The acclaimed, award-winning author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace presents a âcarefully observed journalistic account [that] widens our view of the modern âimmigrant experienceââ (The New York Times Book Review) as he closely follows four Los Angeles high school boys as they apply to college.
Four teenage boys are high school seniors at two very different schools within the city of Los Angeles, the second largest school district in the nation with nearly 700,000 students. In this âexceptional work of investigative journalismâŠlaced with compassion, insight, and humorâ (Publishers Weekly, starred review) Jeff Hobbs stunningly captures the challenges and triumphs of being a young person confronting the futureâboth their own and the cultures in which they liveâin contemporary America.
Blending complex social issues with each individual experience, Hobbs takes us deep inside these boysâ worlds. The foursome includes Carlos, the younger son of undocumented delivery workers, who aims to follow in his older brotherâs footsteps and attend an Ivy League college; Tio harbors serious ambitions to become an engineer despite a father who doesnât believe in him; Jon, devoted member of the academic decathalon team, struggles to put distance between himself and his mother, who is suffocating him with her own expectations; and Owen, raised in a wealthy family, canât get serious about academics but knows he must.
Including portraits of secondary charactersâfriends, peers, parents, teachers, and girlfriendsâthis âuniquely illuminatingâ (Booklist) masterwork of immersive journalism is destined to ignite conversations about class, race, expectations, cultural divides, and even the concept of fate. Hobbsâs portrayal of these young men is not only revelatory and relevant, but also moving, eloquent, and indelibly powerful.
