Growing up on the streets of East L.A., Luis Rodriguez narrowly escaped a serious jail term and then struggled to overcome his powerful addiction to heroin and alcohol. Eventually, Rodriguez embarked on a career as a successful journalist and a highly regarded poet. In It Calls You Back, Rodriguez describes with heartbreaking honesty his challenges as a husband and a father and his difficulty leaving his criminal past completely behind. Most disturbing...

Hearts and Hands deals with many of the difficult issues addressed in Luis Rodríguez's memoir of gang life, Always Running, but with a focus on healing through community building. Empowered by his experiences as a peacemaker with gangs in Los Angeles and Chicago, Rodríguez offers a unique book of change. He makes concrete suggestions, shows how we can create nonviolent opportunities for youth today, and redirects kids into productive and satisfying...

A Mixteca Indian from Oaxaca, América Soliz, suffers from the poverty and hopelessness of her Chicago ghetto, made more endurable by a desire and determination to be a poet.

In a harrowing journey from drugged-out gang member to one of the most revered figures in Chicano literature, Luis J. Rodríguez continues the remarkable story of his bestselling memoir. Readers came to know Rodríguez through his fearless classic, Always Running, which chronicled his life as a young Chicano gang member surviving the dangerous streets of East Los Angeles. This long-awaited follow-up is the equally harrowing story of starting over,...