I don't have a damn thing in common with the beautiful rich girl who walks into my bar; she's southern class, fancy cars, and designer shoes. I've got a drunk for a mother, a cheater for a father, and a reputation for trouble I've more than earned. I look the other way, pretending I don't notice how perfect she is. She wouldn't give me the time of day anyway. Until she shatters that first impression and shows me she's so much more-everything I never thought I deserved. After a lifetime of being a disappointment, I want to prove to her that I'm better than my past. We have one tragic thing in common, and the thread that binds us together will tear us apart as it unravels. Are we strong enough to break through The Bars Between Us?

When Ivan Godfrey began his career as a corrections officer in the New York State Corrections System, it was still reeling from the brutal retaliation to the prison riots at Attica. As a young African American, he grew up in the Bronx, then he worked in prisons, such as the notorious Sing-Sing Prison. In fact, Ivan often met inmates he knew on the streets from his New York City neighborhood. His memoir is a wonderful testament to his determination to strive for a better life and take care of his growing family while working in some of the most dangerous prisons in America. It is also a one-of-a-kind window into the life of a young Black prison guard as he struggled to climb the ladder of success despite inherent and overt racial barriers. Now he is an assistant professor, teaching criminal justice and behavioral science at SUNY Ulster CC, forensic mental health at Russell Sage College, and forensic social work and the criminal justice system at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. Dr. Ivan Godfrey's memoir is an inspiring journey from the streets of the Bronx to the daily psychological and physical violence while working for over twenty years in the NY State Correction System and finally to the halls of academia.

Model Officer Anthony Bryant shocked his community when he crossed the line from cop to criminal. Busted in an elaborate FBI sting in Savannah, Georgia in 1997, Bryant landed on the wrong side of the bars for 10 years.Bryant pulls back the curtains on FBI tactics, negative peer pressure engrained in police culture, and the state of American prisons.Bryant's confinement as an INMATE reveals: 10 Commandments of Prison Survival Prison hustles-good and bad Becoming a positive force in a negative environmentBryant's journey as an OFFICER explores: "Cloaking"-used to hide excessive force or unethical behavior Power of the uniform and the Superman complex The conflict of loyaltiesIn the end, Bryant lands on his feet-truly reformed-sharing his hard-earned insights on the challenges facing law enforcement and the penal system. This book provides a powerful first-person account of life on both sides of the bars.

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: The New York Times * NPR * Vogue * Gay Times * Artforum * “Gay Bar is an absolute tour de force.” –Maggie Nelson "Atherton Lin has a five-octave, Mariah Carey-esque range for discussing gay sex.” –New York Times Book Review As gay bars continue to close at an alarming rate, a writer looks back to find out what’s being lost in this indispensable, intimate, and stylish celebration of queer history. Strobing lights and dark rooms; throbbing house and drag queens on counters; first kisses, last call: the gay bar has long been a place of solidarity and sexual expression—whatever your scene, whoever you’re seeking. But in urban centers around the world, they are closing, a cultural demolition that has Jeremy Atherton Lin wondering: What was the gay bar? How have they shaped him? And could this spell the end of gay identity as we know it? In Gay Bar, the author embarks upon a transatlantic tour of the hangouts that marked his life, with each club, pub, and dive revealing itself to be a palimpsest of queer history. In prose as exuberant as a hit of poppers and dazzling as a disco ball, he time-travels from Hollywood nights in the 1970s to a warren of cruising tunnels built beneath London in the 1770s; from chichi bars in the aftermath of AIDS to today’s fluid queer spaces; through glory holes, into Crisco-slicked dungeons and down San Francisco alleys. He charts police raids and riots, posing and passing out—and a chance encounter one restless night that would change his life forever. The journey that emerges is a stylish and nuanced inquiry into the connection between place and identity—a tale of liberation, but one that invites us to go beyond the simplified Stonewall mythology and enter lesser-known battlefields in the struggle to carve out a territory. Elegiac, randy, and sparkling with wry wit, Gay Bar is at once a serious critical inquiry, a love story and an epic night out to remember.