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Planning for the Unplanned: Recovering from Crises in Megacities
by Aseem InamFirst published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Planning for the Wrong Pandemic: Covid-19 and the Limits of Expert Knowledge
by Andrew LakoffThe fractious and disorganized governmental response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States prompted many observers to ask: why was the country—which had the knowledge, resources, and plans to deal with such an event—caught so unprepared? Critics pointed to a number of candidates for blame: a President who was dismissive of scientific expertise and indifferent to the task of leading government response; a fragmented media landscape that enabled misinformation to prosper; a slow-footed health bureaucracy incapable of flexible response; and social disparities that heightened inequities in the impact of disease. Planning for the Wrong Pandemic takes a different approach. Without dismissing such accounts, it begins with the observation that much of the governmental and expert response to the pandemic had been envisioned and planned for in advance. Moreover, many of these plans were implemented in the early stages of the pandemic. As authorities responded to the crisis, they relied on an already-formulated set of concepts and tools that had been devised for managing a future emergency. These pre-existing tools enabled officials to make sense of the event and to rapidly implement policies in response. But they also led to significant blind spots. This book asks: under what circumstances were these planning tools developed? What did they enable experts, officials, and the public to see, and what did they hide from view? And, finally, as we assess the failures in our response to the pandemic and attempt to prepare for “the next one,” to what extent should we take for granted the capacity of these tools to guide future interventions effectively?
Planning in an Uncanny World: Australian Urban Planning in an International Context (RTPI Library Series)
by Nicholas A. Phelps Judy Bush Anna HurlimannThis book places Australian conditions and urban planning centrally within comparative analysis of planning systems and cultures around the world to address issues including urban governance, climate change, transportation planning, regional development and migration planning. Australian urban conditions and their associated planning responses can and often have been seen as unique or exceptional. They are seldom discussed in the same breath as conditions and associated planning systems internationally. Yet, as well as being somewhat different from those elsewhere in the world, Australian urban conditions and planning responses are also somewhat similar. They are uncanny – strangely familiar yet unfamiliar. In this book, Australian urban conditions, and their planning policies and practices are informally compared and contrasted with those existing internationally. If Australian urban planning policy and practice have had limited influence internationally, the partial familiarity of challenges posed by its urban conditions ensure that Australia is a more important global reference point for scholarship and practice than commonly is appreciated. In this book the authors assert the potential and actual originality of urban planning scholarship arising from the Australian context. It will be useful for students and faculty, planners working in Australia, as well as anyone interested in international planning debates.
Planning in the Face of Power
by John ForesterThis book provides a systematic reformulation of the politics of professional practice in the arena of city planning, public policy making, and public administration and management. It has immediate implications for the study of administration and management and for students of administration and planning in schools of social work, education, and public health. While focusing concretely on problems of planning practice (e.g. planners' sources of influence, their difficulties of listening critically, their understandings of the politics of organizations), Planning in the Face of Power brings to bear a wide range of theoretical insights and so integrates social and political theory with the demands of actual practice. Accordingly, the book will be important to practitioners who seek to understand the pressures they face at work as well as social theorists who wish to integrate theory and practice more powerfully, but will also appeal to the general reader interested in gaining an understanding of the practice of planning in the face of the realities of social equality and power.
Planning in the USA: Policies, Issues, and Processes
by J. Barry Cullingworth Roger W. CavesExtensively revised and updated, Planning in the USA, fifth edition, continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to the policies, theory, and practice of planning. Outlining land use, urban planning, and environmental protection policies, this fully illustrated book explains the nature of the planning process and the way in which policy issues are identified, defined, and approached. The new edition incorporates new planning legislation and regulations at the state and federal layers of government and examples of local ordinances in a variety of planning areas. New material includes discussions of • education and equity in planning; • the City Beautiful Movement; • Daniel Burnham’s plan for Chicago; • segregation; • Knick v. Township of Scott; • reforming single-family zoning and regulatory challenges in zoning and land use; • Daniel Parolek’s ‘Missing Middle Housing’; • climate change, mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency; • the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan; • sharing programs for cars, bicycles, and scooters; • hybrid electric and autonomous vehicles; • Vision Zero; • COVID-19 relief for housing; • Innovation Districts, Promise Zones, and Opportunity Zones; • the sharing, gig, and creative economies; • scenic views and vistas, monuments, statues, and remembering the past; and • healthy cities, Health Impact Assessment, and active living. This detailed account of urbanization in the United States reveals the problematic nature and limitations of the planning process, the fallibility of experts, and the difficulties facing policy-makers in their search for solutions. Planning in the USA, fifth edition, is an essential book for students of urban planning, urban politics, environmental geography, and environment politics. It will be a valuable resource for planners and all who are concerned with the nature of contemporary urban and environmental problems.
