Late Industrial Era

Chicago Gangs in the Twilight of the Industrial Era

Explosion of Chicago Street Gangs by Useni Eugene Perkins

This book is a history of African American gangs from their origins until the 1980s. Valuable history.

1987 Chicago. Third World Press

The Blackstone Rangers: A reporter's account of time spent with Blackstone Rangers in chicago's South Side by R.T. Sale

This is a superficial journalistic account of the Blackstone Rangers, later the Black P Stone Nation and El Rukn.It captures some of the flair of the sixties.

1971 New York. Random House

The 1960s witnessed a mass movement which demanded civil rights for minorities and better conditions in central cities. The sixties also witnessed an explosion of gangs in Black and Hispanic communities. These gangs were profoundly effected by the civil rights movement.

Boss by Mike Royko

For those who think gangs have always been a minority problem, here a story of one vicious Irish gang leader who became not only the mayor of Chicago, but the father of the current mayor.

1971 New York: Signet.

Stateville by James Jacobs

The best book on gangs in prison. Jacobs study cries out for a update. I highly recommend the book, and for Chicago area students to tour the prison. I've seen some bad prisons in my life, but nothing as bad as Stateville.

1977. Chicago: University of Chicago.

On the right is Stateville's famous "Iron Lady," its electric chair. Executions have been indefinitely postponed in Illinois by order of Governor Ryan.

UIC has recently begun an "Innocence Clinic." For more information, go to the Criminal Justice Homepage.

For more information on prisons, link to the Prisoners' Activist Resource Page.

Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicago Community by Ruth Horowitz

This is a community studies classic, looking at problems of acculturation for Mexican American boys and girls and their gang experiences. Well worth it.

1983. New Brunswick. Rutgers University Press.

The Social Order of the Slum by Gerald D. Suttles

This book captures Chicago in transition, when turf was something to fight over for one's ethnic group, not a contested market.

1968 . Chicago: University of Chicago