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Victorian Bestseller: The Life of Dinah Craik
by Karen BourrierWhen novelist Dinah Craik (1826–87) died, expressions of grief came from Lord Alfred Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, T.H. Huxley, and James Russell Lowell, among others, and even Queen Victoria picked up her pen to offer her consolation to the widower. Despite Craik’s enormous popularity throughout a literary career that spanned forty years, she is now all but forgotten. Yet, in an otherwise respectable life bookended by scandal, this was precisely the way that she wanted it. Victorian Bestseller is the first book to relate the story of Dinah Craik’s remarkable life. Combining extensive archival work with theoretical work in disability studies and the professionalization of women’s authorship, Karen Bourrier engagingly traces the contours of this author’s life. Craik, who wrote extensively about disability in her work, was no stranger to it in her personal and professional life, marked by experiences of mental and physical disability, and the ebb and flow of health. Following scholarship in the ethics of care and disability studies, the book posits Craik as an interdependent subject, placing her within a network of writers, publishers, editors and artists, friends, and family members. Victorian Bestseller also traces the conditions in the material history of the book that allowed Victorian women writers’ careers to flourish. In doing so, the biography connects corporeality, gender, and the material history of the book to the professionalization of Victorian women’s authorship.
On the High Wire
by Philippe Petit“On the High Wire is fascinating to read. You will learn about the man, his work, his passion, his tenacity and lucidity” (Marcel Marceau) In this poetic handbook, written when he was just twenty-three, the world-famous high-wire artist Philippe Petit offers a window into the world of his craft. Petit masterfully explains how preparation and self-control contributed to such feats as walking between the towers of Notre Dame and the World Trade Center. Addressing such topics as the rigging of the wire, the walker’s first steps, his salute and exercises, and the work of other renowned high-wire artists, Petit offers us a book about the ecstasy of conquering our fears and reaching for the stars.
Star Spangled Scandal: Sex, Murder, and the Trial that Changed America
by Chris DeRoseThe year is 1859 and Congressman Daniel Sickles and his beautiful wife Teresa are the toast of Washington, D.C. society. President James Buchanan is godfather to their daughter. Philip Barton Key, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (and the son of Francis Scott Key), is one of the couple’s closest friends—so close, in fact, that he often escortes the beautiful Mrs. Sickles to social events when the congressman is too busy. Revelers in D.C. are accustomed to the sight of the congressman’s wife with the tall, Apollo-like Philip Barton Key, who is considered “the handsomest man in all Washington society… foremost among the popular men of the capital.” Then one day Congressman Daniel Sickles receives an anonymous note about his wife and Key, setting into motion a tragic course of events that culminates in a bloody confrontation in the street that leaves one man dead and the other charged with murder. This is the riveting true story of the murder and historic trial that shocked 19th century America, now brought to vivid life by historian Chris DeRose with the help of Mrs. Sickles’ writings and other primary sources.
The Not Good Enough Mother
by Sharon LambA psychologist who evaluates the fitness of parents when their children have been removed from their custody finds herself reassessing her own mothering when her son falls victim to the opioid crisis.Psychologist and expert witness Dr. Sharon Lamb evaluates parents, particularly in high-stakes cases concerning the termination of parental rights. The conclusions she reaches can mean that some children are returned home from foster homes. Others are freed for adoption. Well-trained, Lamb generally can decide what's in the best interests of the child. But when her son's struggle with opioid addiction comes to light, she starts to doubt her right to make judgments about other mothers.As an expert, a professor, and a mother, Lamb gives voice to the near impossible standards demanded by a society prone to blame mothers when anything befalls their children. She describes vividly the plight of individual parents, mothers in particular, struggling with addiction and mental illness and trying to make stable homes for their kids amid the economic and emotional turmoil of their lives--all in the context of the opioid epidemic that has ravaged her home state of Vermont. In her office, during visits with their children, and in the family court, the parents we meet wait anxiously for Lamb's verdict: Have they turned their lives around under child welfare's watchful eye? Do they understand their children's needs? In short, are they good enough? But what is good enough? Lamb turns that question on herself in the midst of her gradual realization of her son's opioid addiction. Amazed at her own denial, feeling powerless to help him, Lamb confronts the heartache she can bring into the lives of others and her power to tear families apart.
