julianrubinstein

[julianrubinstein]

Was Terrance Roberts -- former gang leader and co-leader of the Justice For Elijah McClain Movement -- attacked by police informants? COMING MAY 11 from @fsgbooks: THE HOLLY: Five Bullets, One Gun and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood. "An unforgettable tale you won’t hear in the mainstream media and a riveting wake-up call to activists, community organizers, and criminal justice advocates." See: thehollybook.com

[julianrubinstein]

My new book, The Holly, out May 11...

I wasn't sure I'd ever find a better story than that of Attila Ambrus, the so-called Whiskey Robber and subject of my first book. It took a while but eventually I did—in my hometown of Denver, Colorado, a place people remind me all the time they don't associate with gang violence, police informants, and undercover federal anti-gang operations. After seven years of work, my new book, The Holly—set in an invisible part of Denver where such forces are prevalent—will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on May 11.

Pre-publication reviews have been Starred notices from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist, which called The Holly “a shattering piece of investigative journalism about street gangs, race relations and law enforcement.”

The Holly is a multi-generational story of crime and gentrification, featuring a cast of interconnected characters—from gang members to elected officials to cops, billionaires, developers, activists and non-profit executives. It is a story that spans 50 years, ending in present day 2021, when the main character, the former gang leader turned activist Terrance Roberts, was arrested in a city park and charged with “inciting a riot” for his efforts at a peaceful protest he co-led as an organizer of the Justice for Elijah McClain movement.

Terrance currently faces prison time for these charges, as his story becomes legend in gang and activist communities. "We saw it in the past with Fred Hampton," Skipp Townsend, the LA-based anti-gang activist told me last week. "Terrance Roberts has become the new model for how the system will shut down the passionate movement for peace." Meanwhile violence in Denver, as across the country, soars despite heavily-funded efforts to stop it.

For reviews, blurbs, event info and more, please see: www.thehollybook.com

[julianrubinstein]

Lizzy recommends “Ballad of the Whiskey Robber” by Julian Rubinstein

This story is true but you will not believe it. It is also HILARIOUS! This is a story of an incompetent Robin Hood figure and his amazing adventures. READ IT!!!!

[julianrubinstein]

It's official, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber will be published in France and Quebec soon. Thanks to John Green, wherever you are; Editions Sonatine in Paris; and Attila Ambrus in Hungary. (Above, the French cover; Attila in disguise caught on surveillance camera before his last robbery; and behind glass during one of my visits to the prison.) http://johngreenbooks.com/nerdfighter-book-recommendations-a-gift-giving-guide-for-nerdfightastic-readers/ whiskeyrobber.com

[julianrubinstein]

James Blake singing Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" last night at the Englert Theater, Iowa City. #jamesblake #jonimitchell #englert #iowacity

[julianrubinstein]

My shaman Clemencia, just after she broke an egg over my head in her healing room in Peguche, Ecuador. "You are 100 percent stresses," she said. (For full story: travelandleisure.com/articles/true-adventures-in-ecuador) #healing #shaman #ecuador (at ecuador)

[julianrubinstein]

meanwhile today in gigante, nicaragua, un poco serie mundial. #beisbol #world series

[julianrubinstein]

Fifty seven years ago today, the 25 meter tall bronze statue of Stalin, in Varosliget, Budapest's city park, is pulled down by demonstrators with steel ropes and blow torches in the course of an hour. It was the beginning of the first communist revolution, Hungary's own "18 days," which ended with a line of Soviet tanks entering Budapest. More than 2,500 Hungarians were killed, along with 700 Soviets. The uprising remained an influential dissent against Soviet communist rule but was a crushing blow to the hopes of many. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians fled the country. More on the revolution in Ballad of the Whiskey Robber. (2nd two photos: Michael Rougier.) http://life.time.com/history/the-hungarian-revolution-of-1956-photos-from-the-streets-of-budapest/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#1

[julianrubinstein]

I was blown away by this infographic video on wealth distribution when it came out, and on second watching, I am still blown away. One stat: bottom 80 percent (80!) has 7 percent of wealth in the U.S. (Top 1 percent: 40.) If you haven't watched this yet, save it and watch later, great use of infographics, and ... well, see you in the gutter.

[julianrubinstein]

Happy 46th B-day, Attila Ambrus! (w/ prison release video)

Attila Ambrus is 46 years old today, and a free man. To celebrate the day, I figured I'd post the video of his walk to freedom last year after 12 years in prison. The hours leading up to that moment were probably the oddest of all the strange times I spent in Sátoraljaújhely, the little town on the Slovakian border, where I'd gone for years to visit him during and after I worked on the book. All day, fans of the "Whiskey Robber" roamed around town banging hockey sticks. Television trucks whizzed by, making laps to check both entrances of the prison, because the prison spokesman kept changing the time on us. First he said Attila was to be the following day at noon, then he said 3, then he said it would be after breakfast. I was holed up across the street in the Starlite hotel, eating spaetzle, drinking beer and trying to stay sane fielding calls from lawyers and agents in Los Angeles interested in the film rights. Having flown in from New York the day before, I was wiped out and probably snoring up a storm around 3 am when they let him free. Fortunately, a lot of fans and media were still awake and watching both of the gates. The following video was shot by Hungary's Origo, one of the online news portals. Attila and I met up in Budapest the following night. (Photos from that are on my site at www.whiskeyrobber.com)

[julianrubinstein]

Looking back at Maroon Bells, Aspen, from Echo Lake, in the shadow of the bells. #aspen #maroonbells

[julianrubinstein]

Extremists vs. extremists? Matthew Gonshaw is now banned from ever entering Scotland during the birding season for life, after his 51st conviction on charges of egg collecting. The once vaunted Jourdain Society has gone underground, its members communicating with each other using code numbers as aliases. Thanks to the New Yorker for publishing, and Byliner "collecting" it.

[julianrubinstein]

from the sea plane, off the coast of Tofino, Vancouver Island, bc

[julianrubinstein]

Operation Easter, from the New Yorker

          Mark Thomas (left) and Guy Shorrock keep watch on Britain’s egg obsessives. “These are not normal criminals,” Shorrock says. Photograph by Richard Barnes.

In this week’s issue, Julian Rubinstein goes inside England’s secretive network of people obsessed with accumulating and cataloguing the eggs of rare birds, and the investigators who are trying to catch them: http://nyr.kr/13FQbwt

[julianrubinstein]

Who is this masked man and why is he banned from entering Scotland during the birding season for life? Read about it in this week's issue of The New Yorker: Operation Easter.

[julianrubinstein]

Red Hook, May 8, 2013. Good thing I don't need my car.

[julianrubinstein]

Attila Ambrus's death a hoax

Rumors of Attila Ambrus's death are a hoax. Here's the article in Hungarian, can be translated with Google. http://www.parameter.sk/rovat/bulvar/2013/04/23/ambrus-attilanak-halalhiret-keltettek More on the story is at: www.whiskeyrobber.com

[photo: Hir24]