Through these wild streets

Por estas calles bravas (English: Down These Mean Streets) is the autobiography of Piri Thomas, a Puerto Rican who grew up in El Barrio, aka Spanish Harlem, an area from Harlem where a large Puerto Rican community lives. In the book, we watch Piri go through the first decades of his life, living in poverty, joining gangs, facing racism (both in New York and the South), suffering from heroin addiction, becoming he gets into crime, and ends up in jail.

The following areas have restricted or threatened to restrict the sale of Por estas calles bravas:

• Salinas, CA
• Teaneck, NJ
• Darien, CT
• District 25 in Queens, New York City, NY
• Long Island

The book's original publication was in 1967, with a second publication in a Thirtieth Anniversary Edition in 1997, with a new afterword by the author. A sequel was also produced under the name 7 Long Times (Seven Long Times), which further delves into the years the author spent in prison.

ISBN numbers

• ISBN 0606206361 (hardcover binding, 1997)
• ISBN 0679781420 (Russian edition, 1997, Thirtieth Anniversary Edition)
• ISBN 0679776281 By these brave streets (translation to Spanish)

Links of interest

• Official Website of Piri Thomas