100 Times: A Memoir of Sexism
by Chavisa WoodsShirley Jackson Award-winning author and three-time Lambda Finalist, Chavisa Woods presents one hundred personal stories of sexism, harassment, discrimination, and assault.Recounting her experiences with sexist discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual violence—beginning in childhood, through the present—Woods lays out clear and unflinching personal vignettes that build in intensity as the number of times grows. Individually, and especially taken as a whole, these stories amount to powerful proof that sexual violence and discrimination are never just one-time occurrences, but part of a constant battle all women face every day.In these extraordinary pages, sexual violence and sexist discrimination occur regardless of age, in all spheres of society, in rural and urban areas alike, in the US and abroad, from Woods' youth through adulthood. Demonstrating how often people are conditioned to endure sexism and harassment, and how thoroughly men feel entitled to women’s spaces and bodies, 100 Times forces the reader to witness the myriad ways in which sexism and misogyny continuously shape women’s lives, and are built-in facets of our society.
The Journal I Did Not Keep: New and Selected Writing
by Lore Segal"Segal is a monumental writer, one of the finest of her generation; this lovely collection is a fine introduction to her work."—Kirkus Reviews A DEFINITIVE COLLECTION FROM ONE OF AMERICA'S FINEST WRITERS—INCLUDING NEW AND NEVER-BEFORE-COLLECTED WORK From the award-winning New Yorker writer comes this essential volume spanning almost six decades. Admired for “a voice unlike any other” (Cynthia Ozick) and a style both “wry and poignant” (The New Yorker), Lore Segal is a master literary stylist. This volume collects some of her finest work—including new and uncollected writing—and selections from her novels, stories, and essays. From her very first story—which appeared in The New Yorker in 1961—to today, Segal’s voice has been unique in contemporary American literature: Hilarious and urbane, heartbreaking and profound, keen and utterly unsentimental. Segal has often used her own biography as both subject and inspiration: At age ten she was sent on the Kindertransport from Vienna to England to escape the Nazi invasion of Austria; grew up among English foster families; and eventually made her way to the United States. This experience was the impetus for her first novel, Other People’s Houses, and one that she has revisited throughout her career. From that beginning, Segal’s writing has ranged widely across form as well as subject matter. Her flawless prose and light touch belie the rigor and intelligence she brings to her art—qualities that were not missed by the New York Times reviewer who pointedly observed, “though it was not written by a man . . . Segal may have come closer than anyone to writing The Great American Novel.” With this volume comes a long-awaited career retrospective of an important American Writer.
Just Another Kid: Each Was A Child No One Could Reach... Until One Amazing Teacher Embraced Them All
by Torey Hayden"Just Another Kid is not just another book. This remarkable teacher's memoir reminds us that love takes many forms." -The New York TimesFrom the bestselling author of One Child comes the true story of six children impossible to reach and the amazing teacher who embraced them all.Torey Hayden faced six emotionally troubled kids no other teacher could handle—three recent arrivals from battle-torn Northern Ireland, badly traumatized by the horrors of war; eleven-year-old Dirkie, who only knew of life inside an institution; excitable Mariana, aggressive and sexually precocious at the age of eight; and seven-year-old Leslie, perhaps the most hopeless of all, unresponsive and unable to speak.With compassion, rare insight, and masterful storytelling, teacher Torey Hayden once again touches our hearts with her account of the miracles that can happen in her class of “special” children.
