Why We Pray is a transgressive memoir about one man's descent into the world that lurks beneath the one most people know. Told through a collection of short stories, it traverses a juvenile detention center, the presidential honor guard, the sex and drug underground, and beyond. Absurdly tragic, darkly funny, and unflinchingly honest, Stroud weaves a raw and mesmerizing account of personal transcendence in a world where nothing is as it seems.