In The Unknown City Michelle Fine and Lois Weis offer a groundbreaking, theoretically sophisticated ethnography of the lives of young adults, ages 23 to 35, in two large East Coast cities. Analyzing interviews with hundreds of young people, Fine and Weis provide insights into their startling and often harrowing experiences.

A major focus of the book is on the "fractures" in American society: how and why those of different races, ethnicities, and genders see the world - and each other - in very different ways. From discussions of black men's ideas on the reasons for inequality to domestic abuse among white working-class women, we see the gulfs that impede attempts to simplify the problems of young adults.

We hear their views on everything from the construction of "whiteness" and affirmative action to the economy, education, and the new public spaces of community hope. The Unknown City is sure to shape many key debates about policy and community. Fine and Weis point to what should be done on the national policy level and describe initiatives that serve as oases of hope in our cities today.