Gangs In Los Angeles California

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The Mexican Mafia

Author : Tony Rafael
Publisher : Encounter Books
ISBN 13 : 1594032734
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis The Mexican Mafia by : Tony Rafael

Download or read book The Mexican Mafia written by Tony Rafael and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2007-07-09 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been called the most dangerous gang in American history. In Los Angeles alone it is responsible for over 100 homicides per year. Although it has fewer than 300 members, it controls a 40,000-strong street army that is eager to advance its agenda. It waves the flag of the Black Hand and its business is murder. Although known on the streets for over fifty years, the Mexican Mafia has flown under the radar of public awareness and has flourished beneath a deep cover of secrecy. Members are forbidden even to acknowledge its existence. For the first time in its history, the Mexican Mafia is now getting the attention it has been striving to avoid. In this briskly written and thoroughly researched book, Tony Rafael looks at the birth and the blood-soaked growth of this criminal enterprise through the eyes of the victims, the dropouts, the cops and DAs on the front lines of the war against the Mexican Mafia. The first book ever published on the subject, Southern Soldiers is a pioneering work that unveils the operations of this California prison gang and describes how it grew from a small clique of inmates into a transnational criminal organization. As the first prison gang ever to project its power beyond prison walls, the Mexican Mafia controls virtually every Hispanic neighborhood in Southern California and is rapidly expanding its influence into the entire Southwest, across the East Coast, and even into Canada. Riding a wave of unchecked immigration and seemingly beyond the reach of law enforcement, the Mexican Mafia is poised to become the Cosa Nostra of twenty-first-century America.

Space of Detention

Author : Elana Zilberg
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 082234730X
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (223 download)

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Book Synopsis Space of Detention by : Elana Zilberg

Download or read book Space of Detention written by Elana Zilberg and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-07 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ethnographic analysis of the purported transnational gang crisis between the United States and El Salvador, based on extensive research in Los Angeles and San Salvador.

A Rainbow of Gangs

Author : James Diego Vigil
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 0292788517
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (927 download)

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Book Synopsis A Rainbow of Gangs by : James Diego Vigil

Download or read book A Rainbow of Gangs written by James Diego Vigil and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, Best Book on Ethnic and Racial Politics in a Local or Urban Setting , Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics of the American Political Science Association, 2002 This cross-cultural study of Los Angeles gangs identifies the social and economic factors that lead to gang membership and underscores their commonality across four ethnic groups--Chicano, African American, Vietnamese, and Salvadorian. With nearly 1,000 gangs and 200,000 gang members, Los Angeles holds the dubious distinction of being the youth gang capital of the United States. The process of street socialization that leads to gang membership now cuts across all ethnic groups, as evidenced by the growing numbers of gangs among recent immigrants from Asia and Latin America. This cross-cultural study of Los Angeles gangs identifies the social and economic factors that lead to gang membership and underscores their commonality across four ethnic groups—Chicano, African American, Vietnamese, and Salvadorian. James Diego Vigil begins at the community level, examining how destabilizing forces and marginalizing changes have disrupted the normal structures of parenting, schooling, and policing, thereby compelling many youths to grow up on the streets. He then turns to gang members' life stories to show how societal forces play out in individual lives. His findings provide a wealth of comparative data for scholars, policymakers, and law enforcement personnel seeking to respond to the complex problems associated with gangs.

The Projects

Author : James Diego Vigil
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 029277382X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (927 download)

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Book Synopsis The Projects by : James Diego Vigil

Download or read book The Projects written by James Diego Vigil and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2009-03-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2008 — ALLA Prize for Best Book on Latina/o Anthropology The Pico Gardens housing development in East Los Angeles has a high percentage of resident families with a history of persistent poverty, gang involvement, and crime. In some families, members of three generations have belonged to gangs. Many other Pico Gardens families, however, have managed to avoid the cycle of gang involvement. In this work, Vigil adds to the tradition of poverty research and elaborates on the association of family dynamics and gang membership. The main objective of his research was to discover what factors make some families more vulnerable to gang membership, and why gang resistance was evidenced in similarly situated non-gang-involved families. Providing rich, in-depth interviews and observations, Vigil examines the wide variations in income and social capital that exist among the ostensibly poor, mostly Mexican American residents. Vigil documents how families connect and interact with social agencies in greater East Los Angeles to help chart the routines and rhythms of the lives of public housing residents. He presents family life histories to augment and provide texture to the quantitative information. By studying life in Pico Gardens, Vigil feels we can better understand how human agency interacts with structural factors to produce the reality that families living in all public housing developments must contend with daily.

