Search results for ""brooklyn""

In the United States, African American and Italian cultures have been intertwined for more than a hundred years. From as early as nineteenth-century African American opera star Thomas Bowers "The Colored Mario" all the way to hip-hop entrepreneur Puff Daddy dubbing himself "the Black Sinatra," the affinity between black and Italian cultures runs deep and wide. Once you start looking, you'll find these connections everywhere. Sinatra croons bel canto over the limousine swing of the Count Basie band. Snoop Dogg deftly tosses off the line "I'm Lucky Luciano 'bout to sing soprano." Like the Brooklyn pizzeria and candy store in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, or the basketball sidelines where Italian American coaches Rick Pitino and John Calipari mix it up with their African American players, black/Italian connections are a thing to behold and to investigate. In Flavor and Soul, John Gennari spotlights this affinity, calling it "the edge" now smooth, sometimes serrated between Italian American and African American culture. He argues that the edge is a space of mutual emulation and suspicion, a joyous cultural meeting sometimes darkened by violent collision. Through studies of music and sound, film and media, sports and foodways, Gennari shows how an Afro-Italian sensibility has nourished and vitalized American culture writ large, even as Italian Americans and African Americans have fought each other for urban space, recognition of overlapping histories of suffering and exclusion, and political and personal rispetto. Thus, Flavor and Soul is a cultural contact zone a piazza where people express deep feelings of joy and pleasure, wariness and distrust, amity and enmity. And it is only at such cultural edges, Gennari argues, that America can come to truly understand its racial and ethnic dynamics.

Read more less

In this classic work—a blend of memoir, social criticism, and political analysis that remains relevant today—the first Black Congresswoman to serve in American history, New York’s dynamic representative Shirley Chisholm, traces her extensive political struggle and examines the problems that have long plagued the American system of government.“A tremendously impressive book.” —Washington Post“What [Chisholm] did was so pioneering. . . . She embraced what made her different and used it as her superpower.” —Regina King“I want to be remembered as a woman . . . who dared to be a catalyst of change.” Political pioneer Shirley Chisholm—activist, member of the House of Representatives, and former presidential candidate—was a woman who consistently broke barriers and inspired generations of American women, and especially women of color. Unbought and Unbossed is her story, told in her own words—a thoughtful and informed look at her rise from the streets of Brooklyn to the halls of Congress. Chisholm speaks out on her life in politics while illuminating the events, personalities, and issues of her time, including the schism in the Democratic party in the 1960s and ’70s—all of which speak to us today.In this frank assessment, “Fighting Shirley” recalls how she took on an entrenched system, gave a public voice to millions, and embarked on a trailblazing bid to be the first woman and first African American President of the United States. By daring to be herself, Shirley Chisholm shows how one person forever changed the status quo.Look out for the biopic Shirley, directed by John Ridley and starring Regina King, coming in March 2024.“Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbought and Unbossed—illustrates her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.” —National Women’s History Museum

Read more less

Bestselling author Douglas Century reveals the untold story of the epic rise and fall of Boris Nayfeld, also known as Biba, one of the most notorious Russian mob bosses of our era.Boris Nayfeld, a.k.a. “Biba,” is the last living boss of the old-school Russian mob in America, and he’s survived to tell it all. Filled with sex, drugs, and murder, Biba’s story is a mind-boggling journey that took him from petty street crime in the USSR to billion-dollar embezzlement in America.Born in Soviet-era Belarus, abandoned by his parents in infancy, Biba’s brutal upbringing left him hungry for more—more power, control, and money. Taking advantage of the rampant corruption in the Soviet Union, Biba’s teenage hooliganism quickly turned into bolder “black cash” rackets, making him, by Soviet standards, a very rich young man. When authorities took notice and threatened him with “the supreme measure”— execution by firing squad—he managed to get out of the USSR just in time.Within months of landing in America, his intimidating presence and street smarts quickly made him legendary in the Soviet émigré community of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and launched him to the top of New York’s Russian Jewish mob, one of the world’s most inventive, powerful and violent criminal organizations. After decades as a globe-trotting boss, and three stints in U.S. federal prisons he remains unbroken and unrepentant, even as his entire life has unraveled around him.Now seventy-four years old, Biba is a lion in winter. Douglas Century vividly brings the notorious gangster to life in these pages, telling not only his epic journey but also the history of the Russian mob in America.

Read more less

“The book is a romp from cover to cover—and, just like a great meal, left me ready for more.” —Karen Shimizu, Executive Editor, Food & WineWhen Leslie Karst learned that her offer to cook dinner for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her renowned tax law professor husband, Marty, had been accepted, she was thrilled—and terrified. A small-town lawyer who hated her job and had taken up cooking as a way to add a bit of spice to the daily grind of pumping out billable hours, Karst had never before thrown such a high-stakes dinner party. Could she really pull this off? Justice Is Served is Karst’s light-hearted, earnest account of the journey this unexpected challenge launched her on—starting with a trip to Paris for culinary inspiration, and ending with the dinner itself. Along the way, she imparts details of Ginsburg’s transformation from a young Jewish girl from Flatbush, Brooklyn, to one of the most celebrated Supreme Court justices in our nation’s history, and shares recipes for the mouthwatering dishes she came up with as she prepared for the big night. But this memoir isn’t simply a tale of prepping for and cooking dinner for the famous RBG; it’s also about how this event, and all the planning and preparation that went into it, created a new sort of connection between Karst, her partner, and her parents, and also inspired Karst to make life changes that would reverberate far beyond one dinner party. A heartfelt story of simultaneously searching for delicious recipes and purpose in life, Justice Is Served is an inspiring reminder that it’s never too late to discover—and follow—your deepest passion.

Read more less

Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories aims to bring the riches of contemporary Ukrainian literature—and of contemporary Ukraine, too—to the world. While Ukraine is under sustained attack, many in the West have marveled at the nation’s strength in the face of a barbaric invasion. Who are these people, what is this nation, which has captivated the world with their courage? By showcasing some of the finest Ukrainian writers working today, this book aims to help answer that question.There are war stories, but there are also love stories. Stories of aging romantics in modern Ukraine, and of modern Ukrainians in Vienna and Brooklyn, a fantastical tale set on a mysterious island where people never die, a wild lovers’ romp through modern-day Ukraine, a sobering account of an American war photographer, and a post-modern tale of a botanist in love. Some of these stories have been published before—indeed, many are award-winning and acclaimed—while some are appearing for the first time, making their rightful debut on the world stage. The range of voices, settings, and subjects in this vivid and varied collection show us how to “love in defiance of pain”—an apt phrase taken from the very first story in this book. Readers will be delighted and moved, and will gain insight into the proud history and contemporary life of Ukraine.Authors include: Sophia Andrukhovych, Yuri Andrukhovych, Stanislav Aseyev, Kateryna Babkina, Artem Chapeye, Liubko Deresh, Kateryna Kalytko, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Vasyl Makhno, Tanja Maljartschuk, Taras Prokhasko, Oleg Sentsov, Natalka Sniadanko, Olena Stiazhkina, Sashko Ushkalov, Oksana Zabuzhko, and Serhiy ZhadanProceeds from the sale of this collection will be donated to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Read more less

The global shift to an urban population comes with an uncomfortable corollary; People who live in cities as they are currently designed produce more greenhouse gasses than their non-urban counterparts, as a global average about three times more. But people in cities, particularly in coastal cities, are waking up to their vulnerability as well as to their responsibility. This newly acknowledged responsibility is reflected in current trends in urban design, .in newly conceived projects, plans and standards that try to make cities more resilient in the way they are designed, built and inhabited. To truly prosper, cities need to accommodate a growing number of citizens in dignity, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and still be worth living in. In this visually rich book Alexandros Washburn redefines urban design by looking at the process and products within the context of rapid urbanization and climate change. The Nature of Urban Design uses real-life examples, drawing heavily from the New York experience, to show how to design beautiful urban spaces that achieve multiple goals and objectives, such as greater resilience, livability and equity, while addressing the political and financial challenges that can accelerate or slow implementation. With examples ranging from the High Line to the post-Sandy recovery of Red Hook, Brooklyn, The Nature of Urban Design shows how a well designed, well-built city can be the most efficient, equitable, safest, and enriching place on earth. The Nature of Urban Design will inspire and inform anyone who cares about cities. It provides a framework for participating in the process of change. This includes people who want to become urban designers, particularly students and practitioners in the field of politics, finance and design who help to decide how a city will change.

