"Rosa Lee:A Mother and Her Family in Urban America" by Leon Dash

   

 Rosa's Lee's story reads much like a biography going from bad to worse.  Not in the sense that it is written badly, but in the sense it's hard to imagine how humanly, bad a person could have it.  Lee's life as a mother of eight children doesn't go smooth sailing into retirement, in fact, her golden years are down right bumpy.  Lee will support her childrens' drug habit by faking illness in order to get narcotics, she will donate blood for money, sell food stamps (which I recently found out is called trafficking food stamps, a popular crime that can lead to incarceration).  Lee will work on the corner; selling drugs for local drug enthusiasts, who buy at will. 
Lee's  resolve in understanding that what she is doing is downright wrong came when Leon Dash, the writer asked her if she thought it was right to ask her granddaughter to steal clothing from a thrift store.  This had a powerful effect on Lee, for which she realizes that she is teaching her own grandkid to steal. 

Fortunately, Ms. Lee does have success at raising two of her sons who escape a life of drug abuse. The writer, himself, is stunned at the amount of information, Rosa Lee releases, she tells him about her involvement in various crimes.  He even questions whether he should hand over Lee for her various criminal acts, and he stops his interview periodically, reminding Lee that she is leaving her declarations open for public scrutiny.