Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings
Historian Schneider, author of In the Web of Class: Delinquents and Reformers in Boston, 1810s-1930s (New York Univ., 1992), jumps forward in time and down the coast to examine the phenomenon of New York City youth gangs after World War II. Drawing on countless sources, meticulously noted, he offers reasons for the emergence of gangs, shows us their particular culture, assesses intervention programs, and traces their decline in the 1960s and resurgence in the 1970s. Throughout, he augments his scholarly research with excerpts from interviews with former gang members (including authors Claude Brown and Piri Thomas and 1950s and 1960s teen singing idol Dion DiMucci) and street workersAsocial workers assigned to work with gangmembers. Schneider's chapter comparing gangs of yesterday and today seems a bit cursory, but modern gangs are not his focus here, and his observations are still interesting. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.Jim Burns, Ottumwa, P.L., IACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.