Alternative newsweeklies have long covered the most provocative stories with some of the country's sharpest writing and reporting. And with the decline of the mainstream media, alternative weeklies now serve as a bulwark against the disappearance of local print coverage. --

Alternative newsweeklies have long covered the most provocative stories with some of the country's sharpest writing and reporting. And with the decline of the mainstream media, alternative weeklies now serve as a bulwark against the disappearance of local print coverage. --

"Better Buses, Better Cities is likely the best book ever written on improving bus service in the United States." — Randy Shaw, Beyond Chron "The ultimate roadmap for how to make the bus great again in your city." — Spacing "The definitive volume on how to make bus frequent, fast, reliable, welcoming, and respected..." — Streetsblog Imagine a bus system that is fast, frequent, and reliable—what would that change about your city? Buses can and should be the cornerstone of urban transportation. They offer affordable mobility and can connect citizens with every aspect of their lives. But in the US, they have long been an afterthought in budgeting and planning. With a compelling narrative and actionable steps, Better Buses, Better Cities inspires us to fix the bus. Transit expert Steven Higashide shows us what a successful bus system looks like with real-world stories of reform—such as Houston redrawing its bus network overnight, Boston making room on its streets to put buses first, and Indianapolis winning better bus service on Election Day. Higashide shows how to marshal the public in support of better buses and how new technologies can keep buses on time and make complex transit systems understandable. Higashide argues that better bus systems will create better cities for all citizens. The consequences of subpar transit service fall most heavily on vulnerable members of society. Transit systems should be planned to be inclusive and provide better service for all. These are difficult tasks that require institutional culture shifts; doing all of them requires resilient organizations and transformational leadership. Better bus service is key to making our cities better for all citizens. Better Buses, Better Cities describes how decision-makers, philanthropists, activists, and public agency leaders can work together to make the bus a win in any city.

What caused the New Left rebellion of the 1960s? In Smoking Typewriters, historian John McMillian argues that the "underground press" contributed to the New Left's growth and cultural organization in crucial, overlooked ways.

A paradigm of actuality -- Searching for the real and actual -- Stirrings and roots: urban sketches and America's flaneur -- The storytellers -- Picturing the present -- Carving out the real -- Experiments in reality -- Documenting time and place.

Inside Story tackles the myriad approaches to the burgeoning genre of creative nonfiction--from memoir to criticism to literary journalism to the lyric essay--by deeply exploring each stage of the generation, reportage, writing and editing of stories. Drawing on and integrating examples and advice from diverse practitioners in the field, Inside Story extends beyond idea and inspiration with practical advice, examples and exercises geared toward everyone from writing students, citizen journalists, bloggers and working writers. Inside Story provides a keen focus on the fundamental aspects of reporting, including interviewing and researching, while also offering advice and exercises toward writing nonfiction dialogue, devising structure and creating a sense of people and place from the ground-up. The book also explores the ethical implications of writing in the real world, providing insight and humor at each step of the way.

When Luke O’Neil isn’t angry, he’s asleep. When he’s awake, he gives vent to some of the most heartfelt, political and anger-fueled prose to power its way to the public sphere since Hunter S. Thompson smashed a typewriter’s keys. Welcome to Hell World is an unexpurgated selection of Luke O’Neil’s finest rants, near-poetic rhapsodies, and investigatory journalism. Racism, sexism, immigration, unemployment, Marcus Aurelius, opioid addiction, Iraq: all are processed through the O’Neil grinder. He details failings in his own life and in those he observes around him: and the result is a book that is at once intensely confessional and an energetic, unforgettable condemnation of American mores. Welcome to Hell World is, in the author’s words, a “fever dream nightmare of reporting and personal essays from one of the lowest periods in our country in recent memory.” It is also a burning example of some of the best writing you’re likely to read anywhere.