High-top-fade security guard hero Buckett Collins goes in search of a beloved comrades murderers, fights to save a child abuse victim, and evades a belligerent former love interest amid self-doubt, hostility, and the insanity and street violence of 1989 South Central Los Angeles.

Marvin “Step To” Baker is crushed by two untimely personal tragedies. A drunk driver kills his beloved cousin Tim. The chance and glory of Tim and Step To winning an Olympic gold medal, a long-held dream of theirs, is destroyed forever. Step To (an inner-city term which meant to boldly assert one’s self, be courageous, go forth and face challenges with direct action and disregard the risks and results) is left an angry, broken-hearted, ornery and rebellious black man without hope and purpose in his life. He later becomes encouraged and enlightened to help the black community by Elaine, a militant community activist who falls in love with him. In a fit of dispair, however, Step To ends up joining a drug trafficking gang. But when the gang abducts Elaine and holds her and some of her allies hostage, Step To becomes a crusader, hellbent on saving the woman he loves and the black/brown community amidst both violent crime and racial turmoil in 1980 Compton, California.

Abuser and loser Eugene Downlow Colston is left with tormenting, bitter defeatism and relentless despair as a total failure, brokenhearted and frustrated by his fed-up former fiance. She beat him badly during a spat and, later, legally, in a court case against her. She broke their engagement and his nose, tossed his engagement ring in his female-battered face, and then walked out on him forever. Now all alone, plagued by racism, driven to liquor in a fruitless effort to drown his inner hellish pain, disrespected, ridiculed, and rejected as a miserable, worthless, no sexgetting, low-down black ghetto scumbag, Downlow finds redemption and purpose in armed security guard work. The Compton man also finds himself amid a wave of terrorist suicide bombings and street violence waged by the vicious Tammerack Tigers gang. Downlow manages to inspire both the black community and his fellow security officers to stand up for what is right in the face of the warring, fanatical criminal gangs bloody reign of terror in 1989 South Central Los Angeles.

A cruel past, bourne of frustration, racism, abuse, womanizing, violence and hearbreaks, torments former high school and college champion sprinter, distance runner and fencing great Gilbert “Make Tracks” Courtney. He especially grieves the abortion of his unborn son by an embittered, vengeful ex-fiancee with a long grudge. The troubled Make Tracks channels his swirling, unbridled rage and emotions over her evil act into helping an inner-city community youth athletic center. Through his self-unaware charisma and leadership drawn from his past athletic successes, as a law student in college and a few tough years in a big city law firm, Make Tracks inspires his pupils with much-needed bravery, fortitude, confidence, self-worth and hope amid a rash of armed robberies and drive-by shootings in early 1990s South-Central Los Angeles.

Hi-top fade security protectionist hero Buckett Collins summons all his courage (man up, in African-American urban parlance) and battles to protect his beloved daughter, Becky, from the clutches of Bane, the sinister, hell-bent leader of the Rocky Ensergent terrorist gang. Becky witnessed Bane murder Bucketts friend during a gang assault upon a group of black community activists. Enraged and filled with revenge, the homicidal Bane is determined to rape, kill, and stop Becky from reporting his deadly crime to the police. Amid a savage blood feud between Banes mob and their hated, equally bloodthirsty rivals, the Satans Guerilla gang, Buckett and Becky struggle to gain justice within the ghetto terrorism of 1990s South-Central Los Angeles.

Interpreting the famous siege and battle that has inspired art for more than 170 years, this unique resource traces the musical history of the Alamo and offers the only complete discography and list of songs about the legendary battle. Chapters cover the many and varied musical interpretations of the Alamo and its heroes, illuminating various periods of American musical history throughout. From nineteenth-century folk ballads, minstrel show tunes, and orchestral marches, to recent pop chart hits, children's songs, theatrical productions, and big-screen film scores, all are gathered in this complete compendium, helping to remember the Alamo. Also included is a thirty-minute audio CD of music representative of the Alamo.