Good Guys, Wiseguys, and Putting Up Buildings is an engaging memoir about one man's career in construction--rising to the top of an industry renowned for crime, corruption, violence, physical danger, and the chronic risk of financial catastrophe. Starting in the Navy Seabees at the end of WWII, Samuel C. Florman made his way as a general contractor in New York City through the period of explosive development, private exuberance and the historic growth of publicly supported housing--all amidst the rise of the notorious Mafia families, and evolution of the Civil Rights Movement. His storied career brought him into contact with a variety of personalities: politicians and civil servants, developers and technocrats, saintly do-gooders and corrupt rapscallions. Along with the rousing adventures there were satisfactions of a different sort: the enchantment of seeing architecture made real; the pride of creating housing, hospitals, schools, places of worship--shelter for the body and nourishment for the spirit.

Silicon Valley icon and bestselling author Guy Kawasaki shares the unlikely stories of his life and the lessons we can draw from them. Guy Kawasaki has been a fixture in the tech world since he was part of Apple's original Macintosh team in the 1980s. He's widely respected as a source of wisdom about entrepreneurship, venture capital, marketing, and business evangelism, which he's shared in bestselling books such as The Art of the Start and Enchantment. But before all that, he was just a middle-class kid in Hawaii, a grandson of Japanese immigrants, who loved football and got a C+ in 9th grade English. Wise Guy, his most personal book, is about his surprising journey. It's not a traditional memoir but a series of vignettes. He toyed with calling it Miso Soup for the Soul, because these stories (like those in the Chicken Soup series) reflect a wide range of experiences that have enlightened and inspired him. For instance, you'll follow Guy as he . . . Gets his first real job in the jewelry business--which turned out to be surprisingly useful training for the tech world. Disparages one of Apple's potential partners in front of that company's CEO, at the sneaky instigation of Steve Jobs. Blows up his Apple career with a single sentence, after Jobs withholds a pre-release copy of the Think Different ad campaign: "That's okay, Steve, I don't trust you either." Reevaluates his self-importance after being mistaken for Jackie Chan by four young women. Takes up surfing at age 62--which teaches him that you can discover a new passion at any age, but younger is easier! Guy covers everything from moral values to business skills to parenting. As he writes, "I hope my stories help you live a more joyous, productive, and meaningful life. If Wise Guy succeeds at this, then that's the best story of all."

Over the winter of 1977-78, anyone within shouting distance of a two-mile stretch of Boston's Commonwealth Avenue - from Fenway Park to the trolley curve at Packard's Corner - found themselves pulled into the orbit of college hockey. The hottest ticket in a sports-mad city was Boston University's Terriers, a team so tough it was said they didn't have fans - they took hostages. Eschewing the usual recruiting pools in Canada, Jack Parker and his coaching staff assembled a squad that included three stars from nearby Charlestown, then known as the "armed robbery capital of America." Jack Parker's Wiseguys is the story of a high-flying, headline-dominating, national championship squad led by three future stars of the Miracle on Ice, the medal-round game the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team won against the heavily favored Soviet Union. Now retired, Parker is a thoughtful statesman for the sport, a revered figure who held the longest tenure of any coach in Boston sports history. But during the 1977-78 season, he was just five years into his reign - and only a decade or so older than his players. Fiery, mercurial, as tough as any of his tough guys, Parker and his team were to face the pressure-cooker expectations of four previous also-ran seasons, further heightened by barroom brawls, off-the-ice shenanigans, and the citywide shutdown caused by one of the biggest blizzards to ever hit the Northeast. This season was to be Parker's watershed, a roller-coaster ride of nail-biting victories and unimaginable tragedy, played out in increasingly strident headlines as his team opened the season with an unprecedented twenty-one straight wins. Only the second loss of the year eliminated the Terriers from their league playoffs and possibly from national contention; hours after the game Parker's wife died from cancer. The story of how the team responded - coming back to win the national championship a week after Parker buried his wife - makes a compelling tale for Boston sports fans and everyone else who feels a thrill of pride at America's unlikely win over the Soviet national team - a victory forged on Commonwealth Avenue in that bitter, beautiful winter of '78.

