I'll be back right after this

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Sudhir Venkatesh

First introduced in Freakonomics, here is the full story of Sudhir Venkatesh, the sociology grad student who infiltrated one of Chicago's most notorious gangs The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatesh managed to gain entrance into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment. When Venkatesh walked into an abandoned building in one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he was looking for people to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty. A first-year grad student hoping to impress his professors with his boldness, he never imagined that as a result of the assignment he would befriend a gang leader named JT and spend the better part of a decade inside the projects under JT's protection, documenting what he saw there. Over the next seven years, Venkatesh got to know the neighborhood dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organizers, and officials. From his privileged position of unprecedented access, he observed JT and the rest of the gang as they operated their crack-selling business, conducted PR within their community, and rose up or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex organizational structure. In Hollywood-speak, Gang Leader for a Day is The Wire meets Harvard University. It's a brazen, page turning, and fundamentally honest view into the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, often corrupt struggle to survive in what is tantamount to an urban war zone. It is also the story of a complicated friendship between Sudhir and JT-two young and ambitious men a universe apart.

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Merle Hoffman

"As a girl, Merle Hoffman knew she was destined for greatness--she just didn't know which stage she would act upon. Coming of age amidst the cries for reproductive freedom and the rise of modern feminism, Hoffman saw her chance to become a pioneer in an exciting new field: she would run one of the first abortion clinics in New York City. Hoffman went on to become one of the fiercest voices in the pro-choice movement, leading rallies in Bryant Park and marches down Fifth Avenue, debating Jerry Falwell on national television, and hosting a groundbreaking TV series called On the Issues. Throughout her years of campaigning, Hoffman's commitment to creating a place of safety and comfort for the tens of thousands of patients who have relied upon her clinic, CHOICES Women's Medical center, has made her a thorn in the side of the pro-life movement and an inspiration to her fellow feminists. Intimate Wars is the story of a warrior who never hesitated to enter battle and risk her life for the fundamental right for women to govern their own bodies"--

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Michael B. Oren

Michael Oren served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. An American by birth and a historian by training, Oren arrived at his diplomatic post just as Benjamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton assumed office. During Oren's tenure in office, Israel and America grappled with the Palestinian peace process, the Arab Spring, and existential threats to Israel posed by international terrorism and the Iranian nuclear program. Forged in the Truman administration, America's alliance with Israel was subjected to enormous strains, and its future was questioned by commentators in both countries. On more than one occasion, the friendship's very fabric seemed close to unraveling. Ally is the story of that enduring alliance -- and of its divides -- written from the perspective of a man who treasures his American identity while proudly serving the Jewish State he has come to call home. No one could have been better suited to strengthen bridges between the United States and Israel than Michael Oren -- a man equally at home jumping out of a plane as an Israeli paratrooper and discussing Middle East history on TV's Sunday morning political shows. Oren interweaves the story of his personal journey with behind-the-scenes accounts of fateful meetings between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, high-stakes summits with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and diplomatic crises that intensified the controversy surrounding the world's most contested strip of land.

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Jock Soto

In June 2005 Jock Soto, age 40, gave his farewell performance as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. The program capped one of the most storied careers in ballet history--an ascent that began when Soto was just three years old. After retiring, Soto was determined to embrace a new future, teaching at the School of American Ballet, but he found himself obsessed with questions about his past. This book weaves together the diverse strands of Soto's life: being the offspring of a Puerto Rican-Navajo couple, the gay son of a fiercely macho man, a naive teenager from the desert running in the sophisticated art world of New York, and a driven artist by day and hard-core party animal by night. Soto recalls his professional relationships with such icons as George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Darci Kistler, and Lourdes Lopez, and shares his love of food in recipes marking the pivotal moments in his story.--From publisher description.