- Table View
- List View
Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
by Mary Rodgers Jesse Green'Mary careens across these pages with her usual wit, wisdom and honesty' - Julie Andrews'[A] thoughtful chronicle of one woman's journey through experience to understanding - and a lot of fun to read' - The Washington Post'Pure pleasure . . . jaw-droppingly shocking' - Daniel Okrent, The New York TimesThe wonderfully funny, candid and outrageous NYT bestselling memoirs of Mary Rodgers - writer, composer, Broadway royalty, and 'a woman who tried everything.'Mary Rodgers was the daughter of Richard Rodgers, who, with Oscar Hammerstein, wrote some of the biggest musicals of the 20th century-from Oklahoma! and Carousel to South Pacific and The King and I. Shy is the story of how Mary went from angry child, constrained by a self-absorbed mother and her father's overwhelming gift, to finally living life on her own terms-falling in love, often unwisely, marrying twice, having six children, and forging a career of her own.Through her long and rich life Mary grabbed every chance possible-and then some. Her musical Once Upon A Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. She was the renowned author of the much-loved Freaky Friday books, as well as a close friend and collaborator of Stephen Sondheim, falling in love with him at 13 over a game of chess. She also dated producer Hal Prince and worked alongside composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.With copious annotations, contradictions, and interruptions from Mary's collaborator Jesse Green, the chief theatre critic of The New York Times, the result is laugh-out-loud funny and frequently moving. Above all, Shy is a chance to sit at the feet of the kind of woman they don't make any more. They make themselves.
Shyamchi Aai: श्यामची आई
by Sane Guruji"श्यामची आई" ही साने गुरुजींनी लिहिलेली खास मराठी कादंबरी आहे. ह्या कादंबरीत श्याम अशी एक छोट्या मुलाची गोष्ट आहे, ज्याच्यात त्याच्या आईच्या प्रेमाची, बलिदानाची आणि समर्पणाची भावना आहे. या पुस्तकात आपल्याला श्यामच्या बालपणातील खास अनुभवांच्या अंगणात घेऊन जाता येते, ज्यामध्ये त्याच्या आईने त्याला दिलेल्या शिक्षणांची व उपदेशांची मालिका दर्शवलेली आहे. या पुस्तकाच्या मुख्य विषयांमध्ये आईच्या प्रेमाचे आणि त्याच्या बलिदानाचे महत्वाचे संदेश आहेत. ह्या पुस्तकातील प्रत्येक अध्यायात आपल्याला एक नैतिक शिक्षा किंवा प्रेरणादायी संदेश मिळतो. श्यामची आई हे पुस्तक मराठी साहित्यात एक महत्वाची ठराविणारी कादंबरी आहे आणि ह्याची प्रेरणा आणि संदेश आजपर्यंतही अनेक वाचकांच्या हृदयांत जगावते.
Shyamji Krishnavarma: Sanskrit, Sociology and Anti-Imperialism (Pathfinders)
by Harald Fischer-TineThis book is the first critical biography on Shyamji Krishnavarma — scholar, journalist and national revolutionary who lived in exile outside India from 1897 to 1930. His ideas were crucial in the creation of an extremist wing of anti-imperial nationalism. The work delves into a fascinating range of issues such as colonialism and knowledge, political violence, cosmopolitanism, and diaspora. Lucidly written, and with an insightful analysis of Krishnavarma’s life and times, this will greatly interest scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, politics, the nationalist movement, as well as the informed lay reader.
Si estuviera vivo...
by Bloodwitch Luz OscuriaCuando un escritor del movimiento surrealista del siglo XX busca desesperadamente la concentración necesaria para comenzar un ensayo de escritura automática, y el alma de un niño que ha muerto de una larga enfermedad pasa a través de él, el resultado es una larga carta, cuyo contenido se recoge en esta obra. A lo largo de este breve relato, descubrirá a un autor que se ha convertido en el espejo de un niño de 8 años que sueña desde el más allá con la existencia que habría tenido si hubiera permanecido vivo, desde el resto de su infancia hasta la tumba.
