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Motherland
by Chapman Fern Schumer"In 1938, just before they were killed by the Nazis, Frieda and Siegmund Westerfeld sent their twelve-year-old daughter, Edith, to live with relatives in America. Edith escaped the death camps but was left profoundly adrift, cut off from the culture of her homeland, its traditions - her entire identity. For decades she shut away her memories, unable even to sing a German lullaby to her children, until she realized that the void of tbe past was consuming her and her family. Then, with her daughter Fern Schumer Chapman - herself a pregnant mother - Edith returned to Germany. " "For Edith the trip was an act of courage, a chance to reconnect with her homeland and reconcile with her past. For Fern the trip was a miraculous opening, a break in the wall of silence surrounding her mother's history. . . and her mother. "--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Forever Liesl
by Charmian CarrThe Sound of Music is more than a classic film. It is a cultural phenomenon. Its magic lives on in the minds and hearts of everyone it has touched. It was Charmian Carr who captivated us as the world’s most famous older sister: Liesl ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ von Trapp. Now, she is the first of the 1965 film’s cast to tell us what it was like to be part of the phenomenon, celebrating the spirit of the movie – family love, romance, inspiration, courage, and the joy and power of music. Forever Liesl brims with anecdotes – from love affairs on set to wild nights at Salzburg’s Bristol Hotel (where Charmian was billeted with ‘the adults’), the near disaster as they filmed that famous dance in the summerhouse, how she won her role with no acting experience, and her relationships, both then and now, with her six celluloid siblings. You’ll read this in part to find out the answer to the question Charmian is asked most often – What was Julie Andrews really like? – but you’ll discover her favourite stories from friends and fans of the film, rare photographs, how they actually pieced the world of the film together from locations in Austria and sets in Hollywood, what Charmian learned when she met the real von Trapp children, and how The Sound of Music has helped her to get through stormy times in her own life since.
The Lost Men
by Tyler-Lewis KellyIn 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed south aboard the Endurance to be the first to cross Antarctica. Shackleton's endeavor is legend, but few know the astonishing story of the Ross Sea party, the support crew he dispatched to the opposite side of the continent to build a vital lifeline of food and fuel depots. When the Ross Sea ship, the Aurora, broke free of her moorings and disappeared in a gale in 1915, she left ten men stranded on the continent with only the clothes on their backs and little hope of rescue. Against all odds, the men decided to go forward with their mission, sledging 1,700 miles in a record-setting two-year odyssey. They never imagined that their immense sacrifice was futile -- for Shackleton never set foot on the continent, and the Endurance lay crushed at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. Inexperienced and poorly equipped, the men of the Ross Sea party endured the unspeakable suffering of malnutrition, hypothermia, and extreme weather conditions with fortitude. With their personal journals and previously unpublished documents, Kelly Tyler-Lewis brings us close to these men in their best and bleakest times and revives for us their heroic, astounding story of survival in the most hostile environment on earth.
Practically Perfect in Every Way
by Jennifer NiessleinFrom Dr. Phil to the Fly Lady??A level-headed, laugh-out-loud tour of the loopy world of self-help.?( Ann Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood and If You?ve Raised Kids, You Can Manage Anything) Jennifer Niesslein has an okay life. But, dogged by a sense of dissatisfaction and a yearning for something she can?t quite name, she embarks on a two-year experiment, taking all manner of self-help advice? from housecleaning to marital to spiritual?in an effort to become a better, happier person. What Niesslein learns is that the road to self-help Nirvana is fraught with peril. She also discovers that there is such a thing as the good life?it?s just a question of how perfect you have to be to get it.
Still Life with Chickens
by Catherine GoldhammerIn this lovely, unconventional, often funny memoir, we meet Catherine Goldhammer, newly separated and several tax brackets poorer, forced by circumstance to move from the affluent New England suburb of her daughter's childhood into a new, more rustic life by the sea. Against all logic, partly to please her daughter and partly for reasons not clear to her at the time, she begins this year of transition by purchasing six baby chickens--whose job, she comes to suspect, is to pull her and her daughter forward, out of one life and into another. As she gradually transforms her new house, nine hundred feet from the sea--with its tawdry exterior but radiant soul--tile by tile, flower bed by flower bed; as she watches her precocious twelve-year-old daughter blossom into a stylish and sophisticated teenager; and as she tends to the needs of six enigmatic chickens, Catherine's life starts to slowly shift from chaos to grace. Beautifully written and ultimately inspiring. Still Life with Chickens is an unforgettable lesson in hope, in starting over, and in the transcendent wisdom that can often be found in the most unlikely of places.
