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Summary: my new fav. book
Review: i thought this book wuz tite. i liked tha 1st half of tha book tha most when he wuz still gang bangin. get this book.
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Summary: tite azz book
Review: if u wanna know sumthin about LA gangs i reccomend this book. i read it for 9 hours straight and now its one of my fav. books. go get it. ~peace~
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Summary: Former Gang Member Myself
Review: This is by far the best chronicle of gang life. It is ashame so much of America is just finding out about what has been going on, in some cases, before they were even born. Basicly this book is a hardcore dose of what really goes on with young inner city thugs, it is 100 percent B-S about how they are chasing the "American dream" "Piece of American Pie" it is strictly machoism. If you learn your history on gangs you will note that the fighting between gangs had nothing to do with money in the beginning, money was something that came later when crack hit the streets. I think this book is a great history lesson to someone thinking about participating in gang activities. They will see that there is only 2 ways in gang life, Prison or death, also may I add,,,no future whatsoever.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: This was an excellent book which kept me wanting to read on forever. Monster Cody's in-your-face descriptions are truly unique. You must get this book today!
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Summary: It was thought provoking.
Review: The thing i liked the best about this book was the style he chose to write in. It was smart and down to earth. He definitely made you feel his experiences, you felt like you were riding along with him on the streets of L.A. It was the best book on street life I've ever read. RF
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Summary: A fascinating look at the inner-city
Review: This is, simply, a superb and important book. The reader should know up front, however, that Shakur's graphic, in-your-face descriptions of violence, crime, race, and social breakdown can come across as harsh and frightening. Sanyika Shakur, or "Monster Cody", writes from prison where he is serving a lengthy term for just one of the many murders he admits committing. His flowing style does a great job of putting the reader out on the vicious streets of inner-city Los Angeles. He details the horrendous violence, social decay, black-on-black murders, and feudal system of LA's Crips and Bloods gangs. Shakur makes the reader feel as if he is standing alongside "Monster" (his gang nom de guerre) out on 83rd Street, getting ready to shoot it out with a rival Crips gang. Cody also details some of his numerous stays in California prisons, and points out that serving time is an expected rite of passage for black gang-bangers. His descriptions of generations of violence, bloodshed, and barbarity remind the reader of the worst stories coming out of Rwanda or Somalia - except that this is Los Angeles.In addition to being a great read, this book has some valuable sociological insights. Shakur makes it abundantly clear that no affirmative action, no welfare, no outreach programs, and no urban renewal will ever help, in the slightest way, the black inner-city. Gang-banging has become a way of life for the entire community, supported and explicitly condoned by virtually all of the people living there. They like it, mocking schools and education as "acting white", and working at a regular job as "breaking my back for chump change." The males who join gangs quickly become immersed in a pathological cycle of drugs, violence, prison, scams, impregnating young "ho's", and any other social dysfunction you can think of. The logical conclusion of Shakur's first-hand description is that they aren't educated or intelligent enough to do anything else, have no other prospects, and so the only sane, rational, effective thing for society to do with them is to throw them in prison for natural life, or to execute them. Indeed, sadly, this is exactly what too often ends up happening. After reading this I was struck by the hypocrisy and arrogance of our black 'leaders' constantly condemning the police for brutality. As Shakur clearly describes, the black inner-city isn't a neighborhood; it's a series of anarchic, feudal battlegrounds. Anything - absolutely anything - the LAPD (and by extension, most major city police departments) could do to contain the barbarism pales by comparison with what the gangs do to each other, or would do to anyone else who gets in their way. Shakur rarely mentions the police, except when he is evading them or has been thrown in prison. An intelligent reader, however, must feel sympathy for the poor cop who has to go in and face this hideously violent anarchy day after day. This book is like reading about a parallel universe - think of Mogadishu transplanted into the heart of one of America's greatest cities. Many writers, including former Democratic Congressman Tip O'Neill, have warned of the intractability, hopelessness, and savage violence of the black underclass. None come close to describing and illustrating it nearly as well as Sanyika Shakur. Sooner or later US society is going to have to confront the inner-city's problems, and decide whether we want Third World barbarism and violence spreading. Shakur makes it abundantly clear that the usual liberal remedies will only be laughed at by gang-bangers, just before they shoot you. The only answers will be incarcerating and/or executing the criminals, destroying the gang structure, and basically treating gang-bangers like the domestic terrorists they so clearly are. Nothing else stands a chance of working. This book is a must-read. It's too bad that Shakur, who is obviously an intelligent and insightful man (as he points out, rare traits in the inner-city) can only describe the environment, but has no ideas on how to fix it. He leaves the reader with the conviction that there actually is no way to fix the inner-city. This book is definitely worth buying, reading, and passing on to family and friends.
