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Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon
by A. J. Rossmiller"Graduating from college with a degree in Middle East studies, Rossmiller joined the Defense Department's Intelligence Agency in 2004 and soon volunteered to join a DIA unit in Iraq. He vividly recounts his six-month tour--the physical misery of the environment and the frustrations of feeling his work rarely made a difference. Good intelligence, he explains, begins with people on the spot (in this case usually Iraqis), who take risks but supply information that is often fragmented, out-of-date and even self-serving or false. Analysts, such as the author, tease out useful data and deliver it quickly to fighting men. Hobbled by clueless superiors and their turf wars, as well as ignorance of Iraqi culture, DIA units, including Rossmiller's, witnessed American forces repeatedly acting on poor or outdated intelligence. They killed and arrested plenty of genuine insurgents but also killed, arrested and infuriated many innocent Iraqis, which crippled their efforts. Back in Washington, Rossmiller discovered the agency under pressure to provide good news for the Bush administration. Superiors regularly rejected his analyses of Iraqi politics as "too pessimistic." If repeated rewrites lacked an upbeat conclusion, superiors inserted one. That his predictions turned out to be correct made no difference. This intense, partisan arm-twisting devastated morale, resulting in an exodus of agency experts, including the author. "Rossmiller gives a lively insider's view of the petty and not-so-petty politics that affect the intelligence our leaders receive in their efforts to pacify Iraq; it is not a pretty picture." -Publishers Weekly. After 9/11, billions of dollars were spent to overhaul America's dysfunctional intelligence services, which were mired in bureaucracy, turf wars, and dated technology. But in this astonishing new book, A. J. Rossmiller, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst honored for his efforts here and in Iraq, reveals firsthand evidence that the intelligence system remains in disrepair. Still Broken is a blistering account of the ideology and incompetence that cripple our efforts to confront our enemies and fight our wars. Like many Americans, Rossmiller was moved to action by the attacks on 9/11. Freshly graduated from Middlebury College, he went to work for the U.S. government in 2004. But his enthusiasm slowly turned to disillusion as he began to fulfill his duties for DIA, the spy arm of the Department of Defense. There he found the Cold War and 9/11 generations at odds, the cause of fighting terrorism superseded by the need to contain a dismally managed war in Iraq, the Bush administration widely mocked and distrusted, and the intelligence process crippled from top to bottom. Rather than give up, Rossmiller instead went further, volunteering to go to Iraq to aid the troops on the ground, contribute to tactical intelligence, and, he hoped, help bring about an end to a fatally mismanaged war. For six months in that besieged country, he worked for the Direct Action Cell, the "track 'em and whack 'em" unit devoted to unmasking and targeting insurgents. He learned that, to put it mildly, the intelligence process bears no resemblance to the streamlined, well-resourced, and timely operation in a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie. He also experienced the disastrous counterterrorism and detainee strategies for which mass imprisonment--with little interest in guilt or innocence--is standard operating procedure. Back at the Pentagon as a strategic issues expert in the Office of Iraq Analysis, Rossmiller saw the administration's heavy hand in determining how information is processed. In a dysfunctional office filled with outsize personalities and the constant drone of Fox News, he filed reports on the ever-worsening situation in Iraq...
