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The end of reality : how four billionaires are selling a fantasy future of the metaverse, mars, and crypto / by Taplin, Jonathan T.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."At a time when the crises of income inequality, climate, and democracy, are compounding to create epic wealth disparity and the prospect of a second American civil war, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme -- the metaverse, cryptocurrency, space travel, and transhumanism -- is an existential threat in moral, political, and economic terms. In The End of Reality, Jonathan Taplin provides perceptive insight into the personal backgrounds and cultural power of these billionaires -- Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreesen ("The Four") -- and shows how their tech monopolies have brought middle-class wage stagnation, the hollowing out of many American towns, a radical increase in income inequality, and unbounded public acrimony. Meanwhile, the enormous amount of taxpayer money to be funneled into the dystopian ventures of "The Four", the benefits of which will accrue to billionaires, exacerbate these disturbing trends. The End of Reality is both scathing critique and reform agenda that replaces the warped worldview of The Four with a vision of regenerative economics that seeks to build a sustainable society with healthy growth and full employment"--
Subjects: Economics; Equality; Metaverse;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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A darker shade of blue : a police officer's memoir / by Merith, Keith,author.;
Sixteen-year-old Keith Merith finds himself pulled over, berated, and degraded by a white police officer. He's done nothing wrong-he was only looking for a parking spot. But the officer has the power, and he doesn't. Keith never wants to be in that position again. From that day on, he vows to join a police service and effect change from within. Twelve years and thirteen police services later, Keith is finally hired by the York Regional Police. Although subjected to unfair treatment and constant racial "pinpricks", he perseveres and gradually rises through the ranks. After a stellar career and passionate pursuit of systemic change, Keith retires at the rank of superintendent. But his desire for sustained and equitable change persists. In 'A Darker Shade of Blue', Keith advocates for immediate police reform-starting with recruitment. He wants to see inclusive law enforcement agencies reflecting their communities and behaving in a manner that honours their obligation to serve and protect citizens equally. As a Black man charged with the duty to serve, Keith delivers an evocative perspective on all sides of policing by providing the opportunity to walk in his shoes.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Merith, Keith.; Police misconduct; Police, Black; Police; Police; Racial profiling in law enforcement;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Teardown : rebuilding democracy from the ground up / by Meslin, Dave,author.;
"Something is wrong with democracy. We can all see it's not working. From the recent American election to Brexit, around the word and close to home, the headlines are full of examples of governments misleading their people, parties misleading their delegates, and policy drifting further and further away from what polls keep showing people want. We always vote for change, and yet we always end up with the same old lies. If this just the way democracy works, we should just give up. If the game is rigged, why play it? But as Dave Meslin's career has shown, we can un-rig it. We can get rid of the corrupting influence of money on policy. We can get rid of governments that ignore their constituents. We can take away the blank cheques we write to our leaders each election. But a huge part of that is overcoming our own apathy. And that comes from knowing how to get things done. It's hard to change the world if you can't change a municipal by-law. Unrigged will show readers how to do both. And it will show us that these two challenges are not fundamentally different. Once we know that we can do it, and we know how to do it, we can get democracy working for us rather than against us. From throwing back the curtain of secrecy surrounding City Hall to the ongoing campaign for electoral reform, Dave Meslin has been both out on the street in marches and in the back rooms drawing up policy. With Unrigged he shows us how it's done."--
Subjects: Democracy; Political participation;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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The school for good mothers : a novel / by Chan, Jessamine,author.;
"Set in near-future America, The School for Good Mothers introduces readers to a government-run reform program where bad mothers are retrained using robot doll children with artificial intelligence. Protagonist Frida Liu, a 39-year-old Chinese-American single mother in Philadelphia, loses custody of her 18-month-old daughter, Harriet, after she leaves Harriet home alone for two hours on one very bad day. To regain custody, Frida must spend a year at a newly-created institution, where she practices parenting with bad mothers from all over the county. There, she learns to love an uncannily life-like toddler girl doll in order to demonstrate her maternal instincts and prove to her family court judge that she deserves a second chance. Frida is an outsider in every way: better educated, more affluent, and the only Asian. The mothers, whose transgressions range from benign to horrific, are under constant surveillance. If they don't pass all the school's tests, their parental rights will be terminated. Inspired by dystopian classics such as 1984, Never Let Me Go, and The Handmaid's Tale, the novel eviscerates the dominant American parenting culture, while highlighting the tragedy of state-sponsored family separation. Is there one right way to mother? Can a bad mother ever be redeemed? With warmth, heart, and dark humor, the novel tells a timeless story of a mother fighting to win back her child, and her struggle to hold onto her integrity while being indoctrinated"--
