A personal, powerful and shocking testimony of life as a heroin addict in Brooklyn in the 1970s and ‘80s. In this gritty, soul-bearing and honest account, Ronn Costabile takes you into a world of addiction and despair. Ronn tells his story with gripping detail and emotion-jerking reality. There is hope, however, for everyone who believes. After 25 years battling a paralyzing heroin and cocaine addiction, state prison time, and 15 years of organized crime, Ronn experienced a powerful conversion at the hand of God in 1987 while incarcerated. As his life was slowly being restored, he connected with Brooklyn Teen Challenge, a faith-based Drug Rehabilitation Center, where he then began as a volunteer in 1990. Six years later he became intake coordinator and soon afterwards director of the Brooklyn Men’s program.

Around the corner. The next block. Across the At the end of the line. Borough Park. Gowanus. Flatbush. Canarsie. Ridgewood. Greenpoint. Brownsville. Bay Ridge. Bensonhurst. City Line. What was the place called Brooklyn really like back then... when Brooklyn was the world? Elliot Willensky, born in Brooklyn and now official Borough Historian, takes us back to a sweeter time when a trip on the new BMT subway was a delightful adventure, when summer days were a picnic on the sand and evenings were Nathan's hotdogs at Coney Island and a whirl of lights, spills, and chills at dazzling Luna Park. Remembering Brooklyn, it's the neighborhoods you think of first -- or maybe it's your own block, the one you were raised on. In those days, the street was a more animated, more colorful place. Jacks and jump rope, hit-the-stick, double-dutch and skelly or potsy (hopscotch to you) were played everywhere. The street was a natural amphitheater, and the stoop was the perfect place for grown-ups to sit and watch and visit with neighbors. Stores-on-wheels selling fruit, baked goods, and the old standby, seltzer, rolled right down the block, and the Fuller Brush man and Electrolux vacuum-cleaner salesmen worked door to door, saving housewives countless shopping trips. For many, a big night out was dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where 99 percent of the patrons were non-Chinese, and you could get mysterious-sounding dishes like moo goo gai pan and subgum chow mein -- "One from column A, two from column B." If you could afford to go somewhere really classy, the Marine Roof of the Bossert Hotel was one of the hottest nightspots. A hot date on Saturday night featured big bands at the clubs on TheStrip (Flatbush Avenue below Prospect Park) -- the Patio, the Parakeet Club, the Circus Lounge -- or gala stage shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music or the enormous Paramount Theatre. Still, for family entertainment you couldn't beat a day at the beach and a night on Surf Avenue, taking in the sideshows and the penny arcades. For Brooklyn, the years between 1920 and 1957 were a special time. It was in 1920 that the subway system reached to Brooklyn's outer edge -- linking the entire borough with Manhattan and making it an ideal spot for millions of new families to build their homes. The end of the era came in 1957 -- the last year that Brooklyn's beloved Dodgers played at Ebbets Field before moving to sunny California. For many loyal fans the fate of "Dem Bums" represents the fate of Brooklyn. With a brilliant, entertaining text and hundreds of exciting, nostalgic photographs (many never before published), When Brooklyn Was the World recovers the history of this lively city, as remembered by the millions of people who knew Brooklyn in its golden era.

For thirteen-year-old Judy Strand, summers in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, bustle with games of stickball played in the street, fun-filled outings to neighboring Coney Island, and her family’s yearly trip to the Catskill Mountains. But in July 1944, Judy’s carefree days and her innocence are shaken by a discovery: The man she’s always called Pa isn’t her real father. Even more shocking, Judy learns that the father she doesn’t remember was an alcoholic who abandoned his family. That’s why Judy’s mother emigrated to America from Norway. Now Judy feels jumbled inside: She’s angry at her mother for keeping the truth from her–and she’s suddenly awkward around Pa. Nothing her parents say soothes the hurt. At first, even the attentions of Jacob Jacobsen don’t make her feel any better. Judy likes Jacob; it’s just that his dad’s drinking binges hit too close to home. Ashamed, Judy doesn’t want anyone to find out her secret. But as misfortune befalls Jacob, Judy’s close friends, and her own family, Judy rallies to their side, and in the process recognizes that growing up encompasses forgiveness–of others and of herself.

Winner of the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's internationally bestselling novel is a story of devastating emotional power. At the centre of Colm Tóibín's internationally celebrated novel is Eilis Lacey, one among many of her generation who has come of age in 1950s Ireland but cannot find work at home. When she receives a job offer in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Leaving her family and country behind, Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn, and to a crowded boarding house where the landlady's intense scrutiny and the small jealousies of her fellow residents only deepen her isolation. Slowly, however, the pain of parting and a longing for home are buried beneath the rhythms of her new life—until she begins to realize that she has found a sort of happiness. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, tragic news summons her back to Ireland, where she unexpectedly finds herself facing an impossible decision.

This book came into this world October 18, 2014. It was a difficult story to tell because of the shifting moods of the characters and situations. To go from And there was my grandmother, the very definition of misery. The apartment she lived in was given to her by my uncle, her son, but she took us in when we had no place to live. She had her own story: To go to; Because we were so poor there was no money for toys. My uncle Jess bought me a red fire truck, the kind you sit in and peddle. I was not allowed to take it into the street so I drove it on the roof of that garage next door, our private playground going round and round. I loved that truck as it was the only toy I had. Boy, poverty sucks but has its advantages: you learn to live without things and it makes you strive for more, willing to do anything to get out of poverty. Everything this book is, is to relay the total experience of the piece, the happiness, the sadness, and most of all the fear. With situations like; When they got to me they wrapped me up in a quilt and hung me out of the window with only the pressure of the window holding me up. Erics family lived on the eighth floor of their building so if I fell I would most assuredly be dead from the fall. I could see down as my head was partially hanging out of the quilt, a crowd started to gather below. It is also meant to be a tribute to the Brave men and women in the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement. I try to bombard your senses with strong feelings of what life was like for these people with involvements such as; I thought to myself this is a murder assignment and I was right! We were there for one reason and one reason only: to eliminate the enemy, to win this war by attrition. The book is for the reader to get completely involved with each situations gravity. Thank You Adrien Martin Watch now The Boy From Brooklyn's book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu1UGCK4h90&feature=youtu.be

Unedited, unapologetic and politically incorrect, the Kid from Brooklyn's take-no-prisoner video rants on his widely popular website, TheKidFromBrooklyn.com, inspired a devoted fan base to speak their mind openly - shooting the Kid into a stratosphere of pop culture stardom. Now the kid is back and badder than ever - Go F*** Yourself features 100% new material, none of which is available on the website.

Includes list of members.