Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Apr 22, 2008

Marci rated it:

There is so little information about and so many stereotypes within mainstream America about how ghettos function, even though thousands of Americans live in them, that this book is a welcome contribution to poverty literature. As a sociologist-in-training, Sudhir Venkatesh stumbles upon a unique opportunity to gain a lense into the inner workings of the American ghetto when he wanders into one of the worst housing projects in Chicago clutching pens and a survey that asks, "How does it feel More...

6 comments like (19 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2008

Jill rated it:

Wow. I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book, since I tried one of the author's earlier books, and liked the concept, but felt that it was a little too academic. This book, however, I thought was an amazing read.

Sudhir Venkatesh, while a graduate student in sociology, accidentally finds himself befriending a gang leader, JT, at the height of the crack epidemic. The gang leader gives him an unprecented look at both life in the gang, and life in the projects for everyone wh More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2008

Alex rated it:

This is a book that I’m glad I heard about first on the radio, because it is not represented well by its title or cover. The Sudhir Venkatesh on the book jacket, in his vintage leather coat with the collar up, arms folded in tough guy stance in front of derelict seeming housing projects slightly out of focus in the back ground, seems like a wannabe bad ass. And that’s not at all the impression you get from the memoir inside the book.

And the title—“Gang Leader for a Day”—makes it s More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2009

Caroline rated it:

I had mixed feelings about Venkatesh's book. It exposed and detailed a world that I knew nothing about, and peaked my curiosity to look into the subject matter of gangs and life in the projects in greater detail. Venkatesh did an excellent job of explaining the inner workings of life in the projects - the hierarchy in a gang, how a gang works with the surrounding community, the role the police play . . . the economics that drives everything.

However, he brought up a lot of importa More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2009

Jackmccullough rated it:

What do people know about the Robert Taylor Homes? Mostly that it was considered to be one of the worst places in the country.

What do people know about the people who lived there? Almost nothing.

People in America need to know more about the lives of poor people. In this book, Sudhir Venkatesh recounts his six years of spending time with gang leaders, community leaders, and families at the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. He stumbles into his situation by encountering a gro More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 17, 2009

Jamie rated it:

After Lee Anne recommended this to me, I then uncovered his "what do real thugs think about the Wire" on the Freakonomics blog. So I finally read it. I can safely say I would have read it in 1 sitting if I hadn't taken breaks to watch the Euro. It is THAT good and currently sitting as my favorite book of the year.
It's a fascinating peak into "real people" in the Robert Taylor housing projects, and it would be depressing (so many instances in which people accept such ho More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 27, 2008

Anna rated it:

Gang Leader for a Day is hands down one of the best books I have ever read. Sudhir Venkatesh, whose research on gangs was first made famous in Freakonomics, wrote this memoir of how he came to become an active observer of the drug trade in Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes (infamous public housing project) in late 1980s/early 1990s. Although it's nonfiction, the book reads like a narrative and it's incredibly engaging and page-turning suspenseful. Knowing that the events are real actually builds m More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2008

Reggie rated it:

I thought the chapter in Freakonomics on why drug dealers live with their mothers was fascinating. For that reason alone I had been looking forward to reading this book. It did not disappoint. I literally could not put this book down.

The book presents an enthralling inside look at life in Chicago's now defunct Robert Taylor Homes during the height of the crack epidemic of the late 80s to mid 90s. The primary focus is on the author's almost unfettered access to the Black Kings (a str More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

I first heard of Sudhir Venkatesh even before he was featured in Freakonomics, when my husband took Steve Levitt's course, "The Economics of Crime". Ever since I first heard the anecdote of the first-year sociology grad student who showed up to the housing projects on the South Side with a questionnaire asking "how do you feel about being poor and black? Very good, good, neither good nor bad, bad, or very bad", and who somehow endeared himself to the local Black Kings cra More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2008

Kerry rated it:

A fascinating account of how this Indian-American grad student at the University of Chicago who grew up in the Cali suburbs befriends a gang leader (JT) in the Robert Taylor housing project and spends years getting to know him and the community.
Good cops. Bad cops. Drugs. Prostitution. Building Maintenance. Gang Turf. Soul Food. This book has it all. Through his experiences Mr. Professor paints a picture of the realities of what it means to live in the projects, how it feels to be b More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2008

