- Table View
- List View
Larry Doby in Black and White: The Story of a Baseball Pioneer
by Jerry IzenbergWhen people think of baseball trailblazers, their minds immediately go to Jackie Robinson. He was the man who broke the color barrier, appearing in 1947 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and would go on to a Hall of Fame career. His number 42 is retired throughout baseball, and every year MLB holds "Jackie Robinson Day" across the league. But he was far from the only trailblazer. That same year, a twenty-three-year-old Larry Doby appeared in a game for the Cleveland Indians. He is essentially known as the second African American to break the color barrier, and was the first to appear in the American League (as the Dodgers are in the National League). While Robinson is always the one to be spoken about, Doby was just as good in the field and at the plate. In fact, he was a 9x All-Star, a World Series champion (being the first African American, along with teammate Satchel Paige, to win a World Series), home run and batting champ, and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998 after an incredible 13-year MLB career. He is, and will always be, one of the greatest players in baseball history. Beginning his professional baseball career at the tender age of eighteen, he would play five years for the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues. In between, he spent two years out of baseball, defending his country in World War II as a member of the US Navy. While Robinson had instant success with the Dodgers, Doby struggled off the bat. Having to endure immense racism (from fans, other ballplayers, and even teammates), disrespect, and threats on his life (and that of his family), it did not take until the following year, 1948, before he truly emerged as one of the best players in the game. Written by esteemed author Jerry Izenberg--who saw Doby play with the Eagles as a youngster and would build a lifelong friendship with the ballplayer--Larry Doby is the real, raw story of perseverance and determination in the face of immense hatred. Including in-depth research, to go along with personal accounts and numerous one-on-one interviews, Izenberg delivers an incredible tale that gives Doby his due as one of the all-time greats, while also sharing the struggles, trials, and tribulations of being a black man in a white country. With Major League Baseball finally incorporating the records and stats of those in the Negro Leagues, Doby's story is one that is long-overdo, shedding light on what it was like playing baseball and being black in the 1940s and '50s, and how hard work and determination was key to rising above all the hate and becoming one of the greatest to ever play the game
The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History
by Manjula MartinH Is for Hawk meets Joan Didion in the Pyrocene in this arresting combination of memoir, natural history, and literary inquiry that chronicles one woman&’s experience of life in Northern California during the worst fire season on record.A MOST-ANTICIPATED BOOK: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Saturday Evening Post, Poets & Writers, The Millions, Alta, Heat Map NewsTold in luminous, perceptive prose, The Last Fire Season is a deeply incisive inquiry into what it really means—now—to live in relationship to the elements of the natural world. When Manjula Martin moved from the city to the woods of Northern California, she wanted to be closer to the wilderness that she had loved as a child. She was also seeking refuge from a health crisis that left her with chronic pain, and found a sense of healing through tending her garden beneath the redwoods of Sonoma County. But the landscape that Martin treasured was an ecosystem already in crisis. Wildfires fueled by climate change were growing bigger and more frequent: each autumn, her garden filled with smoke and ash, and the local firehouse siren wailed deep into the night.In 2020, when a dry lightning storm ignited hundreds of simultaneous wildfires across the West and kicked off the worst fire season on record, Martin, along with thousands of other Californians, evacuated her home in the midst of a pandemic. Both a love letter to the forests of the West and an interrogation of the colonialist practices that led to their current dilemma, The Last Fire Season, follows her from the oaky hills of Sonoma County to the redwood forests of coastal Santa Cruz, to the pines and peaks of the Sierra Nevada, as she seeks shelter, bears witness to the devastation, and tries to better understand fire&’s role in the ecology of the West. As Martin seeks a way to navigate the daily experience of living in a damaged body on a damaged planet, she comes to question her own assumptions about nature and the complicated connections between people and the land on which we live.
