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More copies of this ISBN:All God's Children: Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Familiesby Rene Denfeld
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:James Daniel Nelson first hit the streets as a teenager in 1992. Rejoined 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, quasi-religions, 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. Review:"Denfeld brings to light the elaborate structure and culture of the 'families' that harbor the reported 1.5 million teenagers living on the streets of the U.S. Based on a decade of research, his intimate portrait of this fantasy-fueled, violent subculture—populated almost exclusively by teens from white, middle-class homes—is gory and shocking. He spares no details in describing cold characters, cultish rituals and murders, often from the perspective of those involved. Though the anecdotes are intriguing, and Denfeld brings some perspective to the psychology of these street families, he doesn't evaluate the larger cultural forces that have brought them together or their effect on society. Still, this is a powerful study of the dramatic measures that a growing number of lonely teenagers will take to feel like they belong." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"A fine Portland writer pens an often revelatory study of teens who bond together as 'families' on the streets, with much of her book focusing on a group in the Rose City involved in several murders; an important book that is the product of a decade's research." Seattle Post-Intelligencer Review:"A chilling look into the culture of feral teens that emerged nationwide in the 1990s." Elle Magazine Review:"In the end, what is most fascinating about this alien world is how much it has in common with mainstream teen experience." San Francisco Chronicle Review:"An up-close journalistic investigation of street families....A gripping tale." Kirkus Reviews Synopsis:How one violent pack of street youth terrorized Portland, Oregon, and how their frightening-- and fascinating--subculture has swept unnoticed across America
About the AuthorRene Denfeld is the author of two previous books, including the international bestseller The New Victorians. She has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times Magazine. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her partner and three children. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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