Read more less

Written by 100 American poets, Isn't It Romantic offers an engaging look at how contemporary poets respond afresh to the well-trammeled territory of the love poem. Award-winning poets from across the country lend their voices to this important document of contemporary poetry. The book also features a bonus full-length audio CD of love songs by independent recording artists. Anthology Contributors include: Karen Volkman, Joe Wenderoth, Eleni Sikelianos, Juliana Spahr, Brenda Shaughnessy, Matthew Rohrer, Claudia Rankine, D.A. Powell, Hoa Nguyen, Noelle Kocot, Lisa Jarnot, Kevin Young, Brian Henry, Christine Hume, Matthea Harvey, Arielle Greenberg, Thalia Field, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Timothy Donnelly, Olena Kalytiak Davis, Stephen Burt, Joshua Beckman, and more. Contributors to the audio CD include: David Berman, Richard Buckner, Vic Chesnutt, Ida, Doug Martsch, Mark Mulcahy, Megan Reiley, Jenny Toomey and more. Editor Brett Fletcher Lauer is the poetry in motion director at the Poetry Society of America and poetry editor of CROWD Magazine. He is the co-editor of Poetry In Motion from Coast to Coast (W. W. Norton, 2002) and his poems have appeared in BOMB, Boston Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn. Editor Aimee Kelley is the editor and publisher of CROWD Magazine. She received her BA in English from UC Berkeley and her MFA from the New School for Social Research. She has worked at non-profit organizations such as the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses and the Academy of American Poets. Her poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Spinning Jenny, 811 Books and elsewhere. Charles Simic (Introduction) is the author of many books of poems, including The World Doesn't End, winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. He teaches writing at the University of New Hampshire.

Read more less

A MOST ANTICIPATED SUMMER READ FROM HARPER'S BAZAAR, BUSTLE, NYLON, THE MILLIONS, MS. MAGAZINE, and THE SKIMMAn unforgettable debut novel about the furious loyalty of two Latinx women coming of age in Queens, New York, an emotionally resonant novel infused with the insight, power, and poignancy of Angie Cruz’s Dominicana, Jacqueline Woodson’s Another Brooklyn, and Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends.Growing up in the ’90s along Clement Moore Avenue in Queens, Brisma and Kelly are two young Latinas with an inseparable bond, sharing everything and anything with each other. The girls are opposites: Brisma is sweet, sensitive, and observant, whereas Kelly is free-spirited, flirtatious, and bold. But together, they binge on Sour Patch Kids, listen to Boyz II Men cassette tapes, and dance to Selena and Mariah Carey where no one can see them. In high school, their friendship starts to form cracks when Brisma finds herself in a relationship with Brian, a charismatic baseball star. Brisma is thrilled to finally have something—someone—to herself. But Kelly wasn’t built to be a third wheel. Years later, the Mets begin a historic run for the playoffs, and Brisma and Kelly—now on the cusp of adulthood—reconnect with Brian after years of silence. But then Brian is charged with sexual assault. Brisma and Kelly find themselves on opposite sides of the accusation, viewing their past and past traumas from completely different vantage points, and the two lifelong friends will have to decide if their shared history is enough to sustain their future. Told in alternating timelines, Christine Kandic Torres’s incredible debut explores the unbreakable bonds of friendship, complications of sexual-abuse allegations within communities of color, and the danger of forgetting that sometimes monsters hide in plain sight.

Read more less

1942 would prove crucial for the United States in the Pacific following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and a series of setbacks in the Southwest Pacific late in 1941 into 1942. As the first ship commissioned following America’s entry into World War II, the light cruiser USS Atlanta would be thrust into the Pacific fight, joining the fleet in time for the pivotal battle of Midway and on to the Guadalcanal campaign in the Southwest Pacific. Embarked was an exceptionally astute observer - Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Mustin - who faithfully recorded his thoughts on the conflict in a standard canvas-covered logbook.Diaries were not supposed to be kept by those serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II and for good reason—if recovered by the Japanese they would likely have revealed that the Japanese code had been broken prior to the battle of Midway. Thus Mustin’s diary is a rare day-to-day accounting of the Pacific from a very opinionated mid-grade officer.Beginning with the commissioning of the light cruiser Atlanta at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Christmas Eve 1941, Mustin covers the ship’s workups and her deployment to the Pacific in time for the Battle of Midway. It’s then on to the Southwest Pacific where the ship first engages enemy aircraft at the battle of the Eastern Solomons in late August 1942. His final entry covers the battle of Santa Cruz in late October 1942. The story is completed by an account of the battle of Guadalcanal and beyond, drawing upon Mustin’s oral history.This is a valuable document, fully interpreted to provide a better understanding of the Pacific War during that critical year.

Read more less

Discover the truth behind the headlines in Victoria Beckham's fascinating memoir, Learning to Fly.'Juicy and compelling' Heat'Extraordinary... compelling and honest, devastatingly frank... like a rummage through a close friend's private diary' Daily Mail'The sensational autobiography of one of the most photographed and talked-about women in the world' Mail on SundayFrom the time she saw the movie Fame, Victoria wanted to be a star. A line from the theme song stayed with her - 'I'm gonna live for ever, I'm gonna learn how to fly.' With this amazing book she gives us the chance to fly alongside her on her journey from lonely teenager to international star.This is the real Victoria Beckham, telling us what it's like to be part of the most watched couple in Britain. Standing up for herself, David and Brooklyn, and setting the record straight about controversies that have surrounded her. She reveals the truth behind the beginnings of the Spice Girls, her wedding, her health and the terrifying kidnap and death threats. And what it took for little Victoria Adams to become the star she is today, and why she wanted it so much.Incredibly frank and told with coruscating humour, Victoria Beckham's autobiography Learning to Fly is more compelling than any novel.Victoria Beckham rose to fame as a member of the Spice Girls who have sold over 55 million records world-wide. She is now an internationally recognized style icon with her own denim brand called dVd Style, a range of sunglasses and fragrances named Intimately Beckham and has also produced a range of handbags and jewelry. Victoria has published two bestselling books: Learning to Fly and That Extra Half an Inch. She is married to footballer David Beckham, and they have four children.

Read more less

Praise for Cynan Jones:"[A] piercing novella. . . . Like Cormac McCarthy, Jones can make the everyday sound fraught and biblical." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Jones's perfectly pitched novel will appeal to anyone looking beyond sheer thrills." —Library Journal"This slim volume has all the gravity of a black hole, and reading it is like standing on the event horizon. . . . It's like a more beautiful Cormac McCarthy; a darker W.H. Auden." —Elliot Bay Book Company“Jones is a Welsh writer who has been compared to Cormac McCarthy, but his sparse style also recalls Ernest Hemingway.” —Kirkus, "Foreign Influence""There's nothing bucolic about this elemental, extraordinary tale of good and evil." —Shelf Awareness“Jones deftly explores his characters’ motives, particularly the hope they cling to despite the risks they take.” —Booklist“It’s as if the novel is the slowed-down spinning of a bullet through the grooves of a barrel, waiting to be released into the world.” —Vol. 1 Brooklyn“Darkly luminous . . . [Jones] builds tension in an ultimately gripping and important story that transcends its own bleakness.” —Library JournalWhen a net is set, and that's the way you choose, you'll hit it. Hold, a Welsh fisherman, Grzegorz, a Polish migrant worker, and Stringer, an Irish gangster, all want the chance to make their lives better. One kilo of cocaine and the sea tie them together in a fatal series of decisions.Cynan Jones was born near Aberaeron on the west coast of Wales in 1975. He is the author of four short novels, most recently The Dig (Coffee House Press, 2014), which won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize in 2014 and the Wales Book of the Year Fiction Prize 2015. His work has been translated into several languages, and short stories have aired on BBC Radio and appeared in a number of anthologies and publications including Granta.Everything I Found on the Beach is the second of three United States releases of his work by Coffee House Press.

Read more less

An LGBTQ YA "sci-fi romp" (Kirkus), The Last 8 is a thrilling high-stakes survival story about the last eight teenagers left on Earth after aliens attack, praised as "An extravaganza of nonstop action" (School Library Journal)Extinction was just the beginning…Clover Martinez has always been a survivor, which is the reason she isn't among the dead when aliens invade and destroy Earth as she knows it. Clover is convinced she's the only one left until she hears a voice on the radio urging her to go to the former Area 51. When she arrives, she's greeted by a band of misfits who call themselves The Last Teenagers on Earth. Only they aren't the ragtag group of heroes Clover was expecting. The seven strangers seem more interested in pretending the world didn't end than fighting back, and Clover starts to wonder if she was better off alone. But when she finds a hidden spaceship within the walls of the compound, she doesn't know what to believe…or who to trust.The Last 8 is perfect for readers looking for: heart-pounding young adult survival books tween and teen LGBTQ books sci-fi Latinx teen books expert world-building and relatable, funny, diverse charactersPraise for The Last 8:"The Walking Dead meets Alien in this expertly plotted debut. Teens will want to follow Clover on her next adventure!" — Zoraida Cordova, author of the Brooklyn Brujas series"The Last 8 is diverse and immersive science fiction...With its powerful world building and emotional twists, The Last 8 is a beautifully fresh take on the idea of an alien apocalypse." — Foreword Reviews"A sci-fi romp with ample intergalactic twists to keep readers satisfied." — Kirkus Reviews"This debut is, at times, both joyful and heartbreaking ... Pohl's characters are tough, funny, and brave as they manage to persevere despite the debilitating weight of grief." — Booklist