The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness
by Andy McCulloughThe definitive biography of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, examining the genesis of his brilliance, his epic quest to win the World Series, and his singular place within the evolving baseball landscape—based on exclusive interviews with Kershaw and more than 200 others. More than any baseball player of his generation, Clayton Kershaw has embodied the burden of athletic greatness, the prizes and perils that await those who strive for it all. He is a three-time Cy Young award winner, the first pitcher to win National League MVP since Bob Gibson, and a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Many of his peers consider him the greatest pitcher to ever climb atop a big-league mound. In an age when baseball became more impersonal, a sport altered by adherence to algorithms and actuarial tables, Kershaw personified the game&’s lingering humanity, with his joy and suffering on display each October as he chased a championship. He pitched through pain, placing his future at risk on the game&’s grandest stages. He endeared himself to teammates and foes alike with his refusal to make excuses, with his willingness to shoulder the blame when he failed. And he only further impressed them when he returned, year after year, even as his body broke down from the strain of his profession. The journey captivated fans in Los Angeles and beyond, so much so that when the Dodgers finally won a title in 2020, the baseball world exulted in his triumph. The Last of His Kind traces Kershaw&’s path from a boyhood fractured by divorce to his development as one of the most-heralded pitching prospects in Texas history to his emergence in Los Angeles as the spiritual heir to Sandy Koufax. But the book also charts Kershaw&’s place in baseball&’s changing landscape, as his own stubbornness butted against the game&’s evolution. The story of baseball in the 21st century can be told through Kershaw&’s career, from his apprenticeship with icons like Joe Torre and Greg Maddux, to his wary relationship with the implementation of analytics, to his victimhood in the 2017 sign-stealing scandal at the hands of the Houston Astros. The game has changed so much during Kershaw&’s illustrious career. To understand how baseball is played today, and how it got that way, you must understand the journey of Clayton Kershaw.
The Last Women of the Durham Coalfield: Hannah's Granddaughter (Women of the Durham Coalfield #3)
by Margaret Hedley'As this book shows, the women of the Durham coalfield played an equal role in shaping daily life and trajectories of history in the region, just as women today are building their own futures in communities around the world.' - Hillary Rodham Clinton The final book in a series charting the true family history of a Durham coal-mining family, which started in the 1830s The Second World War took its toll on all sections of society. The appeal for women to work outside of the home in the many ammunition factories to support the war effort was taken up by many women from the colliery villages. They worked for eight hours at the factory, taking up their care-giving roles and all that involved, when they returned home. Their days continued to be long and strenuous. After the war the government introduced a series of initiatives intended to improve the lives of the nation. A reformed education system was introduced in 1944, nationalization in 1947 and a national health service in 1948. At last things were looking up for coal-mining families. With this bright new horizon, little did the women in Hannah's family realize that they would represent the last generation of women of the Durham Coalfield.
Last Word's Uncommon Women
by Celia HayleyLast Word is the popular BBC Radio 4 series broadcast weekly, featuring the lives of several famous people who have recently died. More than standard obituaries, the lives are summarised with narration and include interviews with some of those who knew them. The programme was first broadcast in 2006 and this compelling anthology commemorates the remarkable and revealing lives of 80 women who were illuminating, inspiring or moving. Their names may not always be well known, but their lives made an impact on the world, and they broke new ground in many different ways. The book includes: Lt Islam Bibi - Helmand's top female police officer, shot dead by the Taliban Naty Revuelta Clews - Fidel Castro's mistress Naomi Sims - first Black supermodel Sylvia Robinson - The 'mother of hip-hop' who was the founder/CEO of Sugar Hill records Rosalia Mera - Zara founder, the world's richest self-made woman Marie Colvin - celebrated war reporter killed in Homs Clare Hollingworth - first war correspondent to report the outbreak of the Second World War Eileen Nearne - wartime spy who was captured and tortured by the Gestapo Salome Karwah - Ebola survivor who went back to Liberia to nurse other sufferers Jo Cox - MP murdered in her own Yorkshire constituency Jill Saward - rape survivor and campaigner for victims of sexual abuse Scharlette Holdman - 'The Angel of Death Row' who fought against the death penalty in the US Jeanne Cordova - former nun who became a lesbian rights activist Francis Kelsey - pharmacologist who prevented the licence of Thalidomide in the US Margaret Rule - archaeologist who raised the Mary Rose Countess of Arran - powerboat racer, 'the fastest granny on water'
Last Word's Uncommon Women
