Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings (eBook)

Youth Gangs in Postwar New York

Eric C. Schneider (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2021
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-22330-8 (ISBN)

Infos

They called themselves "e;Vampires,"e; "e;Dragons,"e; and "e;Egyptian Kings."e; They were divided by race, ethnicity, and neighborhood boundaries, but united by common styles, slang, and codes of honor. They fought--and sometimes killed--to protect and expand their territories. In postwar New York, youth gangs were a colorful and controversial part of the urban landscape, made famous by West Side Story and infamous by the media. This is the first historical study to explore fully the culture of these gangs. Eric Schneider takes us into a world of switchblades and slums, zoot suits and bebop music to explain why youth gangs emerged, how they evolved, and why young men found membership and the violence it involved so attractive. Schneider begins by describing how postwar urban renewal, slum clearances, and ethnic migration pitted African-American, Puerto Rican, and Euro-American youths against each other in battles to dominate changing neighborhoods. But he argues that young men ultimately joined gangs less because of ethnicity than because membership and gang violence offered rare opportunities for adolescents alienated from school, work, or the family to win prestige, power, adulation from girls, and a masculine identity. In the course of the book, Schneider paints a rich and detailed portrait of everyday life in gangs, drawing on personal interviews with former members to re-create for us their language, music, clothing, and social mores. We learn what it meant to be a "e;down bopper"e; or a "e;jive stud,"e; to "e;fish"e; with a beautiful "e;deb"e; to the sounds of the Jesters, and to wear gang sweaters, wildly colored zoot suits, or the "e;Ivy League look."e; He outlines the unwritten rules of gang behavior, the paths members followed to adulthood, and the effects of gang intervention programs, while also providing detailed analyses of such notorious gang-related crimes as the murders committed by the "e;Capeman,"e; Salvador Agron. Schneider focuses on the years from 1940 to 1975, but takes us up to the present in his conclusion, showing how youth gangs are no longer social organizations but economic units tied to the underground economy. Written with a profound understanding of adolescent culture and the street life of New York, this is a powerful work of history and a compelling story for a general audience.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.1.2021
• Zusatzinfo: 11 halftones, 3 line illus., 5 maps
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Regional- / Landesgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► 20. Jahrhundert bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Kriminologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Schlagworte: adolescence • Adult • African Americans • Agron, Gumersindo • Alcohol • American Friends Service Committee • Amsterdam Knights • antipoverty funds • Anti-Semitism • Apartment • arson • attempt • Baraka, Imamu • bebop (bop) • Bensonhurst (Brooklyn) • Big Bopper (musician) • Black Market • Blankenship, Billy • Brando, Marlon • Brown, Peter • burglary • Caplan, Nathan • cellar clubs • Chase Manhattan Bank • Child labor • class differences • Claude Brown • Color line (civil rights issue) • Communists • Community Organizing • Competition • cowardice • crack cocaine • Crime • criminal justice • Criminology • curbstone counseling • cycle of violence • Detroit (Michigan) • district attorney • dock workers • Dumonts (gang) • East Bronx • East Harlem • effeminacy • Ellison, Harlan • Employment • Entrepreneurship • ethnic conflict • ethnic group • European Americans • evangelism (street-corner) • Extortion • Fathers • Fleisher, Mark • Foray • Foudy, Thomas • frederic thrasher • Gang • gang rape • Gartner, Rosemary • Gee, Theresa • Gonzalez, Carlos • Good Neighbor Federation • grand jury • Hargraves, Archie • Harlem • Harlem riot of 1943 • Heroin • Hills, Richard • homicide • hostility • Household • humiliation • illegal drug trade • Illiteracy • Incarceration • income • Informant • Institution • intimidation • Italians • Jews • Johnson, Hugh • juvenile arrests • Juvenile Court • Juvenile Delinquency • Kinshasa, Kwando • Klein, Malcolm • Laub, John H. • Liberalism • Long Island University • Lower East Side • Malcolm X • March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom • Marijuana • Masculinity • Mau Maus • Mediation • Mentors • middle class • misdemeanor • Moral Panic • Navajos (gang) • Neston, Thelma • newspaper • New York (State) • Nicknames • Operation Bootstrap • Organized Crime • Police • Police brutality • Police Officer • Political Economy • Politician • Politics • probation officer • Prostitution • Puerto Ricans • Racism • Racket (crime) • Reformatory • reform school • Reputation • Requirement • Robbery • Salvador Agron • Shirt • Slum • Social capital • social issue • Social Structure • Sociology • South Bronx • Subculture • Symptom • Tenement • The Bronx • Theft • The New York Times • The Other Hand • Truancy • Unemployment • Urban renewal • Vandalism • Violence • Violent crime • welfare • Workforce • Working Class • World War II • youth council
• ISBN-10: 0-691-22330-0 / 0691223300
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-22330-8 / 9780691223308