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A Smoke and a Song: A Memoir
by Sherry SidotiJanuary 2021, ten months into the global pandemic, Sherry Sidoti’s mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer—so Sherry prioritizes a trip to Manhattan over long-awaited empty-nesting and her “second chance” with fiancé Jevon. With new life blooming and loss looming, she is beckoned to answer the question that has haunted her since childhood: is freedom found in “letting go,” as the spiritual teachers (and her mother) insist—or is it found by digging our heels deeper into the earth and holding on to our humanness?A Smoke and a Song is Sherry’s story of her quest to make meaning from the memories homed in her body. Told with tenacity, tenderness, and wry humor, Sherry stumbles towards self-actualization, spiritual awakening—and, despite it all, love. This is a story steeped in art and spirituality that explores the complexities of transgenerational maternal bonds, attachment, loss, and leaning in to our wounds to find the wisdom.
A Sniper in the Arizona
by John Culbertson"Morning was always a welcome sight to us. It meant two things. The first was that we were still alive. . . ."In 1967, death was the constant companion of the Marines of Hotel Company, 2/5, as they patrolled the paddy dikes, mud, and mountains of the Arizona Territory southwest of Da Nang. But John Culbertson and most of the rest of Hotel Company were the same lean, fighting Marines who had survived the carnage of Operation Tuscaloosa. Hotel's grunts walked over the enemy, not around him. In graphic terms, John Culbertson describes the daily, dangerous life of a soldier fighting in a country where the enemy was frequently indistinguishable from the allies, fought tenaciously, and thought nothing of using civilians as a shield. Though he was one of the top marksmen in 1st Marine Division Sniper School in Da Nang in March 1967--a class of just eighteen, chosen from the division's twenty thousand Marines--Culbertson knew that against the VC and the NVA, good training and experience could carry you just so far. But his company's mission was to find and engage the enemy, whatever the price. This riveting, bloody first-person account offers a stark testimony to the stuff U.S. Marines are made of.From the Paperback edition.
A Sniper's Conflict: An Elite Sharpshooter's Thrilling Account of His Life Hunting Insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq
by Monty B"I could make out the head and shoulders of the insurgent as he was firing in the prone position. I aimed for the centre area . . . emoved the safety catch and held that point of aim. Then I slowly and deliberately operated my trigger squeezing it gently to the rear. The round impacted into the target just below the shoulder. The target seemed to slide down disappearing out of sight, the rifle muzzle remained pointing uppermost in the air."The author sets the scene with action on a 2004 tour in Iraq where hard lessons were learnt. Next stop Helmand District, Afghanistan, after rigorous training. By now he had been a Sniper Instructor for eight years and his depth of knowledge makes this almost a sniper's manual. This, combined with his descriptions of the sniper engagements experienced during his Battalion's action packed tour, make this a thrilling and instructive read. He describes not just the operational background moves and tactics but his emotions--taking life even from distances of a kilometer is traumatic. Intense though the action was, there were long periods of watching and waiting--called Enduring Patience). Snipers work in pairs so relationship and trust are all important. Snipers are elite soldiers and clearly the author is among the best of the best.A Sniper's Conflict is a superb account of professional soldiering at the sharp end.
A Sojourner's Truth: Choosing Freedom and Courage in a Divided World
by Patricia Raybon Natasha Sistrunk RobinsonA Sojourner's Truth
A Soldier Of France To His Mother; Letters From The Trenches On The Western Front
by Theodore Stanton Eugène-Emmanuel LemercierThe story of a renowned French painter who volunteered for the Army during the First World War paints a vivid picture of the horror at the front in his letters home written before his death in 1915."A Bestseller, remarkable for the horrors of the western front conveyed in a spirit of self-sacrifice and filial love."- A Companion to World War One ed. John Horne, Blackwell Publishing, 2012"THE following letters were written by a young French painter who was at the front until the beginning of April, 1915, when he "disappeared" in one of the combats in the Argonne region of France. "Should he be spoken of in the present or in the past?" asks M. André Chevrillon , a friend of the soldier's family, in the preface to the French edition of this book. "Since the day when his mother and grandmother received from him his last communication, a post card bespattered with mud which announced the attack in which he fell, what a tragic silence for these two women who, during eight months, had lived only with these letters, which came almost daily. In his studio, among the pictures in which this young man had fixed his dreams and his visions of an artist, I have seen, piously arranged on a table, all the little square white sheets of this correspondence. What a speechless presence! I did not know then what a soul was there transcribed in these messages to the family hearth - a fully formed soul, which, if it had lived, I feel sure would have spread its fame and its influence far beyond this little home circle and radiated a-wide among the hearts of men.""
A Soldier Of The Sky [Illustrated Edition]
by Captain George Frederick Campbell, R.F.C."Never refuse a fight, is the motto of the Royal Flying Corps." - And so it was with Captain Campbell, one of the earliest British flying aces with five victories to his name. His flying career was abruptly cut short in 1917, after three years in the air, by a bullet which punctured his lung. Filled with tales of his own and his comrades exploits in the air, he wrote his recollections of his wartime service in America on tour as he sought to raise American aid.Author --Captain George Frederick Campbell, R.F.C.Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in Chicago, Davis printing works, 1918.Original Page Count - 232 pages.Illustrations - Numerous Illustrations.
A Soldier Unafraid - Letters From The Trenches On The Alsatian Front
by Captain André Cornet-Auquier Theodore StantonNearly 1.7 million French soldiers died in the First World War fighting for their homeland against the invading German Armies; it is difficult to comprehend that hecatomb. It is indeed difficult to comprehend that many lost lives, perhaps the only way to do so is in representative figures such as the Unknown Soldier or by the many memoirs and diaries that have been left behind. One such diary is that of Captain André Cornet-Auquier, a passionate but moral man, well-known for his leadership skills in and bravery on the battlefield. The conditions in which he served on the Alsace front were always tough, being often within forty-five yards of the enemy's front lines, his faith in his cause and God sustained him even in the most trying situations. Despite being in the front line fighting for so long his luck ran out in February 1916, mortally wounded by a shell splinter. A symbol of French stoicism and courage he died beloved by his men, one of his sergeants said "It is not a spectacle often witnessed, -- that of soldiers, accustomed to face death, weeping like children as they stood round his bier."
A Soldier in the Cockpit: From Rifles to Typhoons in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series)
by Ron PottingerIn this WWII memoir, a British rifleman turned fighter pilot recounts his frontline experiences, both on ground and in the skies. Ron Pottinger served his country through the entirety of the Second World War. Assigned to the infantry in 1939, he soon became a rifleman in the Royal Fusiliers. Later, he was able to transfer to the Royal Air Force, where he began flying the 7.5-ton Hawker Typhoon. In A Soldier in the Cockpit, Pottinger recounts dozens of dangerous ground attack missions, flying over occupied Europe through bad weather, heavy flak, and enemy fighters. Though he was eventually shot down and taken prisoner, he survived to tell his tale.
A Soldier of the Seventy-First: From De la Plata to Waterloo, 1806–1815
by Joseph SinclairThe authors sharp eye for the illuminating detail and the oddities of human behavior enabled him to present a picture of army life as graphic and revealing as any drawn by a private soldier during the Napoleonic Wars - Christopher HibbertThis remarkable memoir was first published in Edinburgh in 1819 and has withstood the test of time. One cannot improve on Sir Charles Omans description of the book as: the work of a man of superior education, who had enlisted in a moment of pique and humiliation to avoid facing at home the consequences of his own conceit and folly. The author wrote from the ranks, yet was so different in education and mental equipment from his comrades that he does not take their vices and habits for granted. The reader receives the narrative of an intelligent observer, describing the behavior of his regiment as it traveled the globe. His account covers Whitelocks disastrous South American adventure in 1806, the Peninsular War, the Walcheren Expedition and the Battle of Waterloo. For the first time, Joseph Sinclair has been unmasked as the author of the memoir, thanks to new research work by Stuart Reid.
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries: A Novel
by Kaylie JonesEvery page is a joy."--Sue Harrison, Self Magazine". . . discerning, brightly written . . . Highly recommended."--Library JournalWith a brand new author's introduction and a previously unpublished chapter. The inspiration for the Merchant Ivory film starring Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hershey, a rich and poignant family story from the daughter of novelist James Jones (From Here to Eternity). Based on the author's early years in Paris with her famous father.