by Celia HayleyLast Word is the popular BBC Radio 4 series broadcast weekly, featuring the lives of several famous people who have recently died. More than standard obituaries, the lives are summarised with narration and include interviews with some of those who knew them. The programme was first broadcast in 2006 and this compelling anthology commemorates the remarkable and revealing lives of 80 women who were illuminating, inspiring or moving. Their names may not always be well known, but their lives made an impact on the world, and they broke new ground in many different ways. The book includes: Lt Islam Bibi - Helmand's top female police officer, shot dead by the Taliban Naty Revuelta Clews - Fidel Castro's mistress Naomi Sims - first Black supermodel Sylvia Robinson - The 'mother of hip-hop' who was the founder/CEO of Sugar Hill records Rosalia Mera - Zara founder, the world's richest self-made woman Marie Colvin - celebrated war reporter killed in Homs Clare Hollingworth - first war correspondent to report the outbreak of the Second World War Eileen Nearne - wartime spy who was captured and tortured by the Gestapo Salome Karwah - Ebola survivor who went back to Liberia to nurse other sufferers Jo Cox - MP murdered in her own Yorkshire constituency Jill Saward - rape survivor and campaigner for victims of sexual abuse Scharlette Holdman - 'The Angel of Death Row' who fought against the death penalty in the US Jeanne Cordova - former nun who became a lesbian rights activist Francis Kelsey - pharmacologist who prevented the licence of Thalidomide in the US Margaret Rule - archaeologist who raised the Mary Rose Countess of Arran - powerboat racer, 'the fastest granny on water'
Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative
by Glenn LouryA shockingly frank memoir from a prize-winning economist, reflecting on his remarkable personal odyssey and his changing positions on identity, race, and belief. Economist Glenn C. Loury is one of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time: he’s often radically opposed to the political mainstream, and delights in upending what’s expected of a Black public figure. But more so than the arguments themselves—on affirmative action, institutional racism, Trumpism—his public life has been characterized by fearlessness and a willingness to recalibrate strongly held and forcefully argued beliefs. Loury grew up on the south side of Chicago, earned a PhD in MIT’s economics program, and became the first Black tenured professor of economics at Harvard at the age of thirty-three. He has been, at turns, a young father, a drug addict, an adulterer, a psychiatric patient, a born-again Christian, a lapsed born-again Christian, a Black Reaganite who has swung from the right to the left and back again. In Late Admissions, Loury examines what it means to chart a sense of self over the course of a tempestuous, but well-considered, life.
Lawrence of Arabia: My Journey in Search of T. E. Lawrence
by Ranulph FiennesA vivid and illuminating biography of the famed T. E. Lawrence, written by &“the world's greatest living explorer,&” Ranulph Fiennes.As a young British intelligence officer in Cairo, archaeologist and adventurer Thomas Edward Lawrence became involved in the 1916 Arab Revolt, fighting alongside rebel forces against the Ottomans. He made a legendary 300-mile journey through blistering heat; he wore Arab dress; and he strongly identified with the people in his adopted lands. By 1918, he had a £20,000 price on his head. Despite readers' long fascination in his story, Lawrence—one of history's most enigmatic adventurers—has long remained unknowable, But with in-depth knowledge of what it takes to venture into the unknown, this authoritative biography from famed explorer Ranulph Fiennes at last brings enthralling insight and clarity to this remarkable life.
Learning to Think: A Memoir of Faith, Superstition, and the Courage to Ask Questions
by Tracy KingSet in 1980s Birmingham, England, a piercing memoir about the liberating power of a scientific view of the world. Tracy King was raised in a house of contradictions—her family was happy and creative, yet shadowed by debt, phobias, her father’s alcoholism, and the illusory promises of a born-again Christian church. The uneasy balance of the King household was irrevocably upended on a rainy spring night in 1988, when her father was killed by teenagers just blocks from their public housing estate. Her mother’s dysfunctional reliance on the church deepened following the tragedy, and King, suffering from undiagnosed anxiety, stopped attending school. The account of her father’s death remained hazy, made worse by the fact that four of the accused teenagers—neighborhood boys she could not avoid—were never charged. What could have triggered such an act of aggression? Clinging to hearsay and what little information she had from the police, King allowed her imagination to fill in the rest. Over the years, in a bid to balm her grief and gaps in formal education, King journeyed through multiple belief systems: she distanced herself from fundamentalism, searching for clarity instead in the occult, paranormal beliefs, and conspiracy theories. Amid the chaos of her coming of age, she stumbled upon a copy of Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World on the shelves of a Birmingham bookshop —a discovery that proved transformative. Sagan’s sage caveat, “But I could be wrong,” became King’s guiding light, empowering her to confront her demons. An eloquently written and often sharply funny account that is ever sensitive to the fallibility of memory and the nuances of truth, Learning to Think is a resounding battle cry for the value of education and the freedom to think critically, imaginatively, and for oneself.
Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World
by Eric Jay DolinThe true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812—a tale of treachery, shipwreck, isolation, and the desperate struggle for survival. In Left for Dead, Eric Jay Dolin—“one of today’s finest writers about ships and the sea” (American Heritage)—tells the true story of a wild and fateful encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland archipelago during the War of 1812. Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans, including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard, abandoned in the barren, windswept, and inhospitable Falklands for a year and a half. With deft narrative skill and unequaled knowledge of the very pith of the seafaring life, Dolin describes in vivid and harrowing detail the increasingly desperate existence of the castaways during their eighteen-month ordeal—an all-too-common fate in the Great Age of Sail. A tale of intriguing complexity, with surprising twists and turns throughout—involving greed, lying, bullying, a hostile takeover, stellar leadership, ingenuity, severe privation, endurance, banishment, the great value of a dog, the birth of a baby, a perilous thousand-mile open-ocean journey in a seventeen-foot boat, an improbable rescue mission, and legal battles over a dubious and disgraceful wartime prize—Left for Dead shows individuals in wartime under great duress acting both nobly and atrociously, and offers a unique perspective on a pivotal era in American maritime history.
Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
by Uché BlackstockAN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER&“This book is more than a memoir—it also serves as a call to action to create a more equitable healthcare system for patients of color, particularly Black women.&” —Essence One of NPR&’s 11 Books to Look Forward to in 2024 One of Good Morning America&’s 15 New Books to Read for the New Year &“Legacy is both a compelling memoir and an edifying analysis of the inequities in the way we deliver healthcare in America. Uché Blackstock is a force of nature.&” —Abraham Verghese, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant of Water &“[An] extraordinary family story.&” —Dr. Damon Tweedy, The New York Times Book Review &“This book should be required reading for all medical students.&” —Gayle King, CBS Mornings The rousing, captivating story of a Black physician, her career in medicine, and the deep inequities that still exist in the U.S. healthcare systemGrowing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians. In the 1980s, their mother headed an organization of Black women physicians, and for years the girls watched these fiercely intelligent women in white coats tend to their patients and neighbors, host community health fairs, cure ills, and save lives.What Dr. Uché Blackstock did not understand as a child—or learn about at Harvard Medical School, where she and her sister had followed in their mother&’s footsteps, making them the first Black mother-daughter legacies from the school—were the profound and long-standing systemic inequities that mean just 2 percent of all U.S. physicians today are Black women; the racist practices and policies that ensure Black Americans have far worse health outcomes than any other group in the country; and the flawed system that endangers the well-being of communities like theirs. As an ER physician, and later as a professor in academic medicine, Dr. Blackstock became profoundly aware of the systemic barriers that Black patients and physicians continue to face.Legacy is a journey through the critical intersection of racism and healthcare. At once a searing indictment of our healthcare system, a generational family memoir, and a call to action, Legacy is Dr. Blackstock&’s odyssey from child to medical student to practicing physician—to finally seizing her own power as a health equity advocate against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Legitimate Kid \ Hija legítima (Spanish edition): Una vida entre el dolor y la risa
by Aida RodriguezUn divertido y conmovedor libro de memorias en ensayo de la comediante Aida Rodríguez sobre el poder de superar las dificultades y transformar el dolor en risa. Aida Rodríguez ha vivido, por decir poco, una vida de torbellino. La historia de cómo pasó de la pobreza a la opulencia es alucinante: cuando era niña, su madre la secuestró y se la llevó de la República Dominicana a los Estados Unidos. Más tarde, un nuevo secuestro, esta vez a manos de su abuela y su tío, la dejó en Florida. Ya de adulta, escapó de un matrimonio tormentoso y terminó, junto con sus hijos, mendigando por las calles de Los Ángeles. Durante todas esas adversidades, Aida nunca perdió su sentido del humor. Nacida con un maravilloso ingenio y un espíritu irrefrenable, Aida ha utilizado su talento y trabajado sin descanso para convertir la tragedia y el dolor en una comedia mordaz que abarca todo, desde la misoginia y el racismo hasta las redes sociales y los titulares de prensa. Con el tiempo, lanzó un exitoso especial en HOB Max que la llevó a múltiples acuerdos de desarrollo, un logro que le