Wannabe is the first book written about youth gangs in suburbs and schools. Based on interviews with over 400 boys and girls between the ages of ten and twenty, the author offers a vivid portrayal of their lives in and around gangs. It chronicles the way in which suburban youths become involved with gangs, learn about committing crimes and violent acts, and gradually begin to question their loyalty to gang life.

Contrary to the popular view of gang members as thoughtless thugs, Monti describes the difficult choices they make and explores the youngsters' ambivalence toward dealing in illegal narcotics and taking up arms against neighbors and their fellow students. Youngsters use gangs to express their disdain for an adult world that provides them with few effective ways to become a conventional person and, at the same time, as a means to negotiate an entrance into that very world.

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Suburban gangs are seen to be different from inner-city gangs in some important ways. What young persons find in their families, neighborhoods, and schools clearly has an impact on the making and unmaking of gang members. Existing theories and intervention strategies intended to suppress gangs or lure youngsters from gangs are found to be ineffective.

Far more important, Monti argues, are explanations of gang behavior that focus on the power of conventional institutions to make human beings that move from gangs into the larger world as the youngsters grow older. An ambitious plan to rebuild a middle-class population of residents and business owners in cities is advanced as a way to help young persons make their way into the conventional adult world that has heretofore been denied them.