Planning the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Mega Event Planning)
by Marie Delaplace Pierre-Olaf SchutThis book is the first volume to provide a comprehensive account of mega-event planning for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It offers a useful summary of the themes and debates relating to urban planning for the Paris Olympics, based on the results of a research programme (Observatory for Research on Mega-Event) funded by Gustave Eiffel University and Paris Est University and partly carried out with the organisers of the Games and their stakeholders. The authors address all aspects of the bidding process, the organisation of the Games and the construction of the social legacy of the Games.
Planning, Housing and Infrastructure for Smart Villages
by Sally Donovan Ray Green Hemanta DoloiSome 7.3 billion people currently live on the planet. Of these, 3.4 billion live in rural areas. In just a few regions—Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa—less than 50 per cent of poverty is now located in rural areas. But for the rest of the world's regions between 55 per cent and 80 per cent of the poor continue to live in the countryside. Progress is being made, but much of the knowhow needed is not disseminated outside of a small coterie of professionals who work in the area. With urban development attracting a great deal of attention lately, poorer rural areas deserve the same and new knowledge for empowerment of rural communities is urgently needed. This book provides an overview of current thinking and practices that have emerged over the last thirty years for uplifting rural communities in developing economies. Drawing on a body of knowledge across a spectrum of relevant disciplines, this book provides a range of innovative ideas for rural planning, housing and infrastructure development. Governments in many emerging economies, where rural poverty is often most acute, have attempted to improve livelihoods. Approaches and techniques that have been used for urban development are often not applicable to rural communities. Studies show that money allocated for rural development is often not effectively spent due to distance, lack of infrastructure, lack of education, poverty and other factors. Meanwhile, the gap in development between the city and country continues to grow, sometimes leading to social and political instability, in both developing and developed countries. This book seeks to provide a guidebook for meeting such challenges. Through in-depth enquiry of global practices and thinking about rural development, and selected case studies, the authors argue that careful consideration must be given to incorporating issues of resilience, resourcefulness and the involvement of communities at grassroots levels in realising the transformation of rural settlements into Smart Villages.
Planning, Markets and Hospitals
by John MohanImproving access to hospital services has been a goal of public policy in Britain for over seventy years, but the means by which this goal is to be attained have changed significantly over time. Drawing substantially on original research, lanning, Markets and Hospitals represents a systematic attempt to access the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of planning and coordination of hospital development.The period covered includes: services prior to 1948; wartime hospital policy; the successes and failures of the mixed economy of health care in the inter-war period; the national hospital plan of 1962 and ultimately the market based reforms of 1991 and the changes since.This book makes a fresh contribution to enduring debates about planning and regulation of health care, about the governance of welfare services and about the appropriate role for voluntary, commercial and charitable provision of services. It reinterprets previous histories of hospital policy and questions whether current policies will reconcile competing goals of equity and choice.
Planning, Sustainable Urbanisation and the Commonwealth: The Commonwealth Association of Planners, Past, Present and Future
by Cliff Hague Clive Harridge Bryce Julyan Ruiz Nik Ian TantBy 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will be living in the world’s towns and cities, almost 50% of them in the 56 Commonwealth countries. To a significant extent, the future of the planet hangs on how cities and human settlements are managed. It is in our cities that the emissions creating climate catastrophe are stoked and where change can – and must – make a difference at scale. Food security, water, basic services, migration, shelter, jobs, environment: sustainable urbanisation is about changing direction to strive for a fairer and less environmentally damaging future. This well-illustrated book by authors from around the Commonwealth tells how the Commonwealth Association of Planners across five decades has campaigned to make a difference. It also looks ahead, scoping the urgent, practical action that is now required.
