This “breath-taking trip through the union-organizing scene of America in the 21st century” reveals the victories and unconventional strategies of a renowned—and notorious—militant union organizer (Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed) In 1995, in the first contested election in the history of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney won the presidency of the nation’s largest labor federation, promising renewal and resurgence. Today, less than 7 percent of American private-sector workers belong to a union, the lowest percentage since the beginning of the twentieth century, and public employee collective bargaining has been dealt devastating blows in Wisconsin and elsewhere. What happened? Jane McAlevey is famous—and notorious—in the American labor movement as the hard-charging organizer who racked up a string of victories at a time when union leaders said winning wasn’t possible. Then she was bounced from the movement, a victim of the high-level internecine warfare that has torn apart organized labor. In this engrossing and funny narrative—that reflects the personality of its charismatic, wisecracking author—McAlevey tells the story of a number of dramatic organizing and contract victories, and the unconventional strategies that helped achieve them. Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) argues that labor can be revived, but only if the movement acknowledges its mistakes and fully commits to deep organizing, participatory education, militancy, and an approach to workers and their communities that more resembles the campaigns of the 1930s—in short, social movement unionism that involves raising workers’ expectations (while raising hell).

Investigate crimes involving cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technologies Bitcoin has traditionally been the payment system of choice for a criminal trading on the Dark Web, and now many other blockchain cryptocurrencies are entering the mainstream as traders are accepting them from low-end investors putting their money into the market. Worse still, the blockchain can even be used to hide information and covert messaging, unknown to most investigators. Investigating Cryptocurrencies is the first book to help corporate, law enforcement, and other investigators understand the technical concepts and the techniques for investigating crimes utilizing the blockchain and related digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Understand blockchain and transaction technologies Set up and run cryptocurrency accounts Build information about specific addresses Access raw data on blockchain ledgers Identify users of cryptocurrencies Extracting cryptocurrency data from live and imaged computers Following the money With nearly $150 billion in cryptocurrency circulating and $3 billion changing hands daily, crimes committed with or paid for with digital cash are a serious business. Luckily, Investigating Cryptocurrencies Forensics shows you how to detect it and, more importantly, stop it in its tracks.

When young Rolando Perez falls to his death from a cliff outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, the mysteries immediately begin to accumulate. Was he pushed or did he jump? What are the documents that Rolando was willing sacrifice himself to protect from his family, the police, and the Catholic Church? And what does a colorful concha pastry have to do with any of this? In the midst of the investigation, Professor Ilan Stavans arrives in Santa Fe to give a lecture about the area's long-buried Jewish history. He's looking forward to relaxing afterwards with an evening of opera, but his presentation on "crypto-Jews" attracts unexpected attention, and soon Ilan is drawn into a desperate race to find the long-lost documents that might hold the key to Rolando's death. Ilan's detective work leads him to taco joints, desert ranches, soaring cathedrals, and, finally, deep into the region's past, where he encounters another young man: Luis de Carvajal, aka "El Iluminado," a sixteenth-century religious dissenter. In a tale of martyrdom that eerily echoes Rolando's, Carvajal fled Spain for colonial Mexico at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, searching for his religious heritage -- a hunt for which he, like Rolando, would pay the ultimate price. In El Iluminado, esteemed literary critic Ilan Stavans and author and illustrator Steve Sheinkin present a secret history of religion in the Americas, showing how thousands of European refugees have left a trail of ghostly footprints -- and troves of mysteries -- across the American Southwest.

This book examines the legal and regulatory aspects of cryptocurrency and blockchain and the emerging practical issues that these issues involve. The analysis covers a range of advanced economies across the world, in America, Europe and Asia. The book describes, explains and analyses the nature of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain systems they are constructed on in these major world economies and considers relevant law and regulation and their shortcomings. It will be of use and interest to academics, lawyers, regulators and anyone involved with cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER With a new afterword on Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial and its aftermath One of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2023 • One of PureWow’s 42 Books to Gift in 2023 This Year • One of Fortune’s Best Crypto Books of 2023 “Going Infinite is in many ways Lewis at his best. He marshals a complex global story without losing sight of the delightful and revealing human details. He is a world-class noticer.” —Jesse Armstrong, writer and creator of HBO’s Succession, Times Literary Supplement “A stupefyingly pleasurable book to read.” —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker “Going Infinite is an instant classic.” —Helen Lewis, The Atlantic “Going Infinite is wildly entertaining, surprising multiple times on pretty much every page, but it adds up to a sad story, even a tragedy, for its central character and for all the people who lost so much thanks to his actions.” —John Lanchester, London Review of Books “Will join Digital Gold as one of the all-time best crypto books.”—Jeff John Roberts, Fortune “A wry, engaging writer and a gifted storyteller.” —Julia M. Klein, Los Angeles Times “It may be easy to take for granted how entertainingly [Michael Lewis] pulls it off again in Going Infinite.” —Brett Martin, GQ From the best-selling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, the story of FTX’s spectacular collapse and the enigmatic founder at its center. When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking readers into the mind of Bankman-Fried, whose rise and fall offers an education in high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, philanthropy, bankruptcy, and the justice system. Both psychological portrait and financial roller-coaster ride, Going Infinite is Michael Lewis at the top of his game, tracing the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own—until it all came undone.

