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Midwest U.S. Biographies:
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https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X
True story, that's how it worked in the Robert Taylor homes. The gang leaders, building managers, and police had an uneasy truce.
If someone did some stupid shit that was out of line, the gang leaders would make sure to quietly rat out the perpetrator via the building crew.
I'm pretty sure that the recent rise in random street violence is directly related to the breakup/gentrification of the project homes. It's no different from the mafia or yakuza - once the central power is broken up, there are lots of low level thugs scrambling for money/power and nobody to keep them in line.
John Dillinger Slept Here is a pretty darn good account of gangster activity in and around St. Paul during the Roaring 20s and Great Depression. You can still visit caves they used to hide in or make illegal alcohol in.
Similarly, Subterranean Twin Cities is a wry, funny at times look at the caves below the city.
And, strangely, one of the best books I've ever read about the Twin Cities is a fiction series of mystery novels in the Nils Shapiro anthology by Matt Goldman. The first book is a love letter to the Twin Cities, and the second book is a love letter to the MN State High School Hockey Tournament. Funny, local, and well written.
Check out: Gang Leader for a Day: https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X -- the dealers don't make much money at all. They are kickin' the money to people up the food chain.
The book was called Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People and the Deadliest Fire in American History.
Here's the Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Firestorm-Peshtigo-Deadliest-American-History/dp/0805072934
Thank you for your advice.
I flew in the Tu-Endie-Wei State Park and got some amazing shots.
And the park is amazing. Point Pleasant is amazing.
We stayed in the Lowe Hotel.
Built back in 1901 and it's the only Inn that's been open, continuously, in American history (according to Ruth, the owner and proprietor, who lives there).
Across the street was the Mothman museum and we loved the antique shops.
Look for my drone video of the area. I think I got some great 4K drone shots of the area. It'll take a bit for me to post-process it and post it.
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Also, I ran into a guy who frequents the park. He's a fan of history and told me to pick up a book by Allan Eckert, called https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-Narrative-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/0945084919
The guy supposedly knows stuff.
Some sociologists hate it, but I think Gang Leader for a Day is an entertaining read that gives a nice introduction to sociology and being a being a sociologist, especially the research and fieldwork aspects. And audiobook is available if that's your preference.
https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X
You should read her memoir Just Kids it’s pretty great for a deep dive into early 70s New York and her early days as an impoverished artist.
I just got finished reading a book called Wisconsin Death Trip and back then, when your family started getting diptheria and dying off one by one, the local authorities would come burn your house down along with everything in it to keep it from spreading.
Can you imagine instead of going to the DMV and getting chuffed after politely being asked to wear a mask, the DMV came to you and torched everything you own right after they heard half your family just died?
Can you imagine if something like diptheria or smallpox happened today? People would rather watch each other shit themselves to death than wear a mask. And that's somehow noble? Brave? Patriotic? Like do they know Typhoid Mary is a tragic lesson, not a hero?
I would highly recommend the book, by the way. It's basically just newspaper clippings from a small town in Wisconsin in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries, along with some pictures of dead people a local photographer took. It's equal parts hilarious and gruesome.
I'm reading a book right now about life in late 1800-early 1900 Wisconsin. People got diptheria back then. A lot of people. Family after family, and every one of their kids died. People were losing every single one of their children.
Want to know what the authorities did back then? They quarantined your house, then when everyone was done dying, they burned the house to the ground with everything in it. So other people wouldn't get it and die.
Is that how you'd rather this all go? Because a shot in the arm so that people can keep living and still participate in society seems pretty fucking tame compared to that.
Want to know how we stopped it? Mandated fucking vaccines.
This is the book if you'd like to learn more. Something tells me you don't, though.
This sort of related to your ask: Gang Leader for a Day - https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X
While not focused on your question, it does show the impact that poor urban designs can have on the poor.
If I recall correctly, Sudhir claims that 54% of users he observed in the South Side of Chicago back in the 1980's were actually functioning. https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Sudhir+Venkatesh+gang+leader+for+a+day&qid=1571162955&sr=8-1
Gang Leader for a Day is now on my must-read list, but it's not the book I was thinking of. This was 2003-4 that I took the class.
The cover is brighter. Like a vibrant contrast-y orange/yellow and bright lighter shade of blue.
For anyone interested in what being a messenger is like The Immortal Class is a pretty good read. Having been a messenger I think he puffs it up a bit but he also captures a lot of it very accurately.
Most of the commonly cited problems caused by "immigration" in our country are, in actuality, caused by the drug trade.
Reduce the country's reliance on drug importation, you reduce the influence of the cartels and the gangs.
As sociologists have pointed out, gangs exist, not to form some sort of mythical "hispanic/black menace", but because the gang system mirrors the McDonald's franchise model for supply and distribution (with the cartels standing at the top of the c-suite).
