Sleeping with the Mayor: A True Story

Jiler (Dark Wind) provides an excellent example here of the trend in journalism toward human-interest storytelling by documenting ""Kochville""--the ad hoc homeless/activist community that sprang up alongside New York's City Hall during the 1988 budget meetings. Rather than just explore the lives and motivations of the core group, who camped out from June to December, he also takes on the challenge of objectivity, presenting opposing views, such as Mayor Ed Koch's, and the perspectives of advocates, such as City Council member Ruth Messinger. The result is closer to fiction than journalism, because Jiler relies heavily on an omniscient narrator. Generally, the technique works seamlessly, infusing the reader with empathy for all concerned and highlighting the individuals behind such complicated issues as race relations, class divisions and power politics. Jiler stumbles only when he decides to describe the history of a particular building in the Bronx, beginning in 1875 with the personal troubles of its builder. Yet even this minor transgression benefits from the author's clean, tight prose and sensitivity to his characters--elements that ultimately make this book successful in its exploration of the attitudes surrounding homelessness. As Jiler tells us, his book is not about romanticizing homelessness but ""about the strength of dreams."" (Sept.)