Recently, a wall was built in eastern Germany. Made of steel and cement blocks, topped with razor barbed wire, and reinforced with video monitors and movement sensors, this wall was not put up to protect a prison or a military base, but rather to guard a three-day meeting of the finance ministers of the Group of Eight (G8). The wall manifested a level of security that is increasingly commonplace at meetings regarding the global economy. The authors of Shutting Down the Streets have directly observed and participated in more than 20 mass actions against global in North America and Europe, beginning with the watershed 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle and including the 2007 G8 protests in Heiligendamm. Shutting Down the Streets is the first book to conceptualize the social control of dissent in the era of alterglobalization. Based on direct observation of more than 20 global summits, the book demonstrates that social control is not only global, but also preemptive, and that it relegates dissent to the realm of criminality. The charge is insurrection, but the accused have no weapons. The authors document in detail how social control forecloses the spaces through which social movements nurture the development of dissent and effect disruptive challenges.
From New York to San Francisco, Times Square to the Tenderloin, graffiti artists, young people, radical environmentalists, and the homeless clash with police on city streets in an attempt take back urban spaces from the developers and "disneyfiers". Drawing on more than a decade of first-hand research, this lively account goes inside the worlds of street musicians, homeless punks, militant bicycle activists, high-risk "BASE jump" parachutists, skateboarders, outlaw radio operators, and hip hop graffiti artists, to explore the day-to-day skirmishes in the struggle over public life and public space.
When Washington Shut Down Wall Street unfolds like a mystery story. It traces Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo's triumph over a monetary crisis at the outbreak of World War I that threatened the United States with financial disaster. The biggest gold outflow in a generation imperiled America's ability to repay its debts abroad. Fear that the United States would abandon the gold standard sent the dollar plummeting on world markets. Without a central bank in the summer of 1914, the United States resembled a headless financial giant. William McAdoo stepped in with courageous action, we read in Silber's gripping account. He shut the New York Stock Exchange for more than four months to prevent Europeans from selling their American securities and demanding gold in return. He smothered the country with emergency currency to prevent a replay of the bank runs that swept America in 1907. And he launched the United States as a world monetary power by honoring America's commitment to the gold standard. His actions provide a blueprint for crisis control that merits attention today. McAdoo's recipe emphasizes an exit strategy that allows policymakers to throttle a crisis while minimizing collateral damage. When Washington Shut Down Wall Street recreates the drama of America's battle for financial credibility. McAdoo's accomplishments place him alongside Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan as great American financial leaders. McAdoo, in fact, nursed the Federal Reserve into existence as the 1914 crisis waned and served as the first chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
From a Sibert Medalist comes the epic story of Manhattan—a magical, maddening island “for all” and a microcosm of America. A veteran nonfiction storyteller dives deep into the four-hundred-year history of Manhattan to map the island’s unexpected intersections. Focusing on the evolution of four streets and a square (Wall Street, 42nd Street, West 4th Street, 125th Street, and Union Square) Marc Aronson explores how new ideas and forms of art evolved from social blending. Centuries of conflict—among original Americans and Europeans, slavers and the enslaved, rich and poor, immigrants and native-born—produced segregation, oppression, and violence, but also new ways of speaking, singing, and being American. From the Harlem Renaissance to Hammerstein, from gay pride in the Village to political clashes at Tammany Hall, this clear-eyed pageant of the island’s joys and struggles—enhanced with photos and drawings, multimedia links to music and film, and an extensive bibliography and source notes—is, above all, a love song to Manhattan’s triumphs.
The amazing adventures of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man continue in this all-new novel. A new designer drug with physically altering side effects sweeps through New York, leaving behind utter chaos. As Spider-Man stumbles onto the drug's origin, he almost must face one of his most fearsome enemies. Original.
This book offers a unique look at streets as locations that can evolve to support the economic, social, cultural and natural aspects of cities. It focuses on how the power of streets can be harnessed to shape more dynamic spaces for walking, biking and living and stimulate urban vitality and community regeneration.