Between Worlds
by Bill RichardsonA rising star of the Democratic Party tells the fascinating story of the ways his multicultural heritage and political education have shaped his dreams for America and given him vital lessons in the art of successful negotiating. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, may be the most charismatic figure in the Democratic Party today and one of its best natural politicians whose name isn't Bill Clinton. He is the man Colin Powell has called for advice, and the man George Stephanopoulos once called the Red Adair of diplomacy in homage to his ability to put out international fires. He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize and is counted as one of our most knowledgeable politicians on Iraq and Saddam Hussein; on Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda; on North Korea; on energy policy; on Latin American affairs; on domestic politics; and on Hispanic America. Richardson's background as the son of an American businessman father and a Mexican mother has offered him an unusual starting point from which to seek a life in public service, but one of his most interesting roles has been that of global troubleshooter. What he has to say about how to negotiate to get what you want shows his true colors: He can be blunt, but charming; tough, but respectful; realistic, but hopeful. Through his work as a hostage negotiator sitting across the table from the likes of Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and many others-as well as his toil on Capitol Hill, in the United Nations, and New Mexico's state government-he has learned the vital importance of preparation: know as much as possible about your adversary; test your partner's truthfulness; know how much you can concede; never lie and always be direct. Between Worldsis the surprising story of one of our most seasoned and captivating national figures.
Between Worlds
by Bill RichardsonBill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, may be the most charismatic figure in the Democratic Party today and one of its best natural politicians whose name isn't Bill Clinton. He is the man Colin Powell has called for advice, and the man George Stephanopoulos once called the Red Adair of diplomacy in homage to his ability to put out international fires. He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize and is counted as one of our most knowledgeable politicians on Iraq and Saddam Hussein; on Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda; on North Korea; on energy policy; on Latin American affairs; on domestic politics; and on Hispanic America. Richardson's background as the son of an American businessman father and a Mexican mother has offered him an unusual starting point from which to seek a life in public service, but one of his most interesting roles has been that of global troubleshooter. What he has to say about how to negotiate to get what you want shows his true colors: He can be blunt, but charming; tough, but respectful; realistic, but hopeful. Through his work as a hostage negotiator sitting across the table from the likes of Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and many others-as well as his toil on Capitol Hill, in the United Nations, and New Mexico's state government-he has learned the vital importance of preparation: know as much as possible about your adversary; test your partner's truthfulness; know how much you can concede; never lie and always be direct. Between Worlds is the surprising story of one of our most seasoned and captivating national figures.
Footprints
by Michelle MercerSaxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter has not only left his footprints on our musical terrain, he has created a body of work that is a monument to artistic imagination. Throughout Shorter's extraordinary fifty-year career, his compositions have helped define the sounds of each distinct era in the history of jazz. Filled with musical analysis by Mercer, enlivened by Shorter's vivid recollections, and enriched by more than seventy-five original interviews with his friends and associates, this book is at once an invaluable history of music from bebop to pop, an intimate and moving biography, and a story of a man's struggle toward the full realization of his gifts and of himself. .
My Pet Virus
by Shawn DeckerIwas destined for a life of medical drama from day one," begins this comic memoir with a mission. "I was born in the month of July, and my horoscope sign is a disease (Cancer). The symbol for Cancer? A crab (the sexually transmitted critter). Not only that, my parents named me Shawn Timothy Decker, which makes my initials S. T. D. Shawn Decker isn't quite the All-American boy. Sure, he gets caught shoplifting copies of Penthouse; is crazy about prowrestling, especially "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair; and never has a problem getting dates. But he's also a hemophiliac who discovers, at age eleven, that he has contracted HIV from tainted blood products. Instead of becoming self-pitying and dying (as first predicted), Shawn develops a twisted sense of humor, meets Depeche Mode through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and writes on blogs and in Poz magazine about what it's like being hetero and HIV-positive in rural Virginia. He also turns to gay men for advice on dating women and, almost twenty years after getting HIV, marries Gwenn Barringer, who is HIV-negative and a former competitor for the title of Miss Virginia. Together Shawn and Gwenn travel the country, speaking to high school and college kids about how to live and love with HIV (and how to avoid getting it). .