Subjects: Dystopian fiction.; Chinese American women; Motherhood; Single mothers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Elissas : three girls, one fate, and the deadly secrets of suburbia / by Leach, Samantha,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In the tradition of Three Women, Bustle editor and writer Samantha Leach traces the lives of a trio of girls who met in the Troubled Teen Industry and went on to share the same tragic fate. Samantha and her best friend Elissa were typical privileged, rebellious, suburban girls. But after Elissa was kicked out of their private school, she soon disappeared. At fifteen years old, her parents quietly flew her from Providence, Rhode Island to a $10,000/month therapeutic boarding school in Nebraska. Ponca Pines Academy was part of the Troubled Teen Industry, a network of programs meant to reform wealthy, wayward teens. There she met two girls uncannily named Alissa and Alyssa, who had similar backgrounds and similar vices. In The Elissas, Samantha channels her personal grief and utilizes years of immersive research combined with her biting prose to reveal the cultural forces and systemic failings that contributed to the deaths of all three girls. In 2011, less than a year after graduating from Ponca Pines Academy, Elissa died of encephalitis. Four years later, Alyssa died of a heroin overdose. Another four years after that, Alissa died while battling an opioid addiction. Samantha endeavors to tell each of their stories, expanding on what shaped these young women before, during, and after their time in the Troubled Teen Industry. Based on interviews with other survivors, friends and family of the girls, educators, experts, and comprehensive reporting, The Elissas will challenge what you know about the opioid epidemic and the Troubled Teen Industry--and in doing so, will ultimately offer a window into the secret lives of young suburban women"--
Subjects: Opioid abuse.; Teenage girls; Youth;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The lost sons of Omaha : two young men in an American tragedy / by Sexton, Joe,1959-author.;
"On May 30, 2020, in Omaha, Nebraska, amid the protests that rocked our nation after George Floyd's death at the hands of police, thirty-eight-year-old white bar owner and Marine veteran Jake Gardner fatally shot James Scurlock, a twenty-two-year-old Black protestor and young father. What followed were two investigations of Scurlock's death, one conducted by the white district attorney Don Kleine, who concluded that Gardner had legally acted in self-defense and released without a trial, and a second grand jury inquiry conducted by African American special prosecutor Fred Franklin that indicted Gardner for manslaughter and demanded he face trial. Days after the indictment, Gardner killed himself with a single bullet to the head. The deaths of both Scurlock and Gardner gave rise to a toxic brew of misinformation, false claims, and competing political agendas. The two men, each with their own complicated backgrounds, were turned into grotesque caricatures. Between the heated debates and diatribes, these twin tragedies amounted to an ugly and heartbreaking reflection of a painfully divided country. Here, Joe Sexton masterfully unpacks the whole twisting, nearly unbelievable chronicle into a meticulously reported and nuanced account of the two deaths, explaining which claims were true and which distorted or simply false. The Lost Sons of Omaha carefully examines some of the most pressing issues facing America today, including our country's dire need for gun control and mental health reform; the dangerous spread of fake news, particularly on social media; and the urgent call to band together in the collective pursuit of truth, fairness, and healing"--
Subjects: Murder victims; Trials (Manslaughter);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Radical inclusion : seven steps to help you create a more just workplace, home, and world / by Sengeh, David Moinina,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."An inspiring young leader's moving call to action for anyone who seeks to make the world a better place-and the first title from Melinda French Gates's Moment of Lift Books. As the newly appointed minister of education in Sierra Leone, David Moinina Sengeh assumed that the administration he served-not to mention his family and friends-shared his conviction that all girls belong in the classroom. So he was shocked to learn that many of those closest to him, including a member of his own family, were against lifting a long-standing policy banning pregnant girls from school. Radical Inclusion is the dramatic narrative of Sengeh's crusade to guarantee pregnant girls' right to an education. His story functions as a parable that can help us all advocate for change by reimagining the systems that perpetuate exclusion in our own lives. The specifics of his efforts in Sierra Leone are captivating; the lessons Sengeh shares are universal. In addition to his candid account of his quest for reform, he offers stories and perspective from other parts of his life, drawing on his experiences encountering racial profiling as a Harvard student, developing cutting-edge prosthetic limbs at MIT, and working to combat algorithmic bias as a data scientist. Ultimately, Sengeh offers readers a roadmap for pursuing radical inclusion in their own work-from identifying exclusions, to building coalitions, to adapting to a new normal. His book is essential reading for modern leaders or anyone who hopes to help unleash the power of a world that is truly, radically inclusive"--
