Gangs

The Menstuff® library lists pertinent books on gangs. See also books on violence, Issues on Gangs, Resources and Slide Guide. Updated 1/30/00.

• Arthur, Richard, Edsel Erickson, Gangs and Schools.  Learning Publications, 1992
• Campbell, Anne, The Girls in the Gang, Blackwell, 1991
• Gardner, Sandra, Street Gangs in America, Franklin Watts, 1992
• Greenberg, Keith Elliot, Out of the Gang. Lerner Publications, 1992
• Hinojosa, Maria, Crews: Gang members talk to Maria Hinojosa. Harcourt Brace, 1995
• Jankowski, Martin, Islands in the Street: Gangs and urban American society. University of California Press, 1991
• Kellerman, Jonathan, Savage Spawn:  Reflections on violent children. In this powerful, disturbing book, a noted child psychologist shines a penetrating light on antisocial youth - kids who kill without remorse - asserting that "psychopathic tendencies begin very early in life, as young as three, and they endure. Criticizing our quick impulse to blame violent movies or a "morally bankrupt" society, the author convinces us that it is the kids themselves who need to be examined. Carefully. How do children become cold-blooded killers?  The author warns that today's aggressive bully is tomorrow's Mafia don, cult leader, or genocidal dictator. Violently psychopathic youths possess an overriding need for power, control and stimulation, and all display a complete lack of regard for the humanity of others. He examines the origins of pschopathy and the ever-shifting debate between nurture and nature, offering some controversial solutions to dealing with homicidal tendencies in children. This is a provocative look at the links between society and biology, children and violence. This sobering message will remain with you long after the last page is turned. Ballantine, www.randomhouse.com/BB/, 1999 ISBN 0-345-42939-7 Buy this book!
• Klein, Malcolm, The American Street Gang: Its nature, prevalence and control. Oxford University Press, 1995
• The Modern Gang Reader. Roxbury Publishing Company, 1995
• Korem, Daniel, Streetwise Parents, Foolproof Kid. International Focus Press, 1995
• Moore, Joan, Going Down to the Barrio: Homeboys and homegirls in change, Temple University Press, 1992
• Oliver, Marilyn Tower, Gangs: Trouble in the streets, Enslow Publishers, 1995
• Pearson, Patricia, When she Was Bad:  How and why women get away with murder. In this groundbreaking book, (the paperback version of "When She Was Bad: Violent women and the myth of innocence,) the author examines a subject that is often deliberately ignored, particularly by the feminist front: the issue of women's violence and aggression. Not merely as a response to an abusive husband, society, culture or parent, but on their own, requiring no more provocation that their male counterparts. Guiding us gently through the rough waters of women's anger, the book starts off with an examination of violence in girls and ends with an overview of the social structure of women's prisons. The author demands that women hold themselves accountable for their own actions; she makes women see women as fully equal to male murderers and rapists; as cold-blooded as anyone who would perform multiple murders for profit. The sexist court system likes to ascribe women's acts of violence to being coerced, seduced, cornered. It sees women as victims or "survivors" that new catch phrase of the therapy-and-twelves-step generation). Sometimes this is true - but often it is not. Frequently women discover violence as an answer all on their own, the way men do, because of the way our culture is set up, the way our brains are wired, or the lessons women learned at our parents' knees. The stories presented here are graphic and disturbing, and a far cry from the women's-violence-is-sexy voyeurism of cat fights and mud wrestling. We meet female sex offenders, women who kill their own children, and women with Munchausen syndrome who caused their children repetitive illnesses and sometimes death. Pearson helps to open the doors and allows women the space to examine a side of themselves no one wants to acknowledge, but that, if left unobserved will, like a cancer, continue to spread. (Click here and look for centers coded 89 - resources for women perpetrators.) Penguin USA Paperback, 1998 ISBN 0-14-024388-7 Buy This Book!
