Structure

Gang Leader for a Day is told in a chronological order that covers the six years that Sudhir Venkatesh devoted to the research for his dissertation on race and poverty. He begins his story in 1989 when he was accepted into the graduate program of the Sociology Department of the University of Chicago. He starts by describing his initial outreach to the poor black in the projects of the dangerous South Side of Chicago.

The story follows the arc of his interactions with the impoverished people of the infamous Robert Taylor housing project, the largest public housing project in the nation and one of the most dangerous. He describes how initial suspicion ultimately turned into some level of trust and even admiration. He describes the evolution of his relationship with a gang leader, J.T., an unexpected element that became an important part of his research. He describes...