Urban City

City of Big Shoulders links key events in Chicago's development, from its marshy origins in the 1600's to today's robust metropolis. Robert G. Spinney presents Chicago in terms of the people whose lives made the city - from the tycoons and the politicians, to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world. In this revised and updated second edition that brings Chicago's story into the 21st century, Spinney sweeps his historian's gaze across the colorful and dramatic panorama of the city's explosive past.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the most dramatic and dangerous period of the Cold War. What's less well known is that the city of Miami, mere miles away, was a pivotal, though less well known, part of Cold War history. With its population of Communist exiles from Cuba, its strategic value for military operations, and its lax business laws, Miami was an ideal environment for espionage. Covert City tells the history of how the entire city of Miami was constructed in the image of the US-Cuba rivalry.

M is a magician of modest wit, dim ability, and few scruples, who would prefer to spend his easy immortality drinking artisanal beer and making eyes at smiling women. Alas, in the infinite nexus of the universe that is New York City, equilibrium is no easy thing to maintain. Canal pirates, drug-induced divinities, pocket steam-punk universes, hipster zombies, ex-girlfriends, and the devil are all taken in easy stride.

When New York City unveils a program to roast supernaturals, I wonder if I should be sweating. The bloodthirsty Arnaud thinks so, and he's insisting that our survival depends on a wizard-vampire alliance. Never mind his history of wanting me dead. Or undead. Meanwhile, the mayor wants me on his team - an offer that's only slightly less unnerving given our recent clash. So who's really behind the purge? City Hall? The werewolves? Or is it the brainchild of the fae, whose newest advisor to the mayor slipped from my bed and life four months ago?

Coming up in the trenches of a notorious community dubbed KILLA KOUNTY, BABY G and MUNDO are forced to get it how they live, as the saying goes. The two brothers are about that gunplay and they quickly make names for themselves in the streets. But will that come at a costly price? When Baby G is shot and left for dead, things begin to spiral out of control. And when the shooter is identified, it turns out that he's much closer to Baby G than anyone expected. Will this mark the man for death? Or will the shooter regroup and come after Baby G a second and final time? In the City Of No Pity, ...

My life once centered around justice. As a trained warrior for the people of Shadow City, I never questioned what I was taught...until now. My preordained mate and I are finally on the same side, with our list of enemies growing. All we have learned has changed our very foundation and put a target on both our backs. A war that has been brewing for over a millenium is on the horizon. One that could change the course of the Earth forever. It’s up to our friends to find a way to stop it...but Fate has a way of forcing her hand.

In this erudite and enjoyable Los Angeles Times best seller, Joel Kotkin explores the history of cities around the globe. He argues that urban areas must be places where there is a shared feeling of sacredness, civic identity, and moral order. These exciting concentrations of ideas and energy have long been and should continue to be meaningful in our daily lives.

Cities are birthplaces of civilization; centers of culture, trade, and progress; cauldrons of opportunity - and the home of 80 percent of the world's population by 2050. As the 21st century progresses, metropolitan areas will bear the brunt of global megatrends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, population growth, income inequality, mass migrations, and education and health disparities, among many others.

I’ve always gotten what I wanted—by force if necessary. Five years ago, I took Valentina’s virginity and left her behind, never looking back. She was just a means to an end, or so I thought. Now, our families are forcing us into an arranged marriage, and I’ll finally make her mine. But Valentina’s hiding more than just her defiance. There’s a secret she’s kept—a child I never knew existed. When I find out she’s pregnant again, my world shifts. For the first time, I want something more than power. I want her and the family she’s kept from me, and I’ll do whatever it ...

Librarian-spy Irene is working undercover in an alternative London when her assistant Kai goes missing. She discovers he's been kidnapped by the fae faction and the repercussions could be fatal. Not just for Kai, but for whole worlds. Kai's dragon heritage means he has powerful allies, but also powerful enemies in the form of the fae. With this act of aggression, the fae are determined to trigger a war between their people - and the forces of order and chaos themselves.

