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Paris for Beginners: A memoir about love, adventure and finding yourself in the city of lights
by Rachael CoopesEnchanting, amusing, life-affirming and wise.' Toni PearenSometimes the best compass to follow is your heart.Actress Rachael Coopes had a serious boyfriend and successful career in Australia when she was awarded a scholarship to study at a renowned clown school in Paris.It was the opportunity of a lifetime, so she upped sticks and fully surrendered herself to the possibilities of Paris. Cue a coveted pied-à-terre with a view of the Eiffel Tower, quaffing champagne at midnight with her glamorous new amies, and learning how to flirt in French. But for all its charm and sensual pleasures, Paris had a hard lesson or two to teach her about life, and love.Paris for Beginners is about growing up (even when you're already, supposedly, a fully-fledged adult) and figuring out what you need in life, set against the perennially alluring backdrop of the City of Lights.
Paris for Beginners: A memoir about love, adventure and finding yourself in the city of lights
by Rachael CoopesEnchanting, amusing, life-affirming and wise.' Toni PearenSometimes the best compass to follow is your heart.Actress Rachael Coopes had a serious boyfriend and successful career in Australia when she was awarded a scholarship to study at a renowned clown school in Paris.It was the opportunity of a lifetime, so she upped sticks and fully surrendered herself to the possibilities of Paris. Cue a coveted pied-à-terre with a view of the Eiffel Tower, quaffing champagne at midnight with her glamorous new amies, and learning how to flirt in French. But for all its charm and sensual pleasures, Paris had a hard lesson or two to teach her about life, and love.Paris for Beginners is about growing up (even when you're already, supposedly, a fully-fledged adult) and figuring out what you need in life, set against the perennially alluring backdrop of the City of Lights.
Paris in America: A Deaf Nanticoke Shoemaker and His Daughter
by Clara Jean Hall Gayle WilliamsonClara Jean Mosley Hall has inhabited various cultural worlds in her life: Native American, African American, Deaf, and hearing. The hearing daughter of a Deaf Nanticoke Indian, who grew up in Dover, Delaware’s black community in the 1950s and 60s, Hall describes the intersections of these identities in Paris in America. By sharing her father’s experiences and relating her own struggles and successes, Hall honors her father’s legacy of hard work and perseverance and reveals the complexities of her own unique background. Hall was abandoned by her Deaf African-American mother at a young age and forged a close bond with her father, James Paris Mosley, who communicated with her in American Sign Language. Although his family was American Indian, they—like many other Nanticoke Indians of that region—had assimilated over time into Dover’s black community. Hall vividly recounts the social and cultural elements that shaped her, from Jim Crow to the forced integration of public schools, to JFK and Motown. As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) in a time when no accessibility or interpreting services were available, she was her father’s sole means of communication with the hearing world, a heavy responsibility for a child. After her turbulent teenage years, and with the encouragement of her future husband, she attended college and discovered that her skills as a fluent ASL user were a valuable asset in the field of education. Hall went on to become a college professor, mentor, philanthropist, and advocate for Deaf students from diverse backgrounds. Her memoir is a celebration of her family, her faith, her journey, and her heritage.
Paris in Love: A Memoir
by Eloisa James<P>In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. <P>Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life--discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen's sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. <P>She copes with her Italian husband's notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools--not to mention puberty--in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina's raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog). <P>Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l'amour. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Paris in Love: A Memoir
by Eloisa JamesA New York Times Bestseller. After years of living vicariously through the heroines in her novels, bestselling author Eloisa James takes a leap that most of us can only daydream about. She sells her house, leaves her job as a Shakespeare professor, and packs her husband and two protesting children off to Paris. Grand plans are abandoned as she falls under the spell of daily life as a Parisienne exquisite food, long walks by the Seine, reading in bed, displays of effortless chic around every corner, and being reminded of what really matters in a place where people seem to kiss all the time. Against one of the world s most picturesque backdrops, she copes with her Italian husband s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools not to mention puberty in a foreign language; and her formidable mother-in-law, Marina, who believes dogs should be fed prosciutto and wives should live in the kitchen. An irresistible love letter to a city that will make you want to head there, Paris in Love is also a joyful testament to the pleasures of savouring life.
Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism
by Sebastian SmeeA Boston Globe “20 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Fall” A Next Big Idea Club “Must-Read Book for September 2024” The Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic’s gripping account of the “Terrible Year” in Paris and its monumental impact on the rise of Impressionism. From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans—then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born—in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience—reflected in Impressionism’s emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things—became the movement’s great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism. Incisive and absorbing, Paris in Ruins captures the shifting passions and politics of the art world, revealing how the pressures of the siege and the chaos of the Commune had a profound impact on modern art, and how artistic genius can emerge from darkness and catastrophe.
Paris in Ruins: The Siege, the Commune and the Birth of Impressionism
by Sebastian SmeePulitzer-winner Sebastian Smee relives the remarkable birth of Impressionism from the ashes of war Paris, January 1871 – the final, agonising days of the Franco-Prussian War. As the German army cements its advantage, shells rattle through the Left Bank. It is a bitterly cold winter; there is no fuel, no medicine, no food. The city&’s poorer citizens have long turned to eating rats, cats and dogs. France has been brought to its knees. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas are trapped in the besieged city. Renoir and Bazille have joined regiments outside of Paris, while Monet and Pissarro fled the country just in time. Out of the Siege and the Commune, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. A feeling for transience – reflected in Impressionism&’s emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things – would change art history forever. This is the extraordinary account of the &‘Terrible Year&’ in Paris and its monumental impact on the rise of Impressionism.
Paris in the Fifties
by Stanley KarnowIn July 1947, fresh out of college and long before he would win the Pulitzer Prize and become known as one of America's finest historians, Stanley Karnow boarded a freighter bound for France, planning to stay for the summer. He stayed for ten years, first as a student and later as a correspondent for Time magazine. By the time he left, Karnow knew Paris so intimately that his French colleagues dubbed him "le plus parisien des Américains" --the most Parisian American. Now, Karnow returns to the France of his youth, perceptively and wittily illuminating a time and place like none other. Karnow came to France at a time when the French were striving to return to the life they had enjoyed before the devastation of World War II. Yet even during food shortages, political upheavals, and the struggle to come to terms with a world in which France was no longer the mighty power it had been, Paris remained a city of style, passion, and romance. Paris in the Fifties transports us to Latin Quarter cafés and basement jazz clubs, to unheated apartments and glorious ballrooms. We meet such prominent political figures as Charles de Gaulle and Pierre Mendès-France, as well as Communist hacks and the demagogic tax rebel Pierre Poujade. We get to know illustrious intellectuals, among them Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and André Malraux, and visit the glittering salons where aristocrats with exquisite manners mingled with trendy novelists, poets, critics, artists, composers, playwrights, and actors. We meet Christian Dior, who taught Karnow the secrets of haute couture, and Prince Curnonsky, France's leading gourmet, who taught the young reporter to appreciate the complexities of haute cuisine. Karnow takes us to marathon murder trials in musty courtrooms, accompanies a group of tipsy wine connoisseurs on a tour of the Beaujolais vineyards, and recalls the famous automobile race at Le Mans when a catastrophic accident killed more than eighty spectators. Back in Paris, Karnow hung out with visiting celebrities like Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, and Audrey Hepburn, and in Paris in the Fifties we meet them too.A veteran reporter and historian, Karnow has written a vivid and delightful history of a charmed decade in the greatest city in the world.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Paris la nuit
by Valérie TassoEn Paris la nuit la autora se plantea una redefinición total de los sexos. Un libro atrevido que sorprende y hechiza, un relato autobiográfico que se lee como una novela y donde nada es lo que parece. Pero que desvela la intimidad de una mujer valiente, sus miedos y sus deseos. Para mejorar sus conocimientos de lengua japonesa, Valérie Tasso decide inscribirse en el Instituto de Lenguas Orientales de París. Se aloja en casa de su amiga Mimi, una lesbiana que esconde más de un secreto, y a los pocos días conoce a Pipo, un enigmático taxista que le descubre los rincones ocultos del París más prohibido, el que no aparece en las guías turísticas. Convertida en una cronista -o en una voyeur-, Valérie cuenta todo lo que vio y sintió durante aquel caluroso verano parisino en el que vivió intensamente noches de pasión y deseo: orgías sadomasoquistas, escenas con prostitutasy travestis, un reencuentro sexual en un cóctel de la alta sociedad... Todo ello le obligará a replantearse su identidad sexual y le provocará una perplejidad que irá creciendo a lo largo del libro: ¿qué misterio esconde Pipo? Si en Diario de una ninfómana relataba sin tapujos sus experiencias sexuales, en Paris la nuit la autora se plantea una redefinición total de los sexos: sugiere que no hay homosexuales o heterosexuales sino personas, y todas ellas son, en última instancia, bisexuales. Reseña:«Episodios no aptos para mentes puritanas.»Cosmopolitan
Paris to the Moon: A Family In France (A\vintage Original Ser.)
