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Lädt ... All God's Children: Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Familiesvon Rene Denfeld
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Interesting, but really lurid. I'm mostly reading it for the local angle -- I see the street kids everywhere, and I was hoping to get some insight, however tentative, into their lives. But the kids I see around seem mostly harmless, mostly peaceable, not the murderous little shits with stupid street names populating this book. But then, I'm 32 and docile. What do I know? Interesting, but really lurid. I'm mostly reading it for the local angle -- I see the street kids everywhere, and I was hoping to get some insight, however tentative, into their lives. But the kids I see around seem mostly harmless, mostly peaceable, not the murderous little shits with stupid street names populating this book.But then, I'm 32 and docile. What do I know? A very dark portrayal of Portland's street youth scene. I have lived in Portland for most of the time covered by this book and I am distressed at how little I knew about the details of the lives of the teens I passed daily on the streets of downtown Portland. Rene Denfield has a clear agenda in this book, an it sometimes clouds her analysis, but it was a good, and sometimes painful counterpoint to the (limited) media coverage on the issue. I think this is an important book to be included on the reading list of anyone who is concerned about some of the most challenging social service issues in Portland. A very dark portrayal of Portland's street youth scene. I have lived in Portland for most of the time covered by this book and I am distressed at how little I knew about the details of the lives of the teens I passed daily on the streets of downtown Portland. Rene Denfield has a clear agenda in this book, an it sometimes clouds her analysis, but it was a good, and sometimes painful counterpoint to the (limited) media coverage on the issue. I think this is an important book to be included on the reading list of anyone who is concerned about some of the most challenging social service issues in Portland. Zeige 5 von 5 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Auszeichnungen
James Daniel Nelson first hit the streets as a teenager in 1992. He joined a clutch of runaways and misfits who camped out together in a squat under a Portland bridge. Within a few months the group--they called themselves a "family"--was arrested for a string of violent murders. While Nelson sat in prison, the society he had helped form grew into a national phenomenon. Street families spread to every city from New York to San Francisco, and to many small towns in between, bringing violence with them. In 2003, almost eleven years after his original murder, Nelson, now called "Thantos", got out of prison, returned to Portland, created a new street family, and killed once more. Twelve family members were arrested along with him. Rene Denfeld spent over a decade following the evolution of street family culture. She discovered that, contrary to popular belief, the majority of these teenagers hail from loving middle-class homes. Yet they have left those homes to form insular communities with cultish hierarchies, codes of behavior, languages, quasireligions, and harsh rules. She reveals the extremes to which desperate teenagers will go in their search for a sense of community, and builds a persuasive and troubling case that street families have grown among us into a dark reversal of the American ideal. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.1Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and OffensesKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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ALL GOD’S CHILDREN is about how teenagers end up in these gangs, blindly following the sometimes deadly instructions of someone who is absolutely no relation to them. James Nelson’s mission was to live on the streets permanently. As long as he had people to panhandle and run errands for him he could do this.
Denfeld shows us that these kids are duped into thinking they are safe in a street family, when the truth is that even a made-up transgression can get them killed. The descriptions of torture and murder in this book, as given by witnesses, are matter-of-fact but VERY disturbing. I chose to skip reading most of the killing of Jessica Williams because it bothered me so much to know that there are such cruel and disturbed people out there on the streets. I live in Portland and walk through the groups of kids around Pioneer Square. I’ve always had the feeling of “there’s room enough for all of us”. I think Denfeld’s intention was to wake us up to the reality of what’s going on in these families.
I was very interested in the subject as I had a relative that was among the street people at one time. Denfeld spent 10 years observing these people and her descriptions of them are multi-dimensional. I really came to care about Jessica Williams and am heartbroken to read how she died. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered, “Why are those kids just hanging out there?”
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