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Ordinary Girls \ Muchachas ordinarias (Spanish edition): Memorias
by Jaquira DíazPara las muchachas que fuimos, para la muchacha que fui, para las muchachas de todo el mundo que son como nosotras solíamos ser. Para las muchachas que nunca se vieron reflejadas en los libros. Para las muchachas ordinarias.Jaquira Díaz siempre se encontró entre extremos en lugares permeados por la violencia. A pesar de añorar tener una familia unida y un hogar seguro, éstos eran difíciles de conseguir viviendo bajo los niveles de pobreza en el caserío Padre Rivera en Puerto Rico y en Miami Beach, sobre todo tras el diagnóstico de esquizofrenia de su madre y la subsiguiente ruptura familiar. El amor y apoyo de sus panas la mantuvieron a flote al encontrarse ante otra disyuntiva: su identidad y orgullo como puertorriqueña no dejaba cabida para su nueva identidad sexual.Cada página de Muchachas ordinarias brilla por su lirismo, crudeza y sensibilidad. Desde su lucha contra la depresión y el tortuoso camino que debió recorrer como sobreviviente de agresión sexual, pasando por el estado colonial actual de Puerto Rico, Díaz narra sus vivencias con increíble lucidez y brutal honestidad, trazando la ruta que la alejó de la desesperanza y la llevó hacia el amor y el deseo de convertirse en la muchacha que siempre quiso ser.Jaquira Díaz nació en Puerto Rico y se crió en Miami Beach. Su obra ha sido publicada en Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The New York Times Style Magazine e incluida en la antología The Best American Essays 2016, entre otros. Ha sido galardonada con el Whiting Award, la medalla de oro del Florida Book Awards y ha sido finalista de los Lambda Literary Awards. Divide su tiempo entre Montreal y Miami con su espose, le escritore Lars Horn.
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
by Jaquira Díaz<P><P> In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. <P><P>From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz&’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.
Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir
by Nikki GrimesNikki Grimes discovered the power of writing at the tender age of six, when, alone in her room, she poured her fears, anger, and tears onto a piece of paper--and felt sweet relief. Words and faith were her most enduring companions as life flung her headlong from one harrowing experience to the next through her childhood and teenage years. Words, spilled into notebook after notebook, kept her moving forward. Words turned what might have been into what could be. In the course of this remarkable memoir in verse, Nikki Grimes shows how grace, wisdom, and the power of words can help a brave soul conquer the hazards--ordinary and extraordinary--of life. NIKKI GRIMES received the 2017 Children's Literature Legacy Award for substantial and lasting contributions to literature for children. Her books include the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award-winning Words with Wings; the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book One Last Word; the groundbreaking best seller Bronx Masquerade; and Garvey's Choice. She lives in Corona, California.
Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir
by Nikki GrimmesA Michael L. Printz Honor BookA Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor BookArnold Adoff Poetry Award for TeensSix Starred Reviews -- ★Booklist ★BCCB ★The Horn Book ★Publishers Weekly ★School Library Connection ★Shelf AwarenessA Booklist Best Book for Youth * A BCCB Blue Ribbon * A Horn Book Fanfare Book * A Shelf Awareness Best Children's Book * Recommended on NPR's "Morning Edition" by Kwame Alexander"This powerful story, told with the music of poetry and the blade of truth, will help your heart grow."--Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak and Shout"[A] testimony and a triumph."--Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way DownIn her own voice, acclaimed author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a compelling and moving memoir in verse.Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards - ordinary and extraordinary - of her life.
Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11
by Joseph PfeiferNew York Times BestsellerFrom the first FDNY chief to respond to the 9/11 attacks, an intimate memoir and a tribute to those who died that others might liveWhen Chief Joe Pfeifer led his firefighters to investigate an odor of gas in downtown Manhattan on the morning of 9/11, he had no idea that his life was about to change forever. A few moments later, he watched as the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Pfeifer, the closest FDNY chief to the scene, spearheaded rescue efforts on one of the darkest days in American history.Ordinary Heroes is the unforgettable and intimate account of what Chief Pfeifer witnessed at Ground Zero, on that day and the days that followed. Through his eyes, we see the horror of the attack and the courage of the firefighters who ran into the burning towers to save others. We see him send his own brother up the stairs of the North Tower, never to return. And we walk with him and his fellow firefighters through weeks of rescue efforts and months of numbing grief, as they wrestle with the real meaning of heroism and leadership.This gripping narrative gives way to resiliency and a determination that permanently reshapes Pfeifer, his fellow firefighters, NYC, and America. Ordinary Heroes takes us on a journey that turns traumatic memories into hope, so we can make good on our promise to never forget 9/11.
