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Miss O'Keeffe
by Alvaro Cardona-Hine Christine Taylor PattenIn 1983, Christine Taylor Patten was hired as one of the people who took care of Georgia O&’Keeffe, then ninety-six. Also an artist, Patten served as nurse, cook, companion, and friend to the older woman. This intimate account of the year of Patten&’s employment offers a rare glimpse of O&’Keeffe&’s daily life when she could no longer see well enough to paint.
Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women's Right to Vote
by Dean Robbins"Robbins makes clear for a quite young audience through both main narration and endnote that there were very specific obstacles that had to be overcome to extend the vote to women, and winning the endorsement of the president was a vital first step."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"A perfect introduction to a notable woman and her fight for a woman&’s right to vote." --School Library JournalCast your vote for Alice Paul! The story of a tireless suffragette and the president she convinced to change everything. When Alice Paul was a child, she saw her father go off to vote while her mother had to stay home. But why should that be? So Alice studied the Constitution and knew that the laws needed to change. But who would change them? She would! In her signature purple hat, Alice organized parades and wrote letters and protested outside the White House. She even met with President Woodrow Wilson, who told her there were more important issues to worry about than women voting. But nothing was more important to Alice. So she kept at it, and soon President Wilson was persuaded. Dean Robbins and illustrator Nancy Zhang bring the unsung hero to vivid life and show young voters-to-be how important it is to never back down from a cause you believe in!
Miss Shirley Bassey
by John L. WilliamsFrom "Hot from Harlem" to "Goldfinger," the story of how a two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff became an immortal icon: In 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called "Hot from Harlem". Depressed, disillusioned and four months' pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she was one of the biggest stars in the world. She had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit, "Goldfinger", was the theme tune to the year's blockbuster film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamorous and unreal as Bond himself.Miss Shirley Bassey explores this remarkable transformation, both of an individual and of the British society and British psyche that made it possible. From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the club-lands of Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter homosexual husbands, predatory managers, newspaper scandals, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis Jr. to Reggie Kray.John L. Williams draws on original research and interviews to provide a portrait of a young woman on the cusp of stardom, whose rise to fame was in many ways symbolic of a changing world. Brilliantly written non-fiction in the style of David Peace's The Damned Utd or Nick Tosches' Dino, this is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and--against all the odds--succeeded.
Miss Shirley Bassey
by John L. WilliamsIn 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called 'Hot from Harlem'. Depressed, disillusioned and four months' pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she was one of the biggest stars in the world. She had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit, 'Goldfinger', was the theme tune to the year's blockbuster film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamorous and unreal as Bond himself. Miss Shirley Bassey explores this remarkable transformation, both of an individual and of the British society and British psyche that made it possible. From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the club-lands of Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter homosexual husbands, predatory managers, newspaper scandals, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis Jr to Reggie Kray. John L. Williams draws on original research and interviews to provide a portrait of a young woman on the cusp of stardom, whose rise to fame was in many ways symbolic of a changing world. Brilliantly written non-fiction in the style of David Peace's The Damned Utd or Nick Tosches' Dino, this is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and - against all the odds - succeeded.
Miss Shirley Bassey
by John L. WilliamsIn 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called 'Hot from Harlem'. Depressed, disillusioned and four months' pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she was one of the biggest stars in the world. She had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit, 'Goldfinger', was the theme tune to the year's blockbuster film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamorous and unreal as Bond himself. Miss Shirley Bassey explores this remarkable transformation, both of an individual and of the British society and British psyche that made it possible. From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the club-lands of Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter homosexual husbands, predatory managers, newspaper scandals, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis Jr to Reggie Kray. John L. Williams draws on original research and interviews to provide a portrait of a young woman on the cusp of stardom, whose rise to fame was in many ways symbolic of a changing world. Brilliantly written non-fiction in the style of David Peace's The Damned Utd or Nick Tosches' Dino, this is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and - against all the odds - succeeded.
