I love HBO’s The Wire, and if you come to the TakePart Blog now and then, you probably already knew. But what I want to share with you all is not another recommendation for The Wire, but instead for the mini-series and book that inspired the show.

Before he started work on The Wire, creator David Simon wrote a book and made a mini-series for HBO, both entitled The Corner. Like The Wire, The Corner takes place in Baltimore, but where The Corner differs is that it doesn’t look at the police and political side of things, instead it focuses on a family, on three people struggling to overcome drugs. It’s a personal take on the streets that is extremely powerful and very moving.

The book, written by David Simon and co-creator of The Wire, Ed Burns,

is an intimate, intense dispatch from the broken heart of urban America. It is impossible to read these pages and not feel stunned at the high price, in human potential, in thwarted aspirations, that simple survival on the streets of West Baltimore demands of its citizens. An important document, as devastating as it is lucid.” –Richard Price, author of Clockers

I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen the mini-series and like Price said above, it is “an important document, as devastating as it is lucid.” The 6 episode series take turns at following 3 protagonists, DeAndre and his parents Fran and Gary, as they deal with life as drug addicts and as a family. Rarely do television shows explore what a real battle with drug addiction means for folks living on the streets, and rarely do they do so with African-American characters. If you like The Wire, or even if you’ve never seen it, The Corner is a great way to experience a world that needs more attention.

Watch an introduction for the first episode below to get a feel for the show and be sure to and learn about an amazing organization working to help empower inner-city youth.