The Last Leonardo: The Secret Lives of the World's Most Expensive Painting
by Ben LewisAn epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million—and might not be the real thing. In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is “the rarest thing on the planet.” Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world’s most expensive painting. <P><P>For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early sixteenth century. But where was the original by the master himself? <P><P>In November 2017, Christie’s auction house announced they had it. But did they? The Last Leonardo tells a thrilling tale of a spellbinding icon invested with the power to make or break the reputations of scholars, billionaires, kings, and sheikhs. Ben Lewis takes us to Leonardo’s studio in Renaissance Italy; to the court of Charles I and the English Civil War; to Amsterdam, Moscow, and New Orleans; to the galleries, salerooms, and restorer’s workshop as the painting slowly, painstakingly emerged from obscurity. <P><P>The vicissitudes of the highly secretive art market are charted across six centuries. It is a twisting tale of geniuses and oligarchs, double-crossings and disappearances, in which we’re never quite certain what to believe. Above all, it is an adventure story about the search for lost treasure, and a quest for the truth.
Sport And The Color Line: Black Athletes And Race Relations In Twentieth-Century America
by Patrick Miller David WigginsThe year 2003 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of W.E.B. Du Bois' "Souls of Black Folk," in which he declared that "the color line" would be the problem of the twentieth century. Half a century later, Jackie Robinson would display his remarkable athletic skills in "baseball's great experiment." Now, "Sport and the Color Line" takes a look at the last century through the lens of sports and race, drawing together articles by many of the leading figures in Sport Studies to address the African American experience and the history of race relations. <P><P> The history of African Americans in sport is not simple, and it certainly did not begin in 1947 when Jackie Robinson first donned a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform. The essays presented here examine the complexity of black American sports culture, from the organization of semi-pro baseball and athletic programs at historically black colleges and universities, to the careers of individual stars such as Jack Johnson and Joe Louis, to the challenges faced by black women in sports. <P><P>What are today's black athletes doing in the aftermath of desegregation, or with the legacy of Muhammad Ali's political stance? The essays gathered here engage such issues, as well as the paradoxes of corporate sport and the persistence of scientific racism in the athletic realm.
I Stand
by Pam Morgan Brenda BlackAt age 32, Pam Morgan was living her dream. Her career in gospel music was gaining national attention, and at home she was mommy to two beautiful daughters, age five years and twenty-one months. Then without warning, her life turned upside-down. A tragic car accident crushed her dream, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down. Unable to feel or move most of her body, doctor s said she would spend the rest of her life in bed or a wheelchair. With the help of her loyal husband, family, and friends, Pam never gave up hope. Countless cards and e-mails assured her that people all over the world were praying for her complete healing. Three weeks later, a tiny flicker of her toe astounded doctors, but the specialists agreed, only a miracle would bring her back to her feet... Pam's incredible story has inspired international audiences on Oprah, Montel, The 700 Club, and Only a Miracle. Now for the first time, Pam shares the complete account of the heartache and triumph during her amazing return from total paralysis to full-time concert ministry. Her shining example reflects unshakable faith and deep-rooted joy through a life fully dependent on Christ.
