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Against Joie de Vivre
by Phillip Lopate“Over the years I have developed a distaste for the spectacle of joie de vivre, the knack of knowing how to live,” begins the title essay by Phillip Lopate. This rejoinder to the cult of hedonism and forced conviviality moves from a critique of the false sentimentalization of children and the elderly to a sardonic look at the social rite of the dinner party, on to a moving personal testament to the “hungry soul. ” Lopate’s special gift is his ability to give us not only sophisticated cultural commentary in a dazzling collection of essays but also to bring to his subjects an engaging honesty and openness that invite us to experience the world along with him. Also included here are Lopate’s inspiring account of his production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya with a group of preadolescents, a look at the tradition of the personal essay, and a soul-searching piece on the suicide of a schoolteacher and its effect on his students and fellow teachers. By turns humorous, learned, celebratory, and elegiac, Lopate displays a keen intelligence and a flair for language that turn bits of common, everyday life into resonant narrative. This collection maintains a conversational charm while taking the contemporary personal essay to a new level of complexity and candor.
Against The Law
by Peter Wildeblood'This right which I claim for myself and for all those like me is the right to choose the person whom I love' Peter WildebloodIn March 1954 Peter Wildeblood, a London journalist, was one of five men charged with homosexual acts in the notorious Montagu case. Wildeblood was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, along with Lord Montagu and Major Michael Pitt-Rivers. The other two men were set free after turning Queen's Evidence.Against the Law tells the story of Wildeblood's childhood and schooldays, his war service, his career as a journalist, his arrest, trial and imprisonment, and finally his return to freedom. In its honesty and restraint it is eloquent testimony to the inhumanity of the treatment of gay men in Britain within living memory.
Against The Law
by Peter Wildeblood'This right which I claim for myself and for all those like me is the right to choose the person whom I love' Peter WildebloodIn March 1954 Peter Wildeblood, a London journalist, was one of five men charged with homosexual acts in the notorious Montagu case. Wildeblood was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, along with Lord Montagu and Major Michael Pitt-Rivers. The other two men were set free after turning Queen's Evidence.Against the Law tells the story of Wildeblood's childhood and schooldays, his war service, his career as a journalist, his arrest, trial and imprisonment, and finally his return to freedom. In its honesty and restraint it is eloquent testimony to the inhumanity of the treatment of gay men in Britain within living memory.
Against Medical Advice: A True Story
by James Patterson Hal FriedmanCory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life was a living hell.AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment. It is a heart-rending story of struggle and triumph with a climax as dramatic as any James Patterson thriller.
Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions & Criticisms
by Michelle TeaThe PEN Award-winning essay collection about queer lives: &“Gorgeously punk-rock rebellious.&”—The A.V. Club The razor-sharp but damaged Valerie Solanas; a doomed lesbian biker gang; recovering alcoholics; and teenagers barely surviving at an ice creamery: these are some of the larger-than-life, yet all-too-human figures populating America&’s fringes. Rife with never-ending fights and failures, theirs are the stories we too often try to forget. But in the process of excavating and documenting these queer lives, Michelle Tea also reveals herself in unexpected and heartbreaking ways. Delivered with her signature honesty and dark humor, this is the first-ever collection of journalistic writing by the author of How to Grow Up and Valencia. As she blurs the line between telling other people&’s stories and her own, she turns an investigative eye to the genre that&’s nurtured her entire career—memoir—and considers the price that art demands be paid from life. &“Eclectic and wide-ranging…A palpable pain animates many of these essays, as well as a raucous joy and bright curiosity.&” —The New York Times &“Queer counterculture beats loud and proud in Tea&’s stellar collection.&” —Publishers Weekly (starred) &“The best essay collection I've read in years.&”—The New RepublicWinner of the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay
Against Tall Odds: Being a David in a Goliath World
by Matt Roloff Tracy SumnerRon and Peggy Roloff looked on in shock at the tiny baby before them. What will become of this boy with a stubby body and malformed limbs? As a dwarf, Mathew will have little to look forward to... except dozens of surgeries, years of painful rehabilitation, and daily encounters withthe pitying stairs of strangers. Matt Roloff wouldn't want life any other way.