Miss Spellbinder's Point of View: A Biography of the Imagination
by Edward SwiftIn this &“delightful and bizarre&” novel, Clarissa Spellbinder spins the yarn of her truly unbelievable—and completely unverified—life (The Boston Globe). Miss Clarissa Spellbinder has lived a truly astonishing life . . . or so she tells us. Her father was the intrepid adventurer Lord Andrew Spellbinder and her mother, the fiery Latin songbird Amelita de la Luna, who traveled the world and escaped almost certain death on numerous occasions. Miss Spellbinder relates their spectacular exploits to the patrons of the Back Door Bar That Once Faced the Sea on the fantastical island of Moly—though her listeners seem far more interested in hearing about the misadventures (of the sexual variety, mainly) of Clarissa&’s enormous neighbor, the former carnival circuit star Fat Satsuma Johnson, a.k.a. the Black Queen of the Atchafalaya, a.k.a. the pie-eating queen of southern Louisiana. Miss Spellbinder, of course, is more than happy to oblige, since all her stories serve as ammunition in her ongoing battle against &“the disease of the literal minded.&” What matters most, she tells us, is a unique point of view, for without one, &“you have no pinnacle on which to stand and express yourself.&” Edward Swift (Splendora) indulges readers with a novel unlike anything they have read before, an epic voyage through the outrageous history, real and imagined, of Miss Clarissa Spellbinder. It is a journey that may entail a certain suspension of disbelief—but afterward, the world will look very different.
Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls
by Veronica VeraIt is estimated that three to five percent of the adult male population of the United States feels the need, at least occasionally, to dress in women's clothing. Judging from enrollment at her academy, Miss Vera would say that figure is low.Veronica Vera founded Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls in 1992 and started a gender revolution. Working from the pink palace of the Academy's intimate Manhattan campus, she has helped hundreds of students embrace and master Venus Envy through her expert instruction in the arts of dressing up, making up, going out, and acting like a lady. In her new book, she shares her priceless wisdom with the world.With sparkling wit and dazzling insight, Miss V gives us the 411 on body hair, foundation garments, make-up, and dressing, as well as offering invaluable advice on Creating a Herstory (finding the real life story of the femmeself within) speech, manners, walking in high heels, and--that biggest step of all--going out in the real world all dressed up. Amply illustrated and filled with the real stories of students and graduates, Miss Vera's Finishing School also offers a fascinating history of how the Academy came to be, as well as Miss Vera's own incisive gender manifesto."As we step boldly toward the new millennium, many more of us will be doing it in high heels," says Veronica Vera. In Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, she proves conclusively that, after a long day in wingtips, there's nothing like slipping into a pair of spiked heels.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Miss You: The World War II Letters of Barbara Wooddall Taylor and Charles E. Taylor
by Barbara Wooddall Taylor Charles E. TaylorExperience World War II from the perspective of a married couple in this collection of letters exchanged between an American serviceman and his wife. During World War II, the millions of letters American servicemen exchanged with their wives and sweethearts were a lifeline, a vital way of sustaining morale on both fronts. Intimate and poignant, Miss You offers a rich selection from the correspondence of one such couple, revealing their longings, affection, hopes, and fears and affording a privileged look at how ordinary people lived through the upheavals of the last century&’s greatest conflict.&“In Fairburn, Georgia, when I was growing up, everyone knew them simply as &“CharlieandBarbara,&” one word―for they seemed almost uncannily close, a single unit of harmony, two parts of a whole. Now everyone who reads this extraordinary document of love in a time of war will feel the power of that closeness. Miss You is the quintessential American chronicle…. Read and cherish it―there are none of us who wouldn&’t have chosen for ourselves such a love as this.&”—Anne Rivers Siddons, New York Times–bestselling author of Peachtree Road &“A volume that offers extraordinary insight into the daily experiences of Americans at war.&”—Georgia Historical Quarterly &“Their great love―the connecting theme of this wonderful book―is something so rare it is both beautiful and ennobling.&”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution &“It is the insight gained by reading these letters that make this book exceptional…. By the book&’s close, the reader has gained an intimate and truthful understanding of wartime psyche and feels deeply how crucial these letters were to those they were comforting.&”—Hannah M. Jocelyn, Southern Historian
Miss del Río: A Novel of Dolores del Río, the First Major Latina Star in Hollywood
by Bárbara Mujica&“Dolores del Río bursts to life in this vivid, well-researched portrayal. Her iconic feline elegance and brash spirit dominates every page, but it&’s her defiance to live life on her own terms that sets her apart—and what an extraordinary life she led.&”—C.W. Gortner, bestselling author of Marlene1910, Mexico. As the country&’s revolution spreads, Dolores, the daughter of a wealthy banker, must flee her comfortable life in Durango or risk death. Her family settles in Mexico City, where, at sixteen, she marries the worldly Jaime del Río. But in a twist of fate, at a party she meets an influential American director who recognizes in her a natural performer. He invites her to Hollywood, and practically overnight, the famous Miss del Río is born.Dolores&’s star quickly rises, and her days become a whirlwind of moviemaking and glamorous events. Swept up in L.A.'s glitzy inner circle, she takes her place among film royalty such as Marlene Dietrich and Orson Welles. But as her career soars, her personal life becomes increasingly complicated, with family tragedy, divorce, and real heartache. And when she&’s labeled box office poison amid growing prejudice before WWII, Dolores must decide what price she&’s willing to pay to achieve her dreams and if her heart and future instead lie where it all began…in Mexico.Spanning half a century and narrated by Dolores&’s fictional hairdresser and longtime friend, Miss del Río traces the life of a trailblazing woman whose legacy in Hollywood and in Mexico still shines bright today.&“Bárbara Mujica dazzles us.... She takes us on a journey through an era of wars and movies, and unforgettable characters that made Hollywood what it is today.&” —María Amparo Escandón, New York Times bestselling author of L.A. Weather
Miss-adventures: A Tale of Ignoring Life Advice While Backpacking Around South America
by Amy BakerAfter planning to backpack round South America, Amy spends the next three months fending off well-meaning but absurd advice, which she ignores… right up until she runs into trouble. Part memoir and part inspirational traveller’s tale, Miss-adventures is a funny and frank account of a young woman exercising her independence.
