Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh

Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh

A New York Times Bestseller

Foreword by Stephen J. Dubner, coauthor of Freakonomics

When first-year graduate student Sudhir Venkatesh walked into an abandoned building in one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he hoped to find a few people willing to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty--and impress his professors with his boldness. He never imagined that as a result of this assignment he would befriend a gang leader named JT and spend the better part of a decade embedded inside the projects under JT's protection. From a privileged position of unprecedented access, Venkatesh observed JT and the rest of his gang as they operated their crack-selling business, made peace with their neighbors, evaded the law, and rose up or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex hierarchical structure. Examining the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, and often corrupt struggle to survive in an urban war zone, Gang Leader for a Day also tells the story of the complicated friendship that develops between Venkatesh and JT--two young and ambitious men a universe apart.

Riveting.--The New York Times

Compelling. dramatic. Venkatesh gives readers a window into a way of life that few Americans understand.--Newsweek

An eye-opening account into an underserved city within the city.--Chicago Tribune

The achievement of Gang Leader for a Day is to give the dry statistics a raw, beating heart.--The Boston Globe

A rich portrait of the urban poor, drawn not from statistics but from viivd tales of their lives and his, and how they intertwined.--The Economist

A sensative, sympathetic, unpatronizing portrayal of lives that are ususally ignored or lumped into ill-defined stereotype.--Finanical Times

Sudhir Venkatesh's latest book Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy--a memoir of sociological investigation revealing the true face of America's most diverse city--is also published by Penguin Press.

SUDHIR VENKATESH is William B. Ransford Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. He has written extensively about American poverty and is currently working on a project comparing the urban poor in France and the United States. His writings, stories, and documentaries have appeared in The American Prospect, This American Life, The Source, PBS, and National Public Radio. Venkatesh's latest book, Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy, was published in September 2013 by The Penguin Press.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780143114932
ISBN 10	014311493X
Title	Gang Leader for a Day
Author	Sudhir Venkatesh
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2008-12-30
Number of pages	320
Prizes	Winner of School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable