Suggested reading

Knowledge is power and the more we know the better we are able to understand a tragic situation such as the one that exists not just in South LA but in inner cities across America and around the world.  The following books were all hugely beneficial in researching the issues of gang violence and informing the production of MADE IN AMERICA:

Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and Its Causes
by James Gilligan, M.D.

L. A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present
by Josh Sides

Fire This Time
by Gerald Horne

Rivers of Blood, Years of Darkness: The Unforgettable Classic Account of the Watts Riot
by Robert E. Conot

Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence
by Tom Hayden

Do or Die
by Léon Bing

Slipping Into Darkness: A True Story from the American Ghetto
by M. Rutledge McCall

Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?
by Michael Eric Dyson

The 50 Most Asked Questions About Gangs
by T. Rodgers

The Great Black Way: L.A. in the 1940s and the Lost African-American Renaissance
by R.J. Smith

Crips: The Story of the L A Street Gang from 1971-1985
by Donald Bakeer

Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America
by Douglas Flamming