Miss-adventures: A Tale of Ignoring Life Advice While Backpacking Around South America
by Amy BakerAfter planning to backpack round South America, Amy spends the next three months fending off well-meaning but absurd advice, which she ignores… right up until she runs into trouble. Part memoir and part inspirational traveller’s tale, Miss-adventures is a funny and frank account of a young woman exercising her independence.
Missed Connections: A Memoir in Letters Never Sent
by Brian FrancisAn entertaining and moving memoir about coming out, looking inwards, and the search for connection, inspired by the responses to a personal ad. A Loan Stars Top 10 Pick of the Month and one of Daily Hive's 10 Essential LGBTQ2+ Books to Celebrate Pride. In 1992, Brian Francis placed a personal ad in a local newspaper. He was a twenty-one-year-old university student, still very much in the closet, and looking for love. He received twenty-five responses, but there were thirteen letters that went unanswered and spent years tucked away, forgotten, inside a cardboard box. Now, nearly thirty years later, and at a much different stage in his life, Brian has written replies to those letters. Using the letters as a springboard to reflect on all that has changed for him as a gay man over the past three decades, Brian's responses cover a range of topics, including body image, aging, desire, the price of secrecy, and the courage it takes to be unapologetically yourself. Missed Connections is an open-hearted, irreverent, often hilarious, and always bracingly honest examination of the pieces of our past we hold close -- and all that we lose along the way. It is also a profoundly affecting meditation on how Brian's generation, the queer people who emerged following the generation hit hardest by AIDS, were able to step out from the shadows and into the light. In an age when the promise of love is just a tap or swipe away, this extraordinary memoir reminds us that our yearning for connection and self-acceptance is timeless.
Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me
by Sopan DebA bittersweet and humorous memoir of family—of the silence and ignorance that separate us, and the blood and stories that connect us—from an award-winning New York Times writer and comedian.Approaching his 30th birthday, Sopan Deb had found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York Times and a practicing comedian. But his stage material highlighting his South Asian culture only served to mask the insecurities borne from his family history. Sure, Deb knew the facts: his parents, both Indian, separately immigrated to North America in the 1960s and 1970s. They were brought together in a volatile and ultimately doomed arranged marriage and raised a family in suburban New Jersey before his father returned to India alone.But Deb had never learned who his parents were as individuals—their ages, how many siblings they had, what they were like as children, what their favorite movies were. Theirs was an ostensibly nuclear family without any of the familial bonds. Coming of age in a mostly white suburban town, Deb’s alienation led him to seek separation from his family and his culture, longing for the tight-knit home environment of his white friends. His desire wasn’t rooted in racism or oppression; it was born of envy and desire—for white moms who made after-school snacks and asked his friends about the girls they liked and the teachers they didn’t. Deb yearned for the same.Deb’s experiences as one of the few minorities covering the Trump campaign, and subsequently as a stand up comedian, propelled him on a dramatic journey to India to see his father—the first step in a life altering journey to bridge the emotional distance separating him from those whose DNA he shared. Deb had to learn to connect with this man he recognized yet did not know—and eventually breach the silence separating him from his mother. As it beautifully and poignantly chronicles Deb’s odyssey, Missed Translations raises questions essential to us all: Is it ever too late to pick up the pieces and offer forgiveness? How do we build bridges where there was nothing before—and what happens to us, to our past and our future, if we don’t?
