G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles

by Celeste Fremon

Book Overview

Father Gregory J. Boyle, SJ, is a native of Los Angeles, a Jesuit priest, and founder of Homeboy Industries, an economic development and jobs program begun in 1988 for at-risk and gang-involved youth. "A great many kids in my neighborhood don't plan their futures; they plan their funerals." G-Dog and the Homeboys presents the story of Boyle's unconventional ministry and its extraordinary successes. In this expanded, updated edition, Celeste...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826344852
• ISBN13: 9780826344854
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful and Full of Wonder

A wonderful read that can be shared with reluctant readers to bring them face to face with their place in modern literature. A book that should be shared with more teenagers. A look at gang life/ prisons in our urban world through the eyes of someone on a shared journey. I shared this book and another series that Celeste wrote in LA Weekly (2005) with my students as a combination class: experience of life literature and morality. Father Boyle is a master at understanding humanity and our call to larger social responsibility. We are not permitted to dismiss the world around us after reading this book that tugs at the corners of your heart. Greg gives hope where it is needed the most - to everyone. If the opportunity to hear Father Greg Boyle speak presents itself, do yourself a favor and go.

Inspiration and then some!

I love this book. G- Dog And The Homeboys is completely inspiring. The writing is compelling and Celeste Fremon is the consummate storyteller. I never thought that I would find myself experiencing the level of compassion I felt for these so called gang members. Ms. Fremon humanizes the characters like no one else. It is also rare that we meet someone such as Father Greg Boyle who has made these young men and women his adopted family and has created the nations largest gang intervention program helping these kids to turn their lives around. If you need some inspiration and a dose of humanity G-Dog And The Homeboys is it!

Whenever in Doubt.....

After so many years of trials and tribulations I am amazed and proud of you for allowing your drive and passion to get you through all of the dangerous situations you were in during the voyage we called our lives. I can relive all those memories by gracing your pages you delicately have put together It has been quite an adventurous ride. Great Book!! The Grand Wizard....

Classic narrative finally back in print!

In the early 1990's, Celeste Fremon (frequent contributor to the LA Weekly) shadowed Father Greg Boyle S.J. as he tirelessly worked to improve (read: SAVE) the lives of disinfranchased gang members from the Pico/Aliso "hood" in East Los Angeles. Her resulting, richly descriptive narrative covers the gauntlet of tragedies and triumphs pervading life in a war zone. The fact that this particular war zone is but a handful of miles from downtown Beverly Hills, one of the richest cities in America, is profound. In short, this is an important and unforgettable book that will richly supplement any college class focused on issues of social justice. Hopefully, this reprint (and new title...)will afford Fremon's work the wider attention, and study, it deserves. Includes new chapters which bring readers up to date not ony with "G-Dog" and his work, but with many of the young men and women who populate the original narrative. -ZH

A Masterpiece

Fremon's account of Father Greg's early 1990's work in Boyle Heights, CA. is as moving and powerful a work as one is likely to read. The fact that this book is out of print (currently) is a crime!