This study, based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered over a twelve-year period, takes its title from the two predominant styles of gang violence: 'drive-bys,' which have replaced 'rumbles' as the primary form of gang violence; and 'gang-bangs' - a generic term for other gang violence that includes assaults, knifings, and beatings.The author attempts to understand the situations in which a young man would drive up to another human being and, without further ado, blow his head off. By examining hundreds of such situations, and employing both structural and phenomenological analysis, Sanders explores the various configurations of gang violence.Gangbangs and Drive-bys also examines the routines of gang members and their view of life, the different styles of gangs, and changes undergone by gangs from the early 1980s to the end of the same decade. Over that period, the emphasis shifted from parties and paybacks to big money from the sale of rock cocaine, and from unstructured to organized crime. Along with that shift came an increase in the violence.Finally, Sanders traces the beginning and evolution of a metropolitan police gang unit over the same decade in order to present an inside view of how the police attempt to deal with and understand gangs.

In this compassionate study of a drive-by shooting, Rivlin examines the history of the victims, their families, and their impoverished living conditions.

Since the late 1970s, Americans have seen their workplaces downsized and streamlined, their jobs out-sourced and often eliminated while their unions have seemed powerless to defend them. This text recounts how the United Steelworkers of America proved that organized labour can still win.

Negotiate commercial leases and renewals like a pro Renting space for businesses and navigating a commercial lease can be a daunting task for those without expertise, as errors or oversights can cost thousands of dollars. Thankfully, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals For Dummies takes the mystery out of the commercial leasing process and offers expert tips and advice to help small business owners successfully negotiate their leases???without losing their cool, or their cash. From one of the industry's most respected and experienced consultants, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals For Dummies provides tenants with tips and advice on finding the best location and amenities for a business; understanding space needs and maximizing lease space; ensuring fair operating costs and keeping rent fees at a manageable level; minimizing the deposit requirement; mastering and executing negotiation strategies and tactics; and much more. Discover the rights and responsibilities associated with commercial leases Find out how much negotiability and flexibility you can expect in commercial leases and renewals Get to know which laws protect you and your business Negotiating Commercial Leases For Dummies is essential reading for the more than 10 million business owners, entrepreneurs, retailers, restaurants, doctors, and franchise tenants who lease commercial, office, and retail space across North America.

In a fascinating look at how young women are coming of age in America, Vendela Vida's Girls on the Verge explores a variety of rituals that girls have adapted or created in order to leave their childhoods behind. Vida doesn't just observe the rituals, she actively participates in them, going as far as spending a week at UCLA to experience rush--she emerges a Tri-Delt. She also goes to Miami to learn about the "quince" (the Latin American celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday), to Houston to take part in a debutante ball, to Los Angeles and San Francisco to talk to female gang members, to Salem, Massachusetts, to interview a coven of witches, and to Las Vegas to watch young brides take the plunge--some of them in drive-through wedding chapels. With humor, insight, and illuminating detail, she explores girls' struggles to forge an identity and secure a sense of belonging through various rituals--rituals that they embrace without necessarily understanding the comforts they seek or the repercussions of their often all-too-adult choices.

"Jimmy always told me there were only two kinds of gangbangers: Those who were dead and those who were going to die. Joining a gang doesn't make sense to Jimmy..." Jimmy is dead now—gunned down in front of his little sister, Mina, and his brother, Tito. And Tito is left wondering: Was Jimmy in a gang after all? Ice Breaker Joe and Lamar think so. They say Jimmy was skimming their drug money. And if the missing cash isn't returned, Tito may have to pay—with his life. Some people go to the crossroads, but Tito's crossroads laid themselves down in front of him. His brother Jimmy sprawls on the sidewalk at his feet. Shot in a drive by. Now a gang claims that Jimmy was their Ace Man. They say Tito must take his place and resolve some unfinished business. They give him a gun. "You need protection. It's not safe on the street." What path will be choose at the crossroads? He knows one leads to safety and one to death . . . but which is which?