Read more less

“This remarkable book reminds us that even in the times of highest despair, we mustn’t allow ourselves the comfort of being passive. " - AddictionBlog.orgWho is Josef Katz? The fun-loving, harmonica-playing dad Sara loves so much? Or the monster who abuses Sara’s mother and locks himself in the bathroom, unable to beat his addiction?Eight-year-old Sara Katz huddles under the covers, listening to her parents’ muffled arguments and fighting the sleep that inevitably brings her bad dreams—dreams of her terrifying Shadow Father, a heroin addict.Is my daddy not a good father? Is it my job to fix him?As Josef’s sickness worsens, young Sara is torn apart by her family’s need to keep its “shame” a secret from its Jewish community in Brooklyn. Sara finds herself drawn to the liberation movements of the 1960s while feeling trapped in the darkness of her father’s addiction and, ultimately, his untimely death.Will Sara ever learn the truth about how her father became addicted and why he couldn’t get well? How will she find her own identity if her family can’t embrace its truth? And if Sara reveals her father’s secret, will she find freedom—or destroy her family?The author’s proceeds from The Fix will benefit The Fix Fund, which was established to battle the addiction epidemic in the Cape Cod area.“I read The Fix cover to cover and wept. I wept as the father of three wonderful daughters. I wept for the young man my older daughter is engaged to marry—a heroin addict in recovery. I wept as a Jew. I wept as a man and a husband. I wept as a politician who knows that between the cold statistics and policy debates about opiate addiction lie millions of personal tragedies about the devastating impact that this crisis is having on individuals, families, and our communities.... This is a remarkable book that touches us with despair while inspiring us to action.” - Dan Wolf, Massachusetts State Senator

Read more less

Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for WritingA physical and philosophical mediation on why we are drawn to fight each other for sport, what happens to our bodies and brains when we do, and what it all meansAnyone with guts or madness in him can get hit by someone who knows how; it takes a different kind of madness, a more persistent kind, to stick around long enough to be one of the people who does the knowing.Josh Rosenblatt was thirty-three years old when he first realized he wanted to fight. A lifelong pacifist with a philosopher’s hatred of violence and a dandy’s aversion to exercise, he drank to excess, smoked passionately, ate indifferently, and mocked physical activity that didn’t involve nudity. But deep down inside there was always some part of him that was attracted to the idea of fighting. So, after studying Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and boxing, he decided, at age forty, that it was finally time to fight his first—and only—mixed martial arts match: all in the name of experience and transcending ancient fears.An insightful and moving rumination on the nature of fighting, Why We Fight takes us on his journey from the bleachers to the ring. Using his own training as an opportunity to understand how the sport illuminates basic human impulses, Rosenblatt weaves together cultural history, criticism, biology, and anthropology to understand what happens to the human body and mind when under attack, and to explore why he, a self-described “cowardly boy from the suburbs,” discovered so much meaning in putting his body, and others’, at risk.From the psychology of fear to the physiology of pain, from Ukrainian shtetls to Brooklyn boxing gyms, from Lord Byron to George Plimpton, Why We Fight is a fierce inquiry into the abiding appeal of our most conflicted and controversial fixation, interwoven with a firsthand account of what happens when a mild-mannered intellectual decides to step into the ring for his first real showdown.

Read more less

Shortlisted for the Kate O'Brien Award 2020 Shortlisted for the John McGahern Annual Book Prize 2019 Shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Awards Emerging Writer category 2020 Longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2020 Shortlisted for the Butler Literary Award 2020 In these eleven stories, debut author Lucy Sweeney Byrne invites us to experience travelling the world alone as a young woman, with all its attendant pleasures and dangers. The staff of a boat moored in Brooklyn rebel against their tyrannical boss. A drifting writer house-sits in the wilds of Donegal in the midst of a health scare. In a Texas dive bar, two former lovers try to salvage a friendship from their intense connection. And in Mexico, a frustrated artist navigates a city both dangerous and alluring. Whether set in New York, Oaxaca, Havana or back home in Dublin, the result is by turns sharp, fearless and heartbreaking. Laced with biting humour and devastating observations, Paris Syndrome introduces a unique literary talent. Praise for Paris Syndrome: 'Full of vitality and precision, and so rawly funny - this is a fabulous debut.' Kevin Barry 'A feisty portrayal of the bleakness of modern life, full of fruitless longing, misplaced knowing and black irony.' Sara Baume 'Gripping and beautiful, Paris Syndrome is spiced with the tang of many places, but it's through the territory of the human soul that it ventures most bravely. It doesn't just give you the world, it presents a universe.' Gavin Corbett 'With its tone of appalled hilarity, its roving portraiture of twentysomething lostness, and its narrator's youthfully cruel perceptions - often turned squarely on herself - Paris Syndrome is an addictive, keeps-you-up-till-the-birds-are-singing read.' Rob Doyle 'Fearless and wryly funny, the stories in Paris Syndrome are a finely calibrated mix of rage and wonder.' Danielle McLaughlin 'Harrowing and hilarious in equal measures - and often, somehow, at the same time - Paris Syndrome is an unforgettable portrait of millennial womanhood.' Paul Murray

Read more less

These wacky and witty visual puzzles by legendary and award-winning graphic designer Seymour Chwast will have everyone speechless with delight!Chwast, the artist and co-founder of the infamous Pushpin Studios, had an enormous influence on design and illustration everywhere. Now, he brings his unique perspective and spontaneity to the letters of the alphabet. With vibrant color and amusing scenarios, this creative book will capture the interests of children and adults of all ages as readers find the letter hidden in each scene. From the dance floor to deep under the sea, the ski slope, and the swimming pool, children will delight in the colorful images in Chwast's distinctive style and the puzzle of discovering each letter. The simple yet striking artwork will foster their creativity and imagination. As they search for the A disguised as a party hat and the trumpet shaped like a Z, this book is the perfect way for early readers to practice the alphabet while having lots of fun too.About the Author / Illustrator: A creative genius of illustrative arts, Seymour Chwast is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios (now Pushpin Group). His work has been featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic among many others. Chwast illustrated the highly regarded book Harry's Bath (2005) and series of graphic novel adaptations of major classic works with Bloomsbury Press including Dante's Inferno (2010), Canterbury Tales (2011), and the Odyssey (2012). Chwast has recently published a book of posters from Schiffer Publishing and has an upcoming accompanying exhibition at the Poster House Museum (Fall 2021). He maintains an active presence in the graphic arts and illustrators community, and he continues to have his work displayed in museums such as the MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, San Francisco MoMA, Galerie Pompidou (Paris), Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Louvre), among others.

Read more less

This notepad understands. It understands your hustle, your passions, your exhaustion. Based on Adam J. Kurtz's super-popular print, this list ledger helps you separate work and life in a balanced way. From the author/artist: "Here's the deal: Being busy isn't a personality. Being tired isn't helping you 'kick ass, boss babe!' None of the inspirational aphorisms in the world are going to replace things like sleep, sunshine, positive relationships, washing your hair just to feel the water on your face, and all those other real-life things. "My wish for you is balance: plenty of things going on in your professional and personal life. Ups and downs, learning experiences, huge successes, and 'anecdotal research' on your way. Use these pads as you plan, build, and grow. This shit is real, and it helps." —Adam • Funny, honest, and uplifting, this twist on work-life productivity will appeal to anyone that has felt burnout or struggled to find balance. • Great for followers of Adam J. Kurtz, or any fans of sarcasm and dark humor • A great gift (or self-purchase) for recent graduates or anyone new to the workplace Includes: • 2 lined notepads (one for "Work Things" and one for "Life Things", 3 5/8 x 9 inches each • Cover reads "Do What You Love and You'll Never Work a Day in Your Life Work Super Hard All the Time with No Separation or Any Boundaries and Also Take Everything Extremely Personally" • Pencil (with eraser) with the words "Try not to lose it" printed on the side in the artist's signature handwriting Adam J. Kurtz is a Brooklyn-based artist and author whose work is rooted in honesty, humor, and a little darkness. His first book, 1 Page at a Time: A Daily Creative Companion, has been translated into 15 languages. He's collaborated on products for retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Strand Bookstore, and Fishs Eddy. He has also worked with Pepsi, Adobe, and the New York Times. In 2016, he was named one of Print magazine's "15 Under 30" New Visual Artists.

Read more less

Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed. Bringing together leading researchers—including biologists, urban planners, utilities experts, and climatologists, among others—Taking Chances illuminates reactions to the dangers revealed by Sandy. Focusing on New Jersey, New York, and other hard-hit areas, the contributors explore whether Hurricane Sandy has indeed transformed our perceptions of coastal hazards, if we have made radically new plans in response to Sandy, and what we think should be done over the long run to improve coastal resilience. Surprisingly, one essay notes that while a large majority of New Jerseyans identified Sandy with climate change and favored carefully assessing the likelihood of damage from future storms before rebuilding the Shore, their political leaders quickly poured millions into reconstruction. Indeed, much here is disquieting. One contributor points out that investors scared off from further investments on the shore are quickly replaced by new investors, sustaining or increasing the overall human exposure to risk. Likewise, a study of the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn shows that, even after Sandy swamped the area with toxic flood waters, plans to convert abandoned industrial lots around the canal into high-density condominiums went on undeterred. By contrast, utilities, emergency officials, and others who routinely make long-term plans have changed operations in response to the storm, and provide examples of adaptation in the face of climate change. Will Sandy be a tipping point in coastal policy debates—or simply dismissed as a once-in-a-century anomaly? This thought-provoking collection of essays in Taking Chances makes an important contribution to this debate.