A Soldier's General
by John C. OeffingerDuring his service in the Confederate army, Major General Lafayette McLaws (1821-1897) served under and alongside such famous officers as Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, James Longstreet, and John B. Hood. He played a significant role in some of the most crucial battles of the Civil War, including Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Despite this, no biography of McLaws or history of his division has ever been published.A Soldier's General gathers ninety-five letters written by McLaws to his family between 1858 and 1865, making these valuable resources available to a wide audience for the first time. The letters, painstakingly transcribed from McLaws's notoriously poor handwriting, contain a wealth of opinion and information about life and morale in the Confederate army, Civil War-era politics, the Southern press, and the impact of war on the Confederate home front. Among the fascinating threads the letters trace is the story of McLaws's fractured relationship with childhood friend Longstreet, who had McLaws relieved of command in 1863. John Oeffinger's extensive introduction sketches McLaws's life from his beginnings in Augusta, Georgia, through his early experiences in the U.S. Army, his marriage, his Civil War exploits, and his postwar years.
A Soldier's Life: A Black Woman's Rise from Army Brat to Six Triple Eight Champion (The Black Soldier in War and Society)
by Edna W. CummingsOne woman's extraordinary personal journey in the US military and her triumphant effort to honor her predecessors with the Congressional Gold Medal Looking back on her remarkable career, Retired Army Colonel Edna W. Cummings can justly say that &“the odds ain&’t good, but good stuff happens.&” Her story is as inspiring as it is improbable, but her memoir is about much more than herself. Chronicling Cummings&’s unlikely but successful path to leadership roles in the army and afterward, it also tells the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the Six Triple Eight—a trailblazing African American World War II Women&’s Army Corps unit now the subject of a Netflix film and a Broadway-bound musical—and the grassroots campaign Cummings led to honor them. In 2022, due in large part to Cummings&’s efforts, the Six Triple Eight was awarded the nation&’s highest civilian honor—the Congressional Gold Medal. Among the fewer than two hundred recipients, including the crew of Apollo 11 and the Navajo Code Talkers, the Six Triple Eight is the only women&’s unit to receive this prestigious decoration. In A Soldier&’s Life Colonel Cummings narrates her path from childhood to advocate and how she overcame incredible odds not only for herself but on behalf of those who had come before her.
A Soldier's Promise: The Heroic True Story of an American Soldier and an Iraqi Boy
by Wes Smith Daniel HendrexAfter the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, First Sergeant Daniel Hendrex was dispatched along with his unit, Dragon Company, to Husaybah, a small town bordering Syria in the Sunni-dominated Al Anbar Province in Iraq. Their mission was to plug the bottleneck at the border checkpoint, where foreign fighters and weapons smugglers were filtering through daily to join the increasingly menacing insurgency growing rapidly in the region. It was at this checkpoint, amid relentless attacks, that Daniel and his men found the most effective ally of the war effort in the most unlikely of sources. In December 2003 a skinny Iraqi kid about fourteen years old approached one of the soldiers at the border and said simply, "Arrest me." Jamil, as he was called, claimed to have valuable information about the insurgency, but First Sergeant Hendrex was skeptical -- especially when the boy announced that the man he wanted to turn in was his own father. The story that unfolds is one of heartbreaking tragedy, remarkable courage, and unprecedented resiliency, as this child of the insurgency takes it upon himself to fight back with the help of the U.S. Army...and loses everything in the process -- his country, his home, and his family. But through the power of his own conviction and his finely honed survival skills, Jamil (who was quickly nicknamed Steve-O by the soldiers of Dragon Company) sought refuge with the U.S. military in exchange for information. He risked everything he knew for a chance at freedom -- a choice few men, let alone children, have to make in their lifetimes. And after Steve-O helped save countless lives, First Sergeant Hendrex made it his personal mission to repay his debt and get the boy to safety. A Soldier's Promise is an incredible story of sacrifice and courage by an Iraqi boy and the U.S. soldiers who protected him from certain death by bringing him to the United States. It's an astonishing tale of two countries and two very different kinds of people joining together against terror and tyranny, and of the young man who, against all odds, gave Dragon Company what they desperately needed -- hope.
