Total Page : 320
Publisher : Penguin Press HC The
Publication Date : 2008 01 01
>> Good book ATROCIOUS audio reader
The book was good I don t believe all of it but it makes a handful of important points HOWEVER this is the second audiobook in a row for me where the reader read the book like he was on Broadway So you you re telling me Reg the reader that all of these uneducated black ghetto drug dealers speak like they re in the Broadway adaptation of Roots Every one of them male and female speaks like Sir Lawrence Olivier
Lousy readers like this take away from my enjoyment of audiobooks I prefer the last chapter of the book in which the non professional reader the author takes over the reading duties
>> Fradulent as usual
Rating 0 stars
In a stunning extension of the acceptance of inner group racism in the field of sociology Venkatesh creates fictional tales of neo colonialism and passes them off as ethnography for an audience of similars who are too enamoured of bad boy lifestyles as subjects of study to realize a patent fraud when they see one
Like most of his ethnographies Venkatesh has questionable methods findings and ethics If someone from the neighborhood sang this much they would have been whacked years ago a non Black person who as it is well known has personal and professional issues with Blacks and an outsider gets to rise to the upper echelons of this crime network and write about it to the general public Don t think so
Venkatesh and his so called ardent fan base some of you on here should ask themselves some serious questions about your preconceptions and why this fictional sea yarn is so attractive to them
For the rest of readers read this as a fictional fantasy homoerotic tale for upper middle class suburban gamer boys who lust/fear/seek to control Black men Like our featured author here Because that s exactly what this is Total and complete fiction
This work is embarrassing at best Comically racist at worst You ll need hip boots to read it
Wow is this work awful A discredit to the field Save your money and read Gans or Burawoy if you are interested in solid ethnographic work rooted in reality
>> Gang Leader For A Day
This book follows a young graduate student from the University of Chicago as he naively wanders into a housing project on Chicago s South Side and a chance meeting with an up and coming gang leader J T gives him almost unlimited access to one of the largest crack cocaine dealing gangs in Chicago
It is fascinating to watch Sudhir become entangled and embedded with the tenants and gangs despite warnings and recommendations for his professors to not get emotionally attached How could he not I found myself unable to put this book down My heart broke with the plans to demolish the Robert Taylor Homes Even though they weren t very safe and certainly weren t acceptable living conditions the tenants and gangs established a give and take sometimes ruled by fear but a way to survive
The writing style is clear and gives the reader a chronological summary of what it was like to practically live in the Robert Taylor projects for the better part of a decade Time moves quickly and Sudhir gains access to more and more people throughout the course of the book I was both amazed and saddened at the way of life the way to make it day to day in the housing projects This book sheds light on the extortion and corruption of everyone who lives there each one justifying what they do to make it another day An excellent and quick read
