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Exploring the role of identitarian politics in the privatization of Newark's public school system In Expelling Public Schools, John Arena explores the more than two-decade struggle to privatize public schools in Newark, New Jersey—a conflict that is raging in cities across the country—from the vantage point of elites advancing the pro-privatization agenda and their grassroots challengers.Analyzing the unsuccessful effort of Cory Booker—Newark's leading pro-privatization activist and mayor—to generate popular support for the agenda, and Booker's rival and ultimate successor Ras Baraka's eventual galvanization of the charter movement, Arena argues that Baraka's black radical politics cloaked a revanchist agenda of privatization.Expelling Public Schools reveals the political rise of Booker and Baraka, their one-time rivalry and subsequent alliance, and what this particular case study illuminates about contemporary post–civil rights Black politics. Ultimately, Expelling Public Schools is a critique of Black urban regime politics and the way in which antiracist messaging obscures real class divisions, interests, and ideological diversity.

'La corrupción en la policía sigue siendo un tema tristemente de actualidad, y Queally nos presenta una historia valiente y real'. ―Booklist. Todos los favores tienen un precio. El ex reportero Russell Avery sigue pagando por tener su licencia de investigador privado: debe encubrir a los policías corruptos de Newark frenando el trabajo del departamento de Asuntos Internos. Hasta que su amiga y activista social, Keyonna Jackson, le muestra un vídeo que no puede ignorar. Allí se ve la escena repetida una y otra vez: el uso de la fuerza policial, que ha incendiado las ciudades de Nueva York, Ferguson y Cleveland. El vídeo se viraliza y la gente sale a las calles. Las autoridades han perdido el control y crece la violencia de la policía y los disturbios raciales. El joven afroamericano que grabó este vídeo aparece muerto, y mientras más preguntas hace Russell, más provoca a sus amigos policías. Por primera vez en su vida, teme a quienes se encargan de servir y proteger. Una magnífica novela policíaca escrita por un especialista en periodismo de investigación.

'La corrupción en la policía sigue siendo un tema tristemente de actualidad, y Queally nos presenta una historia valiente y real'. ―Booklist. Todos los favores tienen un precio. El ex reportero Russell Avery sigue pagando por tener su licencia de investigador privado: debe encubrir a los policías corruptos de Newark frenando el trabajo del departamento de Asuntos Internos. Hasta que su amiga y activista social, Keyonna Jackson, le muestra un vídeo que no puede ignorar. Allí se ve la escena repetida una y otra vez: el uso de la fuerza policial, que ha incendiado las ciudades de Nueva York, Ferguson y Cleveland. El vídeo se viraliza y la gente sale a las calles. Las autoridades han perdido el control y crece la violencia de la policía y los disturbios raciales. El joven afroamericano que grabó este vídeo aparece muerto, y mientras más preguntas hace Russell, más provoca a sus amigos policías. Por primera vez en su vida, teme a quienes se encargan de servir y proteger. Una magnífica novela policíaca escrita por un especialista en periodismo de investigación.

From the author of the star reviewed Garden State Gangland comes an in-depth exposé on East Harlem's notorious Purple Gang whose murderous exploits became a media obsession and Mafia lynchpin.In the late 1970s, a string of seemingly unconnected murders had Harlem police and federal authorities at their wits'end until they realized several commonalities. The victims were all either Mafia members or potential witnesses of Mafia activity and they'd all been shot from.22 pistols traced back to a single private sale in Florida. From these details, the FBI and police were able to build a profile of a rogue sect of Mafia hitmen known as the East Harlem Purple Gang.Starting on the fringes of Mafia families, the Purple Gang members became indispensable and installed members in the highest ranks of the Genovese, Bonanno, and Lucchese families. Often serving as freelance hitmen, kidnappers, and drug traffickers, the Purple Gang's exploits quickly crossed into mythology as media outlets scrambled to keep up with new murders and the law's crusade to bring the gang members to justice. Sifting through the mystery and mythos, author Scott M. Deitche brings readers into Harlem's gritty streets to experience the Purple Gang's reign of terror, the investigators who tried to bring them down, and the gang members who either suffered violent ends or are still at large today.