Si hoy es jueves, esto es Tombuctú
by Paco NadalEl alocado diario de un periodista de viajes Paco Nadal había viajado mucho, muchísimo más que la mayoría de los mortales, escribiendo reportajes para revistas o rodando documentales para televisión. Pero cuando en junio de 2008 le propusieron escribir un blog de viajes, no podía imaginarse hasta qué punto iba a cambiar su vida. Desde entonces no ha parado de moverse... y de contarlo. Este libro ofrece una selección de los primeros años de ese blog, narrado día a día en El Viajero, el suplemento de viajes de elpais.com; unas crónicas que retratan con humor los avatares de una profesión absorbente pero maravillosa: la del periodista de viajes digital. Un sueño para un culo inquieto como Paco Nadal, aunque haya momentos en que no sepa si hoy es jueves o si esto es Tombuctú.
Si los sueñas, haz que pase
by Maikel MelamedUna historia de superación, coraje y valentía para superar lasadversidades de la vida. «Hay gente que nació para caminar y otra que nació para abrircaminos. Maickel Melamed nació para hacer ambas cosas ytambién inspirar a los seres humanos a emprender su propioandar por la vida. A pesar de todos los diagnósticos, desde el momentodesu nacimiento Maickel se empeñó en salir adelante y perseguirsus sueños.Cuando conoces su historia entiendes que Maickel es unvehículo de algo más grande. ¿Qué cosa? Adéntrate en estaspáginas y lo descubrirás. Más que una autobiografía o unasmemorias, este libro es una invitación a conocer al ser humanodetrás de las hazañas y las metas. Es una ventana para asomarsey comprender. También para aprender e inspirarse. Porquees posible. Nada es tan grande como para no intentarlo. Ahí tienesla historia de Maickel.»Eli Bravo
Si-cology 1
by Mark Schlabach Si RobertsonYou know him from the hit A&E show Duck Dynasty--now you can enjoy Uncle Si's tall tales, crazy exploits, and quirky one-liners in one raucous collection!"These hands are so fast, I can get your wallet before you know it. In a minute, you'll be standing there buck naked and won't know what hit you!" "Look here--if it wasn't for my tripped knee, I'd be playing in the NBA today." "Hey, Jack!" Any of these sound familiar? If they do--or even if they don't--you're in for a good laugh. The brother of patriarch Phil Robertson, Uncle Si has a limitless supply of stories about his childhood, duck hunting adventures, his days in Vietnam, and everything in between. Now the best of those tales are gathered into this roaring book. Si shares stories of the more than twenty-five marriage proposals he's received in the mail (some with photos!), how he came to use a green Tupperware cup for his ever-present sweet tea, and how his cigarette smoke made a deer cough (he's since quit smoking). And in many of these never-before-heard tales, Si openly talks about his wife and two children--who are never seen and rarely mentioned on the show. Sure to please die-hard fans and curious newbies alike, Si's one-liners are presented alongside fun, expressive photographs. In no time, this smattering of zany stories will have you falling over with laughter and retelling them to all your friends.
Si-renity: How I Stay Calm and Keep the Faith
by Si RobertsonAmerica's favorite uncle and bestselling author of Si-cology 1, Duck Dynasty's Si Robertson, opens up about how his faith has brought him peace and serenity throughout his many not-so-peaceful adventures.Si Robertson has gone from chief duck call maker to beloved star of A&E's Duck Dynasty. Through his transition, he has remained untainted by the popularity and money, and is the same man he was before stardom--generous, kind, compassionate, and a little bit crazy. Beginning where Si-cology 1 ended, Uncle Si gets much more personal as he talks about his life on the road as one of the show's favorites, and how he feels about life after the show. Si-renity will be full of Si-style, hilarious stories, as well as an up-close look inside the heart and faith of this loveable fan favorite. This new book shines a light on the kindness and compassion Si has for children, the military, and the less fortunate. Full of zany, yet honest stories about his day-to-day life on the road, Si narrates the lessons he's learned about living life courageously and joyfully, and shares his personal source of peace and love for others--both originating directly from his faith in God.
