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Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
In this “riveting”(The New York Times) work of nonfiction, a sociologist infiltrates the world of Chicago’s crack-dealing gangs First presented in Freakonomics, the story of a young sociologist who embedded himself in Chicago’s most notorious gang and captured the world’s attention. Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatesh gained entrance into the lives of a group of drug-dealers and went on to witness—and participate in—events that have rarely been described in print. A brazen, page-turning, and fundamentally honest view of the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, often corrupt struggle to survive in an urban war zone, it is also an emotional and complicated look at the friendship that develops between the sociologist and a gang leader, two ambitious men a universe apart..
Price: $9.55
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Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
Listen to a short interview with Sudhir Venkatesh
Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane In this revelatory book, Sudhir Venkatesh takes us into Maquis Park, a poor black neighborhood on Chicago's Southside, to explore the desperate, dangerous, and remarkable ways in which a community survives. We find there an entire world of unregulated, unreported, and untaxed work, a system of living off the books that is daily life in the ghetto. From women who clean houses and prepare lunches for the local hospital to small-scale entrepreneurs like the mechanic who works in an alley; from the preacher who provides mediation services to the salon owner who rents her store out for gambling parties; and from street vendors hawking socks and incense to the drug dealing and extortion of the local gang, we come to see how these activities form the backbone of the ghetto economy. What emerges are the innumerable ways that these men and women, immersed in their shadowy economic pursuits, are connected to and reliant upon one another. The underground economy, as Venkatesh's subtle storytelling reveals, functions as an intricate web, and in the strength of its strands lie the fates of many Maquis Park residents. The result is a dramatic narrative of individuals at work, and a rich portrait of a community. But while excavating the efforts of men and women to generate a basic livelihood for themselves and their families, Off the Books offers a devastating critique of the entrenched poverty that we so often ignore in America, and reveals how the underground economy is an inevitable response to the ghetto's appalling isolation from the rest of the country. (20060904).
Price: $11.60
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American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto
High-rise public housing developments were signature features of the post-World War II city. A hopeful experiment in providing temporary, inexpensive housing for all Americans, the "projects" soon became synonymous with the black urban poor, with isolation and overcrowding, with drugs, gang violence, and neglect. As the wrecking ball brings down some of these concrete monoliths, Sudhir Venkatesh seeks to reexamine public housing from the inside out, and to salvage its troubled legacy. Based on nearly a decade of fieldwork in Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes, American Project is the first comprehensive story of daily life in an American public housing complex. Venkatesh draws on his relationships with tenants, gang members, police officers, and local organizations to offer an intimate portrait of an inner-city community that journalists and the public have only viewed from a distance. Challenging the conventional notion of public housing as a failure, this startling book re-creates tenants' thirty-year effort to build a safe and secure neighborhood: their political battles for services from an indifferent city bureaucracy, their daily confrontation with entrenched poverty, their painful decisions about whether to work with or against the street gangs whose drug dealing both sustained and imperiled their lives. American Project explores the fundamental question of what makes a community viable. In his chronicle of tenants' political and personal struggles to create a decent place to live, Venkatesh brings us to the heart of the matter..
Price: $16.50
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Building Community Capacity (Modern Applications of Social Work)
Designed to be widely accessible without sacrificing depth, Building Community Capacity provides a theoretically informed, systematic exploration of this fundamental issue. The authors combine a wealth of practical experience working with community-based initiatives with a deep theoretical understanding of the problems facing communities today to produce a clear definition of the concept of community capacity and a pointed review of strategies intended to foster it. Clearly and in detail, providing a systematic framework for comprehensive thinking about a cluster of related activities, they explore the choices and issues that must be confronted by all who share a practical interest in strengthening poor neighborhoods. Building Community Capacity draws widely on both academic and applied research. It uses existing knowledge as a basis for a synthetic analysis of substantial primary source material, including key-informant interviews with participants in community-building initiatives; data derived from in-depth implementation studies of certain core cases; and documentary and interview data from additional initiatives and organizations that are engaged in community capacity-building efforts. Data from the core cases consist of information and experience gathered in the documentation and evaluation of three major initiatives, allowing the detailed exploration to be sensitive to the nuances of approach, process, and context that inform the implementation of these efforts and condition their effects. Taken together, the cases represent a cross-section of the field of community-capacity building efforts, illustrating the range of strategies, contexts, actors, and implementation issues that have been encountered across a spectrum of community capacity building efforts. To ensure that the lessons to be drawn from in-depth analysis are broadly representative, the authors also develop a list of numerous other community-based initiatives, which they use to contextualize, illustrate, draw out, refine, confirm, and challenge what they see in the core cases..