Read more less

On the morning of July 16, 1964, a white police officer in New York City shot and killed a black teenager, James Powell, across the street from the high school where he was attending summer classes. Two nights later, a peaceful demonstration in Central Harlem degenerated into violent protests. During the next week, thousands of rioters looted stores from Brooklyn to Rochester and pelted police with bottles and rocks. In the symbolic and historic heart of black America, the Harlem Riot of 1964, as most called it, highlighted a new dynamic in the racial politics of the nation. The first "long, hot summer" of the Sixties had arrived. In this gripping narrative of a pivotal moment, Michael W. Flamm draws on personal interviews and delves into the archives to move briskly from the streets of New York, where black activists like Bayard Rustin tried in vain to restore peace, to the corridors of the White House, where President Lyndon Johnson struggled to contain the fallout from the crisis and defeat Republican challenger Barry Goldwater, who had made "crime in the streets" a centerpiece of his campaign. Recognizing the threat to his political future and the fragile alliance of black and white liberals, Johnson promised that the War on Poverty would address the "root causes" of urban disorder. A year later, he also launched the War on Crime, which widened the federal role in law enforcement and set the stage for the War on Drugs. Today James Powell is forgotten amid the impassioned debates over the militarization of policing and the harmful impact of mass incarceration on minority communities. But his death was a catalyst for the riots in New York, which in turn foreshadowed future explosions and influenced the political climate for the crime and drug policies of recent decades. In the Heat of the Summer spotlights the extraordinary drama of a single week when peaceful protests and violent unrest intersected, the freedom struggle reached a crossroads, and the politics of law and order led to demands for a War on Crime.

Read more less

The most comprehensive survey of Weems’ genre-defying oeuvre yet published One of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated narratives around family, race, gender, sexism, class and the consequences of power for more than 40 years. Her complex oeuvre—always ahead of its time, and profoundly formative for younger generations of artists—has employed photography (for which she is best known), fabric, text, audio, digital images, installation and video. Writing in the New York Times, Holland Cotter succinctly described Weems as “a superb image maker and a moral force, focused and irrepressible.” This volume, spanning four decades of work, is the most thorough survey yet published. It includes Weems’ earliest series, such as Family Pictures and Stories, for which she photographed her relatives and close friends; the legendary Kitchen Table Series, in which she posed in a domestic setting; and other critically acclaimed works and series such as Ain’t Jokin’, Colored People, From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, Not Manet’s Type, The Jefferson Suite, Monuments, Roaming, Museums, Constructing History (A Class Ponders the Future), Slow Fade to Black and the Obama Project, among many others. Contextualizing these pieces are essays by LaCharles Ward and Fred Moten and a chronology by Raul Muñoz. The book also includes a visual essay by Weems that presents a personal selection of her own works from the artist's perspective. The accompanying exhibition is organized by Fundación MAPFRE in collaboration with Fundación Foto Colectania, Barcelona and Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, where the exhibition Carrie Mae Weems. The Evidence Of Things Not Seen took place from April 2 through July 10, 2022. Carrie Mae Weems (born 1953) has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, and is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Weems lives in Brooklyn and Syracuse, New York.

Read more less

An LGBTQ YA "sci-fi romp" (Kirkus), The Last 8 is a thrilling high-stakes survival story about the last eight teenagers left on Earth after aliens attack, praised as "An extravaganza of nonstop action" (School Library Journal)Extinction was just the beginning…Clover Martinez has always been a survivor, which is the reason she isn't among the dead when aliens invade and destroy Earth as she knows it. Clover is convinced she's the only one left until she hears a voice on the radio urging her to go to the former Area 51. When she arrives, she's greeted by a band of misfits who call themselves The Last Teenagers on Earth. Only they aren't the ragtag group of heroes Clover was expecting. The seven strangers seem more interested in pretending the world didn't end than fighting back, and Clover starts to wonder if she was better off alone. But when she finds a hidden spaceship within the walls of the compound, she doesn't know what to believe…or who to trust.The Last 8 is perfect for readers looking for: heart-pounding young adult survival books tween and teen LGBTQ books sci-fi Latinx teen books expert world-building and relatable, funny, diverse charactersPraise for The Last 8:"The Walking Dead meets Alien in this expertly plotted debut. Teens will want to follow Clover on her next adventure!" — Zoraida Cordova, author of the Brooklyn Brujas series"The Last 8 is diverse and immersive science fiction...With its powerful world building and emotional twists, The Last 8 is a beautifully fresh take on the idea of an alien apocalypse." — Foreword Reviews"A sci-fi romp with ample intergalactic twists to keep readers satisfied." — Kirkus Reviews"This debut is, at times, both joyful and heartbreaking ... Pohl's characters are tough, funny, and brave as they manage to persevere despite the debilitating weight of grief." — Booklist

Read more less

A lively tour through the history of US cemeteries that explores how, where, and why we bury our dead The summer before his senior year in college, Greg Melville worked at the cemetery in his hometown, and thanks to hour upon hour of pushing a mower over the grassy acres, he came to realize what a rich story the place told of his town and its history. Thus was born Melville’s lifelong curiosity with how, where, and why we bury and commemorate our dead. Melville’s Over My Dead Body is a lively (pun intended) and wide-ranging history of cemeteries, places that have mirrored the passing eras in history but have also shaped it. Cemeteries have given birth to landscape architecture and famous parks, as well as influenced architectural styles. They’ve inspired and motivated some of our greatest poets and authors—Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson. They’ve been used as political tools to shift the country’s discourse and as important symbols of the United States' ambition and reach. But they are changing and fading. Embalming and burial is incredibly toxic, and while cremations have just recently surpassed burials in popularity, they’re not great for the environment either. Over My Dead Body explores everything—history, sustainability, land use, and more—and what it really means to memorialize. Locales visited in Over My Dead Body Shawsheen Cemetery – Bedford, Massachusetts The 1607 Burial Ground – Historic Jamestowne, Virginia Burial Hill – Plymouth, Massachusetts Colonial Jewish Burial Ground – Newport, Rhode Island Monticello’s African American Graveyard – Charlottesville, Virginia Mount Auburn Cemetery – Cambridge, Massachusetts Green-Wood Cemetery – Brooklyn, New York Laurel Grove Cemetery – Savannah, Georgia Sleepy Hollow Cemetery – Concord, Massachusetts Central Park – New York, New York Gettysburg National Cemetery – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Arlington National Cemetery – Arlington, VirginiaWoodlawn Cemetery – Bronx, New YorkBoothill Graveyard – Tombhill, Arizona Forest Lawn Memorial-Park – Glenwood, California The Chapel of the Chimes – Oakland, California Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Los Angeles, California Nature's Sanctuary – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Read more less

Rona Jaffe's frank, scandalous and thrilling 1958 novel, The Best of Everything follows a group of young women as they negotiate office romances, workplace politics, broken engagements, tiny apartments, lecherous bosses, heartbreak and lasting friendship, published in Penguin Modern Classics.New York, 1952: Four young women have come to the city: to find love, to build their careers and to savour the indefinable optimism of the times. Caroline is the college graduate, determined to escape the typing pool and become an editor. April is the beautiful country girl with a penchant for disastrous romances. Aspiring actress Gregg is tangled in a dangerous love affair with a playwright; and divorcée Barbara writes about lipsticks by day and cares alone for her daughter by night. Famously bedtime reading for Mad Men's Don Draper, The Best of Everything portrays the lives and passions of these ambitious young women with intelligence, affection, and prose as sharp as a paper cut.Rona Jaffe (1931-2005) was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the affluent Upper East Side of Manhattan. Jaffe wrote her first book, The Best of Everything, while working as an associate editor at Fawcett Publications in the 1950s. Published in 1958, it was later made into a movie, starring Joan Crawford. During the 1960s she wrote cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan magazine. Jaffe wrote sixteen novels during her career, including the controversial Mazes and Monsters (1981), adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks.If you enjoyed The Best of Everything, you might like John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'It harks back to a saner time when choosing progress and modernity was as straightforward as ordering dinner - "Two Scotches with water on the side, and two steaks"' Julie Burchill, author of Ambition'Decades before Sex and the City, Jaffe recorded the minutiae of women's lives and broke powerful taboos'Joan Smith, Independent

Read more less

From the record-breaking, four-time Hugo Award-winning N. K. Jemisin comes 'a glorious fantasy' (Neil Gaiman) - a story of culture, identity, magic and myths in contemporary New York City. The sequel to the critically acclaimed The City We Became, this is the final book of the Great Cities Duology.Every great city has a soul. A human avatar that embodies their city's heart and wields its magic. New York? She's got six.But all is not well in the city that never sleeps. Though Brooklyn, Manny, Bronca, Venezia, Padmini, and Neek have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading--and destroying the entire universe in the process--the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.'Hopeful and enthralling, The World We Make is more evidence of [Jemisin's] ferocious talent' Esquire'Jemisin brings her living-city saga to a satisfying conclusion, maintaining a sense of energy and excitement throughout' Booklist'Jemisin embodies the spirit of the city in as lush and lively a voice as ever and does a masterful job incorporating even more history and magic' Publishers Weekly'The conclusion to Jemisin's Great Cities duology is a searing commentary on present-day politics as manipulated by a primordial evil...This riveting and powerful urban fantasy duology is masterfully written' BuzzFeed NewsThe Great Cities DuologyThe City We BecameThe World We Make

