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T-Shirt Swim Club: Stories from Being Fat in a World of Thin People
by Ian Karmel Alisa KarmelComedian Ian Karmel, with help from his sister, Dr. Alisa Karmel, opens up about the daily humiliations of being fat and why it&’s so hard to talk about something so visible.&“As charming and funny as it is poignant and thoughtful.&”—Roxane Gay, author of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) BodyIan Karmel has weighed eight pounds and he has weighed 420 pounds and right now he&’s almost exactly in between the two, but this book is not a weight-loss book. It&’s about being a fat person in a skinny world. It&’s about gym class and football practice, about chicken wings and juice cleanses, about airplane seats and roller coasters, about fat jokes and Jabba the Hutt, about crying in the Big and Tall section and the joys of being a sneakerhead, about prediabetes and gout, and about realizing that you actually don&’t want to eat yourself to death and hoping it&’s not too late.This book also includes a &“What Now?&” section from Ian&’s sister, Alisa, who herself cycled through so many fad diets that she eventually pursued a master&’s in nutrition and a doctorate in psychology with the goal of changing the contemporary narrative around fatness.Ian and Alisa Karmel grew up fat. As kids, they never talked about it. They were too busy fighting over the last SnackWell&’s Devil&’s Food cookie. Now, decades later, having both turned into fat adults who eventually figured out how to get their health under control, they are finally ready to unpack the impact that their weight has had on them.For them, the T-Shirt Swim Club is meant to be a place of support for anyone who struggles with weight issues. A place of care and candor, free of shame. A place to not deny or avoid the emotions you feel, the experiences you go through, the embarrassment, the anger, the resentment. T-Shirt Swim Club is about being a fat person and how the world treats fat people—but also an acknowledgment that maybe it doesn&’t always have to feel quite so lonely.
Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice
by David S. TatelThe "moving, thoughtful, and inspiring memoir" (Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy) by one of America&’s most accomplished public servants and legal thinkers—who spent years denying and working around his blindness, before finally embracing it as an essential part of his identity. David Tatel has served nearly 30 years on America&’s second highest court, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where many of our most crucial cases are resolved—or teed up for the Supreme Court. He has championed equal justice for his entire adult life; decided landmark environmental and voting cases; and embodied the ideal of what a great judge should be. Yet he has been blind for the past 50 of his 80-plus years. Initially, he depended upon aides to read texts to him, and more recently, a suite of hi-tech solutions has allowed him to listen to reams of documents at high speeds. At first, he tried to hide his deteriorating vision, and for years, he denied that it had any impact on his career. Only recently, partly thanks to his first-ever guide dog, Vixen, has he come to fully accept his blindness and the role it's played in his personal and professional lives. His story of fighting for justice over many decades, with and without eyesight, is an inspiration to us all.
Shadow Men: The Tangled Story of Murder, Media, and Privilege That Scandalized Jazz Age America
by James PolchinFrom Edgar Award finalist James Polchin comes a thrilling examination of the murder that captivated Jazz Age America, with echoes of the decadence and violence of The Great GatsbyOn the morning of May 16, 1922, a young man&’s body was found on a desolate road in Westchester County. The victim was penniless ex-sailor Clarence Peters. Walter Ward, the handsome scion of the family that owned the largest chain of bread factories in the country, confessed to the crime as an act of self-defense against a violent gang of &“shadow men,&” blackmailers who extorted their victims&’ moral weaknesses. From the start, one question defined the investigation: What scandalous secret could lead Ward to murder?For sixteen months, the media fueled a firestorm of speculation. Unscrupulous criminal attorneys, fame-seeking chorus girls, con artists, and misogynistic millionaires harnessed the power of the press to shape public perception. New York governor and future presidential candidate Al Smith and editor of the Daily News Joseph Medill Patterson leveraged the investigation to further professional ambitions. Famous figures like Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, and F. Scott Fitzgerald weighed in. As the bereaved working-class Peters family sought to bring the callous Ward to justice, America watched enraptured.Capturing the extraordinary twists and turns of the case, Shadow Men conjures the excess and contradictions of the Jazz Age and reveals the true-crime origins of the media-led voyeurism that reverberates through contemporary life. It&’s a story of privilege and power that lays bare the social inequity that continues to influence our system of justice.
