Author: Patricia A. Adler
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470670274
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447
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Book Description
Drugs and the American Dream presents an up-to-date anthology of chiefly contemporary readings that explore the myriad sociological correlates of licit and illicit drug use in the United States. Unique approach to the topic that offers an organizing theme of sociological concepts-age, social class, ethnicity, gender, as well as societal response to drug use including drug education, treatment, and policy. The book is interdisciplinary in terms of approach, making it useful in a variety of contexts. Includes a wide array of ethnographic articles that place reader directly into the perspectives of drug users through their own voices Brief framing introductions to each article provide "interconnective tissue," guiding the student to the heart of what's important in the piece that follows. Offers a balanced approach to various substances-tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and illegal drugs. Provides students with a realistic perspective on the extent of substance use in American society as well as a critical appreciation of the real versus imagined harms associated with use of various substances.
Author: Randol Contreras
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520273370
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 302
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Book Description
Randol Contreras came of age in the South Bronx during the 1980s, a time when the community was devastated by cuts in social services, a rise in arson and abandonment, and the rise of crack-cocaine. For this riveting book, he returns to the South Bronx with a sociological eye and provides an unprecedented insiderÕs look at the workings of a group of Dominican drug robbers. Known on the streets as ÒStickup Kids,Ó these men raided and brutally tortured drug dealers storing large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. As a participant observer, Randol Contreras offers both a personal and theoretical account for the rise of the Stickup Kids and their violence. He mainly focuses on the lives of neighborhood friends, who went from being crack dealers to drug robbers once their lucrative crack market opportunities disappeared. The result is a stunning, vivid, on-the-ground ethnographic description of a drug robberyÕs violence, the drug market high life, the criminal life course, and the eventual pain and suffering experienced by the casualties of the Crack Era. Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely absorbing.
Author: Matt McCusker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781980698333
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 271
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Book Description
Overlook is the story of five dysfunctional neighbors, denizens of a blue-collar community whose lives become entangled around the "missing" son of a local dry-cleaning magnate.Can an elderly sex-offender, an abusive veteran, a troubled teenage boy, a girl who sells pain pills, and a listless, bumbling stoner band together against the external forces that threaten their quietly broken lives?No.And so sex, betrayal, death--even masturbation ensue, changing life for those on Overlook Road forever.
Author: Drew T. Brown
Publisher: Mradult
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 298
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Book Description
You Gotta Believe! is the inspirational ite Jewish woman from Brighton Beach who was caught between two worlds and a troubled youth. Growing up in the ghetto, his story is surefire motivation for those caught in the subculture of despair who need a role model and encouragement to help them see the advantage of doing their best.
Author: David Lee Windecher
Publisher: MBMA GROUP LLC
ISBN: 0985397535
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 315
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Book Description
The AmerIcan Dream is at once an inspiring account of a young mans journey from defendant to defense attorney, a window into the inner workings of one of Miami s most notorious drug rings, and a chilling portrait of the streets that Americas poverty-stricken youth call home. The hood is an addiction. An addiction that pulls as seductively and fiercely as the drugs hustled on its streets. And living in it is a daily exercise in survival. Raised impoverished in the streets of Miami, David Lee Windecher was only eleven years old when he was arrested for shoplifting. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, deciding to take what he believed he deserved. But that was the beginning for David. That was the day he started thinking like a hustler. He could stop waiting for the scales to tip in his favor. He could stop going without. He could take what life denied him. And he did. For the next seven years, David fought bitterly against his circumstances at the side of his gang-affiliate brothers. It began with selling dope to help his family eat, but pulled into the dark, seductive life of violence, drugs, money, and notoriety David lost himself to the game. Before he turned eighteen, he had built and masterminded a crime ring, had been arrested thirteen times, and fought daily wars against rival gangs and dirty cops. But deep inside of David, an idealistic boy still dreamed of becoming an attorney and fighting for justice despite race. He was just waiting for someone to believe he existed.