Read more less

Shortlisted for the 2015 Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize The Lost Tribe of Coney Island is an Amazon Best Book of the Month The Lost Tribe of Coney Island is a New York Post “must read”! Coney Island, summer 1905: a new attraction opened at Luna Park. Within weeks it would be the talk of the nation. For the first time, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island unearths the incredible true story of the Igorrotes, a group of “headhunting, dog eating” tribespeople brought to America from the Philippines by the opportunistic showman Truman K. Hunt. At Luna Park, the g-string-clad Filipinos performed native dances and rituals before a wide-eyed public in a mocked-up tribal village. Millions of Americans flocked to see the tribespeople slaughter live dogs for their daily canine feasts and to hear thrilling tales of headhunting. The Igorrotes became a national sensation—they were written up in newspaper headlines, portrayed in cartoons, and even featured in advertising jingles, all fueled by Truman’s brilliant publicity stunts. By the end of the summer season, the Igorrote show had made Truman a rich man. But his genius had a dark side and soon he would be on the run across America with the tribe in tow, pursued by ex-wives, creditors, Pinkerton detectives, and the tireless agents of American justice. Award-winning journalist Claire Prentice brings this forgotten chapter in American history to life with vivid prose and rich historical detail. The book boasts a colorful cast of characters, including the mercurial Truman Hunt; his ambitious, young Filipino interpreter, Julio Balinag; Fomoaley Ponci, the tribe’s loquacious, self-important leader; Luna Park impresarios Fred Thompson and Elmer “Skip” Dundy; and Frederick Barker, the government man dead set on bringing Truman to justice. At its heart, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island is a tale of what happens when two cultures collide in the pursuit of money, adventure, and the American Dream. It is a story that makes us question who is civilized and who is savage.

Read more less

An “astonishing . . . fascinating . . . powerful” (New York Times Book Review) tour through the history of US cemeteries that explores how, where, and why we bury our deadThe summer before his senior year in college, Greg Melville worked at the cemetery in his hometown, and thanks to hour upon hour of pushing a mower over the grassy acres, he came to realize what a rich story the place told of his town and its history. Thus was born Melville’s lifelong curiosity with how, where, and why we bury and commemorate our dead. Melville’s Over My Dead Body is a lively (pun intended) and wide-ranging history of cemeteries, places that have mirrored the passing eras in history but also have shaped it. Cemeteries have given birth to landscape architecture and famous parks, as well as influenced architectural styles. They’ve inspired and motivated some of our greatest poets and authors—Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson. They’ve been used as political tools to shift the country’s discourse and as important symbols of the United States’ ambition and reach. But they are changing and fading. Embalming and burial is incredibly toxic, and while cremations have just recently surpassed burials in popularity, they’re not great for the environment either. Over My Dead Body explores everything—history, sustainability, land use, and more—and what it really means to memorialize. Locales visited in Over My Dead Body Shawsheen Cemetery – Bedford, Massachusetts The 1607 Burial Ground – Historic Jamestowne, Virginia Burial Hill – Plymouth, Massachusetts Colonial Jewish Burial Ground – Newport, Rhode Island Monticello’s African American Graveyard – Charlottesville, Virginia Mount Auburn Cemetery – Cambridge, Massachusetts Green-Wood Cemetery – Brooklyn, New York Laurel Grove Cemetery – Savannah, Georgia Sleepy Hollow Cemetery – Concord, Massachusetts Central Park – New York, New York Gettysburg National Cemetery – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Arlington National Cemetery – Arlington, Virginia Woodlawn Cemetery – Bronx, New York Boothill Graveyard – Tombhill, Arizona Forest Lawn Memorial-Park – Glenwood, California The Chapel of the Chimes – Oakland, California Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Los Angeles, California Nature’s Sanctuary – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Read more less

Since opening in 1931, the George Washington Bridge, linking New York and New Jersey, has become the busiest bridge in the world, with 103 million vehicles crossing it in 2016. Many people also consider it the most beautiful bridge in the world, yet remarkably little has been written about this majestic structure.Intimate and engaging, this revised and expanded edition of Michael Rockland's rich narrative presents perspectives on the GWB, as it is often called, that span history, architecture, engineering, transportation, design, the arts, politics, and even post-9/11 mentalities. This new edition brings new insight since its initial publication in 2008, including a new chapter on the infamous “Bridgegate” Chris Christie-era scandal of 2013, when members of the governor's administration shut down access to the bridge, causing a major traffic jam and scandal and subsequently helping undermine Christie’s candidacy for the US presidency.Stunning photos, from when the bridge was built in the late 1920s through the present, are a powerful complement to the bridge's history. Rockland covers the competition between the GWB and the Brooklyn Bridge that parallels the rivalry between New Jersey and New York City. Readers will learn about the Swiss immigrant Othmar Ammann, an unsung hero who designed and built the GWB, and how a lack of funding during the Depression dictated the iconic, uncovered steel beams of its towers, which we admire today. There are chapters discussing accidents on the bridge, such as an airplane crash landing in the westbound lanes and the sad story of suicides off its span; the appearance of the bridge in media and the arts; and Rockland's personal adventures on the bridge, including scaling its massive towers on a cable.Movies, television shows, songs, novels, countless images, and even PlayStation 2 games have aided the GWB in becoming a part of the global popular culture. This tribute will captivate residents living in the shadow of the GWB, the millions who walk, jog, bike, skate, or drive across it, as well as tourists and those who will visit it someday. .

Read more less

"A crackling portrayal of everyday American heroines…A triumph." — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit.Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned. Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid—and hope—to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit.With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?

Read more less

Following the 1957 season, two of baseball’s most famous teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, left the city they had called home since the 19th century and headed west. The Dodgers went to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco. Those events have entered baseball lore, and indeed the larger culture, as acts of betrayal committed by greedy owners Walter O’Malley of the Dodgers and Horace Stoneham of the Giants. The departure of these two teams, but especially the Dodgers, has not been forgotten by those communities. Even six decades later, it is not hard to find older Brooklynites who are still angry about losing the Dodgers. This is one side of the story. Baseball Goes West seeks to tell another side. Lincoln A. Mitchell argues that the moves to California, second only to Jackie Robinson’s debut in 1947, forged Major League Baseball (MLB) as we know it today. By moving two famous teams with national reputations and many well-known players, MLB benefited tremendously, increasing its national profile and broadening its fan base. This was particularly important following a decade that, despite often being described as baseball’s golden age, was plagued with moribund franchises, low wages for many players, and a difficult dismantling of the apartheid system that had been part of big league baseball since its inception.In the years immediately following the moves, the two most iconic players of the 1960s, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays, had their best years, bringing even greater status and fame to their respective ball clubs. The Giants played an instrumental role in the first phase of baseball’s globalization by leading the effort to bring players from Latin America to the big leagues, while the Dodgers set attendance records and pioneered new ways to market the game. Sports historians, baseball fans, and historians of American culture on a broader scale will appreciate Mitchell’s reframing of baseball’s move west and his insights into the impacts felt throughout baseball and beyond.

Read more less

What makes a great city? Not a good city or a functional city but a great city. A city that people admire, learn from, and replicate. City planner and architect Alexander Garvin set out to answer this question by observing cities, largely in North America and Europe, with special attention to Paris, London, New York, and Vienna. For Garvin, greatness is not just about the most beautiful, convenient, or well-managed city; it isn't even about any "city." It is about what people who shape cities can do to make a City great. A great city is not an Exquisite, completed artefact. It is a dynamic, constantly changing place that residents and their leaders can reshape, to satisfy their demands. While this book does discuss the history, demographic composition, politics, economy, topography, history playout, architecture, and planning of great cities, it is not about these aspects alone. Most importantly, it is about the interplay between people and public realm and how they have interacted throughout history to create great Cities. To open the book, Garvin explains that a great public realm attracts and retains the people who make a city great.He describes exactly what the term public realm means, its most important characteristics, as well as providing examples of when and how these characteristics work, or don't. An entire chapter is devoted to a discussion of how particular components of the public realm (squares in London, parks in Minneapolis, and streets in Madrid) shape people's daily lives. He concludes with a look at how twenty-first century initiatives in Paris, Houston, Atlanta-Brooklyn, and Toronto are making an already fine public realm even better, initiatives that demonstrate what other cities can do to improve. What Makes o Great City will help readers understand that any city can be changed for the better-and inspire entrepreneurs, public officials, and city residents to do it themselves.

