The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 1, Winter 2013 | Page 32

upon the under-examined yet profoundly
powerful situations that can transpire
throughout one’s “drug career” as a user
of crack cocaine. Importantly, the text
details strategies to address the emergent
issues through informed interventions that
aim to leverage change in social policy,
prevention, and direct practice.
A sociologist by trade and an ethnographer by training, Briggs approaches this
project with an expert analysis of the macro system joined by a compelling curiosity
about lived realities within the micro-level. From 2004-2005, Briggs observed the
activities of 85 crack users; two thirds of
these individuals agreed to be interviewed
for his study. The histories and experiences of several of these men, in particular,
are portrayed in this qualitative account.
Observing, recording copious field notes,
conversing, analyzing secondary data, and
administering and transcribing interviews
all contributed to this project’s data menagerie. The 214-page volume that results
from the multidimensional approach
organizes literature and original findings
from the study as follows: a description
of the study; a review of the literature; a
contextual portrait of the neighborhood,
drug market, and crack scene; a “bottomup” description of crack users and themes
that emerged; and “top-down” analysis of

the structural forces that influence these
experiences and processes; case