Venkatesh first decided to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty. A graduate in his first year, he wanted to impress his professors with his daring tactics. And so, he entered an abandoned building that was located in one of the most notorious housing projects in Chicago. What he didn’t know was that he would become friends with JT, a gang leader. Under JT’s protection, Venkatesh spent almost a decade inside the projects, documenting all that he saw there.
Crackheads, pimps, prostitutes, cops and neighborhood dealers, Venkatesh got to know them all in the next seven years. His proximity to JT gave him unhindered access. He closely watched them sell crack and conduct their PR and slowly understood the complex organisational structure of the gang. A page turner that is brazen and honest, the book explores an almost-war zone where morals are ambiguous and the corrupt struggle to survive. And there’s the complex friendship between the author and JT, two young men with an equal level of ambition but belonging to different worlds.