Father James R. Cox became the voice of Pittsburgh's poor and jobless during the worst years of the Great Depression. Long lines of needy people were showing up daily at St. Patrick's Church in the city's historic Strip District but Cox turned no one away. He served more than two million meals to the hungry and was the "mayor" of a shantytown of homeless men. In 1932, Cox led one of the first mass marches on Washington, D.C., confronting President Herbert Hoover in a face-to-face White House meeting. He later ran for president himself on the Jobless Party ticket--a quixotic campaign that ended in the deserts of New Mexico. Father Cox's reputation as a humanitarian was ruined after he barely escaped a mail fraud conviction for running a rigged fundraising contest.

Before Renaissance examines a half-century epoch during which planners, public officials, and civic leaders engaged in a dialogue about the meaning of planning and its application for improving life in Pittsburgh.Planning emerged from the concerns of progressive reformers and businessmen over the social and physical problems of the city. In the Steel City enlightened planners such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and Frederick Bigger pioneered the practical approach to reordering the chaotic urban-industrial landscape. In the face of obstacles that included the embedded tradition of privatism, rugged topography, inherited built environment, and chronic political fragmentation, they established a tradition of modern planning in Pittsburgh.Over the years a melange of other distinguished local and national figures joined in the planning dialogue, among them the park founder Edward Bigelow, political bosses Christopher Magee and William Flinn, mayors George Guthrie and William Magee, industrialists Andrew Carnegie and Howard Heinz, financier Richard King Mellon, and planning luminaries Charles Mulford Robinson, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Harland Bartholomew, Robert Moses, and Pittsburgh's Frederick Bigger. The famed alliance of Richard King Mellon and Mayor David Lawrence, which heralded the Renaissance, owed a great debt to Pittsburgh's prior planning experience. John Bauman and Edward Muller recount the city's long tradition of public/private partnerships as an important factor in the pursuit of orderly and stable urban growth. Before Renaissance provides insights into the major themes, benchmarks, successes, and limitations that marked the formative days of urban planning. It defines Pittsburgh's key role in the vanguard of the national movement and reveals the individuals and processes that impacted the physical shape and form of a city for generations to come.

From W. Bruce Cameron, the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Dog's Purpose, A Dog’s Way Home, A Dog’s Journey, and many others, comes the laugh-out-loud, keep-you-up-late Ruddy McCann series. A former college football star turned full-time repo man and part-time bouncer, McCann makes a living stealing cars in Kalkaska, Michigan with his lazy but loyal basset hound Jake. On the side, Ruddy solves mysteries and brings murderers to justice–spurred on by a voice in his head, the spirit of Alan Lottner, the dead father of the girl McCann has fallen for. With sweet romance, thrilling mystery, and a town full of cabin-fevered characters you can't help but love, this series is irresistible. “The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man introduces my favorite kind of flawed cynical protagonist in Ruddy McCann...It’s suspenseful, action-packed, romantic, and above all, truly funny. I loved it.”–- New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille The Ruddy McCann series discounted ebundle includes: novels The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man and Repo Madness, and short story The Midnight Dog of the Repo Man. A Dog's Purpose Series #1 A Dog’s Purpose #2 A Dog’s Journey #3 A Dog's Promise Books for Young Readers Ellie's Story: A Dog’s Purpose Puppy Tale Bailey’s Story: A Dog’s Purpose Puppy Tale Molly's Story: A Dog's Purpose Puppy Tale Max's Story: A Dog’s Purpose Puppy Tale Toby's Story: A Dog's Purpose Puppy Tale Shelby's Story: A Dog's Way Home Novel The Ruddy McCann Series The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man Repo Madness The Midnight Dog of the Repo Man (short story) Other Novels A Dog's Way Home The Dog Master The Dogs of Christmas Emory’s Gift At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Juggling the possible loss of his job, a romantic estrangement, and court-ordered medication, Michigan repo man Ruddy McCann learns that the tragedy that defined his life may be a lie. The possibility compels his investigation into a string of local disappearances of women in the area. With the voice of Alan, a dead real estate agent, in his head and his lovable basset hound at his side, Ruddy works to bring down a corrupt banker, stop a serial killer, and win back the love of his ex-fiancée, Katie.

Shantytowns once occupied a central place in America’s urban landscape. Lisa Goff shows how these resourceful dwellings were not merely the byproducts of hardship but potent assertions of self-reliance. Their legacy is felt in sites of political activism, from campus shanties protesting apartheid to the tent cities of Occupy Wall Street.

In the 1930s, the United States was beset with an economic crisis so serious that it threatened the future of the nation. On the national level, Franklin Roosevelt initiated and developed a variety of reforms and experiments as part of the New Deal. Some Americans looking for change believed Roosevelt was going in the wrong direction, while others believed he was too timid in his reforms. Still others thought he had not broken free of the restraints placed on him by the financial interests of the country. Many Americans had their own ideas about how to address the financial crisis and took matters into their own hands. In Utopian Movements and Ideas of the Great Depression, Donald W. Whisenhunt explores several lesser-known movements for change and reform in the Great Depression Era including communal societies, proposals for reform, and analyses of several books that propose solutions to the nation's economic ills. Arguably, America has been a Utopian experiment from its beginning; the movements and ideas of the 1930s were simply the latest manifestations of that experiment. Though not well known, the people and events studied represent the thinking of some of the most articulate and driven Americans during the economic crisis. Despite their lack of obvious success, they represent an important American idea—that an average person can devise solutions to society's problems. These movements and ideas embody the American belief in progress and the power of the individual.