This is a pretty amazing book. Sudhir Venkatesh moved from suburban Southern California to Chicago to study sociology. There, he began to explore the poor neighbourhoods surrounding the university (despite warnings to the contrary) and chat to the black families and older people he met. From these conversations, he quickly realised that the work he was doing at the university did not really touch on the reality of these people’s lives.

Somewhat naively doorknocking, armed only with a clipboard and some quite silly questions (‘How does it feel to be black and poor?’) at the notorious Robert Taylor Homes – the world’s largest public housing development – he was taken hostage overnight by the suspicious gang who controlled the building. The leader, JT, a former college student, took a liking to Sudhir, who bravely came back a few days later and asked if he could ‘hang out’ with him.

Sudhir spent the next decade ‘hanging out’ at Robert Taylor: shadowing JT, being fed by his mother, occasionally getting caught in the cross-fire (once, quite literally) of gang life – but also talking to the various families and ‘hustlers’ in the buildings JT controlled, observing the realities of life in the projects. Impossible to put down.