Gang Leader for a Day

Archival Summary & Scope

A New York Times Bestseller.
Foreword by Stephen J. Dubner, coauthor of *Freakonomics*.
Called "a rich portrait of the urban poor" by The Economist and praised for its "sensitive, sympathetic, unpatronizing portrayal" by The Financial Times.

This groundbreaking work documents sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh's decade-long immersion in a notorious Chicago housing project. Initially intending a multiple-choice survey, Venkatesh instead befriended gang leader JT, gaining unprecedented access to the intricate world of crack-selling, community survival, and internal gang dynamics. *Gang Leader for a Day* offers a morally complex, firsthand account of life in an urban war zone, exploring the struggle for survival and the unlikely friendship that develops between two men from different universes.