ganó una audiencia nacional, le abrió puertas y la ayudó expandir la forma en que los latinos están representados en la comedia. En este, su tan esperado primer libro, Aida dibuja sus muchos altibajos. Desde los contratiempos personales hasta los éxitos profesionales, Hija legítima es entrañable, impactante y, en última instancia, vivificante. A hilarious and heartbreaking memoir-in-essays from comic Aida Rodriguez on the power of overcoming hardship and transforming pain into laughter.Aida Rodriguez has, to put it mildly, lived a whirlwind life. Her rags to-riches story is mind-blowing: She was kidnapped as a child by her mother in the Dominican Republic and brought to the US. She was later kidnapped again by her grandmother and uncle, and moved from New York to Florida. As an adult, she ended a difficult marriage and endured homelessness with her children in Los Angeles. But through it all she never lost her sense of humor.Born with a wonderful wit and an irrepressible spirit, Aida used her gifts and worked tirelessly, turning tragedy and pain into biting comedy that takes on everything from misogyny and racism to social media and news headlines. She eventually released a hit HBO Max special which led to multiple development deals—success that won her a nationwide audience, opened doors, and helped her expand the way Latinos are represented in comedy.In this, her highly anticipated first book, Aida charts her many ups and downs. From personal setbacks to career highs and everything in between, Legitimate Kid is endearing, shocking, and ultimately life-affirming.
The Lenin Scenario
by Tariq AliThe revolutionary world leader&’s extraordinary life, published for the centenary of Lenin&’s deathCommissioned by Oliver Stone in 2015 to commemorate the Russian Revolution, Tariq Ali&’s captivating screenplay of the life and times of Vladimir Lenin puts flesh on the bones of the historical record and gets its pulse racing. From the author of The Dilemmas of Lenin, the drama captures the enigma of its central character. Ali shows Lenin in his rush from Switzerland to Petrograd by train to grasp his moment in history and the force of his personality on the tumult he found there. He made a revolution and remade a nation. Interwoven with the politics is an exploration of Lenin&’s personal life, especially his love for Inessa Armand.In the introduction, Ali argues that, despite the difficulties, a serious cinematic assessment of Lenin is still needed. Unfortunately, two very different attempts to film one failed. This first draft provides the basis for something on a grander scale at some stage in the future.Praise for The Dilemmas of Lenin &‘Aims to rescue Lenin from both liberal caricature and Soviet hag- iography by recovering the realism and dynamism of his political thought&’ David Sessions, Nation&‘An incredibly powerful, panoramic, and insightful study of the central revolutionary figure of the twentieth century&’ Paul LeBlanc, author of Lenin and the Revolutionary Party
Leo Sowerby (American Composers)
by Joseph SargentFrom the 1920s to the 1940s, Leo Sowerby created popular secular works while his sacred compositions led admirers to call him the “dean of American church musicians.” Yet in time, Sowerby’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Canticle of the Sun and the rest of his corpus lost favor with the A-list symphonies and prominent musicians who had once made him a fixture in their repertoires. Joseph Sargent’s biography offers the first focused study of Sowerby’s life and work against the backdrop of the composer’s place in American music. As Sargent shows, Sowerby’s present-day marginalization as a composer relates less to the quality of his work than the fact that today’s historiographical practices and canon-building activities minimize modern church music. Sargent’s re-evaluation draws on a wide range of perspectives and composer’s music and writings to enrich detailed analyses of musical works and a career-spanning consideration of Sowerby’s musical language and aesthetic priorities.
Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against “the Apocalypse”
by Emily RaboteauAward-winning author and critic Emily Raboteau crafts a powerfully moving meditation on race, climate, environmental justice—and what it takes to find shelter. Lessons for Survival is a probing series of pilgrimages from the perspective of a mother struggling to raise her children to thrive without coming undone in an era of turbulent intersecting crises.With camera in hand, Raboteau goes in search of birds, fluttering in the air or painted on buildings, and city parks where her children may safely play while avoiding pollution, pandemics, and the police. She ventures abroad to learn from Indigenous peoples, and in her own family and community, she discovers the most intimate examples of resilience. Raboteau bears witness to the inner life of Black womanhood, motherhood, the brutalities and possibilities of cities, while celebrating the beauty and fragility of nature. This innovative work of reportage and autobiography stitches together multiple stories of protection, offering a profound sense of hope.
Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans
by Jeremy S. Adams“Smart, patriotic, and readable, this book is what our cynical culture needs.” — Pete Hegseth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Battle for the American MindAmerica is full of inspiring heroes.Greatness is not a chance—it is a choice. George Washington didn’t simply wake up as one of the greatest men in human history. His greatness was the sum of a lifetime of difficult and consequential choices.In Lessons in Liberty, Jeremy S. Adams distills inspiring advice from the lives of extraordinary Americans from our past.George Washington’s lifelong struggle to conquer his temper makes him a model for self-help and self-improvement.Daniel Inouye was a beloved Japanese American senator who carried out daring missions in World War II, despite being subjected to discrimination by the very nation he decided to defend.Eleven-year-old Clara Barton’s role in nursing her injured brother back to health instilled the courage and ferocity that would later empower her to pioneer new nursing techniques during the Civil War.Adams has been an educator for more than a quarter century. Teaching a new generation of students who suffer with anxiety, passivity, and a cynical view of their own nation and its principles has convinced him that a change is urgently needed: The recovery of national greatness requires that we passionately study our heroes. Lessons in Liberty is the first step to discovering the better angels of our nature by restoring the possibilities of individual freedom.In this beautifully written, proudly patriotic, and deeply researched ode to American heroes from a rich variety of eras and backgrounds, Adams reclaims the power of the American story, discovering thirty different and surprising lessons that will inspire modern Americans to lead better and more substantive lives.
Let It Go: Free Yourself from Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy
by Chelene KnightFor readers of Ross Gay and listeners of Therapy for Black Girls, a reflective examination of Black self-love and joy that guides the reader to ditch old beliefs, achieve difficult unlearnings and redefine language, relationships and love to find their own unique path to joy. A warm, candid and essential book that will guide the reader to carve a new path to joy as unique as each individual. Created by the founder of Breathing Space Creative Literary Studio, acclaimed writer and editor Chelene Knight, Let It Go draws on personal experience and the advice of leaders from various Black communities to share hard-won tools for joy-discovery—tools such as how to say no with love; how to call back activities that feel good; how to reshape communication with those closest to you; how to revise language; and most of all, how to learn to let go in order to redefine what we think joy is.Organized around the seasons and the natural cycle of reflection and renewal, Let It Go showcases, through conversation and solitary reflection, the broad spectrum of Black realities and reveals the colourful kaleidoscope of joy and your own ways to find it. From Let It Go:“My own path to joy has been blurred by hardship, but part of my journey is that I refuse to believe that all of my negative experiences are tethered to being a Black woman, even though it can feel like this, even when some people want me to feel like this. And when I feel it, it’s a pain that swells and refuses to subside. I didn’t learn this on my own and I don’t think I can unlearn it on my own. But I’m willing to do the work. I want my joy as I find it; I want my joy as it comes. I’m willing to let the wind push me backwards through the difficult moments. Maybe there’s something big holding you back too. Take a breath. What is it? Maybe we can let go, together.”
The Letters of Emily Dickinson
by Emily DickinsonThe definitive edition of Emily Dickinson’s correspondence, expanded and revised for the first time in over sixty years.Emily Dickinson was a letter writer before she was a poet. And it was through letters that she shared prose reflections—alternately humorous, provocative, affectionate, and philosophical—with her extensive community. While her letters often contain poems, and some letters consist entirely of a single poem, they also constitute a rich genre all their own. Through her correspondence, Dickinson appears in her many facets as a reader, writer, and thinker; social commentator and comedian; friend, neighbor, sister, and daughter.The Letters of Emily Dickinson is the first collected edition of the poet’s correspondence since 1958. It presents all 1,304 of her extant letters, along with the small number available from her correspondents. Almost 300 are previously uncollected, including letters published after 1958, letters more recently discovered in manuscript, and more than 200 “letter-poems” that Dickinson sent to correspondents without accompanying prose. This edition also redates much of her correspondence, relying on records of Amherst weather patterns, historical events, and details about flora and fauna to locate the letters more precisely in time. Finally, updated annotations place Dickinson’s writing more firmly in relation to national and international events, as well as the rhythms of daily life in her hometown. What emerges is not the reclusive Dickinson of legend but a poet firmly embedded in the political and literary currents of her time.Dickinson’s letters shed light on the soaring and capacious mind of a great American poet and her vast world of relationships. This edition presents her correspondence anew, in all its complexity and brilliance.
