The Gang: A study of 1313 gangs by Frederick Thrasher

This is the classic study of gangs by the father of gang research in 1920s Chicago. Watch this site for access to a digitized copy of this book.

1927/1963 Chicago. Univesity of Chicago Press

 

Much good information can be gathered by linking to the Chicago Historical Society's website.

Group Process and Gang Delinquency by James Short & Fred Strodtbeck

This is a careful test of several influential theories based on extensive interviews with gang members. Jim Short led the resurgence of Chicago gang research in the 1960s which we intend to take up today.

1965. Chicago. University of Chicago Press

The Vice Lords: Warriors of the Street by Kenneth Keiser

This is a description of the early Vice Lords. It contains some good historical material.The Vice Lords began in Lawndale, just west of UIC, in the 1950s. In Thrashers time Lawndale was the home of Jewish gangs.

1969 New York. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston

A Nation of Lords: The Autobiography of the Vice Lords : by David Dawley

A history of the Vice Lords by a white member. Good pictures and reprints of newspaper clippings. Stress on the positive, political role of the 1960s gang.

1992. Second Edition. Prospect Heights, IL. Waveland Press.

The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy's Own Story. and The Natural History of a Delinquent Career. by Clifford Shaw

These "personal documents" by one of Chicago's best social scientists remain a standard for today. We need such "personal documents" of gang members and leaders telling their own story.

1930 (1966) and 1931 (1976) Chicago. University of Chicago

Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas by Clifford Shaw, and Henry D. McKay

This is the classic study of the Chicago School, demonstrating that crime rates vary by area, not ethnic group. It laid the foundation for social disorganization theory.The concentric cirlces representing different deliquency areas have been the home of highest rates of crime and violence...until today.

1942 (1969)J First Edition ed. Chicago: University of Chicago.

The Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago's Near North Side by Harvey Warren Zorbaugh

The basic idea behind this classic is supremely important today. Chicago's slums are related to her Gold Coast. Unless the Gold Coast helps revitalize the slum, Chicago is lost.

1929. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Other Important Texts

Addams, Jane. 1920/1960. Twenty Years at Hull-House. New York: Signet.

Anderson, Nels. 1923/1961. The Hobo. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Bernard, Jesse. 1970. The Sociology of Community. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Drake, St. Clair, and Horace R. Cayton. 1970. Black Metropolis. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, Inc.

Ellison, Ralph. 1947. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage.

Kobrin, Solomon. 1951. "The Conflict of Values in Delinquency Areas." American Sociological Review 16:653-661.

Kobrin, Soloman. 1959. "The Chicago Area Project–A 25 year Assessment." :19-29.

Kobrin, Solomon, Joseph Puntil, and Emil Peluso. 1967. "Criteria of Status among Street Groups." 4:98-118.

Park, Robert. 1969 (1916). "The City: Suggestions for the Investigation of Human Behavior in the Urban Environment." Pp. 91-130 in Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities, edited by Richard Sennett. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Park, Robert E. 1967. "Human Ecology." Pp. 69-84 in Robert E. Park on Social Control and Collective Behavior, edited by Ralph H. Turner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Schlossman, Steven, and Michael Sedlak. 1983. "The Chicago Area Project Revisited." . Santa Monica, California: The Rand Corporation.

Schlossman, Steven L., Gail Zellman, and Richard Schavelson. 1984. Delinquency Prevention in South Chicago. Santa Monica, California: Rand Corporation.

Sorrentino, Anthony. 1959. "The Chicago Area Project After 25 Years." :40-45.

Spear, Allan H. 1967. Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago.