LEE STRINGER's journey from childhood homelessness in the ’60s, to adult homelessness in the ’80s, to his present career as a writer and lecturer, as told in Sleepaway School and Grand Central Winter, is one of the great odysseys of contemporary American life and letters. Stringer is the only board member of Project Renewal who is also a former patient of the facility. He is the two-time recipient of the Washington Irving Award and, in 2005, a Lannan Foundation Residency. He is a former editor of and columnist for Street News. His essays and articles have appeared in a variety of other publications, including the Nation, the New York Times, and Newsday. He lives in Mamaroneck, New York, where he also serves on the board of the Mamaroneck Public Libraries.
“From stories about flim-flamming clerics prying on the homeless,
to the streetwise Romeo who wants to make the prostitute mother of
his child an 'honest woman' ("I can't believe it, [she] even
charged me to go to bed with her on our honeymoon night"), to the
manipulations of being on the Geraldo show, Stringer possesses a
sharp eye for the street and the rich, sagacious talent of a
storyteller.” –Publishers Weekly
“Stringer readily admits to his former addiction and even
celebrates its simple sweetness; you collect enough returnable cans
to buy a hit, you get high, you crash and start looking for more
cans. Like Dorothy Parker cradling a martini, he makes no
apologies. But Stringer's angle on Manhattan is not from a table at
the Algonquin; it is straight up from underneath.” –John Jiler, New
York Times Book Review
This autobiographical account of homelessness and crack addiction rambles engagingly among the key locations of New York City's Grand Central Station, Central Park, and Central Booking. Written by a former editor and columnist for Street News, a newspaper produced by New York City's homeless, the book gives full humanity to its troubled characters and homes in on the motivations, strategies, and relationships of people surviving on the streets. The power of each discrete narrative compensates for a disjointed overall structure. The biggest gap is a lack of attention to the dynamics of Stringer's transition to sobriety. In pivoting the center of morality away from the world of "working stiffs," Stringer challenges the taken-for-granted perspective on the problems of urban poverty. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.‘Paula Dempsey, DePaul Univ. Lib., Chicago
"From stories about flim-flamming clerics prying on the homeless,
to the streetwise Romeo who wants to make the prostitute mother of
his child an 'honest woman' ("I can't believe it, [she] even
charged me to go to bed with her on our honeymoon night"), to the
manipulations of being on the Geraldo show, Stringer possesses a
sharp eye for the street and the rich, sagacious talent of a
storyteller." -Publishers Weekly
"Stringer readily admits to his former addiction and even
celebrates its simple sweetness; you collect enough returnable cans
to buy a hit, you get high, you crash and start looking for more
cans. Like Dorothy Parker cradling a martini, he makes no
apologies. But Stringer's angle on Manhattan is not from a table at
the Algonquin; it is straight up from underneath." -John Jiler,
New York Times Book Review
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