Summary: The Book That Chose Me

The Book That Chose Me. Given that I’m not much of a reader I must first say that my book choice was not initial nor was it a simple “eeny, meenie, miny, moe” pick. When I first looked at the list of books I had no clue as to which book to choose for this assignment, so I decided to look up the ratings for each and narrow the list of books to those that interested me. To my surprise there were three book which caught my interest and had good reviews: The Coke Machine, The Race Myth, and Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets. After narrowing the list I yet again I found myself pondering as to which book to pick. I then decided I would check out all three books read a couple pages from each and then chose which one …show more content…
The title is truly reflective of the books content in a couple of ways. Firstly it stays true to the book as the title clearly comes from Sudhhir Venkatesh’s one day experience as being the lead of the notorious gang The Black Kings. After three years of shadowing gang leader J.T., Sudhir grows increasingly curious about what exactly J.T.’s work is and how hard it can be. To give Shudhir an inside into his work J.T. allows him to call the shots for one day introducing him to the difficult decisions J.T. has to make when dealing with his drug dealing gang members, and various other people whom which he is associated with at the Robert Taylor homes. Although it is clear to see where the title of the book comes from the remaining content of the book which chronicles Sudhir Venkatesh’s time shadowing various other people who are leaders in some way also contributes to the title. For example Ms. Bailey the tenant president, and C-Note the leader of the squatters. Despite the fact that these people are not part of the gang Sudhir’s interactions with them reflect the title of the book because of their leadership roles and association with the gang in the Robert Taylor …show more content…
In the process of his field work study Venkatesh discovers that the day to day lives of the black people living in the projects is determined by far more than the activity within them. After following Venkatesh through his journey to understanding the lives of these people I found no room for disagreement to this element. I without a doubt fully agree that the day to day lives of the poor black community living within these projects is in some way determined by outside sources. For example because the Chicago police refuses to patrol the homes residents are forced to resort to paying the gang for protecting of their families. And additionally, because the projects are stereotyped as being filled with troubled people residents often are rejected by outside sourced or resources such as jobs. This in turn then affects their chances of getting out of