There Are No Children Here

A New York Public Library “Book of the Century.” An essential introductory sociology source, There Are No Children Here traces two years in the lives of ten-year-old Lafeyette and seven-year-old Pharoah Rivers as they struggle to beat the odds and grow up in one of Chicago's worst housing projects. Kotlowitz avoids preachy declarations and sanitized language, instead combining journalistic skill and rigor with basic human empathy to relate the horrors of life in the projects from the perspective of the people who live there.


“This is an excellent book that gives students an up-close and personal understanding of what it's like to live and struggle for one's existence in the projects of Chicago. Student have commented that the book ‘really opened their eyes’ to the effects of racism and poverty; as well as allowing them an insider's view of a mother loving her children desperately and trying to keep them out of gangs and drug activity. This is an excellent supplement to a sociology text; good for introductory sociology, stratification, or race relations classes.”
—Dr. Tanice Foltz, Associate Professor, Indiana University Northwest