This Diego Rivera Mural, "The Exploiters" (1926) captures the oppression of the marginalized and their simmering resentment. Fresco Universidad Autonoma de Chapingo Chapel, west Wall.
The Chicago Gang History Project
Gangs by City Index
2. Chicago Gangs at the End of the Industrial Era
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Explosion of Chicago Street Gangs by Useni Eugene Perkins
This book is a history of African American gangs from their origins until the 1980s. Valuable history.
1987 Chicago. Third World Press
The Blackstone Rangers: A reporter's account of time spent with Blackstone Rangers in chicago's South Side by R.T. Sale
This is a superficial journalistic account of the Blackstone Rangers, later the Black P Stone Nation and El Rukn.It captures some of the flair of the sixties.
1971 New York. Random House
Boss by Mike Royko
For those who think gangs have always been a minority problem, here a story of one vicious Irish gang leader who became not only the mayor of Chicago, but the father of the current mayor.
1971 New York: Signet.
Stateville by James Jacobs.
The best book on gangs in prison. Jacobs study cries out for a update. I highly recommend the book, and for Chicago area students to tour the prison. I've seen some bad prisons in my life, but nothing as bad as Stateville.
1977. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicago Community by Ruth Horowitz.
This is a community studies classic, looking at problems of acculturation for Mexican American boys and girls and their gang experiences. Well worth it.
1983. New Brunswick. Rutgers University Press.
The Social Order of the Slum by Gerald D. Suttles
This book captures Chicago in transition, when turf was something to fight over for one's ethnic group, not a contested market.
1968 . Chicago: University of Chicago
GO TO TOP4. Histories of Chicago's African American Community
Black Metropolis. by St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton
If you want to understand the importance of segregation and discrimination for the growth of gangs here, read this masterpeice. In fact, if you want to understand Chicago, this isn't a bad place to start. Two volumes
1970 New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, Inc.
Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920. by Allan H. Spear
Another crucial book for understanding the history of African American gangs.
1967 Chicago: University of Chicago.
5.The Political Economy of Chicago
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles: America's Global Cities by Janet Abu-Lughod.
Not about gangs, but this book is indispensible in understanding the trajectory of Chicago's economy and the impact of segregation.
1999. Minneapolis. University of Minnesota
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Chicago Gangs
1. Post Industrial Chicago Gangs
2. Chicago Gangs at the End of the Industrial Era
3. Chicago Gangs in the Early Industrial Era
4. Histories of Chicago's African American Community
5.The Political Economy of Chicago
6.Linx to Web pages designed by Gangs and Gang members
The books listed here are only those John Hagedorn has read and can comment on. Journal articles are not cited. Please forward to the Gang History Project any books you think are relevant or helpful.
1. Post Industrial Chicago Gangs
Angel's Town: Chero Ways, Gang Life, and Rhetorics of the Everyday by Ralph Cintron
This book is a study of Chicago area Latino gangs in the past few years. The author has accepted an appointment to UIC in English starting in the fall of 2000.
1997. Boston. Beacon Books
The Gang as an American Enterprise by Felix Padilla.
This important study is one of the first to reconceptualize gangs from delinquent groups to participants in the informal economy. Absolutely essential reading.
1992. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Outside the Wall by Felix Padilla and Lourdes Santiago
This is the story of the wife of a gang member and her struggle for dignity and respect. A vivid look at the importance of the drug economy and the impact of prison on male and female gang members.
1993. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
There Are No Children Here: The story of two boys growing up in the other America.by Alew Kotlowitz
The most stirring portrait of growing up in Chicago's projects and a more realistic picture of gangs than that drawn by most gang researchers. This book shows the heighs to which journalism can rise.
1991 New York: Anchor Books.
Gangs: Public Enemy Number One by the Chicago Crime commission
This is one of the best examples of stereotyping gangs as organized crime. It frames gangs narrowly within a law enforcement focus, with little if any economic or social context. Read it, it won't hurt you if have a critical, questioning mind. The websites below give the text of the Crime Commission report and a typical website on Chicago gangs, this one repeating every stereotype I know that's been used on gangs.
Chicago Crime Commission Report: "Say No to Gangs"
"The Gang in the Community" by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh In Gangs in America: Second Edition, ed. Ronald C. Huff.
This is a study of gangs in chicago's housing projects and their influence on the community. It describes gangs with economic and social functions much different than law enforcement or media stereotypes. Also see Jeff Fagan's article in the same volume.
1996 Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
GO TO TOP3. Chicago Gangs in the Early Industrial Era
The Gang: A study of 1313 gangs by Frederick Thrasher.
This is the classic study of gangs by the father of gang research in 1920s Chicago
1927/1963 Chicago. Univesity of Chicago Press
Group Process and Gang Delinquency by James Short & Fred Strodtbeck
This is a careful test of several influential theories based on extensive interviews with gang members
1965. Chicago. University of Chicago press
The Vice Lords: Warriors of the Street by Kenneth Keiser
This is a description of the early Vice Lords. It contains some good historical material.
1969 New York. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston
A Nation of Lords: The Autobiography of the Vice Lords : by David Dawley
A history of the Vice Lords by a white member. Good pictures and reprints of newspaper clippings. Stress on the positive, political role of the 1960s gang.
1992. Second Edition. Prospect Heights, IL. Waveland Press.
The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy's Own Story. and The Natural History of a Delinquent Career. by Clifford Shaw
These "personal documents" by one of Chicago's best social scientists remain a standard for today. We need such "personal documents" of gang members and leaders telling their own story.
1930 (1966) and 1931 (1976) Chicago. University of Chicago
Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas by Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay
This is the classic study of the Chicago School, demonstrating that crime rates vary by area, not ethnic group. It laid the foundation for social disorganization theory.
1942 (1969)J First Edition ed. Chicago: University of Chicago.
The Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago's Near North Side by Harvey Warren Zorbaugh
The basic idea behind this classic is supremely important today. Chicago's slums are related to her Gold Coast. Unless the Gold Coast helps revitalize the slum, Chicago is lost.
1929. Chicago: University of Chicago.