He is forced to make a number of decisions that will change his life. Choosing school over the mean Detroit's Eastside streets, the sudden reality of his poor circumstances make him painfully aware of the fortunes that can be made if he embarks on the career path of a hustler. Deciding that he wants to be a baller, Dre meets and forms an alliance with an older, very beautiful female named Destiny. Unbeknownst to him, she had a secret and motive that draws her to him, which causes her to assist him in making all of his plans reality. Dre and his closest friends will create a clique called the Eastside Syndicate and set a hustle in motion like Detroit has never seen. No one else in the city will be able to compete with the murder and muscle game that they release upon the streets. However, when he falls in love with another and finds himself at odds with Destiny, the beautiful temptress who helped to make his dreams come true will stop at nothing to bring Dre and the organization that he created to its knees. Dre has everything that a hustler could ever want. Only when the tide turns, he will quickly realize that the dream life he once lived was no more than a nightmare in disguise.

    That was the reason I studied so hard in school, didn’t hang out with the popular kids, and didn’t rebel against my parents. When I turned 17 years old and became the Valedictorian of my class, I knew I was on the right track. I was ready to go to college and embark on my journey towards becoming a corporate lawyer. Never in a million years did I think that by the time I was eighteen years old, I would be pushing out a baby. Never did I think my life could change so drastically. I had no degree, no career, no house, and no husband; but I had a daughter. I still remember the night everything changed between us. Or maybe things had already changed, and it was the first time I noticed it. I know for sure that it was the first time I had ever accepted the fact that I was truly just a “baby mama” and Flip had no real plans of making me his wife. I remember feeling so many emotions that night. I was hurt, angry, confused, disappointed, and betrayed. But I was still very much in love. I loved him too much to hate him so quickly, so I resented him and I hated myself for being so naiive. It didn’t take long for that resentment to magnify because once the truth is out, you begin to connect the dots to every lie you’ve ever been fed and it makes you wonder if any of it was ever real. The moment you lose respect for someone, everything changes. The love is still there, but it’s not the same. You become guarded, you become defensive, and sometimes you just want to hurt them the way they hurt you. That’s when they start to call you bitter. I never pictured myself becoming a bitter baby mama, but you know what? Maybe they’re right. Maybe I am bitter but I feel like I have every damn right to be. This is my story.

    There you can see remnants of the shops and churches where, amid the violence and humiliation of segregation, men and women gathered to build a remarkable community. William Sturkey introduces us to both old-timers and newcomers who arrived in search of economic opportunities promised by the railroads, sawmills, and factories of the New South. He also takes us across town and inside the homes of white Hattiesburgers to show how their lives were shaped by the changing fortunes of the Jim Crow South.Sturkey reveals the stories behind those who struggled to uphold their southern "way of life" and those who fought to tear it down--from William Faulkner's great-grandfather, a Confederate veteran who was the inspiration for the enigmatic character John Sartoris, to black leader Vernon Dahmer, whose killers were the first white men ever convicted of murdering a civil rights activist in Mississippi. Through it all, Hattiesburg traces the story of the Smith family across multiple generations, from Turner and Mamie Smith, who fled a life of sharecropping to find opportunity in town, to Hammond and Charles Smith, in whose family pharmacy Medgar Evers and his colleagues planned their strategy to give blacks the vote.

    But the Circle Bar B ranch isn't the haven she expects it to be. Malicious rumors about Libby are circulating through the ranch, and worse, her lifelong opponent, rancher Jess Barlowe, believes them. The cowboy is as sexy and rugged as ever…but now he's promised to keep a very close eye on her… The more time Jess spends with Libby, the harder it is to resist her. He can't get her out of his mind, but his doubts linger. Are the rumors true? Is he the man she really wants? And in the end, can a proud cowboy like Jess love a woman he can't completely trust?  FREE BONUS STORY INCLUDED IN THIS VOLUME!  A Wife for a Westmoreland by New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson Derringer Westmoreland is haunted by memories of a woman whose face he cannot recall. When he finally traces his mystery woman, Lucia Conyers, she's less than impressed with his charms. For the first time in his life, if he wants to win a woman's heart, he'll have to risk his own.

    The calls to ban it were more or less instant.Re:cyclists is the tale of what happened next, of how we have spent two centuries wheeling our way about town and country on bikes--or on two-wheeled things that vaguely resembled what we now call bikes. Michael Hutchinson picks his way through those 200 years, discovering how cycling became a kinky vaudeville act for Parisians, how it became an American business empire, and how it went on to find a unique home in the British Isles. He considers the penny-farthing riders exploring the abandoned and lonely coaching roads during the railway era, and the Victorian high-society cyclists of the 1890s bicycle craze--a time when no aristocratic house party was without bicycles and when the Prince of Wales used to give himself an illicit thrill on a weekday afternoon by watching the women's riding-school in the Royal Albert Hall.Re:cyclists looks at how cycling became the sport, the pastime and the social life of millions of ordinary people, how it grew and how it suffered through the 1960s and '70s, and how at the dawn of the twenty-first century it rose again, much changed but still ultimately just someone careering along on two wheels.

