Dreams from the Monster Factory tells the true story of Sunny Schwartz's extraordinary work in the criminal justice system and how her profound belief in people's ability to change is transforming the San Francisco jails and the criminals incarcerated there. With an immediacy made possible by a twenty-seven-year career, Schwartz immerses the reader in the troubling and complex realities of U.S. jails, the monster factories -- places that foster violence, rage and, ultimately, better criminals. But by working in the monster factories, Schwartz also discovered her dream of a criminal justice system that empowers victims and reforms criminals. Charismatic and deeply compassionate, Sunny Schwartz grew up on Chicago's south side in the 1960s. She fought with her family, struggled through school and floundered as she tried to make something of herself. Bucking expectations of failure, she applied to a law school that didn't require a college degree, passed the bar and began her life's work in the criminal justice system. Eventually she grew disheartened by the broken, inflexible system, but instead of quitting, she reinvented it, making jail a place that could change people for the better. In 1997, Sunny launched the Resolve to Stop the Violence Project (RSVP), a groundbreaking program for the San Francisco Sheriff 's Department. RSVP, which has cut recidivism for violent rearrests by up to 80 percent, brings together victims and offenders in a unique correctional program that empowers victims and requires offenders to take true responsibility for their actions and eliminate their violent behavior. Sunny Schwartz's faith in humanity, her compassion and her vision are inspiring. In Dreams from the Monster Factory she goes beyond statistics and sensational portrayals of prison life to offer an intimate, harrowing and revelatory chronicle of crime, punishment and, ultimately, redemption.

NPR Best Books of 2018 A teen girl and her robot embark on a cross-country mission in this illustrated science fiction story, perfect for fans of Ready Player One and Black Mirror. In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small yellow toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system. As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems to unravel at an ever faster pace, as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in.

Includes discography (page 203-225) and index.

A Study Guide for Walter Dean Myers's "Monster," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

Bridges the gap between today's entertainment-focused “pop psychology” on television and the dry academic research that is published in journals. A primer on human behavior and psychology. The Handy Psychology Answer Book helps answer why humans do what we do through accurate scientific data presented in a lively, accessible, and engaging way. It covers the fundamentals and explains the psychology behind how people deal with money, sex, morality, family, children, aging, addiction, work, and other everyday issues. It takes a journey through the history and science of psychology and showing how psychology affects us all. Fully revised to reflect the latest scientific research—such as the current DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association); the latest neurobiological theories; and the changing face of marriage—this timely reference has expanded to include information sections on the biology and evolution of emotions; technology and adolescence; bisexuality; optimism; autism; as well as a full section on the law, eyewitness testimony and police shootings. Featuring more than 1,500 answers to questions concerning how the human mind and the science of psychology really work, this fascinating guide delivers the real facts of modern psychology, along with fun factoids and thought-provoking insights into what motivates human behavior. This intriguing exploration provides insights into the current science of the mind by answering questions such as: How have other cultures addressed psychological issues? Why was Freud so focused on sex? How do twin studies help illuminate the role of genetics? How can I maintain a healthy brain? Why do some people hear voices that aren’t really there? Why do children see monsters in the closet at night? How have recent changes in technology affected adolescent development? Why does time seem to speed up as we age? Is it normal to argue during marriage? Does religion make people happier? How do we reduce social prejudice? How has morality changed over the course of history? What are the personality traits of people who succeed in their professions? Why do so many politicians get trapped in scandals? Does genetics play a role in voting behavior? Which therapies are best for which kinds of problems? How might the stress of police work affect decision-making in high stress situations? The Handy Psychology Answer Book also includes a helpful glossary of terms, complete reference sources for topics discussed, and an index. With a wide range of information suitable for everyone, this is the ideal source for anyone looking to get a better understanding of psychology. It provides clear answers on the history, basic science and latest research, and psychology behind everyday situations and at different stages in life.

This book offers both a philosophical and psychological theory of an aspect of human love, first noted by Plato and used by Freud in developing psychoanalysis (transference love), namely, lovers as mirrors for one another, enabling them thus better to see and understand themselves and others. Shakespeare’s art makes the same appeal—theater as a communal mirror—expressing the artist holding a loving mirror for his culture at a point of transitional crisis between a shame and guilt culture. The book shows how Shakespeare’s plays offer better insights into the behavior of violent men than Freud’s, based on close empirical study of violent criminals; develops a theory of violence rooted in the moral emotions of shame and guilt; and a cultural psychology of the transition from shame to guilt cultures. The work argues that violence is, contra Freud, not an ineliminable instinct in the nature of things, requiring autocracy, but arises from patriarchally inflicted cultural injuries to the love of equals that undermine democracy, and that only a therapy based on love can address such injuries, replacing retributive with restorative justice, and populist fascist autocracy with constitutional democracy. Love, thus understood, underlies a range of disparate phenomena: the appeal of Shakespeare’s theater as a communal art; the role of love in psychoanalysis; in Augustine’s conception of love in religion (disfigured by his patriarchal assumptions); in Kant’s anti-utilitarian ethics of dignity; in a naturalistic ethics that roots ethics in facts of human psychology; the role of law in democratic cultures as a mirror and critique of such cultures; and the basis of an egalitarian theory of universal human rights (inspired by Kant and developed, more recently, by John Rawls). In all these domains, uncritically accepted forms of culture (the initiation of men and women into patriarchy) traumatize the love of equals, and thus disfigure and distort our personal and political lives.

Do atonement theologies that focus on Jesus' death underwrite human violence? If so, we do well to rethink beliefs that this death is necessary to bring salvation. Focusing on the Bible's salvation story, Instead of Atonement argues for a logic of mercy to replace Christianity's traditional logic of retribution. The book traces the Bible's main salvation story through God's liberating acts, the testimony of the prophets, and Jesus's life and teaching. It then takes a closer look at Jesus's death and argues that his death gains its meaning when it exposes violence in the cultural, religious, and political Powers. God's raising of Jesus completes the story and vindicates Jesus's life and teaching. The book also examines the understandings of salvation in Romans and Revelation that reinforce the message that salvation is a gift of God and that Jesus's "work" has to do with his faithful life, his resistance to the Powers, and God's vindication of him through resurrection. The book concludes that the "Bible's salvation story" provides a different way, instead of atonement, to understand salvation. In turn, this biblical understanding gives us today theological resources for a mercy-oriented approach to responding to wrongdoing, one that follows God's own model.