NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER NAMED ONE OF TIMES TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE Inspiring . . . extraordinary . . . Katherine Boo shows us how people in the most desperate circumstances can find the resilience to hang on to their humanity. Just as important she makes us care.People A tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece.Judges PENJohn Kenneth Galbraith Award ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times The Washington Post O The Oprah Magazine USA Today New York The Miami Herald San Francisco Chronicle Newsday In this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. As India starts to prosper the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul an enterprising teenager sees a fortune beyond counting in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha a woman of formidable ambition has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck her beautiful daughter Annawadis mosteverything girl might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children like the young thief Kalu feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy terror and global recession rock the city and suppressed tensions over religion caste sex power and economic envy turn brutal. With intelligence humor and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change Behind the Beautiful Forevers based on years of uncompromising reporting carries the reader headlong into one of the twentyfirst centurys hidden worldsand into the hearts of families impossible to forget. WINNER OF The PEN Nonfiction Award The Los Angeles Times Book Prize The American Academ