The Turkish Lover: A Memoir (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
by Esmeralda SantiagoEnthralled admirers of Esmeralda Santiago's memoirs of her childhood have yearned to read more. Now, in The Turkish Lover, Esmeralda finally breaks out of the monumental struggle with her powerful mother, only to elope into the spell of an exotic love affair. At the heart of the story is Esmeralda's relationship with "the Turk," a passion that gradually becomes a prison out of which she must emerge to become herself. The expansive humanity, earthy humor, and psychological courage that made Esmeralda's first two books so successful are on full display again in The Turkish Lover.
Almost a Woman: A Memoir (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
by Esmeralda SantiagoFollowing the enchanting story recounted in When I Was Puerto Rican of the author&’s emergence from the barrios of Brooklyn to the prestigious Performing Arts High School in Manhattan, Esmeralda Santiago delivers the tale of her young adulthood, where she continually strives to find a balance between becoming American and staying Puerto Rican. While translating for her mother Mami at the welfare office in the morning, starring as Cleopatra at New York&’s prestigious Performing Arts High School in the afternoons, and dancing salsa all night, she begins to defy her mother&’s protective rules, only to find that independence brings new dangers and dilemmas.
Shine the Light: How Sandlot Baseball Connects People in a Disconnected World
by Jim MatthewsThe sandlot movement is a different animal, drawing players of all ages back to their roots. If you remember playing baseball in yards and alleyways or an open field, you&’ll be glad to know the tradition continues in grownup leagues across the nation. A lifelong fan of baseball—both from a watching and a semi-pro player—author Jim Matthews spent his professional days as a television newscaster and sports broadcaster in Austin, Texas. After what he thought would be his last semi-pro game, ending with a home run, he pondered what could fill the void of playing the game he loved. Pondering this conundrum, Matthews and lifelong friend (and former Nike president) Elliott Hill decided that going back to their roots—sandlot baseball—might be just what they needed. Testing the waters with a few different teams and leagues, including future rivals the Texas Playboys, they decided to create their own team: the Austin Moontowers. But when it comes to playing on the sandlot, as it was as a child, the key was not if you won or lost. Camaraderie, not rivalry, spurs you.Shine the Light includes glimmers of friendships resurrected half a century later and new friendships with interesting and sometimes high-profile players, now part of the &“sandlot nation.&” It shares a personal backstory about my dual heritage (Hispanic and Scot-Irish), the parents who shaped Jim&’s character, and tragedies mixed with soaring milestones. Most of all, this is a book about cross-country adventures that landed Matthews back home to Austin, and onto sandlots despite arthritic knees and a hip replacement. It&’s about passion and esprit de corps that can only be found on base or in front of the pitching mound—on a field that may be full of weeds or fire ants. But when you&’re able to play the game you love, in its purest form, the small things that might bother most just come with the territory. Find the Moontowers Baseball Club at instagram @austinmoontowers and www.moontowers.co.
Unyielding: Marathons Against Illegal Mandates
by Thomas L. RempferUnyielding tackles a recurring topic of national importance as a history lesson for future generations. Controversial illegal medical mandates impacted military populations for many decades, but it was not until the COVID-era that the American people witnessed similar overreach. Colonel Tom &“Buzz&” Rempfer&’s memoir retraces the anthrax vaccine history since it marked the first time the military was served with court rulings condemning premeditated illegal experimentation on our nation&’s troops. The advent of COVID mandates, imposed on the population in 2021, gave the American people a taste of the mistreatment previously reserved for our nation&’s warriors. Legal protections enacted by the Congress to guard against medical experimentation, meant to ensure safe, effective, and FDA-approved products, were instead adulterated to foist mandates on American society. According to the FBI, the motive for the anthrax letter lab leaks in 2001 was to &“rejuvenate&” the &“failing&” anthrax vaccine. Similarly, the suspected Wuhan lab leak two decades later resulted in a push for COVID injections. The pattern of fear-based bioincidents resulting from reckless biodefense enterprises, and lessons not learned with illegal mandates, paralyzed government and military leaders while wreaking havoc on the trust and health of our troops and the American people. Buzz&’s decades-long analysis of the breakdowns stands as a unique treatise on the failures of leaders to learn lessons from these enduring clashes and to correct the damage. Future generations will sort out the aftermath, but in the meantime, Colonel Rempfer&’s Unyielding effort attempts to ensure that the lessons are not lost.
Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life
by Eric WeinerNew York Times bestselling author Eric Weiner follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, mining his life for inspiring and practical lessons in a book that&’s part biography, part travelogue, part personal prescription.Ben Franklin lingers in our lives and in our imaginations. One of only two non-presidents to appear on US currency, Franklin was a founder, statesman, scientist, inventor, diplomat, publisher, humorist, and philosopher. He believed in the American experiment, but Ben Franklin&’s greatest experiment was…Ben Franklin. In that spirit of betterment, Eric Weiner embarks on an ambitious quest to live the way Ben lived. Not a conventional biography, Ben & Me is a guide to living and thinking well, as Ben Franklin did. It is also about curiosity, diligence, and, most of all, the elusive goal of self-improvement. As Weiner follows Franklin from Philadelphia to Paris, Boston to London, he attempts to uncover Ben&’s life lessons, large and small. We learn how to improve a relationship with someone by inducing them to do a favor for you—a psychological phenomenon now known as The Ben Franklin Effect. We learn about the printing press (the Internet of its day), early medicine, diplomatic intrigue and, of course, electricity. And we learn about ethics, persuasion, humor, regret, appetite, and so much more. At a time when history is either neglected or contested, Weiner argues we have much to learn from the past and that we&’d all be better off if we acted and thought a bit more like Ben did, even if he didn&’t always live up to his own high ideals. Engaging, smart, moving, quirky, Ben & Me distills the essence of Franklin&’s ideas into grounded, practical wisdom for all of us.
Kissing Girls on Shabbat: A Memoir
by Sara GlassA moving coming-of-age memoir in the vein of Unorthodox and Educated, about one young woman&’s desperate attempt to protect her children and family while also embracing her queer identity in a controlling Hasidic community.Growing up in the Hasidic community of Brooklyn&’s Borough Park, Sara Glass knew one painful truth: what was expected of her and what she desperately wanted were impossibly opposed. Tormented by her attraction to women and trapped in a loveless arranged marriage, she found herself unable to conform to her religious upbringing and soon, she made the difficult decision to walk away from the world she knew. Sara&’s journey to self-acceptance began with the challenging battle for a divorce and custody of her children, an act that left her on the verge of estrangement from her family and community. Controlled by the fear of losing custody of her two children, she forced herself to remain loyal to the compulsory heteronormativity baked into Hasidic Judaism and married again. But after suffering profound loss and a shocking sexual assault, Sara decided to finally be completely true to herself. Kissing Girls on Shabbat is not only a love letter to Glass&’s children, herself, and her family—it is an unflinching window into the world of ultra-conservative Orthodox Jewish communities and an inspiring celebration of learning to love yourself.
Playing from the Rough: A Personal Journey through America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses
by Jimmie JamesThe story of one man&’s quest to become the first person to play each of America&’s 100 greatest golf courses in a single year, an odyssey that brings him face to face with the gulf between his impoverished childhood in the Jim Crow South and the successful executive he became.When he set out to play each of Golf Digest&’s America&’s 100 greatest golf courses in one year, Jimmie James knew he was attempting the impossible. But then again, he&’d spent his entire life defying the odds. James was born invisible. His birth certificate, long since filed away in some clerk&’s office in East Texas, recorded facts about him that were deemed most relevant in the late 1950s: &“colored&” and &“illegitimate.&” His great-great-grandmother was enslaved, and his early life was confined by the privation and segregation of the late Jim Crow-era South. Four decades later—having put himself through an HBCU and determinedly risen through the executive ranks at ExxonMobil—he embarked on his journey to play the 100 greatest golf courses in the United States. In a single year. From the first tee at Augusta National, the distance between the world he grew up in and the world of extreme privilege to which he&’d now managed to gain access was impossible to ignore. Playing from the Rough is a remarkable memoir of race, class, family, and the power of perseverance, as James braids his love of golf with reflections on the path that took him from childhood poverty to the most exclusive and opulent golf courses in America.