Plans and the Structure of Behavior
by George A. Miller Eugene GalanterBy 1960, psychology had come to be dominated by behaviorism and learning theory, which emphasized the observable stimulus and response components of human and animal behavior while ignoring the cognitive processes that mediate the relationship between the stimulus and response. The cognitive phenomena occurring within the "black box" between stimulus and response were of little interest to behaviorists, as their mathematical models worked without them. In 1960, the book "Plans and the Structure of Behavior," authored by George A. Miller, Eugene Galanter, and Karl H. Pribram, was published. In this volume, Miller and his colleagues sought to unify the behaviorists' learning theory with a cognitive model of learned behavior. Whereas the behaviorists suggested that a simple reflex arc underlies the acquisition of the stimulus-response relationship, Miller and his colleagues proposed that "some mediating organization of experience is necessary" somewhere between the stimulus and response, in effect a cognitive process which must include monitoring devices that control the acquisition of the stimulus-response relationship. They named this fundamental unit of behavior the T.O.T.E. for "Test - Operate - Test - Exit".—Print ed.
Planting With Purpose: How Farmers Create a Resilient Food Landscape
by Stephen EllingsonExamines local food movement activism in a period of increasing climate chaos and neoliberal crisis, economic inequalities and political divisionsIn the face of numerous challenges, small-scale farming for local markets requires enormous courage and optimism. The decision to become a farmer often arises from a profound desire to uphold certain values and beliefs, driven by the moral and emotional motivations to contribute to a greater good.Central New York’s local food market draws a unique cohort of individuals who see farming as more than just a livelihood; it is a way to define a good life and contribute to the well-being of the society they cherish. Their moral order revolves around shared beliefs in sustainability and stewardship of the land, emphasizing health and risk management, cooperation over competition, and a deep sense of justice. For these farmers, relationships and family ties are foundational to their work, creating a strong sense of community within the local food system.This book delves into the captivating world of local food markets in a “Rust Belt” region of the state, where 51 individuals representing 45 different farms, restaurants, agricultural non-profits, and local food retailers share their inspiring stories through conversations and interviews. Author Stephen Ellingson explores the intricate web of moral commitments, self-understandings, and emotional experiences that drive and sustain small-scale farming for the local food market. By amplifying the voices of these unsung heroes, it gives recognition to the crucial role they play in society and offers important insights into the values that underpin their contributions to the local food system.
Platform Urbanism: Negotiating Platform Ecosystems in Connected Cities (Geographies of Media)
by Sarah BarnsThis book reflects on what it means to live as urban citizens in a world increasingly shaped by the business and organisational logics of digital platforms. Where smart city strategies promote the roll-out of internet of things (IoT) technologies and big data analytics by city governments worldwide, platform urbanism responds to the deep and pervasive entanglements that exist between urban citizens, city services and platform ecosystems today. Recent years have witnessed a backlash against major global platforms, evidenced by burgeoning literatures on platform capitalism, the platform society, platform surveillance and platform governance, as well as regulatory attention towards the market power of platforms in their dominance of global data infrastructure. This book responds to these developments and asks: How do platform ecosystems reshape connected cities? How do urban researchers and policy makers respond to the logics of platform ecosystems and platform intermediation? What sorts of multisensory urban engagements are rendered through platform interfaces and modalities? And what sorts of governance challenges and responses are needed to cultivate and champion the digital public spaces of our connected lives.
Platformization and Informality: Pathways of Change, Alteration, and Transformation (Dynamics of Virtual Work)
by Ursula Huws Aditi SurieIn this edited volume, scholars from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jakarta, Cape Town, Sao Paulo and other cities of the global South explore the complex relationship between platformization and informality through a different lens. Drawing on extensive theoretical, quantitative and qualitative scholarship, they provide both a useful overview and insights into the lived realities of gig work for platforms covering a range of skills, working conditions, and forms of algorithmic management. Platform work has attracted considerable attention from scholars in the global North, who have tended to view it as a form of casualisation of work that was previously regulated. But what about the global South, where most employment, especially that of women and migrant workers was historically already informal?Beyond a focus on livelihoods, employment, and work, the authors show how labour platforms take on powers that bring about broader impacts, including those affecting identity and personal wellbeing. They also illustrate the impact of platformization on the governance of affected sectors by public agencies, thus affecting political power, and how public data infrastructures contribute to further platformization. The purpose of this pioneering work is to lay bare these interactions to then rebuild our understanding of platformization and its social, political, cultural and economic impacts. Its insights are attentive to gender and ethnic differences, as well as geographical ones.