Read more less

Lore Schindler was ten years old when her dentist father Harry was arrested by the Gestapo in Berlin and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. His wife Grete bought his release by giving all their possessions to the Nazi state. Leaving Germany with just 10 Marks each, parents and daughter suffered humiliating strip searches at the border. This was the start of Lore's ordeal. In her first French concentration camp, her mother died. Her father also died in another camp. Orphaned and ill in the huge camp at Gurs, she was saved by prisoner-nurse Schwester Kate, but would later have starved to death, had not two sisters - Elsie and Marthe Liefmann - 'adopted' her, found food and made her eat it. Elsbeth Kasser was a Swiss-German social worker in the camp who gave her treats of milk and Swiss cheese to build up 'the thinnest girl in the camp'. Another social worker, Elisabeth Hirsch used a forged identity card to get Lore out of the camp and took her to La Maison de Moissac, a children's home in SW France run by her sister Shatta Simon. There, several hundred refugee children were hidden from the Nazi occupiers and French fascists who wanted to send the children to the death camps in Poland. When it became unsafe to stay in Moissac, Lore was adopted by pianist Helene Gribenski, living in a remote village. When that too became unsafe, she moved her little family into a primitive hovel in the forest to await the Allied victory. That Lore survived was due to these courageous women, who risked their own lives to save hers. After the war, she found love in an Israeli kibbutz and moved with her American husband to New York, becoming a librarian with Brooklyn Public Library. No borrowers ever guessed what her adolescence and burgeoning womanhood had been like in a terrifying land whose language she could not even speak.

Read more less

From the record-breaking, four-time Hugo Award-winning N. K. Jemisin comes 'a glorious fantasy' (Neil Gaiman) - a story of culture, identity, magic and myths in contemporary New York City. The sequel to the critically acclaimed The City We Became, this is the final book of the Great Cities Duology.Every great city has a soul. A human avatar that embodies their city's heart and wields its magic. New York? She's got six.But all is not well in the city that never sleeps. Though Brooklyn, Manny, Bronca, Venezia, Padmini, and Neek have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading--and destroying the entire universe in the process--the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.'Hopeful and enthralling, The World We Make is more evidence of [Jemisin's] ferocious talent' Esquire'Jemisin brings her living-city saga to a satisfying conclusion, maintaining a sense of energy and excitement throughout' Booklist'Jemisin embodies the spirit of the city in as lush and lively a voice as ever and does a masterful job incorporating even more history and magic' Publishers Weekly'The conclusion to Jemisin's Great Cities duology is a searing commentary on present-day politics as manipulated by a primordial evil...This riveting and powerful urban fantasy duology is masterfully written' BuzzFeed NewsThe Great Cities DuologyThe City We BecameThe World We Make

Read more less

Publishers Weekly "Book of the Year" Firecracker Award Finalist "Sheds brilliant light along the meteoric path of American westward expansion...[A] pithy, compact beautifully conducted version of the American Dream, from its portrait of the young wounded soldier in the beginning to its powerful rendering of Crazy Horse's prophecy for life on earth at the end." --NPR "Like all Mr. Lock's books, this is an ambitious work, where ideas crowd together on the page like desperate men on a battlefield." --Wall Street Journal In this panoramic tale of Manifest Destiny, Stephen Moran comes of age with the young country that he crosses on the Union Pacific, just as the railroad unites the continent. Propelled westward from his Brooklyn neighborhood and the killing fields of the Civil War to the Battle of Little Big Horn, he befriends Walt Whitman, receives a medal from General Grant, becomes a bugler on President Lincoln's funeral train, goes to work for railroad mogul Thomas Durant, apprentices with frontier photographer William Henry Jackson, and stalks General George Custer. When he comes face-to-face with Crazy Horse, his life will be spared but his dreams haunted for the rest of his days. By turns elegiac and comic, American Meteor is a novel of adventure, ideas, and mourning: a unique vision of America's fabulous and murderous history. Norman Lock is the award-winning author of novels, short fiction, and poetry, as well as stage, radio, and screenplays. His recent works of fiction include the short story collection Love Among the Particles, a Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year, and three books in The American Novels series: The Boy in His Winter, a re-envisioning of Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; American Meteor, an homage to Walt Whitman and William Henry Jackson named a Firecracker Award finalist and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year; and The Port-Wine Stain, a gothic psychological thriller featuring Edgar Allan Poe. Lock lives in Aberdeen, New Jersey.

Read more less

Most baseball players try to prolong their careers for as long as possible. They will compete on the field until their bodies give out or until they are no longer effective. Since the early days of the sport, however, many players have had to abruptly abandon the game they love for myriad reasons. While some leave by their own accord, others are not so fortunate. Although many were forced out of the game because of injury, other careers were derailed by dependency, scandal, suicide, or war. Some left to take another job or play another sport, and a few participated in criminal activities, even murder. In Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers, author Brian McKenna recounts the individual histories of those men and women who, for one reason or another, forfeited their participation in America's pastime. Hundreds of players are profiled here: from Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball following the 1920 Black Sox scandal to Brooklyn Dodger Roy Campanella, who suffered a paralyzing car accident in 1958, to Minnesota Twins star Kirby Puckett, who left the game because of damage to his right eye. Covering the entire history of professional baseball from the mid-19th century to the present day, Early Exits not only examines the major leagues but also highlights the minor leagues, women's baseball, the Negro leagues, and international figures, including those from Japan and Latin America. The work is divided by the various career-ending categories, such as injury and illness, gambling and game-fixing scandals, criminal activity, suicide, war, injuries at the ballpark, sports and professional opportunities, and death. Each story contains an overview of the baseball figure along with the career-ending details, and many entries contain background information describing the historical significance of the individual and his or her place within the baseball community. From casual fans to the die-hard devotees, this fascinating collection will be irresistible for any baseball

Read more less

For a decade, award-winning New York Times journalist Amy Chozick chronicled Hillary Clinton's pursuit of the presidency. Chozick's front-row seat, initially covering Clinton's imploding 2008 campaign, and then her assignment to “The Hillary Beat” ahead of the 2016 election, took her to 48 states and set off a nearly ten-years-long journey in which the formative years of her twenties and thirties became – both personally and professionally – intrinsically intertwined to Clinton's presidential ambitions. Chozick's candor and clear-eyed perspective-from her seat on the Hillary bus and reporting from inside the campaign's Brooklyn headquarters, to her run-ins with Donald J. Trump and her globetrotting with Bill Clinton- provide fresh intrigue and insights into the story we thought we all knew. This is the real story of what happened, with the kind of dishy, inside details that repeatedly surprise and enlighten. But Chasing Hillary is also a rollicking, irreverent, refreshingly honest personal story of how the would-be first woman president looms over Chozick's life. And, as she gets married, attempts to infiltrate the upper echelons of political journalism and inquires about freezing her eggs so she can have children after the 2016 campaign, Chozick dives deeper into decisions Clinton made at similar points in her life. In the process, Chozick came to see Clinton not as an unknowable enigma and political animal but as a complex person, full of contradictions and forged in the political battles and media storms that had long predated Chozick's years of coverage. Trailing Clinton through all of the highs and lows of the most noxious and wildly dramatic presidential election in American history, Chozick comes to understand what drove Clinton, how she accomplished what no woman had before, and why she ultimately failed. Poignant, illuminating, laugh-out-loud funny, Chasing Hillary is a campaign book like never before that reads like a fast-moving political novel.

Read more less

Cities are where solutions to the twenty-first century’s key challenges - addressing inequality, fostering political participation, responding to climate change - will be tested. And as cities adapt to new developments in technology, infrastructure, public space, transportation, and housing, so too must urban practices and our understanding of how to effect positive change evolve. In Citymakers, Cassim Shepard - 2019 Guggenheim Fellow for Architecture, Planning, and Design - offers a vivid survey of how urbanism today is no longer the domain of just planners, politicians, and power brokers removed from the effects of their decisions, but an array of citizens working at the vanguard of increasingly diverse practices, from community gardeners to architects to housing advocates. Drawing on six years as the editor of Urban Omnibus, one of the leading publications charting innovations in urban practice (launched in 2009 by The Architectural League of New York), Shepard explores a broad variety of projects in New York, a city at the forefront of experimental and practical research: a constructed wetland in Staten Island, a workforce development and technology program in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a public art installation in a Bronx housing project, a housing advocacy initiative in Jackson Heights, Queens. These and a wide variety of other examples in Citymakers comprise a cross-disciplinary, from-the-ground-up approach that encourage better choices for cities of the future. By blending intimate portraits of individuals and projects with incisive social analysis, Citymakers reports from the front lines of urban practice with up-to-the-minute examples and arguments that reframe our understanding of urbanism. With original photography by Alex Fradkin, the book fuses the rich visual and graphic sensibility of architectural publishing with the informative readability of sophisticated, long-format journalism. Revising traditional notions of urban intervention and providing new directions for the next generation of citizen-practitioners, Citymakers is a lasting document of the perspectives driving cities today, and tomorrow.

