The Book “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” takes us on a journey into the heart of a squatter’s settlement in Mumbai India, where the main economy is trash picking. Its author, Katherine Boo, spent three years among the residents of the Annawadi slum. It’s a sprawling settlement of more than 300 tin-roof huts and shacks that exists in the shadow of Mumbai’s International Airport. From within this “sumpy plug of slum” Boo unearths stories of the people who live there, both tragic and poignant. We learn about the residents’ efforts to raise families, how they struggle to earn a living, and survive. Katherine Book talked with American Public Media's Dick Gordon, about why she felt so compelled to tell this story.
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