Overview

The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatest managed to gain entree into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment.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.

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Sudhir Venkatesh is a professor of sociology and African American studies at Columbia University and the author of the bestseller Gang Leader for a Day. His writings, stories, and documentaries have appeared in The American Prospect and on PBS and National Public Radio's This American Life. He lives in New York City. Sudhir Venkatesh is a professor of sociology and African American studies at Columbia University and the author of the bestseller Gang Leader for a Day. His writings, stories, and documentaries have appeared in The American Prospect and on PBS and National Public Radio's This American Life. He lives in New York City. STEVEN D. LEVITT, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark medal, given to the most influential American economist under the age of forty. He is also a founder of The Greatest Good, which applies Freakonomics-style thinking to business and philanthropy. STEPHEN J. DUBNER is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He quit his first career as an almost-rock-star to become a writer. He has worked for The New York Times and published three non-Freakonomics books. He lives with his family in New York City.

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