What if you had a chance to see how the choices you were making were impacting the world? What would you do? Would you change? Would you stay the same? For Jason Carson, that opportunity has presented itself. On a night he will never forget, the curtain is pulled back and his choices are laid bare. Join him as he wrestles with the realities presented in Blue Tractor. What will he do? Will he change? Or will he stay the same? Josh Rouse is an Associate Pastor/Student Minister in Hiawassee, GA. He lives there with his wife, Beth, and their two boys. He is a frequent blogger (supajro.wordpress.com) and avid reader.
Reciprocity Rules explores the rich and complicated relationships that develop between anthropologists and research participants over time. Focusing on compensation and the creation of friendship and “family” relationships, contributors discuss what, when, and how researchers and the people with whom they work give to each other in and beyond fieldwork. Through reflexivity and narrative, the contributors to this edited collection, who are in various stages in their professional careers and whose research spans three continents and eight countries, reflect on the ways in which they have compensated their research participants and given back to host communities, as well as the varied responses to their efforts. The contributors consider both material and non-material forms of reciprocity, stories of successes and failures, and the taken-for-granted notions of compensation, friendship, and “helping.” In so doing, they address the interpersonal dynamics of power and agency in the field, examine cultural misunderstandings, and highlight the challenges that anthropologists face as they strive to maintain good relations with their hosts even when separated by time and space. The contributors argue that while learning, following, openly discussing, and writing about the local rules of reciprocity are always challenging, they are essential to responsible research practice and ongoing efforts to decolonize anthropology.
Since its development as a field over the last part of the twentieth century, scholars in science and religion have been heavily concerned with methodological issues. Following the lead of Thomas Kuhn, many scholars in this interdisciplinary field have offered proposals that purport to show how theology and science are compatible by appropriating theories of scientific methodology or rationality. Arguing against this strategy, this book shows why much of this methodological work is at odds with recent developments in the history and philosophy of science and should be reconsidered. Firstly, three influential methodological proposals are critiqued: Lakatosian research programs, Alister McGrath’s "Scientific Theology" and the Postfoundationalist project of Wentzel van Huyssteen. Each of these approaches is shown to have a common failing: the idea that science has an essential nature, with features that unite "scientific" or even "rational" inquiry across time or disciplines. After outlining the issues this failing could have on the viability of the field, the book concludes by arguing that there are several ways scholarship in science and religion can move forward, even if the terms "science" and "religion" do not refer to something universally valid or philosophically useful. This is a bold study of the methodology of science and religion that pushes both subjects to consider the other more carefully. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars in religious studies, theology and the philosophy of science.
Drawing on the tools of game design to fix democracy. Anyone who has ever been to a public hearing or community meeting would agree that participatory democracy can be boring. Hours of repetitive presentations, alternatingly alarmist or complacent, for or against, accompanied by constant heckling, often with no clear outcome or decision. Is this the best democracy can offer? In Making Democracy Fun, Josh Lerner offers a novel solution for the sad state of our deliberative democracy: the power of good game design. What if public meetings featured competition and collaboration (such as team challenges), clear rules (presented and modeled in multiple ways), measurable progress (such as scores and levels), and engaging sounds and visuals? These game mechanics would make meetings more effective and more enjoyable—even fun. Lerner reports that institutions as diverse as the United Nations, the U.S. Army, and grassroots community groups are already using games and game-like processes to encourage participation. Drawing on more than a decade of practical experience and extensive research, he explains how games have been integrated into a variety of public programs in North and South America. He offers rich stories of game techniques in action, in children's councils, social service programs, and participatory budgeting and planning. With these real-world examples in mind, Lerner describes five kinds of games and twenty-six game mechanics that are especially relevant for democracy. He finds that when governments and organizations use games and design their programs to be more like games, public participation becomes more attractive, effective, and transparent. Game design can make democracy fun—and make it work.