The Politics of Life: My Road to the Middle of a Hostile and Adversarial World
by Douglas E SchoenDuring his more than 50 years in politics, Democratic strategist Douglas E. Schoen has produced nearly two dozen books that have deftly dissected national and international crises and offered prescriptions for solving them. Now, in The Politics of Life: My Road to the Middle of a Hostile and Adversarial World, Schoen delivers his most personal work. Bringing to life the antiwar youthquake of his Harvard years, Schoen introduces us to Cornel West, Walter Isaacson, Merrick Garland, and other classmates bound for glory. A tense summer in Mississippi helps Schoen appreciate the long game of candidate Charles Evers, a bootlegger-pimp turned civil rights crusader. In New York, he witnesses the twilight of clubhouse power as he canvasses for society swell Carter Burden, &“mob priest&” Louis Gigante, and Ed (How&’m doin&’?) Koch. Taking time out for his own run for Congress, Schoen joins data wunderkind Mark Penn in pioneering overnight polling – getting to know everyone from Camelot heir Ted Kennedy to crack-smoking mayor Marion Barry to a brash developer named Donald Trump. Penn & Schoen evolves into a global consultancy, taking on strongmen in Serbia, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Turkey, and Venezuela. Two of its clients are assassinated. Three win the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1996, the duo guides beleaguered President Bill Clinton to a second term and through a wrenching sex scandal. Using a unique strategy for micro-targeting voters, the firm helps give Mayor Michael Bloomberg the time he needs to steer New York City to a recovery after 9/11.A HALF-CENTURY IN POLITICS WAR STORIES AND WISDOM Schoen seems to be on top of the world when a British multinational pays a fortune for Penn & Schoen. Out on his own, he shrugs off a new generation of progressives who mock his centrist views and his willingness to debate conservatives on Fox News. Gradually, he reinvents himself. He becomes a syndicated columnist, co-founds a new polling company, immerses himself in Ukraine&’s struggle against Russia, and saddles up again with Michael Bloomberg to help oust now-President Trump. Along the way, some former critics admit Schoen might have been right. Brimming with ripping yarns from campaign war rooms, The Politics of Life is also a manual for living a productive and happy life. Sprinkled through the memoir are the author&’s &“Schoenisms&” – lessons he&’s learned the hard way: • It helps if your opinion is correct. But first, it should sound convincing. • Take on a despot when he first threatens you. Bullies only get bigger. • Martyrdom is overrated. Don't fall on any swords unless there&’s an ambulance on the way. • Shaming and blaming your opponents might impress your allies. But it doesn&’t accomplish much – aside from chasing people away from the bargaining table. • Don&’t waste time on feuds. Grudges sap your strength and hurt you almost as much as the person you&’re fighting. • Most people are mixtures of light and darkness. Life is about learning the moral gradients – the grayscale – and deciding how much shadow you can live with.
Roctogenarians: Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs
by Mo Rocca Jonathan GreenbergFrom beloved CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca, author of New York Times bestseller Mobituaries, comes an inspiring collection of stories that celebrates the triumphs of people who made their biggest marks late in life. Eighty has been the new sixty for about twenty years now. In fact, there have always been late-in-life achievers, those who declined to go into decline just because they were eligible for social security. Journalist, humorist, and history buff Mo Rocca and coauthor Jonathan Greenberg introduce us to the people past and present who peaked when they could have been puttering—breaking out as writers, selling out concert halls, attempting to set land-speed records—and in the case of one ninety-year tortoise, becoming a first-time father. (Take that, Al Pacino!) In the vein of Mobituaries, Roctogenarians is a collection of entertaining and unexpected profiles of these unretired titans—some long gone (a cancer-stricken Henri Matisse, who began work on his celebrated cut-outs when he could no longer paint), some very much still living (Mel Brooks, yukking it up at close to one hundred). The amazing cast of characters also includes Mary Church Terrell, who at eighty-six helped lead sit-ins at segregated Washington, DC, lunch counters in the 1950s, and Carol Channing, who married the love of her life at eighty-two. Then there&’s Peter Mark Roget, who began working on his thesaurus in his twenties and completed it at seventy-three (because sometimes finding the right word takes time.) With passion and wonder Rocca and Greenberg recount the stories of yesterday&’s and today&’s strongest finishers. Because with all due respect to the Golden Girls, some people will never be content sitting out on the lanai. (PS Actress Estelle Getty was sixty-two when she got her big break. And yes, she&’s in the book.)
Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
by Ann Powers*An Observer Best New Biographies of 2024*Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself..“What you are about to read is not a standard account of the life and work of Joni Mitchell. Instead, it’s a tale of long journeying through a life that changed popular music: of a homesick wanderer forging ahead on routes of her own invention, and of me on her trail, heading toward the ringing of her voice.”—From the introductionFor decades, Joni Mitchell’s life and music have enraptured listeners. One of the most celebrated artists of her generation, Mitchell has inspired countless musicians—from peers like James Taylor, to inheritors like Prince and Brandi Carlile—and authors, who have dissected her music and her life in their writing. At the same time, Mitchell has always been a force beckoning us still closer, as—with the other arm—she pushes us away. Given this, music critic Ann Powers wondered if there was another way to draw insights from the life of this singular musician who never stops moving, never stops experimenting.In Traveling, Powers seeks to understand Mitchell through her myriad journeys. Through extensive interviews with Mitchell's peers and deep archival research, she takes readers to rural Canada, mapping the singer’s childhood battle with polio. She charts the course of Mitchell’s musical evolution, ranging from early folk to jazz fusion to experimentation with pop synthetics. She follows the winding road of Mitchell’s collaborations with other greats, and the loves that emerged along the way, all the way through to the remarkable return of Mitchell to music-making after the 2015 aneurysm that nearly took her life.Along this journey, Powers’ wide-ranging musings on the artist’s life and career reconsider the biographer’s role and the way it twines against the reality of a fan. In doing so, Traveling illustrates the shifting nature of biography, and the ultimate contradiction of celebrity: that an icon cannot truly, completely be known to a fan.Kaleidoscopic in scope, and intimate in its detail, Traveling is a fresh and fascinating addition to the Joni Mitchell canon, written by a biographer in full command of her gifts who asks as much of herself as of her subject.
Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles (Eminent Lives)
by Francine Prose“Matching gorgeous prose to gorgeous artworks, Prose responds to each image as a moment of theatrical revelation, sensual or spiritual, and frequently both.” — Boston Sunday GlobeIn Caravaggio, New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose offers an enthralling account of the life and work of one of the greatest painters of all time. Caravaggio defied the aesthetic conventions of his time; his use of ordinary people, realistically portrayed—street boys, prostitutes, the poor, the aged—was a profound and revolutionary innovation that left its mark on generations of artists. His insistence on painting from nature, on rendering the emotional truth of experience, whether religious or secular, made him an artist who speaks across the centuries to modern day. Called “racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable” by the New York Times Book Review, Caravaggio includes eight pages of color illustrations, and is sure to appeal to art enthusiasts interested in one of history’s true innovators. Caravaggio is part of the “Eminent Lives” series from HarperCollins, a selection of biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures
Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife
by Francine Prose“Prose’s book is a stunning achievement. . . . Now Anne Frank stands before us. . . a figure who will live not only in history but also in the literature she aspired to create.” — Minneapolis Star TribuneIn June, 1942, Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic. For two years, she described life in hiding in vivid, unforgettable detail and grappled with the unfolding events of World War II. Before the attic was raided in August, 1944, Anne Frank furiously revised and edited her work, crafting a piece of literature that she hoped would be read by the public after the war. And read it has been.In Anne Frank, bestselling author Francine Prose deftly parses the artistry, ambition, and enduring influence of Anne Frank’s beloved classic, The Diary of a Young Girl. She investigates the diary’s unique afterlife: the obstacles and criticism Otto Frank faced in publishing his daughter’s words; the controversy surrounding the diary’s Broadway and film adaptations, and the social mores of the 1950s that reduced it to a tale of adolescent angst and love; the conspiracy theories that have cried fraud, and the scientific analysis that proved them wrong. Finally, having assigned the book to her own students, Prose considers the rewards and challenges of teaching one of the world’s most read, and banned, books. How has the life and death of one girl become emblematic of the lives and deaths of so many, and why do her words continue to inspire?Approved by both the Anne Frank House Foundation in Amsterdam and the Anne Frank-Fonds in Basel, run by the Frank family, Anne Frank unravels the fascinating story of a memoir that has become one of the most compelling, intimate, and important documents of modern history.
