From the straight boulevards that smashed their way through rambling old Paris to create the city we know today to the televised implosion of Las Vegas casinos to make room for America’s ever grander desert of dreams, demolition has long played an ambiguous role in our lives. In lively, colorful prose, Rubble rides the wrecking ball through key episodes in the world of demolition. Stretching over more than five hundred years of razing and toppling, this story looks back to London’s Great Fire of 1666, where self-deputized wreckers artfully blew houses apart with barrels of gunpowder to halt the furious blaze, and spotlights the advent of dynamite—courtesy of demolition’s patron saint, Alfred Nobel—that would later fuel epochal feats of unbuilding such as the implosion of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St. Louis. Rubble also delves beyond these bravura blasts to survey the world-jarring invention of the wrecking ball; the oddly stirring ruin of New York’s old Pennsylvania Station, that potent symbol of the wrecker run amok; and the ever busy bulldozers in places as diverse as Detroit, Berlin, and the British countryside. Rich with stories of demolition’s quirky impresarios—including Mark Loizeaux, the world-famous engineer of destruction who brought Seattle’s Kingdome to the ground in mere seconds—this account makes first-hand forays to implosion sites and digs extensively into wrecking’s little-known historical record. Rubble is also an exploration of what happens when buildings fall, when monuments topple into memory, and when “destructive creativity” tears down to build again. It unearths the world of demolition for the first time and, along the way, throws a penetrating light on the role that destruction must play in our lives as a necessary prelude to renewal. Told with arresting detail and energy, this tale goes to the heart of the scientific, social, economic, and personal meaning of how we unbuild our world. Rubble is the first-ever biography of the wrecking trade, a riveting, character-filled narrative of how the black art of demolition grew to become a multibillion-dollar business, an extreme spectator sport, and a touchstone for what we value, what we disdain, who we were, and what we wish to become.

At the foot of the Argentine Andes, bulldozers are destroying forests and homes to create soy fields in an area already strewn with rubble from previous waves of destruction and violence. Based on ethnographic research in this region where the mountains give way to the Gran Chaco lowlands, Gastón R. Gordillo shows how geographic space is inseparable from the material, historical, and affective ruptures embodied in debris. His exploration of the significance of rubble encompasses lost cities, derelict train stations, overgrown Jesuit missions and Spanish forts, stranded steamships, mass graves, and razed forests. Examining the effects of these and other forms of debris on the people living on nearby ranches and farms, and in towns, Gordillo emphasizes that for the rural poor, the rubble left in the wake of capitalist and imperialist endeavors is not romanticized ruin but the material manifestation of the violence and dislocation that created it.

Since I was very young, I have seen and experienced difficult times in my life but always managed to deal with them as there usually was no other choice. At the age of six, I hit rock bottom and learned that there really was a God and he became my best friend, which helped me throughout my life to never give up or to feel alone. I considered it a privilege to be called on to perform a certain, sometimes even arduous job, both in my private life, my employment, or in any of my appointed positions; finding out that accomplishing positive results, after giving it your best effort, is the greatest form of satisfaction. It also taught me that if I wanted something bad enough, I could find a way to achieve it. I am sorry if I have offended anyone along my way throughout the years of my lifebut it has perpetually been my aspiration to treat others as I would like to be treated myself.

The story of the last survivor pulled from the 9/11 Ground Zero debris after 27 hours and her journey from desperation to a miraculous salvation.

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Luxury and Rubble is the tale of two cities in Ho Chi Minh City. It is the story of two planned, mixed-use residential and commercial developments that are changing the face of Vietnam’s largest city. Since the early 1990s, such developments have been steadily reorganizing urban landscapes across the country. For many Vietnamese, they are a symbol of the country’s emergence into global modernity and of post-socialist economic reforms. However, they are also sites of great contestation, sparking land disputes and controversies over how to compensate evicted residents. In this penetrating ethnography, Erik Harms vividly portrays the human costs of urban reorganization as he explores the complex and sometimes contradictory experiences of individuals grappling with the forces of privatization in a socialist country.

How do you find the strength to forgive in the midst of unthinkable grief? With compassion for all who have been touched by tragedy, Grace from the Rubble tells the heart-stirring true story of found forgiveness, lasting hope, and the unlikely friendship of two fathers on opposite sides of tragedy. In what was to become the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing left a community searching for healing and hope. Grace from the Rubble tells the intertwining stories of four individuals: Julie Welch, a young professional full of promise whose life was cut short by the bombing; Bud Welch, Julie's father; Tim McVeigh, the troubled mind behind the horrific attack; and Bill McVeigh, the father of the bomber. With searing details by firsthand witnesses, including the former governor of Oklahoma, masterful storyteller Jeanne Bishop describes the suspenseful scenes leading up to that fateful day and the dramatic events that unfolded afterward as one father buried his only daughter and the other saw his only son arrested, tried, and executed for mass murder. Grace from the Rubble will teach you about: The importance of sharing your story The unlikely connections that can stem from heartbreak The life-changing impact of forgiveness Vivid and haunting, this true story is rich with memories and beautiful descriptions of the nation's heartland, a place of grit and love for neighbors and families. Bishop shares the ways in which the bombing affected her own family and led her to meet Bud and, ultimately, how she learned to see humanity amid inhuman violence. Praise for Grace from the Rubble: "Readers should have tissues at hand before beginning Bishop's affecting story. This incredible and empathetic story is a testament to the powers of forgiveness, fellowship, and redemption." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Some say that love is the most powerful force in the world. I would suggest it's forgiveness. And the astonishing and beautifully told story of two fathers drawn together by unimaginable tragedy shows how the process of forgiveness happens step by grace-filled step." --James Martin, author, Jesus: A Pilgrimage and My Life with the Saints