The Black Bridge

The Black Bridge is a story of two widows, one self-made, and her friend who becomes an unwilling investigator. Vivian Schwartzer has made great sacrifices so that her husband can run for governor of South Dakota. When he loses the nomination, they argue violently and she pushes him off an abandoned railroad bridge into the frozen Missouri river forty feet below. Her friend, Elinore Blair, is sent out to investigate Max's death. Elinore is a widow, and comforts Vivian while she tries to discover what happened to Max. As Elinore becomes a threat to Vivian, Vivian reacts to the threat. The situation is complicated by the proposed closing of the local college and the problems of Elinore's two children. The Black Bridge is about the strength and power of women and their terrible loneliness when they lose the men they love. It is about powerlessness in politics. It raises the question of justice and the price of that justice. The Black Bridge also portrays the instant connection that occasionally occurs between a man and a woman, a connection without rhyme or reason, without plan, but always with consequences.

What does it take to kill your fellow man? The horrors of World War One yield the answer for one troubled young man from Littlemore who finds himself at war on two fronts: at home and in the trenches - where his enemies number comrades as well as Germans. His pursuit of inner peace leads to the ultimate sacrifice. A terrified teenage boy plunges from a bridge into a river before a baying mob of his peers. Jumping from the Black Bridge is a rite of passage for every Littlemore lad on the cusp of manhood. It is meant to represent a test of courage. But Max Lanham is a self-reliant only-child, unafraid to walk alone, a maverick who regards this as a futile gesture. He is torn: scared to jump but even more scared of the consequences of not doing so. The ordeal marks Max Lanham out as a misfit and a man constantly at war with his conscience. His isolation is replicated in his dysfunctional family presided over by a manipulative mother Intellectual comfort he draws from a former teacher, now a conscientious objector; fellowship he derives from a simple farm-lad who hero-worships him; while physical solace he finds in the arms of the village prostitute. Ultimately, he seeks peace of mind by forgoing his place at Oxford University in favour of volunteering to fight in the trenches with the Ox & Bucks. The horrors of war deepen his anguish. He sees operations botched; men routinely slaughtered. Even first-love cannot halt his slide toward madness. Then a final family row reveals a secret that sends him hurtling toward his destiny. He must brave an ordeal worse than the Black Bridge.

Continuation of stories of Jimmy, growing up in Northern Idaho and Western Canada. Book 3 of the series "A Time Before Facebook", first in the series and "Ghosts and Skeletons", the second book in the series. Come join the adventure.

Based on true events and set in historic Las Vegas, New Mexico, this short story offers exciting adventure along with a bit of mystery surrounding what locals referred to as the "Back Bridge." Over the years the three young boys would enjoy the beauty of nature along with the thrills of freight trains and passenger trains passing over the Black Bridge. Everything changed one fateful day at the Black Bridge when the three young boys would experience a strange and mystical event so unbelievable it changed their view of the world and even challenged their beliefs. As you enjoy this true short story, you may find yourself questioning the event and perhaps even find yourself wanting to visit the Black Bridge for yourself one day.

Collects ten stories set in Texas and starring ghosts, monsters, and haunted places.

Culled from the records of the National Register of Historic Places, a roster of all types of significant properties across the United States, African American Historic Places includes over 800 places in 42 states and two U.S. territories that have played a role in black American history. Banks, cemeteries, clubs, colleges, forts, homes, hospitals, schools, and shops are but a few of the types of sites explored in this volume, which is an invaluable reference guide for researchers, historians, preservationists, and anyone interested in African American culture. Also included are eight insightful essays on the African American experience, from migration to the role of women, from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement. The authors represent academia, museums, historic preservation, and politics, and utilize the listed properties to vividly illustrate the role of communities and women, the forces of migration, the influence of the arts and heritage preservation, and the struggles for freedom and civil rights. Together they lead to a better understanding of the contributions of African Americans to American history. They illustrate the events and people, the designs and achievements that define African American history. And they pay powerful tribute to the spirit of black America.

When first proposed in this country during the 1970s, waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerators appeared to be ideal solutions to the growing mounds of trash in our "throw-away" society. Promising to convert useless garbage into electricity while saving precious landfill space, trash incinerators seemed perfectly timed to respond to a national need. Within a decade, however, a grassroots anti-incineration movement emerged as a vibrant offshoot of the environmental movement. In Don't Burn It Here, sociologists Edward Walsh, Rex Warland, and D. Clayton Smith examine this grassroots movement through detailed analyses of the struggles surrounding proposals to build eight municipal incinerators in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. The eight case histories that form the heart of the book are comparable to hundreds of others across the U.S. The authors' research is based on interviews, focus group discussions, extensive newspaper files, and questionnaire responses from participants on both sides of the conflicts. A final chapter examines the similarities and differences between the three successful projects and the five defeated ones. An overview of the history of the modern incinerator in the U.S. and the emergence of a major national opposition movement provides the necessary context, and throughout the book, the authors make useful comparisons to other national movements seeking legal justice for deprived collectivities such as women and ethnic groups. This project was supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation's Fund for Research in Dispute Resolution. Striving to maintain a balanced treatment of both sides of the incinerator battles, the authors provide fresh theoretical and methodological perspectives on a new type of collective action. They also help to close the gap between theory and empirical data in the social sciences.

John Del Greco's life dramatically changes when, as a newly-sworn lawyer, he reluctantly agrees to represent a maverick group of black bridge workers who are fighting City Hall for recognition of their new organization and to oust a union that collaborated with the old Chicago political machine. The idealistic Del Greco knows he's up against a powerful union, but what he doesn't know is that a racist killer lurks on the river intimidating anyone who supports the new union. This killer brazenly murdered twenty-year-veteran white bridge tender, Stanley "Stosh" Kozinski, at his own job site on the 18th Street Bridge during the times of Chicago's worst racial tension since the race riots of 1919. Del Greco is paired with an alluring ally in his fight for justice for the bridge workers. Michelle Jordan is the attractive black opposing special counsel hired by the City and is sympathetic to the plight of the black river workers. Greco and Jordan's clandestine and professionally unethical collaboration lead to a passionate love affair and dramatic life-and-death confrontation with the river murderer.