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Author Toth, Jennifer.

Title The mole people : life in the tunnels beneath New York City / Jennifer Toth.

Publication Info. Chicago, Ill. : Chicago Review Press, [1993]
©1993

Item Status

Edition 1st ed.
Description 1 online resource (x, 267 pages) : illustrations
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-260) and index.
Summary Thousands of people live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels that form the bowels of New York City. This book is about them, the so-called "mole people" living alone and in communities, in the frescoed waiting rooms of long-forgotten subway tunnels and in pick-axed compartments below busway platforms. It is about how and why people move undergraound, who they are, and what they have to say about their lives and the treacherous "topside" world they've left behind. There are even the voices of young children taken down to the tunnels by parents who are determined to keep their families together, although as one tunnel dweller explains, "once you go down there, you can't be a child anymore." Though they maintain an existence hidden from the world aboveground, tunnel dwellers form a large and growing sector of the homeless population. They are a diverse group, and they choose to live underground for many reasonssome rejecting society and its values, others reaffirming those values in what they view as purer terms, and still others seeking shelter from the harsh conditions on the streets. Their enemies include government agencies and homeless organizations as well as wandering crack addicts and marauding gangs. In communities underground, however, many homeless people find not only a place but also an identity. On these pages Jennifer Toth visits underground New York with various straight-talking guides, from outreach workers and transit police to vetern tunnel dwellers, graffiti artists, and even the "mayor" of a large, highly structured community several levels down. In addition to chilling and poignant firsthand accounts of tunnel life, she describes the fascinating and labryrinthine physical world beneath the city and discusses the literary allusions and historical points of view that prejudice our culture against those who "go underground". Toth has gained unprecedented access to a strange and frightening world, but The Mole People is not a daredevil journalistic account of a foreign place. It is one young woman's personal examination of her society, the despair it permits and her own inherited prejudices and fears. It is a thoughtful exploration of our times, when rising levels of urban poverty, drug addiction, and mental illness coincide with shortages in low-income housing, diminishing welfare services, and crime and brutality on the streets. With clarity and compassion this book exposes people too long hidden from view, individuals helping one another and even hoping for a better life as they struggle to survive their cruel portion of America.
Contents 1 Finding a Home 7 -- 2 Seville's Story 11 -- 3 Mac's War 29 -- 4 Underground Population 35 -- 5 Underground Spaces 43 -- 6 Bowery 49 -- 7 Living with the Law 59 -- 8 Hell's Kitchen 73 -- 9 Children 77 -- 10 Roots 87 -- 11 Bernard's Tunnel 97 -- 12 Tunnel Art 119 -- 13 Graffiti 129 -- 14 Runaways 135 -- 15 Tunnel Outreach 151 -- 16 Dark Angel 165 -- 17 Underground in History, Literature, and Culture 169 -- 18 Wanderers 181 -- 19 Harlem Gang 183 -- 20 J.C.'s Community 191 -- 21 "City of Friends" 203 -- 22 Women 213 -- 23 Jamall's Story 229 -- 24 Blade's Piece 237.
Access Use copy Restrictions unspecified MiAaHDL
Reproduction Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010. MiAaHDL
System Details Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
Processing Action digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve MiAaHDL
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Underground homeless persons -- New York (State) -- New York.
Underground homeless persons.
New York (State) -- New York.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Toth, Jennifer. Mole people. 1st ed. Chicago, Ill. : Chicago Review Press, ©1993 1556521901 (DLC) 93023912 (OCoLC)28222007
ISBN 9781569764510 (electronic book)
1569764514 (electronic book)
9781569764527 (electronic book)
1569764522 (electronic book)
1556521901
9781556521904
155652241X
9781556522413