Narratives of Qualitative Research uses a novel form of writing about how to do qualitative research called a praxis narrative. Each narrative is told from the author’s perspective in carrying out one of his past research studies in the social sciences. Told chronologically and in a first-person voice, the narratives position the reader alongside the narrator so as to vicariously experience how research happens in its situated particulars. Rather than a set of idealizations and universalized pronouncements, the author reveals what really goes on when one is in the thick of complex and challenging research studies, the points of trouble along with the successes. This will be relevant to researchers who have already undertaken one or more empirical research studies (though not necessarily using qualitative approaches) and now find themselves facing something new: a new analytic method, a new theoretical lens, a new form of data collection, a new domain of research questions, a new rhetorical approach. This requires letting go of the secure handholds of prescribed methods and responding to the contingencies that arise in the midst of the research. The reader is invited to follow along as the author makes visible his praxis of qualitative research. Unlike more conventional texts, in this unique alternative, the reader can follow the author's journey through his research studies as a way to reorient their conception of qualitative research and their own praxis of it. This is fascinating reading for qualitative researchers and students taking qualitative research courses, across the social sciences, education, and behavioural sciences.
The Natchez Trace is the "Path of Nations," a 450-mile-long game trail stamped into the earth by primeval bison. Once the domain of the Natchez, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Cherokee tribes, the Trace nurtured these groups, but it was also watered with the blood of tribesmen long before any white man trod on it. European settlers eventually used the path to navigate between the backwoods Cumberland settlements and the cosmopolitan city of Natchez, with Spanish gold clinking in the seams of their clothes and wads of tough jerky turning in their cheeks. Today, the Natchez Trace stands as one of the prettiest and most history-soaked pathways in the United States. Join authors Ryan Starrett and Josh Foreman as they look at the myriad ways people have lived and died along it.
The extent of mental illness concerns in the workforce is becoming increasingly apparent. Stress, depression, anxiety, workplace bullying and other issues are costing businesses billions every year in lost productivity, poor treatments and employee retention. Unless appropriately addressed, issues related to mental illness difficulties will result in stiff financial, organizational, and human costs for organizations. Drawing on empirical evidence from North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the book provides a practical guide to identifying, understanding, treating and preventing individual and organizational mental health issues. The authors illustrate how organizations can save money and improve the health and wellbeing of their employees by using a psychological disability management approach in the treatment and accommodation of mental illness issues. This book will meet the needs of human resources professionals, administrators of employee assistance programs, industrial and organizational psychologists, mental health practitioners, those teaching or studying psychology and disability management, and more generally will serve to enlighten students of business management and practicing managers regarding a major workforce risk factor.
Everything Is Symbolic is a compilation of blog posts—366 of them, to be exact. So it’s also a devotional. I grew up reading and listening to the King James Version of the Bible. Alongside this, I developed a seriously fluid imagination and mind (what with all the emergent media of the eighties). If I hadn’t had the former, the latter would have driven me mad as the inevitable “storms of life” came to me during my twenties. Herein are the distilled thoughts in the wake of those events, presented one day, one thought at a time.
Collection of 18 of Obama's most memorable speeches between 2002 and 2008, each introduced by Berry and Gottheimer with political analysis, historical context, and commentary from the speechwriters.
Readers Beware of these twisted literary pieces! Everyone knows the classics such as Peter Pan, Huckleberry Finn, and The Wizard of Oz. Have you ever thought about what would happen in those stories if they were written just a little differently... More wickedly... What if Tinkerbell defended her love for Peter Pan, at any costs including her soul? What if Huck’s adventure took him down a more dangerous side of the river? What if The Wizard of Oz was nothing more than a surreal nightmare? The authors within this tome have brought your classic and timeless books back to life with a demonic twist only found in the Demonic Anthology collection. Expect a very different impression of the stories everyone grew up to love, written in such a way they just might be changed in unforgettable ways.
An edge city, poised at the northernmost tip of Africa but just nine miles from Europe, Tangier is more than a destination, it is an escape. The Interzone, as William Burroughs called it, has attracted spies, outlaws, outcasts and writers for centuries – men and women breaking through artistic borders. The results were some of the most incendiary and influential books of our time and the list of outlaw originals is long, stretching from Ibn Battuta and Alexandre Dumas to Twain and Wharton and from the darkly brilliant Beats of Bowles, Kerouac, Gysin and Ginsberg to the great Moroccan novelists: Mohamed Choukri, Mohammed Mrabet and Tahar Ben Jelloun.
