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Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy
by Sergio Esposito Justine Van Der LeunAs a young child in Naples, Italy, Sergio Esposito sat at his kitchen table observing the daily ritual of his large, loud family bonding over fresh local dishes and simple country wines. While devouring the richbufalamozzarella, still sopping with milk and salt, and the platters of fresh prosciutto, sliced so thin he could see through it, he absorbed the profound relationship of food, wine, and family in Italian culture. Growing up in Albany, New York, after emigrating there with his family, he always sat next to his uncle Aldo and sipped from his wineglass during their customary hours-long extended family feasts. Thus, from a very early age, Esposito came to associate wine with the warmth of family, the tastes of his mother's cooking--and, above all, memories of his former life in Italy. When he was in his twenties, he headed for New York and undertook a career in wine, beginning a journey that would culminate in his founding of Italian Wine Merchants, now the leading Italian wine source in America. His career offered him the opportunity to make frequent trips back to Italy to find wine for his clients, to learn the traditions of Italian winemaking, and, in so doing, to rediscover the Italian way of life he'd left behind. Passion on the Vineis Esposito's intimate and evocative memoir of his colorful family life in Italy, his abrupt transition to life in America, and of his travels into the heart of Italy--its wine country--and the lives of those who inhabit it. The result is a remarkably engaging and entertaining wine/travel narrative replete with vivid portraits of seductive places--the world-famous cellars of Piedmont, the sweeping estates of Tuscany, the lush fields of Campania, the chilly hills of Friuli, the windy beaches of Le Marche; and of memorable people, diverse and vibrant wine artisans--from a disco-dancing vintner who bases his farming on the rhythm of the moon to an obsessive prince who destroys his vineyards before his death so that his grapes will never be used incorrectly. Esposito's luscious accounts of the wonderful food and wine that are so much a part of Italian life, and his poignant and often hilarious stories of his relationships with his family and Italian friends, makePassion on the Vinean utterly unique and enchanting work about Italy and its eternally seductive lifestyle.
Passion, Betrayal, and Revolution in Colonial Saigon: The Memoirs of Bao Luong
by Hue-Tam Ho TaiThis is the incredible story of Bao Luong, Vietnam's first female political prisoner. The book gives a compelling account of one woman's struggle to make a place for herself in a world fraught with intense political intrigue.
Passionate Commitments: The Lives of Anna Rochester and Grace Hutchins
by Julia M. AllenWinner of the 2014 Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction presented by the Publishing TriangleDeveloping their rhetorical skills in early-twentieth-century women's organizations, Anna Rochester and Grace Hutchins, life partners and heirs to significant wealth, aimed for revolution rather than reform. They lived frugally while devoting themselves to several organizations in succession, including the Episcopal Church and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, as they searched for a place where their efforts were welcomed and where they could address the root causes of social inequities. In 1927, they joined the Communist Party USA and helped to build the Labor Research Association. There they engaged in research and wrote books, pamphlets, and articles arguing for gender and racial equality, and economic justice.Julia M. Allen's Passionate Commitments is a love story, but more than that, it is a story of two women whose love for each other sustained their political work. Allen examines the personal and public writings of Rochester and Hutchins to reveal underreported challenges to capitalism as well as little-known efforts to strengthen feminism during their time. Through an investigation of their lives and writings, this biography charts the underpinnings of American Cold War fears and the influence of sexology on political movements in mid-twentieth-century America.
Passionate Minds: The Great Enlightenment Love Affair
by David BodanisEmilie du Chatelet was one of the greatest thinkers of the 18th century, a woman whose work was of vital use to Einstein and who, until now, has been largely ignored by history. Fiercely intellectual and passionate, Emilie's relationship with Voltaire was as radical as her thinking; only after swordfights, wild affairs and rigging the French national lottery did the two finally find love together. In an isolated chateau they combined their unique talents, producing theories more than a century ahead of their time. Voltaire challenged the social norms and great injustices of the era, as well as expanding on Newton's Laws. When they ran out of money, Emilie, with her razor-sharp mathematics, would gamble in Versailles. Their progressive thinking won them only public scorn and even imprisonment in the Bastille for Voltaire. When their love finally ended, Emilie found happiness in an independent life until, tragically, she became pregnant. Then in her forties, it meant an almost-certain death in childbirth.
Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt
by Charlotte GrayA captivating biography of two famous women whose sons, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt, would change the course of the 20th century—by award-winning historian Charlotte Gray. Born into upper class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano and Jennie Jerome refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. Instead, both women concentrated their energies on enabling their sons to reach the epicentre of political power on two continents. In the mid-19th century, the British Empire was at its height, France&’s Second Empire flourished and the industrial vigour of the USA was catapulting the republic towards the Gilded Age. Sara and Jennie, raised with privilege but subject to the constraints of women&’s roles at the time, learned how to take control of their destinies, Sara in the prosperous Hudson Valley and Jennie in the glittering world of Imperial London. Yet their personalities and choices were dramatically different. A vivacious extrovert, Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill, rising politician and scion of a noble British family. Her deft social and political manoeuvrings helped not only her mercurial husband but, once she was widowed, her ambitious son, Winston. By contrast, deeply conventional Sara Delano married a man as old as her father. But once widowed, she made Franklin, her only child, the focus of her existence. Thanks in large part to her financial support and to her guidance, Franklin acquired the skills he needed to become a successful politician.Set against one hundred years of history, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons is a study in loyalty and resilience. Gray argues that Jennie and Sara are too often presented as lesser figures rather than two remarkable individuals who were key in shaping the characters of the sons who adored them, and preparing them for leadership on the world stage. A masterful biographer and acclaimed historian, Charlotte Gray breathes new life into Sara and Jennie. Impeccably researched and filled with intriguing social insights, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons offers a fascinating and fulsome portrait of how leaders are not just born but made.
Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt
by Charlotte GrayA &“spectacular…brilliantly and magnetically written&” (Rosalie Abella, former Canadian Supreme Court justice) dual biography of two famous women whose sons would change the course of the 20th century—by award-winning historian Charlotte Gray.Born into upper-class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano (later to become the mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Jennie Jerome (later to become the mother of Winston Churchill) refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. Instead, both women concentrated much of their energies on enabling their sons to reach the epicenter of political power on two continents. In the mid-19th century, the British Empire was at its height, France&’s Second Empire flourished, and the industrial vigor of the United States of America was catapulting the republic towards the Gilded Age. Sara and Jennie, raised with privilege but subject to the constraints of women&’s roles at the time, learned how to take control of their destinies—Sara in the prosperous Hudson Valley, and Jennie in the glittering world of Imperial London. Yet their personalities and choices were dramatically different. A vivacious extrovert, Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill, a rising politician and scion of a noble British family. Her deft social and political maneuverings helped not only her mercurial husband but, once she was widowed, her ambitious son, Winston. By contrast, deeply conventional Sara Delano married a man as old has her father. But once widowed, she made Franklin, her only child, the focus of her existence. Thanks in large part to her financial support and her guidance, Franklin acquired the skills he needed to become a successful politician. Set against one hundred years of history, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons is a &“brilliantly conceived and wonderfully written&” (Bob Rae, author of What&’s Happened to Politics?) study in loyalty and resilience. Gray argues that Jennie and Sara are too often presented as lesser figures in the backdrop of history rather than as two remarkable individuals who were key in shaping the characters of the sons who adored them and in preparing them for leadership on the world stage. Impeccably researched and filled with intriguing social insights, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons breathes new life into Sara and Jennie, offering a fascinating and fulsome portrait of how leaders are not just born but made.
Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt
by Charlotte GrayA captivating dual biography of two famous women whose sons would change the course of the 20th century—by award-winning historian Charlotte Gray.Born into upper-class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano (later to become the mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Jennie Jerome (later to become the mother of Winston Churchill) refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. Instead, both women concentrated their energies on enabling their sons to reach the epicentre of political power on two continents. In the mid-19th century, the British Empire was at its height, France&’s Second Empire flourished, and the industrial vigor of the United States of America was catapulting the republic towards the Gilded Age. Sara and Jennie, raised with privilege but subject to the constraints of women&’s roles at the time, learned how to take control of their destinies—Sara in the prosperous Hudson Valley, and Jennie in the glittering world of Imperial London. Yet their personalities and choices were dramatically different. A vivacious extrovert, Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill, a rising politician and scion of a noble British family. Her deft social and political maneuverings helped not only her mercurial husband but, once she was widowed, her ambitious son, Winston. By contrast, deeply conventional Sara Delano married a man as old as her father. But once widowed, she made Franklin, her only child, the focus of her existence. Thanks in large part to her financial support and to her guidance, Franklin acquired the skills he needed to become a successful politician. Set against one hundred years of history, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons is a study in loyalty and resilience. Gray argues that Jennie and Sara are too often presented as lesser figures in the backdrop of history rather than as two remarkable individuals who were key in shaping the characters of the sons who adored them and in preparing them for leadership on the world stage. Impeccably researched and filled with intriguing social insights, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons breathes new life into Sara and Jennie, offering a fascinating and fulsome portrait of how leaders are not just born but made.
Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark
by Jane Fletcher GeniesseFreya Stark--traveler, explorer, Arabist, and woman of letters--began the extraordinary adventures that would glamorize her--and would catapult her into public life for the next sixty years--in 1927. And with the publication of The Valley of the Assassins in 1934, her legend was launched. Leaving behind a miserable family life, Freya set out, at the age of thirty-four, to explore remote and dangerous regions of the Middle East. She was captured in 1927 by the French military police after penetrating their cordon around the rebellious Druze. She explored the mountainous territory of the mysterious Assassins of Persia, became the first woman to explore Luristan in western Iran, and followed ancient frankincense routes to locate a lost city. Admired by British officialdom, her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and culture aided the military and diplomatic corps, for whom she conceived an effective propaganda network during WWII. But Stark's indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions, her high-profile wanderings often masking deep insecurities. A child of privilege, she grew up in near poverty; she longed for love, but consistently focused on the wrong men. This is a brilliant and balanced biography--filled with sheikhs, diplomats, nomad warriors and chieftains, generals, would be lovers, and luminaries. Author Jane Geniesse digs beneath the mythology to uncover a complex, quixotic, and controversial woman.
Passionate Sage: The Character And Legacy Of John Adams
by Joseph J. EllisA fresh look at this astute, likably quirky statesman, by the author of the Pulitzer Award-winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award winning American Sphinx. "The most lovable and most laughable, the warmest and possibly the wisest of the founding fathers, John Adams knew himself as few men do and preserved his knowledge in a voluminous correspondence that still resonates. Ellis has used it with great skill and perception not only to bring us the man, warts and all, but more importantly to reveal his extraordinary insights into the problems confronting the founders that resonate today in the republic they created. "--Edmund S. Morgan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University.
Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams
by Joseph J. Ellis"Passionate Sage is [Ellis's] best book."--Judith Shulevitz, The New York Times Book Review A fresh look at this astute, likably quirky statesman, by the author of the Pulitzer Award-winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award winning American Sphinx. "The most lovable and most laughable, the warmest and possibly the wisest of the founding fathers, John Adams knew himself as few men do and preserved his knowledge in a voluminous correspondence that still resonates. Ellis has used it with great skill and perception not only to bring us the man, warts and all, but more importantly to reveal his extraordinary insights into the problems confronting the founders that resonate today in the republic they created."--Edmund S. Morgan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University.
Passionate Spirit: The Life of Alma Mahler
by Cate HasteA new biography of Alma Mahler (1879-1964), revealing a woman determined to wield power in a world that denied her agency History has long vilified Alma Mahler. Critics accused her of distracting Gustav Mahler from his work, and her passionate love affairs shocked her peers. Drawing on Alma's vivid, sensual, and overlooked diaries, biographer Cate Haste recounts the untold and far more sympathetic story of this ambitious and talented woman. Though she dreamed of being the first woman to compose a famous opera, Alma was stifled by traditional social values. Eventually, she put her own dreams aside and wielded power and influence the only way she could, by supporting the art of more famous men. She worked alongside them and gained credit as their muse, commanding their love and demanding their respect. Passionate Spirit restores vibrant humanity to a woman time turned into a caricature, providing an important correction to a history where systemic sexism has long erased women of talent.
Passions
by Tim Parks Giacomo LeopardiRevenge--Revenge is so sweet one often wishes to be insulted so as to be able to take revenge, and I don't mean just by an old enemy, but anyone, or even (especially when in a really bad mood) by a friend.--from Passions The extraordinary quality of Giacomo Leopardi's writing and the innovative nature of his thought were never fully recognized in his lifetime. Zibaldone, his 4,500-page intellectual diary--a vast collection of thoughts on philosophy, civilization, literary criticism, linguistics, humankind and its vanities, and other varied topics--remained unpublished until more than a half-century after his death. But shortly before he died, Leopardi began to organize a small, thematic collection of his writings in an attempt to give structure and system to his philosophical musings. Now freshly translated into English by master translator, novelist, and critic Tim Parks, Leopardi's Passions presents 164 entries reflecting the full breadth of human passion. The volume offers a fascinating introduction to Leopardi's arguments and insights, as well as a glimpse of the concerns of thinkers to come, among them Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Wittgenstein, Gadda, and Beckett.
