{"product_id":"storming-caesars-palace-isbn-9780807007976","title":"Storming Caesars Palace","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe inspiration for the PBS documentary premiering March 2023\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe story of the revolutionary Black women welfare organizers of Las Vegas who spearheaded an evergreen, radical revisioning of American economic justice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis timely reissue tells the little-known story of a pioneering group of Black mothers who built one of this country's most successful antipoverty programs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eStorming Caesars Palace\u003c\/i\u003e, Annelise Orleck brings into focus the hidden figures of a trailblazing movement who proved that poor mothers are the real experts on poverty, providing job training, libraries, medical access, daycare centers and housing to the poor in Las Vegas throughout the 1970s. Orleck introduces Ruby Duncan, a sharecropper turned White House advisor who led the charge on the long war on poverty waged against the poor Black mothers of Las Vegas. According to Ruby, “Poor women must dream their highest dreams and never stop,” and she, with the help of Mary Wesley and Alversa Beals, did exactly that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A vivid retelling of an overlooked American history, Orleck follows the Black women who went on to lead a revolutionary movement against welfare injustice. These women eventually founded Operation Life, one of the first women-led community organizations in the nation and one of the country’s most successful antipoverty programs. They went on to gain national traction and garnered the respect of key political figures such as Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a new prologue and epilogue that explore the race and labor movements paramount to the political climate of 2021, Orleck masterfully blends together history, social analysis, and personal storytelling in a story that is as enraging as it is empowering.Introduction to the 2023 Edition\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 1\u003cbr\u003eFrom the Cotton Fields to the Desert Sands:\u003cbr\u003eLiving and Leaving the Delta Life\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 2\u003cbr\u003e“The Mississippi of the West”:\u003cbr\u003eJim Crow in Sin City\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 3\u003cbr\u003e“Bad Luck and Lousy People”:\u003cbr\u003eBlack Single Mothers and the War on Poverty\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 4\u003cbr\u003e“If It Wasn’t for You, I’d Have Shoes for My Children”:\u003cbr\u003eWelfare Rights Come to Las Vegas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 5\u003cbr\u003eStorming Caesars Palace:\u003cbr\u003ePoverty and Power in Las Vegas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 6\u003cbr\u003eDragging Nevada Kicking and Screaming into the Twentieth Century\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 7\u003cbr\u003e“We Can Do It and Do It Better”:\u003cbr\u003eRevitalizing a Community from the Bottom Up\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 8\u003cbr\u003eCan Welfare Mothers Do Community Economic Development?:\u003cbr\u003eThe Triumphs and Trials of Operation Life\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 9\u003cbr\u003eMaybe We Were Fighting History:\u003cbr\u003eThe Legacy of Operation Life\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue—A New Era for Las Vegas\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eIndex“Beautifully written . . . Annelise Orleck reminds us that those at the grassroots ‘can do it and do it better.’”\u003cbr\u003e—Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What a lovely book of hope! With grace and with rigor, Orleck presents the War on Poverty from the field and the vantage point of poor mothers.”\u003cbr\u003e—Nell Irvin Painter, author of \u003ci\u003eSojourner Truth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A poignant counterpoint to the current culture of cynicism and despair. After reading \u003ci\u003eStorming Caesars Palace\u003c\/i\u003e, you’ll want to get up and do something to make the world a better place.”\u003cbr\u003e—Hagar Scher, \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book has become the revolutionary ‘Bible’ for Las Vegas organizers. I’m so proud to stand on the shoulders of Ruby, Alversa, Mary, Emma, Rosie, and Essie.”\u003cbr\u003e—Minister Vance “Stretch” Sanders, director of Stretching for Change Foundation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This amazing story is like a truly great novel, the revelation of a world unknown.”\u003cbr\u003e—Dorothy Allison, author of \u003ci\u003eBastard Out of Carolina\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This stunning book gives new meaning to the notion of history from the bottom up.”\u003cbr\u003e—Alice Kessler-Harris, author of \u003ci\u003eIn Pursuit of Equity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnnelise Orleck\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor at Dartmouth College where she focuses on history, American radicalism, race studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. She is the author of several books, including: \u003ci\u003eRethinking American Women’s Activism\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eStorming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eCommon Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working Class Politics in the U.S.\u003c\/i\u003e She lives in Thetford Center, Vermont.","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305175765221,"sku":"NP9780807007976","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780807007976.jpg?v=1767737381","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/storming-caesars-palace-isbn-9780807007976","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}