American Guy

This text examines American norms of masculinity and their role in the law, with essays from legal academics, literary scholars, and judges. Together, these papers reinvigorate the law-and-literature movement by bringing a range of methodological and disciplinary perspectives to bear on the complex interactions of masculinity with both law and literature - ultimately shedding light on all three.

A Regular American Guy is the story of one American guy. It begins with recounting his family's eight generations of American citizenship. Then his relatively normal childhood and transition into adulthood. He manages to get through high school and works his way through college. He was thrust into the Vietnam War in 1968. All he accomplished until then, and all he would achieve later, was put at risk. A battle where you are almost killed can be a profound experience. Reflecting on that traumatic event convinced him of two things. First, war is a terrible thing, and we need to find a way to stop it in the future. Second, thinking about that dramatic and frighting battle instilled in him a determination to make his life count regarding his fellow citizens and his family. So, he built an engineering and surveying firm from scratch employing hundreds of people. He served in elective offices and on community boards and commissions. He and Candace raised a family of five kids, who were well cared for materially and emotionally, and all grew up to be happy and productive adults. He made his life count. That fight in Vietnam was not so much a major event in his life as it was a tipping point. It refocused his life plan. So marriage, the birth of children, business success, and public service were the major event, just like so many American men and women.

A real pediatrician and the author of the bestselling Care & Keeping of You series provides tips, how-tos, and facts about boys' changing bodies that will help them take care of themselves. Full color.

The author of the acclaimed Montana 1948 “spins charm and melancholy” in this novel of youth and romantic rivalry in 1960s rural Minnesota (Denver Post). Willow Falls, Minnesota, 1962. The shooting of a young woman on Thanksgiving Day sets off a chain of unsettling events in the life of seventeen-year-old Matthew Garth. A close friend of the prosperous Dunbar family, Matthew is present in Dr. Dunbar’s home office when the victim is brought in. The sight of Louisa Lindahl—beautiful and mortally wounded—makes an indelible impression on the young man. Fueled by his feverish desire for this mysterious woman and a deep longing for the comfort and affluence that appears to surround the Dunbars, Matthew finds himself drawn into a vortex of greed, manipulation, and ultimately betrayal. Larry Watson’s tale heart-breaking tale “resonates with language as clear and images as crisp as the spare, flat prairie of its Minnesota setting” (Kirkus Reviews). An Esquire Best Book of 2011

My book attempts to give an honest portrayal of my life much lived in America's black world. The "Black world of America" from my experiences is very much different than that of White America profoundly, so I found, through my experiences, study, and observations that there is a dislike and hatred may not be too strong a word to describe the feeling prevalent in Black America. I don't feel my description is, in any way, an exaggeration. I am also the author of more than one hundred essays on race, Black racism, and a proponent for the adaption of a new college course (may be adaptable for high school juniors and seniors) titled "Comparative Racism." I also describe my fourteen years policing in Black neighborhoods with a Black partner. I look at police corruption, corrupt city officials, and I describe my personal experiences and knowledge of events and members of the Chicago's south suburban mafia. I give insight into personal experiences with Black racists and racism at various level in Black America. I covered my time as a White student at an HBCU and my many intimacies with black sistas, including my marriage to a Black woman. Sex, crime, corruption, mafia, racism, hatred, corporate intrigues, it's all between these pages, much of which, I am not proud. I am not Black, but I know I had a perch few other White people have had in my personal experiences. You be the judge, but for me, I am not optimistic about the future of Black and White America. Tell me it ain't so.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER What would actually make America great: more people. If the most challenging crisis in living memory has shown us anything, it’s that America has lost the will and the means to lead. We can’t compete with the huge population clusters of the global marketplace by keeping our population static or letting it diminish, or with our crumbling transit and unaffordable housing. The winner in the future world is going to have more—more ideas, more ambition, more utilization of resources, more people. Exactly how many Americans do we need to win? According to Matthew Yglesias, one billion. From one of our foremost policy writers, One Billion Americans is the provocative yet logical argument that if we aren’t moving forward, we’re losing. Vox founder Yglesias invites us to think bigger, while taking the problems of decline seriously. What really contributes to national prosperity should not be controversial: supporting parents and children, welcoming immigrants and their contributions, and exploring creative policies that support growth—like more housing, better transportation, improved education, revitalized welfare, and climate change mitigation. Drawing on examples and solutions from around the world, Yglesias shows not only that we can do this, but why we must. Making the case for massive population growth with analytic rigor and imagination, One Billion Americans issues a radical but undeniable challenge: Why not do it all, and stay on top forever?

Each summer, millions of children complain, "There's nothing to do." Originally published in 1888, The American Boy's Handy Book resoundingly challenges this age-old dilemma by providing a huge number of ideas for fun and instructional projects for young boys. Everything from camping and kite building to raising dogs and building boats is detailed for the would-be adventurer and do-it your-selfer.

'Keep turning, Mama, keep turning the steering wheel ' I told her. She kept turning the steering wheel until the steering wheel locked. By this time, Papa was wide awake. I turned and looked at him, and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of the eye sockets. He was desperately trying to sit up on the rear seat. From the time Mama smashed down on that gas pedal, she had not slowed down any whatsoever, and Papa was unable to get up. I thought Mama was going to kill all of us. I don't know how she managed to miss the corncrib. Now she was headed for the woodpile. I quickly looked at Mama, expecting to see fear on her face like Papa and me. Instead she was sitting there hanging on to the steering wheel with a big smile on her face. She was driving all by herself and making her own decisions. She appeared to be enjoying the ride. Preston Chavis rarely had a dull moment growing up in Robeson County, North Carolina, in the thirties and forties. He taught his mama to drive when he was only seven, adopted a hill of red ants, disassembled his bike in hopes of making it better, and learned about the sanctity of life the hard way. As the son of a Lumbee Indian sharecropper, Preston struggled to overcome racism and poverty. Memoirs of a Lumbee Native American Boy is an inspirational story expertly blended with humor and life lessons.