Offers a decade-by-decade history of American singing groups, from the Ames and Mills Brothers, to the Platters and the Beach Boys, to Destiny's Child, the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, and many others, covering more than 380 artists and furnishing information on each group's career, key members, influences, photos, and discographies. Original.

This book is an examination of contemporary gangs in American cities. Gangs have proliferated over the past ten years and pose a new set of challenges to public officials, law enforcement agencies, and urban educators. Most major cities are now confronted with serious problems derived from gang violence, drug traffic, and disruption of the public educational system. In the face of deindustrialization and deepening recession, many minority youngsters view gangs as attractive alternatives to a futile search for employment in a deteriorating urban economy. Perhaps most significant, gangs are now beginning to emerge in small and medium-sized cities. Some of the nation's leading scientists and scholars have been brought together in this book to examine the contemporary contours of America's gang problem, including Daniel J. Monti, Joan Moore, Scott Cummings, Howard Pinderhughes, Diego Vigil, Ray Hutchison, Felix Padilla, Jerome H. Skolnick, Pat Jackson, and Robert A. Destro. New material dealing with wilding gangs, migration and drug trafficking, and public educational disruption appear in this volume. Other topics covered include how gangs are organized, what social function they serve, their relation to conventional society, and the social and psychological factors that contribute to their rise. The relationship of the contemporary gang problem to past research is explored, and a rich variety of case histories and comparative analysis is presented. The book also includes a section on public policy.

"This book has the potential to be a classic in the fields of race relations and urban sociology." Cleveland State University

In this steamy post-Civil War saga, the most stubborn woman headed for Texas meets her match in a mystery man with a dark past . . . and together, they must take down a common enemy. No woman on the wagon train trek to Texas was more alluring than Lydia Langston. No man was more rugged than Ross Coleman . . . and both were running from the past. Lydia once vowed that no man would ever take away her pride, while Ross Coleman has stayed true to his wife, who died giving birth to their son. But despite their challenges, Lydia and Ross now find themselves together, fighting the same enemy and the same dangerous emotions building inside them . . . and unable to stop the events that will eventually pit a man's deadly vengeance against the strength of a woman's love.

The exhilarating true tale of two major American desperadoes who once captivated the nation

A Tribe Called Quest • Beastie Boys • De La Soul • Eric B. & Rakim • The Fugees • KRS-One • Pete Rock & CL Smooth • Public Enemy • The Roots • Run-DMC • Wu-Tang Clan • and twenty-five more hip-hop immortals It’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have always been reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicity photo or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs. That’s a damn shame, because few outside the game know about the true creative forces behind influential masterpieces like PE’s It Takes a Nation of Millions. . ., De La’s 3 Feet High and Rising, and Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A longtime scribe for the hip-hop nation, Brian Coleman fills this void, and delivers a thrilling, knockout oral history of the albums that define this dynamic and iconoclastic art form. The format: One chapter, one artist, one album, blow-by-blow and track-by-track, delivered straight from the original sources. Performers, producers, DJs, and b-boys–including Big Daddy Kane, Muggs and B-Real, Biz Markie, RZA, Ice-T, and Wyclef–step to the mic to talk about the influences, environment, equipment, samples, beats, beefs, and surprises that went into making each classic record. Studio craft and street smarts, sonic inspiration and skate ramps, triumph, tragedy, and take-out food–all played their part in creating these essential albums of the hip-hop canon. Insightful, raucous, and addictive, Check the Technique transports you back to hip-hop’s golden age with the greatest artists of the ’80s and ’90s. This is the book that belongs on the stacks next to your wax. “Brian Coleman’s writing is a lot like the albums he covers: direct, uproarious, and more than six-fifths genius.” –Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop “All producers and hip-hop fans must read this book. It really shows how these albums were made and touches the music fiend in everyone.” –DJ Evil Dee of Black Moon and Da Beatminerz “A rarity in mainstream publishing: a truly essential rap history.” –Ronin Ro, author of Have Gun Will Travel

"Life of the Trail" is a fascinating series that guides today's hikers and armchair travelers through the stories of historic routes in the Canadian Rockies. When authors Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck began backpacking together nearly 20 years ago, they often wondered whose footsteps they were retracing and how today's trails through the Rockies came to be there. In "Life of the Trail," they share their findings with adventurers and history buffs alike. "Life of the Trail 4: Historic Hikes in Eastern Jasper National Park" includes trails throughout the Jasper area, as well as routes outside the national park itself. The main routes are fur trade routes, Duncan McGillivray's route along the Brazeau river and Poboktan Creek, Jacques Cardinal's route from Jasper to the North Saskatchewan River along the South Boundary Trail and over Job Pass, and Old Klyne's Trail over Maligne and Cataract Passes and along the Cline River to the Kootenay Plains. The fourth is a 20th-century route: the Skyline Trail.