Price: $25.66
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Endovascular and Hybrid Management of the Thoracic Aorta: A Case-based Approach
Surgical management of aortic pathologies has changed dramatically, and this essential book fills the void with up-to-date comprehensive information on the topic.
Written by physicians at the Arizona Heart Institute, which pioneered the use of thoracic endoluminal grafts, Endovascular and Hybrid Management of the Thoracic Aorta presents clinical scenarios as well as controversies in this fascinating and rapidly developing field.
Discussing the etiology, diagnostic tools and management and treatment of specific pathologies of the aorta, this book is ideal for cardiovascular and vascular surgeons from all over the world. It is also of interest to residents in vascular and cardiothoracic surgery who have an interest in thoracic aortic disease management and want to be at the forefront of endovascular technology..
Price: $134.49
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Youth, Globalization, and the Law
This book addresses the impact of globalization on the lives of youth, focusing on the role of legal institutions and discourses As practices and ideas travel the globe—such as the promotion and transmission of zero tolerance and retributive justice programs, the near ubiquitous acceptance of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the transnational migration of street gangs—the legal arena is being transformed. The essays in this book offer case studies and in-depth analyses, spanning diverse settings including courts and prisons, inner-city streets, international human rights initiatives, newspaper offices, local youth organizations, and the United Nations. Drawing on everyday social practices, each chapter adds clarity to our current understanding of the ways in which ideas and practices in different parts of the world can affect youth in one particular locale. .
Price: $19.59
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Precision Engineering
The Latest Techniques of Ultra-Precise Manufacturing for Creating Mechanical, Electronic, and Optical Products Precision Engineering gives expert guidance on the application of manufacturing to micro and nano levels, using state-of-the-art miniaturization technology. The book fully explores these new in-demand techniques, providing clear explanations of precision engineering fundamentals, the theory and design of precision machines, and the mechanics of ultra-precise machining. Filled with over 200 skills-building illustrations, this vital engineering resource examines topics ranging from atomic bit processes for manufacturing and atomic force…to scanning and electronic and optical microscopy. You will find timely information on the tool materials for precision machining…the mechanics of materials cutting…advances in precision grinding…ultra-precision machine elements…rolling element, hydrodynamic, and hydrostatic bearings…gas lubricated bearings… microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)…and much more. Presenting practical know-how on everything required to create actual products, Precision Engineering features: - A full account of tool materials for precision engineering
- The latest methods of precision grinding
- Detailed analysis of ultra-precise machine elements
- In-depth coverage of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
Inside This Cutting-Edge Guide to Precision Engineering Methods • Tool Materials for Precision Machining • Mechanics of Materials Cutting • Advances in Precision Grinding • Ultra-Precision Machine Elements • Rolling Element, Hydrodynamic, and Hydrostatic Bearings • Gas Lubricated Bearings • Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS).
Price: $64.79
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Data Interpretation in Critical Care Medicine
The management of critically ill patients not only involves a thorough daily review of investigations and monitoring. A detailed knowledge and understanding of data is crucial in the day-to-day management of patients in intensive care. With over 100 data sets composed of a brief history, relevant clinical findings, investigation and monitoring results, Venkatesh provides a source of real clinical data, with questions and answers, enabling you to tet and develop your interpretation skills..
Price: $35.95
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Prarthana: A Book of Hindu Psalms
Popular Sanskrit prayers from the Vedas & Upanishads! Devanagiri Script, Transcription and English Translations! English commentary offers reflections on how each prayer applies to daily life. A must have for every family! Perfect gift for Grads! Safe gift for friends or colleagues! Inside: Gayatri Mantra: Enlightenment Ganesha Vandana: Tribute to Ganesha Krishna Vandana: Tribute to Krishna Prayers to Devi: The Feminine Divine Vande Mataram: Glorious Mother and many more.
Price: $14.99
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Kiran: The Power of One
Based on the award-winning television series, this book tells the real-life stories of 50 remarkable individuals who have bettled personal tragedies and disabilities and social, religious and financial constraints to bring about some positive change in the lives of those around them and, often, those less fortunate than them. Their stories restore our faith in the basic goodness of human nature, and remind us that the potential to good lies within each one of us..
Price: $14.37
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