Barrio Gangs

Author : James Diego Vigil
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 0292786778
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (927 download)

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Book Synopsis Barrio Gangs by : James Diego Vigil

Download or read book Barrio Gangs written by James Diego Vigil and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the Mexican American barrios of Los Angeles, gang activity, including crime and violent acts, has grown and flourished. In the past, community leaders and law enforcement officials have approached the problem, not as something that needs to be understood, but only as something to be gotten rid of. Rejecting that approach, James D. Vigil asserts that only by understanding the complex factors that give birth and persistence to gangs can gang violence be ended. Drawing on many years of experience in the barrios as a youth worker, high school teacher, and researcher, Vigil identifies the elements from which gangs spring: isolation from the dominant culture, poverty, family stress and crowded households, peer pressure, and the adolescent struggle for self-identity. Using interviews with actual gang members, he reveals how the gang often functions as parent, school, and law enforcement in the absence of other role models in the gang members' lives. And he accounts for the longevity of gangs, sometimes over decades, by showing how they offer barrio youth a sense of identity and belonging nowhere else available.

Monster

Author : Sanyika Shakur
Publisher : Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0802198236
Total Pages : 426 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (21 download)

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Book Synopsis Monster by : Sanyika Shakur

Download or read book Monster written by Sanyika Shakur and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic memoir of life as a Crip, written in solitary confinement: “A shockingly raw, frightening portrait of gang life in South Central Los Angeles.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times After pumping eight blasts from a sawed-off shotgun at a group of rival gang members, twelve-year-old Kody Scott was initiated into the L.A. gang the Crips. He quickly matured into one of the most formidable Crip combat soldiers, earning the name “Monster” for committing acts of brutal violence that repulsed even his fellow gang members. When the inevitable jail term confined him to a maximum-security cell, a complete political and personal transformation followed: from Monster to Sanyika Shakur, black nationalist, member of the New Afrikan Independence Movement, and crusader against the causes of gangsterism. In a work that has been compared to The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice, Shakur makes palpable the despair and decay of America’s inner cities and gives eloquent voice to one aspect of the black ghetto experience.

Do or Die

Author : Leon Bing
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0060922915
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (69 download)

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Book Synopsis Do or Die by : Leon Bing

Download or read book Do or Die written by Leon Bing and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1992-05-20 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do or Die is the first insider account of teenage gangs--the lives, loves, and battles of children who kill--from the only journalist ever allowed inside this closed and dangerous world. This is no West Side Story. Welcome to a world where teenagers wear colostomy bags and have scrapbooks filled with funeral invitations; where a young man, after being shot in the chest, drives himself to the hospital; where another youngster, caught in crossfire, uses his girlfriend as a human shield; where teenage gangsters are kidnapped, tortured, and held for six-figure ransoms; where kids hum the latest movie's theme music while killing people. It's a world of clickheads, sherms, bangers, ballers, and mummyheads; a world where the strongest feelings of family come from other gang members; a world where the most potent feelings of self-worth come from murder.

Hoover Crips

Author : Steven R. Cureton
Publisher : University Press of America
ISBN 13 : 1461682428
Total Pages : 89 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (616 download)

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Book Synopsis Hoover Crips by : Steven R. Cureton

Download or read book Hoover Crips written by Steven R. Cureton and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2008-01-28 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hoover Crips is the product of field interviews with Crip gang members in South Central Los Angeles, California. Older gang members offer a dramatic portrayal of their life experiences within a social world beset by gangster politics. The book reveals the Hoover street gang is a community institution that significantly impacts the lifestyle choices of Black male residents. The main feature of the book is its insider's view of gangs. Unique information gathered by Professor Steven R. Cureton includes: ·the origins and current state of the Hoover community, gang, and residents ·insight into the subculture of gang membership, reputation building, and hustling drugs, guns, and people for survival ·the balance between humanity, civility, peace, and war in gang life ·and new discoveries relative to Black residency in a gang-dominated environment. The study concludes with a "where they are now" for the participants in the interviews. This book is recommended for courses in deviance, juvenile delinquency, criminology, cultural deviance, urban communities/sociology of communities, race in America, Black experiences, race relations, race and ethnic relations, qualitative research methodology, and ethnographic research.

