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Showing 1 - 20 of 6397 items
By Amy Klobuchar. 2018
A powerful collection of essays from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, actress Alia…
Shawkat, actor Maulik Pancholy, poet Azure Antoinette, teen activist Gavin Grimm, and many, many more, each writing about a time in their youth when they were held back because of their race, gender, or sexual identity--but persisted. "Aren't you a terrorist?" "There are no roles for people who look like you." "That's a sin." "No girls allowed." They've heard it all. Actress Alia Shawkat reflects on all the parts she was told she was too "ethnic" to play. Former NFL player Wade Davis recalls his bullying of gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Teen Gavin Grimm shares the story that led to the infamous "bathroom bill," and how he's fighting it. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Aushwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one. What made them rise up through the hate? What made them overcome the obstacles of their childhood to achieve extraordinary success? How did they break out of society's limited view of who they are and find their way to the beautiful and hard-won lives they live today? With a foreword by Minnesota senator and up-and-coming Democratic party leader Amy Klobuchar, these essays share deeply personal stories of resilience, faith, love, and, yes, persistence.By Mike Flynt. 2008
It's Never Too Late to Tackle Your Dreams! Mike Flynt was swapping stories with some old football buddies when he…
brought up the biggest regret of his life: getting kicked off the college team before his senior year. So, one of his pals said, "Why not do something about it?" Most 59-year-olds would have laughed. Flynt's only concern was his eligibility. He not only returned to college football, but actually made the team at his alma mater - Sul Ross State, an NCAA division III school. His remarkable story begins with a tough upbringing by a violent father who trained him to fight at every opportunity. His fighting habit took him in and out of jail several times, until a faith conversion turned his life around on the very day he was contemplating suicide. Mike Flynt has much to offer others, not only through his story, but through his belief that it's never too late for God to heal your heart and fulfill your dreams. Foreword by NBA Superstar LeBron James.By Murray Greenberg. 2008
Benny Friedman, the son of working class immigrants in Cleveland's Jewish ghetto, arrived at the University of Michigan and transformed…
the game of football forever. At the time, in the 1920s, football was a dull, grinding running game, and the forward pass was a desperation measure. Benny would change all of that.In Ann Arbor, the rookie quarterback's passing abilities so eclipsed those of other players that legendary coach Fielding Yost came back from retirement to coach him. The other college teams had no answer for Friedman's passing attack. He then went pro-an unpopular decision at a time when the NFL was the poor stepchild to college football-and was equally sensational, eventually signing with the New York Giants for an unprecedented $10,000, bringing fans and attention to the fledgling NFL.Passing Game rediscovers this little-known sports hero and tells the story of Friedman's evolution from upstart to American celebrity, in a vivid narrative that will delight and enlighten football fans of all ages.By Annie O'Sullivan. 2012
First published as only parts of her life, this book brings together the full life story of the woman known…
as Annie O'Sullivan. Horribly abused at the hand of her father, it is a collection of essays that graphically recount memories of her life as a confused child and young adult as she careened through life without compass, to ultimately, and against all odds, prosper. Culminating in the event that brought a degree of closure to her torture, O'Sullivan brings the reader on an intimate life journey through the eyes of this child’s misunderstanding, will to persevere and desire to seek goodness despite her circumstances.Terrifying, infuriating and uplifting, this book touches not only survivors; but parents, childcare workers and teachers; reminding us of the true vulnerability of children and our collective responsibility to protect them.By Christina Page. 2006
With a new preface by the author. In the tradition of Backlash and The Morning After, and in a political…
climate where Roe v. Wade is in serious jeopardy, a young activist reveals that the Pro-Life Movement’s real agenda is a war on contraception, family planning, and sexual freedom.By Matthew Small. 2015
'Enlightening and startling... The world needs more writers like Matthew Small.' Charlie Carroll'Brings into sharp relief the realities of poverty...…
inspiring and uplifting.' Tracy Shildrick'A fascinating insight into what it feels like to live on the streets of the UK and India today.' Joanna Mack Poverty stretches across all of humanity and by travelling East, Small encounters the raw faces of poverty in India’s slums; he works in a leprosy community, and joins the Sisters of Mercy on the smoggy and exhilarating streets in Calcutta. He then returns to the UK, to Bath, to see what the passing of three months means to those who are scarred by one of the most unglamorous of all humanities’ ills, being poor.Small engages with different community members who are living with poverty, to answer these long standing questions: What’s keeping them down? What’s pushing them out? And how can we move forward?By Lynette Dumble, Janice Raymond, Renate Klein. 2013