by Adam GopnikParis. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-lined boulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking façades around every corner--in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured the American imagination for as long as there have been Americans. In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left the familiar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbane glamour of the City of Light. Gopnik is a longtime New Yorker writer, and the magazine has sent its writers to Paris for decades--but his was above all a personal pilgrimage to the place that had for so long been the undisputed capital of everything cultural and beautiful. It was also the opportunity to raise a child who would know what it was to romp in the Luxembourg Gardens, to enjoy a croque monsieur in a Left Bank café--a child (and perhaps a father, too) who would have a grasp of that Parisian sense of style we Americans find so elusive. So, in the grand tradition of the American abroad, Gopnik walked the paths of the Tuileries, enjoyed philosophical discussions at his local bistro, wrote as violet twilight fell on the arrondissements. Of course, as readers of Gopnik's beloved and award-winning "Paris Journals" in The New Yorker know, there was also the matter of raising a child and carrying on with day-to-day, not-so-fabled life. Evenings with French intellectuals preceded middle-of-the-night baby feedings; afternoons were filled with trips to the Musée d'Orsay and pinball games; weekday leftovers were eaten while three-star chefs debated a "culinary crisis."As Gopnik describes in this funny and tender book, the dual processes of navigating a foreign city and becoming a parent are not completely dissimilar journeys--both hold new routines, new languages, a new set of rules by which everyday life is lived. With singular wit and insight, Gopnik weaves the magical with the mundane in a wholly delightful, often hilarious look at what it was to be an American family man in Paris at the end of the twentieth century. "We went to Paris for a sentimental reeducation-I did anyway-even though the sentiments we were instructed in were not the ones we were expecting to learn, which I believe is why they call it an education."
Paris to the Moon: A Family in France
by Adam GopnikIn 1995, Adam Gopnik and his wife, and their infant son left the familiar comforts and hassles of New York for the urbane glamour of Paris. Charmed by the beauties of the city, Gopnik set out to experience for himself the spirit and romance that has so captivated American writers throughout the Twentieth century. In the grand tradition of Stein and Hemingway, Gopnik planned to walk the paths of the Tuilleries, to enjoy philosophical discussion in cafes in short, to lead the fabled life of an American in Paris. Of course, as readers of Gopnik's beloved 'Paris Journals' in the New Yorker know, there was also the matter of raising a child and carrying on with everyday, not so fabled life. Evenings with French intellectuals precede middle-of-the night baby feedings; afternoons are filled with trips to the Musee d'Orsay and pinball games; weekday leftovers are eaten while three star chefs debate a 'culinary crisis'. With singular wit and insight, Gopnik manages to weave the magical with the mundane in a wholly delightful book.
Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James
by David DowniePart adventure story, part cultural history, Paris to the Pyrenees explores the phenomenon of pilgrimage along the age-old way of Saint James Driven by curiosity, wanderlust, and health crises, David Downie and his wife set out from Paris to walk across France to the Pyrenees. Starting on the Rue Saint-Jacques, then trekking 750 miles south to Roncesvalles, Spain, their eccentric route takes 72 days on Roman roads and pilgrimage paths--a 1,100-year-old network of trails leading to the sanctuary of Saint James the Greater. It is best known as El Camino de Santiago de Compostela--"The Way" for short. The object of any pilgrimage is an inward journey manifested in a long, reflective walk. For Downie, the inward journey met the outer one: a combination of self-discovery and physical regeneration. More than 200,000 pilgrims take the highly commercialized Spanish route annually, but few cross France. Downie had a goal: to go from Paris to the Pyrenees on age-old trails, making the pilgrimage in his own maverick way.