Li Dazhao: China's First Communist (SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)
by Patrick Fuliang ShanAs one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Dazhao (1889–1927) was a key figure in China's transition from empire to republic, from tradition to modernity, and from imperial rule to turbulent revolution. Patrick Fuliang Shan's biography of Li, the first English-language study in over half a century, draws on a wealth of Chinese-language primary and secondary sources to examine Li's early life, family, education, and career; his endeavors to introduce Western civilization to the Chinese; his switch to communism and his leadership role in the early Communist movement; his political maneuvers and revolutionary activities; and his tragic death at the hands of the warlord Zhang Zuolin. While its focus is on Li's personal odyssey and extraordinary journey, the book also presents an in-depth analysis of China's broad national experience and its march towards modernity.
Liberty Equality Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution
by Anne HigonnetThree women led a fashion revolution and turned themselves into international style celebrities. Joséphine Bonaparte, future Empress of France; Térézia Tallien, the most beautiful woman in Europe; and Juliette Récamier, muse of intellectuals, had nothing left to lose. After surviving incarceration and forced incestuous marriage during the worst violence of the French Revolution of 1789, they dared sartorial revolt. Together, Joséphine and Térézia shed the underwear cages and massive, rigid garments that women had been obliged to wear for centuries. They slipped into light, mobile dresses, cropped their hair short, wrapped themselves in shawls, and championed the handbag. Juliette made the new style stand for individual liberty. The erotic audacity of these fashion revolutionaries conquered Europe, starting with Napoleon. Everywhere a fashion magazine could reach, women imitated the news coming from Paris. It was the fastest and most total change in clothing history. Two centuries ahead of its time, it was rolled back after only a decade by misogynist rumors of obscene extravagance. New evidence allows the real fashion revolution to be told. This is a story for our time: of a revolution that demanded universal human rights, of self-creation, of women empowering each other, and of transcendent glamor
Library and Information Sciences in Arctic and Northern Studies (Springer Polar Sciences)
by Spencer AcadiaThe role of library and information sciences (LIS) in, for, and about Arctic and Northern studies is underexplored. This book examines the intersection of LIS and Arctic/Northern scholarship, research, and study by considering the Arctic and North as a global information-knowledge society; demonstrates practical and applied ways that librarians, archivists, curators, and other information scholars and professionals can participate and have participated in real activities within Arctic and Northern environments; explains how LIS – as a discipline focused on data, information, and knowledge – has a significant role to play in Arctic and Northern endeavours; and emphasises the inter-/multi- disciplinary nature of what are Arctic studies and Northern studies and the placement of LIS into that structure. Even though LIS has historically been overlooked in Northern and Arctic matters, this book suggests that LIS is in a remarkable position to add value to future Arctic/Northern studies. Thisbook is of interest to scientists, researchers, scholars, educators, professionals, and students globally working in Northern and Arctic contexts and/or with Northern and Arctic pursuits in mind.
Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House
by Jared CohenNew York Times Bestseller New York Times bestselling author of Accidental Presidents explores what happens after the most powerful job in the world: President of the United States.Former presidents have an unusual place in American life. King George III believed that George Washington&’s departure after two terms made him &“the greatest character of the age.&” But Alexander Hamilton worried former presidents might &“[wander] among the people like ghosts.&” They were both right. Life After Power tells the stories of seven former presidents, from the Founding to today. Each changed history. Each offered lessons about how to decide what to do in the next chapter of life. Thomas Jefferson was the first former president to accomplish great things after the White House, shaping public debates and founding the University of Virginia, an accomplishment he included on his tombstone, unlike his presidency. John Quincy Adams served in Congress and became a leading abolitionist, passing the torch to Abraham Lincoln. Grover Cleveland was the only president in American history to serve a nonconsecutive term. William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Herbert Hoover shaped the modern conservative movement, led relief efforts after World War II, reorganized the executive branch, and reconciled John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency in American history, advancing humanitarian causes, human rights, and peace. George W. Bush made a clean break from politics, bringing back George Washington&’s precedent, and reminding the public that the institution of the presidency is bigger than any person. Jared Cohen explores the untold stories in the final chapters of these presidents&’ lives, offering a gripping and illuminating account of how they went from President of the United States one day, to ordinary citizens the next. He tells how they handled very human problems of ego, finances, and questions about their legacy and mortality. He shows how these men made history after they left the White House.
