false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171098345m/87090.jpg 87090 2 <p> Listen to a short interview with Sudhir Venkatesh<br/> Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane </p><p> In this revelatory book, Sudhir Venkatesh takes us into Maquis Park, a poor black neighborhood on Chicago's Southside, to explore the desperate, dangerous, and remarkable ways in which a community survives. We find there an entire world of unregulated, unreported, and untaxed work, a system of living off the books that is daily life in the ghetto. From women who clean houses and prepare lunches for the local hospital to small-scale entrepreneurs like the mechanic who works in an alley; from the preacher who provides mediation services to the salon owner who rents her store out for gambling parties; and from street vendors hawking socks and incense to the drug dealing and extortion of the local gang, we come to see how these activities form the backbone of the ghetto economy. </p><p> What emerges are the innumerable ways that these men and women, immersed in their shadowy economic pursuits, are connected to and reliant upon one another. The underground economy, as Venkatesh's subtle storytelling reveals, functions as an intricate web, and in the strength of its strands lie the fates of many Maquis Park residents. The result is a dramatic narrative of individuals at work, and a rich portrait of a community. But while excavating the efforts of men and women to generate a basic livelihood for themselves and their families, <i>Off the Books</i> offers a devastating critique of the entrenched poverty that we so often ignore in America, and reveals how the underground economy is an inevitable response to the ghetto's appalling isolation from the rest of the country. </p> 84061 16 10 2006 Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor total:188|5:31|4:69|3:63|2:23|1:2| 188 668 528 49 2 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Oct 03 20:02:30 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 00:25:45 -0700 2007 Freakonomics is a huge bestseller, the successful collaboration of an economist and a journalist (Levitt & Dubner). This book screams for such a collaboration.

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor is authored by an economist and colleague of the better known Levitt, an...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 16:12:28 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 22:32:11 -0800 2009
The author tells interesting stories about how welfare mothers "manage the household".
Getting a few dollars here, there, and anywhere to pay the bills.

Every adult who lives in the home is expected to ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 22:16:43 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 09:43:54 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 06:38:09 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 15:06:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 13 09:02:50 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 20:13:15 -0800 2008 1
On one hand, it is a good look at th...more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 20:34:18 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 20:44:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Dec 23 09:05:45 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 09:09:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 04:29:25 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 02 17:58:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 09:35:33 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 09:47:15 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 1 true false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 31 08:42:17 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 03 08:52:22 -0700 2007 Off the Books can be a little dry at times, it was still an interesting look into daily life for the urban poor on Chicago's South Side. Some of it was what I was expecting (pimps, hos, drugs, and gangs) but a lot of it was news to me (a homeless guy with a thriving auto repair practice).
...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Dec 16 08:44:52 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 15:59:13 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 16 16:42:28 -0700 2008 Tue Jan 20 16:11:43 -0800 2009 Gang Leader for a Day. Not to say the other book wasn't smart, but it was more dedicated to character studies and had a little more action. This book gives you more depth to the economic and social background to the parts of Chicago in Ga...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 18:24:17 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 18:08:17 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 11:22:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 11:24:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 24 12:03:35 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 24 12:10:16 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 09 05:31:44 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 12 15:44:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Apr 23 18:54:44 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 18:54:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 30 07:16:00 -0800 2008 Mon Oct 20 10:06:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Nov 27 06:21:08 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 06:22:35 -0800 2008
:)]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 21 22:00:23 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 21 22:01:46 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=87090