When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets Book

I read this book because it was written by one of my professor's doctoral students able Springfield Mass, a city I live very close to. Tim Black collected information for this book over eighteen years, which is almost unheard of in social ethnographies. The focus is on the lives of three Puerto Rican brother's growing up in Springfield, but Black does a great job of showing how their lives were shaped as much by history as by themselves. Very well written and extremely well researched, this is a story of cause and effect, where poverty comes from, and how the history of the Puerto Rico and Springfield are tied together.