Against the Evidence: The Becker-Rosenthal Affair
by Andy LoganCharlie Becker was a crooked, ruthless cop. But did he really order the execution of a gambling boss who had gone to the press about police corruption? This book makes a pretty convincing case for his having been "framed" by the political powers that be.
Against the Ice: The Classic Arctic Survival Story
by Ejnar MikkelsenSoon to be a Netflix feature film co-written by and starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) The harrowing, amazing, and often amusing personal account of two mismatched Arctic explorers who banded together to keep themselves sane on an historic expedition gone horribly wrongEjnar Mikkelsen was devoted to Arctic exploration. In 1910 he decided to search for the diaries of the ill-fated Mylius-Erichsen expedition, which had set out to prove that Robert Peary&’s outline of the East Greenland coast was a myth, erroneous and presumably self-serving. Iver Iversen was a mechanic who joined Mikkelsen in Iceland when the expedition&’s boat needed repair. Several months later, Mikkelsen and Iversen embarked on an incredible journey during which they would suffer every imaginable Arctic travail: implacable cold, scurvy, starvation, frostbite, snow blindness, plunges into icy seawater, impossible sledding conditions, Vitamin A poisoning, debilitated dogs, apocalyptic storms, gaping crevasses, and assorted mortifications of the flesh. Mikkelsen&’s diary was even eaten by a bear. Three years of this, coupled with seemingly no hope of rescue, would drive most crazy, yet the two retained both their sanity as well as their humor. Indeed, what may have saved them was their refusal to become as desolate as their surroundings… Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who co-adapted the book into a screenplay, provides a new foreword to this brand-new edition of the classic exploration memoir, which was one of The Explorer's Club&’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. Originally published as Two Against the Ice: A Classic Arctic Survival Story and a Remarkable Account of Companionship in the Face of Adversity. Translated from the Danish by Maurice Michael.
Against the Odds: The Adventures of a Man in His Sixties Competing in Six of the World's Toughest Triathlons across Six Continents
by Brett Favre John L. PendergrassCompleting a triathlon at any age is a major achievement; finishing an IRONMAN®Triathlon in your sixties is nothing short of inspirational. A true account of John Pendergrass' impossible goal of completing six IRONMAN Triathlons on six continents, all while in his sixties, Against the Odds will shatter your preconceptions of what a man in his golden years can accomplish.For most people, their sixties are a time to slow down, take things easy, and reflect on a life well lived. Not for Pendergrass. As his sixtieth birthday loomed, he longed for a challenge that would push him to his limits and drive him to achieve something that few people had ever done before.Pendergrass found his answer in the IRONMAN Triathlon, the world's most difficult endurance event: an intimidating 2.4 mile swim in open water, a grueling 112 mile bike ride, and an exhausting 26.2 mile run--all in the same day. A total of 140.6 miles, nonstop... a monumental task for men half his age.Against the Odds follows Pendergrass through each arduous step as he struggles against time, doubt, and his own physical limitations to arrive tired, but victorious at the finish line. From the deserts of Arizona to the bush of South Africa, from the beaches of Brazil to the coasts of New Zealand, this journey chronicles not only the races themselves, but also the breathtaking countries that host them. Told with modesty and humor, Against the Odds is a story of impressive drive and incredible courage that will inspire you to new heights many could only dream of reaching.
