Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country (Modern Library Paperbacks)

It is hard to overstate how much I liked this book. Finnegan reports on young Americans living in compromised circumstances. He could probably have found this story in any community. He chose four places -- the inner city of New Haven, rural Texas, a California exurb, and the farm fields of Washington state. In New Haven, you see the logic of the choices faced by inner city kids, and the struggle to get by in a world where so many people have so much. That first section is good, but its probably also the one with a theme that matches the expectations of readers. The rest of the story is more complicated. In rural Texas, Finnegan shows a system of justice dominated by local sheriffs that serve to balance the interests of everyone in a pothole politics that reminds me of Chicago aldermen. It also shows the footprint of race upon land use. In Washington state, the young people fail to understand the social justice aspirations of their migrant farmworkers parents. These kids don't feel that they belong anywhere: not in the consumerist schools of Washington state, and certainly not in the underdeveloped cinder block streets of their parent's Mexico. In California, Finnegan shows how economic insecurity among parents trickles down into distorted opinions about race among a group of white power youth. Finnegan uses a first person narrative approach that allows him to report and analyze what he sees as he travels. The analysis helps him to weave in local politics, history, and even some academic research. He does not interject his opinion into his writing, at least until the end of the book when he offers a conclusion. When I think of peers for this book, a few come to mind: "There are No Children Here," by Alex Kotlowitz and "A Hope in the Unseen" by Ron Suskind are the two that most match its power. Even so, going to four places so different is a bit harder. Like catching lighting four times.

I came to this book after reading Finnegan's brilliant surf literature and was very much impressed with his stories after embedding himself with these teens. It really made me think about not only the future of my kids but also just how lucky I was to have parents that were around so I didn't turn out like the Antelope Valley kids. I was raised in a town that had similar demographics where a teen could easily get going down the same bad road Since Finnegan wrote this in the 90s these teens are the same age as me. I'd love to know what became of them by now

To gain a greater understanding of what is going on in vast areas of the U.S., each resident of this country should read Finnegan's book. Too important not to.

Very interesting book, especially since one part was about the town I was born in.

Kind of a bummer yet a good exposure to the machinations of poverty and how people end up staying there. He uses good storytelling here but not in a disrespectful way.

Bold insiightful

I greatly enjoyed 'Cold New World,' as to grant it a rare five stars. I can't praise this book enough, as much for its objective worth as my own, subjective relish of it. The text is decidedly rich, both in terms of its hard-won, firsthand, in-the-trenches content, and for the way in which it was presented, which I found to be perceptive, intelligent, and unbiased in character. And, to boot, the book is excellently written, being consistently witty, poignant, and candid, as well as studiously insightful. Equal parts travelogue, sociology, and anthropology, 'Cold New World' offers an authentic and well-rounded snapshot of street-level mid-90s America as seen through the eyes of several dispossessed youths, complete with their blind spots and distortions as much as their invaluable wisdom (from which much can be learned equally). Additionally, the author's unique perspective, as something less than an outsider and more than a mere journalist, provides a glimpse of an additional, oblique dimension of his subjects' lives, of the sort which can only be observed by one who has themselves experienced something similar; consequently, the author is able to convey something of the little-understood social ecology in which these kids lived, as an intercessor of sorts. All in all, the book is a rich and educational read, worthy of admiration from a human perspective as much as an intellectual one. My thanks goes out to this book's author, subjects, and publisher. I am grateful for, and have benefited from, your work and service.

The book's an eye opener for anyone that doesn't live in a larger city.

I sought out this book after reading Finnegan's 'Barbarian Days'. I'd read BD three times, so wanted to find more by the same author. Finnegan discusses his journalism in BD, and this is a collection of long essays about growing up in the US in the 1990s. It is fascinating, well-written and very prescient. He antipates future issues with the labour market and housing market that Millenial youth would face in the following decades. It also provides great insight into youth subcultures and the lives of young people (and their families) on the margins.

I have just finished this incredible book, which I couldn't put down. Far from the bright lights of New York's Fifth Avenue lies another America, full of irredeemable poverty. William Finnegan explores the druggy underbelly of black New Haven, deepest, dirt poor rural East Texas, the Mexican immigrant population of Washington State's wine-growing Yakima Valley and neo-Nazi (and anti Nazi) skinhead gangs of LA's Antelope Valley, Finnegan reports from an America we seldom see. Brilliant reportage.