Gangs: Stories of Life and Death from the Streets (Adrenaline Classics) [Paperback]

Sean Donahue (Editor), Clint Willis (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Adrenaline Classics | Publication Date: October 7, 2002

Gang life is both the starting point and the dark side of the American dream. Ethnic groups and immigrants have long turned to gangs for protection and support when it was offered nowhere else. From the Five Points to South Central L.A., Bowery Boys to Bloods and Crips, the James gang to gangsta rap, gangs offer a largely urban version of the American frontier: an opportunity and a refuge for society's outlaws, outcasts, and outsiders. Featuring superb writing drawn from the best fiction, nonfiction, and journalism, Gangs takes the reader on a tour of this underground, from accounts of New York's violent past by Herbert Asbury (The Gangs of New York) and Mark Helprin (A Winter's Tale) to Hunter S. Thompson's unflinching report from within the Hell's Angels and T. J. English inside America's most notorious Vietnamese gang. Other selections bring readers into the Irish, Italian, and Jewish Mobs as well as the Triads of America's Chinatowns, and chart the role of the vicious drug trade in contemporary gang life. With photographs and its wild and turbulent tour through the American underworld, Gangs paints a visceral and fascinating picture of a part of the American experience that is more nightmare than dream.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A growing social problem, gangs exist all over the United States, from the large urban areas where they are "expected" to the suburbs and even small towns. Journalist and editor Donahue has assembled an informative collection of articles and book excerpts, both fiction and nonfiction, from qualified authors who include Mark Helprin, Herbert Asbury, and Hunter S. Thompson. They discuss such topics as soccer hooliganism, national "super" gangs such as the Bloods and the Crips, skinheads and neo-Nazi groups, the early gangs found in New York City (e.g., Dead Rabbits), the criminal and deviant activities of gang members, female gangs, and the Mexican Mafia (Le Eme). They illustrate gangs' resistance to society's rules and how they create private worlds complete with elaborate codes (centered around a demand for respect), symbolism highlighted by graffiti, social rituals, and standards of expected behavior. This volume is not a comprehensive review of gang literature, but it does provide insightful supplemental information. Recommended for collections in criminology and deviant behavior.
Tim Delaney, Canisius Coll., Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This excellent collection reveals the history and the humanity behind gang stereotypes. Excerpted from novels, memoirs, and journalism, the selections show a wide range of gang experience, including Vietnamese gangs, New York City's Jewish gangs of the early twentieth century, the highly publicized Bloods and Crips in L.A and El Rukin in Chicago, Mexican gangs from Southern California with deep ties to their home country. There are the football hooligans in Bill Buford's Among the Thugs; the neo-Nazi gangs in William Finnegan's fascinating Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country ; and the nightmarish world of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. Most of all, there are the personal stories that show life in the barrio, in the suburbs, in Manhattan, in Milwaukee. As Donohue writes in his introduction: "The best gangs stories are about people we recognize--maybe even people we know." This is a revealing, provocative collection that readers won't forget. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; Student edition (October 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560254254
• ISBN-13: 978-1560254256
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A book comprised of other books to make this book, January 18, 2008

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1Life ""Live life with no regrets" ~ ... (east coast) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Gangs: Stories of Life and Death from the Streets (Adrenaline Classics) (Paperback)

I had originally written a review before but amazon did not post it up. Probaly becuase i wrote a bad review, like i will do here again. I'll be more brief. This book is kinda like a coming attractions "previews". The author took about 10-20 pages of other authors works about gangs and put it into his own book. For example, the book "Monster" written by Sanyika Shakur, the author took about 15 pages of Sanyika's book and put it in his book. Did not change anything around, just took everything verbatim from "Monster" and put it in his. The only contribution the author made to it was a footnote saying what the following was about.

This author does this throughout the whole book. Each chapter consists of about 20-25 pages of other peoples work thrown into this book, w/ a footnote at the beginning of the chapter. The footnotes are the author's only original contribution to this book.

As for what you learn about gangs, like i said, this book is kinda a smorgasboard. If you want to get a book that has stories in it from about 15 other books in here that just give you bits and pieces, then by all means buy the book. But personally, you'd be better off buying the individual books instead of buying this one. It will give you more info anyways.

This author of this book is basically a plagiarist, and put together this book to make money off of other peoples works.. It is not informative about gangs at all. Take it from a person who is majoring in Criminal Justice, and is very well read in this subject and has seen just about every documentary out there and movie on gangs. Do not buy this book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Overall a good read, August 2, 2010

By 

Samuel Paro (FORT COLLINS, CO, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Gangs: Stories of Life and Death from the Streets (Adrenaline Classics) (Paperback)

I didn't like all of the stories in the book. Some were just hard to read (ie. A Clockwork Orange) or hard to keep interest.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner you will not want to put down., December 21, 2002

By 

Andrew Entwistle (Schodack, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gangs: Stories of Life and Death from the Streets (Adrenaline Classics) (Paperback)

Way more than just the LA Crip/Blood stereotype. That's in there, sure, but Sean Donahue has also chosen really readable selections on soccer hooligans, neo-nazis and the skinheads who are NOT nazis, NY gangs of the 1800's, common street tough gangs, organized drug dealers, kidnap rings in El Salvador, Vietnamese gangs and two fascinating "anti-gang" pieces on a DA who turned to the dark side trying to bust up a gang, and a gang being decimated by drug addiction. It's fast-paced, exciting, and you'll find yourself staying up late to read "just one more" story. My only off-note: regrettably there is none of Hunter Thompson Hell's Angels work; I'd have swapped that for the Clockwork Orange excerpt. But you'll really enjoy what IS in there and probably learn something. About half the selections are full pieces, not excerpts, but the stuff pulled from bigger works is well chosen and you don't feel left hanging. It's just over 300 pages.