Hugo Award winning editor, and horror legend, Ellen Datlow presents a terrifying and chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu and many more. The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world—yet the long nights also conjure a darker tradition of ghouls, hauntings, and visitations. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse. From the eerie Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the festive season. Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry... Featuring stories from: Nadia Bulkin Terry Dowling Tananarive Due Jeffrey Ford Christopher Golden Stephen Graham Jones Glen Hirshberg Richard Kadrey Alma Katsu Cassandra Khaw John Langan Josh Malerman Nick Mamatas Garth Nix Benjamin Percy M. Rickert Kaaron Warren
Maybe you have a great idea for a movie, and you're thinking to yourself, "Man, if I only knew how to write a screenplay." Maybe you've started your screenplay already, but you get to a certain point where you JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT! Or maybe you've already finished your screenplay, printed it out, read it over again, hated it, and burned it in your trash can (but you saved a backup). Don't give up on your dreams just yet--not until you've read this book. Over the course of his successful career as a writer and producer, Josh Miller has learned plenty about the art of screenwriting. There are no fancy tricks or shortcuts to making a great screenplay, just time-honored techniques, fundamental story elements, and one secret ingredient: you. Josh will show you how to craft a compelling story and deploy advanced techniques used by professional screenwriters, but most importantly, he'll teach you how to harness your unique voice, experience and perspective to give your screenplay real substance. Get this book, and get yourself unstuck.
The quarter century that followed the end of the Second World War was marked by intense social and economic transformation: the changing face of postwar capitalism, a revolution in communications technology, the rise of youth culture, and the pronounced ascent of individual freedom all contributed to a dramatic push to remake, and thus improve, society. This push was especially felt within education, the primary vehicle for modernizing the postwar world from the ground up. Hall-Dennis and the Road to Utopia explores this moment of renewal through a powerful and influential education reform project: 1968's Living and Learning: The Report of the Provincial Committee on Aims and Objectives of Education in the Schools of Ontario. The Hall-Dennis report, as it became known, urged Ontarians to accept a new vision of education in which students were no longer organized in classes, their progress no longer measured by grades, and their experience no longer characterized by the painful acquisition of subjects, but rather by a joyous and open-ended process of learning. This new, democratic system of education was associated with the highest ideals of postwar progress, liberalism, and humanism, yet its recommendations were paradoxically both profoundly radical and fundamentally conservative. Its avant-garde research strategies and controversial "post-literate" curricular reforms were balanced by a pedagogical approach designed to mould students into obedient citizens and productive economic actors. As Canadians once again find themselves asking fundamental questions about the aims and objectives of education under radically changing circumstances, Josh Cole revisits Hall-Dennis to show how the committee and its report represent a significant moment in Canadian cultural and political history, a prescient document in the history of education, and a revealing expression of the fragmentary circumstances of global modernity in the second half of the twentieth century.
The intimate, untold story of Winston Churchill's enduring yet volatile bond with his only son, Randolph “Ireland draws unforgettable sketches of life in the Churchill circle, much like Erik Larson did in The Splendid and the Vile.”―Kirkus • “Fascinating… well-researched and well-written.”—Andrew Roberts • “Beautifully written… A triumph.”—Damien Lewis • “Fascinating, acute and touching.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore We think we know Winston Churchill: the bulldog grimace, the ever-present cigar, the wit and wisdom that led Great Britain through the Second World War. Yet away from the House of Commons and the Cabinet War Rooms, Churchill was a loving family man who doted on his children, none more so than Randolph, his only boy and Winston's anointed heir to the Churchill legacy. Randolph may have been born in his father's shadow, but his father, who had been neglected by his own parents, was determined to see him go far. For decades, throughout Winston's climb to greatness, father and son were inseparable—dining with Britain's elite, gossiping and swilling Champagne at high society parties, holidaying on the French Riviera, touring Prohibition-era America. Captivated by Winston's power, bravery, and charisma, Randolph worshipped his father, and Winston obsessed over his son's future. But their love was complex and combustible, complicated by money, class, and privilege, shaded with ambition, outsize expectations, resentments, and failures. Deeply researched and magnificently written, Churchill & Son is a revealing and surprising portrait of one of history's most celebrated figures.
Any Similarity... is a collection of Drew Friedman’s earliest comic strips and illustrations, featuring his most obsessively stippled black-and-white panels and his most hilarious wise-guy takes on the stars and demi-stars and never-quite-stars of that swamp we like to call showbiz.In these strips, many of them written by his brother Josh Alan Friedman (both are sons of the legendary Bruce Jay Friedman: humor genes will tell!), the artist works out his obsession with such celebrities as Jim Nabors, Frank Sinatra Jr., Joe Franklin, Bob Hope, Andy Griffith... and Ed Wood, Jr. film star Tor Johnson, whom Friedman actually catapulted back into some sort of semi-fame when these strips were first published in the 1980s.
