Girlz 'n the Hood
A Memoir of Mama in South Central Los Angeles

This is a one of a kind book. Rarely do the people of America's ghettos get to tell their own story from government cheese to crumbling housing stock to intrusive visits from social workers checking for signs of men in the house. Ultimately, this is a story of survival and how one can overcome in th......more

There is so much one could write about this book. First off, it’s brilliantly written. The author’s knack for dialog and humor is such that it’s hard to put down, and sometimes it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Much of it reads like an episode of Sanford and Son, with characters, dialog, and situations so......more

The book is a true-to-life account of growing up broke and black in Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods. Mary is brilliant and able to overcome the crap that life tossed at her mostly because of her wise self and a love of reading which were not qualities that her many half-siblings possessed or ever......more

I first started this book as I started a road trip, but it was too vulgar to play in the car with my 11 year old present, so I started another book... I think it was Angela Davis's memoir.... Picked this one back up with that negative memory of it being "rough" and restarted and WOW, I fell deep int......more

I've known Mary for decades, as a journalist and as a professor. I knew she'd grown up in South Central LA, but I had no idea really what her childhood was like. Now I do. Mary has given us an astonishing book about an upbringing that many, many Americans could not begin to imagine. The poverty, the......more