Plato Etc: Problems of Philosophy and their Resolution (Classical Texts in Critical Realism (Routledge Critical Realism))
by Roy BhaskarIn this concise text, Roy Bhaskar sets out to diagnose, explain and resolve the "problems of philosophy". Plato Etc. reviews all the main areas of the subject: the theory of knowledge and philosophy of science; the philosophy of logic and language; the philosophies of space, time and causality; the philosophy of the social and life sciences and of dialectic; ethics, politics and aesthetics; and the history and sociology of philosophy. Among the issues discussed are the problems of induction and universals, the question of relativism, Heidegger’s "scandal of philosophy" (the search for a proof of the reality of the external world), the nature of moral truth and the conundrum of free will and determinism. The last two chapters consist of a synoptic account of the development of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratics to poststructuralism. Plato Etc. seeks to revindicate the philosophical project, and to demonstrate that the author’s "dialectical critical realism" has the categorical power to remedy the problem fields of philosophy. The book serves both as a critical introduction to philosophy and as an invaluable resource for the scholar.
Plato and Education (Routledge Library Editions: Education)
by Robin BarrowThis introduction to Plato’s philosophical and educational thought examines Plato’s views and relates them to issues and questions that occupy philosophers of education. Robin Barrow stresses the relevance of Plato today, while introducing the student both to Plato’s philosophy and to contemporary educational debate. In the first part of the book the author examines Plato’s historical background and summarizes the Republic. Successive chapters are concerned with the critical discussion of specific educational issues. He deals with questions relating to the impartial distribution of education, taking as a starting point Plato’s celebrated dictum that unequals should be treated unequally. He examines certain methodological concepts such as ‘discovery-learning’ and ‘play’ and also raises the wider question of children’s freedom. He looks critically at the content of the curriculum and discusses Plato’s theory of knowledge and attitude to art. Finally Robin Barrow discusses Plato’s view of moral education and the related problem of what constitutes moral indoctrination
Plato, Utilitarianism and Education (International Library of the Philosophy of Education Volume 3)
by Robin BarrowThree lines of argument are central to this book: that Plato's views as expounded in the Republic indicate that he was a utilitarian; that utilitarianism is the only acceptable ethical theory; that these conclusions have significant repercussions for education. Throughout the book the exposition of utilitarianism and the interpretation of the Republic are closely linked. The author assesses the nature of recent Platonic criticism and provides a critical summary of the Republic. He expounds and defends utilitarianismn and examines in greater depth the consequences for education of accepting a utilitarian position, showing how, for example, from this standpoint such key terms in educational debate as 'autonomy' and 'self-development' must be reassessed as educational objectives.
Plato: Images, Aims, And Practices Of Education (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Avi I. MintzThis book opens by providing the historical context of Plato’s engagement with education, including an overview of Plato’s life as student and educator. The author organizes his discussion of education in the Platonic Corpus around Plato’s images, both the familiar – the cave, the gadfly, the torpedo fish, and the midwife – and the less familiar – the intellectual aviary, the wax tablet, and the kindled fire. These educational images reveal that, for Plato, philosophizing is inextricably linked to learning; that is, philosophy is fundamentally an educational endeavor. The book concludes by exploring Plato’s legacy in education, discussing the use of the “Socratic method” in schools and the Academy’s foundational place in the history of higher education. The characters in Plato’s dialogues often debate – sometimes with great passion – the purpose of education and the nature of learning. The claims about education in the Platonic corpus are so provocative, nuanced, insightful, and controversial that educational philosophers have reckoned with them for millennia.
Platons grotesker Irrtum
by Gunter DueckSeit 2005 schreibt der Bestsellerautor Gunter Dueck auf seiner Hompepage www.omnisophie.com alle 14 Tage ein neues "Daily Dueck". Mehr als 5000 Stammleser finden dort Satirisches, Ergötzliches oder auch herb Kritisches. Der Band versammelt die ersten 99 "Daily Duecks" für diejenigen, die lieber ein Buch in den Händen halten möchten. Dueck warnte schon früh vor der Finanzkrise, er schreibt witzige oder ätzend scharfe Pointen über Heuschrecken, treudoofe Bestandskunden, Arbeitsstress und Werteverluste und wirbt für mehr Vertrauen im Arbeitsleben.