Missed Translations: Meeting the Indian Parents Who Raised Me
by Sopan DebApproaching his 30th birthday, Sopan Deb had found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York Times and a practicing comedian. But his stage material highlighting his South Asian culture only served to mask the insecurities borne from his family history. Sure, Deb knew the facts: his parents, both Indian, separately immigrated to North America in the 1960s and 1970s. They were brought together in a volatile and ultimately doomed arranged marriage and raised a family in suburban New Jersey before his father returned to India alone.But Deb had never learned who his parents were as individuals—their ages, how many siblings they had, what they were like as children, what their favorite movies were. Theirs was an ostensibly nuclear family without any of the familial bonds. Coming of age in a mostly white suburban town, Deb&’s alienation led him to seek separation from his family and his culture, longing for the tight-knit home environment of his white friends. His desire wasn&’t rooted in racism or oppression; it was born of envy and desire—for white moms who made after-school snacks and asked his friends about the girls they liked and the teachers they didn&’t. Deb yearned for the same.Deb&’s experiences as one of the few minorities covering the Trump campaign, and subsequently as a stand up comedian, propelled him on a dramatic journey to India to see his father—the first step in a life altering journey to bridge the emotional distance separating him from those whose DNA he shared. Deb had to learn to connect with this man he recognized yet did not know—and eventually breach the silence separating him from his mother. As it beautifully and poignantly chronicles Deb&’s odyssey, Missed Translations raises questions essential to us all: Is it ever too late to pick up the pieces and offer forgiveness? How do we build bridges where there was nothing before—and what happens to us, to our past and our future, if we don&’t?
Missing
by Shelley MacKenneyMissing is Shelley MacKenney's remarkable story of life as a 'missing person'. An inspirational tale of her journey through extreme personal crisis."You can run, but you can't hide from yourself."Abandoned by her mother as a young child and with a father constantly on the run, Shelley's life was never normal. Her family's involvement with South London's criminal underworld left her isolated, vulnerable and lonely. Falling deeper and deeper into depression and despair - she snapped.Shelley got on the first coach out of London with only the clothes she stood up in and £30 in her pocket. She didn't care where she was going, as long as she could disappear completely from her oppressive life. For years, she lived anonymously in refuges, hostels and on the streets. It would take something remarkable to bring her back to the real world.
Missing Alice: In Search of a Mother's Voice
by Susan Letzler ColePublisher's Summary: "Author Susan Letzler Cole lost her mother, Alice, to cancer in 1990. In this 'autobiography of two voices,' she traces a daughter's search to recover the 'missing parts' of a mother, to know her as an individual for the first time. Shunning linear narrative, Cole experiments with a variety of approaches: letters written to her mother three years after Alice died at the age of 78; oral history via taped conversations between mother and daughter during Alice's illness; excerpts from her 14-year-old mother's 1926 diary juxtaposed with the author's expost facto letters to the adolescent diarist. Finally, Cole's own diary entries contemplate vital themes of family, love, and time. At once innovative and heartfelt, 'Missing Alice' seeks to make heard one of those 'lost' women's voices that speak from and help create the world that we know. It is a fine choice for classes in biography, autobiography, and women's writing, as well as American Jewish and immigrant experience, oral history/memoir, and grief therapy." Even though this book is a non-fiction work, it reads like a novel with sophisticated literary styles. Hopefully, by reading this book, the reader will learn a greater appreciation for life and relationships and will be able to show greater outward love to others.
Missing Believed Killed: The Royal Air Force and the Search for Missing Aircrew 1939–1952
by Stuart HadawayDuring the early years of WW2 it soon became apparent that the system for tracing the remains of R.A.F. aircrew deemed Missing Believed Killed was totally inadequate. The Missing Research Section (M.R.S.) of the Air Ministry was set up in 1941 to deal with this problem. It collected and collated intelligence reports from a wide variety of official, unofficial and covert sources in an attempt to establish the fate of missing aircrew, using forensic or semi-forensic work to identify personal effects passed on through clandestine channels or bodies washed up on Britains shores. In 1944 the M.R.S. a small team of fourteen men was sent to France to seek the missing men on the ground. With 42,000 men missing, the amount they achieve was limited, although a lot of useful work was carried out through contacts in the French Resistance. The book explains why, men volunteered for the job, and why they worked for so long at such a gruesome task. Facing difficulties in terrain and climate, from the Arctic Circle to the jungles of Burma and Germany and not knowing if the local people would be friendly or hostile. The book also explains how to trace R.A.F. members through both personnel and operational records, where these records are kept and how to access them.
