Book picks similar to
City Development; Studies in Disintegration and Renewal by Lewis Mumford
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Magical Miri
Debra Kristi - 2020
The family so secret, even its youngest members are unaware. That would be mine. “Magick runs in your bloodstream.” Grandma always told us we came from a powerful bloodline. A bloodline derived from one of the strongest witches in New Orleans past. Mom disagrees. Had us believing it was nothing but lies. Wanting to get us away from grandma and her fanciful ideas, Mom moves us in with her boyfriend. Sticks us in the French Quarter. A place where my family isn’t welcome. My new status quo: life in shambles. Everything is changing. Mom is always working to pay the new, higher bills, my sister is experimenting with magick, and my brother, I think, maybe drugs. Forced to start at a new school and attempt to make new friends, I’m now having nightmares, seeing ghosts, getting teased as a witch, and preyed on by vampires. Plus, there’s the creepy, stalker ancestor in my head. But to all my crazy, there’s a silver lining. I’m seeing a new, amazing guy, named Phillip… if Mom’s overbearing boyfriend doesn’t chase him away. Phillip doesn’t know about the supernatural world crashing in around me and I’d like to keep it that way. He is the calm to my chaos. And my mom’s boyfriend, just may be the triggering cause of my surrounding storm. How do I straighten out my family and uncover my own personal truth, when the devil in the works might possibly be sleeping under the same roof? This fast-paced, action-packed, young adult, paranormal coming-of-age adventure, about a New Orleans, magickal bloodline family is ideal for fans of The Bane Chronicles and The Originals. SCROLL UP and ONE-CLICK MAGICAL MIRI, SECURE YOUR COPY OF THE THRILLING ADVENTURE TODAY! MAGICAL MIRI is the first of five books in the Gifted Girl Series.
Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America
Beryl Satter - 2009
In this powerful book, Beryl Satter identifies the true causes of the city's black slums and the ruin of urban neighborhoods throughout the country: not, as some have argued, black pathology, the culture of poverty, or white flight, but a widespread and institutionalized system of legal and financial exploitation.
In Satter's riveting account of a city in crisis, unscrupulous lawyers, slumlords, and speculators are pitched against religious reformers, community organizers, and an impassioned attorney who launched a crusade against the profiteers—the author's father, Mark J. Satter. At the heart of the struggle stand the black migrants who, having left the South with its legacy of sharecropping, suddenly find themselves caught in a new kind of debt peonage. Satter shows the interlocking forces at work in their oppression: the discriminatory practices of the banking industry; the federal policies that created the country's shameful "dual housing market"; the economic anxieties that fueled white violence; and the tempting profits to be made by preying on the city's most vulnerable population.
A monumental work of history, this tale of racism and real estate, politics and finance, will forever change our understanding of the forces that transformed urban America.
Radical Cities: Across Latin America in Search of a New Architecture
Justin McGuirk - 2014
From Brazil to Venezuela, and from Mexico to Argentina, McGuirk discovers the people and ideas shaping the way cities are evolving. Ever since the mid twentieth century, when the dream of modernist utopia went to Latin America to die, the continent has been a testing ground for exciting new conceptions of the city. An architect in Chile has designed a form of social housing where only half of the house is built, allowing the owners to adapt the rest; Medellín, formerly the world’s murder capital, has been transformed with innovative public architecture; squatters in Caracas have taken over the forty-five-story Torre David skyscraper; and Rio is on a mission to incorporate its favelas into the rest of the city. Here, in the most urbanised continent on the planet, extreme cities have bred extreme conditions, from vast housing estates to sprawling slums. But after decades of social and political failure, a new generation has revitalised architecture and urban design in order to address persistent poverty and inequality. Together, these activists, pragmatists and social idealists are performing bold experiments that the rest of the world may learn from.Radical Cities is a colorful journey through Latin America—a crucible of architectural and urban innovation.