Amy rated it:

Very compelling pop-sociology book. Sudhir, a grad student at the University of Chicago manages to befriend a gang dealer in South side Chicago during the late 1980s and early 1990s at the height of the crack epidemic. The book explores the "community" aspect of the projects, underground economy, and creative ways that gang members and non-gang affliated persons in the community interact. While the book does not try to condone a lot of the gang's behavior, it does paint a sympathetic p More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 26, 2009

Andy rated it:

A lot of people have read Freakonomics; I have not and consequently this was my introduction to Sudhir Venkatesh's famous/infamous sociological studies. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Venkatesh embedded himself into the daily lives of the residents of one of Chicago's poorest projects and studied its community, with particular emphasis to the economic interactions between its residents, the local gangs, the police, and community organizations.

Venkatesh tackles e More...

0 comments like

Mar 19, 2009

Joe rated it:

For someone like me, who comes from a highly white, privileged, and non-urban background, this book is a very interesting firsthand account of black, poor, densely urban living. The author spent many years as a sociology graduate student hanging around with people in the Robert Taylor housing projects on the South Side of Chicago, often with the leader of a local drug dealing operation. He offers very interesting descriptions of the economy of the these projects: how people make things and do More...

0 comments like

Feb 05, 2009

Lamont rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2009

Rushabh rated it:

If you were ever a fan of The Wire (and who isn't) - this is a book for you. I picked up this book by accident - Indian dude on the cover, catchy title and I have read Freakonomics and really enjoyed the analysis of how gangs worked; quite enough for me to pick up the book and start reading in the bookstore.

I didn't really buy the book the first time around - just put it on my list of "should read later" books. I was delighted to find it in the library and picked it up on m More...

1 comment like

Dec 28, 2008

Barky rated it:

Sudhir Venkatesh was a graduate student in sociology when he became interested the plight of poor African Americans living just blocks away from the University of Chicago and wealthy, upper class, Hyde Park. Sudhir started hanging around in a nearby Chicago housing project and talking with some of the people who lived there. He even tried to administer one of the surveys put together by his department, but the residents of the project laughed at his questions (what does it feel like to be blac More...

0 comments like

Nov 28, 2008

Alissa rated it:

I first heard of Sudhir Venkatesh while reading Freakonomics, where the chapter “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?” explores the financial realities of a gang and was based on Sudhir’s time spent observing a Chicago gang.

So I was eagerly awaiting this book (which is subtitled: a rogue sociologist takes to the streets, rogue apparently being in vogue now since Levitt’s book was about a rogue economist.) and it lived up to my expectations.

The author documents More...

0 comments like

Jan 16, 2012

Penni rated it:

I don't tend to read too much non-fiction. However, this book was enthralling. It is about a sociologist from the University of Chicago studying urban poverty. As a grad student, he came up with the great idea to go into the projects and try to ask people multiple choice questions like "On a scale of 1-5, how bad is it to be poor and black?" As you might guess, it didn't go over too well, but instead of getting his dumb ass shot, one of the middle-high level gang leaders takes him More...

0 comments like

Dec 17, 2011

Christina (Reading Thru The Night) rated it:

Sudhir is a graduate student in Chicago majoring in Sociology during the 80's. He is beginning research for his dissertation and has decided to research poverty within the black community. After speaking with his professors they lead him in the direction of surveying. Determined to stand out in the crowd of students, Sudhir leaves the safe haven of college life and trek into the Robert Taylor projects.
Fairly innocent of the dangers that he was walking into, Sudhir meets darting glances and More...

0 comments like

Jul 20, 2011

John rated it:

It's about time I wrote a bad review. This book was disappointing, shallow and boring. A graduate student in sociology at the University of Chicago, Sudhir writes about his alleged infiltration of a South Side Chicago gang, the Black Kings. Early on he references his ties to Stephen Leavit of Freakonomics fame who uses some of Sudhir's research in his own book. Freakonomics might have been a bestseller (tahnkfully for a mercifully brief period of time), but it ended up in the bargain bin for More...