Missing But Not Forgotten: Men of the Thiepval Memorial-Somme
by Ken Linge Pam LingeStories offering insight into the lives of 200 of the 72,000 men who went missing in action at the Battle of the Somme in France during WWI.The Thiepval Memorial commemorates over 72,000 men who have no known grave; all went missing in the Somme sector during the three years of conflict that finally ended on 20 March 1918.The book is not a military history of the Battle of the Somme, it is about personal remembrance, and features over 200 fascinating stories of the men who fought and died and whose final resting places have not been identified. Countries within the UK are all well represented, as are the men whose roots were in the far-flung reaches of the Empire and even foreigners. The stories that lie behind each of the names carved into the memorials panels illustrate the various backgrounds and differing lives of these men. The diverse social mix of the men young and old, gentry to laborers, actors, artists, clergy, poets, sportsmen, writers, and more is something that stands out in the book. Despite their social differences, what is most apparent is the wide impact of the loss for over fifty widows, around 100 children left fatherless and over thirty families mourning more than one son. Ranks from private to lieutenant colonel are expertly covered, as well as all seven winners of the Victoria Cross.These captivating stories stand as remembrance for each man and to all the others on the memorial. They are meticulously organized so the book can be of use to visitors as they walk around the memorial; as a name is viewed, the story behind that name can be read.Praise for Missing but Not Forgotten“This book specifically explores what is known about the lives and service of 200 of those men. The men selected aptly represent the wide variety of those who fought in the epic conflict, from laborers to gentry, from humble Tommies to VC recipients. Photographs, diary entries and other accounts bring at least a few of the sobering ranks of names to life.” —Your Family History
Missing Lucile: Memories of the Grandmother I Never Knew
by Suzanne BerneAn award-winning author’s reconstruction of her grandmother’s life “takes us deep into the lore of history as well as family” (Sven Birkerts). Even as a child, Suzanne Berne understood the source of her father’s terrible melancholy: He’d lost his mother when he was a little boy. Decades later, with her dad now elderly and ailing, she decides to try to uncover the woman who continues to haunt him. Every family has a missing person, someone who died young or disappeared, leaving a legacy of loss. Aided by vintage photographs and a box of old keepsakes, Berne sets out to fill in her grandmother’s silhouette and along the way uncovers her own foothold in American history. Lucile Berne, née Kroger, was a daughter of Bernard Henry Kroger, the archetypal American self-made man, who at twenty-three established what is today’s $76 billion grocery enterprise. From her turn-of-the-century Cincinnati childhood to her college years at Wellesley, her tenure as treasurer of her father’s huge company, her stint as a relief worker in devastated France, her marriage to a professional singer, and the elusive, unhappy wealthy young matron she became, her granddaughter paints a portrait of a woman and her times, and discovers the function of family history: “to explain what is essentially inexplicable—how we came to be ourselves.”
Missing Man: The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran
by Barry MeierIn late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the United States.Barry Meier, an award-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times, draws on years of interviews and never-before-disclosed CIA files to weave together a riveting narrative of the ex-agent's journey to Iran and the hunt to rescue him. The result is an extraordinary tale about the shadowlands between crime, business, espionage, and the law, where secrets are currency and betrayal is commonplace. Its colorful cast includes CIA operatives, Russian oligarchs, arms dealers, White House officials, gangsters, private eyes, FBI agents, journalists, and a fugitive American terrorist and assassin.Missing Man is a fast-paced story that moves through exotic locales and is set against the backdrop of the twilight war between the United States and Iran, one in which hostages are used as political pawns. Filled with stunning revelations, it chronicles a family's ongoing search for answers and one man's desperate struggle to keep his hand in the game.
Missing Men
by Joyce JohnsonJoyce Johnson’s classic memoir of growing up female in the 1950s, Minor Characters, was one of the initiators of an important new genre: the personal story of a minor player on history’s stage. In Missing Men, a memoir that tells her mother’s story as well as her own, Johnson constructs an equally unique self-portrait as she examines, from a woman’s perspective, the far-reaching reverberations of fatherlessness. Telling a story that has "shaped itself around absences," Missing Men presents us with the arc and flavor of a unique New York life—from the author’s adventures as a Broadway stage child to her fateful encounters with the two fatherless artists she marries. Joyce Johnson’s voice has never been more compelling. .