Read more less

Winner of the 2022-2023 New York City Book Awards! SPECIAL MENTION, 2023 IASPM Book Prize, given by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music SHORTLISTED, 2023 Ralph J. Gleason Book Award, given by the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame/Clive Davis Institute Unearths the queer aesthetic origins of NYC hip hop Hip Hop Heresies centers New York City as a space where vibrant queer, Black, and hip hop worlds collide and bond in dance clubs, schools, roller rinks, basketball courts, subways, and movie houses. Using this cultural nexus as the stage, Shanté Paradigm Smalls attends to the ways that hip hop cultural production in New York City from the 1970s through the early twenty-first century produced film, visual art, and music that offer queer articulations of race, gender, and sexuality. To illustrate New York City as a place of experimental aesthetic collaboration, Smalls brings four cultural moments to the forefront: the life and work of the gay Chinese American visual and graffiti artist Martin Wong, who brokered the relationship between New York City graffiti artists and gallery and museum spaces; the Brooklyn-based rapper-singer-writer-producer Jean Grae, one of the most prolific and underrated emcees of the last two decades; the iconic 1980s film The Last Dragon, which exemplifies the experimental and queer Black masculinity possible in early formal hip hop culture; and finally queer- and trans-identified hip hop artists and groups like BQE, Deepdickollective, and Hanifah Walidah, and the documentary Pick Up the Mic. Hip Hop Heresies transforms the landscape of hip hop scholarship, Black studies, and queer studies by bringing together these fields through the hermeneutic of aesthetics. Providing a guidepost for future scholarship on queer, trans, and feminist hip hop studies, Hip Hop Heresies takes seriously the work that New York City hip hop cultural production has done and will do, and advocates a form of hip hop that eschews authenticity in favor of performativity, bricolage, and pastiche.

Read more less

A definitive biography of a twentieth century gay author whose work has recently been rediscovered and enjoys a cult following. One of the most iconoclastic twentieth-century American novelists, James Purdy penned original and sometimes shocking works about those on the margins of American society, exploring small towns, urban life, failure, alienation, sexuality, and familial relations. In his own life, Purdy was a compelling if eccentric figure, declared an "authentic American genius" by Gore Vidal. James Purdy: Life of a Contrarian Writer is the first full-length biography of the gay American novelist, story writer, playwright, and poet. Michael Snyder has spent over a decade plumbing the mysteries of Purdy's career and personal life, including interviews with those who knew him. From his roots in northwestern Ohio, Purdy moved to the world of Bohemian artists and jazz musicians in Chicago in the late 1930s and 1940s, travelled in Spain, studied in Mexico, enlisted in the Army Air Corps, worked for the Federal Security Agency, and taught in Cuba and at a Wisconsin college for nearly a decade. All the while, he aspired to become a writer, but struggled to publish. Only when friends financed the private printing of his work did he find a champion in poet Dame Edith Sitwell, who helped get him published in England, which led to publication in the United States. After moving to New York in 1957, he spent nearly fifty years writing in Brooklyn Heights. Although Purdy's critical reputation peaked in the 1960s and he never enjoyed a bestseller, his often queer and edgy content found a diverse following that included Tennessee Williams, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Dorothy Parker, Edward Albee, Jonathan Franzen, John Waters, and many LGBTQ readers. Difficult and often contrarian, Purdy sometimes hampered his own career as he sought recognition from a conservative, cliquey New York publishing world. Conveying the potency and influence of Purdy's fierce artistic integrity, vision, and self-definition as a truth-teller, this groundbreaking literary biography recovers the life of a highly talented writer with a persistent cult following.

Read more less

Interviews with innovative business leaders and compelling case studies reveal today's best practices for customer and employee loyalty, high profits and sustainability, and a fulfilling work culture in businesses of all sizes. Dan Sachs guides established and emerging businesses as they strengthen employee morale, customer retention, and profits. In The Million Dollar Greeting, he interviews cutting-edge leaders from large and small companies that are consistently profitable with their success directly tied to exceptional customer satisfaction and employees who rank their company among the top places to work. The original words of the business owners, including their practices, are shared and analyzed by Sachs and instructional takeaways are written for the business world as it exists today and with consideration for expected changes over the coming years. Topics covered include answering the question of what modern-day customer service is and why it matters in the digital age; what interpersonal practices lead to brand loyalty, high financial rewards, and the retention of top employees; how to create a dynamic work culture and the best ways to support employees of different age groups; and what practices will grow increasingly critical for businesses to implement over the coming years. Among the business leaders interviewed in the book and companies given as case examples are: Rob Siefker of Zappos Mark Hoplamazian of Hyatt Hotels Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman’s Delicatessen Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery Mike McDerment of FreshBooks Richard Coraine of Union Square Hospitality Group Paul Speigelman of BerylHealth Jerrod Melman of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Nick Sarillo of Nick’s Pizza & Pub For all entrepreneurs, managers, and employees eager to see their company thrive, this insightful volume reveals how to make your business stand out from competitive companies, how to be effective in your position, and how to make sure fulfillment and success define your business in today’s competitive climate and for years to come.

Read more less

THREE GENERATIONS. TWO CHICKEN SHACKS. ONE RECIPE FOR DISASTER.A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK'A charming, hilarious, feel-good story about the kind of bonds and rivalries only sisters can share'Reese WitherspoonIn tiny Merinac, Kansas, Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state - and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than thirty-five-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi's before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie's. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition that promises $100,000 to the winner. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly into the fire.The last thing Brooklyn-based organisational guru Mae Moore, Amanda's sister, wants is to go home to Kansas. But when her career implodes, Food Wars becomes her chance to step back into the limelight. Mae is certain she can make the fading Mimi's look good - even if that pits her against Amanda and Frannie's. With a greedy producer stoking the flames, their friendly rivalry quickly turns into a game of chicken. Yet when family secrets become public knowledge, the sisters must choose: will they fight with each other, or for their heritage? After all, all's fair in love, and war, and chicken . . .'Three generations, two chicken shacks, and some big family secrets revealed.... The December Reese's Book Club pick, The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia is a charming, hilarious, feel-good story about the kind of bonds and rivalries only sisters can share. Also, a great present for your sister!' Reese Witherspoon'It's like the comfort food of novels: warm, memorable and wholly original. I loved it' Laura Zigman, author of SEPARATION ANXIETY

Read more less

A surprise pregnancy leads to even more life-changing revelations in this heartfelt, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance of found family and unexpected love.'Cara Bastone is one of the most talented writers in the romance genre today. With her signature blend of heart, humor, and honesty, Cara's books remind you that the best stories begin and end with hope' LYSSA KAY ADAMS'The thing I love most about Cara Bastone's books is her ability to find the romance in ordinary lives, the swoon in simple places . . . just normal folks falling in love. I ADORE it' 5* reader review for Call Me MaybeEve Hatch has always been content to coast through her life, with a steady, if uninspiring, job and a cozy apartment in Brooklyn, close to her childhood best friend Willa and far from the midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. But when she finds herself pregnant after an uncharacteristic one-night stand, her comfy life is suddenly up in the air. Eve's loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, right when she needs her the most, and it's actually Willa's steadfast big brother, Shep, who steps up with the most support and he's . . . suddenly kinda hot? As if she needs one more complication, there's also the baby's father, who is technically supportive, but majorly conflicted. But as Eve struggles to figure out the next step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it........................................................Readers can't get enough of Cara Bastone!'An adorable and thoroughly enjoyable read . . . I didn't want it to end''This is a short, sweet romance that I really enjoyed''I love the concept of this book . . . I've never read anything like it and for that I loved it!''Looking forward to reading more from this author'

Read more less

When Bernie Sanders announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on April 30, 2015, few people took much notice. Here was a 73-year-old US Senator from the tiny state of Vermont taking on Hillary Clinton, who seemed to have the nomination locked up. Although Sanders had caucused with the Democrats, he had always heretofore run as an Independent. Brooklyn born, he was also the first person of Jewish faith to mount a serious campaign for president. Balding and looking like everyone's grandfather, he was neither a brilliant speaker nor a brilliant political tactician. What he did have was conviction in his beliefs, which he frankly described as Socialist," and a determination to mount a revolution" against the existing political and economic establishment. As improbable as this campaign was, it immediately took flight. Millions of voters, especially young people, joined Bernie's army." In state after state, he won Democratic voters under the age of 40 by overwhelming majorities. His fervent supporters made almost a million small gifts to the campaign, average size $31. This was unheard of. What motivated Bernie to undertake his ground breaking campaign? First and foremost, he was appalled by the economic inequality of American society, which he felt was getting ever worse. He wanted to tax the rich and especially Wall Street much more heavily in order to finance more Social Security and Medicare for all, among other expanded government programs. Sanders planned to jumpstart the economy by vastly increasing government investments in infrastructure" such as roads and bridges. He would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for a start and keep raising it. He would open US borders to immigration while simultaneously cutting back on open borders for trade. Would this program work? Would it lead to the intended outcome? Where Bernie Went Wrong considers this question and concludes that while Sanders is right in calling for a revolution against today's political and economic elites, his proposed solutions would actually make the plight of the poor and middle class even worse.

