Randol Contreras came of age in the South Bronx during the 1980s, a time when the community was devastated by cuts in social services, a rise in arson and abandonment, and the rise of crack-cocaine. For this riveting book, he returns to the South Bronx with a sociological eye and provides an unprecedented insiderÕs look at the workings of a group of Dominican drug robbers. Known on the streets as ÒStickup Kids,Ó these men raided and brutally tortured drug dealers storing large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. As a participant observer, Randol Contreras offers both a personal and theoretical account for the rise of the Stickup Kids and their violence. He mainly focuses on the lives of neighborhood friends, who went from being crack dealers to drug robbers once their lucrative crack market opportunities disappeared. The result is a stunning, vivid, on-the-ground ethnographic description of a drug robberyÕs violence, the drug market high life, the criminal life course, and the eventual pain and suffering experienced by the casualties of the Crack Era. Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely absorbing.

Randol Contreras came of age in the South Bronx during the 1980s, a time when the community was devastated by cuts in social services, a rise in arson and abandonment, and the rise of crack-cocaine. For this riveting book, he returns to the South Bronx with a sociological eye and provides an unprecedented insider’s look at the workings of a group of Dominican drug robbers. Known on the streets as “Stickup Kids,” these men raided and brutally tortured drug dealers storing large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. As a participant observer, Randol Contreras offers both a personal and theoretical account for the rise of the Stickup Kids and their violence. He mainly focuses on the lives of neighborhood friends, who went from being crack dealers to drug robbers once their lucrative crack market opportunities disappeared. The result is a stunning, vivid, on-the-ground ethnographic description of a drug robbery’s violence, the drug market high life, the criminal life course, and the eventual pain and suffering experienced by the casualties of the Crack Era. Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely absorbing.

Randol Contreras came of age in the South Bronx during the 1980s, a time when the community was devastated by cuts in social services, a rise in arson and abandonment, and the rise of crack-cocaine. For this riveting book, he returns to the South Bronx with a sociological eye and provides an unprecedented insider’s look at the workings of a group of Dominican drug robbers. Known on the streets as "Stickup Kids," these men raided and brutally tortured drug dealers storing large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. As a participant observer, Randol Contreras offers both a personal and theoretical account for the rise of the Stickup Kids and their violence. He mainly focuses on the lives of neighborhood friends, who went from being crack dealers to drug robbers once their lucrative crack market opportunities disappeared. The result is a stunning, vivid, on-the-ground ethnographic description of a drug robbery’s violence, the drug market high life, the criminal life course, and the eventual pain and suffering experienced by the casualties of the Crack Era. Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely absorbing.

When Stick rescues Stone from a prickly situation with a Pinecone, the pair becomes fast friends. But when Stick gets stuck, can Stone return the favor? Author Beth Ferry makes a memorable debut with a warm, rhyming text that includes a subtle anti-bullying message even the youngest reader will understand. New York Times bestselling illustrator Tom Lichtenheld imbues Stick and Stone with energy, emotion, and personality to spare. In this funny story about kindness and friendship, Stick and Stone join George and Martha, Frog and Toad, and Elephant and Piggie, as some of the best friend duos in children's literature.

In Kids These Days, early Wall Street occupier Malcolm Harris gets real about why the Millennial generation has been wrongly stereotyped, and dares us to confront and take charge of the consequences now that we are grown up. Millennials have been stereotyped as lazy, entitled, narcissistic, and immature. We've gotten so used to sloppy generational analysis filled with dumb clichés about young people that we've lost sight of what really unites Millennials. Namely: We are the most educated and hardworking generation in American history. We poured historic and insane amounts of time and money into preparing ourselves for the 21st-century labor market. We have been taught to consider working for free (homework, internships) a privilege for our own benefit. We are poorer, more medicated, and more precariously employed than our parents, grandparents, even our great grandparents, with less of a social safety net to boot. Kids These Days is about why. In brilliant, crackling prose, early Wall Street occupier Malcolm Harris gets mercilessly real about our maligned birth cohort. Examining trends like runaway student debt, the rise of the intern, mass incarceration, social media, and more, Harris gives us a portrait of what it means to be young in America today that will wake you up and piss you off. Millennials were the first generation raised explicitly as investments, Harris argues, and in Kids These Days he dares us to confront and take charge of the consequences now that we are grown up.

The revised and updated edition of our popular guide reinforces and expands the messages of the Stick Up for Yourself! with a step-by-step curriculum in ten easy-to-use sessions. Includes reproducible handout masters.

Defines giftedness and discusses special quirks and problems that arise living with a gifted child, from a lack of neatness to the "too-smart mouth," and explains how parents can find the right programs and make school as rewarding as possible for gifted children.

Kids will relate to Elizabeth's fervent wish to be called by her proper name.

This new edition brings this study of inner-city life up to date.

Stickup kid (n.): an urban gunslinger who preys on other criminals, often stealing already stolen property, using violence and intimidation. Izzy picks a bad time to have a conscience crisis. As a stick up kid in New York's underworld, he has a good thing going--robbing the worst drug lords in the city and leaving no witnesses behind. It is a game of high risk and high reward. There is just one problem: Izzy is in his thirties now, and for good reason, there is no such thing as a stickup man. When a job gets botched, leaving Izzy's psychotic partner guilty of yet another homicide, Izzy knows what he is supposed to do--kill the remaining witness or be killed himself. But a bystander named Eva seems different from others he has done before. Is she the exception to Izzy's number one rule? Izzy has never jacked himself into a problem he could not jack himself out of. But that was before. Now, on the unforgiving streets of New York City--where the skyline stretches out like a graveyard--there is a war on and there is no room for mistakes. His ex-partner is hellbent on revenge and is no longer acting alone. And as bodies start to fall around Izzy, he is left to take on both his enemies and his inner demons face first in a battle that has no questions, no conversation. Just bang bang. In this explosive debut, Theo Gangi redefines the crime thriller, delivering a pulse-pounding, white-knuckle ride through gritty back rooms, where justice is sealed with gunfire, no one can be trusted, and being innocent can get you killed. "Theo Gangi is a superb craftsman. His work displays diverse characters and wonderful dialogue that would make Elmore Leonard stand up and applaud. He is new talent that has finally arrived." --Eric Jerome Dickey, New York Times bestseller author "Theo Gangi portrays the people of the criminal world not only in a way that brings them to vivid life, but life felt at the extreme, out where suffering, pity, even tenderness and love have their own stark reality." --David Plante, author of Age of Terror "Theo Gangi's first novel Bang Bang is a classic extreme thriller, with some surprising literary subtleties, and a level of Escherian interlocking that would make Tarantino's head spin." --Madison Smartt Bell, of All Soul's Rising, a National Book Award finalist "Gritty and gripping, full of tense moments and sharp prose, Bang Bang is a debut worthy of attention. With the ear of a poet, the insight of a psychologist, and the attitude of a true New Yorker, Theo Gangi brings empathy and pathos to every gangsterfied page." --Adam Mansbach, author of Angry Black White Boy Theo Gangi attended Goucher College, and is a recent graduate of Columbia's MFA writing program. His writing has appeared in The Greensboro Review and The Columbia Spectator. A New York native, he now lives in Harlem.