A Soldier's Sketchbook: The Illustrated First World War Diary of R.H. Rabjohn
by John WilsonA unique First World War diary, illustrated with more than a hundred stunning pencil sketches, for children learning history and also for adults interested in a new perspective on the War and authentic wartime artefacts.Russell Rabjohn was just eighteen years old when he joined up to fight in the First World War. In his three years of soldiering, he experienced the highs and lows of army life, from a carefree leave in Paris to the anguish of seeing friends die around him. Like many soldiers, he defied army regulations and recorded everything he saw and felt in a small pocket diary. Private Rabjohn was a trained artist, and as such he was assigned to draw dugouts, map newly captured trenches, and sketch the graves of his fallen comrades. This allowed him to carry an artist's sketchbook on the battlefield--a freedom he put to good use, drawing everything he saw. Here, in vivid detail, are images of the captured pilot of a downed German biplane; the horrific Flanders mud; a German observation balloon exploding in midair; and the jubilant mood in the streets of Belgium when the Armistice is finally signed. With no surviving veterans of the First World War, Rabjohn's drawings are an unmatched visual record of a lost time. Award-winning author John Wilson brings his skills as a historian and researcher to bear, carefully curating the diary to provide context and tell the story of Private Rabjohn's war. He has selected each of the diary entries and the accompanying images, and has provided the background that modern-day readers need to understand what a young soldier went through a century ago. The result is a wonderfully detailed and dramatic account of the war as seen through an artist's eyes.
A Soldier's Story
by Caleb Carr Omar N. Bradley A. J. LieblingD-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of Paris, the relentless drive through Germany toward Allied victory--Omar Bradley, the "GI General," was there for every major engagement in the European theater. A Soldier's Story is the behind-the-scenes eyewitness account of the war that shaped our century: the tremendous manpower at work, the unprecedented stakes, the snafus that almost led to defeat, the larger-than-life personalities and brilliant generals (Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery) who masterminded it all. One of the two books on which the movie Patton was based, A Soldier's Story is a compelling and vivid memoir from the greatest military tactician of our time. The books in the Modern Library War series have been chosen by series editor Caleb Carr according to the significance of their subject matter, their contribution to the field of military history, and their literary merit.
A Soldier's Story
by Omar N. BradleyFrom the book: "A Soldier's Story tells, better than any other book of its kind to date, how the war in the European theatre was fought and why it was fought that way," wrote A.J. Liebling, the New Yorker reporter who covered a number of Bradley's campaigns. "But it is far more than a military critique, thanks to the general's knowledge that 'military command is as much a practice of human relations as it is a science of tactics and a knowledge of logistics.' It is one of the most lucid soldier books since Caesar's Commentaries."
A Soldier's Story: Neville ‘Timber' Wood's War, from Dunkirk to D-Day
by Mike Wood'This captivating account . . . is the story of an ordinary soldier, but an extraordinary man. I commend this book most warmly.'Richard Dannatt, General The Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL, Chief of the General Staff 2006-9'The amazing account of a young man, Neville 'Timber' Wood, who, despite fighting in many of the major engagements of the Second World War, including Dunkirk, El Alamein and D-Day, survived to become a much-loved husband and father . . . brilliantly written . . . I highly recommend it'Eleanor TomlinsonThe son of a Hull butcher, Neville 'Timber' Wood volunteered in 1939, at the age of eighteen, to join the British Army's Tyne-Tees 50th Northumbrian Division. Timber was in many ways an entirely unremarkable soldier - he won no medals for gallantry, though he exhibited conspicuous bravery day after day, for years, and he rose no higher through the ranks than Lance Corporal. Nonetheless, he had an extraordinary war. As a driver for the Royal Army Service Corps, Timber's job was to get ammunition and high explosives to the front line. It was a job with a high casualty rate, sometimes higher than front-line troops. The 50th Division was the principal fighting division of the British Army in the Second World War. Four men of the 50th were awarded Victoria Crosses, more than any other division. It was last off the beach at Dunkirk and the first back on it on D-Day; the division was at the heart of El Alamein and the major actions which followed; it took part in the invasion of Sicily and fought all the way from Normandy to Germany, where Timber saw first-hand the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Timber's story is pretty much the British war experience from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. He was even captured, saw Rommel and escaped. This book, written by his son Mike, is based on Neville's extensive wartime diaries and original documents he retained from the war as well as on long conversations between the two of them when Mike transcribed the diaries as a gift for his father in 2006. Timber died in 2015.
