This is the story of Verna Griffin. A woman who gave birth to five children, losing two in infancy and one to gangland violence. Her surviving son is one of the most famous men in the world, and her daughter is a homemaker with children of her own. From Verna's turbulent childhood to her failed marriages and the problems that came along with Dre's fame, she has grown a thick skin and learned to overcome life's obstacles. As Verna struggled to give her children a safe and happy home amid the gangs and violence that made up South Central Los Angeles, she also searched for a good man to love her. She hit brick walls several times while trying to reach these goals. During Verna's personal struggles she felt lost and desperately fought to find her purpose in the world. With the invaluable support from her tight-knit family and the gradual recognition of her great self-worth, Verna has persevered. This is a tale of a woman who faced constant battles head-on, who learned to transform failure into triumph, and whose inspirational story is one for us all.

The End was just the beginning of the new world… Only six weeks have passed since a super-EMP attack devastated the United States, but already, life has changed dramatically. Most of America has become a wasteland filled with starving bands of people, mobs and gangs. Millions are dead and millions more are suffering, with no end in sight. For Gordon, Samantha, Sebastian, Cruz and Barone, the turmoil and chaos they dealt with in the early weeks after the attack will seem trivial in comparison to the collapse of society that plays out before their eyes. Uncertainty abounds as they all travel different paths in search of a safe place to call home. The only thing that is definite is that The Long Road will take its toll on all of them. For readers of Going Home by A. American, Lights Out by David Crawford, Lucifer’s Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and One Second After by William Forstchen

"Cam Sutton escorts Mary Bishop and her two young daughters on the long journey back to Cheyenne carrying the gold they discovered left by her murdered husband. With the threat of bandits constantly looming, and a greedy, cold-blooded killer on their trail, the road is even more treacherous than Cam anticipated"--

In this stunning graphic novel, Lacuna is a girl without a family, a past, or a proper home. She lives alone in a swamp made of ink, but with the help of Polaris, a will-o’-the-wisp, she embarks for the fabled Northern Kingdom, where she might find people like her. The only way to get there, though, is to travel the strange and dangerous Blue Road that stretches to the horizon like a mark upon a page. Along the way, Lacuna must overcome trials such as the twisted briars of the Thicket of Tickets and the intractable guard at the Rainbow Border. At the end of her treacherous journey, she reaches a city where memory and vision can be turned against you, in a world of dazzling beauty, divisive magic, and unlikely deliverance. Finally, Lacuna learns that leaving, arriving, returning -- they’re all just different words for the same thing: starting all over again. The Blue Road -- the first graphic novel by acclaimed poet and prose writer Wayde Compton and illustrator April dela Noche Milne -- explores the world from a migrant’s perspective with dreamlike wonder. Ages 14 and up. This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A book with many images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.

Experience the stunning rise, fall, and legacy of N.W.A. and how they put their stamp on pop culture, black culture, and hip-hop music forever in this “incredibly vivid look at one of music’s most iconic groups” (Associated Press). In 1986, a group was formed that would establish the foundation of gangsta rap and push the genre forward, electrifying fans with their visceral and profane lyrics that glorified the dark ways of street life and brazenly challenged the police system. Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella caused a seismic shift in hip-hop when they decided to form N.W.A in 1986. With their hard-core image, bombastic sound, and lyrics that were equal parts poetic, lascivious, conscious, and downright in-your-face, N.W.A spoke the truth about life on the streets of Compton, California—then a hotbed of poverty, drugs, gangs, and unemployment. Going beyond the story portrayed in the 2015 blockbuster movie Straight Outta Compton, through firsthand interviews, extensive research, and top-notch storytelling, Los Angeles Times music reporter Gerrick Kennedy transports you back in time and offers a front-row seat to N.W.A’s early days and the drama and controversy that followed the incendiary group as they rose to become multiplatinum artists. Kennedy leaves nothing off the table in his pursuit of the full story behind the group’s most pivotal moments, such as Ice Cube’s decision to go solo after their debut studio album became a smash hit; their battle with the FBI over inflammatory lyrics; incidents of physical assault; Dr. Dre’s departure from the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight; their impact on the 1992 L.A. riots; Eazy-E’s battle with AIDS; and much more. A bold, riveting, “non-stop, can’t-put-it-down ride” (Library Journal), Parental Discretion Is Advised unveils the true and astonishing history of one of the most transcendent and controversial musical groups of the 1980s and 1990s.