The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection
Judith Butler - 1997
To be dominated by a power external to oneself is a familiar and agonizing form power takes. To find, however, that what “one” is, one's very formation as a subject, is dependent upon that very power is quite another. If, following Foucault, we understand power as forming the subject as well, it provides the very condition of its existence and the trajectory of its desire. Power is not simply what we depend on for our existence but that which forms reflexivity as well. Drawing upon Hegel, Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault, and Althusser, this challenging and lucid work offers a theory of subject formation that illuminates as ambivalent the psychic effects of social power.If we take Hegel and Nietzsche seriously, then the "inner life" of consciousness and, indeed, of conscience, not only is fabricated by power, but becomes one of the ways in which power is anchored in subjectivity. The author considers the way in which psychic life is generated by the social operation of power, and how that social operation of power is concealed and fortified by the psyche that it produces. Power is no longer understood to be "internalized" by an existing subject, but the subject is spawned as an ambivalent effect of power, one that is staged through the operation of conscience.To claim that power fabricates the psyche is also to claim that there is a fictional and fabricated quality to the psyche. The figure of a psyche that "turns against itself" is crucial to this study, and offers an alternative to describing power as “internalized.” Although most readers of Foucault eschew psychoanalytic theory, and most thinkers of the psyche eschew Foucault, the author seeks to theorize this ambivalent relation between the social and the psychic as one of the most dynamic and difficult effects of power.This work combines social theory, philosophy, and psychoanalysis in novel ways, offering a more sustained analysis of the theory of subject formation implicit in such other works of the author as Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex" and Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.
She Who Finds A Husband
E.N. Joy - 2010
But when only women join and Doreen learns that all these women want only one thing out of the ministry--help in finding a man--her mission goes astray.She Who Finds a Husband is what you get when you combine some
D
ivine, some
I
ndependent, some
V
irtuous, some
A
nimated, and some
S
toic personalities all in one setting--DIVAS! Dig into this soap opera in print as the women of New Day Temple of Faith Singles Ministry set flight to include a man in their future, not realizing that their past is what's keeping them bound.
The Bones of Marianna: A Reform School, a Terrible Secret, and a Hundred-Year Fight for Justice
David Kushner - 2013
Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida—the largest reform school in the country—always seemed like a model for how to turn wayward teens back into productive members of society. But for decades, the century-old school’s alumni whispered about a nightmarish reality that lurked behind the gleaming façade—a legacy of beatings, sexual abuse, and even murder, the evidence buried in unmarked graves on the overgrown fringes of the property.In The Bones of Marianna, David Kushner tells the story of the unlikely crusaders who pushed Dozier’s dark past into the light. A one-time high school football star, haunted by the memory of a departed teammate, spends years quarterbacking the fight to expose the truth, while an anthropologist uses cutting-edge technology to dig up grim secrets. Informed by months of reporting, Kushner delivers a gripping tale of hard-won justice—and exclusive details on more secrets that may be waiting to be unearthed.
Fragile and Distant Suns: A Poul Anderson Collection
Poul Anderson - 2010
A collection of science fiction stories written by acclaimed author Poul Anderson.Poul Anderson is best known for sci-fi adventure stories in which larger-than-life characters succeed gleefully or fail heroically. Anderson's also famous for writing 'Call Me Joe' (not included in this volume) which featured the premise of a paralyzed man whose mind is remotely controlling an alien body. This same theme also appears in James Cameron's 2009 movie "Avatar" – similar enough that some reviewers are calling for Anderson to receive some form of credit.Included in this volume:Story One: Duel on SyrtisBold and ruthless, he was famed throughout the System as a big-game hunter. From the firedrakes of Mercury to the ice-crawlers of Pluto, he'd slain them all. But his trophy-room lacked one item; and now Riordan swore he'd bag the forbidden game that roamed the red deserts ... a Martian!Story Two: SecurityIn a world where Security is all-important, nothing can ever be secure. A mountain-climbing vacation may wind up in deep Space. Or loyalty may prove to be high treason. But it has its rewards...Story Three: The Valor of Cappen VarraWe have said that there are many and strange shadows, memories surviving from dim pasts, in this fantastic universe of ours...Story Four: Industrial RevolutionEver think how deadly a thing it is if a machine has amnesia—or how easily it can be arranged…Story Five: The Sensitive ManOne man stood between a power-hungry cabal and world mastery--but a man of unusual talents...These are the original and unabridged versions of these classic science fiction treasures. A must-have for fans of classic sci-fi!
