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.

Tribute to Herman Kogan

Jimmy Breslin discusses his novel, World Without End, Amen. The recording includes parts of an interview of Vince Maher (note: this is a code name for an anonymous individual), an excerpt from the novel, a recitation of Mike Royko's review of the novel, and an excerpt of a speech from Irish civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Discussing the book "The Chicagoization of America, 1893-1917" (published by Chicago Historical Bookworks) with Chicago author Kenan Heise.

about The Newberry Library

Basketball, subjects in school, and dreams of going pro are topics covered in Darcy Frey's book, "The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams." The main characters from Frey's book all come from impoverished backgrounds and if they can't make the pro's, they hope to break out of their current situations.