A veteran activist's guide to direct action and strategic civil disobedience as the most radical and rapid means to social change For decades, Lisa Fithian’s work as an advocate for civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action has put her on the frontlines of change. Described by Mother Jones as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant,” Fithian has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina, Occupy Wall Street, and the uprisings at Standing Rock and in Ferguson. For anyone who wants to become more active in resistance or is just feeling overwhelmed or hopeless, Shut It Down offers strategies and actions you can take right now to promote justice and incite change in your own community. In Shut It Down Fithian shares historic, behind-the-scenes stories from some of the most important people-powered movements of the past several decades. She shows how movements that embrace direct action have always been, and continue to be, the most radical and rapid means for transforming the ills of our society. Shut It Down is filled with instructions and inspiration for how movements can evolve as the struggle for social justice continues in the Trump era and beyond. While recognizing that electoral politics, legislation, and policy are all important pathways to change, Shut It Down argues that civil disobedience is not just one of the only actions that remains when all else fails, but a spiritual pursuit that protects our deepest selves and allows us to reclaim our humanity. Change can come, but only if we’re open to creatively, lovingly, and strategically standing up, sometimes at great risk to ourselves, to protect what we love.
The Only Question Is Will Their Love Survive? When Sara and Jacob find out they’re pregnant with a baby boy, nothing could make them happier. They were your typical expecting parents - deeply in love, deliriously excited to be starting a family. However, their hopes are dashed when the doctor gives a recommendation for Sara to take an AFT. Five words change their destiny forever... “Your son has Trisomy 21” Their perfect love story unexpectedly spirals into panic, and their dream shatters with it – devastating Sara. Jacob, confused and troubled with the situation, tries to prompt Sara into following the doctor’s suggestion: terminate the pregnancy; assuring her that they can try again. Sara angry at even the thought of destroying the life inside of her, rejects him. Their love, marriage and future suddenly start to fall apart; sending them both on very different journeys… Chapter 1 - Bacon Sara stared out the window in awe. The branches of the trees in the backyard swayed back and forth in the light breeze, the sun’s rays piercing through the leaves causing shadows to dance across the wilted grass. Sara practically floated around the kitchen in her excitement which filled the room along with the smell of the sizzling bacon she was cooking. After years of being married, Sara knew exactly how to rouse her husband from sleep, and she knew that the aroma would eventually coax him out of bed. Elated, she let out a girlish laugh. Today is going to be perfect, she thought. Sizzling and crackling sounds from the frying bacon echoed from the kitchen. She was certain that last pop would have woke him up but she didn’t care because she was having too much fun. She let her hand rest on her pregnant belly, patting it affectionately. “I hope you like it out here,” she murmured to herself and as if on cue, she felt a tiny flutter in her stomach. Being pregnant was unlike any other chapter of her life, she had never felt more purposeful. She felt like a mess of contradictions. Completely afraid and simultaneously stronger than ever. Powerful, yet unattractive but her mother-in-law had assured her that it was all just the hormones. It didn’t stop her from feeling like a thanksgiving turkey, although she did appreciate everyone’s attempt at making her feel better. It wasn’t long before Jacob’s head peeked around the corner, sleepy eyed and resembling more of a toddler than a grown man. His golden hair was creased in the middle, pointing up on one side and flattened on the other. He flashed a smile at her, “What’s all this?” She chuckled, “You have some serious bed head Mr. Michaels.” Without a word he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing his hands on her stomach. “Should you really be standing up for such a long time, Mrs. Michaels?” “I’m fine Jacob,” she replied. “Besides the doctor said walking is healthy for me and the baby, so standing shouldn’t hurt.” She laughed patting his cheek playfully. He left a butterfly kiss where her fingers brushed against his lips. “Well, if physical activity is helpful…” Her grin gave way to a full smile as she reached back to swat him. After a short pause he continued, “Seriously, do you know what would make this day better?” She raised her eyebrow, expecting him to say something suggestive (which was typical of him). He spun her around in his arms so that she was facing him, her belly protruded slightly between them making him hold her awkwardly but he went on pretending she didn’t notice. “I was just going to say, what would make this day better…” he trailed off looking deeply into her eyes. “is finding out we’re having a boy today.” She let out a bark of laughter “Really, that’s not where I thought you were going with that.”