Against the Protestant Gnostics
by Philip J. LeeSince the discovery of original gnostic documents at Nag Hammadi in 1945, many scholars have recognized a familiar presence within this ancient heresy. To some authors the main features of gnosticism--belief in a secret revelation available only to an initiated elite, rejection of the physical world, and escape into the self--seemed reminiscent of modern cult groups and secular movements. However, Philip Lee, noting that most of the early gnostics were firmly ensconced within the Church, locates modern gnosticism within the Protestant establishment itself. "As a Protestant, I believe I have identified the elusive modern gnostics and they are ourselves," he writes. In this penetrating and provocative assessment of the current state of religion and its effect on values in society at large, Lee criticizes conservatives and liberals alike as he traces gnostic motifs to the very roots of American Protestantism. With references to an extraordinary spectrum of writings from sources as diverse as John Calvin, Martin Buber, Tom Wolfe, Margaret Atwood and Emily Dickinson among many others, he probes the effects of gnostic thinking on issues ranging from politics to feminism, from ecology to parenthood. The ethical ramifications of such a gnostic turn have been negative and frightening, he maintains. The book points to positive ways of restoring health to endangered Protestant churches. Calling for the restoration of a dialectical faith and practice, Lee offers an agenda for reform, including a renewal of obedience to the scriptures and an affirmation of life and creation within the circle of the extended family.
Against the Tide: The Story of Watchman Nee
by Angus KinnearThe engrossing, moving biography of one of China's better-known Christians, the dedicated evangelist and gifted Bible teacher Watchman Nee.
Against the Tide: Women Reformers in American Society
by Randall M. Miller Paul A. CimbalaAgainst the Tide is a collection of in-depth biographical essays on the most important women reformers in American history. This reader will be useful in any history course that deals with the important contributions made by women to the development of our government and society from the early republic to today. The volume combines scholarly vitality with readability, making it appropriate for all levels of students.
Against the Water: A surfing champion's inspirational journey to Olympic glory
by Owen WrightThe gut-wrenching story of how one of Australia&’s finest surfers overcame a brain injury and despair to win an Olympic medal. On the morning of 10 December 2015, Owen Wright entered the water at Pipeline, Hawaii, determined to become a world champion. But after being pounded by a set of monstrous waves, he ended up fighting for life and facing extensive brain trauma. In this inspirational memoir, Wright chronicles the events leading up to that fateful day, as well as the months and years that followed as he battled to regain basic functioning, and eventually the capacity to compete again at the apex of surfing.Against the Water carries the reader back to Wright&’s boyhood in the tiny town of Culburra, where his father, determined to raise champions, turned family life into a kind of boot camp. While eccentric, his father&’s methods bore fruit: the Wrights of Culburra would become Australian surfing royalty. Owen&’s story lays bare the complex relationship with his father – the adoration, the fight for independence, the fallings out, and the reconciliations. Told in a spare, intimate style, Against the Water is the moving account of an athlete who refused to accept that his best days were behind him and raises fundamental questions around family and competition. What, ultimately, is our duty to our children? At what point does bravery become folly? And how much should we sacrifice for the sake of another? &‘Owen was a childhood phenom who grew into the ultimate family man. In between this transition, he took on the world, charged crazy waves, suffered a huge brain injury, and finished off with the all-time sporting comeback!&’ Mick Fanning, three-time world champion surfer &‘Whatever it is that Owen is getting himself into, he seems to do it with little to no fear and a massive smile on his face. He&’s an inspirational guy, to put it lightly. Owen is one special human!&’ Liam Hemsworth, actor &‘Owen Wright has to be the most inspiring person I&’ve ever met. His story is one of a childhood prodigy, to facing a near-death experience, to Australian hero . . . This book will inspire and motivate anyone who has had to face adversity whilst following their dreams.&’ Kita Alexander, singer-songwriter &‘[A] true fighter&’s spirit!' Luke Rockhold, UFC middleweight champion, two-time jiu-jitsuworld champion, three-time strikeforce middleweight champion
Against the Wind: An Ironwoman's Race for Her Family's Survival
by Lee DipietroTo one woman, running was more than a passion--it was a lesson in perseverance. Lee DiPietro discovered the exhilaration of endurance athletics when she ran her first half marathon in her late twenties. From that day forward, she took on every marathon that she could, and despite having to juggle her running with her responsibilities as mother and wife, she quickly established herself as one of the best runners in the United States. Over the next thirty years Lee won race after race, running in everything from local competitions to the three most challenging endurance races: the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon, and the Ironman triathlon. What she did not know, as she climbed the ranks of the running world, was the struggle her family would face and the role her running would play in helping her persevere in the face of great adversity. When Lee’s husband was diagnosed with cancer and her son suffered a devastating accident, she found herself falling back on the lessons she had learned as a marathoner to help her endure the sudden family trials. In Against the Wind, DiPietro takes us through her harrowing yearlong fight for the lives of her husband and son. Despite the great difficulties she faced, throughout it all remained her love for running. Against the Wind is a story that will resonate with readers whose lives have been affected by cancer as well as those who are dedicated to endurance sports. It proves that running is a tool to save lives--far from just a sport and test of one's mettle.
