Changes in federal housing policies over the past several decades shifted the primary responsibility for providing low-income renters with affordable housing from the government to private landlords. Federal, state, and local governments have passed laws to ensure that low-income renters are protected from illicit landlording practices. Yet we know little about how private landlords experience local housing regulations. In Collateral Damages, sociologist Meredith Greif examines how local laws affect private landlords and whether tenants are, in fact, being adequately protected. For three years, Greif followed sixty private landlords serving low- and moderate-income residents in the Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area to better understand how local regulations, such as criminal activity nuisance ordinances (CANOs) and local water billing regulations, affect their landlording practices. CANOs are intended to protect communities by discouraging criminal activity on private properties. Property owners can face financial and criminal sanctions if they do not abate nuisance activities, which can include littering, noise, drug use, and calls for police assistance, including calls for domestic violence. Local water billing regulations hold landlords responsible for delinquent water bills, even in cases where the account is registered in the tenant’s name. Greif finds that such laws often increase landlords’ sense of “financial precarity” – the real or perceived uncertainty that their business is financially unsustainable – by holding them responsible for behavior they feel is out of their control. Feelings of financial uncertainty led some landlords to use illegitimate business practices against their tenants, including harassment, oversurveillance, poor property upkeep, and illegal evictions. And to avoid to financial penalties associated with CANOs and delinquent water bills, some landlords engage in discriminatory screening of vulnerable potential tenants who are unemployed or have histories of domestic violence or drug use. In this sense, by promoting a sense of financial insecurity among landlords, laws meant to protect renters ultimately had the opposite effect. While some landlords, particularly those who rented a larger number of units, were able to operate their businesses both lawfully and profitably, the majority could not. Greif offers practical recommendations to address the concerns of small- and mid-sized landlords, such as regular meetings that bring landlords and local authorities together to engage in constructive dialogue about local housing policy, issues, and concerns. She also proposes policy recommendations to protect renters, such as establishing the right to counsel for lower-income tenants in eviction hearings and enacting a federal renter’s tax credit. Collateral Damages is an enlightening investigation on how local laws and practices perpetuate disadvantage among marginalized populations and communities, in ways that are hidden and often unintended.

Written during and after the Persian Gulf War, this anthology includes original research and in-depth analysis of U.S. foreign policy and its domestic repercussions. The contributors look at the war abroad and at home, addressing race, gender, geo-politics, ecology, economics, and the movement for peace and justice.

From Homer to Tim O’Brien, war literature remains largely the domain of male writers, and traditional narratives imply that the burdens of war are carried by men. But women and children disproportionately suffer the consequences of conflict: famine, disease, sexual abuse, and emotional trauma caused by loss of loved ones, property, and means of subsistence. Collateral Damage tells the stories of those who struggle on the margins of armed conflict or who attempt to rebuild their lives after a war. Bringing together the writings of female authors from across the world, this collection animates the wartime experiences of women as military mothers, combatants, supporters, war resisters, and victims. Their stories stretch from Rwanda to El Salvador, Romania to Sri Lanka, Chile to Iraq. Spanning fiction, poetry, drama, essay, memoir, and reportage, the selections are contextualized by brief author commentaries. The first collection to embrace so wide a range of contemporary authors from such diverse backgrounds, Collateral Damage seeks to validate and shine a light on the experiences of women by revealing the consequences of war endured by millions whose voices are rarely heard.

Nothing that happens in our life is a surprise to God. Only He knows why. When trials come my way, I sometimes wonder and then ask the question, "Why me, Lord?" Countless times, I've received the same answer, "Why not you?"I thought that my life was in a good place spiritually, and I felt really free to praise God. That's when Satan's games began. Beware of Satan's sneak attacks. He's out to get the saints of God by any means necessary. He's sent out his generals, admirals, and all of his top-notch angels that were kicked out of heaven along with him.They all seemingly attacked me at one time. I was completely devastated and spiritually wounded, but Satan confused my devastation for weakness. Right at that point, he tried to form a weapon against me. Isaiah 54:17 says, "No weapon formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement, thou shalt condemn."I began to question my loyalty to God. I thought, Maybe I did something that wasn't pleasing to God. Bishop Goodman (my husband and pastor) prophetically spoke to me and said, "What you're going through is a promotion that God has for you, and this is part of the process." That's when the silence broke in heaven, and God spoke to me and said, "It's war time." I took control of my feelings and remembered, "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world." My husband always shared with the flock that "it only takes a memory."It is my prayer that after you read this book, you will know why Satan comes at you the way that he does. Partially, in his eyes you are collateral damage, but who is the main target?1

Although the Chinese and the Vietnamese were Cold War allies in wars against the French and the Americans, their alliance collapsed and they ultimately fought a war against each other in 1979. More than thirty years later the fundamental cause of the alliance's termination remains contested among historians, international relations theorists, and Asian studies specialists. Nicholas Khoo brings fresh perspective to this debate. Using Chinese-language materials released since the end of the Cold War, Khoo revises existing explanations for the termination of China's alliance with Vietnam, arguing that Vietnamese cooperation with China's Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union, was the necessary and sufficient cause for the alliance's termination. He finds alternative explanations to be less persuasive. These emphasize nonmaterial causes, such as ideology and culture, or reference issues within the Sino-Vietnamese relationship, such as land and border disputes, Vietnam's treatment of its ethnic Chinese minority, and Vietnam's attempt to establish a sphere of influence over Cambodia and Laos. Khoo also adds to the debate over the relevance of realist theory in interpreting China's international behavior during both the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. While others see China as a social state driven by nonmaterial processes, Khoo makes the case for viewing China as a quintessential neorealist state. From this perspective, the focus of neorealist theory on security threats from materially stronger powers explains China's foreign policy not only toward the Soviet Union but also in relation to its Vietnamese allies.

Paranormal Romance, Vampires Shifters, Supernatural Creatures, murder Mystery Romance, Immortal Love, werewolf romance, mythology

Peter O'Mallick isn't just having a bad day; he's having a bad life. Walking around with a powerful death curse it seems like everyone Peter knows or gets close to meets an untimely fate. But when Peter realizes he can use his powers for good, being a harbinger of death might not be so bad. Provided he's not worried about collateral damage. "Collateral Damage" is a stand-alone short story of about 5400 words set in the SIN-EATER universe that unrolls in the Mark Leslie novel I, DEATH, released in late 2013 by Atomic Fez Publishing. This eBook file also contains "behind the story" and "about I, DEATH" notes as well as a preview of I, DEATH -- Total word count is approximately 10,000 words.

What’s a country to do when it has more guns than people? An avid hunter and leader in the faith-based movement against gun violence examines the collateral damage in a country with 350 million firearms.

There is an elephant in the room of every country in the world. No one seems to want to talk about it so we have chosen to continue in our pain. If we are all honest we have a commonality that every race and ethnicity has had to continue to stand in a room as though it does not exist. Our elephant is the pain of grief that we as a world have all had to live with daily during this era in the age of humanity. Sometimes healing begins at simply knowing you are not alone. As you read, you will meet others like yourself who involuntarily became acquainted with grief: Job, David, Rizpah, Naomi, and Jesus Christ. We will be examining their griefs and responses for the purpose of finding encouragement and answers as to how to handle our own.

Zygmunt Bauman is one of the most original and influential social thinkers of our time. This new book focuses on social inequality.