I Married My Mother-In-Law
by Ilena SilvermanFeaturing Michael Chabon ¥ Kathryn Harrison ¥ Matt Bai ¥ Martha McPhee ¥ Susan Straight ¥ Ayelet Waldman ¥ Colin Harrison ¥ Amy Bloom ¥ Peter Richmond ¥ Jonathan Goldstein ¥ Anthony Giardina ¥ Dani Shapiro ¥ Darcey Steinke ¥ Ta-Nehisi Coates ¥ Sarah Jenkins ¥ Barbara Jones ¥ Tom Junod In-laws are the inescapable consequence of marriage. Whether they're kind or malevolent, respectful or intrusive, they're unavoidable. The relationship can be traumatic, rewarding, maddening, and hilarious-sometimes all at once. Now, Ilena Silverman brings together a collection of talented, insightful writers who plumb their own experiences for unexpected wisdom about this prickly and often misunderstood relationship.
Are You Happy?
by Gordon Emily FoxEmily Fox Gordon was a fatty, an academic failure, a schoolyard pariah, and a disappointment to her highly educated parents. And yet her early life was, as she puts it, "a succession of moments of radiant apprehension. " Growing up in a Massachusetts college town in the fifties, she cultivated the writer's lifelong habit of translating experience into words. As she grew older, she became aware of her mother's long withdrawal into alcoholic depression. For Emily this was a new kind of observation, made from the outside-one that changed her childish view of the world, and ended her childhood.
365 Nights
by Charla Muller Betsy ThorpeWhen Charla Muller?s husband turned 40, she gave him something memorable. Sex. Every day. For an entire year. The Mullers had a solid marriage and two wonderful children, but over the years sex had fallen low on their to-do list. The lack of intimacy wasn?t causing them to drift apart, exactly, but their connection didn?t seem as great as it could be. Charla decided she couldn?t go on pretending the relationship they once had wasn?t important. The couple would embark on a year of scheduled sex, falling over Tonka trucks and piles of laundry in an effort to make time for each other. There were obstacles along the way (work implosions, faking it) and questions came to light. Will sex every day strengthen a marriage, or reveal the cracks? Pull a couple together or drive them apart? Does good sex (even mediocre sex) make up for things that aren?t so good?
A Blue Hand
by Deborah BakerIn this engrossing new piece of Beat history, Pulitzer Prize finalist Deborah Baker takes us back to the moment when America's edgiest writers looked to India for answers as India looked to the West. It was 1961 when Allen Ginsberg left New York by boat for Bombay, where he hoped to meet poets Gary Snyder and Joanne Kyger. Baker follows Ginsberg and his companions as they travel from ashram to opium den. Exposing an overlooked chapter of the literary past, A Blue Hand will delight all those who continue to cherish the frenzied creativity of the Beats. .
A Matter of Life and Death
by Rosemary Altea"The Voice of the Spirit World" takes readers further along the path of spiritual awakening pioneered in her international bestsellers The Eagle and the Rose and Proud Spirit. Rosemary Altea has touched the lives of millions with her gift for connecting the living with the dead. In this illuminating book, she offers awe-inspiring stories of working with her Apache spirit guide, Grey Eagle, to help sick and grief-stricken people heal, recognize their true path in life, and find peace in reunion with departed loved ones. A Matter of Life and Death recounts Altea's recent miraculous encounters with the spirit world, including a soldier who was killed in Iraq, a firefighter who lost his life on September 11, and a woman who died at the hands of her husband and who asks Altea not to reveal the whole truth in order to avoid family strife. For the first time, Altea shares with readers the fascinating process by which she witnesses events gone by-"going down and through the hole" from the present dimension into the past, traversing time and space. And for readers eager for more of Grey Eagle's wisdom, this book contains his timely and poetic answers to questions of war and peace, life and death. From defending her integrity as a medium in a vicious lawsuit to struggling with the loss of a friend who was very close to her heart, this book details a new chapter in Rosemary Altea's rich personal history.
A Summer of Hummingbirds
by Christopher BenfeyThe country's most noted writers, poets, and artists converge at a singular moment in American life At the close of the Civil War, the lives of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade intersected in an intricate map of friendship, family, and romance that marked a milestone in the development of American art and literature. Using the image of a flitting hummingbird as a metaphor for the gossamer strands that connect these larger-than-life personalities, Christopher Benfey re-creates the summer of 1882, the summer when Mabel Louise Todd-the protégé to the painter Heade-confesses her love for Emily Dickinson's brother, Austin, and the players suddenly find themselves caught in the crossfire between the Calvinist world of decorum, restraint, and judgment and a new, unconventional world in which nature prevails and freedom is all. .
Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
by Kathleen NorrisThe extraordinary New York Times bestselling masterpiece from "one of the most eloquent yet earthbound spiritual writers of our time (San Francisco Chronicle). Kathleen Norris had written several much loved books, yet she couldn't drag herself out of bed in the morning, couldn't summon the energy for her daily tasks. Even as she struggled, Norris recognized her familiar battle with acedia, a word she had discovered in early Church text years earlier. Fascinated by this "noonday demon", so familiar to those in the early and medieval Church, Norris knew she must restore this forgotten but important concept to the modern world's vernacular. An examination of acedia in the light of psychology, spirituality, the healing powers of religious practice, and Norris's own experience, Acedia & Me is both intimate and historically sweeping, brimming with exasperation and reverence, sometimes funny, often provocative, and always insightful. .
Ahead of the Curve
by Philip Delves BroughtonTwo years in the cauldron of capitalism-"horrifying and very funny" (The Wall Street Journal)In this candid and entertaining insider's look at the most influential school in global business, Philip Delves Broughton draws on his crack reporting skills to describe his madcap years at Harvard Business School. Ahead of the Curve recounts the most edifying and surprising lessons learned in the quest for an MBA, from the ingenious chicanery of leveraging and the unlikely pleasures of accounting, to the antics of the "booze luge" and other, less savory trappings of student culture. Published during the one hundredth anniversary of Harvard Business School, this is the unflinching truth about life in the trenches of an iconic American institution.
Alice
by Cordery Stacy A.An entertaining and eye-opening biography of America?s most memorable first daughter From the moment Teddy Roosevelt?s outrageous and charming teenage daughter strode into the White House?carrying a snake and dangling a cigarette?the outspoken Alice began to put her imprint on the whole of the twentieth-century political scene. Her barbed tongue was as infamous as her scandalous personal life, but whenever she talked, powerful people listened, and she reigned for eight decades as the social doyenne in a town where socializing was state business. Historian Stacy Cordery?s unprecedented access to personal papers and family archives enlivens and informs this richly entertaining portrait of America?s most memorable first daughter and one of the most influential women in twentieth-century American society and politics. .
Always By My Side
by Jim NantzThe New York Times bestseller, now in paperback. America's most visible sports commentator recounts some of the most dramatic moments in American sports and pays tribute to the man who inspired him-his beloved father As vivid as an instant replay, Always by My Side gives readers an insider's look into an unprecedented sixty-three- day stretch from February through April of 2007, when Jim Nantz became the first broadcaster to call the Super Bowl, the Final Four, and the Masters. Though Nantz was unable to share the voyage with his dad, the devoted son felt his father's presence every step of the way, and used this championship odyssey to celebrate the people, venues, and moments that tapped into all the goodness that his dad-and his dad's generation- represent. In recounting the highlights of more than two thrilling decades with CBS Sports, Nantz recalls legendary voices of his youth-such as Jim McKay, Chris Schenkel, Pat Summerall, Jack Whitaker, and Dick Enberg-who sparked his imagination and shaped his style. Always by My Side traces Nantz's life and career, and along the way readers are treated to an array of memories, including Nantz's special relationship with former president George H. W. Bush and his friendships with such sports royalty as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Mike Krzyzewski, John Wooden, and many others. Always by My Side turns every day into Father's Day. .
Amarcord
by Marcella HazanWidely credited with introducing proper Italian food to the English-speaking world, Marcella Hazan is known as America's godmother of Italian cooking. Raised in Cesentatico, a quiet fishing town on the northern Adriatic Sea, she'd eventually have her own cooking schools in New York, Bologna, and Venice, where she would teach students from around the world to appreciate-and produce-the homemade pasta, rustic soups, deeply satisfying roasts and stews, pure seafood dishes, and the fresh vegetables dressed with olive oil that Italians eat. She'd write bestselling and award-winning cookbooks, and collect invitations to cook at top restaurants around the world. She would have thousands of loyal students, and readers so devoted they'd name their daughters Marcella. Her fans will be as surprised and delighted b how all this came to be as Marcella herself has been. Marcella's story begins not in Italy but in Alexandria, Egypt, where she spent her early childhood and where she fell on the beach and broke her arm-an accident that would hardly register for a child today, but which altered the course of her life. After nearly losing her arm to poor medical treatment, she was taken back to her father's native Italy for surgery. There the family would remain. Her teenage year coincided with World War II and the family relocated temporarily to Lake Garada, which they, not they, not anticipating that it would become one of war's greatest targets when both Mussolini and German High Command established their headquarters there, thought would be a safe haven. After years of privation and nightly bombings, Marcella was finally Fulfilling her ambition to become a doctor and professor of science when she Victor, the love of life. After their marriage, they moved to America, where Marcella knew not a word of English or-what's more surprising-a single recipe. She began to recall and attempt to re-create the flavours of her homeland. After women with whom she took a Chinese cooking class in the early sixties asked her to teach them Italian cooking, she began to give them lessons in her tiny New York kitchen. Soon after, Craig Claiborne invited himself to lunch, and the rest is history. Amacord means 'I remember' in Marcella's native Romangolo dialect. In these pages, Marcella, now eighty-four, looks back on the adventures of a life lived for pleasure and a love of teaching. Throughout, she entertains the reader with stories of the humorous, sometimes bizarre, twists and turns that brought her love, fame, and a change to forever change the way we eat.