Paris, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down
by Rosecrans BaldwinA fresh, exhilarating take on one of the world's most popular topics—Paris, the City of Light!—by an acclaimed novelist Rosecrans BaldwinA self-described Francophile since the age of nine, Rosecrans Baldwin had always dreamed of living in France. So when an offer presented itself to work at a Parisian ad agency, he couldn't turn it down—even though he had no experience in advertising, and even though he hardly spoke French.But the Paris that Rosecrans and his wife, Rachel, arrived in wasn't the romantic city he remembered, and over the next eighteen months, his dogged American optimism was put to the test: at work (where he wrote booklets on breastfeeding), at home (in the hub of a massive construction project), and at every confusing dinner party in between. A hilarious and refreshingly honest look at one of our most beloved cities, Paris, I Love Youbut You're Bringing Me Down is the story of a young man whose preconceptions are usurped by the oddities of a vigorous, nervy metropolis—which is just what he needs to fall in love with Paris a second time.
Paris, My Sweet
by Amy ThomasUpcoming Events for Paris, My SweetBosie Tea Party (New York, NY) – February 16thThree Tarts (New York, NY) – March 8th Public Library Association (Philadelphia, PA) – March 16thBooks Inc. (San Francisco, CA) – March 22ndFog City News(San Francisco, CA)– March 23rd"From the New York cupcake wars to the perfect Parisian macaron, Thomas's passion is palpable, her sweet tooth, unstoppable. "—Elizabeth Bard, bestselling author of Lunch in ParisForever a girl obsessed with all things French, sweet freak Amy Thomas landed a gig as rich as the purest dark chocolate: leave Manhattan for Paris to write ad copy for Louis Vuitton. Working on the Champs-Élysées, strolling the charming streets, and exploring the best patisseries and boulangeries, Amy marveled at the magnificence of the City of Light. But does falling in love with one city mean turning your back on another? As much as Amy adored Paris, there was part of her that felt like a humble chocolate chip cookie in a sea of pristine macarons. PARIS, MY SWEET explores how the search for happiness can be as fleeting as a salted caramel souffle's rise, as intensely satisfying as molten chocolate cake, and about how the life you're meant to live doesn't always taste like the one you envisioned. Part love letter to Paris, part love letter to New York, and total devotion to all things sweet,PARIS, MY SWEETis a treasure map for anyone with a hunger for life. "Like a tasty Parisian bonbon, this book is filled with sweet surprises. "—David Lebovitz, New York Timesbestselling author of The Sweet Life in Paris"Amy Thomas seduces us in the same manner that Paris seduced her —one exquisite morsel at a time. "—Nichole Robertson, author of Paris in Color
Paris: A Love Story
by Kati MartonThis is a memoir for anyone who has ever fallen in love in Paris, or with Paris. Paris: A Love Story is for anyone who has ever had their heart broken or their life upended. In this remarkably honest and candid memoir, award-winning journalist and distinguished author Kati Marton narrates an impassioned and romantic story of love, loss, and life after loss. Paris is at the heart of this deeply moving account. At every stage of her life, Marton finds beauty and excitement in Paris, and now, after the sudden death of her husband, Richard Holbrooke, the city offers a chance for a fresh beginning. With intimate and nuanced portraits of Peter Jennings, the man to whom she was married for fifteen years and with whom she had two children, and Holbrooke, with whom she found enduring love, Marton paints a vivid account of an adventuresome life in the stream of history. Inspirational and deeply human, Paris: A Love Story will touch every generation.
