Gang Leader for a Day
A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
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Narrated by:
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Reg Rogers
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Sudhir Venkatesh
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Stephen J. Dubner
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Written by:
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Sudhir Venkatesh
About this listen
When Venkatesh walked into an abandoned building in one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he was looking for people to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty. A first-year grad student hoping to impress his professors with his boldness, he never imagined that as a result of the assignment he would befriend a gang leader named JT and spend the better part of a decade inside the projects under JT's protection, documenting what he saw there.
Over the next seven years, Venkatesh got to know the neighborhood dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organizers, and officials. From his privileged position of unprecedented access, he observed JT and the rest of the gang as they operated their crack-selling business, conducted PR within their community, and rose up or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex organizational structure.
In Hollywood speak, Gang Leader for a Day is The Wire meets the University of Chicago. It's a brazen and fundamentally honest view into the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, often corrupt struggle to survive in what is tantamount to an urban war zone. It is also the story of a complicated friendship between Sudhir and JT: two young and ambitious men a universe apart.
©2008 Sudhir Venkatesh (P)2008 HarperCollins PublishersWhat the critics say
What listeners say about Gang Leader for a Day
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- mike
- 2021-10-24
Raw & Real
Not a gang/crime clique.
Explains the reality of social inequality & life in a low income community.
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Overall
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-10-25
terrible narration, great book
The narrator used a funny voice when reading the quotes of black people which I found patronizing and distasteful. I loved the book but i wish i had read the hard copy.
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