Passions and Impressions
by Margaret Sayers Peden Pablo NerudaPablo Neruda is known first as a poet, but the prose pieces in this collection reflect the enormous hunger he demonstrated throughout his career for new modes of expression, new adventures, new challenges. "Passions and Impressions" is both a sequel to and an enlargement of Neruda's "Memoirs", recording a lifetime of travel, of friendships and enmities, of exile and homecoming, of loss and discovery, and of history both public and personal. Above all, it is a testament to Neruda's love for Chile-for its citizens, its flora and fauna, its national identity. His abiding devotion pervades these notes on a life fully lived.
Passions of Our Time (European Perspectives: A Series In Social Thought And Cultural Criticism)
by Julia KristevaJulia Kristeva is a true polymath, an intellectual of astonishingly wide range whose erudition and insight have been brought to bear on psychoanalysis, literary criticism, gender and sex, and cultural critique. Passions of Our Time showcases recent essays of Kristeva’s that demonstrate the scope of her capacious intellect, her gifts as a stylist, and the profound contribution of her thought to the challenges of the present.The collection begins with а vivid recollection of celebrating, as a child in Bulgaria, Alphabet Day, the holiday honoring the Cyrillic letters, which proceeds outward into a contemplation of the writer as translator. Kristeva considers literature with Barthes, freedom through Rousseau, Teresa of Avila and mystical experience, Simone de Beauvoir’s dream life, and Antigone and the psychic life of women. A group of essays drawing on her psychoanalytic work delve into Freud, Lacan, maternal eroticism, and the continued importance of psychoanalysis today. In a series of striking investigations, she thinks through disability and normativity, monotheism and secularization, the need to believe and the desire to know. Calling for the courage to renew and reinvent humanism, she outlines the principles of a stance founded on the importance of respecting human life. Finally, Kristeva discusses French culture and diversity, rethinking universalism and interrogating the potential for Islam and psychoanalysis to meet, and pays homage to Beauvoir by rephrasing her dictum into the provocative “One is born woman, but I become one.”
Passo a Passo: Escrever os dias, amar a vida e recuperar a alegria
by Helena Sacadura CabralO NOVO LIVRO DE HELENA SACADURA CABRAL No ano em que descobrimos que somos mais fortes do que imaginávamos, aprendemos que é sempre possível encontrar uma nova forma de alegria. «O ser humano é imprevisível, mas tem também um instinto de sobrevivência fortíssimo. Ter esperança é o que nos faz sobreviver e prosperar.» «O ser humano é imprevisível, mas tem também um instinto de sobrevivência fortíssimo. Ter esperança é o que nos faz sobreviver e prosperar.» Durante os longos dias de confinamento, a esperança foi a luz que iluminou o caminho escuro do medo e da incerteza. Entre a saudade de um abraço e a antecipação de voltar a sentir a brisa no rosto, coube o desejo imenso de retomar os pequenos prazeres que nos preenchiam os dias e a alma e que faziam com que a vida valesse a pena ser vivida. Este é o diário de um ano difícil para todos, que nos apanhou de surpresa, suspendeu a vida de todos os dias, adiou sonhos e aguçou medos. Um ano, também, em que tivemos oportunidade de olhar para dentro, parar para reflectir, repensar, recomeçar, encontrando dentro de nós forças e capacidades que talvez não suspeitássemos ter. Afinal, éramos fortes e não sabíamos. Num exercício de enorme intimidade, Helena Sacadura Cabral registou o passar do tempo e as muitas emoções que sentiu, sempre com uma certeza: seja qual for o obstáculo que temos pela frente, a vida não pára, as estações sucedem-se e o medo e a incerteza dão, invariavelmente, lugar à alegria da redescoberta. Porque a alegria é sempre um caminho que podemos escolher.
Passport
by Sophia GlockAn unforgettable graphic memoir by debut talent Sophia Glock reveals her discovery as a teenager that her parents are agents working for the CIA. Young Sophia has lived in so many different countries, she can barely keep count. Stationed now with her family in Central America because of her parents' work, Sophia feels displaced as an American living abroad, when she has hardly spent any of her life in America.Everything changes when she reads a letter she was never meant to see and uncovers her parents' secret. They are not who they say they are. They are working for the CIA. As Sophia tries to make sense of this news, and the web of lies surrounding her, she begins to question everything. The impact that this has on Sophia's emerging sense of self and understanding of the world makes for a page-turning exploration of lies and double lives.In the hands of this extraordinary graphic storyteller, this astonishing true story bursts to life.