Paris: The Memoir
by Paris Hilton***An Instant New York Times Bestseller***From the woman who is credited for launching what we know as the celebrity focused, “brand” driven, social media obsessed popular culture of today, comes an honest and surprising memoir that reckons with that truth, and shows that there is so much more to Paris Hilton than you might believe.I was born in New York City on February 17, 1981, three days after Valentine’s Day. From the time I was a toddler, my brain skipped and flickered with the chemical imbalance of ADHD. Sometimes it was too much.I’m not bragging or complaining about it, just telling you: This is my brain. It has a lot to do with how this whole book thing is going to play out, because I love run-on sentences—and dashes. And sentence fragments. I’m probably going to jump around a lot while I tell the story.I came of age during the most turbulent pop culture period ever.The character I played—part Lucy, part Marilyn—was my steel-plated armor.People loved her. Or they loved to hate her, which was just as marketable. I leaned into that character, my ticket to financial freedom and a safe place to hide. I made sure I never had a quiet moment to figure out who I was without her. I was afraid of that moment because I didn’t know what I’d find.I wrote this book in an effort to understand my place in a watershed moment: the technology renaissance, the age of influencers. I also wrote this book so that the world could know who I am today. I focused on key aspects of my life that led to what I am most proud of--how my power was taken away from me and how I took it back, how I built a thriving business, a marriage and a family.There are so many young women who need to hear this story. I don’t want them to learn from my mistakes; I want them to stop hating themselves for their own mistakes. I want them to laugh and cry and embrace every aspect of who they are with fearlessness and pride. We all have our own brand of intelligence, and, girl, fuck fitting in.
Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism
by Douglas Brinkley Julie M. Fenster"Father McGivney's vision remains as relevant as ever in the changed circumstances of today's church and society."-Pope John Paul II Is now the time for an American parish priest to be declared a Catholic saint? In Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890), born and raised in a Connecticut factory town, the modern era's ideal of the priesthood hit its zenith. The son of Irish immigrants, he was a man to whom "family values" represented more than mere rhetoric. And he left a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world. In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Many Catholics struggled to find work and ended up in infernolike mills. An injury or the death of the wage earner would leave a family penniless. The grim threat of chronic homelessness and even starvation could fast become realities. Called to action in 1882 by his sympathy for these suffering people, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, an organization that has helped to save countless families from the indignity of destitution. From its uncertain beginnings, when Father McGivney was the only person willing to work toward its success, it has grown to an international membership of 1.7 million men. At heart, though, Father McGivney was never anything more than an American parish priest, and nothing less than that, either-beloved by children, trusted by young adults, and regarded as a "positive saint" by the elderly in his New Haven parish. In an incredible work of academic research, Douglas Brinkley (The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc, Tour of Duty) and Julie M. Fenster (Race of the Century, Ether Day) re-create the life of Father McGivney, a fiercely dynamic yet tenderhearted man. Though he was only thirty-eight when he died, Father McGivney has never been forgotten. He remains a true "people's priest," a genuinely holy man-and perhaps the most beloved parish priest in U.S. history. Moving and inspirational, Parish Priest chronicles the process of canonization that may well make Father McGivney the first American-born parish priest to be declared a saint by the Vatican.
Parish the Thought: An Inspirational Memoir of Growing Up Catholic in
by John Bernard RuaneIn a warm and affectionate narrative that "transports readers back to a time before cable television, cell phones, and the Internet" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), John Bernard Ruane paints a marvelous portrait of his Irish-Catholic boyhood on the southwest side of Chicago in the 1960s. Capturing all the details that perfectly evoke those bygone days for Catholics and baby boomers everywhere, Ruane recounts his formative years donning the navy-and-plaid school uniform of St. Bede's: the priests and nuns; bullies, best friends, and first loves; and most memorable teachers -- including the miniskirted blonde who inspired lust among the fifth-grade boys but was fired for protesting the Vietnam War. Here are stories from the heart of his hardworking, blue-collar family: the good times and bad; sibling rivalries; summers by the lake; delivering newspapers in the frigid Chicago winter; the fire that destroyed the family home; and the loss of their beloved mother to cancer. And here are priceless accounts of Ruane's days as an altar boy: from an embarrassing bell-ringing mishap, to serving a strict pastor who built a magnificent church but couldn't inspire Christian spirit, to the Heaven-sent guitar-playing priest who turned worship around for a generation of youth.