• Prothrow-Stith, Deborah with Michaele Weissman, Deadly Consequences: How violence is destroying our teenage population and a plan to begin solving the problem. Young Americans are killing one another in unprecedented numbers. Newspapers and television report a daily barrage of tragedies - young men dead, crippled, their lives destroyed. A concealed gun or knife has become as common an accessory as a pocket comb. In no other country do teens kill one another for such trivial reasons - a jacket, a pair of sneakers, a misconstrued glance. This book provides a way to comprehend the epidemic of violence that is decimating a generation of young men, especially young black men living in poverty, and offers concrete strategies to stem its tide. Saturated by distorted media images of violence, lacking nonviolent male role models, filled with rage and self-hatred, and surrounded by the brutal tactics of gangs and drug dealers, ghetto kids are learning before they even reach double digits to carry weapons - and to use them to settle even the most trivial of disputes. This book introduces an antiviolence curriculum that has been used successfully in more than three hundred schools and suggests similar programs be initiated in schools throughout the country. HarperPerennial, 1993 ISBNB 0-06-092402-0 Buy this book!
• Rodriguez, Luis, Always Running: La vida loca, gang days in LA, Curbstone, 1993
• Rosen, Roger & Patra McSharry, ed., Street Gangs: Gaining turf, losing ground. Rosen Publishing Group, 1991
• Sachs, Steven, Street Gang Awareness: A resource guide for parents and professionals. What do blue bandannas, champagne glasses, Los Angeles King Starter jackets, and automobile air fresheners have in common?  Unfortunately, very few parents or educators would recognize these as gang signs. From the inner cities to the wealthiest suburbs, street gangs are a deadly problem in America - and they are growing rapidly. This book demystifies gang behavior by exposing its secret system of signs and symbols. It not only helps readers determine if a child is involved in a gang, but also offers a range of practical, effective strategies to help protect children and communities from this terrifying menace. Fairview Press, 1997 ISBN 1-57749-035-5 Buy this book!
• Shakur, Sanika, Monster: The autobiography of an LA gang member. Penguin, 1994
• Sikes, Gini, 8 Ball Chicks:  A year in the violent world of girl gangs. Carrying razor blades in their mouths and guns in their pockets, and ferociously guarding their home turf, girl gang bangers are frequently as violent and dangerous as their male counterparts. The author, a veteran journalist, spent almost two years in Los Angeles, San Antonio and Milwaukee, following three girl gangs and exploring their lives. In doing so, she reveals the fear and desperate desire for safety and status that drive girls into gangs in the first place - and the dreams and ambitions that occasionally help them to escape the catch-22 of their existence. Shocking, poignant, and deeply affecting, this book is unlike any book yet written. Anchor Books www.anchorbooks.com 1998 ISBN 0-385-47432-6 Buy this book!
• Strean, Herbert & Lucy Freeman, Our Wish to Kill:  The murder in all our hearts. In America, over four hundred murders are committed each week, as the human capacity for violence seems to increase exponentially in the 1990s. The authors examine not only the causes of America's homicidal obsession, but also speculate on the hundreds of thousands of murders that - luckily - never come to be, existing only in fantasized action. In this final decade of the twentieth century, envy, greed, rage and revenge stand at all-time highs, and, more and more, lovers no longer seem just to quarrel. Inexorably, unalterably, the clash of wills and emotions becomes fatal. This book examines human life as it proceeds through the chronological stages of psychological development, proving the violence and extreme rages that form, develop and fester - from childhood on. The authors contend that violent murderous impulses lurk in the unconsciousness of all of us, and that crimes committed by three of the more violent murderers of our time - Joseph Kallinger, Willie Bosket and Jurgen Bartsch - are merely the darkest expressions of the urge to murder that lies within all our hearts. This is an important book that sheds considerable light on how our turn-of-the-century society has evolved, and how our fractured nuclear family has become the vast spawning ground for the hatred and murder that lie in everyday life. St Martins, 1991 ISBN 0-312-05488-2 Buy this book!
• Webb, Margo, Coping with Street Gangs. Rosen Publishing Group, 1990