A passionate and dramatic account of a year in the life of a city, when baseball and crime reigned supreme, and when several remarkable figures emerged to steer New York clear of one of its most harrowing periods. By early 1977, the metropolis was in the grip of hysteria caused by a murderer dubbed "Son of Sam." And on a sweltering night in July, a citywide power outage touched off an orgy of looting and arson that led to the largest mass arrest in New York's history. As the turbulent year wore on, the city became absorbed in two epic battles: the fight between Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin, and the battle between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo for the city's mayoralty. Buried beneath these parallel conflicts—one for the soul of baseball, the other for the soul of the city—was the subtext of race. The brash and confident Jackson took every black myth and threw it back in white America's face. Meanwhile, Koch and Cuomo ran bitterly negative campaigns that played upon urbanites' fears of soaring crime and falling municipal budgets. These braided stories tell the history of a year that saw the opening of Studio 54, the evolution of punk rock, and the dawning of modern SoHo. As the pragmatist Koch defeated the visionary Cuomo and as Reggie Jackson finally rescued a team racked with dissension,1977 became a year of survival but also of hope. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning is a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the basis of the 2007 ESPN miniseries, starring John Turturro as Billy Martin, Oliver Platt as George Steinbrenner, and Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson.

The Routledge Handbook of Henri Lefebvre,The City and Urban Society is the first edited book to focus on Lefebvre's urban theories and ideas from a global perspective, making use of recent theoretical and empirical developments, with contributions from eminent as well as emergent global scholars. The book provides international comparison of Lefebvrian research and theoretical conjecture and aims; to engage with and critique Lefebvre's ideas in the context of contemporary urban, social and environmental upheavals; to use Lefebvre's spatial triad as a research tool as well as a point of departure for the adoption of ideas such as differential space; to reassess Lefebvre's ideas in relation to nature and global environmental sustainability; and to highlight how a Lefebvrian approach might assist in mobilising resistance to the excesses of globalised neoliberal urbanism. The volume draws inspiration from Lefebvre's key texts (The Production of Space; Critique of Everyday Life; and The Urban Revolution) and includes a comprehensive introduction and concluding chapter by the editors. The conclusions highlight implications in relation to increasing spatial inequalities; increasing diversity of needs including those of migrants; more authoritarian approaches; and asymmetries of access to urban space. Above all, the book illustrates the continuing relevance of Levebvre's ideas for contemporary urban issues and shows – via global case studies – how resistance to spatial domination by powerful interests might be achieved. The Handbook helps the reader navigate the complex terrain of spatial research inspired by Lefebvre. In particular the Handbook focuses on: the series of struggles globally for the 'right to the city' and the collision of debates around the urban age, 'cityism' and planetary urbanisation. It will be a guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate teaching, and a key reference for academics in the fields of Human Geography, Sociology, Political Science, Applied Philosophy, Planning, Urban Theory and Urban Studies. Practitioners and activists in the field will also find the book of relevance.

How did Reggie Jackson go from superstar to icon? Why did Joe DiMaggio's nickname change from "Deadpan Joe" to "Joltin' Joe"? How did Seinfeld affect public perception of George Steinbrenner? The New York Yankees' dominance on the baseball diamond has been lauded, analyzed and chronicled. Yet the team's broader impact on popular culture has been largely overlooked--until now. From Ruth's called shot to the Reggie! candy bar, this collection of new essays offers untold histories, new interpretations and fresh analyses of baseball's most successful franchise. Contributors explore the Yankee mystique in film, television, theater, music and advertising.

Violence was a way of life for the girls of Mott Middle School in the South Bronx. Some woke up to it at home, and others dodged it on the way to school. Vicious physical fights broke out in classrooms, hallways, and bathrooms. These girls filed their fingernails into sharp points because they had to be ready to go at any time. Then a new coach joined the ranks at Mott Middle, and a new program began: girl's softball. Astacio offers the girls the time and attention they need to take their first steps to success. As they learned to throw, hit and field, they also dealt with the foul balls life threw at them: unwanted pregnancies, abusive boyfriends, and unsupportive families. But the biggest challenge they faced was learning to think and act like a team, not just a bunch of fierce girls against each other—and the world. Lady Tigers is a story of coming together with faith, courage, and new-found values to overcome fear, violence, and doubt. These girls have ushered in a new confidence and pride not only in themselves, but in their school, the faculty, and their friends. And while not all of them have continued down this new path, many are now the first in their families to go to college and are beginning to see how being a Lady Tiger will always be a part of their lives.