Ordinary Heroes: Untold Stories from the Falklands Campaign
by Christopher HiltonIn 1982, 8,000 miles from home, in a harsh environment and without the newest and most sophisticated equipment, the numerically inferior British Task Force defeated the Argentinian forces occupying the Falkland Islands and recaptured this far-flung outpost of what was once an empire. It was a much-needed triumph for Margaret Thatcher’s government and for Britain. Many books have been published on the Falklands War, some offering accounts from participants in it. But this is the first one only to include interviews with the ordinary seamen, marines, soldiers and airmen who achieved that victory, as well as those whose contribution is often overlooked – the merchant seaman who crewed ships taken up from trade, the NAAFI personnel who supplied the all-important treats that kept spirits up, the Hong Kong Chinese laundrymen who were aboard every warship. Published to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the conflict, this is the story of what ‘Britain’s last colonial war’ was really like.
Ordinary Joe
by Joe Schmidt'He's a great coach. He lives and breathes the game. There's nothing he doesn't know' Brian O'Driscoll'The best coach Irish rugby - arguably Irish sport - has ever had' Malachy Clerkin, Irish TimesIn the autumn of 2010, a little-known New Zealander called Joe Schmidt took over as head coach at Leinster. He had never been in charge of a professional team. After Leinster lost three of their first four games, a prominent Irish rugby pundit speculated that Schmidt had 'lost the dressing room'.Nine years on, Joe Schmidt has stepped down as Ireland coach having achieved success on a scale never before seen in Irish rugby. Two Heineken Cups in three seasons with Leinster. Three Six Nations championships in six seasons with Ireland, including the Grand Slam in 2018. And a host of firsts: the first Irish victory in South Africa; the first Irish defeat of the All Blacks, and then a second; and Ireland's first number 1 world ranking.Along the way, Schmidt became a byword for precision and focus in coaching, remarkable attention to detail and the highest of standards. But who is Joe Schmidt? In Ordinary Joe, Schmidt tells the story of his life and influences: the experiences and management ideas that made him the coach, and the man, that he is today. And his diaries of the 2018 Grand Slam and the 2019 Rugby World Cup provide a brilliantly intimate insight into the stresses and joys of coaching a national team in victory and defeat.From the small towns in New Zealand's North Island where he played barefoot rugby and jostled around the dinner table with seven siblings, to the training grounds and video rooms where he consistently kept his teams a step ahead of the opposition, Ordinary Joe reveals an ordinary man who has helped his teams to achieve extraordinary things.'Rugby obsessives and amateur coaches will revel in the insight that Schmidt offers into his training methods, tactics and preparation ... Full of insight, emotion and considered analysis' Irish Daily Mail'An insight into the fascinating personality of the man who has been the single most influential figure in Irish rugby over the last decade' Irish Times'He is clearly more than an ordinary coach, the winning of two Heinekens, beating New Zealand twice, the 2018 Grand Slam and reaching no.1 in the World Rankings are positive brushstrokes, marking Irish rugby for ever ... A rocky read about exceptional deeds, told in extraordinary fashion' Irish Daily Star'Undoubtedly the greatest coach in Irish rugby history' Daily Telegraph
Ordinary Life: A Memoir of Illness
by Kathlyn ConwayThis book is a striking departure from the literature of illness as well as a remarkable literary work in its own right. The stories we typically hear about people coping with serious illness are set up as heroic tales that emphasize the victim's triumph over adversity or even portray the experience of illness as a transformative event that makes the survivor "a better person."In this compelling account written from within an illness, Kathlyn Conway gives us a deeply honest description of her own struggle with breast cancer and its many reverberations through her everyday life, bringing us to the heart of the experience of illness without preachiness or sentimentality.Conway did not experience breast cancer as a means for reevaluating her life, but rather as a terrible threat to her future and that of her family. Making difficult choices among treatment possibilities, dealing with nurses, doctors, and lab technichians, undergoing a mastectomy, and enduring chemotherapy, Conway discovered that although she wanted to play the part of the brave, long-suffering patient, she could not. Angry and upset much of the time, overwhelmed by her situation, she found it difficult to cope even with the support her family and friends provided.In her willingness to share this story of herself as a frightened, sometimes selfish, often despairing human being, Kathlyn Conway gives us not only an unsettling portrait of our everyday mortality but a renewed appreciation of life itself.