Tattoos on the Heart

Author : Greg Boyle
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439153159
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Tattoos on the Heart by : Greg Boyle

Download or read book Tattoos on the Heart written by Greg Boyle and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-02-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on your life. As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration. Tattoos on the Heart is a breathtaking series of parables distilled from his twenty years in the barrio. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally. From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JCPenney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God’s love. From ten-year-old Lula we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Pedro we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the darkness. In each chapter we benefit from Boyle’s wonderful, hard-earned wisdom. Inspired by faith but applicable to anyone trying to be good, these personal, unflinching stories are full of surprising revelations and observations of the community in which Boyle works and of the many lives he has helped save. Erudite, down-to-earth, and utterly heartening, these essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love in difficult times and the importance of fighting despair. With Gregory Boyle’s guidance, we can recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of the men and women in these parables and learn to find joy in all of the people around us. Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.

Disco's Out...Murder's In!

Author : Heath Mattioli
Publisher : Feral House
ISBN 13 : 1627310231
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (273 download)

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Book Synopsis Disco's Out...Murder's In! by : Heath Mattioli

Download or read book Disco's Out...Murder's In! written by Heath Mattioli and published by Feral House. This book was released on 2015-10-19 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Famous for its revolutionary aspects in musical, political, sexual identity and consumerist ideas, punk rock also has its lesser-known gangster ethos as well, explained here by players in the various punk gangs. The Los Angeles, Orange County, and South Bay punk scenes, populated by blue collar kids who responded to the violence and aggression of punk songs and shows. A number of them formed punk gangs that got into beatings, drug dealing and murder. Among them, no gang was more notorious than La Mirada Punks, or LMP. Says LMP chieftain Frank the Shank after getting arrested by police for murder: "After having my hands in so much bloodshed over the years, I most certainly had it coming. I deserved whatever I got." Unexpectedly Frank was bailed out from prison by his father's friend, a mob gangster. "Too many people died at the hands of punk rock violence," said Frank. "I got lucky, some didn't. As an ultra-violent punk rock gangster, I admit my part in ruining the scene. L.A. punk was a magical moment of youth expression like no other. And the gangs ruined punk rock. I still have people telling me today that they quit punk because of LMP. I dig graves at a small cemetery just outside Los Angeles. What else would you expect for Frank the Shank?" Cover illustration by the renowned Raymond Pettibon.

God's Gangs

Author : Edward Flores
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 147987812X
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis God's Gangs by : Edward Flores

Download or read book God's Gangs written by Edward Flores and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, 2014 Distinguished Contribution to Research Award presented by the Latina/o Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association Los Angeles is the epicenter of the American gang problem. Rituals and customs from Los Angeles’ eastside gangs, including hand signals, graffiti, and clothing styles, have spread to small towns and big cities alike. Many see the problem with gangs as related to urban marginality—for a Latino immigrant population struggling with poverty and social integration, gangs offer a close-knit community. Yet, as Edward Orozco Flores argues in God’s Gangs, gang members can be successfully redirected out of gangs through efforts that change the context in which they find themselves, as well as their notions of what it means to be a man. Flores here illuminates how Latino men recover from gang life through involvement in urban, faith-based organizations. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with Homeboy Industries, a Jesuit-founded non-profit that is one of the largest gang intervention programs in the country, and with Victory Outreach, a Pentecostal ministry with over 600 chapters, Flores demonstrates that organizations such as these facilitate recovery from gang life by enabling gang members to reinvent themselves as family men and as members of their community. The book offers a window into the process of redefining masculinity. As Flores convincingly shows, gang members are not trapped in a cycle of poverty and marginality. With the help of urban ministries, such men construct a reformed barrio masculinity to distance themselves from gang life.

