Wrong Place, Wrong Time is a timely analysis of young Black men's lives

John A Rich is a medical doctor from Boston's inner city. He managed to escape bad odds and create an impressive life for himself. And he's also written a great book here - Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men (Johns Hopkins UP, Dec 09, 978-0-8018-9363-6). It's all in the first-person, which makes the writing style accessible, and you can see the author's point-of-view throughout the book. Rich relates the stories of Black men such as Roy, a sensitive young man from the streets of Jamaica Plain in Boston, who Rich met in what's called pre-release, a kind of halfway house between jail and freedom. Rich talks to Roy and engages him in a fundamental way so he can be inspired to turn his life around. The stories related here are fascinating, and they teach us compassion and the ability to look deeper to the real people who are struggling with trauma and perpetual violence in their communities. He lets them speak for themselves, and their voices are eloquent. This is a needed book and hopefully will reach a wide audience.