Set in the first part of the twentieth century, A Jitney Ride tells the story of Emma Adele Gray, a young and courageous Southern woman struggling to find her way in the world after she is emotionally abandoned by a mother who never wanted her in the first place. Despite everything, surrounded by the love of her extended family, Emma grows up into a lovely, well-traveled, and educated woman who is hated by only one person her mother's brother. Will Daniels abhors Emma simply because his parents unconditionally love her and blame him for not becoming a brilliant success like his father. As Emma turns sixteen and is immersed in a relationship with Dev, a senior at Harvard, Will makes it his mission to even the score with both her and his parents before Emma leaves for three years to attend Miss Habersham's Academy for Young Ladies in Atlanta, Georgia. While Emma nurtures her dream of becoming an attorney, Will is devising a betrayal like no other. In this coming-of-age tale, a woman proves to the world that with a little determination, intelligence, and Southern charm, she can achieve anything.

This intriguing collection is designed to show how economists can play a more active role in designing and directing the nation's social institutions. By taking the task of political economy seriously, the contributors (including some of today's most distinguished economists) reveal the power of economic thought to offer innovative solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing society today. By creating markets where none existed before, the authors propose efficient, reliable, and profitable improvements to current systems of health insurance, financial markets, human organ distribution, judicial practice, bankruptcy and securities regulation, patenting, and transportation. Written in the entrepreneurial spirit, these essays show economics to be an ambitious, dynamic, and far-from-dismal science.

"Regular cabs will not travel to the Pittsburgh Hill District of the 1970s, and so the residents turn to each other. Jitney dramatizes the lives of men hustling to make a living as jitneys--unofficial, unlicensed taxi cab drivers. When the boss Becker's son returns from prison, violence threatens to erupt. What makes this play remarkable is not the plot; Jitney is Wilson at his most real--the words these men use and the stories they tell form a true slice of life."--The Wikipedia entry, accessed 5/22/2014.