Sidewalk

　　Sidewalk is about a group of men-Hakim, Marvin, Mudrick, and Ishmael, among others-who sell books, magazines, and recycled trash on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village. Most of them are black, some are homeless and have prison records and histories of addiction; they are the targets of politicians, moralists, greedy business owners, and the police. Mitchell Duneier spent much of five years in their company: working at their vending tables, hearing their stories, and observing the roles they play. He came away convinced that these men, in their struggles to better themselves, are fundamental to the well-being of the city.

　　Featuring Ovie Carter's powerful photographs, an insightful Afterword by longtime book vendor Hakim Hasan, and a new Epilogue, Sidewalk is already recognized as the best book about street life since Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

　　Mitchell Duneier teaches sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the University of California at Santa Barbara. His first book, Slim's Table, won the 1994 Distinguished Publication Award of the American Sociological

　　* "Duneier has written what is sure to become a contemporary classic of urban sociology." (Andrew O'Hehir, Salon)

　　* "Sidewalk achieves a rare distinction: It is a necessary book ... a work of frontline reportage, an inquiry into the economic and political and moral forces that are busy reconfiguring the city . . . and an urgent plea for justice, however couched it is in the careful, procedural, understating style of fieldwork." (Luc Sante, Voice Literary Supplement)