Sidewalk

I'm reading a fascinating ethnography called Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier.  It's about street vendors of printed media in Greenwich Village, New York during the 1990's.  I lived in NYC near where the research was conducted.  It was enlightening to read about the culture of the vendors I used to pass on the street everyday and to learn how this informal economy came to be, as well as learn about the culture of these individuals.  It puts panhandlers in a different life.  Our economy doesn't provide economic opportunity for such individuals to support themselves.