A classic text for health activists and feminists interested in the complexities of how drugs are developed, marketed, and sold…
to women around the world, this book reviews the unusual history of the French abortion pill RU-486. Critical of the positive claims made for RU-486, it argues that its promotion is filled with myths and misconceptions. Scrutinizing the science and politics behind RU-486, this account examines how the pill benefits the medical profession, drug companies, and government health economies and offers no advantage to women. Topics include the safety and effectiveness of RU-486, whether or not RU-486 privatizes and de-medicalizes abortion, and the dangerous effects of prostaglandins. This updated edition includes a new introduction.Shocking and gritty, this work contains firsthand accounts of terror and abuse from prostituted children--and the law enforcement officers and…
community activists working to save them. While detailing the necessity for substantive legal and cultural change on the national level in regard to prostitution, pimps, and children's rights, this book also provides encouraging stories of new, pioneering law enforcement initiatives and child-recovery strategies reaping positive results in urban areas inundated with children victimized by sexual exploitation and violence, such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York City, Phoenix, and Dallas. This updated paperback edition includes a new, four-page afterword by the author, with updates on new laws and initiatives and follow-ups on some of the young women discussed in the book. A call to awareness and action for parents, legislators, and educators, this examination exposes this country's dirty secret.A call to action to protect the human rights of women and girls, this exposé reveals how interest groups deny…
the seriousness of rape to further their political agendas. Through firsthand interviews with victims; medical and judicial records; social media; and statistics from police, the FBI, and government agencies, this analysis explains the tactics used by these groups. The personal stories of young rape victims demonstrate how assaults on their credibility, buttressed by claims of low prevalence, prevent many from holding their rapists accountable, enabling them to rape others with impunity. A resources section is also included for those seeking help, advice, or hoping to become involved in the struggle.By Daniel Asen. 2016
In this innovative and engaging history of homicide investigation in Republican Beijing, Daniel Asen explores the transformation of ideas about…
death in China in the first half of the twentieth century. In this period, those who died violently or under suspicious circumstances constituted a particularly important population of the dead, subject to new claims by police, legal and medical professionals, and a newspaper industry intent on covering urban fatality in sensational detail. Asen examines the process through which imperial China's old tradition of forensic science came to serve the needs of a changing state and society under these dramatically new circumstances. This is a story of the unexpected outcomes and contingencies of modernity, presenting new perspectives on China's transition from empire to modern nation state, competing visions of science and expertise, and the ways in which the meanings of death and dead bodies changed amid China's modern transformation.By Robert Lipsyte. 1994
Michael Jordan was a late bloomer.Cut from the Varsity basketball team in high school when he first tried out, Michael…
nonetheless became the best basketball player that ever lived-Rare Air Jordan.The true story of how Michael Jordan achieved this amazing level of success as a basketball player-and as the high king of commercial endorsements-underscores one of the new roles of athletes in our society today.Here's a fascinating look at both the evolution of basketball and Michael Jordan's stunning climb to the peak of his sport, and his season in minor league baseball.By Rubin Carter. 1974
The survivor of a difficult childhood and youth, Rubin Carter rose to become a top contender for the middleweight boxing…
crown. But his career crashed to a halt on May 26, 1967, when he and another man were found guilty of the murder of three white people in a New Jersey bar. While in prison, Carter chronicled the events that led him from the ring to three consecutive life sentences and 10 years in solitary confinement. His story was a cry for help to the public, an attempt to set the record straight and force a new trial. Bob Dylan wrote a classic anthem for Carter's struggle; and Joan Baez, Muhammad Ali, Roberta Flack, and thousands more took up the cause as well. Originally published in 1974, this account is an eye-opening examination of growing up black in America, problems in the United States prison system, and Carter's own battles.By Matt Christopher. 2018
