The Mole People

By Jennifer Toth

The Mole People was a very interesting book. Raw and frightening and honest. Toth, a New York City reporter and graduate student, studies a population many people wouldn't approach: the homeless who live underground in New York City's subway tunnels. The Mole people live underground for various reasons: drug addiction, mental illness, a feeling of alienation from society, or even personal preferance. People live down there because they are not able to function by the rules of the above-ground society. Some live underground in elaborate societies, with government, caring and functioning social roles. But for most, life underground is dangerous, with crime and lawlessness far more frightening than any big city slum.

Toth showed a great deal of courage to document the lives of such a disenfranchized population. With every trip she took into the tunnels, she risked her very life for the story. Through this effort she put a human face on people in a dehumanizing circumstance.