If you suffer from migraines, you know from experience that prescription medication can only do so much to help relieve your suffering. You also know that your next headache could still strike at any time, and as a result, you may lead a life of fear and trepidation, never knowing when the responsibilities of work and family will once again fall victim to your throbbing skull. Unfortunately, despite the many advances in medicine, there is still no real cure for the migraine headache. In The Migraine Miracle, a neurologist with a personal history of migraines offers readers the revolutionary dietary cure that has worked for him and continues to work for his patients: a diet low in wheat, sugar, and processed foods, and high in organic, protein-rich animal products. The book also explores the link between inflammation, diet, and migraines, and contains a 21-day meal plan to help readers change the way they eat. By following this easy meal plan, millions of sufferers will discover a life free from symptoms—once and for all. The book includes comprehensive, research-based information that explains what the brain goes through during a migraine headache, the phases of the migraine, and how a diagnosis is made. It also explores the risks and benefits of migraine medication, natural remedies for migraines, dietary migraine triggers, and detailed, specific instructions for a migraine-free eating plan. If you have tried migraine medicine but have not found real relief, it’s time to try something new. By changing the way you eat, and understanding what foods can trigger your migraine, you can start feeling better longer, without the threat of a migraine always looming over everything you do.
Those who preach have been called to deliver the truth, and must do so with a conviction that every truth demands a response. J. Josh Smith aims to start a conversation about the role of exhortation in preaching. With emphasis on the biblical and theological foundation for exhortation, and attention to how exhortation is used in both Old and New Testaments, Smith makes a compelling argument that preaching must include both explanation and exhortation. Preaching for a Verdict also provides practical steps to implement effective exhortation in preaching, and offers a variety of biblical models of exhortation to equip the reader to deliver the message of Christ with authority. Text-driven preaching demands text-driven exhortation.
A fascinating look at the claims of the Gospel writers and 2,000 years of believing Christians. Bestselling author Josh McDowell and his son Sean examine the compelling evidence and conclude that Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave! In clear, concise and accessible chapters, Josh and Sean present the facts about the resurrection and what it means for readers today.
A charming slacker aristocrat discovers a talent for detection and a web of conspiracies in the Emerald Empire, in this snappy novel set in the fantastical world of Legend of the Five Rings. Daidoji Shin, unrepentant wastrel with a taste for scandal and dice, coasts through his role as Crane Clan’s trade envoy in the City of the Rich Frog. But when a case of poisoned rice threatens the brittle peace between the competing clans, the Imperial Governor drags Shin from his indolence and orders him to find the culprit. Despite himself, Shin uncovers an intriguing conspiracy involving more than just dead rats. A murder with no body and a missing actress present a distraction that could finally make Shin put in a full day’s work, and maybe even save the city from tearing itself apart.
On March 3, 1983, Peter Ivers was found bludgeoned to death in his loft in downtown Los Angeles, ending a short-lived but essential pop cultural moment that has been all but lost to history. For the two years leading up to his murder, Ivers had hosted the underground but increasingly popular LA-based music and sketch-comedy cable show New Wave Theatre. The late '70s through early '80s was an explosive time for pop culture: Saturday Night Live and National Lampoon were leading a comedy renaissance, while punk rock and new wave were turning the music world on its head. New Wave Theatre brought together for the first time comedians-turned-Hollywood players like John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Harold Ramis with West Coast punk rockers Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys, Fear, and others, thus transforming music and comedy forever. The show was a jubilant, chaotic punk-experimental-comedy cabaret, and Ivers was its charismatic leader and muse. He was, in fact, the only person with the vision, the generosity of spirit, and the myriad of talented friends to bring together these two very different but equally influential worlds, and with his death the improbable and electric union of punk and comedy came to an end. The magnetic, impishly brilliant Ivers was a respected musician and composer (in addition to several albums, he wrote the music for the centerpiece song of David Lynch's cult classic Eraserhead) whose sublime and bizarre creativity was evident in everything he did. He was surrounded by people who loved him, many of them luminaries: his best friend from his Harvard days was Doug Kenney, founder of National Lampoon; he was also close to Harold Ramis and John Belushi. Upon his death, Ivers was just beginning to get mainstream recognition. In Heaven Everything Is Fine is the first book to explore both the fertile, gritty scene that began and ended with New Wave Theatre and the life and death of its guiding spirit. Josh Frank, author of Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies, interviewed hundreds of people from Ivers's circle, including Jello Biafra, Stockard Channing, and David Lynch, and we hear in their own words about Ivers and the marvelous world he inhabited. He also spoke with the Los Angeles Police Department about Ivers's still-unsolved murder, and, as a result of his research, the Cold Case Unit has reopened the investigation. In Heaven Everything Is Fine is a riveting account of a gifted artist, his tragic death, and a little-known yet crucial chapter in American pop history.
