“I paced my cell with a book in one hand and a knife under my mattress. I knew I could have a long and happy life with a book in my hand or I could have a miserable short life with the shank that was in the mattress.”
—Jimmy Santiago Baca

Stories from the Edge enriches and extends Jimmy Santiago Baca’s critically acclaimed memoir, A Place to Stand. Early stories elaborate on his travails as an abandoned child in an orphanage. Later stories draw on Baca’s post-prison life as a writer and his ongoing work with struggling adolescents, prisoners, and society’s dispossessed. Centered around conflicts and life-altering choices, Baca’s gripping personal narratives will resonate with adolescents and adults alike.