Sibelius: A Composer's Life and the Awakening of Finland
by Glenda Dawn GossOne of the twentieth century's greatest composers, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) virtually stopped writing music during the last thirty years of his life. Recasting his mysterious musical silence and his undeniably influential life against the backdrop of Finland's national awakening, Sibelius will be the definitive biography of this creative legend for many years to come. Glenda Dawn Goss begins her sweeping narrative in the Finland of Sibelius's youth, which remained under Russian control for the first five decades of his life. Focusing on previously unexamined events, Goss explores the composer's formative experiences as a Russian subject and a member of the Swedish-speaking Finnish minority. She goes on to trace Sibelius's relationships with his creative contemporaries, with whom he worked to usher in a golden age of music and art that would endow Finns with a sense of pride in their heritage and encourage their hopes for the possibilities of nationhood. Skillfully evoking this artistic climate--in which Sibelius emerged as a leader--Goss creates a dazzling portrait of the painting, sculpture, literature, and music it inspired. To solve the deepest riddles of Sibelius's life, work, and enigmatic silence, Goss contends, we must understand the awakening in which he played so great a role. Situating this national creative tide in the context of Nordic and European cultural currents, Sibelius dramatically deepens our knowledge of a misunderstood musical giant and an important chapter in the intellectual history of Europe.
Siberian Education: Growing Up in a Criminal Underworld
by Jonathan Hunt Nicolai Lilin"Marvelous and Illuminating. . . . Forces us to reassess our notions of good and evil." --Irvine Welsh In a contested, lawless region between Moldova and Ukraine known as Transnistria, a tightly knit group of "honest criminals" live according to strict codes of ritualized respect and fierce loyalty. In a voice utterly compelling and unforgettable, Nicolai Lilin, born and raised within this exotic subculture, tells the story of his moral education outside the bounds of "society" as we know it, where men uphold values with passion--and often by brute force.
Siberian Exile: Blood, War, and a Granddaughter's Reckoning
by Julija SukysWhen Julija Šukys was a child, her paternal grandfather, Anthony, rarely smiled, and her grandmother, Ona, spoke only in her native Lithuanian. But they still taught Šukys her family’s story: that of a proud people forced from their homeland when the soldiers came. In mid-June 1941, three Red Army soldiers arrested Ona, forced her onto a cattle car, and sent her east to Siberia, where she spent seventeen years separated from her children and husband, working on a collective farm. The family story maintained that it was all a mistake. Anthony, whose name was on Stalin’s list of enemies of the people, was accused of being a known and decorated anti-Bolshevik and Lithuanian nationalist. Some seventy years after these events, Šukys sat down to write about her grandparents and their survival of a twenty-five-year forced separation and subsequent reunion. Piecing the story together from letters, oral histories, audio recordings, and KGB documents, her research soon revealed a Holocaust-era secret—a family connection to the killing of seven hundred Jews in a small Lithuanian border town. According to KGB documents, the man in charge when those massacres took place was Anthony, Ona’s husband. In Siberian Exile Šukys weaves together the two narratives: the story of Ona, noble exile and innocent victim, and that of Anthony, accused war criminal. She examines the stories that communities tell themselves and considers what happens when the stories we’ve been told all our lives suddenly and irrevocably change, and how forgiveness or grace operate across generations and across the barriers of life and death.
Siberian Passag: An Explorer's Search into the Russian Arctic
by Innokenty TolmachoffSiberian Passage, first published in 1949, is a fascinating look at the land and peoples of far northern Russia in the early 1900s. The author was a member of a Russian scientific expedition which explored the then little known boreal and arctic regions of Siberia, and describes the lives of the natives they encountered, travels by dog-sled, dealing with the many difficulties in travel, including wild extremes in temperature, and provides an insightful overview of the region.
Sicilian Carousel: Adventures on an Italian Island
by Lawrence DurrellA moving account of friendship and discovery on the island of Sicily from the acclaimed travel writer and bestselling author of The Alexandria Quartet. Despite decades spent writing poetic evocations of the timeless pleasures of life in the Mediterranean, Lawrence Durrell had never set foot on the sea&’s largest island: mysterious, impenetrable Sicily. For years his friend Martine begged him to visit her on this sun-kissed paradise, and though he always intended to, life inevitably interfered. It took Martine&’s sudden death to finally bring him to the island&’s shores. With Martine&’s letters in his pocket, Durrell signs up for a tour group, hoping to learn the travel habits of those who aren&’t obsessively devoted to island life. As he treks from sight to sight, dizzy with history and culture, Durrell finds echoes of his past lives in Rhodes, Cyprus, and Corfu.