Truth is stranger than legend . . . and your journey into both begins here. World adventurer and international monster hunter Josh Gates has careened through nearly 100 countries, investigating frightening myths, chilling cryptozoological legends, and terrifying paranormal phenomena. Now, he invites fans to get a behind-the-scenes look at these breathtaking expeditions. Follow Gates from the inception of the groundbreaking hit show (at the summit of Kilimanjaro) to his hair-raising encounters with dangerous creatures in the most treacherous locations on earth. Among his many adventures, he unearths the flesh-crawling reality of the Mongolian Death Worm, challenges an ancient curse by spending the night in King Tut’s tomb, descends into a centuries-old mine to search for an alien entity in subterranean darkness, pursues ghosts in the radioactive shadow of Chernobyl, and explores sightings of Bigfoot from the leech-infested rain forests of Malaysia to the dizzying heights of the Himalayas. Part journey into the unexplained, part hilarious travelogue, part fascinating look at the making of a reality-based TV show—and featuring never-before-published photographs— this Destination Truth companion takes readers on the supernatural expedition of a lifetime.
Gentleman sleuth Daidoji Shin faces his trickiest case yet when he finds himself being framed for murder in this captivating cozy fantasy mystery from Legend of the Five Rings. In the fantasy empire of Rokugan, when a Crane Clan auditor turns up dead in a soy brewery, all eyes turn to nobleman-turned-detective, Daidoji Shin… but not to solve the man’s murder; rather, Shin is the suspect. Now Shin must attempt to figure out who killed the victim and, more importantly, who framed him, all while outwitting the authorities on his trail – including a dogged Kitsuki investigator with a score to settle. Caught in a spider’s web of intrigue and with his enemies closing in, time is running out for Dadoiji Shin…
With Audiotopia, Kun emerges as a pre-eminent analyst, interpreter, and theorist of inter-ethnic dialogue in US music, literature, and visual art. This book is a guide to how scholarship will look in the future--the first fully realized product of a new generation of scholars thrown forth by tumultuous social ferment and eager to talk about the world that they see emerging around them."--George Lipsitz, author of Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture "The range and depth of Audiotopia is thrilling. It's not only that Josh Kun knows so much-it's that he knows what to make of what he knows."--Greil Marcus, author of Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century "The way Josh Kun writes about what he hears, the way he unravels word, sound, and power is breathtaking, provocative, and original. A bold, expansive, and lyrical book, Audiotopia is a record of crossings, textures, tangents, and ideas you will want to play again and again."--Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
Growing up in South Dakota, Josh Garrett-Davis knew he would leave. But as a young adult, he kept going back -- in dreams and reality and by way of books. With this beautifully written narrative about a seemingly empty but actually rich and complex place, he has reclaimed his childhood, his unusual family, and the Great Plains. Among the subjects and people that bring his Midwestern Plains to life are the destruction and resurgence of the American bison; Native American "Ghost Dancers," who attempted to ward off destruction by supernatural means; the political allegory to be found in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; and current attempts by ecologists to "rewild" the Plains, complete with cheetahs. Garrett-Davis infuses the narrative with stories of his family as well -- including his great-great-grandparents' twenty-year sojourn in Nebraska as homesteaders and his progressive Methodist cousin Ruth, a missionary in China ousted by Mao's revolution. Ghost Dances is a fluid combination of memoir and history and reportage that reminds us our roots matter.
Chance Murphy, a 13-year-old living in Morganville, Indiana during the mid 1980s, is full of contradictions. He wants to be a man, but he has the needs of a child; he loves his mentally handicapped sister, but he also resents her and wishes she weren't such an easy target for the other kids; he is witty, but he embarrasses easily, especially when it comes to dealing with his emerging sexual feelings. Though Chance has a big heart, he has a dark side that surfaces in dreams of nuclear obliteration and manifests into paranoia and an enemies list -- at the top of which is his archenemy, Otto Manheim, the neighborhood kid. While the tension between the two creates many comical moments, the conflict escalates and finally reaches a boiling point at the bloody battle of Morganville.