'AN AMAZING FIRST NOVEL.'—MICHAEL CONNELLY The debut novel from award-winning crime reporter James Queally All favors come with a cost, and after using what little favors he has in the Newark PD to get his private investigators license, former crime reporter Russell Avery finds himself paying. He spends his days reluctantly keeping sideways cops out of the crosshairs of the Internal Affairs department. Until Keyonna Jackson, a social justice activist, presents him with a troubling video: a made-for-Youtube cell phone snippet chronicling the same kind of questionable use-of-force that had set New York City, Ferguson, and Cleveland on fire in recent years. The same use-of-force that he's been covering up for Newark PD. Now, the young black man who filmed this video is dead and the more questions Russell asks, the less his cop buddies like him. For the first time in his life, Russell finds himself on the wrong side of the guys with the badges and guns. When details of the shooting become public—and a city with race riots in its DNA flirts with the idea of letting history repeat itself—Russell finds himself allying with street activists and gang members as he races to put together the biggest story of his life… before the city he needs to tell it to burns down around him.

Enter the City of Brotherly Love and see how the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers trusted The Process–using a bold plan to get to first by becoming the worst. When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre. Enter Sam Hinkie—a man with a plan straight out of the PE playbook, one that violated professional sports'Golden Rule: You play to win the game. In Hinkie's view, the best way to reach first was to embrace becoming the worst—to sacrifice wins in the present in order to capture championships in the future. And to those dubious, Hinkie had a response: Trust The Process, and the results will follow. The plan, dubbed'The Process,'seems to have worked. More than six years after handing Hinkie the keys, the Sixers have transformed into one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. They've emerged as a championship contender with a roster full of stars, none bigger than Joel Embiid, a captivating seven-footer known for both brutalizing opponents on the court and taunting them off of it. Beneath the surface, though, lies a different story, one of infighting, dueling egos, and competing agendas. Hinkie, pushed out less than three years into his reign by a demoralized owner, a jealous CEO, and an embarrassed NBA, was the first casualty of The Process. He'd be far from the last. Drawing from interviews with nearly 175 people, Tanking to the Top brings to life the palace intrigue incited by Hinkie's proposal, taking readers into the boardroom where the Sixers laid out their plans, and onto the courts where those plans met reality. Full of uplifting, rags-to-riches stories, backroom dealings, mysterious injuries, and burner Twitter accounts, Tanking to the Top is the definitive, inside story of the Sixers'Process and a fun and lively behind-the-scenes look at one of America's most transgressive teams. Including exclusive interviews with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Coach Brett Brown, Sam Hinkie, and more.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.In an election year, political signs can be impossible to avoid. They're in front yards, on bumper stickers, and in some places you might never have expected. Tobias Carroll chronicles the permutations and secret histories of political signs, venturing into the story of how they came to be and illuminating how the signs around us shape us in ways we often fail to appreciate. In an era of political polarization and heated debate, what can be learned from studying how our personal space becomes the setting for both? Understanding political signs can help us understand our current political moment, and how we might transcend it.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

A primer on the policies and candidacy of the Democratic senator from New Jersey, who has made social and racial justice his foundation. Is he the right Democrat to take on Trump?Cory Booker, New Jersey senator and former mayor of Newark, has a voting record measured a third most liberal in his time in the Senate. Meet the Candidates 2020: Cory Booker: A Voter's Guide helps you understand exactly how liberal Booker is, where on the spectrum Booker sits among Democratic contenders for the presidency, and whether his positions are worthy of your vote.Booker, a voice for social progress and equality and a critic of President Trump, is campaigning on the platform of an end to the war on drugs and drug reform, single-payer healthcare, education reform, environmental reform and the Green New Deal, and criminal justice reform. He sits on the Committee on Environment and Public Works, Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where he emerged as a strong voice in the Kavanaugh hearings.The Meet the Candidates 2020 series is the informed voter's guide to making a decision in the 2020 Democratic primary and presidential election. Each book gives an unbiased, political insider's analysis of each contender, featuring: candidate interviews; an introduction by campaign adviser, Democratic Coalition co-founder, and Dworkin Report host Scott Dworkin; and compilation and writing by Occupy Democrats Editor at Large Grant Stern. In two hours of reading, you'll understand their defining characteristics, credentials, campaign issues, challenges, presidential chances, and everything else you need to know to decide who should challenge Donald Trump. Whether it's for Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, or another, Meet the Candidates is what you need to make an informed vote for president in 2020.