Still Dreaming: My Journey from the Barrio to Capitol Hill
by Doug Scofield Luis GutiérrezA candid, savvy, inspiring, and often hilarious memoir by one of America's most fearless political leaders. Beloved by the immigrants and working people whose rights he has championed, eleven-term Congressman Luis Gutierrez is, among Latinos and along with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the most recognized Hispanic public figure in America. Here Gutierrez recounts his life between two worlds: too Puerto Rican in America, where he was born and yet was told to "go back to where you came from"; too American in Puerto Rico, where he was ridiculed as a "gringo" who couldn't speak Spanish. For much of his early life, he seemed like the last person who would rise to national prominence. Yet his tremendous will and resilience shaped his varied experiences--from picking coffee beans to driving a cab--into one of the most surprising careers in American politics. He campaigned for Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of his house, and he only grew more committed to reform. Tested in the crucible of the notoriously tough Chicago city council, he earned the nickname "El Gallito": the little fighting rooster. Gutierrez was one of the first Latino public figures to support gay rights; he led the fight to cut Congressional paychecks, hashed out legislation with both Ted Kennedy and John McCain, and fought with Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush. Despite his strong support for Barack Obama in two elections, he has twice been arrested while protesting for immigrants in front of the Obama White House. From recollections of his failures as a teenage activist to his crackling observations of the nautical décor in Kennedy's office and the white-gloved waiters of the Speaker's dining room, Gutierrez is as endearing to the reader as he is sometimes maddening to his colleagues, inspiring us all to stand up for our rights and for those of others.
Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?
by Billy Crystal<P>Hilarious and heartfelt observations on aging from one of America's favorite comedians as he turns 65, and a look back at a remarkable career in this New York Times bestseller. <P>Billy Crystal is turning 65, and he's not happy about it. With his trademark wit and heart, he outlines the absurdities and challenges that come with growing old, from insomnia to memory loss to leaving dinners with half your meal on your shirt. In humorous chapters like "Buying the Plot" and "Nodding Off," Crystal not only catalogues his physical gripes, but offers a road map to his 77 million fellow baby boomers who are arriving at this milestone age with him. He also looks back at the most powerful and memorable moments of his long and storied life, from entertaining his relatives as a kid in Long Beach, Long Island, his years doing stand-up in the Village, up through his legendary stint at Saturday Night Live, When Harry Met Sally, and his long run as host of the Academy Awards. Readers get a front-row seat to his one-day career with the New York Yankees (he was the first player to ever "test positive for Maalox"), his love affair with Sophia Loren, and his enduring friendships with several of his idols, including Mickey Mantle and Muhammad Ali. He lends a light touch to more serious topics like religion ("the aging friends I know have turned to the Holy Trinity: Advil, bourbon, and Prozac"), grandparenting, and, of course, dentistry. As wise and poignant as they are funny, Crystal's reflections are an unforgettable look at an extraordinary life well lived.
Still Foolin' 'em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, And Where The Hell Are My Keys?
by Billy CrystalHilarious and heartfelt observations on aging from one of America's favorite comedians as he turns 65, and a look back at a remarkable career Billy Crystal is turning 65, and he's not happy about it. With his trademark wit and heart, he outlines the absurdities and challenges that come with growing old, from insomnia to memory loss to leaving dinners with half your meal on your shirt. In humorous chapters like "Buying the Plot" and "Nodding Off," Crystal not only catalogues his physical gripes, but offers a road map to his 77 million fellow baby boomers who are arriving at this milestone age with him. He also looks back at the most powerful and memorable moments of his long and storied life, from entertaining his relatives as a kid in Long Beach, Long Island, his years doing stand-up in the Village, up through his legendary stint at Saturday Night Live, When Harry Met Sally, and his long run as host of the Academy Awards. Readers get a front-row seat to his one-day career with the New York Yankees (he was the first player to ever "test positive for Maalox"), his love affair with Sophia Loren, and his enduring friendships with several of his idols, including Mickey Mantle and Muhammad Ali. He lends a light touch to more serious topics like religion ("the aging friends I know have turned to the Holy Trinity: Advil, bourbon, and Prozac"), grandparenting, and, of course, dentistry. As wise and poignant as they are funny, Crystal's reflections are an unforgettable look at an extraordinary life well lived.
Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela
by Hugh Masekela D. Michael CheersHugh Masekela, a prodigiously talented giant of jazz and world music and one of today's few living world-class artists narrates a magical journey around the world in this epic, music-soaked tale of love, excess, exile, and home. Unfolding against the backbeat of the most revolutionary musical movements of the last forty years and one of the most inspiring political transformations of the twentieth century, this is the utterly engrossing and deeply effecting chronicle of a remarkable, one-of-a-kind life.
Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying
by Ram DassMore than thirty years ago, an entire generation sought a new way of life and looked for fulfillment and meaning in a way that no one had thought to look for these things before. This was the Woodstock generation and they were led on their quest by the man who was there before all of us: Ram Dass. He left his teaching post at Harvard to embody the role of spiritual seeker, he showed us all in one of the greatest spiritual classics of this century how to begin to find peace within ourselves in his 2 million-copy bestseller, Be Here Now. Ram Dass went on to lecture around the world, to build foundations, and to dedicate himself to the service of others. A few of his readers followed him, but most went into business, had children, built houses, and set the larger questions of meaning and fulfillment aside. Now, we find we need Ram Dass again. As we enter the later stages of life, the big questions of peace and of purpose have reappeared, this time demanding answers. Our old friend Ram Dass has returned, inviting us to join him on the next stage of the journey. With him we explore the joy, pain, and opportunities of the ripening seasons of our lives. Writing with his trademark humor and wisdom, sharing stories from his own life and meditation exercises to integrate the teachings, Ram Dass once again provides a new perspective on the territory that lies ahead. "Ram Dass is a superb writer. His example of gentleness and loving compassion is infused with profound wisdom of the heart and mind, a welcome sense of humor, and a savvy effectiveness in the real world." -San Francisco Chronicle
Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch
by Alexandra JacobsA New Yorker Favorite Nonfiction Book of the Year: A “genuinely irresistible” biography of Broadway legend Elaine Stritch (Buffalo News).A New York Times Book Review Editors’ ChoiceStill Here is the first full telling of Elaine Stritch’s life. Rollicking but intimate, it tracks one of Broadway’s great personalities from her upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to her fateful move to New York City, where she studied alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte. We accompany Elaine through her jagged rise to fame, to Hollywood and London, and across her later years, when she enjoyed a stunning renaissance, punctuated by a turn on the popular television show 30 Rock. We explore the influential—and often fraught—collaborations she developed with Noël Coward, Tennessee Williams, and above all Stephen Sondheim, as well as her courageous yet flawed attempts to control a serious drinking problem. And we see the entertainer triumphing over personal turmoil with the development of her Tony Award–winning one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, which established her as an emblem of spiky independence and Manhattan life for an entirely new generation of admirers.Following years of meticulous research and interviews, Alexandra Jacobs conveys the full force of Stritch’s sardonic wit and brassy charm while acknowledging her many dark complexities—and creates a portrait of a powerful, vulnerable, honest, and humorous star of stage and screen.“Studded with juicy anecdotes.” —The Washington Post“Provides a marvelous trip back in time to a Broadway that’s gone forever . . . compulsively readable.” —The Wall Street Journal“A chronicle of one impossible brilliant actor and the community around her, this biography provides a thoroughly entertaining and vividly drawn picture of show business in the 20th century.” —The New York Times Book ReviewIncludes photographs
Still Horse Crazy After All These Years
by James WoffordA rare insider's look at the life of a professional sportsman as he tries to reconcile the passion that drives him with livelihood, family, and aging.Known for his wit, irreverence, and whip-smart observations on equestrian sport and its participants, three-time Olympian Jim Wofford's writing is as legendary as his performances in the saddle. Now he again brings his immense talent for telling tales—all of them (mostly) true—to the page in his autobiography.Growing up on a Kansas farm that shared a border with Fort Riley, home to the U.S. Cavalry School from 1887 to 1949, and the son of a sporting Army-man who rode in uniform in the 1932 Olympics, Wofford shares his wholly unique perspective on horsemanship and the history of equestrian competition in the United States. We track his ascendancy from one-room schoolhouse, to Culver Military Academy, to the United States Equestrian Team headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey, during its heyday. Along the way, Wofford introduces some of history's great horses and the people who loved them as he strives to reach the top of the international eventing scene. Fascinating stories from his many adventures around the world contribute to this honest, funny, poignant read certain to entertain and educate every horse person.