In "The Long Road from Slavery to Mental Illness," Calvin Thomas examines every aspect of Black life?from media images of Blacks, to civil rights legislation, including the issue of reparations. He describes in great detail how all aspects of White society work towards increasing the sense of disconnection every Black person feels from the society around him, and the distance between his image of himself and White images of him. Prominent Black figures-from Michael Jackson to Kobe Bryant, from O. J. Simpson to Condoleeza Rice, play a part in this compelling social commentary. No socially responsible individual, Black or White, can afford to miss this groundbreaking glimpse into the appalling state of race relations in the United States.

The infamous Suge Knight, former Death Row Records CEO, and Keffe D are the only living eyewitnesses to the deadly confrontation on the Las Vegas strip between the occupants of our two vehicles. A violent confrontation that led to the deaths of two of Hip-Hop's biggest stars (Tupac Shakur & Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace) and changed Hip-Hop history forever. There's a strict code on the streets. One that real street players live, kill, and die by. Compton Street Legend reveals the street-level code violations and the explosive consequences when the powerful worlds of the streets, entertainment, and corrupt law enforcement collide. More than twenty years after the premature deaths of Tupac and Biggie there have been numerous TV specials, documentaries, books, magazine and newspaper, and social media dedicated to the subject. But at the end of the day, none of the private investigators, retired police officers, informants, Hip-Hop heads, actors, or academics that have weighed in on the topic truly know what happened and the reasons behind it, because none of them were there. Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, a native of Compton, California, admittedly lived most of his life as a gangster; a real gangster that did the shit that real gangsters do. He rose up the gang-banging ranks to become a shot-caller for the notorious Southside Compton Crips, while running a multi-million dollar, multi-state drug empire. Keffe D has been a central figure in both the Tupac Shakur and Biggie murders for the past 20 years. COMPTON STREET LEGEND will add valuable information about two of the biggest "unsolved" crimes in American history. It will serve as the missing piece of the puzzle that Hip-Hop Fans have been waiting for. On the surface, COMPTON STREET LEGEND will look like a story based on violence and hate, it is actually a story about Love, Family, Brotherhood, Loyalty, Trust, and Honor. It's time to set the story straight. Fasten your seatbelts.

It started in Compton. it ended in infamy. In the wake of Marion "Suge" Knight's move to rip the guts out of Ruthless Records and NWA, Death Row Records exploded on the music scene in 1993 with the "gangster rap" sound that had taken world by storm.Yet despite its unprecedented success with stars such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, it quickly unraveled in a firestorm of rivalries, greed, violence and government scrutiny as Suge Knight's unconventional business methods increasingly mirrored the violent, hard-edged themes of its music. Based on the award winning documentary film of the same name, WELCOME TO DEATH ROW is the complete and untold story of the rise and fall of the notorious Death Row Records label, presented as an oral history through first-hand accounts of the people that lived it. It is vastly expanded with compelling (and sometimes shocking) accounts not heard in the documentary film, with stories from over 60 former Death Row rappers, promoters, music executives, journalists, producers, managers, publicists, lawyers and drug dealers -all eyewitnesses to the label's phenomenal success, internal battles and violence, and its inevitable crash. Interwoven with these histories is the story of the high-risk quest to complete the film, chronicling how director Leigh Savidge and producers Steve Housden & Jeff Scheftel navigated a surreal world of Crips & Bloods, crooked lawyers and cocaine kingpins, 'gangsta' rappers and thuggish music executives, and how the team persuaded the key players to tell their story under the threat of retaliation from every element, including threats from major music companies and the bizarre involvement of OJ Simpson prosecutor Chris Darden. Universal Pictures' STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was developed at Xenon as a follow up to the WELCOME TO DEATH ROW with its producers constructing the story and acquiring rights, and initial drafts of the screenplay written by Savidge, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

The maverick music mogul who put rap on the map recounts his riveting career comprising delirious highs and shocking lows, cocaine-fueled mega-deals, brutal wranglings, and the uncanny insight that made a middle-aged, Jewish white guy the most successful record company executive of the rap era.

Compton is a city of myth and misunderstandings. Today, it is known as the city of "hip-hop dreams and gangsta fantasies." Its history, however, is not as well known. Compton was originally part of the Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant. The area was deeded as a wedding gift, lost in foreclosure, then sold to F.P.F. Temple and F.W. Gibson at a sheriff's sale. Ultimately, it was settled in 1867 by former forty-niners from Stockton. Given its location halfway between the harbor and Los Angeles, the "Hub City" has seen many pivotal events: the dawn of flight at the 1910 international air meet, the 1933 earthquake, floods, white flight, factory shut-downs, decline, and now a new beginning at the start of the 21st century.