Emilia Pardo Bazán (Colección Españoles Eminentes #Volumen)
by Isabel BurdielIsabel Burdiel restituye la figura de la novelista española por excelencia, personalidad clave del siglo XIX. Emilia Pardo Bazán, una de las grandes novelistas del siglo XIX europeo, extraordinariamente popular y traducida en vida a numerosas lenguas, contribuyó de manera decisiva (como Clarín, Galdós y otros grandes de su época) al cambio de registro novelístico y a la construcción de la esfera cultural y del canon literario decimonónicos. Insertó abiertamente en la discusión pública la condición de las mujeres y sus derechos, con un enfoque tan moderno que no tiene igual entre las grandes escritoras del momento. Intelectual respetada, polémica y vituperada, excelente empresaria de sí misma, notable periodista, crítica e historiadora de la literatura -entre otras muchas facetas-. Se casó, tuvo hijos, se separó discretamente y vivió varias relaciones amorosas, entre ellas una célebre e intensa con Benito Perez Galdós. Fue una mujer repleta de contradicciones estéticas, emocionales y políticas que se sintió a la vez cosmopolita, europea e intensamente nacionalista española; reaccionaria y progresista; excéntrica y subversiva y amante del orden. Su su personalidad resulta tan contundente como esquiva y difícil de aprehender. El gran logro de Isabel Burdiel es dar cuenta magistralmente de esa multiplicidad, conectando y distinguiendo lo que escribió y lo que vivió, rastreando sus paradojas, sus decisiones, sus dudas, sus méritos y limitaciones, sus victoria, sus derrotas y, sobre todo, sus preguntas, que resuenan hoy "con una intensidad intelectual y emocional que la hacen plenamente contemporánea". ESPAÑOLES EMINENTES:Esta colección la forman una serie de biografías de destacadas personalidades españolas que por su excelencia moral o humanística destacaron en su época y siguen teniendo vigencia en la conciencia colectiva. Con ella se pretende analizar la historia de la cultura española a la luz de la ejemplaridad de determinados nombres que carecen todavía de una biografía verdaderamente moderna. El propósito es hacer una aportación real a este género y contribuir al conocimiento de nuestra historia a la vez que se traza la trayectoria de fi guras que por sus méritos sobresalientes y su general reconocimiento pueden ejercer una influencia vertebradora en la sociedad actual. La crítica ha dicho...«Isabel Burdiel elabora una biografía política, espléndidamente tramada, profunda y rica en detalles, y ofrece un gran fresco de un tiempo en el que el liberalismo doblegó a la Corona hasta obligarla a reconocer la necesidad de un compromiso con el Parlamento.»Santos Juliá, Babelia, sobre Isabel II «Isabel Burdiel disecciona ese periodo apasionante con rigor, atención a los detalles y a la complejidad de los hechos y un estilo que engancha, algo muy de agradecer.»Ángel Vivas, El Mundo, sobre Isabel II «Isabel Burdiel ha completado la obra de recuperación del personaje, que le ha venido ocupando en los últimos años. Y con su sensibilidad de historiadora y su nervio narrativo, nos ha devuelto una Isabel II mucho más comprensible, mucho más cercana, y muy alejada de caricaturas distorsionadoras y llenas de bajezas que aún circulan por muchos libros de supuesta historia.»Octavio Ruíz-Manjón, El Cultural de El Mundo, sobre Isabel II
The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna
by C. W. GortnerFor readers of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir comes a dramatic novel of the beloved Empress Maria, the Danish girl who became the mother of the last Russian tsar. Even from behind the throne, a woman can rule.Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women, who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in its final years. Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage—as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir, Alexander, and once he ascends the throne, becomes empress. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie—now called Maria—must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love. Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has led her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache. From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it.Advance praise for The Romanov Empress“Through the voice of Maria, [C. W.] Gortner succeeds in adding a new perspective to the well-known story of Nicholas, Alexandra, and Rasputin. As a sister, wife, mother, and empress, she is a fierce and dynamic narrator.”—Library Journal “Gortner, an experienced hand at recreating the unique aura of a particular time and place, will deftly sweep historical-fictions fans into this glamorous, turbulent, and ultimately tragic chapter in history.”—Booklist (starred review)
Mean
