Drive-By: A Work of Nonfiction

by Gary Rivlin

Although the dreadful toll of random violence is often reported, rarely do we glimpse the human element behind it. News reports keep the tally of homicides, but as the occurrence of such violence increases, so does its facelessness.

Drive-by shootings are almost definitively anonymous, there are no fingerprints, no fibers, no hairs, nor any other telltale clues typical of most crime scenes. There is usually no hard evidence beyond ballistics and a car description so generic it is virtually useless.

In Drive-By, Gary Rivlin penetrates the anonymity of one such incident and creates an extraordinary portrait of the people entangled in it. He takes us behind the headlines, and through bold investigative reporting, finds the individuals so often left out of the story. In this real-life narrative, we meet the teens who, on Sunday, the eighth of July, were involved in a scuffle over a bicycle, and on the ninth became murderers and victims. By presenting the story of this murder in human terms, Rivlin challenges the stereotypes and indifference that allow the problem of inner-city violence to escalate.

332 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Sheehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular examination of 1990s Oakland crime event, well researched and very interesting.

[Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of history about Oakland, the population in Oakland, the struggles faced by this city and the cops that work in Oakland.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is for background on my research project in Oakland.