Strangers in the Night: A Novel of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner
by Heather WebbIt was the tumultuous romance that scandalized the world: Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner fought, loved, and lived life to the hilt. Now their unbridled story is brought vividly to life by Heather Webb, the bestselling author of Meet Me in Monaco and The Next Ship Home. In the golden age of Hollywood, two of the brightest stars would define—and defy—an era…She was the small-town southern beauty transformed into a Hollywood love goddess. He was the legendary crooner whose voice transfixed the world. They were Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. Separately they were irresistible; together they were an explosive combination.Ava’s star is rising just as Frank’s career—and public image as a family man—is taking a hit. Gone are the days of the screaming bobbysoxers and chart-topping hits. Ava, however, finds herself gracing the front page of every tabloid in America. Jealousy and cheating abound, and when the two succumb to their temperaments and their vices, their happiness is threatened at every turn.As the pair ride the rollercoaster of success and failure, passion and anger, they both wonder if the next turn will be the end of their careers, and most devastating of all—the end of all they’ve shared.A captivating novel with a star-studded cast spanning continents and decades, Strangers in the Night brings to life the most riveting love story of the twentieth century.
Uncompromised: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab-American Patriot in the CIA
by Nada Prouty"Nada Prouty served her country loyally, with distinction, and, as universally acknowledged by her colleagues, with great personal courage as a CIA covert officer. This tale of rampant trampling of citizen's rights is a vivid reminder of the responsibility of citizens to be vigilant against unaccountable government overreach if we hope to keep a strong democracy, where the rule of law prevails and where a citizen is presumed innocent until proven guilty." -Valerie Plame, author of Fair GameWhen Nada Prouty came to the United States as a young woman, she fell in love with the democracy and freedom of her new home. After a childhood in war-torn Lebanon with an abusive father and facing the prospect of an arranged marriage, she jumped at the chance to forge her own path in America-a path that led to exciting undercover work in the FBI, then the CIA. As a leading agent widely lauded by her colleagues, she worked on the most high-profile terrorism cases in recent history, including the hunt for Saddam Hussein and the bombing of the USS Cole, often putting her life on the line and usually getting her man.But all this changed in the wake of 9/11, at the height of anti-Arab fervor, when federal investigators charged Prouty with passing intelligence to Hezbollah. Lacking sufficient evidence to make their case in court, prosecutors went to the media, suggesting that she had committed treason. Prouty, dubbed "Jihad Jane" by the New York Post, was quickly cast as a terrorist mastermind by the relentless 24-hour news cycle, and a scandal-hungry public ate it up.Though the CIA and federal judge eventually exonerated Prouty of all charges, she was dismissed from the agency and stripped of her citizenship. In Uncompromised, Prouty tells her whole story in a bid to restore her name and reputation in the country that she loves. Beyond a thrilling story of espionage and betrayal, this is a sobering commentary on cultural alienation, the power of fear, and what it means to truly love America.
If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir
by Ilana Kurshan**WINNER of the 2018 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the 2018 Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish literature****2018 Natan Book Award Finalist** **Finalist for the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies **The Wall Street Journal: "There is humor and heartbreak in these pages...Ms. Kurshan immerses herself in the demands of daily Talmud study and allows the words of ancient scholars to transform the patterns of her own life."The Jewish Standard:“Brilliant, beautifully written, sensitive, original."The Jerusalem Post:"A beautiful and inspiring book. Both religious and secular readers will find themselves immensely moved by [Kurshan's] personal story.”American Jewish World: “So engrossing I hardly could put it down.”At the age of twenty-seven, alone in Jerusalem in the wake of a painful divorce,Ilana Kurshan joined the world’s largest book club, learning daf yomi, Hebrew for“daily page” of the Talmud, a book of rabbinic teachings spanning about six hundredyears. Her story is a tale of heartache and humor, of love and loss, of marriageand motherhood, and of learning to put one foot in front of the other by turningpage after page. Kurshan takes us on a deeply accessible and personal guided tourof the Talmud. For people of the book—both Jewish and non-Jewish—If All theSeas Were Ink is a celebration of learning, through literature, how to fall in loveonce again.