Sicilian Genealogy and Heraldry
by Louis MendolaIn Sicilian genealogy, a generation by generation lineage to the Late Middle Ages isn't unusual. This long-awaited, definitive guide shows you how to do it.Sicily boasts the world's best genealogical records, revealing the deep roots of a Sicilian identity and facilitating the construction of many pedigrees into the fifteenth century. Based on the author's 30 years of experience as a foremost expert in the field, this is the first complete guide ever published in English dedicated exclusively to Sicilian genealogical research. Its publication in 2013 established a new subject category in the Dewey catalogue, and it is the reference book consulted by professional genealogists researching Sicilian families.Topics range from parochial, civil and feudal records to DNA haplotyping, religion, rural life, cuisine, ethnography, coats of arms, surname origins and Jewish genealogy, with insightful, accurate information on historiography and research strategies - a few published here for the first time.With scientific rigor and disarming candor, "the Indiana Jones of Italian history" shows you how to "push the envelope" of your family history research into Sicily's multicultural medieval era. Family history is more than names, dates and pedigrees; it is the people and culture behind the names. Social context is not overlooked. If there were ever a handbook on Sicilian ethnology, this would be it.This book covers a wide range of topics in detail, transcending conventional strategies to explain the "how and why" of historical research: shortcuts and methods as well as advice on pitfalls to avoid. As a serious guide for dedicated researchers, it presumes some familiarity with basic genealogy, recommending introductory books to complement what one reads in this one, so don't expect photographs of vital statistics records and other documents. But even for family historians at the beginning of their research, this book is an excellent consultative reference.It brings to life an arcane, often elusive, field. Significantly, the author destroys a few myths about Italian family history, and about Italy itself, while describing real social history. Especially impressive is his refreshingly distinctive writing style, with blunt reality checks sprinkled throughout the lengthier chapters. That's the kind of pragmatism missing from many genealogical guides.While the chapters on the aristocracy and heraldry may interest fewer readers than those on simple lineal research, they are useful because most pedigrees before 1400 focus on the nobility.By his own admission, Mendola's tone is at times sardonic, as if this elder statesman were scolding the field's less disciplined historians while setting the stage for its beginners. Just when you think that his treatment of a particular topic has become tiresome or excessively dry and theoretical, he inserts a concrete example to make his point. It's an effective technique.In his assaults on the machinations of historical revisionists and genealogical fabulists, along with fake royalty and others who manipulate history for their own edification, the author takes no prisoners. Like Verres, the Roman governor of Sicily who fled into voluntary exile following Cicero's opening speech at his trial for corruption, genealogy's fantasists should flee the moment Lou Mendola enters the fray. In fact, quite a few have, as the author has been consulted over the years by journalists, law-enforcement authorities and others seeking to expose genealogy's identity tricksters.His role is not unlike that of a lone sheriff protecting a town or, for European traditionalists, the last knight defending a castle. He is one of Italy's most cosmopolitan historians, consulted by The History Channel, the Vatican, the Order of Malta, the Almanach de Gotha and the BBC.This is a reference work written by a highly knowledgeable, freethinking scholar, albeit one with close connections to Europe's traditionalist Establishment. The comparison to In
Sicilian Odyssey
by Francine ProseA blending of art and cultural criticism, travel writing, and personal narrative, Sicilian Odyssey is Francine Prose's imaginative consideration of the diverse cultural legacies found juxtaposed and entangled on the Mediterranean island of Sicily. Prose examines architectural sites and objects that encapsulate period in the island's rich life and history and looks at the ways in which myth and actuality converge. Exploring the intact and beautiful Greek amphitheaters at Siracusa and Taormina, the cathedral at Monreale, the Roman mosaics at Piazza Armerina, and some of the masterpieces of the Baroque scattered throughout the island, Prose focuses her keen insight to imagine them in their own time, to examine the evolution and decline of the cultures that produced them, and to deconstruct powerful responses each evokes in her. Prose writes of the intensity of Sicily, the "commitment to the extreme," where the history is more colorful, the sun hotter, the cooking earthier, the violence more horrific, the carnival more raucous, the politics more Byzantine than other places on Earth, and how much the island can teach us about the triumph of beauty over violence and life over death. Illuminated by the author's own photographs, Sicilian Odyssey brings exotic and enigmatic Sicily to life through the prism of its past.