by Myriam Gurba“A painfully timely story . . . an artful memoir . . . a powerful, vital book about damage and the ghostly afterlives of abuse.” —Los Angeles Review of Books True crime, memoir, and ghost story, Mean is the bold and hilarious tale of Myriam Gurba’s coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Gurba takes on sexual violence, small towns, and race, turning what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. This is a confident, intoxicating, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, and homophobia deadly seriously. We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom and from those who would chop off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs and institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty. Being rude to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being a bitch is more exhilarating . . . “Mean calls for a fat, fluorescent trigger warning start to finish—and I say this admiringly. Gurba likes the feel of radioactive substances on her bare hands.” —The New York Times “Gurba uses the tragedies, both small and large, she sees around her to illuminate the realities of systemic racism and misogyny, and the ways in which we can try to escape what society would like to tell us is our fate.” —Nylon “With its icy wit, edgy wedding of lyricism and prose, and unflinching look at personal and public demons, Gurba’s introspective memoir is brave and significant.” —Kirkus Reviews “Mean will make you LOL and break your heart.” —The Millions
Never a Lovely So Real: The Life And Work Of Nelson Algren
by Colin AsherThis definitive biography reclaims Nelson Algren as a towering literary figure and finally unravels the enigma of his disappearance from American letters. For a time, Nelson Algren was America’s most famous author, lauded by the likes of Richard Wright and Ernest Hemingway. Millions bought his books. Algren’s third novel, The Man with the Golden Arm, won the first National Book Award, and Frank Sinatra starred in the movie. But despite Algren’s talent, he abandoned fiction and fell into obscurity. The cause of his decline was never clear. Some said he drank his talent away; others cited writer’s block. The truth, hidden in the pages of his books, is far more complicated and tragic. Now, almost forty years after Algren’s death, Colin Asher finally captures the full, novelistic story of his life in a magisterial biography set against mid-twentieth-century American politics and culture. Drawing from interviews, archival correspondence, and the most complete version of Algren’s 886-page FBI file ever released, Colin Asher portrays Algren as a dramatic iconoclast. A member of the Communist Party in the 1930s, Algren used his writing to humanize Chicago’s underclass, while excoriating the conservative radicalism of the McCarthy era. Asher traces Algren’s development as a thinker, his close friendship and falling out with Richard Wright, and his famous affair with Simone de Beauvoir. Most intriguingly, Asher uncovers the true cause of Algren’s artistic exile: a reckless creative decision that led to increased FBI scrutiny and may have caused a mental breakdown. In his second act, Algren was a vexing figure who hid behind a cynical facade. He called himself a “journalist” and a “loser,” though many still considered him one of the greatest living American authors. An inspiration to writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Martha Gellhorn, Jimmy Breslin, Betty Friedan, Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLillo, Russell Banks, and Thomas Pynchon, Algren nevertheless struggled to achieve recognition, and died just as his career was on the verge of experiencing a renaissance. Never a Lovely So Real offers an exquisitely detailed, engrossing portrait of a master who, as esteemed literary critic Maxwell Geismar wrote, was capable of suggesting “the whole contour of a human life in a few terse pages.”
Rediscovering Travel: A Guide For The Globally Curious
by Seth KugelAn indispensable companion for rookie and veteran travelers alike that promises to revolutionize both how and why we vacation. By captivating millions during his six-year, fifty-country tenure as the New York Times’s “Frugal Traveler,” Seth Kugel has become one of our most internationally beloved travel writers. While his famously unassuming journeys around the globe have forged a signature philosophy of whimsy and practicality, they have also revealed the seemingly infinite booby traps of on-the-grid tourism. In a book with widespread cultural reverberations, Kugel takes the modern travel industry to task, determined to reignite humanity’s age-old sense of adventure that has virtually been vanquished by the spontaneity-obliterating likes of Google Maps, TripAdvisor, and Starwood points. Woven throughout with vivid tales of his perfectly imperfect adventures, Rediscovering Travel explains—often hilariously—how to make the most of new digital technologies without being shackled to them. For the tight-belted tourist and the first-class flyer, the eager student and the comfort-seeking retiree, Kugel shows how we too can rediscover the joy of discovery.
Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World
by Brooke McAlaryFree yourself from the frantic and embrace the joy of slow..."After reading this book, you'll have an amazing list of ingredients that can help you create a meaningful life, too!" —The Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus"Finally, a slow living guide for the imperfect folks . . . Brooke McAlary's exuberant, honest words are a refreshing contribution to the slow living community. If you're seeking a simpler path, start here." —Erin Loechner, Blogger at DesignforMankind.com and author of Chasing SlowAre you constantly striving to keep up with life's busy expectations? It's easy to feel consumed with the desire to "succeed" and "acquire", and miss the simple opportunities waiting for you to slow down: a walk in the forest, sharing laughter with family, a personal moment of gratitude...Once upon a time, it became clear to Brooke McAlary that the key to happiness was discovering a simpler, more fulfilling existence. She put the brakes on her stressful path, and reorganized her life to live outside the status-quo, emphasizing depth, connection and meaningful experiences. Alongside Brooke's affirming personal stories of breaking down and rising up, Slow provides practical advice and fascinating insights into the benefits and challenges of the slow life, such as: —Decluttering to de-owning—Messiness to mindfulness—Asking why, to asking where to now?Slow is an inspirational guide on creating a life filled with the things that really matter, and is meant for anyone seeking peace, meaning, and joy in their otherwise rapid lives. Slowly—of course.
American Military Life In The 21st Century: Social, Cultural, And Economic Issues And Trends
by Eugenia Weiss Carl CastroAmerican Military Life in the 21st Century <P><P> Social, Cultural, and Economic Issues and Trends <P><P> VOLUME 2: Life of Military Families, National Guardsmen and Reservists, and Veterans
All American: The Rise And Fall Of Jim Thorpe
by Bill Crawford"All American is riveting and grand-that rare pairing of exquisite writing and unassailable research. Crawford delivers you to an age when iconic titans like Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner marched across the planet, and he is the perfect guide to their enormous triumphs and tragedies. This is epic American history at its page-turning finest." <br>-Bill Minutaglio, author of City on Fire and First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty <P><P> He was the greatest football running back of his era, leading his Carlisle Indian Industrial School team to victory over all the great college powerhouses. King Gustav of Sweden called him "the greatest athlete in the world" after he won gold medals for the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games. Yet Jim Thorpe was also at the center of the greatest sports scandal of the twentieth century-a scandal that took away his Olympic medals and banned him forever from intercollegiate sports. <P><P> Now, in this revealing new biography, Bill Crawford captures Jim Thorpe's remarkable rise and fall. From his youth on Oklahoma's Sac and Fox Indian reservation to his astounding feats on the gridiron, from his Olympic triumphs to his complex relationship with coach "Pop" Warner, who mentored, exploited, and ultimately betrayed him, All American brings you up close and personal with the greatest athlete of the twentieth century.
American Military Life In The 21st Century: Social, Cultural, And Economic Issues And Trends
by Eugenia Weiss Carl CastroAmerican Military Life in the 21st Century <P><P> Social, Cultural, and Economic Issues and Trends <P><P> VOLUME I: Active Duty Life
Big Men, Little People: The Leaders Who Defined Africa
by Alec Russell<p>The Sixties were a heady time for Africans. All over the continent colonial flags were being lowered and Africans looked forward to freedom and a glittering future. But for most of the continent the last forty years have been a shattering experience. Since independence Africans have been terribly betrayed by the Europeans, the superpowers, and tragically, by their own leaders. <p>Can a new generation of leaders turn the tide? Will they learn from their predecessors' mistakes and fuel a new African renaissance? Or is Africa doomed to further decades of turmoil? <p>In this witty and informative book, Alec Russell answers these questions by telling the stories of his encounters with Africa's Big Men. Each one represents a theme which has shaped the continent: Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, the "King of Kleptocracy" whose staggering corruption crippled Zaire; Jonas Savimbi, the life-long guerrilla and symbol of the Cold War's destructive legacy on the continent; the quixotic Hastings Banda, the ultimate product of colonialism; and, of course, Nelson Mandela, symbol of reconciliation and hope for an entire continent. <p>By any measure, this has been a terrible century for Africa. However Russell detects signs of hope in the fledgling human rights troupe he encounters deep in the steamy heart of the Congolese jungle and in the group of journalists keeping Moi's tottering regime in Kenya on its toes. <p>Big Men, Little People is a vividly written portrait of a continent, which avoids the usual stereotypes and dire prophecies and entertains from start to finish.</p>
