Dismazed and Driven: My Look at Family Homelessness in America

Diane Nilan's behind-the-scenes look at families without homes in America.

Follow Diane Nilan into broken-down RVs, leaky tents, shabby motel rooms, and cramped shelters.

After decades working with homeless families and adults, Diane Nilan hit the road in 2005 to chronicle stories of invisible families and youth experiencing homelessness in non-urban areas across America. For the past fifteen years, crisscrossing the country in her small van, she filmed scores of interviews of parents and kids. Each was invited to share views on homelessness and the importance of school.

In this memoir, Nilan introduces us to people she met, helping us to understand their backstories. And we get to meet this tenacious, caring, prophetic woman who won't let us look away from children and families in need of stability and grace.

Diane Nilan is one of America's most respected advocates for homeless families, has decades of direct experience, advocacy leadership, filmmaking, and an unconventional approach to raising the nation's consciousness of invisible families that can only be described as relentless.