Down These Mean Streets: A Memoir by Piri Thomas (English) Paperback Book

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The author recalls his early experiences with poverty and discrimination, his involvement with drugs and gangs, and his prison sentence for armed robbery which led to his rehabilitation and work with street gangs and drug addicts.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

A modern classic of manhood, marginalization, survival, and transcendence-and a lyrical memoir of coming of age on the streets of Spanish Harlem."A report from the guts and heart of a submerged population group ... It claims our attention and emotional response."-The New York Times Book ReviewThirty years ago Piri Thomas made literary history with this lacerating memoir. Here was the testament of a born outsider- a Puerto Rican in English-speaking America; a dark-skinned morenito in a family that refused to acknowledge its African blood. Here was an unsparing document of Thomas's plunge into the deadly consolations of drugs, street fighting, and armed robbery-a descent that ended when the twenty-two-year-old Piri was sent to prison for shooting a cop.As he recounts the journey that took him from adolescence in El Barrio to a lock-up in Sing Sing to the freedom that comes of self-acceptance, faith, and inner confidence, Piri Thomas gives us a book that is as exultant as it is harrowing and whose every page bears the irrepressible rhythm of its author's voice.

Author Biography

PIRI THOMAS was born of Puerto Rican and Cuban parents in New York City's Spanish Harlem in 1928. Poverty in the ghetto led him to drugs, youth gangs, and a series of criminal activities, for which he served seven years in prison. There he began his life of rehabilitation, vowing to use his street and prison experience to turn youths away from lives of crime. Mr. Thomas then lectured at schools and universities across the country, and authored several books including Savior, Savior, Hold My Hand; Seven Long Times; and Stories from El Barrio. He died in 2011, at the age of 83.

Review

"Piri Thomas describes the passionate, painful search to validate his manhood...He has done it all in Harlem's mean streets and gone on from machismo to manhood, acquiring during the journey an understanding of man."--The Nation

Review Quote

"Piri Thomas describes the passionate, painful search to validate his manhood...He has done it all in Harlem's mean streets and gone on from machismo to manhood, acquiring during the journey an understanding of man."--The Nation

Details ISBN0679781420 Author Piri Thomas Short Title DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS ANNIV/ Pages 352 Edition Description Anniversary Series Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition Language English Edition 13th ISBN-10 0679781420 ISBN-13 9780679781424 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY B Year 1997 Audience Age 14-18 Residence Berkeley, CA, US Birth 1928 DOI 10.1604/9780679781424 UK Release Date 1997-11-25 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 1997-11-25 NZ Release Date 1997-11-25 US Release Date 1997-11-25 Publisher Random House USA Inc Publication Date 1997-11-25 Imprint Vintage Books Replaces 9780679732389 Audience General Subtitle A Memoir We've got this

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