Johnny Washington is a ruthless survivor, a Black teen raised on the streets of LA, a battlefield of broken families, rival gangs, and minimum wage—all under the cold, watchful eye of the men and in blue. But Johnny's found a loophole. He knows the freight yards like the back of his hand. He and his crew, Josh and Buddy, hit them often, stealing just enough to get by. Until Josh is gunned down by a security guard, who gets his brains bashed in by Buddy. Out of options, Johnny turns to Elliot Davis, a local kingpin who recruits and exploits Johnny's sister until she's no longer useful.

Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar have made a pact. As they process the events of the spring, they will keep things platonic until the solstice. But can they resist when the crackling tension between them is enough to set the whole of Crescent City aflame? And they are not out of danger yet. Dragged into a rebel movement they want no part of, Bryce, Hunt and their friends find themselves pitted against the terrifying Asteri - whose notice they must avoid at all costs. But as they learn more about the rebel cause, they face a choice: stay silent while others are oppressed or fight.

During the Roaring Twenties, two of the most revered and influential men in American business proposed to transform one of the country’s poorest regions into a dream technological metropolis, a shining paradise of small farms, giant factories, and sparkling laboratories. Henry Ford and Thomas Edison’s “Detroit of the South” would be 10 times the size of Manhattan, powered by renewable energy, and free of air pollution. And it would reshape American society.

James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in L.A. But he also lost the Qomrama Om Ya, an all-powerful weapon from the banished older gods. Older gods who are returning and searching for their lost power. The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall - a global shopping paradise infested with Lurkers and wretched bottom-feeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of retail wasteland.

From USA Today Bestselling Author, Uvi Poznansky, comes a poignant family saga: Apart from Love is not your typical love story. It is all-consuming, heart-wrenching, and dark. My Own Voice (“As told by Anita”): Falling in love with Lenny should have been the end to all of Anita's troubles. But then, family secrets start unraveling. His ex-wife, Natasha, is succumbing to a mysterious disease. How can Anita compete with her shadow? How can she find a voice of her own? And when his estranged son, Ben, comes back and lives in the same small apartment, can she keep the balance between the ...

Mercedes now found out that she has HIV. Yet she still haven't informed her sex partners, especially Tony about her news. Her life has totally sprawled out of control. She don't know if she's coming or going. Pregnant, her emotions has gotten the best of her. Not being able to take being the other woman, she stirred up trouble in Tony's home. Will Tony's wife Faith continue to stick by his side now that some of his dirty secrets are out or has she finally had enough? Mercedes was forced to leave home, now she's out in a dirty world on her own. Will she be able to survive or will these ...

A sweeping history of cities through the millennia - from Mesopotamia to Manhattan - and how they have propelled Homo sapiens to dominance.

When I inherit a haunted bookstore in New Orleans, I go from demon hunter to my dream job. Unfortunately, there’s a dark side to my beautiful new life—the gorgeous demon who seems to think he owns the place. The attraction between us is insane, and we can’t keep our eyes off each other. But I don’t trust him one bit—especially not the way he uses his seductive charms to try to compel me to work for him.

Juicy is back at it again. This drama filled, action-packed tale will have you at the edge of your seat! Juicy found out greed and money were the root of all evil. And due to her greed and love of money, she lost her best friend. Now she has blood on her hands and is consumed with guilt. Meanwhile, the guilt is slowly killing her as she watches her best friend, March, slowly tear herself apart as she grieves over her twin sister’s death. Down for her man, Juicy will do whatever it takes to get her man from behind bars. Though her heart is still with Huff, she just can’t get rid of Jamar...

Dangerous, filthy, and falling apart, garbage piled on its streets and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble; New York’s terrifying, if liberating, state of nature in 1978 also made it the capital of American culture. Over the next thirty-plus years, though, it became a different place - kinder and meaner, richer and poorer, more like America and less like what it had always been.