks to understand, to explain, and to solve the human crisis that surrounds us. Towards this end, she challenges us to look at the ways in which our society and the workings of our political, economic, and popular culture contribute to the suffering experienced by our most vulnerable citizens.

An important corrective to popular depictions of the urban poor, Love, Sorrow, and Rage provides a penetrating analysis of the causes and consequences of poverty. It offers a deeper understanding of what leads to and perpetuates poverty and of the human complex of love, sorrow, and rage felt by those who experience it.

"In Sleepaway School, a boy becomes a man. The way Lee Stringer tells it, that is by itself more than enough for an enthralling story."-Kurt Vonnegut, from the foreword

"In a riveting memoir, the author of the acclaimed Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street (1998) goes back to his 1960s troubled childhood as a foster kid growing up poor and black in a wealthy white neighborhood in upstate New York. . . . Told in more than 30 connected stories, the eloquent, present-tense narrative has the immediacy of Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life. . . . It's an unforgettable coming of age."-Hazel Rochman, Booklist (starred review)

"Lee Stringer proves that talent travels. In Sleepaway School, he hones the sharp wit and keen perception that made Grand Central Winter so memorable to create a lyrical and deeply moving tribute to a troubled childhood. Most memoirists are well out of gas by their second book; Stringer is taking off and heading for the clouds. He is an authentic original voice."-Peter Blauner, author of The Intruder and The Last Good Day.

"The most surprising thing about Sleepaway School is that it is not grim. In fact, much of it is lighthearted and free from bitterness. Caverly's voice is appealing, and his innocence and helplessness are convincingly conveyed."-Rocky Mountain News

Lee Stringer is the author of the acclaimed Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street, a New York Times Notable Book and USA Today Top Ten pick, which has been translated into a dozen languages. He also is the author, with Kurt Vonnegut, of Like Shaking Hands With God: A Conversation About Writing. He currently serves on three nonprofit boards: Project Renewal in New York City, the Friends of the Mamaroneck Library, and the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester.

Learning Joy from Dogs Without Collars is about my memories of growing up, being raised by an eccentric and uniquely idealistic single mother. It is about how I was sometimes homeless and lived in shelters and in one apartment after another. It is about adventures my mother and I had, including moving across the country -- from Astoria, Oregon, a small coastal town, to Boston, Massachusetts, a bigger city on a different coast. It is about how I -- by accident, it seemed -- found myself to be the only girl on a high school wrestling team, how that worked out, and what I learned.

The book is also about how I later went to Harvard, a world completely unlike the ones I grew up in; how I adapted to life there. It is about how I met my father when I was nineteen, and how my father finally became my dad.

This groundbreaking text examines research methodologies for studying the homeless, rural homeless policy, and the lives of today's rural homeless. It gives a thorough overview of the issues faced by this unique sector and outlines specific avenues for further research. The authors' insightful data analysis, real life findings, and specific case examples offer useful and research-based approaches to improve the difficult situation of the rural homeless, using a family health approach well suited to addressing the issues that affect them.

Since services for the homeless are most often located in cities, the rural homeless are at a physical disadvantage. Because they are unable to utilize the services provided for the urban homeless, their needs often go unmet. Researchers and social service professionals face the same dilemma. Homelessness in Rural America addresses these issues by making vital research techniques, difficult-to-find data, and strategies for practice easy to access, understand, and put to use.

Homelessness in Rural America: Policy and Programs examines:

the current condition of the rural homeless

factors that can increase the probability of a rural individual becoming homeless

the influence of welfare programs on the rural homeless

issues faced by the rural homeless and how a family health approach can treat these issues

the research methodology used to study the rural homeless

In Something Left to Lose, Gwendolyn A. Dordick gives us a dramatic portrait of the social and personal lives of the homeless. Through her extensive "hanging out" with homeless people, Dordick came to a profound understanding of the web of relationships that provides complex social structure in situations where, to the casual eye, there appears to be only chaos and paralysis.

The author shows us that improvising shelter means working hard to co-exist with others. Lacking conventional private dwellings, the homeless find or create shelter in unconventional places—on street corners adjoining bus stations, on empty lots of land, or in shelters, public or private—and negotiate the rules of these places with authorities, passersbys, and fellow homeless.

The different environments lead to quite different social relations. The Armory, for example, is a frightening place, thanks to the authoritarian attitudes of the employees and cliques of homeless people in charge. In the Shanty, on the other hand, the difficult issues are those of a self-governing community concerned about safety—controlling the drug use of some residents, deciding who is allowed to tap into the electricity, and worrying about intruders.

In all settings, daily life for people without homes, like daily life for people with homes, is full of the concerns of personal relationships. How will we share our goods and emotions, speak respectfully to each other, love and joke and work out our disputes, and act in a trustworthy fashion?