Chapter 1:
Sudhir Venkatesh, an Indian student at the University of Chicago, takes on an sociology assignment from his professor to gather information about the poor black families that live in the projects of the city. With any luck Sudhir hopes he will be able to develop this assignment into a dissertation for his academic progression. Armed with only a shallow understanding of surveys that have been completed before his and a blissfully ignorant personality Sudhir picks one of the most infamous buildings in town to start his research and walks right up to the gang stationed at the front door. He is instantly met with distrust and believed to be a member of another gang. Even though he does his best to explain that he is a student and only wishes to carry out a survey, his pleas fall on deaf ears. After a prolonged period of threatening his life one gang member instructs him to begin his survey. The first question on his list, "How does it feel to be poor and black" gets violent outbursts from the gang members. Fortunately, at this time, J.T. shows up to the scene. J.T. is the leader of the gang in charge of the building and demands to know what is happening. J.T. does not show as much outward aggression towards Sudhir as the rest of the gang members did, but he is clearly unhappy with the disturbance. After taking Sudhir's clipboard and skimming through the questions J.T. laughs at the blatant ignorance displayed by Sudhir and his survey. He explains that no survey will ever allow you to understand the people living in the projects and if you really want to understand you must get to know the people first.
Chapter 2:
Taking J.T's instructions to get to know the community better as an open invitation, Sudhir shows back up in the projects shortly later. While initially surprised to see Sudhir back at the building, J.T. decides to start allowing him some access to the building to start his research under the false presumption that the paper Sudhir will eventually write will be a biography about him. J.T. acts as his personal chaperon while he is in the area, offering him protection and an insight to a poor lifestyle that is alien to Sudhir. J.T explains that the basics of how the Black Kings operate and what other underground professions operate in the area. Sudhir is surprised to find out that J.T. actually has a college education and chose to return to the gang life. J.T. claims to be doing it to give back to the community and trying to help other poor black kids succeed in life, but these claims seem shallow at best to the reader. It is far more likely that J.T. just decided that the quickest way to make money was by operating a gang. While Sudhir is getting an inside view of what is going on in the gang it is clear to him that it is not a complete picture. J.T. has to much power over him and can control what he sees and hears. One of the defining sections of this chapter however, occurs when Sudhir starts to have a favorable reputation among the community and no longer always needs to be by J.T's side. Without J.T's knowledge, Sudhir is present when C-Note is savagely beaten by J.T for confronting his authority. While Sudhir had some idea that this was going on, witnessing it in person causes him to question his own personal moral compass.
Chapter 3:
The third chapter of the book covers two distinct areas: Sudhir's continuing moral questions about his involvement with the gang and how the gang provides(to some degree) for the community around it.
After witnessing C-note's beating Sudhir is nervous that he will no longer be allowed back into the gangs area. Fortunately, J.T. soon invites him back for his daughters birthday party and C-notes beating is not mentioned for a prolonged period of time. A second occurrence when Sudhir witnesses the gang beating a squatter to death forces him to reevaluate his time being spent with the gang. He approaches J.T with questions why such extreme cases of force were needed in both situations, and much to Sudhir's surprise J.T is willing to talk about what happened. He explained that C-note had been previously warned that the courts were going to be needed on that night. Furthermore, higher ups in the gang had been accompanying J.T that night. Had he allowed C-note to talk back to him like he did, it would have drastically reduced his influence and position in the leadership of the guild. It would have also sent the message that it was ok to refuse the gangs demands while accepting the gangs protection. J.T could not allow this so his hand was ultimately forced in the situation. At the end of the questioning Sudhir is somewhat appeased, but he still is unsure how situations like these affect him morally.
One of J.T's goals is to recreate the political power that the gangs of Chicago once had. Towards this end he requires all the young members of the gang to attend a voting "class" put on by a Lenny Duster. During this class Lenny informs the kids that they need to insure that they receive at least a high school education. He also provides insight on how to work(sell drugs) more effectively. Finally, he instructs them to strong arm the population of the building into registering to vote and then vote according to the gangs wishes. Ultimately, the class appears to be more about promoting the gangs wellness then that of the kids. An example of the poor information that was given to them comes into the light as Sudhir fallows a small group of kids door to door to convince them to vote for the Black Kings. One lady is already registered to vote and the kids are utterly confused when she attempts to explain the voting process to them. Some time later Sudhir gets another example of the gangs involvement with the community when he witnesses a conflict between a car mechanic, Kris, and his customer. The customer claims Kris has not done his job and refuses to pay. T-Bone, the gangs enforcer, shows up and discovers Kris to be telling the truth and the work has in fact been completed. T-Bone swiftly deals out justice and ensures Kris receives his pay. This indecent allows Sudhir a brief glimpse into what exactly the gang offers the community in return for the disruptions caused by them. The final example in the chapter occurs when the sound of a woman screaming attracts Sudhir's attention. She claims that a worker at a local store raped her daughter and gave her a STD. After Price is summoned the group goes to the store, the girl yells at the man in question, and a quick settlement is reached. Even after witnessing the indecent, Sudhir is unable to determine exactly why the gang got involved and the police were not called. Price explains that the gang helped because it's the gangs job to keep piece in the building.
Finally, the chapter concludes with J.T being summoned away for a higher level gang meeting. Sudhir is allowed to wonder the dorm alone during this time. This excites him because he has never had this level of freedom before and hopes to use the time to interview more common people in the building, but he soon discovers that they don't wish to talk to him due to his gang affiliation. He does however get to talk to Ms. Bailey, the building president.
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