Ordinary Light: A memoir
by Tracy K. SmithNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • This dazzling memoir from the former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Life on Mars is the story of a young artist struggling to fashion her own understanding of belief, loss, history, and what it means to be black in America."Engrossing in its spare, simple understatement.... Evocative ... luminous." —The Washington PostIn Ordinary Light, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tracy K. Smith tells her remarkable story, giving us a quietly potent memoir that explores her coming-of-age and the meaning of home against a complex backdrop of race, faith, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and daughter.
Ordinary Notes
by Christina SharpeOne of The Millions&’ &“Most Anticipated Books of 2023One of The New York Times&’ &“19 Works of Nonfiction to Read This Spring&”A dazzlingly inventive, deeply moving, intellectually bracing exploration of pain and beauty, private memory and public monument, art and complexity in contemporary Black life.&“I wanted to write about silences and terror and acts that hover over generations, over centuries. I began by writing about my mother and grandmother.&” —from &“Note 18&” in Ordinary NotesA singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores with immense care profound questions about loss, and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. In a series of 248 brief and urgent notes that gather meaning as we read them, Christina Sharpe skillfully weaves artifacts from the past—public ones alongside others that are poignantly personal—with present-day realities and possible futures, intricately constructing an immersive portrait of everyday Black existence. Through the striking images and words in these pages, themes and tones echo: sometimes about life, art, language, beauty, memory; sometimes about history, photography, and literature—but always attending, with exquisite care, to the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life. At the heart of Ordinary Notes is the indelible presence of the author&’s mother, Ida Wright Sharpe. &“I learned to see in my mother&’s house,&” writes Sharpe. &“I learned how not to see in my mother&’s house . . . My mother gifted me a love of beauty, a love of words.&” Using these and other gifts and ways of seeing, Sharpe steadily summons a chorus of voices and experiences to become present on the page. She articulates and follows an aesthetic of "beauty as a method,&” collects entries from a community of thinkers towards a &“Dictionary of Untranslatable Blackness,&” and rigorously examines sites of memory and memorial. And in the process, she forges a new literary form, as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces.
Ordinary People
by Family OsbourneIn their own words (and we all know how colorful those can be), the five members of the notorious Osbourne clan tell the amazing story of the first family of rock. OZZY talks about his first beer, his legendary career,and why he's the only sane member of the Osbourne family. SHARON explains the root of her shopaholic nature, the ups and downs of being married to Ozzy, and what it's like to battle cancer and host a talk show. AIMEE reveals why she opted out of MTV's The Osbournes, why she thinks her mother's in denial, and why her father destroyed himself with drugs. KELLY offers cutting thoughts on sibling relationships and growing up Osbourne as well as on life as a fledgling rock star. JACK shares stories about life without privacy ("What's privacy?") and his stint in rehab -- and claims he's the only sane one in the family. IF YOU THOUGHT YOU ALREADY KNEW THE OSBOURNES, THINK AGAIN!
Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics: Lifestyles for Self-Discovery
by Marsha Sinetar'Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics' is an interesting and novel approach to the fascinating subject of finding one's spiritual way. It speaks very simply to the rising quest of many people to find a more spiritual meaning in a materialistic universe and among people who have no place for a spiritual dimension.
Ordinary People: Our Story
by Sharon Osbourne Ozzy OsbourneIn their own words (and we all know how colorful those can be), the five members of the notorious Osbourne clan tell the amazing story of the first family of rock. OZZY talks about his first beer, his legendary career,and why he's the only sane member of the Osbourne family. SHARON explains the root of her shopaholic nature, the ups and downs of being married to Ozzy, and what it's like to battle cancer and host a talk show. AIMEE reveals why she opted out of MTV's The Osbournes, why she thinks her mother's in denial, and why her father destroyed himself with drugs. KELLY offers cutting thoughts on sibling relationships and growing up Osbourne as well as on life as a fledgling rock star. JACK shares stories about life without privacy ("What's privacy?") and his stint in rehab -- and claims he's the only sane one in the family. IF YOU THOUGHT YOU ALREADY KNEW THE OSBOURNES, THINK AGAIN!