Discover the amazing achievements of beloved basketball superstar Kevin Durant in this exciting and comprehensive new biography! From his days…
as the skinny kid on youth teams to his MVP season with the Oklahoma City Thunder to his first NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant has been an electrifying presence on the basketball court. With two Olympic gold medals, four NBA scoring titles, and an NBA MVP Award, Kevin shows no sign of slowing down. Through every triumph, Kevin has lived his life by the motto "hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard," dedicating himself to becoming the best player on the court and known for remaining humble and kind through it all. This action-packed and comprehensive biography brings readers onto the court to experience the biggest moments of Kevin Durant's remarkable career, relays details of his life, and shows his dedication to giving back to his community. Complete with stats and photographs, this book makes the perfect gift for any young sports fan.By Matt Christopher. 2018
Don't miss this action-packed and comprehensive look at the life and achievements of an NFL legend! With more Super Bowl…
appearances than any other player in NFL history, Tom Brady is a sports icon. From his college days as a backup quarterback at University of Michigan to his record-breaking number of winning seasons with the New England Patriots, this new and comprehensive biography gives fans a firsthand look at the highs and lows of the superstar's life and career, complete with stats and photographs.By Cynthia Miller-Idriss. 2018
How extremism is going mainstream in Germany through clothing brands laced with racist and nationalist symbolsThe past decade has witnessed…
a steady increase in far right politics, social movements, and extremist violence in Europe. Scholars and policymakers have struggled to understand the causes and dynamics that have made the far right so appealing to so many people—in other words, that have made the extreme more mainstream. In this book, Cynthia Miller-Idriss examines how extremist ideologies have entered mainstream German culture through commercialized products and clothing laced with extremist, anti-Semitic, racist, and nationalist coded symbols and references.Drawing on a unique digital archive of thousands of historical and contemporary images, as well as scores of interviews with young people and their teachers in two German vocational schools with histories of extremist youth presence, Miller-Idriss shows how this commercialization is part of a radical transformation happening today in German far right youth subculture. She describes how these young people have gravitated away from the singular, hard-edged skinhead style in favor of sophisticated and fashionable commercial brands that deploy coded extremist symbols. Virtually indistinguishable in style from other popular clothing, the new brands desensitize far right consumers to extremist ideas and dehumanize victims.Required reading for anyone concerned about the global resurgence of the far right,The Extreme Gone Mainstream reveals how style and aesthetic representation serve as one gateway into extremist scenes and subcultures by helping to strengthen racist and nationalist identification and by acting as conduits of resistance to mainstream society.By Geoffrey B Robinson. 2018
The Killing Season explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in…
the twentieth century—the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention.An expert in modern Indonesian history, genocide, and human rights, Geoffrey Robinson sets out to account for this violence and to end the troubling silence surrounding it. In doing so, he sheds new light on broad and enduring historical questions. How do we account for instances of systematic mass killing and detention? Why are some of these crimes remembered and punished, while others are forgotten? What are the social and political ramifications of such acts and such silence?Challenging conventional narratives of the mass violence of 1965–66 as arising spontaneously from religious and social conflicts, Robinson argues convincingly that it was instead the product of a deliberate campaign, led by the Indonesian Army. He also details the critical role played by the United States, Britain, and other major powers in facilitating mass murder and incarceration. Robinson concludes by probing the disturbing long-term consequences of the violence for millions of survivors and Indonesian society as a whole.Based on a rich body of primary and secondary sources, The Killing Season is the definitive account of a pivotal period in Indonesian history. It also makes a powerful contribution to wider debates about the dynamics and legacies of mass killing, incarceration, and genocide.By Randy Miller. 2010
To Philadelphia Phillies fans, he was the soundtrack of summer. To millions of football fans across America, he was the…
