Black August

In this pathbreaking book, Dan Berger offers a bold reconsideration of twentieth century black activism, the prison system, and the origins of mass incarceration. Throughout the civil rights era, black activists thrust the prison into public view, turning prisoners into symbols of racial oppression while arguing that confinement was an inescapable part of black life in the United States. Black prisoners became global political icons at a time when notions of race and nation were in flux. Showing that the prison was a central focus of the black radical imagination from the 1950s through the 1980s, Berger traces the dynamic and dramatic history of this political struggle. The prison shaped the rise and spread of black activism, from civil rights demonstrators willfully risking arrests to the many current and former prisoners that built or joined organizations such as the Black Panther Party. Grounded in extensive research, Berger engagingly demonstrates that such organizing made prison walls porous and influenced generations of activists that followed.

In Negro Soy Yo Marc D. Perry explores Cuba’s hip hop movement as a window into the racial complexities of the island’s ongoing transition from revolutionary socialism toward free-market capitalism. Centering on the music and lives of black-identified raperos (rappers), Perry examines the ways these young artists craft notions of black Cuban identity and racial citizenship, along with calls for racial justice, at the fraught confluence of growing Afro-Cuban marginalization and long held perceptions of Cuba as a non-racial nation. Situating hip hop within a long history of Cuban racial politics, Perry discusses the artistic and cultural exchanges between raperos and North American rappers and activists, and their relationships with older Afro-Cuban intellectuals and African American political exiles. He also examines critiques of Cuban patriarchy by female raperos, the competing rise of reggaetón, as well as state efforts to incorporate hip hop into its cultural institutions. At this pivotal moment of Cuban-U.S. relations, Perry's analysis illuminates the evolving dynamics of race, agency, and neoliberal transformation amid a Cuba in historic flux.

This volume spans economics, history, sociology, law, graphic design, religion, environmental science, politics and more to offer a transdisciplinary examination of debt. From this perspective, many of our most pressing social and environmental crises are explored to raise critical questions about debt’s problems and possibilities. Who do we owe? Where are the offsetting credits? Why do such persistent deficits in care permeate so much of our lives? Can we imagine new approaches to balance sheets, measures of value, and justice to reconcile these deficits? Often regarded as a constraint on our ability to meet the challenges of our day, this volume reimagines debt as a social construct capable of empowering people to organize and produce sustainable prosperity for all. This text is ideal for provoking classroom discussions that not only point out the gravity of the crises we face in the twenty-first century, but also seeks to set readers’ minds free to create innovative solutions.

A biography of the first African American to be elected to the US Congress. Contending that Nordin's (1883-1968) successes were due to questionable deeds and attitudes, traces how he ingratiated himself with the political machine in Chicago to get elected and faithfully served them for many years in office. Also documents how his patrons dropped him because of his support, however belated, of the NAACP and his legal action against racial discrimination. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This volume considers the interconnection of racial oppression in the U.S. South and West, presenting thirteen case studies that explore the ways in which citizens and migrants alike have been caged, detained, deported, and incarcerated, and what these practices tell us about state building, converging and coercive legal powers, and national sovereignty. As these studies depict the institutional development and state scaffolding of overlapping carceral regimes, they also consider how prisoners and immigrants resisted such oppression and violence by drawing on the transnational politics of human rights and liberation, transcending the isolation of incarceration, detention, deportation and the boundaries of domestic law. Contributors: Dan Berger, Ethan Blue, George T. Diaz, David Hernandez, Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Pippa Holloway, Volker Janssen, Talitha L. LeFlouria, Heather McCarty, Douglas K. Miller, Vivien Miller, Donna Murch, and Keramet Ann Reiter.

"An engaging exploration of the unique history and biology of fasting-an essential component of many traditional health practices, religions, and philosophies, resurging in popularity today-perfect for readers of Breath by James Nestor and Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.We fast all the time, even when we're not conscious of doing so. A fast manifests the idea of holding back, resisting the animal impulse to charge ahead. Its flip side is similarly everywhere: call it splurging, self-indulgence, or a variant of "self-care." Based on extensive historical, scientific, and cultural research and reporting, The Fast illuminates the numerous facets of this act of self-deprivation. John Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others who guide him through this practice-and embarks on fasts of his own-to deliver a book that supplies readers curious about fasting with profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration. Fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons-from health advocates who see fasting as a method to lose weight or to detox, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness, to activists using hunger strikes as an effective means of peaceful protest. Fasting is central to holy seasons and days such as Lent in Christianity, Ramadan in Islam, and Yom Kippur in Judaism. Advocates for justice who have waged hunger strikes include Gandhi in India, Bobby Sands in Ireland, and the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City. Whether for philosophical, political, or health-related reasons, fasting marks a departure from daily routine. Fasting involves doing less but doing less in a radical way, reminding us that a slower, more intentional contemplative experience can be more fulfilling. Ultimately, this book shows us that fasting is about much more than food: it is about reconsidering our place in the world"--

A practical manual written with the home restorer in mind. Well illustrated & with clear instructions this manual guides the amateur through dismantling, repair & rebuilding. Special chapters on steering gear, suspension, brakes, electrics & trim by Grahame Bristow. Includes many diagrams. 216 pages. Whenever I see a rebuild guide I am impressed by how easy everything looks - every job seems to be so straightforward. Not surprisingly, since they have been written by seasoned professionals who have all the tools, own large workshops and have worked on the same cars for years. What they all have in common is that seasoned professionals are not the same as many of us. It's time that these guys started to think about real people. No, we don't own workshops, probably not even a double door garage - rarely even a single door garage. Many of us work on our cars outside on the road or a driveway, where a level surface is a dream. We are often tackling restoration problems for the first time. For example, a few years back, over the course of seven or eight months, I watched the slow building of a Peugeot 205 rally car. It was certainly an interesting and time consuming project; which included painting the bare shell inside and out. In fact I noticed that almost every day a bit more work had been done - as did many others amongst thousands of motorists who use the A316 Chertsey Road (one of the great London arteries) every single working day. The owner stripped and built the car on the rough grass verge outside his flat much to the admiration and enlightenment of many a humble commuter. Just like the rest of us, here was an enthusiast getting on with the job, without a workshop or garage, he just worked on the roadside. No power tools, no Blackhawk jig, nothing more than simple tools, four axle stands and his wits. Not only is working space at a premium, but so are specialist tools - even a trolley jack is a luxury for many. Also, surprisingly, many of us cannot weld or wish to learn that black art. Even if we could, where would we do it - on the grass verge outside our house, in a cramped garage, or in the yard? I didn't buy my MG with the intention of rebuilding it, I just wanted to drive it. The painful truth dawned later, and boy did I learn the hard way. I couldn't lay claim to being a great mechanic or being very knowledgeable about Midgets or Sprites. As you'll see, I made some fundamental errors building my own Midget, but I got there in the end, without much help and without being too adept in the spanner department. I simply intended to get it right, and if I got things wrong, well I just started again. Hopefully this guide, in conjunction with a little of your own research, will lead to a successful rebuild of your own. I've tried to cover as much as I can within these pages, but my knowledge is pretty shaky in some areas, especially with regard to the 1500 engine. If your car proves to be at variance with what has been written here, its not necessarily wrong, just that you will need to do some detective work of your own. Have fun. And when you've finished building the car, drive it - that's what they made it for...

The proof of any group's importance to history is in the detail, a fact made plain by this informative book's day-by-day documentation of the impact of African Americans on life in the United States. One of the easiest ways to grasp any aspect of history is to look at it as a continuum. African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events provides just such an opportunity. Organized in the form of a calendar, this book allows readers to see the dates of famous births, deaths, and events that have affected the lives of African Americans and, by extension, of America as a whole. Each day features an entry with information about an important event that occurred on that date. Background on the highlighted event is provided, along with a link to at least one primary source document and references to books and websites that can provide more information. While there are other calendars of African American history, this one is set apart by its level of academic detail. It is not only a calendar, but also an easy-to-use reference and learning tool.