num_pages: 208
description: Dirty dreadlocked and digging in dumpsters homeless teen travelers live a life of wild unfettered freedom--some by choice but many by necessity--in cities and towns around the world. At age twenty-two writer Chris Urquhart left a life of middle-class comfort to document the lives of these young nomads for a magazine feature. Captivated she followed them for three more years. In honest prose interspersed with photographs portraying the grimy beauty of nomadic life Dirty Kids tells the story of how Urquhart lived alongside runaways crust-punks and dropouts hippies Deadheads and Rainbows in an attempt to belong in their world. But the road took its toll and along the way Urquhart found suffering alongside the freedom--mental health issues substance abuse and fears of violence marred her journey. Despite all that the warm welcoming family of travelers and their radically alternative culture of sharing generosity and non-capitalistic collaboration forever changed her outlook on life and her understanding of freedom.
language: English
title: Dirty Kids: Chasing Freedom with America's Nomads
publisher: Greystone Books