Winning the War
Against Youth Gangs:
A Guide for Teens, Families and Communities
(Greenwood Press, 1999)

Foreword by Hugh O’Brian
Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Today’s Teenagers: On the Jet Track
2. The Power of Self
3. Forming Friendships, Finding Groups
4. Peer Impact: From Recruitment to Refuge
5. The Merging Process
6. Seeking Significance, Plotting Purpose
7. Putting Power to Work
8. From Part to Present: The Role of the Family
9. The Ties That Bind
10. Opening the Lines
11. To the Max
12. Teaching by example
13. Fostering Friendship: Parents and Teens

Afterword
Bibliography
Index

Winning the War Against Youth Gangs: A Guide for Teens, Families, and Communities
(Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999)

Youth gangs have spread throughout all sectors of society, as what was once viewed as an inner-city problem can now be found everywhere, including suburbia. This guide for teenagers, their families, and impacted communities addresses the youth gang issue in understandable, manageable terms.

Quotes and other insights from teens themselves–270 of them from ten states–provide valuable input into the factors that can cause kids to join gangs. They cite the needs to: belong, find excitement, replace absent parents, mimic family members in gangs, and more. Valerie Wiener explores these factors and others to provide sound solutions, with a special emphasis on community collaborations that address several integral components of the teen's life. Such partners in the collaboration include, but are not limited to: families, schools, faith communities, nonprofit organizations, local businesses, law enforcement, lawmakers, and the media