One of the truly seminal works in modern cultural anthropology, Five Families is a dramatic and forceful account of the men, women, and children of five Mexican families and the impoverished communities in which they live.

Oscar Lewis sets his first novel in mid-1850s San Francisco. An authorized biography of a California entrepreneur has just been published, but James Horton is scarcely recognizable to those who knew him. Walter Doane, novelist and longtime friend of the Horton family, is persuaded to set down his own reminiscences of the irascible Horton and, most notably, Christine Winton, Horton s mistress. It is from Doane s perspective that this fascinating story unfolds. Lewis s charming novel brings to life the lore of the families and of the city of San Francisco from the middle 1850s to the 1940s. The...