Ordinary Time: Cycles in Marriage, Faith, and Renewal
by Nancy MairsIn a series of personal essays, Nancy Mairs writes about her lifelong relationship with spirituality and organized religion. Raised a Congregationalist in New England, she converts to Catholicism as an adult. The essays deal frontally with issues in the author's marriage, including a series of infidelities; forgiveness is a major theme.
Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put
by Annie B. JonesIn her first book, the popular From the Front Porch podcast host and independent bookstore owner challenges the idea that loud lives are the ones that matter most, reminding us that we don't have to leave the lives we have in order to have the lives of which we've always dreamed. Can life be an adventure, even when it’s just . . . ordinary?Annie Jones always assumed adulthood would mean adventure: a high-powered career; life in a big, bustling city; and travels to far-flung places she’d longed to see. But her reality turned out differently. As the years passed, Annie was still in the same small town running an independent bookstore —the kind of life Nora Ephron dreamed.During that time, she hosted friends’ goodbye parties and mailed parting gifts; wrote recommendation letters and wished former shop staffers well. She stayed in her small town, despite her love of big cities; stayed in her marriage to the guy she met when she was 18; and she stayed at her bookstore while the world outside shifted steadily toward digital retailers. And she stayed loyal to a faith she sometimes didn’t recognize.After ten years, Annie realized she might never leave. But instead of regret, she had an epiphany. She awakened to the gifts of a quiet life spent staying put.In Ordinary Time, Annie challenges the idea that loud lives matter most. Rummaging through her small-town existence, she finds hidden gifts of humor and hope from a life lived quietly. Staying, can itself be a radical act. It takes courage to stay in the places we’ve always called home, Jones argues, as she paints a portrait of possibility far away from thriving metropolises and Monica Gellar-inspired apartments.We’ve long been encouraged to follow our dreams, to pack up and move to new places and leave old lives—and past selves—behind. While there is beauty in these kinds of adventures, Ordinary Time helps us see ourselves right where we are: in the middle of messy, mundane lives, maybe not too far from where we grew up. We don’t have to leave to find what we yearn—we can choose to stay, celebrating and honoring our ordinary lives, which might turn out to be bigger and better than we ever imagined.
Oregon Indians: Voices from Two Centuries
by Stephen Dow BeckhamFrom their first encounters with European traders along the coast to their struggles for the restoration of tribal rights in the 1980s, the Indians or Oregon have managed to hold onto their identity in a constantly changing world. In this book Beckham tells the story of Oregon's Indians through letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles, and legal documents. Beckham begins each entry by setting it in context, often giving biographical information about the people involved in a particular incident. The book is very sympathetic toward Native American perspective, and reveals how Oregon's Indians were cheated and abused again and again for more than two hundred years.
Oregon Running Legend Steve Prefontaine (Sports)
by Paul C. Clerici Pat TysonIn the Footsteps of Oregon's beloved U.S. Olympic Athlete, Activist, and IconBorn in the small town of Coos Bay, Oregon, Steve "Pre" Prefontaine's meteoric rise to cross-country and track superstardom included national recognition in high school followed by state, national, and world records. From the University of Oregon track to a fourth-place finish in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, he never stopped striving to make his mark on the world. Even today, his name conjures up images of athleticism, activism, and charisma. While his life tragically ended in a car accident at the youthful age of 24 - at which time he owned every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters and two to six miles - his legacy lives on.Join author and runner Paul C. Clerici as he brings you this legendary Oregon athlete.
Oreos and Dubonnet: Remembering Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller (Excelsior Editions)
by Joseph H. Boyd Charles R. HolcombA unique figure and an outsized personality, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was a man whose character, personal style, and (of course) wealth shaped both his goals and how he pursued them. Although many stories about Rockefeller have been published over the years, many more remain to be told, and in Oreos and Dubonnet, Rockefeller's former advance man and personal assistant Joseph H. Boyd Jr. and former political reporter Charles R. Holcomb bring together scores of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, accounts, and observations from a wide variety of people who worked with and for Rockefeller in various circumstances. Some of them (and even the title itself, which refers to the two things that Rockefeller asked to have in his hotel room at every campaign stop) add amusing or telling detail to the mosaic of this complex and creative man. Others illustrate the personal approaches or techniques he relied on to persuade, cajole, or otherwise get his way in the rough-and-tumble world of gubernatorial and presidential politics. And all of them add to our understanding of one of New York's most lively and influential governors.
