Lew Yablonsky's story is about a youth who was involved in various delinquent activities as a teenager, and later in life, after serving in the Navy, went through a dramatic change to become a noted Professor of Criminology. His favorite commentary about his life change on various national TV programs and in news media about his professional life was: "In my early years some of my best friends were criminal sociopaths, and I learned more about crime from them than I learned from acquiring my Ph.D. at NYU." His autobiography details his early years, and how his personal life entwines with the 20 books he has researched and written about crime, drug addiction, and other social issues. The following quote from a review of his first book "The Violent Gang" in the Los Angeles Times describes his writing style ..".a powerful and incisive writing in the field of sociology...an important and imensely useful work.