Book picks similar to
The Racketeer's Progress: Chicago and the Struggle for the Modern American Economy, 1900-1940 by Andrew Wender Cohen
academic-reading-and-research
economic-theory--fact-and-history
labor
labor-history
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Matthew Desmond - 2016
Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of 21st-century America's most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago
Alex Kotlowitz - 2004
For Alex Kotlowitz, an accidental Chicagoan, it is the perfect perch from which to peer into America’s heart. It’s a place, as one historian has said, of “messy vitalities,” a stew of contradictions: coarse yet gentle, idealistic yet restrained, grappling with its promise, alternately sure and unsure of itself. Chicago, like America, is a kind of refuge for outsiders. It’s probably why Alex Kotlowitz found comfort there. He’s drawn to people on the outside who are trying to clean up—or at least make sense of—the mess on the inside. Perspective doesn’t come easy if you’re standing in the center. As with There Are No Children Here, Never a City So Real is not so much a tour of a place as a chronicle of its soul, its lifeblood. It is a tour of the people of Chicago, who have been the author’s guides into this city’s—and in a broader sense, this country’s—heart.
Janesville: An American Story
Amy Goldstein - 2017
Most observers record the immediate shock of vanished jobs, but few stay around long enough to notice what happens next, when a community with a can-do spirit tries to pick itself up.Pulitzer Prize winner Amy Goldstein has spent years immersed in Janesville, Wisconsin where the nation’s oldest operating General Motors plant shut down in the midst of the Great Recession, two days before Christmas of 2008. Now, with intelligence, sympathy, and insight into what connects and divides people in an era of economic upheaval, she makes one of America’s biggest political issues human. Her reporting takes the reader deep into the lives of autoworkers, educators, bankers, politicians, and job re-trainers to show why it’s so hard in the twenty-first century to recreate a healthy, prosperous working class. For this is not just a Janesville story or a Midwestern story. It’s an American story.
Who Gets What: Fair Compensation after Tragedy and Financial Upheaval
Kenneth R. Feinberg - 2012
What they had in common was their aftermath -- each required compensation for lives lost, bodies maimed, livelihoods wrecked, economies and ecosystems upended. In each instance, an objective third party had to step up and dole out allocated funds: in each instance, Presidents, Attorneys General, and other public officials have asked Kenneth R. Feinberg to get the job done. In Who Gets What?, Feinberg reveals the deep thought that must go into each decision, not to mention the most important question that arises after a tragedy: why compensate at all? The result is a remarkably accessible discussion of the practical and philosophical problems of using money as a way to address wrongs and reflect individual worth.
A Year Under Sharia Law: Memoir of an American Couple Living and Working in Saudi Arabia
Alex Fletcher - 2019
The choice of Saudi Arabia is based primarily on the best salary offer, an all expenses paid round trip flight and secondarily to satiate a desire to explore a country steeped in mystery and taboo. Little do they know that the experience will come with a price and change their lives in a profound way, witnessing human rights violations that go unchecked even up to today and an ultra-conservative culture wrestling with tradition and modernity. A Year Under Sharia Law is written as a travel memoir with vignettes of daily life and interactions with the community at large. It was also written to shine a spotlight on the plight of impoverished ladies who come to Saudi Arabia in the hopes of earning a salary to send money back to their family. They find work as nannies and house maids primarily. These ladies are often stripped of their rights in a patriarchy that makes them prime targets for unspeakable abuses. Their passports are held by their Saudi employees and they essentially become prisoners. This memoir is not only dedicated to them and their plight but also the tireless and dangerous work done by journalists who are critical of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Some have paid the ultimate price.
10 Ways to Begin Your Day (Rupa Quick Reads)
Steve Chandler - 2017
10 Ways to Begin Your Day is the interesting read that will motivate you to take control of your day.
Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image
David Greenberg - 2003
everyman; to intellectuals of the 1950s, he was Tricky Dick; to 1960s radicals, a shadowy conspirator; to the Washington press corps, a pioneering spin doctor; to loyal Middle Americans, a victim of liberal hatred; to recent historians, an unlikely liberal. how each was created and disseminated in American culture and how Nixon's tinkering with his own image often backfired. More than what Nixon did, this it reveals what Nixon meant.
