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"A real-life underdog tale of one man turning the tables on the casinos and Wall Street without selling his soul to the devil. All around the world, the words "Wall Street" conjure up a powerful image. For some, it is the center of America's capitalist system and the engine of its economic growth. For others, it is the home of rapacious bankers and reckless traders whose greed would lead to a global financial crisis. For an Indian-born blackjack player, Wall Street represented something else entirely--a chance for him to play in the largest casino in the world. Kamal Gupta's improbable journey, from a wide-eyed Indian immigrant to an ultimate insider in the rarefied world of investment banks and hedge funds, is a uniquely American story. Nowhere else would it have been possible for a scrawny computer scientist to enter the world of high finance solely on the basis of his gambling abilities. After spending seven years creating an investment methodology, Gupta went on an incredible run, generating an unprecedented 103 consecutive months of positive returns while managing money at large hedge funds. His success did not go unnoticed, and he found himself under constant pressure to take bigger risks to make even more money. He refused and always played it right, knowing that there was such a thing as "enough" money, something very few, if any, of his Wall Street peers understood. Much like Maria Konnikova's bestseller, The Biggest Bluff, Play It Right isn't so much about money as it is about the human condition and beating the odds, whether at a casino, on Wall Street, or in life itself."--

"This book explores the effects of trauma on newcomer students and presents stress-mitigating strategies that empower them as they transition to a new environment"--

"Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, tensions between China and the US have risen sharply. The rhetoric on both sides has escalated since the launch of Donald Trump's Trade War and, even with Joe Biden's election, it does not appear that there will be any substantial change in American policy towards China. Some have claimed that the two countries are now in a new "Cold War," or worse, that they are headed towards inevitable military conflict. Financial Cold War looks at Sino-US relations through the lens of financial markets, helping readers to understand how imbalances in the structure of global financial markets have led to the current geopolitical tensions between the two countries. Tracing back through the history of the development of financial markets in both countries and of the current US dollar-based global financial system, the book highlights how the structure of world financial markets is fanning the flames of global tensions. It presents geopolitical developments between China and the West from the 18th century to the present day, and also looks at the role of technology, innovation, regulation, taxation and politics in markets, and how markets, in turn, have impacted policy. Drawing on unique insights from close to a decade negotiating the integration of Mainland Chinese and international capital markets, the author presents an in-depth analysis of the global financial system as we know it today and questions long-held beliefs that underpin it. In particular, he highlights the: growing risks of global dependence on the US dollar and worldwide fiscal competition challenges posed by China's gradual financial market opening role that Hong Kong has played in the development of capital flows between China and the rest of the world causes of recent political unrest there and the risk that recent developments pose to global prosperity. In the concluding chapters, the author proposes structural reforms to enable a peaceful rebalancing of the system and offers some insights to assist policymakers in both the East and the West in the extremely difficult task of smoothing the course of China's integration into the international financial system during a tricky period of geopolitical adjustment."--

"30 Queer Lives explores the lives, struggles and successes of LGBTQIA+ New Zealanders. The author, Matt McEvoy, notes that as a young gay Kiwi kid growing up, books about All Blacks and Sir Edmund Hillary were ubiquitous, while stories about other New Zealanders struggled for a place in school libraries and bookshops. 'The singular elevation of the sports-hero genre made us feel that perhaps we weren't real New Zealanders . 'To this day, there still has not been a book to celebrate queer expression and contribution to New Zealand life, and show how LGBTQIA+ people strengthen our rich culture.' This book, bold and bright as the rainbow community itself, fills that gap. It explores the lives of queer people across New Zealand society, from north to south and from soldiers, celebrities, lawyers, drag queens, businesspeople and Olympians to farmers and fa`afafine. From the famous - Grant Robertson, Gareth Farr, Chloee Swarbrick - to the less well known, these 30 stories encourage empathy and understanding, challenge stereotypes, and offer courage and hope."--Publisher's information.

"House Speaker Michael J. Madigan was a record setter, a political powerhouse and one of the most prominent architects of Illinois' destiny. The longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history, Madigan saw his long reign come to an end, ironically 50 years to the day he first took the oath as a state representative in 1971, and 38 years since he first assumed the Illinois House speakership he'd held for all but two years since. In The Illinois House that Madigan Built, veteran Chicago Tribune investigative reporter and one-time Springfield bureau chief Ray Long unpacks the unprecedented political career of Mike Madigan with fascinating vignettes to mark its highs and lows. Madigan determined when taxes went up, what pension plan would pass, when it is time to approve gay marriage or ban the death penalty. He moved up the Illinois primary to help Barack Obama's race for president. He oversaw the first impeachment of an Illinois governor. Madigan ran his 13th Ward in Chicago with old-school discipline. His opponents noted that Madigan didn't just want to beat them; he wanted to crush their souls. Long traces Madigan's political genealogy to the legendary Chicago mayor, Richard J. Daley. and shows how his old-style patronage ways brought the speaker periodic scrutiny, including as part of the ComEd scandal that eventually cost him the speakership. This book is a balanced, authoritative, deep dive into a figure who not only built the House he led but, in a larger sense, built the house Illinoisans live in"--

"The purpose of this book is to illuminate scholarship on Black women and girls throughout the educational pipeline. The contributors--all Black women educators, scholars, and advocates--name the challenges Black women and girls face while pursuing their education as well as offer implications and recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, teachers, and administrators to consider in ensuring the success of Black women and girls"--

"Negotiating the line between "sell out" and "for us, by us," Buy Black explores how Black women cultural producers' further Black women's historical position as the moral compass and arbiter of Black racial progress in the United States. Black women cultural producers' aesthetic choices communicate that even though capitalist discourses dictate that anything is sellable in our society, there are some symbols of beauty, femininity, and sexuality that sell better than others because of how they occupy the set of already recognizable and, at times, relatable representations of blackness. While they compete in the consumer market for the attention and loyalty of Black consumer dollars, their capitulation to white corporate interests and audiences requires propagating historical tensions regarding Black consumer citizenship and multicultural inclusion. Each chapter contextualizes the role that Black women in the United States play in the global project of Black consumption, questioning which dolls, which princesses, which rags-to-riches narratives, and which characteristics represent the repertoire of Black girlhood. Through themes of self-making and objectification in dolls, princesses, and hip-hop, Buy Black maps the imagined space of "America" and the cultural attitudes that produced a twenty-first-century Black American sensibility based in representation and consumerism. Buy Black teaches all of us the parameters of Black symbolic power by mapping the confluence of intraracial ideals of blackness, womanhood, beauty, play, and sexuality in popular culture"--

A leading historian's guide to great-power competition, as told through America's successes and failures in the Cold War.