"For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children-- Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six-- in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty's parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses...

Sam Quinones chronicles how, over the past 15 years, enterprising sugar cane farmers in a small county on the west coast of Mexico created a unique distribution system that brought black tar heroin-- the cheapest, most addictive form of the opiate, 2 to 3 times purer than its white powder cousin-- to the veins of people across the United States.

"When U.S. troops occupy Germany, friends Jakob and Emmanuelle are saved from the terrible fate of so many in the camps. With the help of sponsors, they make their way to New York. In order not to be separated, they allow their friendship to blossom into love and marriage, and start a new life on the Lower East Side, working at grueling, poorly paid jobs. Decades later, through talent, faith, fortune, and relentless hard work, Jakob has achieved success...

The likeable, magnetic, bodega owner Usnavi saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines, and sings about a better life. Meanwhile, his tight-knit community faces the challenge of gentrification, losing their homes while trying to better themselves and hold on to their cultures.

"The federal government is about to go bankrupt. This is THE hot button issue in America from now through the next presidential election in 2012"-- Contents : Lighting the fuse : how we started down the road to national...