{"product_id":"vampires-dragons-and-egyptian-kings","title":"Vampires  Dragons  and Egyptian Kings","description":"\u003cp\u003eThey called themselves \"Vampires \" \"Dragons \" and \"Egyptian Kings.\" 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 \"down bopper\" or a \"jive stud \" to \"fish\" with a beautiful \"deb\" to the sounds of the Jesters  and to wear gang sweaters  wildly colored zoot suits  or the \"Ivy League look.\" 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 \"Capeman \" 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44966687211573,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691001413","price":38.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691001418.jpg?v=1770574705","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/vampires-dragons-and-egyptian-kings","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}