Gang Leader for a Day

5 stars out of 5

Highly entertaining true-life inside look at Chicago gang life. The premise is that a graduate student at the University of Chicago decides to survey gang members on life in the projects. This goes poorly, but he accepts the gang leader's invitation to come back and hang out with them if he wants to get to know them. So he does - a lot. He provides a very astute outsider's look at life in the projects, drug dealing, and south-side Chicago in the 1990s. It was awesome. Since I lived there for three years (2001 to 2004) I could relate to the characters and scenery. I did not befriend any gangs while I was there, but I could see their handiwork when I did venture out of Hyde Park.

So this guy (who is Indian - a white guy would never have made it) hangs out with them for years, collecting stories and data. Sometimes he makes stupid mistakes and gets people in trouble. He observes the police shaking down the gangs for extortion money and the abuse of the welfare system. Most of all it is amazing to see how it all works. I'm not sure how different it is now that they have torn down most of the high-rise projects that were a blight to Chicago, but it was really a den of poverty and drugs. Amazing.

Note: The title is kind of misleading. He gets to be very good friends with the gang leader and the leader jokingly says "If you think this so easy, why don't you be leader for the day?". So he kind of takes over for the day, but the real gang leader is the one really making all the decisions.

Highly recommend this book for any thoughtful reader - there are some parts that are disturbing, but nothing that is graphic.