Organization Design and Engineering: Coexistence, Cooperation or Integration
by Rodrigo MagalhãesThe key aim of the volume of original papers on the theory and practice of ODE featured in Organization Design and Engineering is to contribute towards overcoming the academic challenges stated above. A secondary aim is to launch the debate about ODE, including whether or not the debate itself is warranted.
Organized Crime in Miami (Images of America)
by Avi BashWhile other cities are credited for birthing and honing the legendary crime figures who inevitably influenced and shaped their susceptible surroundings and culture, Miami is where the Mob, like many American citizens, often turned when seeking vacation, vice, or a new beginning. Dating back to the first quarter of the 20th century, resourceful gangsters from across the nation recognized the profitable business opportunities Miami could provide with its booming population, perfect year-round climate, cooperative law enforcement, and mutual understanding among otherwise rival gangs. The promise of an open city, free from familiar encumbrances and restrictions, prompted eager mobsters from around the country to migrate south and trade in their suits and fedoras for swim trunks and flip-flops. Organized Crime in Miami examines the considerable yet heavily underpublicized involvement of the American Mafia in South Florida and its lasting impact on the community through their business activities, both illegal and within the confines of the law.
Orgullo enfermero: Ni héroes ni villanos, lo que siempre fuimos
by Enfermera SaturadaEl testimonio de cómo las enfermeras luchamos contra un virus que paralizó al mundo. 2020 fue el Año Internacional de las Enfermeras. Lo celebramos de un modo extraño y al que no estamos acostumbradas: luchando contra el coronavirus debajo de un EPI, siendo protagonistas en los balcones de cada casa, en los medios de comunicación y, finalmente, en los centros de vacunación. No hubo fiestas ni actos especiales en nuestro año ni en el siguiente, pero sí hubo un sentimiento de orgullo por saber que estábamos haciendo historia. Siempre habíamos estado ahí, pero pocas veces se nos había visto tanto. También seguiremos estando cuando se apaguen los focos. Esta es la historia de todo lo que sucedió después de la primera ola, cuando veíamos con desesperación cómo la Covid-19 volvía a llenar hospitales, de una pandemia que jamás olvidaremos y de la campaña de vacunación más grande que la humanidad ha vivido. Millones de dosis de esperanza administradas con orgullo por enfermeros y enfermeras alrededor del mundo, los mismos que primero lucharon armados con bolsas de basura y que lo hicieron después con una jeringuilla en la mano. Esta es la historia de una enfermera que luchó contra el coronavirus en primera línea, armada con una bolsa de basura y una mascarilla reutilizada. Pero, en realidad, es también la de todos los enfermeros y las enfermeras que plantaron cara al virus, esos a los que la sociedad llamó héroes, y por quienes aplaudía a las ocho, mientras ellos y ellas vivían con el miedo pegado a su espalda. Es el testimonio de sus lágrimas, temores y sacrificios, y a la vez de la inmensa felicidad que sentían cada vez que apagaban un respirador y entregaban el alta a un paciente. "El testimonio de cómo las enfermeras vivimos los días en que un virus paralizó el mundo en poco más de tres meses y sumió a España en la peor pandemia del siglo XXI."
Oriana Fallaci: The Journalist, the Agitator, the Legend
by Marina Harss Cristina De StefanoA landmark biography of the most famous Italian journalist of the twentieth century, an inspiring and often controversial woman who defied the codes of reportage and established the "La Fallaci" style of interview.Oriana Fallaci is known for her uncompromising vision. To retrace Fallaci's life means to retrace the course of history from World War II to 9/11.As a child, Fallaci enlisted herself in the Italian Resistance alongside her father. Her hatred of fascism and authoritarian regimes would accompany her throughout her life. Covering the entertainment industry early on in her career, she created an original, abrasive interview style, focusing on her subject's emotions, contradictions, and facial expressions more than their words. When she grew bored of interviewing movie stars and directors, she turned her attention to the greatest international figures of the time: Khomeini, Gaddafi, Indira Gandhi, and Kissinger, placing herself front and center in the story. Reporting from the front lines of the world's greatest conflicts, she provoked her own controversies wherever she was stationed, leaving behind epic collateral damage in her wake.Thanks to unprecedented access to personal records, Cristina De Stefano brings back to life a remarkable woman whose groundbreaking work and torrid love affairs will not soon be forgotten. Oriana Fallaci allows a new generation to discover her story, and witness the passionate, persistent journalism that we urgently need in these times of upheaval and uncertainty.