Parisian Days (Pushkin Press Classics)
by Banine&“Every so often a voice emerges from the archive so vivid that it seems impossible that it should ever have been forgotten.&” — Evening StandardA brilliantly witty memoir telling the story of a young woman's determined struggle to realize her dreams of &“freedom and fantasy&” in 1920s Paris, appearing in English for the first timeTold with vivacious wit and a lust for life, Parisian Days is a bittersweet portrayal of youthful dreams, and the elusive search for happiness.The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, and Banine is free for the first time in her life. She has fled her ruined homeland and unhappy forced marriage for a dazzling new future in Paris. Now she cuts her hair, wears short skirts, mingles with Russian émigrés, Spanish artists, writers and bohemians in the 1920's beau monde - and even contemplates love.But soon she finds that freedom brings its own complications. As her family's money runs out, she becomes a fashion model to survive. And when a glamorous figure from her past returns, life is thrown further into doubt. Banine has always been swept along by the forces of history. Can she keep up with them now?Part memoir, part social history, Parisian Days reads like a novel and feels timely and relevant. Originally published in the 1940s, this will be the first-ever English translation.
Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir
by Deirdre BairOne of The New York Times's 13 Books to Watch For in NovemberA Publishers Weekly Best Book of the YearNational Book Award-winning biographer Deirdre Bair explores her fifteen remarkable years in Paris with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, painting intimate new portraits of two literary giants and revealing secrets of the biographical art.In 1971 Deirdre Bair was a journalist and a recently minted Ph.D. who managed to secure access to Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett. He agreed that she could be his biographer despite her never having written a biography before. The next seven years of probing conversations, intercontinental research, singular encounters with Beckett's friends, and peculiar cat-and-mouse games resulted in Samuel Beckett: A Biography, which went on to win the National Book Award and propel Bair to her next subject: Simone de Beauvoir. Where Beckett had been retiring and elusive, Beauvoir was domineering and all encompassing. Plus, there was a catch: Beauvoir and Beckett despised each other--and lived in the same neighborhood. Bair, who resorted to dodging one subject or the other by hiding out in the great cafés of Paris, learned that what works in terms of process for one biography rarely applies to the next. Her seven-year relationship with the forceful and difficult Beauvoir required a radical change in approach and yielded another groundbreaking literary profile while also awakening Bair to an era of burgeoning feminist consciousness. Drawing on Bair's extensive notes from the period, including never-before-told anecdotes and details considered impossible to publish at the time, Parisian Lives gives us an entirely new perspective on the all-too-human side of these legendary thinkers. It is also a warmly personal reflection on the writing life--its compromises, its joys, and its rewards.
Park Maker: Life of Frederick Law Olmsted
by Elizabeth StevensonOn April 28, 1858, municipal officials announced the winner of the design contest for a great new park for the people of New York City--Plan no. 33, "Greensward" by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Though the appropriated ground for what was to become Central Park was nothing more than a barren expanse occupied by squatters, in a matter of a few years, Olmsted turned the wasteland into a landscape of coherence, elegance, and beauty. It not only surpassed the design ingenuity of its existing European counterparts but gained the designer national acclaim in a profession that still lacked a name.Olmsted was an American visionary. He foresaw the day when New York and many other growing cities of the mid-nineteenth century would be plagued by what we presently term "urban sprawl." And he was convinced of the critical importance of adapting land for the recreational and contemplative needs of city dwellers before the last remnants of natural terrain were engulfed by "monotonous, straight streets and piles of erect, angular buildings." As a result of his early efforts to revolutionize the design of public parks, many cities today are able to preserve the recreational space and greenery within their urban limits. In addition, his thoughts and words on wilderness areas still echo across a century of preservation in the wild.This lively and insightful account of his prodigious life features many of his outstanding landscape projects, including the Biltmore Estate, Prospect Park (Brooklyn), the capitol grounds in Washington, DC, the Boston Park System, the Chicago parks and the Chicago World Fair, as well as measures to preserve the natural settings at Niagara Falls, Yosemite, and the Adirondacks. It traces his early years and describes events that were to form his artistic, intellectual, and deeply humanistic sensibilities. And it restores this lost American hero to his prominent place in history. In addition to being the acknowledged father of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted helped shape the political and philosophical climate of America in his own time and today.Elizabeth Stevenson is the author of the Bancroft Award-winning Henry Adams: A Biography; The Glass Lark, a biography of Lafcadio Hearn; and Babbitts and Bohemians: From the Great War to the Great Depression, all available from Transaction.
