From Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, an insider's account of the deals and the dodges inside the music and entertainment business over the last 30 years As the son of the legendary showbiz lawyer Marty Machat, Steven Machat grew up among such names as Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Frankie Valli, and Sam Cooke. Following in his father's footsteps, by the time he was in his late 20s he was proud to see his name alongside his father's on the brass plaque outside their Broadway offices. But there was a price--Steven discovered from a young age that the glitter and the glamour too often disguises a crude and cruel reality, and that those who are publicly perceived as gods can just as easily be seen as gangsters. He found himself wondering how to live with such contradictions, and whether it is possible to maintain any sense of honor inside such a world. This beautifully constructed memoir of a life inside a fascinating world of celebrity includes appearances by Frank Sinatra, Leonard Cohen, Michael Jackson, David Copperfield, Sharon Osbourne, George Bush, Phil Collins, Suge Knight, Tupac, Biggie, Gianni Versace, Phil Spector, Joan Collins, Donny Osmond, Bobby Brown, and many more.

The number Gangs in South Africa's prisons are living legends and unique when compared with other prison gangs across the globe.

Demon warrior puppets, sword-wielding Taoist priests, spirit mediums lacerating their bodies with spikes and blades—these are among the most dramatic images in Chinese religion. Usually linked to the propitiation of plague gods and the worship of popular military deities, such ritual practices have an obvious but previously unexamined kinship with the traditional Chinese martial arts. The long and durable history of martial arts iconography and ritual in Chinese religion suggests something far deeper than mere historical coincidence. Avron Boretz argues that martial arts gestures and movements are so deeply embedded in the ritual repertoire in part because they iconify masculine qualities of violence, aggressivity, and physical prowess, the implicit core of Chinese patriliny and patriarchy. At the same time, for actors and audience alike, martial arts gestures evoke the mythos of the jianghu, a shadowy, often violent realm of vagabonds, outlaws, and masters of martial and magic arts. Through the direct bodily practice of martial arts movement and creative rendering of jianghu narratives, martial ritual practitioners are able to identify and represent themselves, however briefly and incompletely, as men of prowess, a reward otherwise denied those confined to the lower limits of this deeply patriarchal society. Based on fieldwork in China and Taiwan spanning nearly two decades, Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters offers a thorough and original account of violent ritual and ritual violence in Chinese religion and society. Close-up, sensitive portrayals and the voices of ritual actors themselves—mostly working-class men, many of them members of sworn brotherhoods and gangs—convincingly link martial ritual practice to the lives and desires of men on the margins of Chinese society. This work is a significant contribution to the study of Chinese ritual and religion, the history and sociology of Chinese underworld, the history and anthropology of the martial arts, and the anthropology of masculinity.

Violent crime and romantic jealousy entangle a rising rap group in this urban thriller. .-Kirkus Reviews- The son of a hustler, it’s no surprise that Power has followed in his family’s footsteps and made a name for himself as one of the most respected hustlers on the streets of QueensBoro. Along with his best friend and partner Kane, the duo create a super group that sets out to take the streets and hip-hop world by storm. But soon Power finds himself in the middle of a love triangle gone-wrong with a label owner and his lead singer, Egypt, which threatens the freedom and livelihood of everyone involved.

Using the tools of sociological theory, Robert Brenneman seeks to discover why a pot-smoking, gun-wielding "homie" gang member would want to trade in la vida loca for a Bible and the buttoned-down lifestyle of an evangelical hermano (brother in Christ) - and to what extent this strategy works for the many youth who have tried it.

A continuation of the Gods & Gangsters series, Part Three brings heroine Egypt on a whole new job, fulling of catching cases...and bodies. On the mean streets where dog eats dog there is always one that has sharper claws and bigger teeth, and in New York her name is Egypt. Never an ordinary girl, Egypt learned the hard way that life, even when it is being kind, is a bastard. A survivor, she did what she needed to make it from day-to-day. And it turned out she was good at it. Better than good. Egypt grew into an extraordinary woman, cold, ruthless, a killer at heart, and New York witnessed her metamorphosis from that innocent child to the most feared assassin of the age. Gods & Gangsters 3 is a continuation of the series, placing Egypt in the driver's seat for a wild ride.

The searing novel on which the internationally acclaimed hit film was based. “A Scarface-like urban epic . . . punctuated with lyricism and longing” (Publishers Weekly). City of God is a gritty, gorgeous tour de force from one of Brazil’s most notorious slums. Cidade de Deus: a place where the streets are awash with narcotics, where violence can erupt at any moment over drugs, money, and love—but also a place where the samba beat rocks till dawn, where the women are the most beautiful on earth, and where one young man wants to escape his background and become a photographer. When City of God erupted on screens worldwide, it became one of the most critically and commercially successful foreign films of recent years. But few were aware of the story behind the film. Written by Paulo Lins, who grew up in the favela (shantytown) Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro and who spent years researching its gang history, City of God began life as a coruscating, harrowing novelistic account of twenty years in the illicit pursuits of the youth gangs born from the favela. “With plot devices sometimes as minimal as the dawning of a new day, City of God seems more like a mosaic than a novel, but it’s a mosaic with unforgettably vibrant colors.” —Booklist

Relates the undercover work of George Rowe, who infiltrated the Vagos motorcycle gang, spending three years working to take down the gang from the inside.

This is a book of inspiration & motivation, about incarcerated men that lost their way & identity to gangs, and all the other snares of the devil. By the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These same men have been called and saved by God while in prison and now are being trained as soldiers in the army of God to fight against the wiles of the devil, that they may seek and save that which are lost through the blood of Christ and the word of their testimony...... There is a better way and through the testimonies of these incarcerated men that are now living free, full of life, peace, joy and love. You also can be released by accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, change the devil's lie that we're believed our whole life into the truth of GOD's word and experience this life changing phenomenon.....

From the acclaimed author of Dispatches From Pluto and Deepest South of All, a harrowing travelogue into Mexico’s lawless Sierra Madre mountains. Twenty miles south of the Arizona-Mexico border, the rugged, beautiful Sierra Madre mountains begin their dramatic ascent. Almost 900 miles long, the range climbs to nearly 11,000 feet and boasts several canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon. The rules of law and society have never taken hold in the Sierra Madre, which is home to bandits, drug smugglers, Mormons, cave-dwelling Tarahumara Indians, opium farmers, cowboys, and other assorted outcasts. Outsiders are not welcome; drugs are the primary source of income; murder is all but a regional pastime. The Mexican army occasionally goes in to burn marijuana and opium crops—the modern treasure of the Sierra Madre—but otherwise the government stays away. In its stead are the drug lords, who have made it one of the biggest drug-producing areas in the world. Fifteen years ago, journalist Richard Grant developed what he calls "an unfortunate fascination" with this lawless place. Locals warned that he would meet his death there, but he didn't believe them—until his last trip. During his travels Grant visited a folk healer for his insomnia and was prescribed rattlesnake pills, attended bizarre religious rituals, consorted with cocaine-snorting policemen, taught English to Guarijio Indians, and dug for buried treasure. On his last visit, his reckless adventure spiraled into his own personal heart of darkness when cocaine-fueled Mexican hillbillies hunted him through the woods all night, bent on killing him for sport. With gorgeous detail, fascinating insight, and an undercurrent of dark humor, God's Middle Finger brings to vivid life a truly unique and uncharted world.