Sicily's Queens 1061-1266: The Countesses and Queens of the Norman-Swabian Era (Sicilian Medieval Studies)
by Jacqueline AlioEighteen women. Eighteen stories. Each one unique. Some never told before.They are the semi-forgotten women of European medieval history. This is the first compendium of scholarly biographies of the countesses and queens of the Kingdom of Sicily during the Hauteville and Hohenstaufen reigns, based on original research in medieval charters, chronicles and letters, augmented by extensive on-site research at castles, cathedrals and towns across Europe.This abridged edition of the author's Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 brings to the reader the entire narrative text of that 740-page print book published in 2019, with a bibliography, timeline, 26 genealogical tables, 15 maps, several photographs of things like pages from medieval manuscripts and places mentioned in the text, and 5 appendices. It does not include the 700 endnotes. The bibliography lists original (medieval) sources to support the facts presented in the text but not the hundreds of secondary works (such as articles) listed in the print edition.The result of years of research in several countries, Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 was the first collection of biographies of these women ever published in any language in a single publication. Until it arrived in 2019, anybody seeking information about all of these women had to consult various sources.The biographies follow a lengthy introduction and a brief survey of Sicilian history. Each chapter is dedicated to a countess or queen: Judith of Evreux, Eremburga of Mortain, Adelaide del Vasto, Elvira of Castile, Sibylla of Burgundy, Beatrice of Rethel, Margaret of Navarre, Joanna of England, Sibylla of Acerra, Irene of Constantinople, Constance of Sicily, Constance of Aragon, Yolanda of Jerusalem, Isabella of England, Bianca Lancia, Elisabeth of Bavaria, Beatrice of Savoy, Helena of Epirus.This book is about the lives of medieval women, but to place the Kingdom of Sicily, which survived for seven centuries, into a wider historical context an appendix profiles the last queen, Maria Sophia of Bavaria, who lived until 1925, with a previously-unpublished interview of a niece who knew her. Maria Sophia was born into the same dynasty as Elisabeth of Bavaria, who became Queen of Sicily in 1250.Another appendix includes the author's translation (from the original Medieval Sicilian) of the Contrasto of Cielo of Alcamo, the longest poem of the Sicilian School that flourished under Frederick II. It is possible that one or two of these queens heard this poem recited or sung at court. Other appendices focus on the only crown of a Sicilian queen to survive from this era (worn by Constance of Aragon and shown on the book's cover), a gold pendant worn by Queen Margaret given to her by Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the ceremonial rite of coronation known to some of these queens.This book is very complete and its publication was long overdue. Some of these women's stories are exciting, even inspiring. They show these countesses and queens as wives, mothers, leaders, soldiers, crusaders and administrators. These women were anything but weak or docile. Judith withstood a winter siege in a makeshift fort and then led a company of knights to occupy a town in the rugged Sicilian mountains. As regent for her young son, Margaret was the most powerful woman in Europe and the Mediterranean, governing a kingdom of some two million subjects while facing the incessant insurrections instigated by unruly barons and conniving clergy. She sometimes jailed enemies without so much as a second thought. Joanna went on crusade with her brother, Richard Lionheart, whose death in France she later avenged by having his killer tortured to death. Constance of Sicily commanded troops in a campaign to take back the crown usurped by a zealous kinsman.Not only is this work highly detailed and useful as a reference, it's very readable, without the verbose academese of many books of this kind (most of its academic jargon was re
Sick Girl
by Amy SilversteinAt twenty-four, Amy was a typical type-A law student: smart, driven, and highly competitive. With a full course load and a budding romance, it seemed nothing could slow her down. Until her heart began to fail. Amy chronicles her harrowing medical journey from the first misdiagnosis to her astonishing recovery, which is made all the more dramatic by the romantic bedside courtship with her future husband, and her uncompromising desire to become a mother. In her remarkable book she presents a patient's perspective with shocking honesty that allows the reader to live her nightmare from the inside-an unforgettable experience that is both disturbing and utterly compelling.
Sick Girl (Thorndike Biography Ser.)
by Amy Silverstein“The hardcover publication of “Sick Girl” garnered tremendous attention, generated impressive sales, and ignited controversy. Both inspiring and provocative, reactions to the book ranged from inflammatory posts on a US News & World Report blog, to hundreds of letters from readers, to a full-page review in “People”. Amy’s force, candor, and her refusal to be the thankful patient from whom we expect undiluted gratitude for the medical treatments that have extended her life, have put her at the center of a debate on patient rights and the omnipotent power of doctors. At twenty-four, Amy was a typical type-A law student: smart, driven, and highly competitive. With a full course load and a budding romance, it seemed nothing could slow her down. Until her heart began to fail. Amy chronicles her harrowing medical journey from the first misdiagnosis to her astonishing recovery, which is made all the more dramatic by the romantic bedside courtship with her future husband, and her uncompromising desire to become a mother. In her remarkable book she presents a patient’s perspective with shocking honesty that allows the reader to live her nightmare from the inside an unforgettable experience that is both disturbing and utterly compelling.