A Soldier's Story: Neville ‘Timber' Wood's War, from Dunkirk to D-Day
by Mike Wood'This captivating account . . . is the story of an ordinary soldier, but an extraordinary man. I commend this book most warmly.'Richard Dannatt, General The Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL, Chief of the General Staff 2006-9'The amazing account of a young man, Neville 'Timber' Wood, who, despite fighting in many of the major engagements of the Second World War, including Dunkirk, El Alamein and D-Day, survived to become a much-loved husband and father . . . brilliantly written . . . I highly recommend it'Eleanor TomlinsonThe son of a Hull butcher, Neville 'Timber' Wood volunteered in 1939, at the age of eighteen, to join the British Army's Tyne-Tees 50th Northumbrian Division. Timber was in many ways an entirely unremarkable soldier - he won no medals for gallantry, though he exhibited conspicuous bravery day after day, for years, and he rose no higher through the ranks than Lance Corporal. Nonetheless, he had an extraordinary war. As a driver for the Royal Army Service Corps, Timber's job was to get ammunition and high explosives to the front line. It was a job with a high casualty rate, sometimes higher than front-line troops. The 50th Division was the principal fighting division of the British Army in the Second World War. Four men of the 50th were awarded Victoria Crosses, more than any other division. It was last off the beach at Dunkirk and the first back on it on D-Day; the division was at the heart of El Alamein and the major actions which followed; it took part in the invasion of Sicily and fought all the way from Normandy to Germany, where Timber saw first-hand the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Timber's story is pretty much the British war experience from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. He was even captured, saw Rommel and escaped. This book, written by his son Mike, is based on Neville's extensive wartime diaries and original documents he retained from the war as well as on long conversations between the two of them when Mike transcribed the diaries as a gift for his father in 2006. Timber died in 2015.
A Soldier’s Manuscript [Illustrated Edition]
by Cornelius WinantIncludes The Americans in the First World War Illustration Pack - 57 photos/illustrations and 10 maps "THE narrative of adventure, travel, combat, and escape, which composes this volume, is the straight-forward work of a straight-thinking young American. Cornelius Winant gives a clear assessment of the great movements in which he had so chivalrously borne a part. Perhaps he had no thought of the manuscript ever going beyond his family, which now, in response to the natural wishes of many friends, privately distributes the account in printed form. "Four boys with their mother and father composed the Winant family. The house on 71st Street must have re-echoed to the gay laughter and happy comradeship of these four devoted brothers."That was in 1900, when our soldier-narrator was but a little child; it was long ago, before the boy had left the endeared home for boarding school, before they had graduated from Princeton, before the catastrophe, in which each bore a distinguished part, shook the world."The reader will quickly become involved in a narrative which takes him, with Cornelius Winant, after his prompt will-to-enlist, through the early ambulance days, through a winter at Monastir, to the western front in the French Army, and twice into the harrowing experiences of German prison camps. "The quality of the account is an utter fairness, as utter an uncomplaining courage, marked throughout by a boyish, naïve, selfless delight in the game. Of his terrible journey to the Dutch frontier he writes: "I remember thinking, as I was going along this road, that in spite of the hardships it was darn good fun, and I appreciated it at the time."-Foreword
A Solemn Pleasure
by Bret Anthony Johnston Melissa PritchardPoets & Writers "Best Books for Writers" selectionPublishers Weekly "Top 10: Literary Biographies, Essays & Criticism"In an essay entitled "Spirit and Vision" Melissa Pritchard poses the question: "Why write?" Her answer reverberates throughout A Solemn Pleasure, presenting an undeniable case for both the power of language and the nurturing constancy of the writing life. Whether describing the deeply interior imaginative life required to write fiction, searching for the lost legacy of American literature as embodied by Walt Whitman, being embedded with a young female GI in Afghanistan, traveling with Ethiopian tribes, or revealing the heartrending story of her informally adopted son William, a former Sudanese child slave, this is nonfiction vividly engaged with the world. In these fifteen essays, Pritchard shares her passion for writing and storytelling that educates, honors, and inspires.Melissa Pritchard is the author of, most recently, the novel Palmerino and the short story collection The Odditorium. Her books have received the Flannery O'Connor, Janet Heidinger Kafka, and Carl Sandburg awards and two of her short fiction collections were New York Times Notable Book and Editors' Choice selections. Pritchard has worked as a journalist in Afghanistan, India, and Ethiopia, and her nonfiction has appeared in various publications, including O, The Oprah Magazine, Arrive, Chicago Tribune, and Wilson Quarterly. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic (Grove Great Lives Ser.)