The conceptualization and execution of Repowering Cities are terrific, and provides readers with a deep understanding of why, how, and to what effect cities have mobilized to mitigate the effects of climate change.―Michael J. Rich, Emory University, coauthor of Collaborative Governance for Urban RevitalizationCity governments are rapidly becoming society's problem solvers. As Sara Hughes shows, nowhere is this more evident than in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto, where the cities'governments are taking on the challenge of addressing climate change.Repowering Cities focuses on the specific issue of reducing urban greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and develops a new framework for distinguishing analytically and empirically the policy agendas city governments develop for reducing GHG emissions, the governing strategies they use to implement these agendas, and the direct and catalytic means by which they contribute to climate change mitigation. Hughes uses her framework to assess the successes and failures experienced in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto as those agenda-setting cities have addressed climate change. She then identifies strategies for moving from incremental to transformative change by pinpointing governing strategies able to mobilize the needed resources and actors, build participatory institutions, create capacity for climate-smart governance, and broaden coalitions for urban climate change policy.

The updated 3-volume 7th edition of Encyclopedia of American Industries provides insight into every realm of American business. Volume 1 covers 360 manufacturing industries. Volume 2 has 362 essays on such industries as agriculture, mining, utilities, construction, wholesale, retail, transportation, and information. Volume 3 consists of 335 essays on topics of finance, insurance, real estate, service industries, and public administration. This fully updated set is now arranged by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and includes an essay for every one of the 1, 057 2017 NAICS codes.

State takeovers of local governments have garnered national attention of late, particularly following the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In most U.S. cities, local governments are responsible for decisions concerning matters such as the local water supply and school affairs. However, once a state takes over, this decision-making capability is shuttled. Despite the widespread attention that takeovers in Flint and Detroit have gained, we know little about how such takeovers--a policy option that has been in use since the 1980s--affect political power in local communities. By focusing on takeovers of local school districts, this book offers the first systematic study of state takeovers of local governments. Although many major U.S. cities have experienced state takeovers of their local school districts, we know little about the political causes and consequences of takeovers. Complicating this phenomenon are the justifications for state takeokers; while they are assumedly based on concerns with poor academic performance, questions of race and political power play a critical role in the takeover of local school districts. However, Domingo Morel brings clarity to these questions and limitations--he examines the factors that contribute to state takeovers as well as the effects and political implications of takeovers on racialized communities, the communities most often affected by them. Morel both lays out the conditions under which the policy will disempower or empower racial and ethnic minority populations, and expands our understanding of urban politics. Morel argues that state interventions are a part of the new normal for cities and offers a novel theoretical framework for understanding the presence of the state in America's urban areas. The book is built around an original study of nearly 1000 school districts, including every school district that has been taken over by their respective state, and a powerful case study of Newark, New Jersey.

This book examines attempts to influence the outcome of the negotiations between Iran and the United States over Iran's nuclear capabilities. In particular, it focuses on struggles within the United States around public and congressional opinion with regard to the accord. Trying to prevent a successful outcome to the talks became a cottage industry in Washington, with the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson being just one of those who were pouring millions of dollars into the effort. On the pro-diplomacy side, there were a wide range of religious, peace, and arms control groups with some financial support coming from the Ploughshares Fund trying to create the space for a negotiated agreement. The tactics of both sides of the debate are described and analyzed to show how a contentious foreign policy issue can become not just a decision for high-level government decision makers, but a wide-ranging fight that involves scores of nongovernmental organizations, the media, and thousands of activists.