King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis
by Shawn LevyShawn Levy's fascinating biography King of Comedy - the product of vast research and interviews with contemporaries, admirers, foes, and even, briefly, Lewis himself - traces the story of a man who defines High American Show Biz. At points along the time line of his career, Lewis has been the highest-paid performer in history in film, on television, and (in 1995!) on Broadway. With partner Dean Martin, he was half of the most successful comedy duo of all time. He was the first director who debuted in talkies to direct himself. He was a direct, acknowledged influence on giants from Woody Allen to Lenny Bruce to David Letterman to Jim Carrey. He is a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, has raised over $1 billion in charity, and was once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. And, since the 1950s, he has been one of the most recognized faces on earth. For almost that long, though, people have argued over what Jerry Lewis means. Is he a talented comedian or a grotesque mimic? A startlingly original director or a pretender to Chaplin's throne? A multifaceted entertainer or a megalomaniacal egoist? A tireless champion of the disabled or a tireless self-promoter who has confused America's charitable impulses with affection for him as a performer?
Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them
by Gina Kolata"[Kolata] is a gifted storyteller. Her account of the Baxleys... is both engrossing and distressing... Kolata's book raises crucial questions about knowledge that can be both vital and fatal, both pallative and dangerous." —Andrew Solomon, The New York Review of BooksNew York Times science reporter Gina Kolata follows a family through genetic illness and one courageous daughter who decides her fate shall no longer be decided by a genetic flaw.The phone rings. The doctor from California is on the line. “Are you ready Amanda?” The two people Amanda Baxley loves the most had begged her not to be tested—at least, not now. But she had to find out.If your family carried a mutated gene that foretold a brutal illness and you were offered the chance to find out if you’d inherited it, would you do it? Would you walk toward the problem, bravely accepting whatever answer came your way? Or would you avoid the potential bad news as long as possible? In Mercies in Disguise, acclaimed New York Times science reporter and bestselling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an almost archetypal family in a small town in South Carolina. A proud and determined clan, many of them doctors, they are struck one by one with an inscrutable illness. They finally discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of events that many saw as providential. Meanwhile, science, progressing for a half a century along a parallel track, had handed the Baxleys a resolution—not a cure, but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease and who did not. And science would offer another dilemma—fertility specialists had created a way to spare the children through an expensive process. A work of narrative nonfiction, Mercies in Disguise is the story of a family that took matters into its own hands when the medical world abandoned them. It’s a story of a family that had to deal with unspeakable tragedy and yet did not allow it to tear them apart. And it is the story of a young woman—Amanda Baxley—who faced the future head on, determined to find a way to disrupt her family’s destiny.
Throwback: A Big League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played
by Jason Kendall Lee JudgeThrowback offers an informative and irreverent look at the inner mechanics, strategies, secret signals, and customs of major league baseball.Ever Wonder What's Being Said at Home Plate?How a Team Silently Communicates?What Goes on in the Clubhouse Behind Closed Doors?America's pastime has always left fans and amateur players alike yearning for the answers to questions about how pros play the game.Jason Kendall is a former All-Star catcher who has seen just about everything during his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Kansas City Royals. A player's player, a guy with true grit--a throwback to another time with a unique view on the game that so many love.Jason Kendall and sportswriter Lee Judge team up to bring you the fan, player, coach, or curious statistician an insider's view of the game from a player's perspective. This is a book about pre-game rituals, what to look for when a pitcher warms up between innings, the signs a catcher uses to communicate with the pitcher, and so much more.Some of baseball wisdom you will find inside:* What to look for during batting practice.* The right way to hit a batter.* Who's a tough guy and who's just posing.* How to spot a dirty slide.* Why you don't look at the umpire while you're arguing.Based on Kendall's 15 years of professional MLB experience, Throwback is an informative, hilarious, and illuminating look into the world of professional baseball-and in a way that no one has ever seen before.
