"Nancy Lopez brings us into the world of Dominican, West Indian, and Haitian American youth as they struggle to fulfill their parents' immigrant dreams while becoming "American" in the overcrowded schools and on the mean streets of New York City. Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys contributes not only to our understanding of education, but also to the changing nature of race and inequality in America today. This is an important book, one the reader will not quickly forget."

--Philip Kasinitz, author of Caribbean New York:Black Immigrants and the Politics of Race

"Beautifully written and passionately argued, Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys is a major contribution to our understanding of education, the experiences of minority and immigrant youth, gender and poverty. This should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand and improve the state of American urban education and the lives of poor minority youth."

--Mary C. Waters, author of Black Identities:West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities

"An intriguing analysis of the day-to-day practices and classroom dynamics that challenges previous educational research linking failure rates to peer, family, or community pressure. If you intend to face, rather than deny, the reality of the gender-race gap in education and the workforce, read this book."

--Mary Romero, author of Maid in the USA:10th Anniversary Edition

"Lopez's important book, theoretically elegant, methodologically robust, and empirically sound, furthers our understanding of the dynamics at work in one of the most interesting issues of our time. It is a substantial contribution to the sociological study of immigration, and should be read by scholars, policy makers, and the informed public interested in the so-called 'new immigration'."

--Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, co-editor of Latinos:Remaking America

Publisher Web Site, September, 2003

By 2007, it is estimated that 9.2 million girls of color will be enrolled in college compared to 6.9 million boys of color. Why the discrepancy? Lopez takes us to the schools, homes and workplaces of Caribbean youth to point out the different expectations that guide behavior. Now the largest immigrant group in New York City, Lopez focuses in particular on these Caribbean teens to explain how and why our schools and cities are failing boys of color. This is a fascinating ethnographic study on a topic of increasing interest to people in the field of education and anyone concerned about the future of young people.

Chapter 1:Race-Gender:Unraveling the Web

Chapter 2:Race-Gender Stigma in Public Spaces

Chapter 3:Race-Gender High School Lessons

Chapter 4:Disentangling Race-Gender Work Experiences

Chapter 5:Gender(ing) and Family Life

Chapter 6:Dismantling the "Naturalness" of Race(ing) and Gender(ing) Processes

Bibliography