Street Shadows

Street Shadows recounts Jerald Walkers renunciation of the thug life he had embraced as a teenager on the South Side of Chicago in favor of the education and middle-class life his parents had always dreamed of for their children. By turns ironic, humorous, angry, and poignant, Walkers narrative dramatically captures his pursuit and embodiment of the American dream: the effort to rise above obstacles such as racism and poverty through hard work and determination. Walker explores questions of race and identity through the lens of personal choiceincluding decisions he made as a high school dropout, a drug and alcohol abuser, a returning student, a young academic, a visitor to Africa in search of his roots, and a husband and father, as well as the diverse choices made by his blind parents, his six siblings, and his wife and her family. He highlights the importance of education, the values of self-help and self-reliance, and his rejection of the victim mentality that many feel pervades black communities. Winner of the 2011 PEN New England/L. L. Winship Award for Nonfiction, Street Shadows is an eloquent account of how the past shadows but need not determine the present. It is also a stirring portrait of two Americasone hopeless, the other inspirationalembodied within the same man.