"A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year before College" (Encore)

(Note: This interview originally aired back in September.) Our guest is the writer Jeff Hobbs, whose latest book closely follows four Los Angeles high school boys as they apply to college. These four teens are seniors at two very different high schools in L.A. -- one in Compton, the other in Beverly Hills -- and by telling their individual, personal stories, Hobbs reveals what our nation's young people (across all socio-economic backgrounds) are now confronting at home, at school, among peers, and throughout society. Per The New York Times Book Review: "Hobbs's carefully observed journalistic account...widens our view of the modern 'immigrant experience' to include that classic crucible: high school and college admissions.... An admirable addition to the growing body of literature that humanizes the struggles and expands the scope of our understanding of the lives of immigrant youth."