Book picks similar to
The Global Cities Reader by Neil Brenner


cities
city-new-york
school-reading
good-for-me

Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898


Edwin G. Burrows - 1998
    Today, it is the site of Broadway and Wall Street, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, and the home of millions of people, who have come from every corner of the nation and the globe.In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. Readers will relive the tumultuous early years of New Amsterdam under the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant's despotic regime, Indian wars, slave resistance and revolt, the Revolutionary War and the defeat of Washington's army on Brooklyn Heights, the destructive seven years of British occupation, New York as the nation's first capital, the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the Erie Canal and the coming of the railroads, the growth of the city as a port and financial center, the infamous draft riots of the Civil War, the great flood of immigrants, the rise of mass entertainment such as vaudeville and Coney Island, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the birth of the skyscraper. Here too is a cast of thousands--the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Clement Moore, who saved Greenwich Village from the city's street-grid plan; Herman Melville, who painted disillusioned portraits of city life; and Walt Whitman, who happily celebrated that same life. We meet the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Boss Tweed and his nemesis, cartoonist Thomas Nast; Emma Goldman and Nellie Bly; Jacob Riis and Horace Greeley; police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt; Colonel Waring and his "white angels" (who revolutionized the sanitation department); millionaires John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, and William Randolph Hearst; and hundreds more who left their mark on this great city.The events and people who crowd these pages guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America, and a book that will mesmerize everyone interested in the peaks and valleys of American life as found in the greatest city on earth. Gotham is a dazzling read, a fast-paced, brilliant narrative that carries the reader along as it threads hundreds of stories into one great blockbuster of a book.

A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain


Owen Hatherley - 2010
    Darkly humorous architectural guide to the decrepit new Britain that neoliberalism built.

Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas


Rebecca Solnit - 2016
    Bringing together the insights of dozens of experts—from linguists to music historians, ethnographers, urbanists, and environmental journalists—amplified by cartographers, artists, and photographers, it explores all five boroughs of New York City and parts of nearby New Jersey. We are invited to travel through Manhattan’s playgrounds, from polyglot Queens to many-faceted Brooklyn, and from the resilient Bronx to the mystical kung-fu hip-hop mecca of Staten Island. The contributors to this exquisitely designed and gorgeously illustrated volume celebrate New York City’s unique vitality, its incubation of the avant-garde, and its literary history, but they also critique its racial and economic inequality, environmental impact, and erasure of its past. Nonstop Metropolis allows us to excavate New York’s buried layers, to scrutinize its political heft, and to discover the unexpected in one of the most iconic cities in the world. It is both a challenge and homage to how New Yorkers think of their city, and how the world sees this capital of capitalism, culture, immigration, and more.Contributors: Sheerly Avni, Gaiutra Bahadur, Marshall Berman, Joe Boyd, Will Butler, Garnette Cadogan, Thomas J. Campanella, Daniel Aldana Cohen, Teju Cole, Joel Dinerstein, Paul La Farge, Francisco Goldman, Margo Jefferson, Lucy R. Lippard, Barry Lopez, Valeria Luiselli, Suketu Mehta, Emily Raboteau, Molly Roy, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Luc Sante, Heather Smith, Jonathan Tarleton, Astra Taylor, Alexandra T. Vazquez, Christina Zanfagna Interviews with: Valerie Capers, Peter Coyote, Grandmaster Caz, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Melle Mel, RZA

Faith Takes Back What The Devil's Stolen


Kenneth W. Hagin - 2005
    Believer's can reach out in faith, take back what belongs to them and begin to live in success, happiness, and liberty.

Rescued by the Love of A Real One 3


Toy - 2019
    Kylan can't help but to question himself and more importantly his judgment. He can’t seem to figure out how he keeps choosing the wrong one. It’s making him doubt his every move, creating an internal battle within himself. Will Kylan ever get rescued by the love of a real one? Nichelle is doing her best to live up to Jimmy standards, but what she has yet to recognize is that he loves her just how she is. He only wants her to get the notion that sometimes, less is more, and it's okay to let your man lead. Nichelle may have to learn this lesson the hard way, as she has no idea the dangers that Jimmy is trying to keep her protected from. Will Jimmy's love be able to rescue Nichelle? Ty’Kym is over all the drama that’s been going on. He wants nothing more than to eliminate all the adversaries that have risen against him and his family. However, Ty’Kym is trying to balance his business affairs with his new family’s needs. In this final installment, he is determined to show Michelle she is the one who has been rescued when she believes the opposite. Ty’Kym has been rescued by the love of a real one, and he doesn’t care who knows it.

