Author: David D. Haynes IV Publisher: ISBN: 9781980227540 Category : Languages : en Pages : 308
Book Description
What if a nation was truly controlled by a purely capitalistic society? What if the symbol of that society came in the form of the modern gangster? In the country of Begistan, power belonged to the Marzins, a family with a criminal legacy that tries to hold on to everything they have as their patriarch, a former old-school mob boss turned president of the country, is assassinated. As some of his children seek revenge for his murder, they also form and break alliances that would end with a showdown among the remaining family members to become the number one criminal: the God of Gangsters.
Author: Bill Dixon Publisher: Life Rich Publishing ISBN: 9781489739353 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 244
Book Description
This is an autobiography of a man's incredible journey finding God and his truth at the brink of death. Bill Dixon has lived an incredible fast paced life, bouncing around from place to place, experiencing situations that a vulnerable youth should never have to face. Everything unimaginable at his young age, witnessing drug deals to murder and more. Stability of a home was always a challenge and through his perseverance his path to God was anything but straight and easy. Fraught with challenges and danger Bill's journey is documented in this true account of one man's struggle to survive and find God's grace in the process.
Author: Avron Boretz Publisher: University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 0824860713 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 289
Book Description
Demon warrior puppets, sword-wielding Taoist priests, spirit mediums lacerating their bodies with spikes and blades—these are among the most dramatic images in Chinese religion. Usually linked to the propitiation of plague gods and the worship of popular military deities, such ritual practices have an obvious but previously unexamined kinship with the traditional Chinese martial arts. The long and durable history of martial arts iconography and ritual in Chinese religion suggests something far deeper than mere historical coincidence. Avron Boretz argues that martial arts gestures and movements are so deeply embedded in the ritual repertoire in part because they iconify masculine qualities of violence, aggressivity, and physical prowess, the implicit core of Chinese patriliny and patriarchy. At the same time, for actors and audience alike, martial arts gestures evoke the mythos of the jianghu, a shadowy, often violent realm of vagabonds, outlaws, and masters of martial and magic arts. Through the direct bodily practice of martial arts movement and creative rendering of jianghu narratives, martial ritual practitioners are able to identify and represent themselves, however briefly and incompletely, as men of prowess, a reward otherwise denied those confined to the lower limits of this deeply patriarchal society. Based on fieldwork in China and Taiwan spanning nearly two decades, Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters offers a thorough and original account of violent ritual and ritual violence in Chinese religion and society. Close-up, sensitive portrayals and the voices of ritual actors themselves—mostly working-class men, many of them members of sworn brotherhoods and gangs—convincingly link martial ritual practice to the lives and desires of men on the margins of Chinese society. This work is a significant contribution to the study of Chinese ritual and religion, the history and sociology of Chinese underworld, the history and anthropology of the martial arts, and the anthropology of masculinity.
Author: Edward Flores Publisher: NYU Press ISBN: 147987812X Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 244
Book Description
Winner, 2014 Distinguished Contribution to Research Award presented by the Latina/o Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association Los Angeles is the epicenter of the American gang problem. Rituals and customs from Los Angeles’ eastside gangs, including hand signals, graffiti, and clothing styles, have spread to small towns and big cities alike. Many see the problem with gangs as related to urban marginality—for a Latino immigrant population struggling with poverty and social integration, gangs offer a close-knit community. Yet, as Edward Orozco Flores argues in God’s Gangs, gang members can be successfully redirected out of gangs through efforts that change the context in which they find themselves, as well as their notions of what it means to be a man. Flores here illuminates how Latino men recover from gang life through involvement in urban, faith-based organizations. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with Homeboy Industries, a Jesuit-founded non-profit that is one of the largest gang intervention programs in the country, and with Victory Outreach, a Pentecostal ministry with over 600 chapters, Flores demonstrates that organizations such as these facilitate recovery from gang life by enabling gang members to reinvent themselves as family men and as members of their community. The book offers a window into the process of redefining masculinity. As Flores convincingly shows, gang members are not trapped in a cycle of poverty and marginality. With the help of urban ministries, such men construct a reformed barrio masculinity to distance themselves from gang life.
Author: SLMN Publisher: National Geographic Books ISBN: 0998767425 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Violent crime and romantic jealousy entangle a rising rap group in this urban thriller. .-Kirkus Reviews- The son of a hustler, it’s no surprise that Power has followed in his family’s footsteps and made a name for himself as one of the most respected hustlers on the streets of QueensBoro. Along with his best friend and partner Kane, the duo create a super group that sets out to take the streets and hip-hop world by storm. But soon Power finds himself in the middle of a love triangle gone-wrong with a label owner and his lead singer, Egypt, which threatens the freedom and livelihood of everyone involved.
Author: Deon Joseph Johnson Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781517373016 Category : Languages : en Pages : 212
Book Description
This is a book of inspiration & motivation, about incarcerated men that lost their way & identity to gangs, and all the other snares of the devil. By the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These same men have been called and saved by God while in prison and now are being trained as soldiers in the army of God to fight against the wiles of the devil, that they may seek and save that which are lost through the blood of Christ and the word of their testimony...... There is a better way and through the testimonies of these incarcerated men that are now living free, full of life, peace, joy and love. You also can be released by accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, change the devil's lie that we're believed our whole life into the truth of GOD's word and experience this life changing phenomenon.....
Author: Robert Brenneman Publisher: OUP USA ISBN: 0199753849 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 309
Book Description
Using the tools of sociological theory, Robert Brenneman seeks to discover why a pot-smoking, gun-wielding "homie" gang member would want to trade in la vida loca for a Bible and the buttoned-down lifestyle of an evangelical hermano (brother in Christ) - and to what extent this strategy works for the many youth who have tried it.
Author: Autumn Miles Publisher: Hachette UK ISBN: 1546015221 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
Change your life and become an inspiring, passionate praying warrior who proclaims God's Word with this refreshingly honest guide to strengthening your faith. If you want positive results from prayer, you first need to pray! But so many people who say they believe in the power of prayer actually pray very little . . . or not at all. It's time to get serious about prayer. Autumn Miles says that we must stop being prayer wimps and instead be transformed into "prayer gangsters"--people who are passionate about their faith and loyalty to God. Autumn believes that God wants to give us so much more than what we've been settling for. It's time our prayer life, which has been mediocre at best, becomes something that is: Fervent, intentional, and highly expectant. Gangster Prayer won't teach you how to pray. Instead, it will help reveal the heart behind a believing prayer and put the focus back on who we are praying to instead of on what we are praying for. With a changed perspective and objective, we can finally see the results from prayer we've been longing for--not just answers but a changed life.
Author: Rich Remsberg Publisher: University of Illinois Press ISBN: 9780252069437 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
"Combining powerful photographic images with gang members' first-person testimonies, Rich Remsbourg shows the ironic juxtaposition of tattoos, leather vests, and the iconography of the biker world with the Christian practices of Bible study, speaking in tongues, and praying at an altar. He explores the lives of men and women who have redirected the extreme nature of their former ways. Through their own powerful stories, they explain how the addictions and uncontrollable violence that once shaped their lives have given way to dramatic worship and zealous ministry."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: David D. Haynes IV
Author: Bill Dixon
Author: Avron Boretz
Author: Edward Flores
Author: SLMN
Author: Deon Joseph Johnson
Author: Robert Brenneman
Author: Heather Parker Lewis
Author: Autumn Miles
Author: Rich Remsberg