Sick On You: The Disastrous Story of The Hollywood Brats, the Greatest Band You've Never Heard Of
by Andrew MathesonMOJO magazine's 2015 Book of the Year, the outrageous true story of the Hollywood Brats--the greatest punk band you've never heard of--brilliantly told by founding member Andrew Matheson With only a guitar, a tatty copy of the Melody Maker, and his template for the perfect band, Andrew Matheson set out, in 1971, to make music history. His band, the Hollywood Brats, were pre-punk prophets--uncompromising, ultrathin, wild, and untamable. Thrown into the crazy world of the 1970s London music scene, the Brats recorded one genius-but-ignored album and ultimately fell foul of the crooks who ran a music industry that just wasn't quite ready for the punk revolution. Directly inspiring Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash, the Hollywood Brats imploded too soon to share in the glory. Sick On You is a startling, funny, and incredibly entertaining period memoir about never quite achieving success despite flying so close to greatness.
Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life (Princeton Anz Paperbacks Ser.)
by John KaagFrom the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William JamesIn 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled "Is Life Worth Living?" It was no theoretical question for James, who had contemplated suicide during an existential crisis as a young man a quarter century earlier. Indeed, as John Kaag writes, "James's entire philosophy, from beginning to end, was geared to save a life, his life"—and that's why it just might be able to save yours, too. Sick Souls, Healthy Minds is a compelling introduction to James's life and thought that shows why the founder of pragmatism and empirical psychology—and an inspiration for Alcoholics Anonymous—can still speak so directly and profoundly to anyone struggling to make a life worth living.Kaag tells how James's experiences as one of what he called the "sick-souled," those who think that life might be meaningless, drove him to articulate an ideal of "healthy-mindedness"—an attitude toward life that is open, active, and hopeful, but also realistic about its risks. In fact, all of James's pragmatism, resting on the idea that truth should be judged by its practical consequences for our lives, is a response to, and possible antidote for, crises of meaning that threaten to undo many of us at one time or another. Along the way, Kaag also movingly describes how his own life has been endlessly enriched by James.Eloquent, inspiring, and filled with insight, Sick Souls, Healthy Minds may be the smartest and most important self-help book you'll ever read.
Sick: A Compilation Zine on Physical Illness (World Around Us) (World Around Us Ser.)
by Ben HoltzmanSick collects peoples' experiences with illness to help establish a collective voice of those impacted within radical/left/DIY communities. <P><P>The zine is meant to be a resource for those who are living with illness as well as those who have not directly experienced it themselves. Contributors discuss personal experiences as well as topics such as receiving support, providing support, and being an informed patient. These writings are meant to increase understandings of illness and further discussion as well as action towards building communities of care.
Sick: A Memoir
by Porochista KhakpourA Best Book of the Year: Real Simple, Entropy, Mental Floss, Bitch Media, The Paris Review, and LitHub.Time Magazine's Best Memoirs of 2018 • Boston Globe's 25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018 • Buzzfeed's 33 Most Exciting New Books • GQ Best Non Fiction Book of 2018 • Bustle’s 28 Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2018 list • Nylon’s 50 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018 • Electric Literature’s 46 Books to Read By Women of Color in 2018 “Porochista Khakpour’s powerful memoir, Sick, reads like a mystery and a reckoning with a love song at its core. Humane, searching, and unapologetic, Sick is about the thin lines and vast distances between illness and wellness, healing and suffering, the body and the self. Khakpour takes us all the way in on her struggle toward health with an intelligence and intimacy that moved, informed, and astonished me.” — Cheryl Strayed, New York Times bestselling author of WildA powerful, beautifully rendered memoir of chronic illness, misdiagnosis, addiction, and the myth of full recovery.For as long as author Porochista Khakpour can remember, she has been sick. For most of that time, she didn't know why. Several drug addictions, some major hospitalizations, and over $100,000 later, she finally had a diagnosis: late-stage Lyme disease. Sick is Khakpour's grueling, emotional journey—as a woman, an Iranian-American, a writer, and a lifelong sufferer of undiagnosed health problems—in which she examines her subsequent struggles with mental illness and her addiction to doctor prescribed benzodiazepines, that both aided and eroded her ever-deteriorating physical health. Divided by settings, Khakpour guides the reader through her illness by way of the locations that changed her course—New York, LA, Santa Fe, and a college town in Germany—as she meditates on the physiological and psychological impacts of uncertainty, and the eventual challenge of accepting the diagnosis she had searched for over the course of her adult life. A story of survival, pain, and transformation, Sick candidly examines the colossal impact of illness on one woman's life by not just highlighting the failures of a broken medical system but by also boldly challenging our concept of illness narratives.
Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood
by Julie GregoryA young girl is perched on the cold chrome of yet another doctor's examining table, missing yet another day of school. Just twelve, she's tall, undernourished and weak. It's four o'clock, and she hasn't been allowed to eat anything all day - in fact she is often not allowed to eat much at all. She's terrified. Her mother, on the other hand, seems curiously excited. She's about to suggest open heart surgery on her child to "get to the bottom of this. " She checks her teeth for lipstick and, as the doctor enters, shoots the girl a warning glance. This child will not ruin her plans. Show them how sick you are - or else. From early childhood, Julie Gregory was continually X-rayed, medicated, starved and operated on-in the vain pursuit of an illness that was created in her mother's mind. Munchausen by proxy (or MBP) is the world's most hidden, misunderstood and lethal form of child abuse, in which the caretaker-almost always the mother-invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Julie Gregory is lucky to be alive. Most MBP children die. And Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman. SICKENED is a remarkable memoir that will leave an indelible mark on any one who reads it - Gregory's writing is superb and she interweaves this harrowing story with a fierce humour that somehow make this even more heartbreaking. This is not only a mesmerising piece of writing, but it's the first memoir by a survivor of Munchausen by proxy. Punctuated with Julie's actual medical records, it re-creates the bizarre cocoon of her family life along with the astonishing naiveté of medical professionals and social workers. It also exposes the twisted bonds of terror and love that roped Julie's family together-including the love that made a child willing to sacrifice herself to win her mother's happiness. The realisation that the sickness lay not in herself, but in her mother, would not come to Julie until adulthood. But when it did, it would strike like lightning. Through her painful metamorphosis, she discovered the courage to save her own life-and, ultimately, the life of the girl her mother had found to take her place.
Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood
by Julie GregoryA young girl is perched on the cold chrome of yet another doctor’s examining table, missing yet another day of school. Just twelve, she’s tall, skinny, and weak. It’s four o’clock, and she hasn’t been allowed to eat anything all day. Her mother, on the other hand, seems curiously excited. She's about to suggest open-heart surgery on her child to "get to the bottom of this." She checks her teeth for lipstick and, as the doctor enters, shoots the girl a warning glance. This child will not ruin her plans. <P><P>Sickened <P><P>From early childhood, Julie Gregory was continually X-rayed, medicated, and operated on—in the vain pursuit of an illness that was created in her mother’s mind. <P><P>Munchausen by proxy (MBP) is the world’s most hidden and dangerous form of child abuse, in which the caretaker—almost always the mother—invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Many MBP children die, but Julie Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman. <P><P>Sickened is a remarkable memoir that speaks in an original and distinctive Midwestern voice, rising to indelible scenes in prose of scathing beauty and fierce humor. <P><P>Punctuated with Julie's actual medical records, it re-creates the bizarre cocoon of her family's isolated double-wide trailer, their wild shopping sprees and gun-waving confrontations, the astonishing naïveté of medical professionals and social workers. It also exposes the twisted bonds of terror and love that roped Julie's family together—including the love that made a child willing to sacrifice herself to win her mother's happiness. <P><P>The realization that the sickness lay in her mother, not in herself, would not come to Julie until adulthood. But when it did, it would strike like lightning. <P><P>Through her painful metamorphosis, she discovered the courage to save her own life—and, ultimately, the life of the girl her mother had found to replace her. Sickened takes us to new places in the human heart and spirit. It is an unforgettable story, unforgettably told.From the Hardcover edition.
Sickles at Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg
by James A. HesslerA well researched fair and balanced portrayal of the controversial Major General Daniel E. Sickles during the civil war in 1863, this biography is an easy read and gives us a detailed insight into the events.