"...as riveting as it is raw..."
- Publishers Weekly
If you managed to survive a beating by dozens of gang members one cold nightdeep in gang turf, would you ever go back into that neighborhood? Author M. RutledgeMcCall not only went back, he moved in--for over a year.
"Rich and detailed...visual and in your face. I really love thisbook."
- Billy Finkelstein, Producer, Emmy Award-Winning Writer; "Law & Order";"Brooklyn South"; "NYPD Blue"; "L.A. Law";"Murder One"
Described as "The Sopranos"-meets-"Boys In The Hood,"this poignant, riveting, critically acclaimed saga details the experiences ofauthor M. Rutledge McCall living in the largest, most violent ghetto in Americaamong some of its deadliest residents.
"An immense and breathtaking research...McCall is a legend."
- Neheda Barakat, Award-Winning Documentary Producer, TV Bureau Chief &Executive Producer, Journalist; BBC; ABC-TV/Australia; U.N.; U.S. Dept. of State
During his time in the 'hood, gang members were sending bullet-riddled corpsesto the county morgue at the rate of one every 11 hours. After spending monthsin gang turf, sufficient mutual trust and respect grew between gang members andMcCall that they allowed him to be involved in every aspect of their lives: togo where they went, see what they saw, and watch what they did while he movedamong them as no white outsider had ever been allowed. And McCall saw it all,from crimes committed by gang members to crimes committed by police officers.He saw firsthand the path that leads 6 year-old boys to becoming 16 year-oldkillers, and society's role in creating and fostering the violence and mayhemin America's big-city ghettos.
"Powerful...engrossing...meaningful and relevant. McCall's poeticprose has a 'Fight Club' quality... with suspenseful vignettes building towardanarchy... Unique and illuminating. Think 'DonnyBrasco'-meets-'FightClub'-meets-'Traffic'."
- Don Morgan, Phoenix Pictures; "6th Man"; "A Thin Red Line"
Yet, unbelievably, those were the early, more peaceful days of modern ghettogangsterism. By the new millennium, street gangs such as La Eme (the Mexican Mafia)and the BGF (Black Guerilla Family) had spread into and gained virtual freereign of the nation's prisons, where Latinos far outnumber Blacks, and violencebetween the two had risen to alarming levels. By 2012, street gangs such as theF13's and Mar Salvatrucha had gone worldwide, virtually taking over the illegaldrug trade and morphing into violent cousins of the early street gangs of LosAngeles, Compton and Watts, California.
"...'dirty realism' [takes] the readers to gritty places and slices oflife... described unflinchingly... with a rich but clean writingstyle....unanticipated personal descent into darkness. ...any reader would beamazed at what [McCall was] able to accomplish without getting killed... tooksome guts and naïveté..."
- Dr. Wilbur J. Scott, Ph.D., Professor; US Air Force Academy, Dept. ofBehavioral Sciences & Leadership
The events McCall witnessed and participated in during his time in the 'hoodnot only shattered his perceptions of racism in America today, they changed hislife. The book went on to be optioned for film by David O. Sacks, co-founderand former Chief Operating Officer of PayPal.
"Utterly incredible...a fascinating story...a great writer."
- Susan Bymel, Founding Partner, Talent Entertainment Group; Founding Partner,Management 360; Producer, "Game of Thrones"
The updated, 20th Anniversary Edition of the book will bereleased in January of 2020.
See: American-Ghetto.com
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.