East Side Stories

Author :
Publisher : powerHouse Books
ISBN 13 : 9781576870723
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (77 download)

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Book Synopsis East Side Stories by :

Download or read book East Side Stories written by and published by powerHouse Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A knock-out bestseller on its hardcover release just a year ago, East Side Stories has earned stellar praise from The New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, the Village Voice, The Source, Paper, & has appeared in the pages of Life, Geo, & Revu, as well as many other international publications. East Side Stories has been the subject of solo exhibitions in New York, Mexico City, & Stockholm.

Crips

Author : Donald Bakeer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781955363105
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (631 download)

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Book Synopsis Crips by : Donald Bakeer

Download or read book Crips written by Donald Bakeer and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SOUTH CENTRAL L.A. CRIPS is the story of why nearly 10,000 people were destined to get killed during the 1970's, 80's and 90's in a social explosion that began in L.A. then spread across this nation and, indeed, the world. This is the story of O.G. Jimmie Black (aka O.G. Bobby Johnson in the movie), who evolves during those explosive years in South Central L.A. from the Watts Rebellion (1965) to just prior to the days that sparked the L.A. Uprising (1992). It is the story of a father and son's triumph in the midst of America's most deadly gang war. "Bakeer's story moves swiftly, and his writing is deft", Gayle Anthony, LA. Sentinel. "I loved the book and the movie." Tupac Shakur. "The novel CRIPS by Don Bakeer corrects your assumptions about the gangs." LA Weekly. Many of the characters personify the collective spirit of the Original Crips/ O.G.'s and specifically that of Raymond Washington, the founder. But, even more than that, the characters represent the rebellious spirits of Bunchy Carter, Stanley (Tookie) Williams, Ice T, Ice Cube, Tupac, Nipsey Hussle, and Sanyinka Shakur (aka Monster Cody), etc. Bakeer collaborated with Oliver Stone, Steve Anderson, and Warner Bros. to develop the classic fi lm, SOUTH CENTRAL (1992) from this book, yet, the movie only tells a small portion of the true story. Hajji* Donald Bakeer, 77 and father to 9, has been a poet in Los Angeles for over 50 years and taught secondary school English in South Central L.A. for 30 years. He is, now, retired from teaching and lives in Inglewood, CA. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1997. His books: South Central L.A. CRIPS - The Story of the L.A. Street Gang ($8.99); PTSD! Who, Me? ($7.99), and his songs are available at donaldbakeerbooks.com

To Live and Defy in LA

Author : Felicia Angeja Viator
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674976363
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

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Book Synopsis To Live and Defy in LA by : Felicia Angeja Viator

Download or read book To Live and Defy in LA written by Felicia Angeja Viator and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How gangsta rap shocked America, made millions, and pulled back the curtain on an urban crisis. How is it that gangsta rap—so dystopian that it struck aspiring Brooklyn rapper and future superstar Jay-Z as “over the top”—was born in Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, surf, and sun? In the Reagan era, hip-hop was understood to be the music of the inner city and, with rare exception, of New York. Rap was considered the poetry of the street, and it was thought to breed in close quarters, the product of dilapidated tenements, crime-infested housing projects, and graffiti-covered subway cars. To many in the industry, LA was certainly not hard-edged and urban enough to generate authentic hip-hop; a new brand of black rebel music could never come from La-La Land. But it did. In To Live and Defy in LA, Felicia Viator tells the story of the young black men who built gangsta rap and changed LA and the world. She takes readers into South Central, Compton, Long Beach, and Watts two decades after the long hot summer of 1965. This was the world of crack cocaine, street gangs, and Daryl Gates, and it was the environment in which rappers such as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E came of age. By the end of the 1980s, these self-styled “ghetto reporters” had fought their way onto the nation’s radio and TV stations and thus into America’s consciousness, mocking law-and-order crusaders, exposing police brutality, outraging both feminists and traditionalists with their often retrograde treatment of sex and gender, and demanding that America confront an urban crisis too often ignored.