    Reasoning that the turbulence could be calmed by turning Black city-dwellers into homeowners, they passed the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, and set about establishing policies to induce mortgage lenders and the real estate industry to treat Black homebuyers equally. The disaster that ensued revealed that racist exclusion had not been eradicated, but rather transmuted into a new phenomenon of predatory inclusion. Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned. The same racist structures and individuals remained intact after redlining's end, and close relationships between regulators and the industry created incentives to ignore improprieties. Meanwhile, new policies meant to encourage low-income homeownership created new methods to exploit Black homeowners. The federal government guaranteed urban mortgages in an attempt to overcome resistance to lending to Black buyers - as if unprofitability, rather than racism, was the cause of housing segregation. Bankers, investors, and real estate agents took advantage of the perverse incentives, targeting the Black women most likely to fail to keep up their home payments and slip into foreclosure, multiplying their profits. As a result, by the end of the 1970s, the nation's first programs to encourage Black homeownership ended with tens of thousands of foreclosures in Black communities across the country. The push to uplift Black homeownership had descended into a goldmine for realtors and mortgage lenders, and a ready-made cudgel for the champions of deregulation to wield against government intervention of any kind. Narrating the story of a sea-change in housing policy and its dire impact on African Americans, Race for Profit reveals how the urban core was transformed into a new frontier of cynical extraction.

    Local gangster Dante (Jack Boy) knows more than anybody how dangerous and ruthless the streets can be. But against his better instincts allows himself to fall for a local female gangster named Alinna. Considered to be somewhat of a competitor to Dante because she leads her own all female crew. Alinna too, is very well aware of the dangers that come with letting feelings get in the way of business. But like Dante, decides to embrace the attraction anyway. That however proves to be a mistake. When she discovers Dante is two-timing her with a female gang unit officer. But unlike what she has with Dante, this relationship is more about lust and power. Or better yet the officers lust for it. While both get pleasure from this arrangement, she also gains intel. Which lead to major busts that fuel her quick ascension within the department. However her world is suddenly rocked when she discovers she's pregnant with Dante's child! Now they have something that binds them together forever... and something that complicates not just her job but also Dante's relationship with Alina! But with Alina being onto Dante's cheating ways, and the officer being willing to eliminate any and all threats to her burgeoning career. Not to mention the threat of the streets discovering Dante's Serpico ties. Could he end up losing everything in the end?

    But he was the one thing that she didn’t mess around with…he was a cop. Law doesn’t care about Alauni’s attempts to stay away from him. He knows what he wants, and given the way that her body responds to him, he’s pretty sure that he can get it. But his need for her goes beyond the physical. He sees Alauni in a way that she doesn’t even recognize. He knows her heart, and he’s determined to convince her that he can take care of it. But when he finally steps into her world, he soon realizes that it might be more than what he bargained for. What happens when it’s no longer just fun and games, and things get real? Will Law be able to handle the challenge and be all in? Or will Alauni give him every reason to walk away and never look back?

    But is he really safe?The mysterious observer has come out of the shadows and infiltrated the Dirty Money Crew. Together with his accomplice, he plans to exact revenge on Scar. Meanwhile, Tiphani is plotting her return from Florida to claim her children and also get back at Scar and the mayor who left her for dead. After recovering from his injuries, Derek Fuller is out of prison, looking for redemption.Can Scar fend off all of these enemies and still control the Baltimore drug trade?

    Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, 42nd Street was once known for its peep shows, street corner hustlers and movie houses. Over the last two decades the notion of safety-from safe sex and safe neighborhoods, to safe cities and safe relationships-has overcome 42nd Street, giving rise to a Disney store, a children's theater, and large, neon-lit cafes. 42nd Street has, in effect, become a family tourist attraction for visitors from Berlin, Tokyo, Westchester, and New Jersey's suburbs.Samuel R. Delany sees a disappearance not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there: the points of contact between people of different classes and races in a public space. In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany tackles the question of why public restrooms, peepshows, and tree-filled parks are necessary to a city's physical and psychological landscape. He argues that starting in 1985, New York City criminalized peep shows and sex movie houses to clear the way for the rebuilding of Times Square. Delany's critique reveals how Times Square is being renovated behind the scrim of public safety while the stage is occupied by gentrification. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes, and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as family values. Unless we overcome our fears and claim our community of contact, it is a picture that will be replayed in cities across America.

    

    But as political scientist Jonathan A. Rodden demonstrates in Why Cities Lose, the left's electoral challenges have deeper roots in economic and political geography.In the late nineteenth century, support for the left began to cluster in cities among the industrial working class. Today, left-wing parties have become coalitions of diverse urban interest groups, from racial minorities to the creative class. These parties win big in urban districts but struggle to capture the suburban and rural seats necessary for legislative majorities. A bold new interpretation of today's urban-rural political conflict, Why Cities Lose also points to electoral reforms that could address the left's under-representation while reducing urban-rural polarization.

    Nice Guy who's found companionship and comfort with Marsha.  The only problem is that he's become too comfortable.  Weighing seventy-five pounds more than when the courtship first began, the newly food-obsessed Sonny just can't stay away from Marsha's marvelous dishes, even in the middle of their breakup conversation.Determined to slim down and get his girlfriend back, Sonny joins the FutraSystem weight-loss center and meets potential love interest Kayla, as well as a host of other colorful characters. In a heartwarming tale that is alternately hilarious, wise, and ultimately self-affirming, Whitfield has created a thoroughly delicious and engaging novel sure to be enjoyed by those who have waged the battle of the bulge, or know someone who has.