Public Housing

Built in the 1940s atop an infamous Italian slum, Cabrini-Green grew to 23 towers and a population of 20,000 - all of it packed onto just 70 acres a few blocks from Chicago's ritzy Gold Coast. Cabrini-Green became synonymous with crime, squalor, and the failure of government. For the many who lived there, it was also a much-needed resource - it was home. By 2011, every high-rise had been razed, the island of black poverty engulfed by the white affluence around it, the families dispersed.

Escaping the Housing Trap is the must-have resource for everyone with a stake in the future of housing in America-and that means everyone. Listeners will find discussions of housing as an investment and how the country's neighborhoods are being transformed by the introduction of large amounts of investment; explorations of housing as shelter, including discussions of zoning policy and NIMBYism; and a comprehensive overview of the Strong Towns approach to solving the American housing crisis.

Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned. The same racist structures and individuals remained intact after redlining's end, and close relationships between regulators and the industry created incentives to ignore improprieties. Meanwhile, new policies meant to encourage low-income homeownership created new methods to exploit Black homeowners.

Dorothy A. Brown became a tax lawyer to get away from race. As a young black girl growing up in the South Bronx, she’d seen how racism limited the lives of her family and neighbors. Her law school classes offered a refreshing contrast: Tax law was about numbers, and the only color that mattered was green. But when Brown sat down to prepare tax returns for her parents, she found something strange: James and Dottie Brown, a plumber and a nurse, seemed to be paying an unusually high percentage of their income in taxes. When Brown became a law professor, she set out to understand why.

Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all.

Sean Costello survived his first taste of power, but the game has just begun. He's inherited his father's casino, his enemies, and a legacy far darker than he ever imagined. Now, with the Vegas underworld circling and a mountain of debt hanging over his head, Sean must decide what kind of kingpin he's going to be. But as he's drawn deeper into a web of deceit, betrayal, and illicit desire, one wrong move could cost him everything.

Inherit money. Inherit power. Inherit everything from the father he never knew. Sean Costello’s life just went from zero to a hundred million in the blink of an eye. But in Las Vegas, every fortune has a price. A stunning casino, a penthouse overflowing with secrets, and a harem of women who are as dangerous as they are desirable. Between the matriarch of the house, a loyal but suspicious childhood friend, and a dangerously tempting maid, Sean quickly discovers how easily pleasure and danger can intertwine. Note: This book contains mature themes.

There is no better guide than Paul Krugman to basic economics, the ideas that animate much of our public policy. Likewise, there is no stronger foe of zombie economics, the misunderstandings that just won’t die. In Arguing with Zombies, Krugman tackles many of these misunderstandings, taking stock of where the United States has come from and where it’s headed in a series of concise, digestible chapters. Drawn mainly from his popular New York Times column, they cover a wide range of issues, organized thematically and framed in the context of a wider debate.

In 1992, the deadliest year in Chicago’s history, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed in front of his elementary school inside the public housing complex Cabrini-Green. What happened to Dantrell led to a truce among Chicago’s gangs, but it also ignited a national panic about poverty and violence in America’s cities. Dantrell’s name would soon be used to demolish all of Chicago’s high-rise public housing, displacing tens of thousands of low-income families.

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives. Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, The Black Swan will change the way you look at the world.

Sean is left reeling by the discovery that his part-time maid and part-time girlfriend may, in fact, be an FBI informant. With few good options on the table and plenty of bad ones, he’s left on the precipice of an impossible decision regarding Dolly with nowhere to turn for the help. Like any responsible human, he decides it’s time for a vacation. Packing bags alongside the women who fondly tend to him, Sean departs for the Bahamas in search of information regarding his father’s secret shell company. His bodyguard, Ace, comes along with advice that he both needs to hear and ...

If America's public schools don't survive the COVID-19 pandemic, it won't just be due to the virus. Opponents of public education have long sought to dismantle our system of free, universal, and taxpayer-funded schooling. But the present crisis has provided them with their best opportunity ever to realize that aim.

Four years is a long time to be away from home, and Jake was anticipating a variety of changes after arriving back post college. With his stepmother and two stepsisters holding down the fort while his father works overseas, he’s coming back to his family eager to reconnect. Though nothing in life is ever quite that simple. With his older stepsister, Jaimie, still acting as bratty and frustrating as ever, and Kate, his younger stepsister, unusually quiet and clingy, he finds himself walking an odd balance. That’s not even mentioning his stepmother, Rebecca, who seems intent on ...

Who really owns your hospital, your job, your home—or even your 911 call center? How Private Equity Will Break America is a hard-hitting investigation into the shadow financial empire quietly reshaping the American economy. From bankrupt retail giants to crumbling nursing homes, the story is the same: private equity firms use borrowed money to buy companies, strip their assets, cut essential services, and extract profits—leaving workers, communities, and taxpayers to deal with the fallout. In gripping, evidence-driven prose, this book exposes how private equity infiltrates nearly every ...

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?

From stadium acts to indie singer-songwriters, musicians have pioneered ways of sparking passion, building awareness, and catalyzing engagement. Now imagine if social movements—from the fight to protect the planet to campaigns promoting global health or LGBTQIA+ rights—had the same fervent support as your favorite artists.

Back home at last, Jake has discovered the ups and downs to his not so normal family life. When a pretend boyfriend scheme intended to help his younger stepsister Kate gain confidence ends up going completely off the rails, he gets to know her better than he ever would have expected. It’s all happening right under the nose of his stepmother, Rebecca. Unfortunately, she isn’t the only person Jake and Kate have to look out for. When Jaimie, Jake’s older stepsister, begins to grow suspicious of how much time he and Kate are spending together, the situation begins to fray at the edges. ...

Judicial decisions assessing the constitutional rights of students in the nation’s public schools have consistently generated bitter controversy. The Schoolhouse Gate gives a fresh, lucid, and provocative account of the historic legal battles waged over education and illuminates contemporary disputes that continue to fracture the nation.

Fun can be had anywhere, as the gay men in these sizzling flash fiction stories know all too well. In Quickie #1, River Relief, Nate explores his adventurous side with his teammate, Travis. In Quickie #2, Riding Solo, Luke enjoys the view during a biking excursion. Perhaps a little too much. In Quickie #3, Late Night Session, Kev and Dane work out more than just their muscles at the gym. In Quickie #4, Dance Party, Brad and Joe get frisky on the dance floor. In Quickie #5, Shower for Two, Jack and Ira have fun while getting clean. In Quickie #6, Beach Bums, best friends Neil and Will ...