Gang Leader for a Day

A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets

By: Sudhir Venkatesh

Narrated by: Reg Rogers, Sudhir Venkatesh, Stephen J. Dubner

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2008 Sudhir Venkatesh (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

" Gang Leader for a Day is an absolutely incredible book. Sudhir Venkatesh's memoir of his years observing life in Chicago's inner city is a book unlike any other I have read, equal parts comedy and tragedy." (Steven D. Levitt, co-author, Freakonomics)

One helluva book!

Very engaging and captivating book. I believe the listeners would be attentive for most part of the book as was I. The narration was realistic and felt like watching a movie. Its the kind of book I longed to read for some time. Good job Sudhir👍

Interesting and insightful

Not for the faint of heart, but if you are going to help there is a wealth of information to understand from this book.
I kinda think it would be interesting for him to write a biography of JT anyway since he seems to have the information.

captavating

what a great book. good idea for a story.. i loved how j.t. was precieved as a man after god's own heart.. this would make a good xmas gift for a tough guy teenager or a dad..

great story

it was a great book. The narrator did a great job sounding interesting but not cheesy

Fascinating experience

I could easily imagine the expressions and emotions of the characters. The author takes us on a journey that few even witness from the outside, much less get to be a part of.

GREAT LISTEN!

After listening to "Freakanomics" I was very excited to "read" this book. It did not disappoint. Extremely interesting and direct with an almost surprising lack of sentimentality- just the facts, almost to a fault. While I loved the book as it is, I do sort of wonder if a biography of J.T.'s life would not have been better, for different reasons.

Very interesting and in depth topic

I was hooked after the first chapter and became further interested as the book went from story to a social study that was very well thought through and dynamic. Loved it!

A mix of raw notes and stories

If you could sum up Gang Leader for a Day in three words, what would they be?

academic
Engrossing
Thoughtful

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

This book offers an interesting look at the data gathering process while crafts the kind of stories that I would expect to hear at a really good dinner party. It is not the type of story you would find in the nonfiction section. It is a raw data stream mixed with the light analysis of an academic researcher. I found it exciting and thought provoking.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No but because I wanted to think about what I heard. As a professor myself, I wanted to play with the concepts in my mind that I heard in the book. I was always excited to go back.

I enjoyed this immensely.

I all but took the day off work to listen. It was fascinating, and enjoyable to listen to. I've heard better narrators, but I did not find the reading offensively bad or distracting. It's a terrifying adventure told over the shoulder of a young man with such audacity I was sure he was going to be killed, even though he obviously lived to write the book. Very good. Very much worth the time. Handles a topic with excellence that rarely gets right treatment.

Highly recommended for everyone

What made the experience of listening to Gang Leader for a Day the most enjoyable?

The performance was fantastic and I loved that the author read the last chapter

What was one of the most memorable moments of Gang Leader for a Day?

Every character was multidimensional, no one was simply 'poor' or a 'gang-banger' or a cop. Venkatesh did an amazing job of self-examining and that added so much. It was never a story of how things are or were, but rather how he perceived them to be.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, only because some parts were intense and others I needed to reflect on before continuing.

Any additional comments?

I feel like someone from the projects who read this book would have just as much of an opportunity to understand the alien world that was Venkatesh's experience and I learned looking through Venkatesh's eyes.