Public Housing

I have a show coming up when I get back to school from fall break. Simon catches me rehearsing lines in the living room the night before I have to leave, and offers to help me read lines. He's standing at the banister, beaming at me with pride, his strong arms crossed. He's wearing that white t-shirt and boxers combo he always wears around the house. Sometimes I wish he’d just take the shirt off. Boxers too. Soon, we're reading the pivotal romantic scene together, falling into character. My heart starts racing, wondering, hoping that the deeper Simon gets into character, the deeper he'll ...

Pete's ever-seeking spirit gallops on the foul stench that wafts from the Dump and torments the good people of Staten Island. But Pete's had his fill of outer-borough provincial life and is gunning for a promotion. To land the new gig, he's got to impress the man downstairs. He needs a couple of big scores and lucky for him, Staten Island is oozing with potential for evil.

The automobile was one of the most miraculous inventions of the 20th century. It promised freedom, style, and utility. But sometimes, rather than improving our lives technology just makes everything worse. Over the past century cars have filled the air with toxic pollutants and fueled climate change. Cars have stolen public space and made our cities uglier, dirtier, less useful, and more unequal. Cars have caused tens of millions of deaths and injuries. They have wasted our time and our money.

Much ink has been spilled in recent years talking about political divides and inequality in the United States. But these discussions too often miss one of the most important factors in the divisions among Americans: the fundamentally unequal nature of the nation's housing systems. Increasingly, important life outcomes—performance in school, employment, even life expectancy—are determined by where people live and the quality of homes they live in. Fixer-Upper is the first book assessing how local, state, and national housing policies affect people and communities.

The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, was built for a monetary system composed primarily of investor-owned, government-chartered banks. But over the years, the erosion of banking law and the rise of alternative forms of money created outside of the banking system have pushed the Fed to take on more and more responsibilities to keep the economy out of recession, as it did during the 2008 crisis, and again during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it created $3 trillion to stop another financial panic.

Nineteen-year-old Archie Baldwin just moved home after flunking out of his first semester of college. Too much hooking up sand not nearly enough studying. Most of his days are spent applying for jobs he’s under-qualified for and staring out the window at his hot older neighbor, Mr. Million, who does his yard work shirtless every morning. When Archie learns Mr. Million is looking for extra help in the yard, he jumps on the opportunity for extra money. But when Mr. Million takes Archie to the backyard on his first day, Archie finds Mr. Million is out for much more. A boy to help out in the ...

While media attention focuses on famous philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Charles Koch, thousands of donors are at work below the radar promoting a wide range of causes. David Callahan charts the rise of these new power players and the ways they are converting the fortunes of a second Gilded Age into influence. He shows how this elite works behind the scenes on education, the environment, science, LGBT rights, and many other issues - with deep impact on government policy.

Durante los gobiernos de Vicente Fox Quesada y Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, se desarrolla el "cártel negro", un conglomerado de funcionarios, trabajadores, empresarios, contratistas, inspectores, contralores, agentes aduanales, dirigentes y miembros del sindicato petrolero, políticos, ordeñadores, tapineros, huachicoleros, extorsionadores, defraudadores, contrabandistas y lavadores de dinero que, alineados con los traficantes de droga, se consolidan como una organización empresarial paralela a Pemex.

I just can't seem to get it up when I'm with my girlfriend. I have no idea what's wrong with me. My stepdad recommends me to a doctor who specializes in this kind of sexual dysfunction. He says Dr. Deon is known to fix problems like erectile dysfunction right up. I arrive at my consultation to meet the famous dark-skinned Black doctor. He shakes my hand and we make long lasting eye contact. I feel a twinge in my pants--a reaction to his strong, firm, dominant grip. I've never felt that with my girlfriend. My stepdad was right. My problem is getting better already. But the consultation has ...

