For more than ten years, Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg became part of the daily lives of two dozen homeless heroin injectors in San Francisco. Their book is an account of those individuals' experiences and relationships; a photo-ethnography of drugs, poverty, race and social exclusion; and a revealing look at the larger structural forces that operate on vulnerable populations.

For more than ten years, Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg became part of the daily lives of two dozen homeless heroin injectors in San Francisco. Their book is an account of those individuals' experiences and relationships; a photo-ethnography of drugs, poverty, race and social exclusion; and a revealing look at the larger structural forces that operate on vulnerable populations.

The economy is (close to) bottoming out, we're being told with increasing frequency. Is this true? And what about the foreclosure crisis: Are efforts to keep people in their homes succeeding, and if not, why not? Kai Wright highlights the role played by mortgage servicers, and Jack Rasmus argues that major economic and financial troubles lie ahead.