Books

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes begins with what can only be described as a shock-and-awe sentence in his latest book, called “Total Garbage.” Just chew on this for a moment: “You swallowed,” Humes writes, “285 pieces of plastic today.”

Jerome Gold’s earlier book, Paranoia and Heartbreak: Fifteen Years in a Juvenile Facility (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2009), captures his experience of working with juvenile offenders. Ten years later, his book Children in Prison offers greater context, shedding light on the children whose lives have been stunted, short circuited, and hardwired to fail.