Dead End Kids: Gang Girls and the Boys They Know

by Mark S. Fleisher

Book Overview

Dead End Kids exposes both the depravity and the humanity in gang life through the eyes of a teenaged girl named Cara, a member of a Kansas City gang. In this shocking yet compassionate account, Mark... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299158802
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.9" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

funny

If you feel the author of this book was irresponsible, then you have something coming. Go to college and understand how important research like this is. Then you will understand why is was important for him to preserve the culture in order to study it. The whole pretense of research, especially an ethnography, is that people trust you so you can study the truth and show your findings to the rest of the world. He found a lot in this research and this wouldn't have happened if he "told" on them.

Interesting, yet highly disturbing

I write this review merely to respond to allegations that Fleisher is irresponsible. First of all, before you make that claim, enroll in one sociology course. Research like this is vital to understanding how humans operate, and without such research (not just about gangs, but about many aspects of life) policy recommendations would not be accurate, and problems would not be addressed appropriately. Had Fleisher reported all of the crimes that occurred during his time there, his research would have ended. As it is, there is very little research done on girls in gangs. Second, if you had completed the book, you would have seen that Fleisher did have a friend report what he saw with Amy and RoniRo (p 247 -- second full paragraph.) Third, he didn't approve of the gang girls choices to sell drugs -- he said he understood it. Granted that is a choice that most people cannot understand, but after witnessing all that he did, how can you blame him for being disenfranchised? Clearly, much more research needs to be done on girls in gangs, as this was a study confined to one city. But Fleisher has done a fabulous job explaining the motivations and lifestyles of girls in Kansas City, and purported to do nothing more. Before you so harshly criticize a writer, please make sure that you fully understand what you are discussing.

Perfect

The author handled the situations almost perfectly and I applaud him for that. Being a reformed gang member I was suprised that he even got these kid to trust him enough not to think he was the feds. People complain about how he allowed them to smoke and deal drugs but if he had tried to stop them he would have been dead.

I'm a sucker for Oprah-esque sociology books

I rarely ever come across "page turners" when it comes to reading sociology works -- but I was not able to put Dead End Kids down. This book is a real gem because it does two great things -- 1) puts one rawly in touch with other's lives, and 2) sets forth social policy suggestions based on the research. Having stumbled across this book in the library by random, I now plan to reading more of Fleisher's work.

Good Reading

This book gives an accurate description of the emotional issues teen gangster, especially females, face today. As a Gang Expert, I like the fact that this book shows the gang youth as people and delves into their personal struggles and life situations. Gang Members are people too. This book depicts just that!