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Retired Firefighter Jake Covey is struggling to stayrelevant in both his personal and professional life. Professionally, he stays connected to the Newark Fire Department through the tax and accounting services he provides the myriad side businesses run by firefighters. Personally, he is in that in between stage of life. Not really parenting since his children are adults, but not yet a grandparent. When his son is slow on the draw and his daughter declares she is a lesbian, Jake is distraught. Then she announces a same sex marriage and says they both want to be biological mothers. Her mate is the daughter of a Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief. The two men meet, realize they can help choose the fathers of their grandchildren and begin a conspiracy. They face all the complications of people over 60 as they weave a web to persuade their daughters to consider their choices for fathers.

This book is an outgrowth of an oral history project of the Newark Fire Department begun in 1991. The men and women interviewed were appointed to the Fire Department between 1940 and 2016. They come from every section of the city and are from varying ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some of the childhood memories harken back to the 1920's. Every rank of the fire department is represented among those interviewed. Two of the interviewees served as Fire Director. Three served as Fire Chief. That being said, this is a story told by the common man. There are no politicians, no great movers of events, no celebrities, and certainly no wealthy elite included. The memories recounted are at street level recalling everyday life in New Jersey's most populous city from the 1920s to the 2020s.

Newark, NJ firefighters describe how they deployed to the World Trade Center the week of September 11, 2001, what they experienced while trying to help the FDNY deal with the disaster, and how doing so affected their health and lives.

Victoria Phaff is facing many problems. Even though it's the new millennium, her concerns are of the age old variety. She is a twenty-three year old Hapa, newly graduated from college, and heart broken. To distract herself and get some distance from a string of failed relationships, she goes to Taiwan to see her great-grandmother, A-zou. While there she unexpectedly finds herself caught in between three generations of Taiwanese women as secrets long suppressed are revealed. As the stories of her great-grandmother, her grandmother, and her mother are unwound, the tenacity and hopes of these women are passed onto the next generation. Vicki draws strength from these tales to grasp happiness for herself.

Why would anyone want to be a firefighter? If this question intrigues you, read on. This book will bring back personal memories to firefighters who read it. For those of you who are trying to understand why anyone would want to be a fireman, "Becoming a Firefighter" will introduce you to the special breed who quietly protect us everyday. Members of the NFD appointed from 1942 to 1978 recount their impressions of the city where most of them grew up. The why and how of getting on the job are remembered; as are training experiences, the make up of the department they joined, the hours they worked, and the salary they earned. Read the words of men from every rank of Newark's bravest as they tell of their efforts to get on "the best damn job in the world."

From Ahrens-Fox rigs with chain drives, open cabs, steering wheels on the right, and firefighters hanging on the back step to the air conditioned crew cabs of today, trucks used by the NFD are recalled by the men who drove them. The turnout gear worn to protect them while crawling through burning buildings is described, as is the evolution of the hose they pulled in with them. Members of the NFD appointed between 1942 and 1978 remember from the days of iron men and wooden ladders when masks were rarely worn to the present day. The evolution of rigs, turn-out gear, hose and nozzles, and ladders and tools is discussed, showing the steady progress of the fire service over the last half of the 20th century and into the new millennium. The only thing that hasn't changed through these decades is the dedication of firefighters.

Members of the Newark Fire Department were in a unique position to view the tragedy of the Newark riots as they unfolded around them. Their firehouses were part of the neighborhoods wracked by the rioting. Primarily based on interviews with Newark firefighters who lived through the disturbances, this book recounts the experiences of the men who responded to the pulled fireboxes, fought the fires, and endured the wrath of rioters. The view is at ground level, eye to eye with the disaster that engulfed Newark those four hot July nights in 1967. Included is an appendix containing the verbatim journal entries of twelve of the companies that responded to the fires and other emergencies handled by the NFD during the disturbances that July.

Dennis Carney is a fourteen year old high school freshman who loves baseball. When his mother mentions a vacation that could interfere with his summer baseball camp he responds unenthusiastically, needing the camp to ensure his place on the junior varsity team next year. He wonders if she'll ask his ten year old sister Millie her view. During the discussion, a glass of water slides out of his mother's hand, crashing to the floor. To Dennis and Millie, it looked as if their mother had purposely just let it go. Mom says it's just a broken glass and asks that they not mention it to their father who is at work in the firehouse. Den feels it's more than that, so he secretly texts his dad about what happened. This begins the family's roller coaster ride that comes after a diagnosis of MS.