"A down-to-earth, inspiring book about the American promise fulfilled." —President Bill Clinton "Fascinating . . . . Made me wish I had been born in the Bronx." —Barbara Walters A touching and provocative collection of memories that evoke the history of one of America's most influential boroughs—the Bronx—through some of its many success stories The vivid oral histories in Arlene Alda's Just Kids from the Bronx reveal what it was like to grow up in the place that bred the influencers in just about every field of endeavor today. The Bronx is where Michael Kay, the New York Yankees' play-by-play broadcaster, first experienced baseball, where J. Crew's CEO Millard (Mickey) Drexler found his ambition, where Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dava Sobel fell in love with science early on and where music-making inspired hip hop's Grandmaster Melle Mel to change the world of music forever. The parks, the pick-up games, the tough and tender mothers, the politics, the gangs, the food—for people who grew up in the Bronx, childhood recollections are fresh. Arlene Alda's own Bronx memories were a jumping-off point from which to reminisce with a nun, a police officer, an urban planner, and with Al Pacino, Mary Higgins Clark, Carl Reiner, Colin Powell, Maira Kalman, Bobby Bonilla, and many other leading artists, athletes, scientists and entrepreneurs—experiences spanning six decades of Bronx living. Alda then arranged these pieces of the past, from looking for violets along the banks of the Bronx River to the wake-up calls from teachers who recognized potential, into one great collective story, a film-like portrait of the Bronx from the early twentieth century until today.

The definitive history of American postwar liberalism, told through the lens of those who brought it to life. Liberalism stands proudly at the center of American politics and culture. Driven by passion for social justice, tempered by respect for the difficulty of change, liberals have struggled to end economic inequality, racial discrimination, and political repression. Liberals have fueled their cause with the promise of American life and visions of national greatness, seeking to transform the White House; the halls of Congress, the courts, the worlds of entertainment, law, media, and the course of public opinion. Bestselling author, journalist, and historian Eric Alterman, together with historian Kevin Mattson, traces the history of liberal ideals through the lives and struggles of fascinating personalities. The Cause tells the remarkable story of politicians, intellectuals, visionaries, activists, and public personalities battling for the heart and soul of the nation. The first full-scale treatment of postwar liberalism, The Cause offers an epic saga driven by stories of grand aspirations, principled ambitions, tragic flaws, and the ironies of history of the people who fought for America to live up to the highest ideals of its history.

Ian Frazier’s magnum opus: a love song to New York City’s most heterogeneous and alive borough. For the past fifteen years, Ian Frazier has been walking the Bronx. Paradise Bronx reveals the amazingly rich and tumultuous history of this amazingly various piece of our greatest city. From Jonas Bronck, who bought land from the local Native Americans, to the formerly gang-wracked South Bronx that gave birth to hip-hop, Frazier’s loving exploration is a moving tour de force about the polyglot culture that is America today. During the Revolution, when the Bronx was unclaimed territory known as the Neutral Ground, some of the war’s decisive battles were fought here by George Washington’s troops. Gouverneur Morris, one of the most colorful Founding Fathers, owned a huge swath of the Bronx, where he lived when he was not in Paris during the French Revolution or helping write the US Constitution. Frazier shows us how the coming of the railroads and the subways drove the settling of the Bronx by various waves of immigration— Irish, Italian, Jewish (think the Grand Concourse), African American, Caribbean, Puerto Rican (J.Lo is one of the borough’s most famous citizens). The romance of the Yankees, the disaster of the Cross Bronx Expressway, the invention of rap and hip-hop, the resurgence of community as the borough’s communities learn mutual aid—all are investigated, recounted, and celebrated in Frazier’s inimitable voice. This is a book like no other about a quintessential American city and the resilience and beauty of its citizens.

A Political Biography of Bella Abzug, 1920–1976, explores the political life of one of the most compelling figures in American politics of the 70s. Passionate and intelligent, Abzug was one of the most potent forces for political change in the country. Both loved and loathed for her forceful personality, she gained her greatest fame in the battle for women’s rights. Her career hit its peak when the world of American politics was changing and Levy aptly places Abzug in the thick of historical events and cultural shifts that changed the landscape of politics.

"From the bestselling author of Nixonland and The Invisible Bridge comes the dramatic conclusion of how conservatism took control of American political power"--

"For his award-winning book The New York Nobody Knows, which Princeton published in 2013, Bill Helmreich walked every block in New York City, around 6,000 miles. Then, he re-walked the city to research one-of-a-kind walking guides for general readers for each borough, uncovering the unusual and the unknown in New York City's neighborhoods. Bill Helmreich has taken readers through the ever-changing neighborhoods of Brooklyn, bustling Manhattan, vibrant Queens, and now in this installment, the Bronx, a borough his describes as filled with hope, history, beauty, and a strong sense of community. Helmreich provides a fascinating, detailed overview of the borough, highlighting major attractions like Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Museum of the Arts as well as architectural places of interest, like the Art Deco building at 888 Grand Concourse and the Concourse Plaza Hotel, once a luxury hotel in the Bronx that is now a senior citizens' residence. The Bronx Nobody Knows, like the previous guidebooks, is organized by neighborhood, and Helmreich delivers a personal and entertaining account of his travels as he interacts with locals and captures the heart of the borough"--