- Table View
- List View
Nomad
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali"This woman is a major hero of our time." --Richard Dawkins Ayaan Hirsi Ali captured the world's attention with Infidel, her compelling coming-of-age memoir, which spent thirty-one weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Now, in Nomad, Hirsi Ali tells of coming to America to build a new life, an ocean away from the death threats made to her by European Islamists, the strife she witnessed, and the inner conflict she suffered. It is the story of her physical journey to freedom and, more crucially, her emotional journey to freedom--her transition from a tribal mind-set that restricts women's every thought and action to a life as a free and equal citizen in an open society. Through stories of the challenges she has faced, she shows the difficulty of reconciling the contradictions of Islam with Western values. In these pages Hirsi Ali recounts the many turns her life took after she broke with her family, and how she struggled to throw off restrictive superstitions and misconceptions that initially hobbled her ability to assimilate into Western society. She writes movingly of her reconciliation, on his deathbed, with her devout father, who had disowned her when she renounced Islam after 9/11, as well as with her mother and cousins in Somalia and in Europe. Nomad is a portrait of a family torn apart by the clash of civilizations. But it is also a touching, uplifting, and often funny account of one woman's discovery of today's America. While Hirsi Ali loves much of what she encounters, she fears we are repeating the European mistake of underestimating radical Islam. She calls on key institutions of the West--including universities, the feminist movement, and the Christian churches--to enact specific, innovative remedies that would help other Muslim immigrants to overcome the challenges she has experienced and to resist the fatal allure of fundamentalism and terrorism. This is Hirsi Ali's intellectual coming-of-age, a memoir that conveys her philosophy as well as her experiences, and that also conveys an urgent message and mission--to inform the West of the extent of the threat from Islam, both from outside and from within our open societies. A celebration of free speech and democracy, Nomad is an important contribution to the history of ideas, but above all a rousing call to action.
Nomad's Land
by Mary Roberts RinehartA memoir of desert travel—by camel and horseback—from a beloved authorAn internationally renowned writer of mystery fiction, Mary Roberts Rinehart knows her way around an exotic setting. When faced with the Pyramids, the Nile, and the sprawling Egyptian desert in her own life, she does not fall in with the crowd of tourists waiting in line at the tombs of the Pharaohs. Instead, she hikes up her skirt, plants her pumps in the sand, and hops on a camel. She has but one question: Where am I supposed to sit?On a hundred-mile expedition into the Egyptian desert, Rinehart does her best to master the herky-jerk of this desert beast. But traveling with an entourage of well-mannered people, she finds that desert living is not completely stripped of the comforts of home. Upon returning to the United States, Rinehart makes an excursion out west, which, she finds, is where the true adventure begins.
Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations
by Ayaan Hirsi AliNomadis a philosophical memoir, telling how Ayaan Hirsi Ali came to America in search of a new life, and the difficulties she faced in reconciling her two worlds. With vivid anecdotes and observations of people, cultures, and political debacles, this narrative weaves together Hirsi Ali's personal story -- including her reconciliation with her devout father who had disowned her when she denounced Islam -- with the stories of other women and men, high-profile and not, whom she encounters. With a deep understanding and intimate perspective of the situation of Muslim women and moderates in the world today and her singular, unwavering intellectual courage, Hirsi Ali offers her always notable, often controversial analysis of Islam vis a vis the superiority of Western democratic values.
Non, je ne regrette rien
by Lázaro Droznes Guillermo Cabello GarciaEdith Piaf est l'un des mythes les plus vivaces de la musique française et mondiale. Née littéralement dans la rue, elle développa une carrière de chanteuse et compositrice qui l'amena à devenir une icône mondiale d'une importance exceptionnelle. Ce spectacle est une reconstitution de ses récitals historiques à l'Olympia entrecoupés par des histoires et anecdotes de sa vie qui reflètent sa passion pour la musique, pour la vie et pour les hommes. Elle vécut sa vie en repoussant toujours les limites, défiant tout et risquant tout. Elle vécut comme elle chanta: en soumettant son petit corps à l'extrême de ses possibilités. Et elle ne regretta rien.
Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity
by Micah Rajunov Scott DuaneWhat happens when your gender doesn’t fit neatly into the categories of male or female? Even mundane interactions like filling out a form or using a public bathroom can be a struggle when these designations prove inadequate. In this groundbreaking book, thirty authors highlight how our experiences are shaped by a deeply entrenched gender binary.The powerful first-person narratives of this collection show us a world where gender exists along a spectrum, a web, a multidimensional space. Nuanced storytellers break away from mainstream portrayals of gender diversity, cutting across lines of age, race, ethnicity, ability, class, religion, family, and relationships. From Suzi, who wonders whether she’ll ever “feel” like a woman after living fifty years as a man, to Aubri, who grew up in a cash-strapped fundamentalist household, to Sand, who must reconcile the dual roles of trans advocate and therapist, the writers’ conceptions of gender are inextricably intertwined with broader systemic issues. Labeled gender outlaws, gender rebels, genderqueer, or simply human, the voices in Nonbinary illustrate what life could be if we allowed the rigid categories of “man” and “woman” to loosen and bend. They speak to everyone who has questioned gender or has paused to wonder, What does it mean to be a man or a woman—and why do we care so much?
None Came Home: The War Dogs Of Vietnam
by John E. O'DonnellAutobiography of a Vietnam soldier who joins the K-9 corps and is teamed with German Shepherd named King. He writes about the training for K-9, many of their experiences, and a small group's attempts to smuggle their dogs home. [Note: There were numerous errors in the print edition which had to be left due to copyright laws.]
None Left Behind: The 10th Mountain Division and the Triangle of Death
by Charles W. SasserA devastating ambush in Iraq, kidnapped soldiers, and the men who wouldn't leave their comrades behindThe 10th Mountain Division is known as the most deployed unit in the U.S. Army. Today, the War on Terror has drawn it to Afghanistan and Iraq. To Lieutenant Colonel Mike Infanti's unit fell the pacification of a hellish hotbed of terrorism south of Baghdad dubbed "The Triangle of Death." Of the more than three thousand Americans killed since the start of the war, more than one thousand were in this region.Colonel Infanti assigned Delta Company to the most dangerous sector of the Triangle. Delta knew they were virtually assured of getting hit on a daily basis. Each day and night became something to be dreaded and feared.In the predawn of May 12, 2007, two humvees occupied by seven soldiers and an Iraqi translator were ambushed by insurgents. When the smoke cleared, four soldiers and the translator were dead and three were missing, presumably seized by the enemy. For more than a year, Delta searched for their missing comrades, never giving up hope. Their creed of battle: None Left Behind.
None of This Rocks: A Memoir
by Joe TrohmanLead guitarist and cofounder of Fall Out Boy shares personal stories from his youth and his experiences of modern rock and roll stardom in this memoir filled with wit and wisdom. Trohman cofounded Fall Out Boy with Pete Wentz in the early aughts, and he&’s been the sticky element of the metaphorical glue-like substance holding the band together ever since, over the course of a couple decades that have included massive success, occasional backlashes, and one infamous four-year hiatus. Trohman was, and remains, the emotive communicator of the group: the one who made sure they practiced, who copied and distributed the flyers, and who took the wheel throughout many of the early tours. As soon as he was old enough to drive, that is—because he was all of 15 years old when they started out. That&’s part of the story Trohman tells in this memoir, which provides an indispensable inside perspective on the history of Fall Out Boy for their legions of fans. But Trohman has a great deal more to convey, thanks to his storytelling chops, his unmistakable voice, and his unmitigated sense of humor in the face of the tragic and the absurd. None of This Rocks chronicles a turbulent life that has informed Trohman&’s music and his worldview. His mother suffered from mental illness and multiple brain tumors that eventually killed her. His father struggled with that tragedy, but was ultimately a supportive force in Trohman&’s life who fostered his thirst for knowledge. Trohman faced antisemitism in small-town Ohio, and he witnessed all levels of misogyny, racism, and violence amid the straight edge hardcore punk scene in Chicago. Then came Fall Out Boy. From the guitarist&’s very first glimpses of their popular ascension, to working with his heroes like Anthrax&’s Scott Ian, to writing for television with comedian Brian Posehn, Trohman takes readers backstage, into the studio, and onto his couch. He shares his struggles with depression and substance abuse in a brutally honest and personal tone that readers will appreciate. Not much of this rocks, perhaps, but it all adds up to a fascinating music memoir unlike any you&’ve ever read.
