Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America

by Jill Leovy

“We police our own,” said another. “Soldiers are heroes. Why are we called gangsters?”

Take a bunch of teenage boys from the whitest, safest suburb in America and plunk them down in a place where their friends are murdered and they are constantly attacked and threatened. Signal that no one cares, and fail to solve murders. Limit their options for escape. Then see what happens. The young man turned on them somber, frightened eyes. He didn’t want to be in prison and didn’t want to die. He wanted out but couldn’t find a way.

sobriety, not the boyfriend, but the fact that