The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self
by Victoria PriceAfter a tumultuous period of crisis, Victoria Price rebuilt her life by embracing a daily practice of joy, healing childhood wounds and reconnecting to the example set by her father Vincent, the famed actor. Her journey involved stepping away from externalities and into her father's legacy — his love for people and compassion for others, his generosity of spirit and simple kindnesses, his enthusiasm for new experiences, and his love of life. "As I've gotten older, I've come to understand that every day, in everything we do, we have a choice — between expanding into our lives or contracting into our fears, into saying Yes! to life … or saying No," Victoria observes. This intimate and inspiring book shares the lessons learned from a powerful family heritage of remaining curious, giving back, and saying Yes. Join her as she shares the stories, experiences, and lessons that led her back to her truest self, including her lifesaving daily practice of joy."A brilliant account of finding and following one's inner light by a true pioneer that will help every reader do the same." — Mike Dooley, New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Possibilities and Notes from the Universe"In The Way of Being Lost, Victoria does what all of us wish to do — seek out her own relationship with spirituality and make the sacred a part of her everyday life, merely by observing the world around us in all its glory. Her writing shows the struggles of this way of being, but also its rewards." — Miranda McPherson, author of Meditations on Boundless Love "Too often we think that to lead a spiritual life requires doing everything right. That is not just a tall order, it is an erroneous one. Spirituality is about a quest for a home in love, which we will find when we finally listen to the call of our truest selves. As Victoria Price knows, this journey may come later than we hoped, but it bears the fruit of our life experience, and takes its own time to ripen. This beautiful recounting of Victoria's voyage shows us a path for discovering the Third Way and living it fully." — Fr. Richard Rohr, Founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation"In her inspiring memoir The Way of Being Lost, Victoria Price walks us all back home. A must read for anyone who dares to live a life of joy." — Rebecca Campbell, bestselling author of Light Is The New Black and Rise Sister Rise"The Way of Being Lost takes us on the most exquisite journey that one can take — the road home to one's true self … told through the particular lens of the author's life. Though it takes great courage to make this trip, the rewards are beyond measure. And in the case of The Way of Being Lost, the journey is beautifully told, universally relevant, and deeply meaningful." — Christiane Northrup, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Goddesses Never Age"Victoria Price's journey is a truly inspiring one. She looks both outward and inward to find joy all around her. She has been a close friend to me for years and I have always been moved by her story and thrilled that she is finally sharing it with the world." — Melissa Etheridge, Grammy®- and Oscar®-winning musician and activist"Victoria Price is a fighter — for her belief in a world that is connected by Love, and for her own connection to Joy. Her commitment to living as her truest self is an inspiration for us all — match point, Ms. Price." — Martina Navratilova, tennis player, activist, wife, parent, and author of Shape Yourself and other books"Heartfelt testimony of an arduous search for self-affirmation that will appeal to fellow seekers." — Kirkus Review
Outrageous: Rise to Riches (The Victoria Woodhull Saga #1)
by Victor Villaseñor Neal KatzWomen empowerment, overcoming adversity, social change, and hope were the cornerstones upon which Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927) and her younger sister Tennessee Celeste Claflin built their incredible lives in Victorian America. OUTRAGEOUS, Rise to Riches sets the psychological verity and traces Victoria from childhood poverty and horrific abuse to becoming one of the wealthiest women in America, founding the first women-owned brokerage firm on Wall Street, and the first women-owned newspaper. Victoria will stop at nothing to achieve her destiny. Neal Katz' debut novel, winner of 12 literary awards, is a historical fictionalized account of Victoria Woodhull's rise to presidential candidate and