Stories from the Stoop

Book excerpt: The Outsiders meets This Boy's Life, in this coming-of-age memoir about growing up in the Bronx during the 1960s among racial tension, street violence, and trouble at home. Growing up in the 1960s in a troubled Bronx neighborhood, the stoop outside the apartment was a gathering place, a safe haven, and a window to the world beyond home. This small piece of granite real estate holds memories for all New Yorkers and tells a story from decades gone. Within these pages, you’ll see life from a new perspective—through the eyes of a young boy— straight from his Bronx stoop. Stories from the Stoop features seven unforgettable true-life adventures; stories told with humor, grit, and candor that will fill you with hope and remind you that we are all in this together. The author asks himself: How can I overcome the violence on the streets? Will I ever break the chains of being born into my cursed and chaotic family? Am I always going to be an outsider? It was Steve Bernstein's fortuitous and profound friendships—many of which crossed boundaries of race, gender, and religion—that enabled him to navigate these tumultuous questions and develop a hopeful perspective on life. Without his dog, Wolf, Steve would not have survived the wrath of a street gang. On the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, it was Anthony who recognized how dangerous it was for Steve (the only white kid on the basketball court that April evening) to be out shooting hoops. An epic bike trip with Joe breathed life into Steve's dream to be free, a lifelong friendship that only 9/11 could extinguish. Stories from the Stoop is a triumphant and tender coming of age journey that will capture your heart and feed your soul. Steve's voice, spare and street smart, resonates across age and ethnicity, to offer the possibility that life circumstances need not predict destiny. All you have to do is find enough courage, compassion and chutzpah to win out.