American Eve
by Paula UruburuThe scandalous story of America's first supermodel, sex goddess, and modern celebrity-Evelyn Nesbit. By the time of her sixteenth birthday in 1900, Evelyn Nesbit was known to millions as the most photographed woman of her era, an iconic figure who set the standard for female beauty, and whose innocent sexuality was used to sell everything from chocolates to perfume. Women wanted to be her. Men just wanted her. But when Evelyn's life of fantasy became all too real and her insanely jealous millionaire husband, Harry K. Thaw, murdered her lover, New York City architect Stanford White, the most famous woman in the world became infamous as she found herself at the center of the "Crime of the Century" and a scandal that signaled the beginning of a national obsession with youth, beauty, celebrity, and sex.
Angler
by Barton GellmanThe landmark exposé of the most powerful and secretive vice president in American history Barton Gellman shared the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for a keen-edged reckoning with Dick Cheney?s domestic agenda in The Washington Post. In Angler, Gellman goes far beyond that series to take on the full scope of Cheney?s work and its consequences, including his hidden role in the Bush administration?s most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting ?cruel and inhumane? methods of interrogation. Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.
Blue Sky July
by Nia Wyn"My heart has reshaped a thousand broken pieces, and for every moment I still want to heal him there are a thousand when I know he's perfect, exactly as he is"This book will challenge your heart and change your views. Set between the summers of 1998 and 2005 in Cardiff, Blue Sky July is the true story of Nia, whose son Joe suffers a devastating brain injury. Through her intimate day-by-day musings, the book explores the impact of the tragedy on Nia's home life, love life, friendships and connection to the world, as the most extraordinary relationship unfolds between herself and Joe. Lyrical, inspiring and utterly compelling, Nia Wyn's powerful yet acutely sensitive account of her experiences will make an indelible impression on all who read it. A testament to the power of a mother's unconditional love for her son, Blue Sky July is a book that deserves to be read by everyone.
Body with Soul
by Randy JacksonFrom beloved American Idol judge a complete, inspiring wellness plan for taking control of your health The obesity epidemic is spreading throughout America, bringing with it health problems from diabetes to hypertension to heart disease. A lifetime of poor fitness and nutrition choices left Randy Jackson lethargic, overweight, and with a diagnosis of Type II diabetes. After years of yo-yo diets, hours in the gym, and even gastric bypass surgery, Randy finally decided to change his life. Body with Soul is his tried-and-true wellness plan; filled with meal plans, re-tooled recipes of Southern favorites, and workouts for people on the go, the regimen here is user-friendly and promises results. Having lost one hundred pounds, Randy is healthier than ever, and his diabetes has been in remission for five years. The program offered by Body with Soul ensures that readers, like Randy, can get their health in check, and lead happier, healthier lives. .
Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition
by Ilan Stavans Harold Augenbraun Alvar Nunez de Vaca Fanny BandelierThis riveting true story is the first major narrative detailing the exploration of North America by Spanish conquistadors (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain a vast area of today's southern United States. In simple, straightforward prose, Cabeza de Vaca chronicles the nine-year odyssey endured by the men after a shipwreck forced them to make a westward journey on foot from present-day Florida through Louisiana and Texas into California. In thirty-eight brief chapters, Cabeza de Vaca describes the scores of natural and human obstacles they encountered as they made their way across an unknown land. Cabeza de Vaca's gripping account offers a trove of ethnographic information, including descriptions and interpretations of native cultures, making it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology. .