Subjects: Educational change; Girls; Pregnant teenagers; Right to education; Social justice and education;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The case of the married woman : Caroline Norton and her fight for women's justice / by Fraser, Antonia,1932-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Poet, pamphleteer and artist's muse, Caroline Norton dazzled nineteenth-century society with her vivacity and intelligence. After her marriage in 1828 to the MP George Norton, she continued to attract friends and admirers to her salon in Westminster, which included the young Disraeli. Most prominent among her admirers was the widowed Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. Racked with jealousy, George Norton took the Prime Minister to court, suing him for damages on account of his 'Criminal Conversation' (adultery) with Caroline. A dramatic trial followed. Despite the unexpected and sensational result - acquittal - Norton legally denied Caroline access to her three children under seven. He also claimed her income as an author for himself, since the copyrights of a married woman belonged to her husband. Yet Caroline refused to despair. Beset by the personal cruelties perpetrated by her husband and a society whose rules were set against her, she chose to fight, not surrender. She channelled her energies in an area of much-needed reform: the rights of a married woman and specifically those of a mother. Over the next few years she campaigned tirelessly, achieving her first landmark victory with the Infant Custody Act of 1839. Provisions which are now taken for granted, such as the right of a mother to have access to her own children, owe much to Caroline, who was determined to secure justice for women at all levels of society from the privileged to the dispossessed. Award-winning historian Antonia Fraser brilliantly portrays a woman, at once courageous and compassionate, who refused to be curbed by the personal and political constraints of her time"--Publisher's description.
Subjects: Biographies.; Norton, Caroline Sheridan, 1808-1877.; Authors, English; Women authors, English; Women's rights; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sunbringer A Novel [electronic resource] : by Kaner, Hannah.aut; cloudLibrary;
“An epic fantasy odyssey.” — Entertainment Weekly "A richly rendered world . . . Kaner writes action that's both fun and intelligible.”  — The Washington Post Return to the world of Godkiller in this thrilling sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut When Middren falls to the gods, your kind will be the first to die. Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren—but now they are stirring, whispering of war. Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to vanquish the fire god Hseth, who murdered her family and endangered her friends. But gods cannot be destroyed so easily, and Hseth’s power threatens to reform with even greater strength and a thirst for vengeance. As tensions rise throughout the land, the kingdom needs its Godkiller more than ever. Still reeling from the loss of Kissen, young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, have set out to discover more about the true nature of their bond. As the divide between gods and humans widens, Inara and Skedi will uncover secrets that could determine the fate of the war to come. Meanwhile, Elogast, no longer a loyal knight of King Arren, has been tasked with killing the man he once called friend. The king vowed to eradicate all gods throughout the land, but has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all. And where his heart once beat, a god now burns. . . “Will have you in its grasp from the first pages . . . An extraordinary journey.” — Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of Priory of the Orange Tree, on Godkiller “A triumph of storytelling.”  — Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf, on Godkiller “A bone-rattling fantasy thriller that flies by in a breathtaking rush.” — Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Godkiller
Subjects: Electronic books.; Epic;
© 2024., HarperCollins,
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The Nickel boys : a novel / by Whitehead, Colson,1969-author.;
In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize, and National Book Award-winning The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in their charge can become "honorable and honest men." In reality, the Nickel Academy is a grotesque chamber of horrors where the sadistic staff beats and sexually abuses the students, corrupt officials and locals steal food and supplies, and any boy who resists is likely to disappear "out back." Stunned to find himself in such a vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold onto Dr. King's ringing assertion "Throw us in jail and we will still love you." His friend Turner thinks Elwood is worse than naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. The tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades. Formed in the crucible of the evils Jim Crow wrought, the boys' fates will be determined by what they endured at the Nickel Academy.
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Historical fiction.; Reformatories; African American teenagers; Racism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 131 to 140 of 143 | « previous |