Hungry Hearts (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

In stories that draw heavily on her own life, Anzia Yezierska (1880-1970) portrays the immigrant's struggle to become a "real" American. Set mostly on New York's Lower East Side, the stories brilliantly evoke crowded streets, shabby tenements, poverty, and ethnic prejudice. These stories are still relevant today, except the ethnic backgrounds are Latino and Asian.