Jet Girl: My Life in War, Peace, and the Cockpit of the Navy's Most Lethal Aircraft, the F/A-18 Super Hornet
by Hof Williams Caroline JohnsonA fresh, unique insider’s view of what it’s like to be a woman aviator in today’s US Navy—from pedicures to parachutes, friendship to firefights. Caroline Johnson was an unlikely aviation candidate. A tall blonde debutante from Colorado, she could have just as easily gone into fashion or filmmaking, and yet she went on to become an F/A-18 Super Hornet Weapons System Officer. She was one of the first women to fly a combat mission over Iraq since 2011, and one of the first women to drop bombs on ISIS.Jet Girl tells the remarkable story of the women fighting at the forefront in a military system that allows them to reach the highest peaks, and yet is in many respects still a fraternity. Johnson offers an insider’s view on the fascinating, thrilling, dangerous and, at times, glamorous world of being a naval aviator.This is a coming-of age story about a young college-aged woman who draws strength from a tight knit group of friends, called the Jet Girls, and struggles with all the ordinary problems of life: love, work, catty housewives, father figures, make-up, wardrobe, not to mention being put into harm’s way daily with terrorist groups such as ISIS and world powers such as Russia and Iran.Some of the most memorable parts of the book are about real life in training, in the air and in combat—how do you deal with having to pee in a cockpit the size of a bumper car going 600 miles an hour?Not just a memoir, this book also aims to change the conversation and to inspire and attract the next generation of men and women who are tempted to explore a life of adventure and service.
Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba
by Alina Fernández"Mommy, mommy, call him. Tell him to come here right away. I have so many things to tell him!"I had a ton of things to tell him. I wanted him to find a solution to all the shortages of clothes; of meat, so it would again be distributed through the ration books.I also wanted to ask him to give our Christmas back. And to come live with us. I wanted to let him know how much we really needed him...Fidel didn't answer my letter. I kept writing him letters from a sweet and well-behaved child, a brave but sad girl. Letters resembling those of a secret, spurned lover...As a girl growing up in Cuba, Alina Fernandez found nothing abnormal in the fact that Fidel Castro would occasionally visit her house bearing gifts just for her. At the age of ten, her mother finally told her the truth: she was Castro's Daughter.
Transforming the Faiths of Our Fathers: Women Who Changed American Religion
by Ann BraudePundits on both the right and the left often portray religion and feminism as inherently incompatible, as opposing forces in American culture. Transforming the Faiths of Our Fathers seeks to dispel that notion by asking sixteen well-known religious figures to tell the story of how they became involved in the women's movement. Their work-much of it ongoing-has helped transform the way religion is practiced in this country. They have worked for the ordination of women, for inclusive language and liturgy, for new interpretations of scripture, theology, and religious law, and for an end to religious teachings that contributed to destructive gender stereotypes. Authors include Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Evangelical, and goddess feminists. The personal stories of the fascinating contributors include watershed events in American religion and society over the last forty years. Each one of the women inTransforming the Faiths of Our Fathers has made history and seen it made, and gives her own version of what she has witnessed and experienced. They demonstrate the roots of their feminist activism in religious commitments, and the significance of struggles within religious arenas for expanding women's possibilities in society and culture.
The 300: The Inside Story of the Missile Defenders Guarding America Against Nuclear Attack
by Daniel WasserblyMilitary and security expert Daniel Wasserbly introduces the elite unit tasked with protecting the nation from long-range weapons of mass destruction.Comprised of just three hundred soldiers, the United States Army’s 100th Missile Defense Brigade and 49th Missile Defense Battalion utilize sophisticated and cutting-edge technology to monitor the skies and seas surrounding the country and shield three hundred million Americans against any potential nuclear threat. Named for the number of Spartan warriors who defended Greece at the Battle of Thermopylae, these vigilant individuals endure rigorous, always-evolving regimens to maintain peak efficiency in the event of an actual nuclear strike.Assigned to extraordinary locations at Fort Greely, Alaska and Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, the 300 are responsible for the highest levels of homeland security. They not only maintain a never-ending watch via radar and sensor arrays, but receive continuous training in operating advanced interceptors designed to home in on and destroy in-flight ballistic missiles. It’s a complex—and occasionally unreliable—defense system that scientists and engineers are always improving and upgrading.With unprecedented access to the highly classified strategic nerve centers of U.S. Northern Command in Cheyenne Mountain, years of research, and dozens of exclusive interviews with normally inaccessible missile crews, Wasserbly reveals the incredible true story behind the 300’s essential defense operations.