After The Smoke Cleared

Samuel Edward Masters (1890-1958) lived his early years on several homesteads in the area south of Brush, CO and northeast of Deer Trail, CO. Cowhand, auto mechanic, roughneck, welder. This memoir, written the last six months before he died, recounts his childhood on the high plains of eastern Colorado.

Echoing James Forman Jr.’s Locking Up Our Own, a riveting story of race, civil rights, and rebellion in Washington, DC In April 1968, following the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., a wave of uprisings swept across America. None was more visible—or resulted in more property damage, arrests, or federal troop involvement—than in Washington, DC, where thousands took to the streets in protest against racial inequality, looting and burning businesses in the process. The nation’s capital was shaken to its foundations. When the Smoke Cleared tells the story of the Washingtonians who seized the moment to rebuild a more just society, one that would protect and foster Black political and economic power. A riveting account of activism, urban reimagination, and political transformation, Kyla Sommers’s revealing and deeply researched narrative is ultimately a tale of blowback, as the Nixon administration and its allies in Congress thwarted the ambitions of DC’s reformers, opposing civil rights reforms and self-governance. And nationwide, conservative politicians used the specter of crime in the capital to roll back the civil rights movement and create the modern carceral state. A vital chapter in the struggle for racial equality, When the Smoke Cleared is an account of open wounds, paths not taken, and their unforeseen consequences—revealed here in all of their contemporary significance.

Following the Attica prison uprising in September 1971, Celes Tisdale—a poet and then professor at Buffalo State College—began leading poetry workshops with those incarcerated at Attica. Tisdale’s workshop created a space of radical Black creativity and solidarity, in which poets who lived through the uprising were able to turn their experiences into poetry. The poems written by Tisdale’s students were published as Betcha Ain’t: Poems from Attica in 1974. When the Smoke Cleared contains the entirety of Betcha Ain’t, Tisdale’s own poems and journal entries from the three years he taught at Attica, a previously unpublished collection of poems by Attica poets, and a critical introduction by poet Mark Nowak. In addition to the poetry, Tisdale’s journal entries give readers a unique opportunity to experience what it was like to enter Attica as an educator and return week after week to discuss poetry. When the Smoke Cleared showcases these poets’ achievements, their desire for self-determination, and their historical role as storytellers of Black life in a prison monitored exclusively by white guards and administrators.

Once the smoke of the battlefield blows away, what are the moral requirements of the "victor"? While most studies of just war focus on the rationale for going to war and the conduct of the war, this important book examines the period after the conflict. What must be done to restore justice? In the words of the authors, "`Victory' is declared by presidents and other leaders, yet all too often no just peace is to be found in the wake of today's conflicts....After the smoke clears, the powers that be may declare `mission accomplished' when, as Ezekiel long ago said, there really is no peace." "Allman and Winright provide readers with a clear, concise, balanced, and informed assessment of an important topic in debates about modern warfare: the issue of moral duties in a post-conflict situation."---Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M., Boston College "Timely and readable...Shows us not only that nations have responsibilities after war `ends,' but also that reconstructing societies requires specific processes of restoration."---Lisa Sowle Cahill, Boston College

In this thrilling romantic suspense, smokejumper Alexia Allen returns home to face her past only to find a long-buried secret that threatens her life.

A powerful true story of a young man that falls to his vices, but finds a way to rise again. And through his rise he finds a way to help others who have fallen."I sat in the detective's office for quite awhile. He could tell I was lying. My story was just too perfect." - Circumstance"Someone once told me that a man could see his life flash before his very eyes, but that person never told me that it could happen twice." - Lost in the Fire

This book contains three separate stories, each built on the need of psychiatric intervention to enable the protagonists return to an appropriate level of normality. The girl who wandered experiences traumatic family eventsevents that set Patty at odds with family values and family directives. Her wandering becomes illicit and dangerous to her well-being. An elderly couple reaches out to her and encourages her to seek care. Doctor Stephen Moke successfully intervenes and helps Patty develop an insightful view of her own life and realize that the desertions in her life were partly her own. The Woman Who Was Silent involves the murder of a neighbor-friend. After Susans arrest, her refusal to respond to anyone, including the judge, required intervention. At the judges request, Doctor Stephen Moke visited her in the jail. His gentle, wise, and compassionate interview becomes the heart of Susans story, which is not revealed until her court trial, following a year of psychiatric hospitalization. Doctor Mokes further questioning during her hospitalization fills in the blanks and completes his trial testimony, revealing the strange story of her life and the reason for the murder. In The Woman Who Stood Tall, a policeman gives a Native American woman an undeserved summons on his belief she stole from a grocery store. An appearance in court and possible jail time are of grave concern to Jalee and her husband. Her internist recommends they seek the intervention of Doctor Stephen Moke. Doctor Moke reviews the harsh racial prejudice in Jalees early life, including the tragic death of her mother and older brother through the fault of two unremorseful Caucasians. Doctor Mokes letter to the court sets the stage for Mokes continuing care of Jalee. Native American beliefs, especially regarding the Great Spirit, enter and influence their ongoing therapeutic relationship.

Continues the story told in the author's Child of the Holocaust. Three decades later, Kuper meets his father across a chasm of divergent cultures.