Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City » (Reprint)

Unsparing and important. . . . An informative, clearheaded and sobering book.—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post (1999 Critic's Choice)

Wall Street Journal

Mr. Elijah Anderson has long been admired for his unflinching eye. Code of the Street is as clear-eyed as any of his earlier work, and it paints an even more chilling picture of the vicious peer culture that can make the inner city all but unlivable. Mr. Anderson writes about the oppositional attitudes and predatory behavior that poison life in the inner city. Over the years his work has played a key role in opening up debate about the underclass: providing striking observations and analysis but also emboldening others to face the truth more candidly. The heart of the book...its greatest strength and lasting contribution...is its close-grained reporting on the life of the street.