In every major city in the world there is a housing crisis. How did this happen and what can we do about it? Everyone needs and deserves housing. But today our homes are being transformed into commodities, making the inequalities of the city ever more acute. Profit has become more important than social need. The poor are forced to pay more for worse housing. Communities are faced with the violence of displacement and gentrification. And the benefits of decent housing are only available for those who can afford it. In Defense of Housing is the definitive statement on this crisis from leading urban planner Peter Marcuse and sociologist David Madden. They look at the causes and consequences of the housing problem and detail the need for progressive alternatives. The housing crisis cannot be solved by minor policy shifts, they argue. Rather, the housing crisis has deep political and economic roots—and therefore requires a radical response.

When these artisans first fled France for England and Holland, then left Europe for America, they carried with them both their skills and their doctrine of security through artisanal secrecy."

Our nation used to look at violence, poverty, and gentrification and assign those problems to urban centers. Today, these issues concern the suburbs, too. The Christian community is responding to this reality. Churches and parachurch ministries are actively working to transform lives and restore communities throughout the city and suburbs. In A Heart for the Community: New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry, you will be challenged by a collection of voices seeking community renewal. These individuals are involved in creative church planting initiatives, and they are serving the growing Hispanic and Muslim populations. Additional endeavors include serving racially changing communities, economic development strategies, and more. As anyone who has been in ministry for any length of time can attest, tackling some of the most challenging issues of our times is no mere academic exercise. The voices within these pages write from experience and offer workable, vibrant models of ministry that make a difference.

"Pilliod compares information from documents she has discovered with Vasari's versions of the artists' lives and shows how Vasari manipulated their biographies - for example, suppressing any mention of Pontormo's status as a court artist, including his salary from Duke Cosimo I - in order to diminish their reputations, to obliterate memory of the traditional Florentine workshops, and to enhance the importance of the Academy instead. She also discusses such subjects as the evidence for Pontormo's association with the Medici court; Pontormo's house and its place in the urban fabric of Florence; Bronzino's and Pontormo's intimate association with poets and theatrical spectacles; and Allori's painted challenge to Vasari's view of the artistic scene in sixteenth-century Florence.