Blue Rage Black Redemption

This is Volume IV of a collection of thirteen on Persia. Originally published in 1905, this text looks at the first part of the SHÁHNÁMA OF FIRDAUSÍ. To the vast majority of English readers the Sháhnáma seems hardly to be known even by name even though it is a great Persian Epic.

A gripping tale of personal revolution by a man who went from Crips co-founder to Nobel Peace Prize nominee, author, and antigang activist When his L.A. neighborhood was threatened by gangbangers, Stanley Tookie Williams and a friend formed the Crips, but what began as protection became worse than the original gangs. From deadly street fights with their rivals to drive-by shootings and stealing cars, the Crips' influence -- and Tookie's reputation -- began to spread across L.A. Soon he was regularly under police surveillance, and, as a result, was arrested often, though always released because the charges did not stick. But in 1981, Tookie was convicted of murdering four people and was sent to death row at San Quentin in Marin County, California. Tookie maintained his innocence and began to work in earnest to prevent others from following his path. Whether he was creating nationwide peace protocols, discouraging adolescents from joining gangs, or writing books, Tookie worked tirelessly for the rest of his life to end gang violence. Even after his death, his legacy continues, supported by such individuals as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Snoop Dogg, Jesse Jackson, and many more. This posthumous edition of Blue Rage, Black Redemption features a foreword by Tavis Smiley and an epilogue by Barbara Becnel, which details not only the influence of Tookie's activism but also her eyewitness account of his December 2005 execution, and the inquest that followed. By turns frightening and enlightening, Blue Rage, Black Redemption is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and an invaluable lesson in how rage can be turned into redemption.

Williams, the cofounder of the Crips gang and a nominee for both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature, became an anti-gang crusader before he was executed in December 2005. In this work he debunked urban myths about prison life and challenged young people to choose the right path. Selected for the Young Adult Library Services Association's Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list.

Inside the Crips is the memoir of the author Colton Simpson's life as a Crip--beginning at the tender age of ten in the mid-seventies--and his prison turnaround nearly twenty-five years later. Colton ("C-Loc") Simpson calls himself the only gang member ever allowed to quite the Crips--and one of the few to survive into his thirties. Simpson--son of a ballplayer for the California Angels and a mother who was relentlessly rough with her sons after their fathers left her--became a gang member at ten. Inside The Crips tells the remarkable--and at the same time, all too common--story of gang life in the 1980s in immediate and descriptive prose that makes this book a gripping true-life read. Inside The Crips covers the rush that comes from participating in gang violence and the years-long wars between the Bloods and Crips. Simpson's story also puts the reader in the middle of the struggle between the Crips and corrections officers in Calipatria prison. It covers gang life from the mid-seventies to the mid-nineties, and introduces characters it's impossible not to care about: Simpson's fellow gangbanger Smile; and Gina, the long-suffering friend and mother of two sons who married Simpson in prison.

The follow-up to his bestselling memoir "Monster," Shakur's "T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E." is a vicious, heart-wrenching, and true-to-life novel that masterfully captures the violence and depravity of gang life.

This novel of sorrow and suspense, set in rural Montana, is “a complex and powerful story—put Black River on the must-read list” (The Seattle Times). Wes Carver returns to his hometown—Black River, Montana—with two things: his wife’s ashes and a letter from the parole board. The convict who once held him hostage during a prison riot is up for release. For years, Wes earned his living as a correction officer and found his joy playing the fiddle. But the uprising shook Wes’s faith and robbed him of his music; now he must decide if his attacker should walk free. With “lovely rhythms, spare language, tenderness, and flashes of rage,” S. M. Hulse shows us the heart and darkness of an American town, and one man’s struggle to find forgiveness in the wake of evil (Los Angeles Review of Books).

A founder of the Crips in Los Angeles introduces kids to the dangers of belonging to a gang.

I Am Raymond Washington is the only authorized biography of the undisputed founder of the Crips and provides an unprecedented look into Raymond Washington's life. If you're looking for stories of gang violence and crimes committed by gang members, that's been done before, and this book isn't for you. But if you're looking for a factual and intuitive look into what made Raymond Washington unique in the mean streets of Los Angeles, this is the book you want to read. Filled with stories, many never-before-seen photographs, as well as interviews and eyewitness accounts of those who knew Raymond, what he represented, and how and why the Crips were formed-and why his name is still spoken on the streets of Los Angeles today with hatred, fear, awe, and reverence. Entering the world of Raymond Washington with an open mind was difficult for me; however, the story of who Raymond Washington was as a leader, warrior, tactician, and mentor became clear. Learn why the gang was so successful and how an unremarkable fifteen-year-old kid in the fall of 1969 sat down with his best friend and formed what later became one of the most successful, and yet feared and hated gangs in the world-the Crips.