Words such as cardinal and scarlet can describe the same color but they take on markedly different meanings when we use them to consider the worth of a cardinal man or a scarlet woman. The comparison seems to conjure significantly more prejudice when we consider that a cardinal man is revered as righteous while a scarlet woman is reviled as wicked, particularly in terms of her sexual activity. In a similar way, by contrasting other pairs of words, we can see how they too invite discriminatory connotations in terms of what we value: Christian and pagan, crusade and jihad, highbrow and lowbrow, wizard and witch, right and left, white and black.

Riding the Rap

Elmore Leonard - Riding the Rap

This is the story of Harry, the ex-mobster who first appeared in "Pronto", who has been kidnapped by a raggle-taggle band of extortionists and ex-cons under the impression that he's richer than he really is.

Pagan Babies

Elmore Leonard - Pagan Babies

Father Terry Dunn thought he'd seen everything on the mean streets of Detroit, but that was before he went on a little retreat to Rwanda to evade a tax-fraud indictment. Now the whiskey-drinking, Nine Inch Nails T-shirt-wearing padre is back trying to hustle up a score to help the little orphans of Rwanda. But the fund-raising gets complicated when a former tattletale cohort pops up on Terry's tail.

Out of Sight

Elmore Leonard - Out of Sight

A prison break in South Florida brings together two different people--federal marshal Karen Sisco and bank robber Jack Foley--as their mutual fascination leads them to the heist of the year in Detroit and a confrontation with vici and brutal criminalsspecializing in home invasion.

How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like

Yale psychologist Paul Bloom presents a striking and thought-provoking new understanding of pleasure, desire, and value. The thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends more than four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents, and go to movies that make them cry.
Pleasure is anything but straightforward. Our desires, attractions, and tastes take us beyond the symmetry of a beautiful face, the sugar and fat in food, or the prettiness of a painting.