Park: The Biography of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, GCB, KBE, MC, DFC, DCL
by Vincent Orange&“A fine biography of one of the war&’s greatest unsung heroes,&” Royal Air Force Commander Keith Park (The Daily Telegraph). &“If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don&’t believe it is realized how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world.&” So wrote Marshal of the RAF Lord Tedder of Keith Park in 1947. As commander of No. 11 Group, RAF Fighter Command responsible for the air defense of London and southeast England, Park took charge of the day-to-day direction of the battle. In spotlighting his thoughts and actions during the crisis, this biography reveals a man whose unfailing energy, courage, and cool resourcefulness won not only supreme praise from Winston Churchill, but the lasting respect and admiration of all who served under him. Few officers in any of the services packed more action into their lives, and Park covers the whole of his career: youth in New Zealand, success as an ace fighter pilot in World War I, postings to South America and Egypt, the Battle of Britain, command of the RAF in Malta 1942–43, and finally Allied Air Commander-in-Chief of Southeast Asia under Mountbatten in 1945. His contribution to victory and peace was immense and this biography does much to shed light on the Big Wing controversy of 1940 and give insight into the war in Burma, 1945, and how the huge problems remaining after the war&’s sudden end were dealt with. Drawn largely from unpublished sources and interviews with people who knew Park, and illustrated with maps and photographs, this is an authoritative biography of one of the world&’s greatest unsung heroes.
Parker
by Sandra Jane WhelchelThe town of Parker underwent several name changes before adopting its current title. First called Pine Grove for its setting in a copse of ponderosa pines at the northern edge of Colorado's Black Forest, that name lasted through the final days of stagecoach travel. When the US Post Office officially began operations in the 1880s, officials requested that Pine Grove be renamed, as another town with that name existed on the Platte River, causing the mail to be mixed up. James Sample Parker requested that the town's name be changed to Edithville, in honor of his young daughter. Again, the US Post Office denied the request, renaming the town Parker to recognize James Sample Parker and his brother, George. From these early beginnings, Parker faced spurts of growth and recession, more recently becoming a significant Denver suburb.
Parkin: Canada's Most Famous Forgotten Man
by William ChristianGeorge Parkin was born the thirteenth child of an immigrant New Brunswick farmer and died a knight of the realm and perhaps the most famous Canadian in the world. Charismatic, charming, eloquent and dedicated, Parkin devoted his immense energy to two causes. As an orator and journalist, he worked to strengthen the bonds between the English-speaking peoples; as Principal of Upper Canada College and Founding Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarships he promoted a vision of education primarily as the formation of character, not the training of the intellect. This beautifully written and witty biography is a story of ideas lived through Parkin and those in his wide circle of influence with leaders of many countries. He was one of the first Canadians to see the development of globalization, and produced that famous map to demonstrate his vision, the British Empire all in red, Canada huge and dominating in the centre. His passionate opposition to free trade and eventual annexation by the United States mark him as an eloquent and prophetic visionary of Canada’s fate under NAFTA. Author William Christian’s own life in Parkin’s footsteps and rich sensitivity to Parkin’s story is on full display in this masterful biography. Political science professor at University of Guelph, well-known journalist and political commentator, Christian is an acknowledged authority on the intersection of philosophy, political life, communication theory and public purpose.
Parkland (Movie Tie-In Edition)
by Vincent Bugliosi"Bugliosi has definitively explained the murder that recalibrated modern America." --Jim Newton, Los Angeles Times Book Review Parkland (originally titled Four Days in November) is the exciting and definitive narrative of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Releasing this fall, the movie--starring Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, Jacki Weaver, and Billy Bob Thornton--follows a group of individuals making split-second decisions after this incomprehensible event: the doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital, the chief of the Dallas Secret Service, the cameraman who captured what has become the most examined film in history, the FBI agents who had gunman Lee Harvey Oswald within their grasp, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson who had to take control of the country at a moment's notice. Based on Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History--Parkland is the story of that day--the movie is produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman (Game Change, Charlie Wilson's War), Nigel Sinclair (End of Watch, Snitch), Matt Jackson (End of Watch, Snitch), and Bill Paxton, and written and directed by Peter Landesman.