Gang leader for a day : a rogue sociologist takes to the streets / Sudhir Venkatesh.

"Gang Leader For A Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes To The Streets captured the world’s attention when it was first published. The writer studied a Chicago gang that dealt with crack from the inside. How he entered the gang, what he learned and the methods that he used created a wave in the academic establishment. Author Sudhir Venkatesh is a young sociologist whose work was found fascinating by many across the world. Venkatesh first decided to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty. A graduate in his first year, he wanted to impress his professors with his daring tactics. And so, he entered an abandoned building that was located in one of the most notorious housing projects in Chicago. What he didn’t know was that he would become friends with JT, a gang leader. Under JT’s protection, Venkatesh spent almost a decade inside the projects, documenting all that he saw there. Crackheads, pimps, prostitutes, cops and neighborhood dealers, Venkatesh got to know them all in the next seven years. His proximity to JT gave him unhindered access. He closely watched them sell crack and conduct their PR and slowly understood the complex organisational structure of the gang. A page turner that is brazen and honest, the book explores an almost-war zone where morals are ambiguous and the corrupt struggle to survive. And there’s the complex friendship between the author and JT, two young men with an equal level of ambition but belonging to different worlds.The reprint edition of Gang Leader For A Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes To The Streets, published by Penguin Books in 2008, is available in paperback format. Key Features: This book presents the first-hand account of how gangs operate in Chicago. A world of the corrupt, populated by prostitutes, pimps, crackheads and cops, is thrown against the backdrop of the complex organisational structure of the gang."--