War of Eyes and Other Stories

In this extraordinary collection of short stories, Wanda Coleman, a poet who grew up in the Watts area of Los Angeles, turns a baleful eye on lives that "mainstream" America wishes would somehow go away: She chronicles the not-so-quiet desperation of the poor and black urban dweller and gives voice to their unending struggle to keep afloat in a hard-scrabble environment circumscribed by racism and poverty.

With surgical precision, she cuts through the many-layered myths and mysteries that make up the American Dream and lays open the lives of the underclass. She plunges in deeply and plucks from this subterranean stream a record of pain and the humor and grace necessary for survival.