Missing Men
by Joyce JohnsonJoyce Johnson's classic memoir of growing up female in the 1950s, Minor Characters, was one of the initiators of an important new genre: the personal story of a minor player on history's stage. In Missing Men, a memoir that tells her mother's story as well as her own, Johnson constructs an equally unique self-portrait as she examines, from a woman's perspective, the far-reaching reverberations of fatherlessness. Telling a story that has "shaped itself around absences," Missing Men presents us with the arc and flavor of a unique New York life--from the author's adventures as a Broadway stage child to her fateful encounters with the two fatherless artists she marries. Joyce Johnson's voice has never been more compelling.
Missing Persons: or, My Grandmother's Secrets
by Clair WillsHow far would you go for the missing? Blending private and public history, cultural analysis, family memoir, and autobiography, Clair Wills explores profound questions about memory, loss, motherhood, and emigration. She traces a history of sexual secrecy through four generations of unplanned pregnancies in her own family, stretching from the 1890s to the 1980s and from the West of Ireland to Massachusetts, London, and the English countryside, dramatizing the power of secret-keeping as a form of care, but also as a form of violence and exclusion. At the heart of her search is a cousin who went missing from her own family, born in a mother-and-baby home in the 1950s, and brought up in an institution. Wills asks not only what happened, but why? Why did families consent to the institutional care and control of unmarried mothers and their children? Why did the system make sense to ordinary families, and how can we make sense of it now? What questions should we be asking about guilt, blame, and responsibility? In order to uncover how people thought about illicit sex, illegitimacy, and institutions, Wills follows the tracks laid down in family stories and anecdotes. She interprets the gaps as places where the past was both preserved and disavowed. We are all born into families, regardless of whether we are allowed to belong to them. In Missing Persons, Wills asks us to undertake a radical reshaping of our idea of the family. We are all part of the historical archive—the remembering and forgetting is in us, whether we like it or not.
Missing Pieces: A Chronicle of Living With a Disability
by Irving Kenneth Zolahe personal odyssey of a man with a disability, this passionate book tries to tell as well as analyze what it is like to have a disability in a world that values vigor and health. Zola writes, "Missing Pieces is an unraveling of a social problem in the manner of Black Like Me. Like its author, I, too, am a trained social observer, but for me 'passing' was not an issue. For I already have the stigmata of the disable - the braces, the limp, the cane - though I have spent much of my life denying their existence." The author started out in the role of a social scientist on a seven-day excursion to acquaint himself with an extraordinary experiment in living - Het Dorp, one of the few places in the world designed to promote "the optimum happiness" of those with severe physical disabilities. Neither a medial center nor a nursing home, Het Dorp is a village in the western-most part of the Netherlands. What began as a sociological attempt to describe this unusual setting became, through the author's growing awareness, what can only be called a socio-autobiography. Resuming his prior dependence on a wheelchair, the author experienced his own transformation from someone who is "normal" and "valid" to someone who is "invalid." The routine of Het Dorp became his: he lived in an architecturally modified home, visited the workshops, and shared meals, social events, conversation, and perceptions with the remarkably diverse residents. The author confronts some rarely discussed issues - the self-image of a person with a chronic disability, how one fills one's time, how one deals with authority and dependence, and love and sex. Missing Pieces offers striking insights into an aspect of the human condition shared by nearly 30 million Americans. It is must reading for the general reader, as well as for the rehabilitation counselor, social worker, or social scientist. Author note: Irving Kenneth Zola (1935-1994) was Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University and a founding member and counselor at the Boston Self-Help Center. Nancy Mairs is the author of seven books, including Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Disabled, and most recently, A Troubled Guest: Life and Death Stories. She lives in Tucson with her husband, George.
Missing Stories: An Oral History of Ethnic and Minority Groups in Utah
by Leslie G. Kelen Eileen Hallet StoneThese oral histories reveal the many ways that ethnic and minority groups have contributed to Utah's history and fill in missing pieces necessary to complete portrayal of the state's society and culture. In-depth interviews were conducted over several years during the 1980s and 1990s with more than six hundred people representing eight of Utah's ethnic groups, including Ute, Japanese Americans, African Americans, Greek Americans, and Italian Americans. Informants discuss discrimination, generational differences, ethnic pride, and the triumphs and struggles of their personal lives.