Urban Culture

We are living in a time of uprisings that routinely involve physical confrontation—burning vehicles, barricades, vandalism, and scuffles between protesters and authorities. Yet the Left has struggled to incorporate rioting into theories of change, remaining stuck in recurring debates over violence and nonviolence. Civil resistance studies have popularized the term “strategic nonviolence,” spreading the notion that violence is wholly counter-productive.

A California Live Oak in Griffith Park has collected in its world the souls of those died within its canopy, like knowledge captured in its annual rings. As the oldest living thing in the City of Los Angeles, it has witnessed the land change from an arid indigenous settlement to a thriving metropolis of today. When a crafty Great Horned Owl lures Angelina Russel into the tree, her life in the Hollywood Hills is sent into turmoil by the knowledge she gains and a token from her adventure. All that is alluring and the lurid in the world’s most fascinating melting pot comes to life in this ...

Respect My Gangsta Part 1 Life of Sorrow spotlights Sorrow Sanae' Hunter (aka Panther) and her entanglement with unrelenting hardship and death. Born of infidelity, Sorrow endures torment and neglect, aided only by her brothers. When their Mother's drug addiction catalyzes them into murderers, Sorrow learns hustling and self-preservation from them. Her first love brings brief respite, but she hones the art of gaining Respect for her Gangsta. A tragedy crushes her first love, and her mom restricts her autonomy. To flee her cruel world, Sorrow enrolls in college and abandons the street life. ...

Often called "Accident Park", "Class Action Park", or "Traction Park", Action Park was an American icon. Entertaining more than a million people a year in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based amusement playland placed no limits on danger or fun, a monument to the anything-goes spirit of the era that left guests in control of their own adventures - sometimes with tragic results. Action Park is the first-ever unvarnished look at the history of this DIY Disneyland, as seen through the eyes of Andy Mulvihill, the son of the park's idiosyncratic founder, Gene Mulvihill.

We are living in a new urban age and its most tangible expression is the "supertall": megastructures that are dramatically bigger, higher, and more ambitious than any in history. In Supertall, TED Resident Stefan Al—himself an experienced architect who has worked on some of the largest buildings in the world—reveals the advancements in engineering, design, and data science that have led to this worldwide boom.

A stolen Desert Eagle, a weapon designed to protect warriors defending their nations, the official sidearm of the Israeli military, continues its fall from grace in LA misadventures.

Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle’s East End Factories. On an autumn day in 1944, Ethel Alleyne walked the short distance from her house to Tate & Lyle’s refinery on the shining curve of the Thames. Looking up at the giant gates, Ethel felt like she had been preparing for this moment all her life. She smoothed down her frizzy hair, scraped a bit of dirt off the corner of her shoe and strode through. She was quite unprepared for the sight that met her eyes …

An unflinching look at the aspiring city-builders of our smart, mobile, connected future. We live in a world defined by urbanization and digital ubiquity, where mobile broadband connections outnumber fixed ones, machines dominate a new "internet of things," and more people live in cities than in the countryside.

In this inaugural season of the series, you'll delve into Urban Fiction at its finest. Each character is a protagonist in their own right. Big Tee returns home after serving a 15-year sentence in an Arkansas State Prison. His nephew Nice, known for his savvy street smarts, is a character you're bound to love. Nikki, equally streetwise, tragically becomes the reason for Big Tee's demise. Due to the fans' adoration of Big Tee, I introduced his son into the narrative. With 32 books in the series, it's guaranteed to keep you turning pages. For avid readers, I offer book volumes, typically ...

"Detroit Life After 15 Years" Is like a good ass movie that never ends! Big Tee is home after serving 15 years in prison. He's home and happy to be; but ends up committing multiple Homicides; in order to protect his new found love. With his D.N.A. left at the scene of the crime and Homicide police hot on his trail, he decides to skip town and head for Arkansas to be with his Grandmother. Shortly after he arrived; he decided that ending his own life, would be better than spending the rest of it where he was just released from. He Hangs Himself and leaves the love of his life pregnant with ...