0 comments like

Jun 13, 2011

Jenny rated it:

Wow! The simple quote by The New York Times on the cover describes this perfectly... "riveting"!

And in the first line of the foreword, Freakonomics co-author, Stephen J. Dubner, states, "I believe that Sudhir Venkatesh was born with two abnormalities: an overdeveloped curiosity and an underdeveloped sense of fear."

That hooked me! Did it get you too?

In 1989, Sudhir Venkatesh was a typical sociology graduate student at the University of Chicago whe More...

0 comments like

Jun 12, 2011

Rachael rated it:

I just don't know what to give this one. Sudhir Venkatesh describes himself as a "rogue sociologist', one more interested in interacting with people living in poverty than getting statistics about them. But really throughout the book he just makes friends with people in the projects while screwing many of them over in his attempt to get statistics. Just because he wanted to get statistics from the people doesn't mean he's working for the people, eh? Venkatesh does a fairly good job of being More...

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2011

Nick rated it:

I thought I found a nugget on this in one but it turned out to be a NY times best seller. I bought it for my kindle because I wanted to learn more life in the projects after watching the first season of the wire. This book was pretty good. I like to read social sciences dissertations and papers this had those facts but was edited to make it read more like a story. It is written by a now Harvard professor during his days as a young grad student in Chicago. The beginning is great where the author More...

0 comments like

Dec 29, 2010

Frank rated it:

I read Venkatesh's two other books, "American Project" and "Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor," and I wasn't thrilled with them. They seemed to be disorganized and haphazardly put together, with some interesting insights and anecdotes marred by attempts to shoehorn everything into a sociological box. Still, Venkatesh was the only one doing this participant-observer research on black urban poverty so I appreciated his perspective.

This book act More...

0 comments like

Dec 03, 2010

Brian rated it:

Very interesting, but the study and insights (not necessarily the narrative) suffer a bit from Ventkatesh's inability to assert his own identity and perspective in his time in the projects. There are moments where a real, solid, human standpoint on his part would have been useful to the situation, not only in its potential to better a bad situation, but also in the opportunity it would have provided to see how these parties would have responded to a resolute, challenging, humanistic force, some More...

0 comments like

Feb 11, 2010

Sandra rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Feb 06, 2010

Lauren rated it:

This book was very interesting. Its a nonfiction book about Sudhir who studies the Robert Taylor projects from 1989-1996. He went to graduate school to study sociology and one day walked into projects by himself to get a better understanding of the poor people that lived there. He meets J.T. who is the gang leader of the Black Kings and J.T. lets him follow him around. JT thinks that Sudhir is going to write his bibliography. The book is very interesting because it show the whole picture of the More...

0 comments like

Jan 22, 2010

Alyce (At Home With Books) rated it:

I decided to read this book because I was intrigued by the idea of someone seeing the inside workings of a gang; being so involved that they could become the gang leader for a day. I also wondered how that would work without the author implicating himself in illegal activities.

It takes a long time for Sudhir Venkatesh to reach a level of trust with the gang though, and becoming a gang leader for a day certainly wasn't what he had in mind when he set out to do his research. What he want More...

0 comments like

Jan 06, 2010

Amanda rated it:

I read this book with my ears. I don't usually do books on tape (or mp3, as the case may be), but the hubs and I started this one on a long car trip a couple weeks ago and just finished it up last night. The reader, David Aaron Baker, was awesome, and the book itself was really compelling (more on that later), but most nights as we lay listening, I fell asleep, so I feel like I "read" about two-thirds of the book - the part we heard in the car - but skimmed the last third, the part we More...

0 comments like

Aug 29, 2009

Edwin rated it:

Throughout the course of a single day, a gang leader might have to negotiate with a pastor on a price for the right to use a room in the church for gang meetings, settle a dispute between two employees as to the whereabouts of cash from drug deals, and beat a couple of his drug dealers to impress upon them the importance of keeping the product (crack) as pure as possible. Most important, he has to make money—and to do that, he has to keep the peace as best as possible (keep violence down so the More...

0 comments like

reviews