Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets - Sudhir Venkatesh

Good for you *and* fun to read

This is a fascinating book. Venkatesh develops close relationships with the gang's leader and many others in that community, and he gives us a rare first-hand look at inner-city urban life. Venkatesh explores the economic, class, and racial tensions in that world but does so in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner free of any academic jargon or awkward theorizing.

It's interesting to hear his description of the quantitative vs. qualitative split among sociologists. He concludes that mere data crunching and statistics are severely limited in their ability to provide true insights into the community he writes about. This book is compelling evidence that a qualitative approach can be much more effective.

I'm also a big fan of the Wire, and Venkatesh's account confirms many of the observations made in that show: the futility of inner city life and the war on drugs, the sophisticated economic structure of the drug dealing gangs and the often brilliant management skills of its leaders, and the huge racial chasm that still exists in many parts of this country.

Gang Leader For A Day, like Freakonomics--where I first read about Venkatesh and his gang experience--presents keen analysis as well as unpretentious, accessible writing. It's nice to have books that are good for you but also fun to read.

Can't put it down

This is a compelling story on many fronts. It is a remarkable story which provides tangible insights into a life most people never really touch. The characters are gripping if a little sad. In the end, this is a book with few if any heroes, plenty of parasites, and a warning to anyone who thinks he has the answer to crime and poverty in inner cities.

Raw, Realistic, Gripping

This is a stark but gripping look at gangs, drugs, and life in public housing. In 1989, grad student Sudhir Venkatesh walked from the University of Chicago to nearby housing projects to survey residents, and was detained as a possible spy for rival gangs by the Black Kings. Yet Vankatesh was soon befriended by gang leader J.T., and for the next few years he alternated between the University and the Robert Taylor Homes - a large, nightmarish public housing complex where the Black Kings competed with other gangs for turf and drug sales. Vankatesh reveals the challenges and corporate-like structure of drug-dealing gangs. He also introduces us to characters like C-Note, Clarisse, and Ms. Bailey, shows the residents' sense of community, distrust of police, and what they often must do to survive - including hustling, taking in borders, hiding legal income, trading sex, storing drugs or weapons for gangs, and making payoffs in a highly-corrupt system. This is a raw and depressing book, yet never devoid of hope and humor. It's also highly revealing because unike most dry academic sociologists, Venkatesh spends quite a bit of time with his subjects.

If you ever drove on Chicago's I-90/94 (Dan Ryan) Expressway south of downtown from 1962-2007 you probably saw the 28 high-rises of the Robert Taylor Homes towering just east of the expressway. Our city slowly dismantled those disastrous projects from 1996-2007, sending residents to private (Section 8) apartments in usually black communities in the City and poorer suburbs. As a result, areas near where those projects stood have been gaining new construction, while the communities where the residents went (including where I teach) often saw increased problems.

More interesting than Freakonomics...

I read and enjoyed Freakonomics, and I liked the variety presented in that book. This book is essentially one aspect of that book expanded into a full book by a rather large measure. The author presents a fascinating view of life in the Chicago projects through a gang he trails for several years.

Right off the bat, the book draws you in as the author describes how he innocently decided to wander into the projects with his clipboard in hand so that he could start surveying poverty-stricken people. He naively wanders into a building lobby in the projects where some Black Kings gang members are hanging out. They detain him overnight as they fear he is a Mexican from a rival gang. He has the good fortune to meet a leader in the gang who he then has the opportunity to shadow for several years.

The author interacts with gang leaders, gang members, tenants in the projects, community leaders, and eventually receives the economic information that he contributes to Freakonomics, but that's a sliver of the information he gathers as he frequents the projects. It's a rather riveting account of life there, and through his book, we learn that while the gangs do make their living dealing illegal drugs, their business sense and community concerns are detailed enough to dispel my myths about them, and that makes it a very worthy read.

Lastly, I "read" the audio book and the reader did a quite fantastic job at conveying various voices and keeping the story interesting. The one fault of the audio version is that the author read the final chapter and it disrupted the rhythm that the original reader had established.

a disappointing delivery

I am surprised to see so many 5-star reviews. Everyone of course has his reason to love this book. To me, however, the disappointing factor is that the author had the most interesting materials that most writers would die for, but he is such a terrible storyteller. The book is dull to read. Dull to death. The little episodes here and there might wake you up, but there are only few.

I admire his courage and determination, but it is unfair for a person like this guy to write about such precious experience. He should've give all the materials to a better writer who could have delivered much better.