Plattformökonomik (Studienwissen kompakt)
by Henrique SchneiderDieses Lehrbuch führt kompakt und präzise in die Grundlagen der Plattformökonomik ein. Plattformen sind strukturierte Geschäftsmodelle, die solide in der ökonomischen Theorie verankert sind. Das Buch zeigt auf, wie Plattformen funktionieren, indem es auf die Ökonomik der Bestandteile dieser Geschäftsmodelle eingeht. Es ist praxisorientiert geschrieben und enthält zahlreiche Beispiele, Fallstudien, Experimente und Übungsaufgaben, um vor allem Studierenden im Bachelorstudium die Plattformökonomie praxisnah zu vermitteln. Gleichzeitig befähigt es dazu, Elemente der Plattform-Geschäftsmodelle praxisorientiert zu anzuwenden. Es eignet sich damit sowohl als Unterlage für Vorlesungen und Seminare als auch für eine praxisorientierte Ausbildung etwa in Akademien oder innerbetrieblich.Zusätzliche Fragen per App: Laden Sie die Springer-Nature-Flashcards-App kostenlos herunter und nutzen Sie exklusives Zusatzmaterial, um Ihr Wissen zu prüfen.
Play
by Stuart Brown Christopher VaughanRead Stuart Brown's posts on the Penguin Blog. From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our happiness and intelligence throughout our lives We've all seen the happiness on the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. We are designed by nature to flourish through play. Dr. Brown has spent his career studying animal behavior and conducting more than six- thousand "play histories" of humans from all walks of life-from serial murderers to Nobel Prize winners. Backed by the latest research, Play (20,000 copies in print) explains why play is essential to our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity, ability to problem solve and more. Particularly in tough times, we need to play more than ever, as it's the very means by which we prepare for the unexpected, search out new solutions, and remain optimistic. A fascinating blend of cutting-edge neuroscience, biology, psychology, social science, and inspiring human stories of the transformative power of play, this book proves why play just might be the most important work we can ever do.
Play (Reflections)
by Marc Malmdorf AndersenA short but engaging look at why play is so important for people of all ages and how it can help us become better, more creative adults.In Play, Marc Malmdorf Andersen argues that playing is not just for kids and the young at heart. He explains how it is something of a scientific process, and how tinkering with one hare-brained idea after another can help us become better, more creative adults. When we play, we develop trust and intimacy, solve problems, and explore our own minds and the world around us. Malmdorf Andersen charts the evolution of play and evaluates the research in developmental psychology and biology that supports his claim. By defining different types of play, he reveals the close relationships between play and learning and between creativity and innovation.ReflectionsIn Reflections, a series copublished with Denmark's Aarhus University Press, scholars deliver 60-page reflections on a key concept that encapsulates their years of study and research. These books present unique insights on a wide range of topics and concepts—everything from love, trust, and play to corruption, welfare, and sleep—that entertain and enlighten readers with exciting discoveries and new perspectives.
Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot
by Julian DibbellPlay Moneyexplores a remarkable new phenomenon that's just beginning to enter public consciousness: MMORPGs, or Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Games, in which hundreds of thousands of players operate fantasy characters in virtual environments the size of continents. With city-sized populations of nearly full-time players, these games generate their own cultures, governments, and social systems and, inevitably, their own economies, which spill over into the real world. The desire for virtual goods--magic swords, enchanted breastplates, and special, hard-to-get elixirs--has spawned a cottage industry of "virtual loot farmers": People who play the games just to obtain fantasy goods that they can sell in the real world. The best loot farmers can make between six figures a year and six figures amonth. Play Moneyis an extended walk on the weird side: a vivid snapshot of a subculture whose denizens were once the stuff of mere sociological spectacle but now--with computer gaming poised to eclipse all other entertainments in dollar volume, and with the lines between play and work, virtual and real increasingly blurred--look more and more like the future.