None of this Rocks: The brilliant first memoir by Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman
by Joe TrohmanNone of This Rocks is a memoir by Joe Trohman - lead guitarist and cofounder of Fall Out Boy - that reads like a double album full of revealing stories from his youth and his experiences of modern rock and roll stardom. With wit and wisdom, and maybe a little bit of whining, Trohman grapples with depression, his mother's brain cancer, antisemitism, pills, petty larceny, side hustles, and pop punk at the turn of the century. None of This Rocks chronicles a turbulent life that has informed Trohman's music and his worldview. His mother suffered from mental illness and multiple brain tumors that eventually killed her. His father struggled with that tragedy, but was ultimately a supportive force in Trohman's life who fostered his thirst for knowledge. Trohman faced antisemitism in small-town Ohio, and he witnessed all levels of misogyny, racism, and violence amid the straight edge hardcore punk scene in Chicago. Then came Fall Out Boy. From the guitarist's very first glimpses of their popular ascension, to working with his heroes like Anthrax's Scott Ian, to writing for television with comedian Brian Posehn, Trohman takes readers backstage, into the studio, and onto his couch. He shares his struggles with depression and substance abuse in a brutally honest and personal tone that readers will appreciate. Not much of this rocks, perhaps, but it all adds up to a fascinating music memoir unlike any you've ever read.
None of this Rocks: The brilliant first memoir by Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman
by Joe TrohmanNone of This Rocks is a memoir by Joe Trohman - lead guitarist and cofounder of Fall Out Boy - that reads like a double album full of revealing stories from his youth and his experiences of modern rock and roll stardom. With wit and wisdom, and maybe a little bit of whining, Trohman grapples with depression, his mother's brain cancer, antisemitism, pills, petty larceny, side hustles, and pop punk at the turn of the century. None of This Rocks chronicles a turbulent life that has informed Trohman's music and his worldview. His mother suffered from mental illness and multiple brain tumors that eventually killed her. His father struggled with that tragedy, but was ultimately a supportive force in Trohman's life who fostered his thirst for knowledge. Trohman faced antisemitism in small-town Ohio, and he witnessed all levels of misogyny, racism, and violence amid the straight edge hardcore punk scene in Chicago. Then came Fall Out Boy. From the guitarist's very first glimpses of their popular ascension, to working with his heroes like Anthrax's Scott Ian, to writing for television with comedian Brian Posehn, Trohman takes listeners backstage, into the studio, and onto his couch. He shares his struggles with depression and substance abuse in a brutally honest and personal tone that listeners will appreciate. Not much of this rocks, perhaps, but it all adds up to a fascinating music memoir unlike any you've ever heard.(P) 2022 Hachette Audio
Nonsense! the Curious Story of Edward Gorey
by Lori MortensenA beautifully illustrated and lyrical picture-book biography of eccentric and beloved writer and artist Edward Gorey In this lyrical biography of one of literature&’s most creepily creative authors and illustrators, kids will learn about the inspiration behind a generation of creators, from Lemony Snicket to Tim Burton. Known for, among other things, wearing a large fur coat wherever he went, storyteller Edward Gorey was respected for both his brilliance and his eccentricity. As a child, he taught himself to read and skipped several grades before landing at Harvard (after a brief stint in the army). Then he built a name for himself as a popular book illustrator. After that, he went on to publish well over one hundred of his own books, stories that mingled sweetness and innocence, danger and darkness, all mixed with his own brand of silliness. Illustrated with Gorey-like humor and inspiration by Chloe Bristol, this stunning picture book biography about this beloved creator is the first for children.
