Streets of Rage is a coming-of-age story, but it is much more. It is a book about urban legends, about the mythology of the inner cities, right in the underbelly of New York City during a time when the city seemed to have lost its soul, when cities were dying all across America. In fact, two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, campaigned before a ruin on Charlotte Street in the South Bronx to underscore urban decay. In the midst of this decay, Cedric Carpenter, a teenager, looks to make sense of his life on the mean streets. He finds it in the teachings of the Five-Percent Nation. Streets of Rage is a book that William Faulkner would have written had he lived in the hood during this period.