Young Einstein: And the story of E=mc² (Kindle Single)
Robyn Arianrhod - 2014
But what sort of person was the young Albert Einstein, before he became universally acclaimed as the archetypal genius? And how did his genius unfold? In this brilliant new Kindle Single, scientist Robyn Arianrhod blends biography with popular science to tell the story of how young Albert developed a theory that – unknown to him at first – contained the seeds of his extraordinary equation E = mc2. Arianrhod, who wrote her PhD on Einstein’s general theory of relativity, makes the ideas behind the equation accessible to the lay reader, and sets young Einstein’s exploration of these ideas against the backdrop of his first loves, his family and marriage, and, above all, his childlike wonder at the nature of the universe. She introduces his heroes and scientific inspirations, and the friends who believed in him when no one else did. In personalising Einstein, she brings to life both the man and his science, in a short, easy-to-read narrative. In showing how he discovered his famous equation, and what it means, she draws a compelling portrait of this prodigious intellect whose unfathomable grasp of the building blocks of physics would change our world forever. About the Author: Dr Robyn Arianrhod is the author of two critically acclaimed works of popular science and scientific history: Einstein’s Heroes: Imagining the World Through the Language of Mathematics, and Seduced by Logic: Émilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville and the Newtonian Revolution. Both were shortlisted for major book awards and are published in the USA. Einstein’s Heroes was translated into several languages. Robyn was awarded her PhD for research on Einstein’s general theory of relativity and has lectured in applied mathematics (including special relativity) for many years. She is currently an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University in Melbourne, where she is undertaking research on the structure of relativistic space-times. She is also a technical reviewer for the American Mathematical Society. Praise for Robyn Arianrhod's books: Einstein’s Heroes ‘Arianrhod’s achievement is to so masterfully combine history, biography, and mathematics as to absorb and enlighten even the mathematically maladroit’ – Booklist ‘An intriguing blend of science, history, and biography . . . Arianrhod’s well-written, fascinating discussion of intertwined topics is highly recommended’ – Library Journal (starred review) ‘A thrilling story . . . Arianrhod brings out the human side of the scientists’ – Bloombergnews ‘Offers readers an engaging intellectual exercise combining physics, language, mathematics, and biography’ – Science News Seduced by Logic ‘Seduced by Logic offers the lay reader an easy and agreeable introduction to the evolution of some crucial scientific debates . . . One cannot help be captivated by her intellectual honesty and enthusiasm’ – Times Higher Education ‘An elegant and inspiring history of how scientific revolutions make their way’ – Edward Dolnick, The Clockwork Universe ‘Here is a skillfully written tapestry of the science, history and portrayal of two of the most charismatic women of mathematical science. Robyn Arianrhod has produced a captivating masterpiece’ – Joseph Mazur, author of Euclid in the Rainforest and What’s Luck Got to Do with It?
Dark Tower: Treachery #1
Robin Furth - 2008
And what the young gunslinger sees brings him the darkest of nightmares.
Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities
Jeff Mapes - 2009
They’re finding physical fitness, low-cost transportation, environmental purity—and, still all too often, Wild West risks of sudden death or injury.” —from the introduction In a world of increasing traffic congestion, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on city streets. Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs, and small towns across North America. From traffic-dodging bike messengers to tattooed teenagers on battered bikes, from riders in spandex to well-dressed executives, ordinary citizens are becoming transportation revolutionaries. Jeff Mapes traces the growth of bicycle advocacy and explores the environmental, safety, and health aspects of bicycling. He rides with bicycle advocates who are taming the streets of New York City, joins the street circus that is Critical Mass in San Francisco, and gets inspired by the everyday folk pedaling in Amsterdam, the nirvana of American bike activists. Chapters focused on big cities, college towns, and America’s most successful bike city, Portland, show how cyclists, with the encouragement of local officials, are claiming a share of the valuable streetscape.