A wise-cracking boy is recruited to play one of the wise men in the Christmas pageant.

Now in paperback, here's the first nonfiction work from Joe Pistone since his New York Times #1 bestseller and hit movie, Donnie Brasco. Perhaps no man alive knows the lifestyle of wiseguys better than Pistone does, having spent six years infiltrating the Mafia as an undercover FBI agent. Now, years later, Pistone reassesses the underworld. Often poignant, and in startling detail, THE WAY OF THE WISEGUY gives readers a first-hand look at the psychology and customs of the wiseguy.The book features 34 chapters that reveal key principles of wiseguy life, including “How Wiseguys Carry Out a Hit,” “How Wiseguys Get Straightened Out,” and “A Typical Day in the Life of a Wiseguy.” Pistone's spellbinding stories provide a first-hand look at this lawless realm of badguys, which is often uncannily relevant to the workings of legitimate big business and everyday social discourse.

For guys, more than ever, it s a confusing world. Your GPS doesn't offer any maps showing how to get to the point of wisdom - - and who likes asking for directions anyway? But there are ways to get that guidance you need. The answers may be all around you, in the form of guys you already know. Wise guys. More experienced guys. Better-traveled guys. Could there be ways to tap into their invaluable knowledge without enduring dull lectures or taking pages of notes? Kent Evans has surrounded himself with these wise guys. They have shown him all the back roads on the way to wisdom. With a great deal of humor and an endless supply of stories, he wants to show you how to gather life-enriching truth from the guys in your own circle.

The gangster, in the hands of the Italian American artist, becomes a telling figure in the tale of American race, gender, and ethnicity - a figure that reflects the autobiography of an immigrant group just as it reflects the fantasy of a native population. From Wiseguys to Wise Men studies the figure of the gangster and explores its social function in the construction and projection of masculinity in the United States. By looking at the cultural icon of the gangster through the lens of gender, this book presents new insights into material that has been part of American culture for close to 100 years.

From the author and artist of the Tales from the Back Pew series comes a perfect Christmas holiday story for every child who is going to be part of his very first church Christmas pageant. In Three Wise Guys, our young hero is heading to church for Christmas pageant rehearsal. The only part in the play he wants is no part. But the Sunday school teacher says he’ll be a wise guy on stage. What can he do to get out of this? Or might this just be another fun adventure? Three Wise Guys: Part of the Tales from the Back Pew series Features full-color art by popular artist Jared Lee Kid-friendly and age appropriate humor Great Christmas gift idea for children ages 4-8

Story content for Cowboys & Wiseguys 1898. The last of the Wild West’s famous outlaws, Johnny Wargo and Dakota Sam, make a daring escape from a small west Texas jail. In a desperate effort to lay low, they make the hard decision to go their separate ways. Although occasional sightings were whispered from time to time, the legendary pair eventually faded into history. Or, so it seemed. 1929. Retired after twenty-five years as a St Louis school superintendent, Frank, now in his sixties, enjoys the summers with his wife, Nancy, in the northern Illinois community of Brookfield. But, all is not good in Brookfield. Prohibition has spurred the growth of organized crime and the Chicago area town of Brookfield has become a new target. Protection rackets are constantly sucking hard earned cash from struggling businesses in the area. Frank’s brother in law owns the local hardware store and is victimized on a regular basis by local mobsters while the police look the other way. In a desperate attempt to covertly rid the community of these gangsters, Frank contacts his old partner in crime, Dakota Sam, who had been living quietly in Wyoming. Frank’s last letter to Sam asks him to come to Brookfield to help with an urgent matter. Little did Sam realize what he was getting himself into. The reunion of these elder cowboys from the old west and picking a fight with mobsters in the big city, leads to some comical situations that ends in an epic battle that certainly trumps the gunfight at the OK Corral. Some might compare the chaos that followed to that of the Great Chicago Fire.