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Summary: Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Review: "Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member" is a stunning surge of electric jolts about the life of Monster Kody Scott, now known as Sanyika Shakur. This book is a gripping no holds barred story of the gang life of South Central L.A. Its a story of pitfalls and traps and coming back around and finding redemption. Shakur falls into the trap of gang life at the mere age of eleven and continues down this road for most of his young life. Finally he finds redemption within the New Afrikan Independence Movement. However this "redemption" seems to be a little faulty to me. He basically has traded one struggle for a different seemingly more mature one. He still finds him self back in jail by the end of the book which shows that he hasn't fully redeemed himself yet, but he indeed has made a start. This tale of gang life is not for younger readers,indeed this is a very explicit story of life today. Under no circumstances should anyone take this story lightly either, there is a very serious tone to the book which is just underlies the truth behind what is being said. Probably one of the best aspects of the book is how Shakur remains serious and more observant than letting his own emotions get the best of him when he is talking of his experiences. Shakur remains on top of his neutral tone throughout the entirety of the book, from describing his own violent actions and that of his peers to walking down the street. This neutrality is very rewarding because the book is deathly truthful, Shakur doesn't mince his words, he's blunt and to the point. At first the book might even seem bleak because of Shakur's excellent writing style. However, its easy to find how passionate Shakur is about this by simply reading what he does not say.
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Summary: "Monster" Kody Scott's Autobiography
Review: Snayika Shakur, A.K.A., "Monster" Kody Scott, covers a wide range of topics in his autobiography. He offers a rich description of his experiences in religion, to gang warfare. Anyone who has an interest in the effect of gang warfare, religion, and/or the prison system on black males, will certainly find this book appealing. Scott's autobiography is setup in three rough sections. The first deals with Scott's experiences in gang life, and illustrates the power and reputation he attained between the ages of 11 and 18. Scott's "rep was omnipresent, totally saturating every circle of gang life. From CRASH to the courts, from Crips to Bloods, from Juvenile hall to death row, Monster Kody had arrived". The second section talks of his transformation from a L.A. Crip Gang Member, to a Black Islamic Nationalist. The final section deals with how his newfound religion and lifestyle affects his status in society, and his position in gang life. Scott's harsh depictions of his experiences may turn away the more conservative readers. His book does not offer informative analysis of his experiences, or insights as to why he joined the Black Nationalist Movement. Rather, his book simply documents his experiences, and shows to the public in extreme detail the true realities of growing up as a L.A. Crip. Overall, I found the book to be a very shocking, yet realistic representation of the experiences of Kody Scott. It was an incredible story that was well written and descriptive. His brutal honesty, and ability to "tell it as it is" has made this book very difficult to put down.
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Summary: Breathless!!!
Review: This book was great!!! I started out buying it for someone else and glanced at a few pages but ended up reading the entire book. The book gives accounts in Sanyika's life that really open your eyes to the harsh reality of LA Gang life. He tells things that a lot of people would not dare to ever speak of. He makes you feel like you are someone looking in and the book made my heart completely race. I can't believe he would tell about the things that he did and others did but he is just one of the "Keep it real" kind of people and I would give his book a 10 on a scale of 1 to 5. GREAT BOOK!!!! ...
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Summary: Awesome
Review: The review option in Amazon gives you a thousand words for your review which might be enough for some books but not this. This autobiography is like no other on the market. The only comment which needs to be said is read and i will personally guarantee that you will not be able to put it down. Absolutely FANTASTIC
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