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Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse
by: Douglas Century

Price: $34.75

Prices subject to change.

Used Price: $3.05
Third Party New Price: $34.75

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1066097471
EAN: 9780446675635
ISBN: 0446675636
Label: Warner Books
Manufacturer: Warner Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: February 01, 2000
Publisher: Warner Books
Studio: Warner Books
Sales Rank: 1069268

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
When Douglas Century, a white, affluent Princeton graduate, met a streetwise rapper whod once led an 80 member Brooklyn crack gang, he didnt run away. Instead, he got in deep. Century spent the next five years with 30 men raised on violence and taught to impose their will on others, but who are nevertheless desperate to find a way out. Unsentimental, yet completely involving, Street Kingdom paints an unforgettable portrait of life on the street and the vibrant characters who represent both its most vicious criminals and most heartbreaking victims.

Amazon.com:
Rookie author Douglas Century delivers a gritty account of street life in urban America. Street Kingdom started out in 1992 as an odd-couple friendship between Century, a Jewish-Canadian Princeton alum, and Big K, a black New Yorker trying to overcome his criminal past and become a rap star. Their five-year relationship--full of culture clashes at turns funny, depressing, and harrowing--allows Century to examine prison life, the sociology of gangs, and the meaning of success in the 1990s. Big K is an irresistible character study: a 270-pound, larger-than-life, one-man melting pot with roots in Jamaica and Panama. His raps blend Caribbean slang, Spanish influences, and the sensibilities (and insensibilities) of urban America. The book's heavy use of profanity may be authentic, but it's also numbing, and Century's decision to use aliases diminishes his otherwise fine journalism. Yet there is much to recommend: the narrative is strong, and Century (who has written for Forward and the New York Times) occasionally recalls the powerful work of Alex Kotlowitz and Ron Suskind. Readers interested in the human side of urban pathology will want to discover this promising new talent. --John J. Miller

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Excellent book.
If you have any interest in Hip Hop then this is an essential read for you. I do not agree with reviewers who found it condescending or parasitical. The author is a Jewish guy from Canada but that does not exclude him from writing such a book; he never hides who he is, he was the one who spent five years researching and writing it, and got it published, so more power to him. If you read it it appears that he did not decide to write such a book and then set out to use people to do so, rather that the book wrote itself through him having had interesting experiences through his involvement in Hip Hop, that he rightly put down on paper to share with others. It is a true life gripping account of the runnings of a Brooklyn street crew called The Franklin Avenue Posse, loosley associated with rap ... Read More

Rating:

- Condescending and disappointing
The previous reviewer who said this book is condescending hits it right on the head. Century thinks that by hanging around these guys, and having a black girlfriend, he is now one of them. He even comments on how when he is out with the crew, people would get out of his way, like he was now suddenly a tough guy. His girlfriend said it best (I don't have the exact quote but can remember it pretty good) "You can go to all the reggae parties and hip-hop clubs you want, you'll still be a white Jewish guy from Canada!"

Rating:

- my pet monster
this book came across as very condescending of the main character by the author. century came across to me as a parasitical tick waiting for his mealticket to die or go to jail, in order to profit off him. other than that it was easy reading and i'll read his other books.

Rating:

- Great Book
I ran across this book at the local library. Very interesting read. I wish he'd write a follow up to let us know what happened to all of these people. Life on the streets that isn't a reality to most of us and a scary reality to those who it is real to. 5 stars.

Rating:

- blazin'!
This was a great read! It's packed with details and stories about the ruffneck guys who populate the Boro of Brooklyn. Awesome!

Books : Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse