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This dissertation is a historical study of the Robert Taylor Homes, a large predominantly African-American public housing development in Chicago, Illinois. For four years, I conducted ethnographic observation of the interactions of street gangs, residents and community institutions, and State agencies such as law enforcement and welfare. The Robert Taylor Homes was built in 1962 to provide housing for the overcrowded ghetto communities in Chicago. From the outset the news reports pejoratively proclaimed the housing development a" $70 million ghetto''''and to this day, popular knowledge about the housing development is based on negative media reportage. To provide a more full portrait of social life in ghetto communities, I describe the historical development of social relations in the housing development, one that cannot be explained completely by dominant narratives of pathology, social disorganization or …