History is written by victors, but the vanquished also have a powerful tale to tell. In 57 BC the Druidic men and women of ancient Gaul banded together to battle against Julius Caesar’s campaign to rule the world. Though the Gauls also faced hostile and bloody conflicts within their own tribes, they worked together to fight against the Roman invasion. Remarkably, though war was an integral part of their everyday life, they found ways to celebrate their Druidic traditions and act on their most tender passions for life.
In the face of corporate bullies, one lawyer's passion and persistence paid off. Bullied as a Jewish kid in the hardscrabble neighborhoods of Chicago, Mike Burg had to learn how to fight at a young age. As an adult who started his own law firm from scratch that fire—and understanding of the underdog—still burns and makes him one of America's top trial lawyers fighting for consumers' rights. In Trial by Fire: One Man's Battle to End Corporate Greed and Save Lives, read about Burg's unwavering personal constitution to stand up for the weary, the weak, and the downtrodden at all costs. Follow the justice as he takes on a negligent gas company and wins not only financial settlement for victims but dramatic changes to a city's pipelines to save thousands of lives. Cheer him on as he leads hundreds of individuals against companies shilling drugs such as Fen-Phen, Yaz, Zyprexa, and Pradaxa. Empathize with him as he fights an eight-year battle against UBS Warburg for knowingly selling risky mortgages to investors before collecting compensation. Root him on as he files a sweeping action against 28 California wineries to force them to stop selling toxic wine contaminated with arsenic. Representing everyone from the Little Rascals to Ralph Tamm in the first NFL steroid case, Burg has lived a thousand lives. Trial by Fire shows that, like with every victory in the courtroom, he doubles down for the next adventure. Performing stand-up comedy alongside Roseanne Barr, golfing with Michael Jordan, and attending President George W. Bush's inauguration with President Bush's father, Burg has a story to tell. His undeniably explosive personality and inspiring tale—complete with theatrics, eccentricities, excitement, humor, and maybe just a hint of craziness—will make you laugh, leave you in disbelief, and, most of all, inspire you.
Black and Brown in Los Angeles is a timely and wide-ranging, interdisciplinary foray into the complicated world of multiethnic Los Angeles. The first book to focus exclusively on the range of relationships and interactions between Latinas/os and African Americans in one of the most diverse cities in the United States, the book delivers supporting evidence that Los Angeles is a key place to study racial politics while also providing the basis for broader discussions of multiethnic America. Students, faculty, and interested readers will gain an understanding of the different forms of cultural borrowing and exchange that have shaped a terrain through which African Americans and Latinas/os cross paths, intersect, move in parallel tracks, and engage with a whole range of aspects of urban living. Tensions and shared intimacies are recurrent themes that emerge as the contributors seek to integrate artistic and cultural constructs with politics and economics in their goal of extending simple paradigms of conflict, cooperation, or coalition. The book features essays by historians, economists, and cultural and ethnic studies scholars, alongside contributions by photographers and journalists working in Los Angeles.
California is an infamously tough place to be poor: home to about half of the entire nation’s homeless population, burdened by staggering home prices and unsustainable rental rates, California is a state in crisis. But it wasn’t always that way, as prize-winning historian Josh Sides reveals in Backcountry Ghosts. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, the most ambitious and sweeping social policy in the history of the United States. In the Golden State more than a hundred thousand people filed homesteading claims between 1863 and the late 1930s. More than sixty thousand Californians succeeded, claiming about ten million acres. In Backcountry Ghosts Josh Sides tells the histories of these Californian homesteaders, their toil and enormous patience, successes and failures, doggedness in the face of natural elements and disasters, and resolve to defend hard-earned land for themselves and their children. While some of these homesteaders were fulfilling the American Dream—that all Americans should have the opportunity to own land regardless of their background or station—others used the Homestead Act to add to already vast landholdings or control water or mineral rights. Sides recovers the fascinating stories of individual homesteaders in California, both those who succeeded and those who did not, and the ways they shaped the future of California and the American West. Backcountry Ghosts reveals the dangers of American dreaming in a state still reeling from the ambitions that led to the Great Recession.
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