Customer Reviews

Gangs in Garden City: How Immigration, Segregation, and Youth Violence are Changing America's Suburbs

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I was fairly impressed by how the author explained the combination of historical, economic, and cultural conditions that can propel young kids into the gang life. I was a teenager in El Salvador during the civil war years; and I vividly remember the frustration and anger of those who spent years fighting a war only to realize that better economic and educational opportunities would never materialize. The book does not fully address the ineffectiveness of Central American government to plan for the re-integration of former combatants or even displaced citizens into a new society. Most post-war Central American governments were immediately concerned with rebuilding entire financial system, improving technical infrastructures, and competing in a new globalized world. It was not surprising that government were less concerned with the immediate needs for societal development.

You will get more out of the book if you don't expect a comprehensive analysis of the socio-economic and geopolitical conditions that contributed to the proliferation of criminal gang enterprises in the US or in Latin America. However, the book does a decent job in two areas. First, it humanizes the gang problem with a number of anecdotal episodes that illustrate the sad, tragic and violent lives of gang members. Second, it reiterates the fact that the gang problem is a difficult one to resolve. That is because reforms to current immigration and political issues would be difficult to address in a political climate where there is a growing number of competing priorities. Also, the author explains that there must be true multilateral efforts among governments because this is no longer a regional but a growing global concern.

Being from new york & having hung out in towns where ms-13 is very active i found this book very interesting and very true.

A lot of people are quick to judge hispanics and i find it disgusting, and although i do not agree at all with the whole gang life, reading this book can paint a picture for the closed minded as to why some of these people end up in that situation.

Living and hanging out in some of the towns mentioned in this book, i know all too well how some people are towards certain races and people who are not as wealthy as some of the snobby people living here.

The truths in the book honestly make me sick about how up in arms people are about immigrants and anyone who is not white. I am white, and it embarrasses me when people act like that. Once upon a time all of us were coming here from different countries for a better life, so why must we attack some of the people who are trying to do that now?

As I said, i do not condone gangs AT ALL, but i also dont agree with all the racism and closed mindedness of certain people who think every hispanic person is in a gang, illegal or ruining their perfect, little white towns. WAKE UP THATS NOT REALITY.

The book is good in the sense of the story and some history but it portrays whites as the worst people trying to hold down the Hispanic and black society. Being Hispanic myself, I have never felt this way and it is all about perception and the way you are raised to view the world (or what circumstances may come to you).

This author is clearly biased against republicans and whites. It isn't clearly stated but just the wording of the book portrays whites as 1) the problem and 2) a bunch of racists who are fearful their communities are being overtaken by gangs.

Even though gangs are a serious problem obviously, the book makes it out that white people are too fearful and paranoid even though in the book there are references to when the gangs just commit random acts of violence against anybody just to be part of the gang. Who wouldn't fear that? Seriously.

This author writes a good story but tries to portray people who come here illegally, join a gang(because they just have no other choice lol) and commit acts of violence as victims of the system rather than a problem. The author needs a reality check.

The hopes of his book were only slightly improved after reading it, versus excerpts in a recent NY times article. One can only wonder how accurate the overall book is when so much simple factual date is flat out wrong. Not a bad first try for a young writer, but Sarah, you need to CHECK ALL OF YOUR FACTS, not just the ones you think buttress your at times ham fisted suppositions about an area you apparently didn't research enough.

A war between two Salvadoran street gangs originated in Los Angeles after the Salvadoran civil war, then spread the suburban town of Hempstead (L.I. suburb), nearly 3,000 miles away. A series of gang murders followed. "Gangs in Garden City" drags readers through some of these violent episodes that occur in spite of the best efforts of some parents, principals, and police. Naturally, the broader community recoils from having anything to do with Latinos as a result; Garland wants to blame that society. I would much rather she instead researched why Hispanics in general are so inherently violent - whether in Hempstead, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Mexico, or San Salvador..