Mosby's Rangers: A Record Of The Operations Of The Forty-Third Battalion Virginia Cavalry, From Its Organization To The Surrender
James Joseph Williamson - 1982
Under the command of Col. John S. Mosby they executed small raids behind Union lines, raiding at will and then vanishing quickly into the countryside to remain undetected. Formally known as the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, they were formed after the Partisan Ranger Act of 1862. By the summer of 1864 Mosby had around four hundred men at his disposal in six cavalry companies and one artillery company. Their success led to the area around Fauquier and Loudoun counties becoming known as “Mosby’s Confederacy”, due to the grip that he and his men held on the area. James Joseph Williamson was private who fought under Mosby from April, 1863, through until the end of the war. He records in fascinating detail the activity of Mosby and his men from their companies organization until the moment that they were disbanded. Williamson provides brilliant insight into the campaigns that Mosby’s men fought, how they were organized, who led them, the difficulties they faced, as well as their greatest victories. The effectiveness of Mosby and his small band can be seen in these two statements: General Lee said that Mosby was “zealous bold, and skillful, and with very small resources he has accomplished a great deal.” While on the Union side, “General at one point reported that seventeen thousand of his men were engaged in keeping Mosby from attacking his weak points, and thus away from active service on the firing line. Finally it was not safe to send despatches by a courier unless a regiment was sent along to guard him." Yet, after the war, Grant held no animosity against his former foe, and stated “I have come to know Mosby personally and somewhat intimately. He is a different man entirely from what I supposed. … He is able and thoroughly honest and truthful. There were probably but few men in the South who could have commanded successfully a separate detachment in the rear of an opposing army, and so near the borders of hostilities as long as he did without losing his entire command.” Thus demonstrating the respect that Mosby and his men engendered with their enemies even after the war. Mosby’s Rangers is a perfect book for anyone interested in the partisan activities of Mosby and his men through the course of the American Civil War. James Joseph William was one of Mosby’s Rangers from 1863 through until the end of the war. His book was first published in New York in 1896 and he passed away in 1915.
Epic Text Fails! 2: More Funniest Autocorrects, Wrong Numbers, and Smartphone Mishaps
Marcus Rainey - 2014
Yes, it is really that good." "This is going to be my 'go to book' when I've had a bad day!" Please Note: Some profanity, not for children!
Convert your Minivan into a Mini RV Camper: How to convert a minivan into a comfortable minivan camper motorhome for under $200
William Myers - 2016
Filled with photos, you'll see how to convert almost any minivan into a comfortable mini RV camper, perfect for short or long term trips. You'll learn that even on a limited budget, you can quickly put together a minivan camper that'll have a comfortable bed, toilet, small kitchen, fridge, TV, fan, plenty of storage, a portable power supply and more. This book shows all the steps and includes photos and a source list of the gear you've been looking for. If you have a minivan or are thinking about getting one and converting it to a camper, you'll want this book!
A Look into the the Life and Love of Severus Snape: An Essay
Amber Vilate - 2013
Rowling's popular character, Severus Snape, and the roles he played in the Harry Potter series.
At the Coalface: Part 1 of 3: The memoir of a pit nurse
Joan Hart - 2015
This is the memoir of Joan, who started nursing in the 1940s and whose experiences took her into the Yorkshire mining pits and through the tumult of the 1984-85 miners’ strike.Joan Hart always knew what she wanted to do with her life. Born in South Yorkshire in 1932, she started her nursing training when she was 16, the youngest age girls could do so at the time. She continued working after she married and her work took her to London and Doncaster, caring for children and miners.When she took a job as a pit nurse in Doncaster in 1974, she found that in order to be accepted by the men under her care, she would have to become one of them. Most of the time rejecting a traditional nurse’s uniform and donning a baggy miner’s suit, pit boots, a hardhat and a headlamp, Joan resolved always to go down to injured miners and bring them out of the pit herself.Over 15 years Joan grew to know the miners not only as a nurse, but as a confidante and friend. She tended to injured miners underground, rescued men trapped in the pits, and provided support for them and their families during the bitter miners’ strike which stretched from March 1984 to 1985.Moving and uplifting, this is a story of one woman’s life, marriage and work; it is guaranteed to make readers laugh, cry, and smile.
How To Find Cheap Flights: Practical Tips The Airlines Don't Want You To Know
Scott Keyes - 2015
The year before, I flew to Belgium for under $150.Airfares may be going up, but only for people willing to pay full price. I wrote How To Find Cheap Flights for the rest of us.This book is a step-by-step guide to finding cheap airfare. It’s a quick, easy read compiling dozens of tips and tricks for:- How to find mistake fares- How to avoid fees- Which flight search engine is best- How to save money on nearly every flightThe author is a travel expert who has earned millions of frequent flyer miles and travels tens of thousands of miles per year. He has flown around the earth 14.3 times since 2011, putting 30 different stamps in his passport along the way. He hates paying full price for flights, and won’t do it.
The Life: A True Story About A Brooklyn Boy Seduced Into The Dark World Of The Mafia
Larry Mazza - 2016
young Larry later learns she is married to the vicious gangster Greg Scarpa known as "The Grim Reaper." Greg takes a liking to Larry and makes him his protegé. He likes him so much that he gives his blessing for the affair to continue and brings Larry deep into the "family."
What I Wish I Knew about Nursing: Real Advice from Real Nurses on How To Deeply Care for Patients While Still Caring For Yourself
Allie Wilson - 2011