Gang Leader for a Day

Talk and book signing with Sudhir Venkatesh
November 12
7:30 p.m.
Roger Bacon Key Auditorium

For seven years, sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh led a double life. For his dissertation, he went inside one of Chicago's worst housing projects. He lived among the poor and hung out with gang members. He befriended the leader of the Black Kings, one of the country's largest and most violent crack-dealing gangs, and led the group for a day. In his book Gang Leader for a Day he reveals his experiences.

Sudhir Venkatesh is now a professor of sociology at Columbia University. He has written extensively about American poverty and is currently working on a project comparing the urban poor in France and the United States. His writings, stories, and documentaries have appeared in The American Prospect, This American Life, and The Source and on PBS and National Public Radio.

He is now a professor of sociology at Columbia University and will be on the Siena campus for a talk and book signing on November 12, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.