Nonviolent Soldier Of Islam: Badshah Khan - A Man to Match His Mountains
by Eknath EaswaranThe progeny of a Muslim tribe steeped in a tradition of blood revenge, Badshah Khan raised history's first nonviolent army and joined Mahatma Gandhi in civil disobedience to British rule in India. His story of hard-won victory offers inspiration for nonviolent solutions to today's world struggles.
Nora Em Auschwitz
by Lázaro Droznes Anabela Alves Lopes Afonso Romão PintoEste drama ficcional relata o processo de ensaios da CASA DE BONECAS de Ibsen, para ser representada em junho de 1944, quando uma delegação da Cruz Vermelha Internacional visitou o campo de concentração de Tezerin, a fim de verificar em que condições viviam os judeus. A atriz que antes fazia o papel de Nora foi transferida para Este e a obra reflete as dificuldades que a sua substituta, recém-chegada a Tezerin, enfrenta. Durante a visita da Cruz Vermelha, o campo transformou-se num grande palco de teatro no qual milhares de pessoas representaram diversas cenas para impressionar favoravelmente os delegados.
Nora Ephron: A Biography
by Kristin Marguerite DoidgeNora Ephron was one of the most popular, accomplished, and beloved writers in American journalism and film.Nora Ephron: A Biography is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girl who forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as Heartburn and hit movies including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia. Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition. Based on rare archival research and numerous interviews with some of Ephron's closest friends, collaborators, and award-winning colleagues including actors Tom Hanks and Caroline Aaron, comedian Martin Short, composer George Fenton, and lifelong friends from Wellesley to New York to Hollywood—as well as interviews Ephron herself gave throughout her career—award-winning journalist and cultural critic Doidge has written a captivating story of the life of a creative writer whose passion for the perfect one-liner and ferocious drive to succeed revolutionized journalism, comedy, and film.The first in-depth biography to explore the complex themes that ran through Ephron's work and to examine why so many of them still grab our attention today.
Nora Ephron: The Last Interview
by Nora EphronA hilarious and revealing look at one of America's most cherished screenwriters. From the beginning of her career as a young journalist to her final interview - a warm, wise, heartbreaking reflection originally published in the Believer - this is a sparkling look at the life and work of a great talent.
Nora Heysen: A Portrait
by Anne-Louise WilloughbyHahndorf artist Nora Heysen was the first woman to win the ArchibaldPrize, and Australia's first female painter to be appointed as an officialwar artist. A portraitist and a flower painter, Nora Heysen's life wasdefined by an all-consuming drive to draw and paint. In 1989, aged 78,Nora re-emerged on the Australian art scene when the nation's majorart institutions restored her position after years of artistic obscurity.Extensively researched, and containing artworks and photographs from thepainter's life, Nora Heysen: a portrait is the first biography of the artist, andit has been enthusiastically embraced by the Heysen family. This authorisedbiography coincides with a major retrospective of the works of Nora andher father, landscape painter Hans Heysen, to be held at the NationalGallery of Victoria in March 2019.
Nora in Auschwitz
by Lázaro Droznes Luigia Pantalea RovitoQuesta finzione drammatica racconta le prove per CASA DI BAMBOLA di Ibsen, la cui rappresentazione fu organizzata quando, nel mese di luglio del 1944, una delegazione della Croce Rossa Internazionale si recò in visita al campo di concentramento di Terezin con lo scopo di verificare le condizioni di vita degli ebrei. L'attrice inizialmente impegnata nel ruolo di Nora era stata deportata all'Est, e l'opera riflette le difficoltà incontrate dalla sua sostituta, arrivata di recente a Terezin. Durante la visita della Croce Rossa, il campo venne trasformato in un enorme palcoscenico, sul quale migliaia di persone diedero vita a numerosi spettacoli per impressionare favorevolmente i delegati.
Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom
by Brenda MaddoxHow the wife James Joyce lived with and later married conditioned his poetry.
