Davis spent five years researching and writing the book, and conducted hundreds of interviews with the show's creators, cast, and crew.

Street Gang begins with a description of Muppet creator Jim Henson's 1990 funeral, from the perspective of co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney.

Its first twelve chapters describe the origin, development, and early years of Sesame Street and the Children's Television Workshop, the organization created to oversee the production of the show and other projects.

Michael Davis, a senior editor for TV Guide from 1998 to 2007,[1] wrote an article in the magazine to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the children's television show Sesame Street in 2004.

Davis spent five years researching and writing the book [3] and worked with the cooperation of co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney.

Davis includes the biographies of key players in the show's development: Cooney, Morrisett, Jon Stone, Sam Gibbon, Tom Whedon, Evelyn Payne Davis, Jim Henson, Caroll Spinney, Gerald S. Lesser, Edward Palmer, Joe Raposo, Loretta Long, Bob McGrath, Will Lee, and Matt Robinson.

Davis emphasizes the coincidence that many involved with the show had first names that started with the letter J: Joan Cooney, Jon Stone, Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and Joe Raposo.

The biographies that Davis depicts are of producer Dulcy Singer, Christopher Cerf, Sonia Manzano, Northern Calloway, Emilio Delgado, Linda Bove, Richard Hunt, and Fran Brill.

Davis describes the music of Sesame Street, Jim Henson's struggle with fame, the end of Cooney's marriage, and CTW's funding difficulties.

Davis calls the show's depiction of Mr. Hooper's death and the wedding "the poles that held up the canvas tent that was Sesame Street in the 1980s, a reflection of the sometimes silly, sometimes sad, always surprising, relentlessly spinning cyclical circus of life".

[15] Reviewer Drew Toal calls Street Gang a "swift narrative" and "a sensitive, honest account", and credits the large number of cast stories and amount of controversy recounted in the book with the hundreds of interviews Davis conducted.

[16] Frazier Moore of the Associated Press states that the book is a fascinating account of the creation of Sesame Street, and that Davis writes thoroughly and with affection.

Wagman states, "Yes, we get a little past-tense womanizing, a lot of drinking and a psychotic breakdown later in the book, but it all seems sad, not salacious, and not germane to the basic story".

[4] Alex Altman of Time Magazine agrees, and calls Davis "an unabashed fan of the show's charms rather than a dispassionate historian".

[21] The reviewer goes on to state, "Any grown-up fan will relish this account, gaining an even greater appreciation for the cultural contributions of Kermit, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and all their neighbors".

The magazine stated, "A dozen of New York’s top publishers are eager to get their hands this week on the story of how Sesame Street emerged as the iconic program that shaped the minds of countless kiddies around the globe".