Against the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism, 1976-2009
by Neal GablerFrom the author of Catching the Wind comes the second volume of the definitive biography of Ted Kennedy and a history of modern American liberalism.&“Magisterial . . . an intricate, astute study of political power brokering comparable to Robert A. Caro&’s profile of Lyndon Johnson in Master of the Senate.&”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)Against the Wind completes Neal Gabler&’s magisterial biography of Ted Kennedy, but it also unfolds the epic, tragic story of the fall of liberalism and the destruction of political morality in America. With Richard Nixon having stilled the liberal wind that once propelled Kennedy&’s—and his fallen brothers&’—political crusades, Ted Kennedy faced a lonely battle. As Republicans pressed Reaganite dogmas of individual freedom and responsibility and Democratic centrists fell into line, Kennedy was left as the most powerful voice legislating on behalf of those society would neglect or punish: the poor, the working class, and African Americans.Gabler shows how the fault lines that cracked open in the wake of the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam were intentionally widened by Kennedy&’s Republican rivals to create a moral vision of America that stood in direct opposition to once broadly shared commitments to racial justice and economic equality. Yet even as he fought this shift, Ted Kennedy&’s personal moral failures in this era—the endless rumors of his womanizing and public drunkenness and his bizarre behavior during the events that led to rape accusations against his nephew William Kennedy Smith—would be used again and again to weaken his voice and undercut his claims to political morality.Tracing Kennedy&’s life from the wilderness of the Reagan years through the compromises of the Clinton era, from his rage against the craven cruelty of George W. Bush to his hope that Obama would deliver on a lifetime of effort on behalf of universal health care, Gabler unfolds Kennedy&’s heroic legislative work against the backdrop of a nation grown lost and fractured. In this outstanding conclusion to the saga that began with Catching the Wind, Neal Gabler offers his inimitable insight into a man who fought to keep liberalism alive when so many were determined to extinguish it. Against the Wind sheds new light both on a revered figure in the American Century and on America&’s current existential crisis.
Against the Wind
by Geoffrey HouseholdGeoffrey Household's, author of ROGUE MALE, unconventional amusing and exciting autobiography.Ever since the publication of ROGUE MALE, Geoffrey Household has been known in the English-reading world for his audacious and unorthodox tales of adventure. Now, in his autobiography, AGAINST THE WIND, he tells us the story of his own life, sharing with us the background and the experiences from which he emerged as a writer. A gradaute from Oxford he then worked as an apprentice-clerk in the Ottoman Bank, as a banana salesman in Spain, and he served in British Intelligence during World War II in Romania, Greece and the Middle East. In the final chapters he speaks of the writer's craft and of his personal aspirations.