If Mexico is failing to "send their best", it's because of drugs. Take care of the drug problem, and you take care of most of the problems with "bad immigration" (i.e., drug mules and drug runners).
Maybe this doesn't fit, but if you're looking to learn more about it Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets provides some really great insights into the gang community and how the day-to-day is run as well as the community efforts the gang bring in an effort to deter being reported to the police
You mentioning the POW camp reminded me of a great book on the subject... Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WWII Prisoner of War Camps. With Wisconsin's heavy German American influence the local interactions with escapees and prison laborers was kind of like a reverse Hogan's Hero's. I don't have the book in front of me but recall something about one German POW who would regularly "escape" the Mitchell Field camp to get a beer at a near-by tavern.
There's probably a lot a books that can fit that description, but I've only read the one that might qualify: The Frontiersman by Allan W. Eckert.
If you would seriously like to learn something of the mindset and daily life of a Chicago gang member I would recommend the book, Gang Leader for a Day.
It is basically a sociologist who spends time with a black gang on the south side of Chicago and details the environment and mindset.
but you have my second dream job.
I think you'd really enjoy this book:
You might like (or hate) this book... http://www.amazon.com/The-Immortal-Class-Messengers-Human/dp/0375760245
I enjoyed it but it seems to be somewhat polarizing. I'm happy to give you my copy if you want to drop by and pick it up downtown at some point.
It also created an opportunity for a few American citizens, of the caucasian persuasian, to profit from seized real estate and property. Incidentally, the internment order comprised all "enemy aliens," including Italian and German. ((http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/enemy-aliens-overview.html) Ironically, the U.S. also had POW camps, for captured German soldiers, throughout the U.S., who were often allowed to go into the nearby towns to mingle with the population. Go figure. (http://www.amazon.com/Stalag-Wisconsin-Inside-Prisoner-Camps/dp/187856983X)
I'm listening to Robert Greene's "48 Laws of Power" on audio right now. It's pretty good. I remember starting it before finding TRP and it didn't click at all, but it makes more sense now.
I listened to a lot of Stephan Molyneux's podcasts when I started into TRP. He has a lot of political/financial/anarchy stuff doesn't interest me as much, but he also runs a neat call-in show. The great call-in episodes are where he'll dig into someone's relationship problem, analyse it from a very Men's Rights'/ TRP perspective, and give the caller hell for making bad decisions. Notable episodes (you can find on youtube) are "Trapping Men in Fallopian Tubes", "Estrogen-based Parasites", and "The Dangers of Dating a Single mom".
If you're looking for inspiration in the career/goals sense, I used to have a set of Brian Tracy CDs (maybe tapes? it was a long time ago!) which were geared toward selling/sales but had a lot of general goal-setting and motivational stuff.
Two other audiobooks that I recall enjoying the hell out of were "Gang Leader for a Day" and "The Disaster Diaries". The latter is an interestng account of a guy who learns all kinds of manly survivalist stuff - kind of hokey in parts but the stories of his experiences were pretty cool.
A great follow up to that is Sin in the Second City. It's also historical fiction about the Everleigh Club, which was a famous brothel back then. It's where the term "getting laid" comes from.
I can't recommend it enough, incredibly slept on and underrated.
It actually isn't too dense, if you want to check out the original. He also wrote a book more geared to the general public called Gang Leader for a Day that is a neat read.
Dr. Levitt, last year I read Sudhir Venkatesh's incredible book Gang Leader for a Day. Do you still maintain contact with him or with other people featured in your books and articles? Is there anyone that you've mentioned that should write a book but hasn't so far?
scientists in the 40s studied the peshtigo fire and tried to recreate it for bombing germany and japan.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets focuses heavily on lower level dealers. Very interesting book. He used some of the info from doing this book for his work with Freakanomics (reminds me to put that book on my list).
For "history in an embellished story format" you should try The Frontiersmen and its sequels in The Winning of America series. It is the most fascinating historical account I have ever read. The author claims that it is non-fiction because every character actually existed and every event actually occurred as described. But he obviously takes a lot of liberties with describing the actual words and thoughts of the characters, which really makes for an enhanced reading experience.
Edit: Warning: It is also one of the most horrifyingly violent stories I have ever read, dealing with the clashes between warring factions in the frontier and wilderness of what is now Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia prior to the American Revolution, including the French and Indian Wars.
Apparently you live under a rock and have not seen the dozens of news stories of police corruption including murder and shaking down/robbing drug dealers and gang members in Chi town.
You should read Gang Leader for a Day. Very interesting stuff. http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/1594201501
If you're really curious about gang life in Chicago, a UofC professor basically embedded himself with Chicago gangs for seven years to observe them and wrote a book about his observations.