Urban Infrastructures creates space for an encounter between historians, humanists, and social scientists who seek new methodological approaches to the history of urban infrastructure. It draws on recent work across history, anthropology, science and technology studies, geography, resilience/sustainability, and other disciplines to explore the social effects of infrastructure. The volume rejects narrow conceptions of infrastructure history as only the history of public works, and ...

In 1978, Ed Koch assumed control of a city plagued by filth, crime, bankruptcy, and racial tensions. By the end of his mayoral run in 1989 and despite the Wall Street crash of 1987, his administration had begun rebuilding neighborhoods and infrastructure. Unlike many American cities, Koch's New York was growing, not shrinking. Gentrification brought new businesses to neglected corners and converted low-end rental housing to coops and condos. Nevertheless, not all the changes were positive-...

After more than twenty years in prison, Adnan Syed's murder conviction was overturned, and he was finally set free. Rabia Chaudry's New York Times bestseller and award-winner Adnan's Story reveals how the case was mishandled and became the subject of Sarah Koenig's Peabody Award-winning podcast Serial.In early 2000, Adnan Syed was convicted and sentenced to life plus thirty years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a high scho...

ABC News’ Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz shares remarkable tales of heroism, hope, and heartbreak in her account of “Black Sunday”—a battle during one of the deadliest periods of the Iraq War.The First Cavalry Division came under surprise attack in Sadr City on Sunday April 4, 2004. Over 7,000 miles away, their families awaited the news for forty-eight hellish hours—expecting the worst. In this powerful, unflinching account, Martha Raddatz takes ...

A deeply reported book that brings alive the quest for justice in the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray, offering both unparalleled insight into the reality of police violence in America and an intimate, moving portrait of those working to end it.Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charlest...

The New York Times bestseller, now a major documentary film: "A page-turner. You start out laughing and end up pounding the table for reform." —Tom Curley, CEO, Associated PressIt's not a joke. New Jersey leads the country in corruptionThe Soprano State details the you-couldn't-make-this-up true story of the corruption that has pervaded New Jersey politics, government, and business for the past thirty years. From Jimmy Hoffa purportedly bein...

From the bestselling author of The Fate of the Earth, a provocative look at the urgent threat posed by America's new nuclear policiesWhen the cold war ended, many Americans believed the nuclear dilemma had ended with it. Instead, the bomb has moved to the dead center of foreign policy and even domestic scandal. From missing WMDs to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, nuclear matters are back on the front page.In this provocative book, Jonathan S...

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the men who protect us from the most frightening prospect of life in the age of terrorism"In my mind it's all business; I don't worry about my family, I don't worry about a function that I'm doing after work, I just worry about what's at hand. And what's at hand is that package." -- Detective First Grade Joe Putkowski, NYPD Bomb SquadThe New York City Police Department Bomb Squad is the oldest such squad in the nat...

Since its opening in 1965, the Watergate complex has been one of Washington's chicest addresses, a home to power brokers from both political parties and the epicenter of a scandal that brought down a president. In The Watergate, writer and political consultant Joseph Rodota paints a vivid portrait of this landmark and the movers and shakers who have lived there.Watergate residents—an intriguing casts of politicians, journalists, socialites and spies—have been at the center of Ameri...

Elizabeth Greenspan's Battle for Ground Zero provides a revealing look at the heated politics behind the long struggle to rebuild the World Trade Center.In the aftermath of 9/11, Americans came together in a way not seen for a generation, pledging unity to rebuild after the horrific loss of the Twin Towers. People were signing up to go to war; rescue workers were laboring to clear rubble. But instead of becoming a rallying symbol in the fight against terror...

On August 29, 2008, John McCain chose the governor of Alaska, a previously little-known wife and mom named Sarah Palin, as his vice-presidential running mate.  Five minutes later, Sarah Palin was speaking to a national reporter for one of the first times—and wouldn’t you know it, hilarity ensued.  Since then, the American people haven’t stopped laughing through all her ups and downs—the “death panels” she said would be an outcome of affordable health care; her stepping down as he...

Rogues, aristocrats, and a future U.S. president. These and other governors are portrayed in this revised and updated edition of the classic reference work on the chief executives of New Jersey. Editors Michael J. Birkner, Donald Linky, and Peter Mickulas present new essays on the governors of the last three decades—Brendan T. Byrne, Thomas Kean, James Florio, Christine Todd Whitman, Donald DiFrancesco, James McGreevey, Richard Codey, and Jon Corzine. The essays included in the original ed...