Passport through Darkness
by Kimberly L. SmithAs she shares her extraordinary stories of fighting human trafficking as an ordinary mom, Kimberly Smith offers hope for readers who wonder if God is calling them to greater things. Passport Through Darkness takes readers on Smith's journey from normal family life and business, to Europe, to the deserts of Africa and ultimately, to the deserts of her own soul as she tries to live well as an imperfect American mom, crusade for justice for orphans around the world, and embrace God's extraordinary dreams for her. When Kimberly and her husband risk everything to answer God's call, they see God change and restore them--even amid exhaustion, marital struggles, and physical limitations. This heartbreaking, heartlifting book is for anyone who longs to see God move their life from normal to one that matters. It is a call to readers to take one more step on their journey to know God's heart.
Past Crimes: Archaeological & Historical Evidence for Ancient Misdeeds
by Julie Wileman&“Presents an understanding of the science, skills, and craft of the archaeologist and how these can be used to unravel many criminal mysteries.&” —Police History Society Newsletter Today, police forces all over the world use archaeological techniques to help them solve crimes—and archaeologists are using the same methods to identify and investigate crimes in the past. This book introduces some of those techniques, and explains how they have been used not only to solve modern crimes, but also to investigate past wrongdoing. Past Crimes presents archaeological and historical evidence of crimes from mankind&’s earliest days, as well as evidence of how criminals were judged and punished. Each society has had a different approach to law and order, and these approaches are discussed here with examples ranging from Ancient Egypt to Victorian England—police forces, courts, prisons, and executions have all left their traces in the physical and written records. Also discussed here is how the development of forensic approaches has been used to collect and analyze evidence that were invented by pioneer criminologists. From the murder of a Neanderthal man to bank fraud in the nineteenth century, via ancient laws about religion and morality and the changes in social conditions and attitudes, a wide range of cases are included—some terrible crimes, some amusing anecdotes, and some forms of ancient law-breaking that remain very familiar.
Past Forgetting: My Memory Lost and Found
by Jill RobinsonA love story, a mystery, and a memory guide, Past Forgetting shows a writer's determination to re-create her life.Jill Robinson, novelist and author of Bed/Time/Story, wakes from a coma to discover she's lost her memory and just about any sense of who she was.And is.She likes the look of the man standing next to her bed, but doesn't recognize that he's her husband, Stuart. What matters is that she feels safe around him. As she searches the house for her children, she is reminded that her son and daughter are both grown with families of their own--how well did she ever know them? Can You make up for a past you don't really remember?It is Stuart who begins to fill in the details for Jill, including the fact that she's a well-known writer, although when she meets with her doctors, they say she may never write again.Against all odds, Jill Robinson retrieved her unique writing voice, and in this engaging memoir shows how she does it. She takes us with her on her exploration of'tlie connections between memory and creativity, celebrity and anonymity, and loss and discovery. From her first tentative steps outside her house on Wimpole Street to London's sleek West End. From a trip to Oxford to discuss memory with a professor to her amazing voyage to Los Angeles on an assignment for Vanity fair which takes her back to the sixties world of Hockney, Polanski, and Hopper, Jill forges new paths to memory.In Past Forgetting, Jill Robinson rediscovers friendships she doesn't know she had: Robert Redford tells her stories about her childhood; at John Lahr's London literary teas, she's reintroduced to the writer's world, and Cary Grant offers her memories of her father, Dore Schary. And being with Barbra Streisand reminds her of a time she doesn't quite remember: when her father was running MGM.In her urgent voyage to redefine herself, Jill asks all the questions you've ever asked on the nature of memory. Is recollection shadowed by emotion? Is memory an act of reinvention? Do people reinvent rather than recollect? In Past Forgetting you'll find the answers and you'll meet a writer you won't want to forget.
Past Imperfect
by Joan CollinsJoan Collins, star of films and TV, tells the story of her life. She grew up in England, married young, and several times. She had several love affairs, beautiful children, and a life many women would love.
Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Fraud American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and
by Peter Charles HofferWoodrow Wilson, a practicing academic historian before he took to politics, defined the importance of history: "A nation which does not know what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today. " He, like many men of his generation, wanted to impose a version of America's founding identity: it was a land of the free and a home of the brave. But not the braves. Or the slaves. Or the disenfranchised women. So the history of Wilson's generation omitted a significant proportion of the population in favor of a perspective that was predominantly white, male and Protestant. That flaw would become a fissure and eventually a schism. A new history arose which, written in part by radicals and liberals, had little use for the noble and the heroic, and that rankled many who wanted a celebratory rather than a critical history. To this combustible mixture of elements was added the flame of public debate. History in the 1990s was a minefield of competing passions, political views and prejudices. It was dangerous ground, and, at the end of the decade, four of the nation's most respected and popular historians were almost destroyed by it: Michael Bellesiles, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Ambrose and Joseph Ellis. This is their story, set against the wider narrative of the writing of America's history. It may be, as Flaubert put it, that "Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. " To which he could have added: falsify, plagiarize and politicize, because that's the other story of America's history.
Past Lives of the Rich and Famous
by Sylvia BrowneIn Past Lives of the Rich and Famous, Sylvia Browne, the renowned New York Times bestselling author and reigning queen of psychics provides a rare and riveting look at the (often very surprising) lives some of our most beloved celebrities experienced in the past—before our own time.Unlike any other book she has written, Past Lives of the Rich and Famous explains what happens before birth. With assistance from her spirit guide, Francine, she offers a unique new look at more than fifty beloved celebrities, including Steve Jobs, Amy Winehouse, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Martin Luther King Jr. Browne does not just reveal what celebrities were doing in their past lives, but also makes a spiritual connection between what they did then and what they did now. She also tells us whether this is a celebrity’s final life, or whether he or she will continue the journey into future lives.
Past Mortems: Life and death behind mortuary doors
by Carla ValentineA day in the life of Carla Valentine - curator, pathology technician and 'death professional' - is not your average day. She spent ten years training and working as an Anatomical Pathology Technologist: where the mortuary slab was her desk, and that day's corpses her task list.Past Mortems tells Carla's stories of those years, as well as investigating the body alongside our attitudes towards death - shedding light on what the living can learn from dead and the toll the work can take on the living souls who carry it out. Fascinating and insightful, Past Mortems reveals the truth about what happens when the mortuary doors swing shut or the lid of the coffin closes . . .
Past Mortems: Life and death behind mortuary doors
by Carla ValentineA day in the life of Carla Valentine - curator, pathology technician and 'death professional' - is not your average day. She spent ten years training and working as an Anatomical Pathology Technologist: where the mortuary slab was her desk, and that day's corpses her task list.Past Mortems tells Carla's stories of those years, as well as investigating the body alongside our attitudes towards death - shedding light on what the living can learn from dead and the toll the work can take on the living souls who carry it out. Fascinating and insightful, Past Mortems reveals the truth about what happens when the mortuary doors swing shut or the lid of the coffin closes . . .
Past Tense: Facing Family Secrets and Finding Myself in Therapy
by Sacha MardouA brave and captivating graphic memoir about the power of therapy to heal anxiety and generational traumaWhen Sacha Mardou turned forty-years-old, she was leading a life that looked perfect on the outside: happily married to the love of her life, enjoying motherhood and her six-year-old daughter, and her first book had just been published. But for reasons she couldn&’t explain, the anxiety that had always plagued her only seemed to be getting worse and then, without warning, she began breaking out in terrible acne.The product of a stoic, working-class British family, Sacha had a deeply seeded distrust of mental health treatment, but now, living the life she&’d built in the US and desperate for relief, she finds herself in a therapist&’s office for the first time. There she begins the real work of growing up: learning to understand her family of origin and the childhood trauma she thought she&’d left hidden in the past but is still entangled in her present life.Past Tense takes us inside Sacha&’s therapy sessions, which over time become life-changing: She begins to come to terms with her turbulent and complicated upbringing, which centered around her now estranged father, who had a violent relationship with her mother and would later go to prison for sexually abusing her stepsister. With her therapist&’s guidance, she sees how these wounds and other generational trauma has been passed through her family as far back as her grandmother&’s experiences during The Blitz of World War Two. And she discovers modalities that powerfully shape her healing along the way, including the work of Bessel Van der Kolk and Richard Schwartz (Internal Family Systems).As Sacha&’s emotional life begins to unfreeze and she lets go of the shame she&’s long held, she realizes that the work she&’s doing and her love for her family can ripple outward too, changing her relationships now, and creating a new legacy for her daughter.Bravely told, visceral, and profoundly moving, Past Tense is a story about our power to break free of the past--once and for all--and find hope.