In the fall of 1871, Chicagoans knew they were due for the “big one”—a massive, uncontrollable fire that would decimate the city. It had been bone-dry for months, and a recent string of blazes had nearly outstripped the fire department’s already scant resources. Then, on October 8, a minor fire broke out in the barn of Irishwoman Kate Leary. A series of unfortunate mishaps and misunderstandings along with insufficient preparation and a high south-westerly wind combined to set the stage for an unmitigated catastrophe.

Marty is a happy, healthy, horny, young man engaged to Alex, the woman of his dreams. Outside of the fact that he still lives with Lena, the matriarch of the house, his life is perfect. Right up until the day an offended sorceress in a bridal store casts a curse on Alex and Lena, fusing them together into a single body. Lexa, as she asks to be called, still has intimate memories of Marty from two incredibly polarized perspectives: guardian and lover. It’s up to Marty to find the sorceress and set things right before Lexa’s confusing emotions and urges become too much for the two of them...

I have a confession to make. It was only after I was in the presence of my girlfriend's dad that I felt like a man for the first time. But a smaller man. A man who could submit to another man. Something about that thought makes me feel really manly. I can't explain it. I can't talk to anyone about it. If Amy knew that she’d throw a fit. Me and Amy are getting close now. So close I'm accompanying her to Pensacola for her family's beach trip this summer. After we arrive, as Amy and her mom catch up in the house, I find Mr. Patterson on the beach. He looks overjoyed to see me again and says ...

In Life Inc., award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker, and scholar Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from being convenient legal fictions to being the dominant fact of contemporary life. Indeed, as Rushkoff shows, most Americans have so willingly adopted the values of corporations that they’re no longer even aware of it.

Drawing upon 25 years of experience rep­resenting Black youth in Washington, DC’s juve­nile courts, Kristin Henning confronts America’s irrational, manufactured fears of these young peo­ple and makes a powerfully compelling case that the crisis in racist American policing begins with its relationship to Black children.

President Bill Clinton gives us his views on the challenges facing the United States today and why government matters - presenting his ideas on restoring economic growth, energy, job creation, financial responsibility, resolving the mortgage crisis, and financial responsibility, and offering a plan to get us "back in the future business".

The technology of fracking in shale rock - particularly in the Permian Basin in Texas - has transformed America into the world's top producer of both oil and natural gas. The US is expected to be "energy independent" and a "net exporter" in less than a decade, a move that will upend global politics, destabilize Saudi Arabia, crush Russia's chokehold over Europe, and finally bolster American power again. Or will it? Investigative journalist and bestselling author Bethany McLean digs deep into the cycles of boom and bust that has plagued the American oil industry for the past decade....

With Lexa still fused and the wedding coming up fast, it’s up to Marty to find a solution to a problem that just gets harder and harder. After crossing the line once, he can barely resist her, and constantly fights to keep his depraved, primal urges in check. Luckily, Marty and Lexa have a sorceress in their pocket. They consult with Maze, bringing her home in her miniaturized state and approaching the curse from a new angle. Unfortunately, the fuel for Maze’s magic has to come from somewhere. Marty’s lust becomes a lifeline back to their old lives, but will things ever be able to ...

The companion volume to the 12-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War. America's national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation's most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone

Giselle Burgess was a young mother of five trying to provide for her family. Though she had a full-time job, the demands of ever-increasing rent and mounting bills forced her to fall behind, and eviction soon followed. Giselle and her kids were thrown into New York City's overburdened shelter system, which housed nearly 60,000 people each day. They soon found themselves living at a Sleep Inn in Queens, provided by the city as temporary shelter; for nearly a year, all six lived in a single room with two beds and one bathroom.

The bulk of this book consists of a rhetorical analysis of Pete Seeger’s public communications. The first chapter identifies some of his ideas about sounds and words, topics he reflected on throughout his life. Chapter two discusses principles undergirding Seeger’s worldview as expressed in his rhetoric. The third chapter concerns repeated themes and lessons, and chapter four discusses how Seeger’s stories planted sage for the soul. Chapter five examines Seeger’s imagery, and chapter six deals with how his humor was “no laughing matter.” Chapter seven deals with the most ...