I'm Down Forever, Your Rider


Tyrecka Liggons - 2016
    Instead of spending her senior year preparing for graduation and picking colleges, Harley found herself raising her five-year-old sister, Heidi. Although Frankie was there to make the load easier for the girls while they were dealing with the incarceration of their mother, she made it heavier.As if her home situation wasn't enough, Harley found herself trying to navigate through life's obstacles. Typical high school stuff, mean girls, popular guys, and a demanding course load. Being deaf didn't seem to win her any sympathy points.Just when Harley thought things would be the way they were forever, Barz entered her life. The smooth talking, popular guy who couldn't possibly be interested in Harley, except he was. They say people enter your life for a reason or a season. With outsiders working against them at every corner, Harley and Barz find themselves at a crossroad.Can the young lovers overcome the many obstacles they are faced with, or is their love seasonal

I Got A Thang for A Street King


Trenae - 2018
    Nothing ever was. From the sweet age of fourteen, her judgment in men was always horrible. Looking for the love that she was missing at home caused her to run into the wrong arms. Falling in love with the older, manipulative Dray was the mistake that led to her quick downward spiral. She knew from the start that their relationship wasn’t what she deserved. But what was she to do? She was a teenager in love with a man who had mastered the art of toying with emotions of women twice her age. Years later, with the help of her friend, Ju-Ju, Dae is ready to live life as a normal woman, but what she would encounter was nothing normal. In fact, Knight was a man like none that she had crossed paths with. Successful, charming, and sexy were just a few words used to describe Knight Bentley. With no warning, Dae was swooped off her feet and thrust into a world of lavish living, countless shopping sprees, late night sexcapades, and the adventure she had been dying for. The thing is, all of that came with a price. What she never banked on was the tenacious Ainsley being in the picture. While Dae is head over heels in love with Knight, that may not be enough in this case. Ainsley isn’t a woman who loses, and she doesn’t plan to lose to a woman like Charde. But what happens when Ainsley’s record isn’t as clean as she wants Knight to believe? Will Knight choose the woman who’s been by his side since his days as a street king, or will the woman who believes in his life after the streets win him over? In this series, you will find that family is just a word, and love truly overpowers everything. The problem is, loving the wrong person can get you killed.

Humbled By A Real N*gga 2


Lisa Austin - 2021
    

Son of a Crime God, Daughter of a Hoover


Latoya Nicole - 2019
    We always wondered what their kids would be like when they grew up. Well, the wait is over, and these two are ready to tell their story. Zayna “Spark” Hoover is used to the fast and crazy life. Acting just like her father, Blaze, she is used to being the center of attention. However, going to college was the total opposite for her. Struggling to find her place and fit in a circle of people who judged her for who she was, being away from her family was beginning to take a toll on her until she met Lil Darryl. Darryl “Phantom” Reed, Jr has always followed in his father’s footsteps. Growing up over the years, nothing had changed. Expecting to take over the streets as his dad once did, he was surprised when his father sent him off to college. Having no regard for anything, he continued to live his life as he wanted until he met Spark. Neither had ever met anyone as crazy as them, and they hit it off right away. However, as the old saying goes, your past has a way of catching up with you. Unbeknownst to the two, the sins of their parents would come back and tear their worlds apart. The two deadliest men to ever play the game will have to come together and save their children. If they don’t kill each other first...

That Bona Fide Hood Love 2: Fire and Pure


Dymond Taylor - 2019
    Gaining his trust, took time and patience. Now, all that they have accomplished together, may be the end after she’s caught with the enemy; unknowingly. Fire is not only pissed off but hurt as well. Against his own will, he has caught feelings for Pure. The last thing he wanted to happen, but it did. Witnessing her, with one of the accomplices who robbed him, put a bad taste in Fire’s mouth. It’s only one way he knows how to handle snakes...death. Zoni is left devastated, after finding out she and her sister, had been sharing the same man without either of their knowledge. Talking about a tough pill to swallow. She’s conflicted between her love for Yurey and her loyalty to her sister. Do love conquers all or will she be forced to leave what her and Yurey once had in the past; even though it’s painful to do so?

Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City


Antero Pietila - 2010
    The Federal Housing Administration continued discriminatory housing policies even into the 1960s, long after civil rights legislation. This all-American tale is told through the prism of Baltimore, from its early suburbanization in the 1880s to the consequences of white flight after World War II, and into the first decade of the twenty-first century. The events are real, and so are the heroes and villains. Mr. Pietila's narrative centers on the human side of residential real estate practices, whose discriminatory tools were the same everywhere: restrictive covenants, redlining, blockbusting, predatory lending.

Estates: An Intimate History


Lynsey Hanley - 2007
    How did homes built to improve people's lives end up doing the opposite? Is their reputation fair, and if so who is to blame? Lynsey Hanley was born and raised on what was then the largest council estate in Europe, and she has lived for years on an estate in London's East End. Writing with passion, humor, and a sense of history, she recounts the rise of social housing a century ago, its adoption as a fundamental right by leaders of the social welfare state in mid-century, and its decline in the 1960s and 70s. What emerges is a vivid mix of memoir and social history, an engaging and illuminating book about a corner of society that the rest of Britain has left in the dark.

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction


Christopher W. Alexander - 1977
    It will enable making a design for almost any kind of building, or any part of the built environment. ‘Patterns,’ the units of this language, are answers to design problems: how high should a window sill be?; how many stories should a building have?; how much space in a neighborhood should be devoted to grass and trees?More than 250 of the patterns in this language are outlined, each consisting of a problem statement, a discussion of the problem with an illustration, and a solution. As the authors say in their introduction, many of the patterns are archetypal, so deeply rooted in the nature of things that it seems likely that they will be a part of human nature and human action as much in five hundred years as they are today.A Pattern Language is related to Alexander’s other works in the Center for Environmental Structure series: The Timeless Way of Building (introductory volume) and The Oregon Experiment.