Oriana: A Novel of Oriana Fallaci
by Anastasia RubisA novel of the Italian correspondent who forged a path for female reporters, whose life will be brought to the screen in a Paramount+ limited series. She conducted groundbreaking, hard-hitting interviews with world leaders. She broke into the boy&’s club of Italian journalism when women were only seen as housewives and caregivers. Christiane Amanpour considered her a mentor and role model. Oriana Fallaci faced wars, death threats, and rampant sexism while she wrote—and lived—with her heart on fire. From her days in Florence covering women&’s topics to jumping out of helicopters during the Vietnam War to her masterful takedown of Henry Kissinger, Fallaci never stopped following her instincts and defying stereotypes. Yet, as high as she climbed in her profession, she fell short in matters of the heart, until she interviewed Greek poet and politician Alexandros Panagoulis, who had been recently freed after being imprisoned and tortured for attempting to assassinate his country&’s dictator. Though a decade younger than Fallaci, Panagoulis matched her in courage and defiance. Oriana follows their unforgettable love story, a tale of two people united by a radical quest for passion, justice, and freedom . . . &“Inhaled this riveting page-turner on the fascinating trailblazing journalist Oriana Fallaci. Just one question: how did I not know about this incredible woman?&” —Julia Martin, New Jersey Monthly &“A love story as bold, sophisticated, and beautiful as the remarkable woman herself.&” —Laurie Lico Albanese, author of Hester
Origin Story: The Trials of Charles Darwin
by Howard MarkelA lively account of how Darwin’s work on natural selection transformed science and society, and an investigation into the mysterious illness that plagued its author. By early morning of June 30, 1860, a large crowd began to congregate in front of Oxford University’s brand-new Museum of Natural History. The occasion was the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the subject of discussion was Charles Darwin’s new treatise: fact or fiction? Darwin, a simultaneously reclusive and intellectually audacious squire from Kent, claimed to have solved “that mystery of mysteries,” introducing a logical explanation of the origin of species—how they adapted, even transmogrified, through natural selection. At stake, on that summer’s day of spirited debate, was the very foundation of modern biology, not to mention the future of the church. Without fear of exaggeration, Darwin’s thesis would forever change our understanding of the life sciences and the natural world. And yet the author himself was nowhere to be found in the debate hall—instead, he was miles away, seeking respite from a spate of illnesses that had plagued him for much of his adult life. In Origin Story, medical historian Howard Markel recounts the two-year period (1858 to 1860) of Darwin’s writing of On the Origin of Species through its spectacular success and controversy. Simultaneously, Markel delves into the mysterious health symptoms Darwin developed, combing the literature to emerge with a cogent diagnosis of a case that has long fascinated medical historians. The result is a colorful portrait of the man, his friends and enemies, and his seminal work, which resonates to this day.
Original Sins: A Memoir
by Matt Rowland Hill&“A shattering portrait of addiction—generously open, desperately honest and confronting.&” —Catherine Cho, author of Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and MadnessAn electrifying debut memoir of a pastor&’s son chronicling his loss of faith, his addiction to heroin and our universal quest to find something to believe in Matt Rowland Hill had two great loves in his life: Jesus and heroin. The son of an evangelical minister, Hill grew up with an unwavering devotion to the tenets of his parents&’ Baptist church. But by high school, he began to experience a crisis of faith. To fill the void, he turned to literature, and then to heroin and cocaine. By his twenties, Hill&’s substance abuse escalated into a full-on addiction. As he grew increasingly suicidal, he knew he had to come to terms with both religion and drugs to survive. Hill&’s debut is an extraordinary, gorgeously crafted memoir of faith, family, loss, shame and addiction. But ultimately, Original Sins is a raw portrait of survival—of growing up and learning how to live.