Norbert Wiener#A Life in Cybernetics: Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth and I Am a Mathematician: The Later Life of a Prodigy (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Norbert WienerNorbert Wiener's celebrated autobiography, available for the first time in one volume.Norbert Wiener—A Life in Cybernetics combines for the first time the two volumes of Norbert Wiener's celebrated autobiography. Published at the height of public enthusiasm for cybernetics—when it was taken up by scientists, engineers, science fiction writers, artists, and musicians—Ex-Prodigy (1953) and I Am a Mathematician (1956) received attention from both scholarly and mainstream publications, garnering reviews and publicity in outlets that ranged from the New York Times and New York Post to the Virginia Quarterly Review. Norbert Wiener was a mathematician with extraordinarily broad interests. The son of a Harvard professor of Slavic languages, Wiener was reading Dante and Darwin at seven, graduated from Tufts at fourteen, and received a PhD from Harvard at eighteen. He joined MIT's Department of Mathematics in 1919, where he remained until his death in 1964 at sixty-nine. In Ex-Prodigy, Wiener offers an emotionally raw account of being raised as a child prodigy by an overbearing father. In I Am a Mathematician, Wiener describes his research at MIT and how he established the foundations for the multidisciplinary field of cybernetics and the theory of feedback systems. This volume makes available the essence of Wiener's life and thought to a new generation of readers.
Nordic Socialism: The Path Toward a Democratic Economy
by Pelle DragstedIn recent years, the Nordic countries have been the envy of the world for their economic success, institutional stability, and consistently high levels of social happiness. But are they socialist? Several prominent members of the American right think so. They may find a surprising ally in Pelle Dragsted, a member of the Danish parliament and the leader of the socialist political party Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance); contrary to most Nordic leaders, Dragsted not only accepts but embraces the charge of socialism. In Dragsted’s analysis, Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries are already socialist, but only in part. The dangers come (and here many conservative Americans will disagree) from the unhealthy encroachment of capitalism. His provocative argument is that capitalism and socialism are not in fact mutually exclusive, and already Nordic economies are hybrids, a mix of decommodified, democratically governed sectors and undemocratic, privately controlled enterprises. The relevant question is the degree to which one dominates the other. Currently, undemocratic forces are ascendant, but it need not be so. Dragsted offers both his diagnosis and his proposed solution, a comprehensive plan for a gradual (re)democratization of the economy and a move to fully and firmly embrace, and redefine, “Nordic socialism.”
Norfolk at War, 1939–45 (Your Towns And Cities In World War Two Ser.)
by Stephen BrowningThis year-on-year study of Norfolk at war is the first such for many years, which utilizes material that has not been published in book form before or, sometimes, at all. In both the First and Second World War, Norfolk was pivotal, albeit for different reasons. During the war of 1939-45 Norfolk was home to many bases of the USAAF, changing the area forever with bases remaining a fond feature of Norfolk life. Another unique and enduring legacy was the arrival and often permanent settlement of many Poles, who are commemorated today by a shrine in the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Norwich. Norfolk was in many ways changed forever as it had largely, up until this time, been proudly, even stubbornly, isolated a feature that could not have changed more dramatically. This study is both inevitably a military and social study. The major events both at home and overseas are laid out, together with a description of how home life unfolded in very dark times when the stoicism and humor of the Norfolk residents were tested. Contemporary material from newspapers, diaries and local records, as well as over 200 photographs, are used to bring life and color and life to the account.
Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings
by Chrysta BiltonThis riveting, nuanced memoir about unforgettable individuals thrown together by chance and DNA tells a story of nature, nurture, and coming to terms with one's true inheritance. What is a &“normal family,&” and how do you go about making one? Chrysta Bilton&’s magnetic, larger-than-life mother, Debra, yearned to have a child, but as a single gay woman in 1980s California, she had few options. Until one day, while getting her hair done in a Beverly Hills salon, she met a man and instantly knew he was the one she&’d been looking for. Beautiful, athletic, artistic, and from a well-to-do family, Jeffrey Harrison appeared to be Debra&’s ideal sperm donor. A verbal agreement, a couple of thousand in cash, and a few squirts of a turkey baster later, and Chrysta was conceived. Over the years, Jeffrey would make regular appearances at the family home, which grew to include Chrysta&’s baby sister. But how much did Debra really know about the man she&’d chosen to father her daughters? And as a single mother torn between ferocious independence and abject dependence—on other women, alcohol, drugs, and the adrenaline of get-rich-quick schemes—what secrets of her own was she keeping? It wasn&’t until Chrysta was a young adult that she discovered just how much her parents had hidden from their daughters—and each other—including a shocking revelation with far-reaching consequences not only for Debra, Chrysta, and her sister, but for dozens and possibly hundreds of unsuspecting families across the country. After a lifetime of longing for a &“normal family,&” can Chrysta face the reality of her own, in all its complexity? Bringing us into the fold of a deeply dysfunctional yet fiercely loving clan that is anything but &“normal,&” this emotional roller coaster of a memoir will make you cry, laugh, and rethink the meaning of family. Named a 'Best Book of the Summer' by LA Times, People, USA Today, Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon, Apple, Cup of Jo, Kirkus, Parade, & Today
Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines
by Jonathan MooneyConfessional and often hilarious, in Normal Sucks a neuro-diverse writer, advocate, and father meditates on his life, offering the radical message that we should stop trying to fix people and start empowering them to succeedJonathan Mooney blends anecdote, expertise, and memoir to present a new mode of thinking about how we live and learn—individually, uniquely, and with advantages and upshots to every type of brain and body. As a neuro-diverse kid diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD who didn't learn to read until he was twelve, the realization that that he wasn’t the problem—the system and the concept of normal were—saved Mooney’s life and fundamentally changed his outlook. Here he explores the toll that being not normal takes on kids and adults when they’re trapped in environments that label them, shame them, and tell them, even in subtle ways, that they are the problem. But, he argues, if we can reorient the ways in which we think about diversity, abilities, and disabilities, we can start a revolution.A highly sought after public speaker, Mooney has been inspiring audiences with his story and his message for nearly two decades. Now he’s ready to share what he’s learned from parents, educators, researchers, and kids in a book that is as much a survival guide as it is a call to action. Whip-smart, insightful, and utterly inspiring—and movingly framed as a letter to his own young sons, as they work to find their ways in the world—this book will upend what we call normal and empower us all.
Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History
by Philippa Gregory“Lively, timely and gloriously energetic. Each page bursts with life, and every chapter swirls with personalities left out of traditional narratives of Britain’s past. Philippa Gregory has produced something rare and wonderful: a genuinely new history of [Britain], with women at its beating heart.” —Dan Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets“You’ve devoured her novels, but now Gregory shows off chops as a historian. . . . An amazing read.” —The Los Angeles Times The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history.Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was started and propelled by women who were protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men, but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior?These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, she tells the story of England over 900 years, for the very first time placing women—some fifty per cent of the population—center stage.Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records, newspapers, and journals to find highwaywomen and beggars, murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The “normal women” you will meet in these pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency, and built ships, corn mills and houses. They committed crimes or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things, and rioted. A lot.A landmark work of scholarship and storytelling, Normal Women chronicles centuries of social and cultural change—from 1066 to modern times—powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of women.*INCLUDES ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT AND A FULL-COLOR INSERT*
Normal: A Mother and Her Beautiful Son
by Magdalena NewmanA moving and “inspiring” memoir from the mother of a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, with a foreword by R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder (Publishers Weekly, starred review).For Magda Newman, normal was a goal—she wanted her son Nathaniel to be able to play on the playground, swim at the beach, enjoy the moments of childhood that are often taken for granted. But Nathaniel’s severe Treacher Collins syndrome—a craniofacial condition—meant that other concerns came first. Could he eat without the aid of a gastrointestinal tube? Could he hear? Would he ever be able to breathe effortlessly? In this moving memoir, Newman, with the help of her son, tells the story of raising Nathaniel, from the shock she and her husband faced when he was born, to the inspiration of Nathaniel’s own strength and quirky humor. All this while also facing both non-Hodgkins and Hodgkins lymphoma diagnoses of her own. This uplifting story of a family tackling complex and terrifying circumstances with love and resilience is a true testament to Magda and her family, and to families everywhere who quietly but courageously persist.