Life as We Know It (Can Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a Changing World
by Bill WeirAward-winning journalist and CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir draws on his years of immersive travel and reporting to share the best ideas and stories of hope and positivity from the people and communities around the world who are thriving in the wake of climate change, and what we can learn from them to build a more promising future.While reporting from every state and every continent, and filming his acclaimed CNN Original Series The Wonder List, Bill Weir has spent decades telling the stories of unique people, places, cultures, and creatures on the brink of change. As the first Chief Climate Correspondent in network news, he’s immersed in the latest science and breakthroughs on the topic, while often on the frontlines of disasters, natural and manmade.In 2020, Bill began distilling these experiences into a series of Earth Day letters for his then-newborn son to read in 2050, to help him better understand the world he will have grown up in and be better prepared to embrace the future. Bill’s work and his letters were the inspiration for Life As We Know It (Can Be), which confronts the worry and wonder of climate change with messages and examples of hope for all of us on how a better future can still be written.Highlighting groundbreaking innovation in fields of clean energy, food and water sources, housing and building materials, and more, and touching on how happiness, resilience, and health and wellness factor into the topic of climate change, Bill’s stories take readers on a global journey, from one community in Florida that took on a hurricane and never lost power, to the Antarctic Peninsula where one species of penguin is showing us the key to survival, to the nuclear fusion labs where scientists are trying to build a star in a box. In these pages, we join a search for ancient wisdom and new ideas.Life As We Know It (Can Be) is a celebration of the wonders of our planet, a meditation on the human wants and needs that drive it out of balance, and an inspiration for communities to galvanize around nature and each other as the very best way to best prepare and plan for what’s next.
The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living
by Bonnie WanLife is a creative act. Let The Life Brief guide you to creating the life of your dreams. &“A brilliant companion on the road to more aliveness. This book is a wonderful invitation. Take it.&” —Dave Evans #1 New York Times bestselling author of Designing Your LifeWe all have moments when we doubt the path we&’re on. Is this the career for me? Am I in the right relationship? Is this as good as it gets? These questions can feel uncomfortable without a method for uncovering the answers. Enter The Life Brief, a simple yet effective playbook for navigating life&’s decisions, crossroads, and curve-balls. Modeled after the creative brief, a tool used by the most innovative companies in the world to unlock clarity and unleash action, The Life Brief carves a path for living with intention and imagination. Designed by leading brand strategist Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief is a practice in three parts: The first phase, Get Messy, is a set of open-ended writing prompts that cut through limiting beliefs and false assumptions about what&’s possible. The second phase, Get Clear, offers prompts for finding clarity around what you truly, deeply want. The third phase, Get Active, catapults you into the steps to making those desires a reality. This is a practice for unpacking complexity with curiosity, shifting attention to drive action, and challenging the limiting beliefs that create friction in your life. This powerfully adaptive tool has transformed thousands of lives, from refining career paths to repairing relationships, rediscovering passion to cutting through overwhelm. Don&’t let another moment pass you by. Discover The Life Brief and unlock your path today.
A Life Impossible: Living with ALS: Finding Peace and Wisdom Within a Fragile Existence
by Steve Gleason Jeff DuncanFrom NFL player Steve Gleason, a powerful, inspiring memoir of love, heartbreak, resilience, family, and remarkable triumph in the face of ALSIn 2011, three years after leaving the NFL, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease that takes away the ability to move, talk, and breathe. Doctors gave him three years to live. He was thirty-three years old. As Steve says, he is now ten years past his expiration date.His memoir is the chronicle of a remarkable life, one filled with optimism and joy, despite the trauma and pain and despair he has experienced. Writing using eye-tracking technology, Gleason covers his pre-ALS life through the highs and lows of his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints, where he made one of the most memorable plays in Saints history, leading to a victory in the first post-Katrina home game, uplifting the city, making him a hero, and reflected in a nine-foot bronze statue outside the Superdome. Then came his heartbreaking diagnosis. Gleason lost all muscle function, he now uses Stephen Hawking-like technology to communicate, and breathes with the help of a ventilator. This book captures Gleason and his wife Michel&’s unmatched resilience as they reinvent their lives, refuse to succumb to despair, and face his disease realistically and existentially.This unsparing portrait argues that a person's true strength does not reside solely in one&’s body but also in the ability to face unfathomable adversity and still be able to love and treasure life.