wealth, coming from poverty and abuse. Volume One of The Victoria Woodhull Saga tells the poignant, lascivious, and compelling inside story of how the sisters worked closely with Cornelius Vanderbilt, who at age 74 fell in love with the beguiling 24-year old Tennessee. Victoria provided the titan of industry "Inside Her Information" gathered through the soiled sisterhood, the ladies of the evening working at the top seven brothels servicing the rich and famous of New York City. This relationship resulted in the great lion of industry having his last public roar as together they manipulated the financial markets and created the impending collapse of the U.S. economy in the gold scandal of 1869. To avert the crash, President Ulysses S. Grant provides the richest man in America insider information on the gold market and telegrams Vanderbilt that his railroad company is "Too Big To Fail!" Vanderbilt was proclaimed "The Savior of the American Economy" for intervening in a crisis he helped create. View Victorian America through the eyes and thoughts of one of its leading heroines., Victoria Woodhull. Watch as the infighting and elitism of the earliest suffrage women denigrating, castigating, and denouncing other passionate suffrage rights women delayed woman suffrage and equal legal standing for five decades. Learn wonderful anecdotes of the origins of products and phrases used today. Learn the story of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the most popular man in America, who transformed Christianity from his father's "fire and brimstone" theology to one of a compassionate and loving Jesus, who will redeem all who turn to salvation with complete confession of their sins. The reverend's personal life did not imitate his lofty and popular theology of his weekly sermons at Plymouth Church. He was a notorious womanizer, often bedding, and sometimes impregnating the wives, sisters, and daughters of his most ardent trackers and deacons of the church. Written in the first person from Victoria's viewpoint, Neal Katz weaves a compelling page-turning story that cleverly unfolds history while providing a wonderfully entertaining ride.
Scandalous: Fame, Infamy, and Paradise Lost (The Victoria Woodhull Saga #2)
by Neal KatzSet in and around New York City in the early 19th Century, Victoria Woodhull and sister, Tennessee Celeste Claflin take the city by storm as they challenge morality, fashion, economics, social justice, and equal pay for equal work. Leveraging their wealth as the sisters become famous on the lecture circuit, they fight for women’s rights, suffrage and enter into the political arena as Victoria is nominated by the American Equal Rights Party to run for President of the United States and Tennessee runs for Congress. In this rags to riches saga, the reader experiences Historical Fiction at its best. Filled with facts, articles, and actual speeches by some of the most prominent figures of Victorian America, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Reverend Henry Ward Beecher “the Most Famous Man in America,” Cornelius Vanderbilt “the Richest Man in America,” J. P. Morgan, Frederick Douglass, Karl Marx, among others, the course of events lead to the “Trial of the Century,” and retribution. Scandalous engages the reader as the strong female leading characters change the course of history in America—at enormous personal and financial expense. Scandalous is Volume 2 of The Victoria Woodhull Saga. Volume 1, Outrageous: Rise to Riches earned twelve awards and high acclaim.
Hello, Stranger: My Life on the Autism Spectrum
by Barbara Moran Karl Williams“…Insights from a time when a young person with autism grew up in a world where nobody understood them!” – Temple Grandin, author, Thinking in PicturesBarbara Moran has never known how to be good.As a child, she made strange noises, fidgeted constantly, and licked her lips until they cracked. She had “upsets” that embarrassed and frustrated her family. Worse still, she developed friendships with inanimate objects—everything from roller skates to tables to an antique refrigerator—and became obsessed with images of cathedrals.She was institutionalized, analyzed, and marginalized, cast aside as not trying hard enough to fit in.But after almost forty years, Barbara was given an answer for her inability to be like, and to connect with, other people: autism.Hello, Stranger is the story of a misunderstood life that serves as an eye-opening call for compassion. Bracingly honest, Barbara describes the profound loneliness of being abandoned and judged while also expressing her deep yearning simply to be loved and to give love.Hello, Stranger is a challenge to every reader to see the beauty and the humanity present in every individual.“An extraordinary look at autism from the inside – by turns heartbreaking, uplifting, illuminating, witty, and wise.” – Steve Silberman, author, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity