Product Information
This powerful work of gonzo journalism, predating the widespread acknowledgement of the opioid epidemic as such, immerses the reader in the world of homelessness and drug and alcohol abuse in the contemporary United States. For over a decade Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg followed a social network of two dozen heroin injectors and crack smokers in the San Francisco drug scene, accompanying them as they scrambled to generate income through burglary, larceny, panhandling, recycling, and day labor. Righteous Dopefiend interweaves stunning black-and-white photography with vivid dialogue, oral biography, detailed field notes, and critical theoretical analysis to viscerally illustrate the life of a drug addict. Its gripping narrative develops a cast of characters around the themes of violence, racism and race relations, sexuality, trauma, embodied suffering, social inequality, and power relations. The result is a dispassionate chronicle of fixes and overdoses; of survival, loss, caring, and hope rooted in the drug abusers' determination to hang on for one more day, through a moral economy of sharing that precariously balances mutual solidarity and interpersonal betrayal.Product Identifiers
PublisherUniversity of California Press
ISBN-139780520254985
eBay Product ID (ePID)87309515
Product Key Features
Number of Pages392 Pages
Publication NameRighteous Dopefiend
LanguageEnglish
SubjectGovernment, Healthcare System
Publication Year2009
TypeTextbook
AuthorJeffrey Schonberg, Philippe Bourgois
SeriesCalifornia Series in Public Anthropology
Dimensions
Item Height241 mm
Item Weight998 g
Additional Product Features
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited States
Title_AuthorPhilippe Bourgois, Jeffrey Schonberg