Read more less

“Two parts Gone Girl, two parts Notes on a Scandal. . .will play with your expectations about who’s the villain and who’s the victim.” — Jennifer Weiner, USA TodayLonglisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize for FictionThe acclaimed, bestselling author of This Could Hurt returns with her biggest, boldest novel yet—an electrifying, twisty, and deeply emotional family drama, set on Manhattan’s glittering Upper East Side, that explores the dark side of love, the limits of loyalty, and the high cost of truth.You can have everything, and still not have enough. Cassie Quinn may only be twenty-three, but she knows a few things. One: money can’t buy happiness, but it’s certainly better to have it. Two: family matters most. Three: her younger brother Billy is not a rapist.When Billy, a junior at Princeton, is arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie races home to Manhattan to join forces with her big brother Nate and their parents, Lawrence and Eleanor. The Quinns scramble to hire the best legal minds money can buy, but Billy fits the all-too-familiar sex-offender profile—white, athletic, and privileged—that makes headlines and sways juries.Meanwhile, Cassie struggles to understand why Billy’s ex Diana would go this far, even if the breakup was painful. And she knows how the end of first love can destroy someone: Her own years-long affair with a powerful, charismatic man left her shattered, and she’s only recently regained her footing. As reporters converge outside their Upper East Side landmark building, the Quinns gird themselves for a media-saturated trial, and Cassie vows she’ll do whatever it takes to save Billy. But what if that means exposing her own darkest secrets to the world?Lightning-paced and psychologically astute as it rockets toward an explosive ending, When We Were Bright and Beautiful is a dazzling novel that asks: who will pay the price when the truth is revealed?

Read more less

This first monograph from New York-based Young Projects explores a new approach to spatial design that combines digital and analog methods at the intersection of exploration and architecture. This monograph introduces the cutting-edge research and work of Young Projects, founded by Bryan Young, where materiality, structure, and form intersect to generate new architectural typologies. The book presents a selection of the practice’s most relevant projects: five innovative houses completed between 2015 and 2020 as well as less in-depth looks at other projects that define the practice. Each house serves as a chapter through which Young Projects’ broader body of work is explored across scales, illustrated through a rich landscape of drawings, diagrams, renderings, mock-ups, prototypes, and photography. The through-line connecting all chapters is the studio’s interest in using ambiguity and anomaly to create novel and accessible spaces, whether for high profile clients like Heidi Klum or a new resort in St Kitts. Young Projects seeks to draw users into immersive spatial experiences that unfold over time, in a manner that is familiar but subtly foreign. This quality of “allure” is a result of a unique and experimental approach to materiality and spatial legibility. These are the threads that tie the work together and have set Young Projects apart as an emerging practice, as well as inform the larger-scale projects the studio undertakes as it enters its second decade. Young Projects’ process often begins with simple exercises in making: form-finding experiments they undertake within their Brooklyn studio. Material research has included hand-pulling plaster with an irregular knife, using furniture foam as a casting bed, and forming concrete with palm stems. These experiments, among many others, mine characteristics that are not typically associated with conventional architectural materials and break traditional methodology, allowing for qualities of randomness and spontaneity to enter the process of making. The studio finds that letting go of control (at the right moments) produces results that are often surprising, entirely bespoke, and resist replication.

Read more less

Chronicles a Black Puerto Rican man’s odyssey and transformation from an incarcerated gang member to the Co-Founder of the Young Lords Party. Growing up fatherless and poor, Felipe Luciano didn’t yearn for wealth or dream of becoming a famous actor or athlete. He was tired of being poor and ached to be a man, to reach that point of sagacity, courage, and independence that would signal to the world that he was now a warrior, ready to fight the battle for truth and justice, to slay the dragon of evil, whatever that might be. In Flesh and Spirit, Luciano paints a vivid portrait of his life in New York City as a member of the city’s Latino community as well as his pivotal role in the Young Lords and The Last Poets. Luciano’s memoir begins when as a teenage Brooklyn gang member he is convicted of manslaughter. This pivotal moment changes the trajectory of his life. The American kid raised on Davy Crockett and Superman TV tales emerged from the womb of prison into a harsh, new monochromatic black/white world without the benefit of rose-colored glasses. It was a painful shattering of all his childhood beliefs and the realization that he was a poor Black Puerto Rican in white America clutching onto values that didn’t work. The only flotsam in this churning sea of ’60s social turmoil was college, poetry, revolutionary activity, and sometimes God. After getting an education, Luciano went on to become an acclaimed poet and political activist who advocates for the Latino population of New York City, for the kids growing up in the same circumstances he did. Sparing no one—not the revolutionaries, the Revolution, nor the author himself—Flesh and Spirit is written with honesty and humility to help guide young people of color and other Americans through the labyrinths of ideology, organization, missteps, false paths, and phony societal promises. Featuring archival photographs by Michael Abramson reproduced from Palante: Voices and Photographs of the Young Lords, 1969-1971 © 2011 Haymarket Books.

Read more less

Winner of the 2022-2023 New York City Book Awards! SPECIAL MENTION, 2023 IASPM Book Prize, given by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music SHORTLISTED, 2023 Ralph J. Gleason Book Award, given by the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame/Clive Davis Institute Unearths the queer aesthetic origins of NYC hip hop Hip Hop Heresies centers New York City as a space where vibrant queer, Black, and hip hop worlds collide and bond in dance clubs, schools, roller rinks, basketball courts, subways, and movie houses. Using this cultural nexus as the stage, Shanté Paradigm Smalls attends to the ways that hip hop cultural production in New York City from the 1970s through the early twenty-first century produced film, visual art, and music that offer queer articulations of race, gender, and sexuality. To illustrate New York City as a place of experimental aesthetic collaboration, Smalls brings four cultural moments to the forefront: the life and work of the gay Chinese American visual and graffiti artist Martin Wong, who brokered the relationship between New York City graffiti artists and gallery and museum spaces; the Brooklyn-based rapper-singer-writer-producer Jean Grae, one of the most prolific and underrated emcees of the last two decades; the iconic 1980s film The Last Dragon, which exemplifies the experimental and queer Black masculinity possible in early formal hip hop culture; and finally queer- and trans-identified hip hop artists and groups like BQE, Deepdickollective, and Hanifah Walidah, and the documentary Pick Up the Mic. Hip Hop Heresies transforms the landscape of hip hop scholarship, Black studies, and queer studies by bringing together these fields through the hermeneutic of aesthetics. Providing a guidepost for future scholarship on queer, trans, and feminist hip hop studies, Hip Hop Heresies takes seriously the work that New York City hip hop cultural production has done and will do, and advocates a form of hip hop that eschews authenticity in favor of performativity, bricolage, and pastiche.

Read more less

Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed. Bringing together leading researchers—including biologists, urban planners, utilities experts, and climatologists, among others—Taking Chances illuminates reactions to the dangers revealed by Sandy. Focusing on New Jersey, New York, and other hard-hit areas, the contributors explore whether Hurricane Sandy has indeed transformed our perceptions of coastal hazards, if we have made radically new plans in response to Sandy, and what we think should be done over the long run to improve coastal resilience. Surprisingly, one essay notes that while a large majority of New Jerseyans identified Sandy with climate change and favored carefully assessing the likelihood of damage from future storms before rebuilding the Shore, their political leaders quickly poured millions into reconstruction. Indeed, much here is disquieting. One contributor points out that investors scared off from further investments on the shore are quickly replaced by new investors, sustaining or increasing the overall human exposure to risk. Likewise, a study of the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn shows that, even after Sandy swamped the area with toxic flood waters, plans to convert abandoned industrial lots around the canal into high-density condominiums went on undeterred. By contrast, utilities, emergency officials, and others who routinely make long-term plans have changed operations in response to the storm, and provide examples of adaptation in the face of climate change. Will Sandy be a tipping point in coastal policy debates—or simply dismissed as a once-in-a-century anomaly? This thought-provoking collection of essays in Taking Chances makes an important contribution to this debate.

Read more less

In 1860, Milton Bradley invented The Checkered Game of Life. Having journeyed from Springfield, Massachusetts, to New York City to determine interest in this combination of bright red ink, brass dials, and character-driven decision-making, Bradley exhausted his entire supply of merchandise just two days after his arrival in the city; within a few months, he had sold forty thousand copies. That same year, Walt Whitman left Brooklyn to oversee the printing of the third edition of his Leaves of Grass in Massachusetts. In Slantwise Moves, Douglas A. Guerra sees more than mere coincidence in the contemporary popularity of these superficially different cultural productions. Instead, he argues, both the book and the game were materially resonant sites of social experimentation—places where modes of collectivity and selfhood could be enacted and performed. Then as now, Guerra observes, "game" was a malleable category, mediating play in various and inventive ways: through the material forms of pasteboard, paper, and india rubber; via settings like the parlor, lawn, or public hall; and by mutually agreed-upon measurements of success, ranging from point accumulation to the creation of humorous narratives. Recovering the lives of important game designers, anthologists, and codifiers—including Anne Abbot, William Simonds, Michael Phelan, and the aforementioned Bradley—Guerra brings his study of commercially produced games into dialogue with a reconsideration of iconic literary works. Through contrapuntal close readings of texts and gameplay, he finds multiple possibilities for self-fashioning reflected in Bradley's Life and Whitman's "Song of Myself," as well as utopian social spaces on billiard tables and the pages of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance alike. Highlighting meaningful overlap in the production and reception of books and games, Slantwise Moves identifies what the two have in common as material texts and as critical models of the mundane pleasures and intimacies that defined agency and social belonging in nineteenth-century America.

Read more less