In a world defined by social distancing, where physical connections are limited, the human spirit yearns for new avenues of exploration. This captivating collection of poetry, "67 Days of NOLA Poetic Exploration Between Here And There: Week 8 - The Experimental Certainty of Exploration Through Social Distance," invites you to embark on an extraordinary voyage into the uncharted territories of isolation, where self-discovery and communal understanding await. Through the lens of vibrant New Orleans, this poetic sojourn delves into the depths of human emotions, illuminating the transformative ...

Ghosts, demons, and more monsters. In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level. Discover ghosts, demons, and your worst nightmares. Read at your own risk. Featuring 22 stories by the following 20 authors: Natalya Monyok, Trisha Slay, Michael Raff, John S. Aissis, Katie Jordan, Toni Mobley, Justin Rulton, Barend Nieuwstraten III, J.E. Cearlock, Gregory Scott Matics, Elizabeth Stanley, Melody Alice, E.B. Hunter, Warren Benedetto, Karin Becht, Kelly Piner, Charles Kyffhausen, John W. Salvage...

A career firefighter with a personal commitment that: everyone gets home safe! 26-year firefighter, Michael C. Ede, a career firefighter with a personal commitment that “everyone gets home safe,” shares true stories of emergency calls, working relationships, and life inside and outside of the firehouse in the financially and morally crumbling city of East Cleveland, Ohio. This book offers readers a unique opportunity to enjoy a completely transparent, start-to-finish 26-year career highlights of a firefighter in a busy urban department. Readers will benefit from an honest appraisal of ...

A fabulously entertaining audiobook from the ultimate authority on those almost believable tales that always happen to a "friend of a friend". Alligators in the sewers? A pet in the microwave? A tragic misunderstanding of the function of cruise control? No, it didn't really happen to your friend's sister's neighbor: It's an urban legend. And no matter how savvy you think you are, you are sure to find in this collection of more than 200 tales at least one story you would have sworn was true.

It's 2042 and the country has gone back to more 'traditional' times. The National Realignment Act of 2037 effectively saw the repeal of equality between the sexes. "More and more, it is becoming evident that the single most divisive element of our society is that of equality. Equality is not part of the normal progression of nature; in fact, it is an aberration that has been introduced and must be rectified.” - Preamble, NRA 2037 Though it's only been five years since its inception, the Female Distribution System has already decreased violent crime, general hostility, and peace as more ...

This Very Short Introduction recounts the history of American culture and its creation by diverse social and ethnic groups. In doing so, it emphasizes the historic role of culture in relation to broader social, political, and economic developments. Across the lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as language, region, and religion, diverse Americans have forged a national culture with a global reach, inventing stories that have shaped a national identity and an American way of life.

An Other Kingdom takes us out of a culture of addictive consumption into a place where life is ours to create together. This way depends upon a neighborly covenant—an agreement that we together, will better raise our children, be healthy, be connected, be safe, and provide a livelihood. The authors invite you on a journey of departure from our consumer market culture. Discover an alternative set of beliefs that have the capacity to evoke a culture where poverty, violence, and shrinking well-being are not inevitable.

Silicon Valley technology is transforming the way we work, and Uber is leading the charge. Upending our understanding of work in the digital age, Uberland paints a future where any of us might be managed by a faceless boss. Based on award-winning technology ethnographer Alex Rosenblat's experience of riding over 5,000 miles with Uber drivers, daily visits to online forums, and face-to-face discussions with senior Uber employees, Uberland goes beyond the headlines to reveal the complicated politics of popular technologies that are manipulating both workers and consumers.

The Women Who Made New York reveals the untold stories of the phenomenal women who made New York City the cultural epicenter of the world. Many were revolutionaries and activists, like Zora Neale Hurston and Audre Lorde. Others were icons and iconoclasts, like Fran Lebowitz and Grace Jones. There were also women who led quieter private lives but were just as influential, such as Emily Warren Roebling, who completed the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her engineer husband became too ill to work.

James Howard Kunstler's critically acclaimed and best-selling The Long Emergency, originally published in 2005, quickly became a grassroots hit, going into nine printings in hardcover. Kunstler's shocking vision of our post-oil future caught the attention of environmentalists and business leaders alike, and stimulated widespread discussion about our dependence on fossil fuels and our dysfunctional financial and government institutions.