G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles | 
 enlarge | Author: Celeste Fremon
Creator: Tom Brokaw
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 209600
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised & enlarged
Pages: 328
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0826344852
Dewey Decimal Number: 259.5092
EAN: 9780826344854
ASIN: 0826344852
Publication Date: August 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
Father Gregory J. Boyle, SJ, is a native of Los Angeles, a Jesuit priest, and founder of Homeboy Industries, an economic development and jobs program begun in 1988 for at-risk and gang-involved youth. "A great many kids in my neighborhood don't plan their futures; they plan their funerals." G-Dog and the Homeboys presents the story of Boyle's unconventional ministry and its extraordinary successes. In this expanded, updated edition, Celeste Fremon has returned to East L.A. to report on gang members she first profiled fifteen years ago. Using their individual stories as models, she examines what policy makers should know about gang intervention now, years later.About the previous edition:"[Celeste Fremon] offers [Father] Boyle as an example of how approaching gang violence with an eye towards prevention and intervention can be much more effective than simply aiming for 'lock-'em-up and-throw-away-the-key' suppression. Throughout she includes the words of the gang members themselves as they reflect on their lives and what would aid them in improving their circumstances. In this new edition, she adds an afterword that follows up on the fates of a number of the individuals discussed in the main body of the text."--streetgangs.com
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Excellent book May 7, 2007
D. marie lucas
My husband and I recently heard a taped interview with Father Boyle that aired on NPR. We were very interested in learning more about his unique outreach efforts with LA Gang members. This book is excellent.
Excellent, enlightening, captivating story April 5, 2007
J. Lewis (Richmond, VA, USA)
"G-Dog and the Homeboys" shows how Father Greg Boyle and a select few adults, including the author, completely changed the lives of teens in East LA. Greg opened the homies' and his followers' eyes to the world outside of their lives in their little neighborhood. Many kids would not think past selling drugs to earn a little extra cash, or firing off a couple of rounds of bullets in order to simply stay alive. Boyle changed all of this.
In actuality, the homies were not violent, cruel, or evil kids at heart. Many had rotten home lives and joined gangs to find love. Others joined for protection. Gangs offered support if they were ever in serious danger.
Father Greg understood and felt for these teens. Greg lent them helping hand in any way he could. He gave them money for school, jobs, even a roof over their heads. However, the best gift he gave the homies was his love and caring for them.
As one follows the stories of numerous homies, one realizes how much of an impact one man, Father Greg, had on their lives. This story is touching, at times frightening, and over all, enlightening. It is highly recommended that you read "G-Dog and the Homeboys". Your eyes, too, will be opened to the world around you.
Simple, straightforward story about one of the saints among us March 27, 2007
Richard Gibson (Woodland Hills, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is quite unlike any other that I have read on crime or gangs, both in style and in substance.
The style is very simple. Fremon makes no attempt to be objective. She makes no effort to put the story into any larger context. She does not come across like a professional writer of any kind. Her ego is absent from the work. Instead, she tells a story, a simple, moving story.
The subject of her story is extraordinary. John Paul II liked to say that there are many more saints around us then we recognize. This story is another example of that. Father Greg Boyle is a normal suburban white guy who became a priest, and was sent to East LA. He found himself surrounded by gang violence. Nothing unusual in the story so far.
But his reaction was extraordinary. He responded to the situation in a radically Christian manner. He did not get into any of the usual left wing politics or posturing. Instead, he offered the gang members uncondititional love, just as the Gospel teaches. He spent time with them. He visited them in jail. He visited them in the hospital. Whenever the guns went off, he was there trying to bring peace. In one extraordinary incident, he put himself between two gangs who were starting a fire fight, and told them that if they wanted to kill each other, they would have to kill him. He was risking his life doing this, and the gang members knew it. They did not shoot; his Christian witness brought them back from their madness.
It took time, but the gang members responded to Father Greg's ministry with tremendous enthusiasm and love. It is an incredibly inspiring story. It reminds us of why we are Christians. It shows us the transforming power of Christian love.
I would like to be able to draw some political conclusions from all of this. I would like to somehow replace our current approach to gangs with Father Greg's approach. I do not know how to do that. I can not see how to make his saintly approach work in ordinary political or police work. But I do know that we are all better people with someone like him among us. If we had more like him, the world would be healed.
Wonderful and Full of Wonder February 8, 2007
B. Detanna (Long Beach, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A wonderful read that can be shared with reluctant readers to bring them face to face with their place in modern literature. A book that should be shared with more teenagers. A look at gang life/ prisons in our urban world through the eyes of someone on a shared journey. I shared this book and another series that Celeste wrote in LA Weekly (2005) with my students as a combination class: experience of life literature and morality. Father Boyle is a master at understanding humanity and our call to larger social responsibility. We are not permitted to dismiss the world around us after reading this book that tugs at the corners of your heart. Greg gives hope where it is needed the most - to everyone. If the opportunity to hear Father Greg Boyle speak presents itself, do yourself a favor and go.
FATHER BOYLE IS WONDERFUL! November 2, 2006
Amy Richey (PA)
Although I have not read this book, I did watch a lecture by Father Boyle given at Regis University. It is amazing what he has accomplished in LA with these gang members. It is a true testament to what God can do if given the chance!
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