The Homeboy Way

Author : Thomas Vozzo
Publisher : Loyola Press
ISBN 13 : 0829454578
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (294 download)

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Book Synopsis The Homeboy Way by : Thomas Vozzo

Download or read book The Homeboy Way written by Thomas Vozzo and published by Loyola Press. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2023 Illumination Book Awards Gold Medalist, Inspirational 2023 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite, Business - Motivational 2023 Catholic Media Association Book Awards, Honorable Mention, Catholc Social Teaching Leading with heart, authenticity and purpose, Thomas Vozzo provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing the Homeboy Way to life as the perfect anecdote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities. By every traditional measurement of success, Vozzo was a clear winner. In his world of billion-dollar revenues and million-dollar profits, he knew exactly what shareholders wanted and how to get it for them. Then, through a series of fateful events, Vozzo landed as CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle. “I arrived at Homeboy at a time when I needed to learn more about myself and my life’s journey,” Vozzo writes. “And after 8 years of working with the poor, forgotten, and demonized people of our society, I’ve come to learn that I didn’t really know as much about life as I thought.” Vozzo’s enlightening journey leads to his recognition that a radical approach is needed in business and in life: “What Homeboy has taught me is that we need to do business differently . . . . We need to bust up the system, swim upstream, avoid herd mentality.” Blending personal stories of his day-to-day with Fr. Greg and the Homies along with counterintuitive business ideas that are changing lives for the better, Vozzo shows you how you can live, lead, and shake things up with toughness, determination, compassion, and grit. That’s the Homeboy Way. 100% of author royalties go to support the mission of Homeboy Industries.

1853 Los Angeles Gangs

Author : Steven W. Knight
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780759903456
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis 1853 Los Angeles Gangs by : Steven W. Knight

Download or read book 1853 Los Angeles Gangs written by Steven W. Knight and published by . This book was released on 2002-07-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical Fiction: Novelized history of lawless L.A. gangs of 1853 and the Rangers who battled them. L.A. beckoned Horace Bell with love and police work and he could study for the Bar. Violence brought his rapid retribution. For Paulette Bovierre, with a lost love in France, Horace Bell had a promising future. She was pure strength in adversity. L.A. offered Don Tomas Sanchez political power as he fought to keep the status quo. The Americans had already grabbed too many Mexican ranches. For Dona Jacinto Talamantes, her love at first sight starts a triangle between Horace and Paulette. Love lived forever. In Roy Bean's heart, L.A. was a place to have fun "whorin'" and to be a ranger. Yes, sin permeated everywhere. Humor existed for their survival. Juan Flores' must first kill the Chinese, then all the Americans. His gang would revolt against the new order. Now all must face the largest struggle ever seen in Los Angeles. Character counted when one ranger challenged 100 miscreants.

The Whole Language

Author : Gregory Boyle
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 198212833X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

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Book Synopsis The Whole Language by : Gregory Boyle

Download or read book The Whole Language written by Gregory Boyle and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beloved Jesuit priest and author of the inspirational bestsellers Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir returns with a call to witness the transformative power of tenderness, rooted in his lifetime of experience counseling gang members in Los Angeles. Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang-intervention program in the world. Now, following his acclaimed bestsellers Tattoos on the Heart, “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times), and Barking to the Choir, deemed “a beautiful and important and soul-transporting book” by Elizabeth Gilbert comes The Whole Language, a book that “filled my cup with hope” (The Jesuit Review). In a community struggling to overcome systemic poverty and violence, The Whole Language shows how those at Homeboy Industries fight despair and remain generous, hopeful, and tender. When Saul was thirteen years old, he killed his abusive stepfather in self-defense; after spending twenty-three years in juvenile and adult jail, he enters the Homeboy Industries training and healing programs and embraces their mission. Declaring, “I’ve decided to grow up to be somebody I always needed as a child,” Saul shows tenderness toward the young men in his former shoes, treating them all like his sons and helping them to find their way. Before coming to Homeboy Industries, a young man named Abel was shot thirty-three times, landing him in a coma for six months followed by a year and a half recuperating in the hospital. He now travels on speaking tours with Boyle and gives guided tours around the Homeboy offices. One day a new trainee joins Abel as a shadow, and Abel recognizes him as the young man who had put him in a coma. “You give good tours,” the trainee tells Abel. They both have embarked on a path to wholeness. Boyle’s moving stories challenge our ideas about God and about people, providing a window into a world filled with fellowship, compassion, and fewer barriers. Bursting with encouragement, humor, and hope, The Whole Language invites us to treat others—and ourselves—with acceptance and tenderness.