by Henry MayerPatrick Henry was a brilliant orator whose devotion to the pursuit of liberty fueled the fire of the American Revolution. As a lawyer and a member of the Virginia House of Burgess, Henry spoke eloquently of the inalienable rights all men are born with. His philosophy inspired the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and, most significantly, the Bill of Rights. Famous for the line "Give me liberty or give me death!" Patrick Henry was a man who stirred souls and whose dedication to individual liberty became the voice for thousands. A Son of Thunder is as eloquent, witty, charged, and charismatic as its subject.
A Son of the Forest and Other Writings (Native Americans of the Northeast)
by William Apess Barry O'ConnellThis book brings together the best-known works of the 19th-century Indian writer William Apess, including the first extended autobiography by a Native American. The text is drawn from ON OUR OWN GROUND, which was named a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book. This new edition of Apess's classic texts is designed for classroom use.
A Son of the Game: A Story of Golf and Fatherhood
by James DodsonThis memoir “reveals the depth of [the author’s] love for golf, fatherhood, and his ancestral home—the Sandhills of North Carolina” (Curt Sampson). Named Golf Book of the Year by the International Network of Golf, A Son of the Game is the story of how acclaimed golf writer James Dodson, feeling directionless at midlife, leaves his home in Maine to revisit Pinehurst, North Carolina—where his father first taught him the game that would shape his life. Once he arrives, the curative power of the Sandhills region not only helps him find a new career working for the local paper, but also reignites his flagging passion for golf. And, perhaps more significantly, it inspires him to try to pass along to his teenage son the same sense of joy and contentment he has found in the game, and to recall the many colorful and lifelong friends he has met on the links. This wise memoir about finding new meaning through an old sport is filled with anecdotes about the history of the game and of Pinehurst, the home of American golf, where many larger-than-life legends played some of their greatest rounds. Dodson’s bestselling memoir Final Rounds began in Pinehurst, and now he follows his journey of discovery back to where his love of the game began—a love that he hopes to make a family legacy.
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
by Dr Maya AngelouA memoir of politics and activism, from the bestselling and beloved author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMAIt is 1964 and Maya Angelou is on her way back home, leaving behind her beloved - and now seriously teenage son Guy, to finish university in Ghana. America is pulsing with the challenge of change, the civil rights movement is in full swing and that's where Maya Angelou wants to be, working alongside her friends Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.In this marvellous account, Maya Angelou provides, with her customary wisdom, compassion and wit, a first-hand record of an extraordinarily exciting and tragic political period. She writes of Jimmy Baldwin, Eldridge Cleaver, and of friends and family, and finishes with the beginnings of her career as one of America's most impressive memoir writers.'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY 'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
by Maya AngelouThe culmination of a unique achievement in modern American literature: the six volumes of autobiography that began more than thirty years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. <p><p>A Song Flung Up to Heaven opens as Maya Angelou returns from Africa to the United States to work with Malcolm X. But first she has to journey to California to be reunited with her mother and brother. No sooner does she arrive there than she learns that Malcolm X has been assassinated. <p><p>Devastated, she tries to put her life back together, working on the stage in local theaters and even conducting a door-to-door survey in Watts. Then Watts explodes in violence, a riot she describes firsthand. <p><p>Subsequently, on a trip to New York, she meets Martin Luther King, Jr., who asks her to become his coordinator in the North, and she visits black churches all over America to help support King's Poor People's March.But once again tragedy strikes. King is assassinated, and this time Angelou completely withdraws from the world, unable to deal with this horrible event. Finally, James Baldwin forces her out of isolation and insists that she accompany him to a dinner party--where the idea for writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is born. In fact, A Song Flung Up to Heaven ends as Maya Angelou begins to write the first sentences of Caged Bird.From the Trade Paperback edition.