City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn
William J. Mitchell - 1995
William Mitchell makes extensive use of practical examples and illustrations in a technically well-grounded yet accessible examination of architecture and urbanism in the context of the digital telecommunications revolution, the ongoing miniaturization of electronics, the commodification of bits, and the growing domination of software over materialized form.
Design and Crime (And Other Diatribes)
Hal Foster - 2002
In the second half, he examines the historical relations of modern art and the modern museum, the conceptual vicissitudes of art history and visual studies, the recent travails of art criticism, and the double aftermath of modernism and postmodernism. Written in a lively style, Design and Crime offers historical sketches and contemporary test-cases in an attempt to illuminate the conditions for critical culture in the present.
Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies
Alastair Bonnett - 2014
In Unruly Places, Alastair Bonnett goes to some of the most unexpected, offbeat places in the world to reinspire our geographical imagination.Bonnett’s remarkable tour includes moving villages, secret cities, no man’s lands, and floating islands. He explores places as disorienting as Sandy Island, an island included on maps until just two years ago despite the fact that it never existed. Or Sealand, an abandoned gun platform off the English coast that a British citizen claimed as his own sovereign nation, issuing passports and crowning his wife as a princess. Or Baarle, a patchwork of Dutch and Flemish enclaves where walking from the grocery store’s produce section to the meat counter can involve crossing national borders.An intrepid guide down the road much less traveled, Bonnett reveals that the most extraordinary places on earth might be hidden in plain sight, just around the corner from your apartment or underfoot on a wooded path. Perfect for urban explorers, wilderness ramblers, and armchair travelers struck by wanderlust, Unruly Places will change the way you see the places you inhabit.
Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming
Anthony Dunne - 2013
In Speculative Everything, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby propose a kind of design that is used as a tool to create not only things but ideas. For them, design is a means of speculating about how things could be--to imagine possible futures. This is not the usual sort of predicting or forecasting, spotting trends and extrapolating; these kinds of predictions have been proven wrong, again and again. Instead, Dunne and Raby pose "what if" questions that are intended to open debate and discussion about the kind of future people want (and do not want).Speculative Everything offers a tour through an emerging cultural landscape of design ideas, ideals, and approaches. Dunne and Raby cite examples from their own design and teaching and from other projects from fine art, design, architecture, cinema, and photography. They also draw on futurology, political theory, the philosophy of technology, and literary fiction. They show us, for example, ideas for a solar kitchen restaurant; a flypaper robotic clock; a menstruation machine; a cloud-seeding truck; a phantom-limb sensation recorder; and devices for food foraging that use the tools of synthetic biology. Dunne and Raby contend that if we speculate more--about everything--reality will become more malleable. The ideas freed by speculative design increase the odds of achieving desirable futures.
The Song of the Earth
Jonathan Bate - 2000
A book about our growing alienation from nature, it is also a brilliant meditation on the capacity of the writer to bring us back to earth, our home.In the first ecological reading of English literature, Jonathan Bate traces the distinctions among nature, culture, and environment and shows how their meanings have changed since their appearance in the literature of the eighteenth century. An intricate interweaving of climatic, topographical, and political elements poetically deployed, his book ranges from greenhouses in Jane Austen's novels to fruit bats in the poetry of Les Murray, by way of Thomas Hardy's woodlands, Dr. Frankenstein's Creature, John Clare's birds' nests, Wordsworth's rivers, Byron's bear, and an early nineteenth-century novel about an orangutan who stands for Parliament. Though grounded in the English Romantic tradition, the book also explores American, Central European, and Caribbean poets and engages theoretically with Rousseau, Adorno, Bachelard, and especially Heidegger.The model for an innovative and sophisticated new ecopoetics, The Song of the Earth is at once an essential history of environmental consciousness and an impassioned argument for the necessity of literature in a time of ecological crisis.