Against the Wind: An Autobiography
by Geoffrey HouseholdIn this fascinating and uniquely colorful autobiography, a twentieth-century master of suspense fiction candidly examines his extraordinary life, times, and art One of the twentieth century&’s most respected writers of adventure and espionage thrillers, Geoffrey Household penned more than twenty novels and short story collections in a career that spanned more than fifty years—and lived a life as eventful and surprising as his acclaimed, pulse-pounding fiction. In Against the Wind, the author whom the New York Times credits with having &“helped to develop the suspense story into an art form&” shares his remarkable personal history with candor and wit, while exploring the creative process and his roles as a husband, father, bestselling popular artist, and citizen of his uniquely eventful time. From his years as a student at the University of Oxford to his early career in the cutthroat world of international business and finance to his patriotic service with British intelligence during World War II, with perilous postings in Greece, Romania, and the Middle East that later informed his thrilling fiction, Household evocatively recalls a peripatetic life lived purposefully and often dangerously in some of the most colorful and fascinating regions of the globe.
Against The Wall
by Simon YatesSimon Yates is 'the one who cut the rope' in Joe Simpson's award-winning account of their epic struggle for survival in Touching the Void. Afterwards, Yates continued mountaineering on the hardest routes. Perhaps the most testing of all was one of the world's largest vertical rockfaces, the 4, 000-ft East Face of the Central Tower of Paine in Chile. Battered by ferocious storms and almost crippled with fear just below the summit, Yates and his three companions are forced into a nightmare retreat. After resting in a nearby town, they return to complete the climb, but Yates knows he still has to face one of life's greatest challenges...
Against Wind and Tide: Letters and Journals, 1947-1986
by Reeve Lindbergh Anne Morrow LindberghWhy, as an eager and talented writer, has Anne Morrow Lindbergh published so relatively little in forty years of marriage?" asked reviewer John Barkham in 1970. "After a promising start with those first books on flying, she tapered off into long silences broken by an infrequent volume of verse or prose." Many years later, Lindbergh replied with a quote from Harriet Beecher Stowe, who claimed that writing, for a wife and mother, is "rowing against wind and tide." In this sixth and final collection of Lindbergh's diaries and letters, taking us from 1947 to 1986, we mark her progress as she navigated a remarkable life and a remarkable century with enthusiasm and delight, humor and wit, sorrow and bewilderment, but above all devoted to finding the essential truth in life's experiences through a hard-won spirituality and a passion for literature. Between the inevitable squalls of life with her beloved but elusive husband, the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, she shepherded their five children through whooping cough, horned toads, fiancés, the Vietnam War, and their own personal tragedies. She researched and wrote many books and articles on issues ranging from the condition of Europe after World War II to the meaning of marriage to the launch of Apollo 8. She published one of the most beloved books of inspiration of all time, Gift from the Sea. She left penetrating accounts of meetings with such luminaries as John and Jacqueline Kennedy, Thornton Wilder, Enrico Fermi, Leland and Slim Hayward, and the Frank Lloyd Wrights. And she found time to compose extraordinarily insightful and moving letters of consolation to friends and to others whose losses touched her deeply. More than any previous books by or about Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Against Wind and Tide makes us privy to the demons that plagued this fairy-tale bride, and introduces us to some of the people--men as well as women--who provided solace as she braved the tides of time and aging, war and politics, birth and death. Here is an eloquent and often startling collection of writings from one of the most admired women of our time.
Agatha Christie: First Lady of Crime
by Agatha ChristieFrom Poirot to Miss Marple, from The Mousetrap to Witness for the Prosecution, this a fascinating look at the life and work of Agatha Christie, the world's most successful and popular crime writer.Agatha Christie was not only the most successful author of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews—declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure—and a mystery, too, in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success. Distinguished crime novelist (and acclaimed critic) H. R. F. Keating brings together a dozen noted writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on the ever-intriguing Dame Agatha. Some essays analyze Christie&’s art itself; some explain the reasons for her success—not just the books, but also in film and theatre. The myriad of critical angles explored here are penetrating, affectionate, enthusiastic, analytical, and even funny. Together, they give an almost unique insight into the life and work of the First Lady of Crime. Includes essays by Sophie Hannah, H. R. F. Keating, Elizabeth Walter, Julian Symons, Edmund Crispin, Michael Gilbert, Emma Lathen, Colin Watson, Celia Fremlin, Dorothy B. Hughes, J. C. Trewin, Philip Jenkinson, William Weaver, and Christianna Brand.
