Best friends, white flight and racism are all apart of Lynda Barry's book, "The Good Times are Killing Me." Lorell Wyatt and Glenda Starr-Kelly reenact scenes from the play, which is playing at the Body Politic Theater. In the end, Barry's book showed power and privilege mattered more than friendship.

What started out as a 5-piece article on health care became Laurie Abraham's book, "Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America". Through her stories, Abraham points out the many hardships and catch-22 scenarios of some poor families. One woman, after caring for her mother all day, Julie, wanted to work part time in the evenings. However, she soon learned that she'd be making too much money and she'd no longer be eligible for Medicaid for herself and her children.

In her book, "After Sorrow: An American Among the Vietnamese," Lady Burton tells stories and reflects on what it was like to live among the village people in South Vietnam. Borton found the people to be smart. Among some of her stories, she learned how women carried messages and weapons through enemy territories.

Adria Bernardi discusses her book "Houses With Names: The Italian Immigrants of Highwood, Illinois" which contains oral histories of Italian immigrants who lived in Highwood, Illinois, and other suburban areas.