“Voice of the NFL. ” And as open and giving as Harry Kalas was throughout his professional and personal life, there are countless layers of the man that have remained unknown . . . until now. Author Randy Miller interviewed more than 160 people—including all of Harry’s surviving family, many of his close friends from childhood to present, numerous colleagues from baseball and the NFL, and even Harry’s longtime personal psychologist—to craft a loving and shockingly honest portrayal of one of the most celebrated broadcasters in the history of sports. With incredible details from all phases of his life—from his upbringing in the Chicago suburbs, to his Hall of Fame broadcasting career in baseball, to his ubiquitous voiceover work with the NFL, to his personal vices for drinking and women, to his legendary friendship with Richie “Whitey” Ashburn, to his ongoing feud with on-air partner Chris Wheeler—Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas will surprise, delight, and enlighten all fans of the man they called “Harry the K. ”By Alexandra Styron. 2018
A walk-the-walk, talk-the-talk, hands-on, say-it-loud handbook for activist kids who want to change the world!Inspired by Abbie Hoffman's radical classic,…
Steal This Book, author Alexandra Styron's stirring call for resistance and citizen activism will be clearly heard by young people who don't accept "it is what it is," who want to make sure everybody gets an equal piece of the American pie, and who know that the future of the planet is now. Styron's irreverent and informative primer on how to make a difference is organized into three sections: The Why, The What, and The How. The book opens with a personal essay and a historic look at civil disobedience and teenage activism in America. That's followed by a deep dive into several key issues: climate change, racial justice, women's rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigration, religious understanding, and intersectionality. Each chapter is introduced by an original full page comic and includes a summary of key questions, interviews with movers and shakers--from celebrities to youth activists--and spotlights on progressive organizations. The book's final section is packed with how-to advice on ways to engage, from group activities such as organizing, marching, rallying, and petitioning to individual actions like voting with your wallet, volunteering, talking with relatives with different viewpoints, and using social activism to get out a progressive message. This is a perfect book for older middle-schoolers and teens who care about the planet, the people with whom they share it, and the future for us all.By Daniel Barbarisi. 2017
As Bringing Down the House did for card counters and Positively Fifth Street did for poker players, Daniel Barbarisi does…
for Daily Fantasy Sports fans in this leap down the rabbit hole of America’s latest obsession.Daniel Barbarisi quits his job as the New York Yankees beat writer for The Wall Street Journal and begins a quest: to join the top one percent of Daily Fantasy Sports (“DFS”) players, the so-called “sharks,” and figure out whether DFS is on the level—while maybe cashing in along the way. DFS is fantasy sports on steroids. It’s the domain of bitter rivals FanDuel and DraftKings, online juggernauts who turned a legal loophole into a billion-dollar industry by allowing sports fans bet piles of cash constructing fantasy teams. Yet as Barbarisi quickly realized, what should have been a fun companion to casual sports viewing was instead a ferocious environment infested with sharks, a top tier of pros wielding complex algorithms, drafting hundreds of lineups, and wagering six figures daily as they bludgeon unsuspecting amateur “fish.” Barbarisi embeds himself inside the world of DFS, befriending and joining its rogue’s gallery as he tries to beat them at their own game. In a work equal parts adventure and rigorously reported investigation, Barbarisi wades into this chaotic industry at the very moment its existence is threatened by lawmakers sick of its Wild West atmosphere and pushy advertising. All their money made FanDuel and DraftKings seem invincible; but, as Barbarisi reports, they made plenty of dubious—perhaps even scandalous—moves as they vied for market supremacy. In Dueling with Kings, Barbarisi uncovers the tumultuous inside story of DFS, all while capturing its peculiar cast of characters, from wide-eyed newly minted millionaires, to sun-starved math geeks, to bros living an endless frat party of keggers and Playboy Bunnies. Can he outwit them all and make it to the top?By Chuck Schoffner, Martha Jo Black. 2015
He was told that the color of his skin would keep him out of the big leagues, but Joe Black…
worked his way up through the Negro League and the Cuban League. He burst into the Majors in 1952 when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the face of segregation, verbal harassment, and even death threats, Joe Black rose to the top of his game; he earned National League Rookie of the Year and became the first African American pitcher to win a World Series game. With the same tenacity he showed in his baseball career, Black became the first African American vice president of a transportation corporation when he went to work for Greyhound. In this first-ever biography of Joe Black, his daughter Martha Jo Black tells the story not only of a baseball great who broke through the color line, but also of the father she knew and loved.