Play Nice: Playground Rules for Respect in the Workplace (The Sandbox Series)
by Brigitte Gawenda Kimichik JR TomlinsonAn accessible guide to understanding what qualifies as sexual harassment and how to combat it, using the simple rules children learn on the playground.One of today’s most hotly discussed topics is sexual harassment in the workplace: what it looks like, how to prevent it, and what to do about it. So many people don’t realize that they have been victims of sexual harassment or that they have a right to speak up and demand different treatment. Many don’t realize that they are committing it, thanks certain behaviors being dismissed, forgiven, or ignored for many years when they should have been corrected long ago. In the heat of today’s #MeToo movement, Brigitte Gawenda Kimichik, JD, and J.R Tomlinson take things back to basics by applying the rules we all learned on the playground to the modern-day workplace, thus making clear to everyone what is and what isn’t OK.Play Nice: Playground Rules for Respect in the Workplace is an indispensable resource—both for empowering those who wish to reassert their boundaries and for teaching allies how to help in this fight.Praise for Play Nice“Chock full of smart, strategic advice to help anyone suffering from toxic behavior in the workplace. When you finish this book, you will realize that equal rights for women is not some far-off ideal but a reality that that soon can be achieved.” —Skip Hollandsworth, Executive Editor, Texas Monthly“For real change to occur, it is imperative that we all start holding ourselves responsible for ensuring everyone is treated respectfully. Play Nice is a giant step in the right direction. This book should be mandatory reading for all organizations and parents.” —Vanessa FoxCorp. VP, Chief Development Officer, Jack in the Box“This is a must-read for any human resources executive, any woman embarking on her professional career, and any bystander (male or female) who is not sure what to do when faced with bad behavior.” —Joel L. Ross, former General Counsel of Trammell Crow Company and retired partner of Vinson & Elkins LLP
Play Reconsidered: Sociological Perspectives on Human Expression
by Thomas S. HenricksUnderstanding the significance of adult play in the life of modern societies Within the social sciences, few matters are as significant as the study of human play--or as neglected. In Play Reconsidered, rather than viewing play simply as a preoccupation of the young and a vehicle for skill development, Thomas S. Henricks argues that it’s a social and cultural phenomenon of adult life, enveloped by wider structures and processes of society. In that context, he argues that a truly sociological approach to play should begin with a consideration of the largely overlooked writings on play and play-related topics by some of the classic sociological thinkers of the twentieth century. Henricks explores Karl Marx’s analysis of creativity in human labor, examines Emile Durkheim’s observations on the role of ritual and the formation of collective consciousness, extends Max Weber’s ideas about the process of rationalization to the realm of expressive culture and play, surveys Georg Simmel’s distinctive approach to sociology and sociability, and discusses Erving Goffman’s focus on human conduct as process and play as “encounter.” These and other discussions of the contributions of more recent sociologists are framed by an initial consideration of Johan Huizinga’s famous challenge to understand the nature and significance of play. In a closing synthesis, Henricks distinguishes play from other forms of human social expression, particularly ritual, communitas, and work.
Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine
by George DohrmannEight years of unfettered access, a keen sense of a story's deepest truths, and a genuine compassion for his subject allow Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Dohrmann to take readers inside the machine that produces America's basketball stars. Hoop dreams aren't just for players. The fever that grips college basketball prospects hoping to strike big-time NBA gold afflicts coaches, parents, and sneaker executives as well. Every one of them has a stake in keeping America's wildly dysfunctional, incredibly lucrative youth basketball machine up and running--no matter the consequences. In Play Their Hearts Out, George Dohrmann offers an up-close and unforgettable look inside the maw of that machine. He shares what he learned from his years spent embedded with a group of talented young recruits from Southern California as they traveled the country playing in elite Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) events. It's a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. Coaches vie to have them on their teams. Sneaker companies ply them with free shoes and gear. "All-star camps" are glorified cattle auctions, providing make-or-break opportunities to secure the promise of an elusive college scholarship. At the book's heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious AAU coach with a master plan to find and promote "the next LeBron"--thereby paving his own path to power and riches; and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller's sway and struggles to live up to the unrealistic expectations his supposed benefactor has set for him. As their fortunes take shape and the pressure mounts--Demetrius finds himself profiled in Sports Illustrated at age fourteen, while Keller cultivates his business empire--Dohrmann weaves in the stories of numerous other parents, coaches, and players. Some of them see their prospects evaporate as a result of poor decisions and worse luck. Others learn how to thrive in a corrupt system by playing the right angles. Written with incomparable detail and insight, Play Their Hearts Out is a thoroughly unique narrative that reveals the inner workings of an American game, exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.From the Hardcover edition.