Gang Leader for a Day
Subtitle: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; Penguin Press
Published: January 10, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781594201509
Subjects: Biography & Autobiography; Biography / Autobiography; Biography/Autobiography; Criminology; Sociologists; Sociology - Urban; Biography & Autobiography / Social Scientists & Psychologists; Social Scientists & Psychologists; African Americans; Chicago; Chicago (Ill.); Gangs; Illinois; Social conditions
Description: The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. This is the full story of how Venkatesh managed to gain entrée into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment. When first-year grad student Venkatesh walked into one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he was looking for people to take a survey on urban poverty. He never imagined that he would befriend a gang leader and spend the better part of a decade inside the projects under his protection. He got to know the neighborhood dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organizers, and officials. From his position of unprecedented access, he observed the gang as they operated their crack-selling business and rose or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex organizational structure.--Publisher information.
Table of contents: title: Foreword
pagenum: xi
authors: Stephen J. Dubner; title: Preface
pagenum: xiii; label: One
title: How Does It Feel to Be Black and Poor?
pagenum: 1; label: Two
title: First Days on Federal Street
pagenum: 27; label: Three
title: Someone to Watch Over Me
pagenum: 67; label: Four
title: Gang Leader for a Day
pagenum: 113; label: Five
title: Ms. Bailey's Neighborhood
pagenum: 145; label: Six
title: The Hustler and the Hustled
pagenum: 185; label: Seven
title: Black and Blue
pagenum: 219; label: Eight
title: The Stay-Together Gang
pagenum: 247; title: Author's Note
pagenum: 285; title: Acknowledgments
pagenum: 287; title: Index
pagenum: 291