An Indian sociologist walks into a housing project in Chicago with a questionnaire and walks straight into a lethal gang of drug leaders. Among his questions: “How does it feel to be black and poor?“.

Not only do they think he’s Mexican, and possibly a decoy for a gang attack, the suggested answers to the question are just as surreal: “very bad; somewhat bad; neither bad nor good; somewhat good; very good.” The gang members just laugh at him.

And so begins a journey by one man, sociologist Venkatesh Prasad, to live among one of Chicago’s most notorious drug gangs to find out more about their lives.

Prasad’s unique access to dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organisers, and officials paints an honest and exposed portrait of an urban war zone.

His book, Gang Leader For a Day, is populated by fascinating characters such as JT, T-Bone – JT’s henchman, a prostitute called Peanut, and Ms Baily – the all powerful president of the building.

He uncovers the complex organisational structure of the crack-selling trade and crime culture, and answers the question: what is it like to live in hell?

Sudhir Venkatesh is Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Columbia University, New York. He has written extensively about American poverty. He is currently working on a project comparing the urban poor in France and the United States.

When he was looking for people to take part in a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty while at university, back in 1989, he never imagined that he would befriend a gang leader and spend the better part of a decade in the projects.

The book is to be published in paperback by Penguin Books on 5th February 2009
Press contact: Mari Yamazaki, 020 7010 3419 / mari.yamazaki@uk.penguingroup.com