Author: Jason DeParle
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780143034377
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436
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Book Description
In this definitive work, two-time Pulitzer finalist Jason DeParle, author of A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, cuts between the mean streets of Milwaukee and the corridors of Washington to produce a masterpiece of literary journalism. At the heart of the story are three cousins whose different lives follow similar trajectories. Leaving welfare, Angie puts her heart in her work. Jewell bets on an imprisoned man. Opal guards a tragic secret that threatens her kids and her life. DeParle traces their family history back six generations to slavery and weaves poor people, politicians, reformers, and rogues into a spellbinding epic. With a vivid sense of humanity, DeParle demonstrates that although we live in a country where anyone can make it, generation after generation some families don’t. To read American Dream is to understand why.
Author: Steven F. Messner
Publisher: Cengage Learning
ISBN: 9781111346966
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Authored by Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld, both highly respected scholars and researchers, CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM, 5th Edition is the seminal work in a major segment of criminological theory. The foundation of the book is institutional anomie theory (an offshoot of Mertonian anomie theory), which the authors posit helps to explain why America's over-emphasis on the pursuit of materialistic gain contributes to the country's high rate of violent crime. Featuring a very clear and accessible writing style, this is a theory book that students will actually understand. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
Author: Pilar Marrero
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1137073748
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
As the US deports record numbers of illegal immigrants and local and state governments scramble to pass laws resembling dystopian police states where anyone can be questioned and neighbors are encouraged to report on one another, violent anti-immigration rhetoric is growing across the nation. Against this tide of hysteria, Pilar Marrero reveals how damaging this rise in malice toward immigrants is not only to the individuals, but to our country as a whole. Marrero explores the rise in hate groups and violence targeting the foreign-born from the 1986 Immigration Act to the increasing legislative madness of laws like Arizona's SB1070 which allows law officers to demand documentation from any individual with "reasonable suspicion" of citizenship, essentially encouraging states and municipalities to form their own self-contained nation-states devoid of immigrants. Assessing the current status quo of immigration, Marrero reveals the economic drain these ardent anti-immigration policies have as they deplete the nation of an educated work force, undermine efforts to stabilize tax bases and social security, and turn the American Dream from a time honored hallmark of the nation into an unattainable fantasy for all immigrants of the present and future.
Author: William M. Adler
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 047203863X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395
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Book Description
An exceptional work of investigative journalism, Land of Opportunity is a probing tale of blighted dreams and misguided ambition. "One of the most fascinating and unforgettable families in American literature . . . destined to become the most prominent tome in the modern inner-city street life genre".--Claude Brown, author of Manchild in the Promised Land. Land of Opportunity has been optioned by Boyz 'N the Hood director John Singleton for his next film.
Author: Julissa Arce
Publisher: Center Street
ISBN: 1455540250
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
A National Bestseller! What does an undocumented immigrant look like? What kind of family must she come from? How could she get into this country? What is the true price she must pay to remain in the United States? JULISSA ARCE knows firsthand that the most common, preconceived answers to those questions are sometimes far too simple-and often just plain wrong. On the surface, Arce's story reads like a how-to manual for achieving the American dream: growing up in an apartment on the outskirts of San Antonio, she worked tirelessly, achieved academic excellence, and landed a coveted job on Wall Street, complete with a six-figure salary. The level of professional and financial success that she achieved was the very definition of the American dream. But in this brave new memoir, Arce digs deep to reveal the physical, financial, and emotional costs of the stunning secret that she, like many other high-achieving, successful individuals in the United States, had been forced to keep not only from her bosses, but even from her closest friends. From the time she was brought to this country by her hardworking parents as a child, Arce-the scholarship winner, the honors college graduate, the young woman who climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs-had secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant. In this surprising, at times heart-wrenching, but always inspirational personal story of struggle, grief, and ultimate redemption, Arce takes readers deep into the little-understood world of a generation of undocumented immigrants in the United States today- people who live next door, sit in your classrooms, work in the same office, and may very well be your boss. By opening up about the story of her successes, her heartbreaks, and her long-fought journey to emerge from the shadows and become an American citizen, Arce shows us the true cost of achieving the American dream-from the perspective of a woman who had to scale unseen and unimaginable walls to get there.