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
by Agatha ChristieChristie began this book in 1950 and finished it 15 years later at age 75. She wrote 68 novels, over 100 short stories, 17 plays, published in 103 languages. This book begins from her early childhood growing up in Victorian era England to living abroad in France and Egypt, returning, marrying Archie Christie, travelling around the world with him, again returning home, meeting Max Malowan, etc. There is a lot about the middle east, various parts of England, France, and other countries. She also talks about how she became a writer and began writing novels as well as outlining when certain books were written and what gave her the ideas for them. It is a fascinating read.
Agatha Christie: More Stories and Secrets from Agatha Christie's Notebooks
by John CurranJohn Curran reveals the secrets of the world’s greatestmystery writer in Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making, the fascinating follow up to Agatha Christie’s SecretNotebooks featuring moreinsight into Christie’s captivating life story and a new windfall ofChristie’s unpublished work—including letters, archival papers, and a keenly incisive analysis of Christie’s last, unfinished novel.For readers new to Christie’s mysteries and for life-long fans of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Tommy and Tuppence, eitherfrom classic Christie novels like Murder on the Orient Express or fromthe popular Masterpiece Theater adaptations, “Curran’s discoveries will shapehow Christie is read.” (Independent on Sunday).
Agatha Christie: Collecting Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks and Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making
by John CurranAgatha Christie: Mysteries and Murders in the Making has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.
Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life
by Laura ThompsonThe author of the New York Times bestselling The Six now turns her formidable biographical skills to the greatest crime writer in the world, Agatha Christie. It has been one hundred years since Agatha Christie wrote her first novel and created the formidable Hercule Poirot. A brilliant and award winning biographer, Laura Thompson now turns her sharp eye to Agatha Christie. Arguably the greatest crime writer in the world, Christie's books still sell over four million copies each year—more than thirty years after her death—and it shows no signs of slowing. But who was the woman behind these mystifying, yet eternally pleasing, puzzlers? Thompson reveals the Edwardian world in which Christie grew up, explores her relationships, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the many mysteries still surrounding Christie's life, most notably, her eleven-day disappearance in 1926. Agatha Christie is as mysterious as the stories she penned, and writing about her is a detection job in itself. With unprecedented access to all of Christie's letters, papers, and notebooks, as well as fresh and insightful interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christie's detective fiction, but the truth behind this mysterious woman.
Agatha Christie: An English Mystery
by Laura ThompsonFans of Murder on the Orient Express won't want to miss out on this insight into the life of arguably the greatest crime writer in the world, as Laura Thompson turns her highly acclaimed biographical skills to Agatha Christie. 'Laura Thompson's outstanding biography . . . is a pretty much perfect capturing of a life' Kate Mosse, Book of the Year 2007It has been 100 years since Agatha Christie wrote her first novel and created the formidable Hercule Poirot. In this biography, Laura Thompson describes the Edwardian world in which she grew up, explores the relationships she had, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the mysteries still surrounding Christie's life - including her disappearance in 1926. Agatha Christie is a mystery and writing about her is a detection job in itself. But, with access to all of Christie's letters, papers and writing notebooks, as well as interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christie's detective fiction, but the truth behind her private life as well.Praise for Laura Thompson'Laura Thompson has certainly written the last word on Agatha Christie. Her book is a superb piece of biography' Literary Review'Affectionate, admiring, perceptive and absolutely convincing' Sunday Telegraph'This splendid account of [Christie's] life and work is unlikely to be bettered' Evening Standard'A triumphant success' Daily Mail'This book is a gem: fresh, intelligent and assured' Sunday Times'Laura Thompson is a fine writer . . . and one can't help admire the way she breathes new life into an intriguing tale' London Review of Books'Laura Thompson delivers the goods: a compelling narrative' The Times