Street Lit, Urban Lit resources: Memoirs and Non-Fiction

Focusing on the same individuals from We Beat the Street, this is the story of the men seeking their fathers and working to reconnect with them. In their own words-and their fathers'-they describe the crucial lessons they learned, identifying ways to stem the tide of fatherlessness that's sweeping through communities across the country.

A candid, colorful memoir about a nerd from the Brooklyn projects who made it big. Nelson George grew up in the Tilden housing project in the crime- and despair-ridden Brownsville section of Brooklyn during the 1960s and 70s. In this tough neighborhood, Nelson was the nerdy kid who, in between stickball and street games, devoured Captain America comics, Ernest Hemingway novels, and album liner notes. Nelson's story is ultimately one of triumph, but it is not saccharine, sentimental, or full of false inspiration. Seeking transcendence through art and loving New York City, Nelson creates an insightful portrait of the emergence of black artists in the 1980s and 90s and illuminates how the pain of life can be turned into thoughtful books and cinema.

In his candid and riveting memoir, Canada relives a childhood in the South Bronx where violence stalked every street corner.

Sanchez recounts how he wound up behind bars and provides an engrossing firsthand account of how the Latin Kings are run from inside the prison system. Testaments to Sanchez’s determination to rebuild his life include his efforts to separate his family from gang life and his struggle to adapt to marriage and the corporate world. Despite temptations, nightmares, regressions into violence, and his own internal demons, Sanchez makes an uneasy peace with his new life. Raw, powerful, and brutally honest, this memoir traces the transformation of a gangbanger into a responsible citizen.

Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

This is the heart-wrenching true story of a girl named Cupcake and it begins when, aged eleven, she is orphaned and placed in the 'care' of sadistic foster parents. But there comes a point in her preteen years - maybe it's the night she first tries to run away and is exposed to drugs, alcohol, and sex all at once - when Cupcake's story shifts from a tear-jerking tragedy to a dark, deeply disturbing journey through hell.

This tense and moving memoir gives us a hard look at exactly what it means to make it "out of the Projects." The book is a very real look at what it takes to be a role model --- and what it takes out of you. The book chronicles McDonald's journey from the projects in Brooklyn through Vassar College and ultimately to a law office in Paris.

Three friends make a friendship pact, deciding together to take on the biggest challenge of their lives: attending college and then medical school. Along the way they made mistakes and faced disappointments, but by working hard, finding the right mentors, separating themselves from negative influences, and supporting each other, they achieved their goals.

The first and definitive biography of one of America's bestselling, notorious, and influential writers of the twentieth century: Iceberg Slim, né Robert Beck, author of the multimillion-copy memoir Pimp and such equally popular novels as Trick Baby and Mama Black Widow. From a career as a, yes, ruthless pimp in the '40s and '50s, Iceberg Slim refashioned himself as the first and still the greatest of "street lit" masters, whose vivid books have made him an icon to such rappers as Ice-T, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg and a presiding spirit of "blaxploitation" culture. You can't understand contemporary black (and even American) culture without reckoning with Iceberg Slim and his many acolytes and imitators.

Explores rap as a literary form, demonstrating that rap is also a wide-reaching and vital poetic tradition born of beats and rhymes.

The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known-and cautiously avoided-by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad.

Kozol looks at life and death in the South Bronx—the poorest urban neighborhood in the U.S. He brings us into overcrowded schools, dysfunctional hospitals, and rat-infested homes where families have been ravaged by depression and anxiety, drug-related violence, and the spread of AIDS. But he also introduces us to devoted and unselfish teachers, dedicated ministers, and—at the heart and center of the book—courageous and delightful children.

Immerses readers in the intricacies of the ghetto, revealing the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society.

This encyclopedic comics history of the formative years of hip hop captures the vivid personalities and magnetic performances of old-school pioneers and early stars like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, plus the charismatic players behind the scenes like Russell Simmons; Debbie Harry, Keith Haring and other luminaries make cameos.

McCall draws on personal experience and current events to deconstruct the social, cultural, and political tensions that affect us every day.With his trademark blend of honesty, originality, and insight, he takes on some of today's most complex and controversial issues.

Reveals the teacher, the leader, and the revolutionary voice of change that Malcolm X was and continues to be. Rarrative and graphics tell the story of Malcolm X’s life, his journey of self-discovery, his far-reaching ideas, his martyrdom and his impact on an era.