This book aims to inform the non-IT specialist about the technological revolution that is taking place and, specifically, how the digital component of it is affecting our lives. It is hoped that this information will fill possible information gaps in readers’ mental model, enabling them to make better-informed decisions. This book can also be used as a textbook in a stand-alone introductory course to the digital revolution and its effects on society. The course could be used in both bachelor and master degree programs in business management, healthcare management, sociology, or any other non-IT programs. Chapter 1. This chapter, although the longest, is a brief review of the interactions between technology, economy, and politics. The subject is a much neglected one, and I believe that understanding of these interactions is vital for understanding the underlying causes of some of our most important pressing issues. The chapter discusses the interactions between technologies, economy, and politics, examining the effect of technologies on economic development and political ideologies. Chapter 2. This chapter deals with technological revolutions in general and the digital revolution in particular. I shall discuss the components of the digital economy. These being: knowledge, digitisation, virtualisation, molecularization, integration/internetworking, disintermediation, convergence, innovation, sharing economy, immediacy, and discordant. In addition, we shall examine the disruptors that are changing the face of competition in the marketplace. Chapter 3. This chapter deals with digital transformation, i.e., the process of using digital technology in all areas of business, changing the way the businesses operate and deliver value to their customers. We shall examine models for dealing with digital transformation. Chapter 4. We shall examine one of the most important developments of the 21st century, namely the advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). We shall look at how the human brain works and what is intelligence. We shall look at the artificial neural networks, machine learning, and deep learning. We shall also look at the deployment of AI in various fields such as healthcare, finance, Natural Language Processing (NPL), news media, and warfare. Chapter 5. This chapter deals with one of the most controversial and yet promising developments in finance and distributed secure databases, namely cryptocurrencies and blockchains. This subject is divided into two parts — the first part deals with the cryptocurrencies, and their viability as currencies. One of the most popular cryptocurrencies, the Bitcoin, will be examined in depth. The second part is somewhat technical and deals with the inner workings of the blockchains. As with cryptocurrencies, many see a bright future for the blockchains, especially in the form of smart contracts. Many believe that blockchains will be of great value in areas such as finance, handling contracts, healthcare and more. Blockchain promises to bring disintermediation to many industries and thereby reduce costs. Chapter 6. Technological revolutions tend to disrupt the lives of many middle-aged and older workers. New technologies give birth to new industries, destroying the old industries in the process. New technologies often require special skills that the old industry workers do not possess. The laid-off workers of the old industries can seldom find jobs in new industries since the new industries often rely on new technologies and skills that the old-industry workers do not possess. These workers need training, something that the prospective employers do not provide. Also, the new technologies, including AI, are automating many tasks, reducing the need for human workers. This chapter discusses the issue of automation and its effect on employment. Additionally, the type of jobs that are in danger of automation is discussed as well. Chapter 7. While chapter six discussed the employment situation, chapter seven considers the type of education required by the new industries. Also, the weaknesses of the existing educational system are considered, and alternative systems are proposed. Chapter 8. History tells us that whenever there has been a technological revolution, it has been accompanied by a shift in power, both nationally and internationally. The global shift of power has seldom been a peaceful affair. It often has resulted in major wars and global reorientation. This chapter discusses the possibility of the global shift of power. Currently, there are not that many countries or entities that can be considered as contenders. Of the three, Russia, European Union, and China, only one, China, is considered to have any chance of wresting power from the United States. The technological, economic and military power of China is compared and contrasted with the United States’.

Acclaimed picture book biographer Jeanette Winter has found her perfect subject: Jane Goodall, the great observer of chimpanzees. Follow Jane from her childhood in London watching a robin on her windowsill, to her years in the African forests of Gombe, Tanzania, invited by brilliant scientist Louis Leakey to observe chimps, to her worldwide crusade to save these primates who are now in danger of extinction, and their habitat. Young animal lovers and Winter's many fans will welcome this fascinating and moving portrait of an extraordinary person and the animals to whom she has dedicated her life. The Watcher was named a Best Book of the Year by the Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and the Bank Street College of Education.