Still I Rise: The Persistence of Phenomenal Women (Celebrating Women Ser.)
by Marlene Wagman-Geller&“An incredible book about the strength of women . . . an important book and a read that is nothing if not timely with current politics.&” —FangirlNationA #1 Bestseller in 21st Century U.S. History for TeensStill I Rise takes its title from a work by Maya Angelou and it resonates with the same spirit of an unconquerable soul, a woman who is captain of her fate. It embodies the strength of character of the inspiring women profiled. Each chapter will outline the fall and rise of great women heroes who smashed all obstacles, rather than let all obstacles smash them. The book offers hope to those undergoing their own Sisyphean struggles. Intrepid women heroes are the antithesis of the traditional damsels in distress; rather than waiting for the prince, they took salvation into their own hands. Celebrate girl power! Women leaders in history celebrated in this book include: Madame C. J. Walker—first female American millionaireAung San Suu Kyi—Burma&’s first lady of freedomBetty Shabazz—civil rights activistNellie Sachs—Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize recipientSelma Lagerlof—first woman Nobel LaureateFannie Lou Hamer—American voting rights activistBessie Coleman—first African-American female pilotWilma Rudolph—first woman to win three gold medalsSonia Sotomayor—first Hispanic Supreme Court justiceWangari Maathai—Nobel Prize winnerWinnifred Mandela—freedom fighterLois Wilson—founder of Al-AnonRoxanne Quimby—cofounder of Burt&’s Bees &“Inspirational . . . If you need a little encouragement in your life during these difficult times, the lives of these women will give you hope.&” —Says Me Says Mom
Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story
by Tim Stafford Caroline WrightWelcome to the world of guitarist Tony Rice and his music. Some of you are devoted acoustic music lovers who have waited years for this biography. Some of you are casual fans who are curious about Tony Rice. Still others will be completely unfamiliar with our subject and his music. We hope our presentation of Tony's story provides an informative, inspirational and entertaining experience for all.
Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir
by Wil WheatonA New York Times bestseller!Celebrated actor, personality, and all-around nerd, Wil Wheaton updates his memoir of collected blog posts with all new material and annotations as he reexamines one of the most interesting lives in Hollywood and fandom--and now for the first time in audio, narrated by Wil himself!From starring in Stand by Me to playing Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation to playing himself, in his second (third?) iconic role of Evil Wil Wheaton in The Big Bang Theory, to becoming a social media supernova, Wil Wheaton has charted a career course unlike anyone else, and has emerged as one of the most popular and well respected names in science fiction, fantasy and pop culture.Back in 2001, Wil began blogging on wilwheaton.net. Believing himself to have fallen victim to the curse of the child actor, Wil felt relegated to the convention circuit, and didn’t expect many would want to read about his random experiences and personal philosophies.Yet, much to his surprise, people were reading. He still blogs, and now has an enormous following on social media with well over 3 million followers.In Still Just a Geek, Wil revisits his 2004 collection of blog posts, Just a Geek, filled with insightful and often laugh-out-loud annotated comments, additional later writings, and all new material written for this publication. The result is an incredibly raw and honest memoir, in which Wil opens up about his life, about falling in love, about coming to grips with his past work, choices, and family, and finding fulfillment in the new phases of his career. From his times on the Enterprise to his struggles with depression to his starting a family and finding his passion--writing--Wil Wheaton is someone whose life is both a cautionary tale and a story of finding one’s true purpose that should resonate with fans and aspiring artists alike.
Still Kicking: My Dramatic Journey as the First Woman to Play Division One College Football
by Katie HnidaIt took just 1.28 seconds to make history. On August 30, 2003, Katie Hnida became the first woman ever to play and score in NCAA Division I football. The struggle to get to that groundbreaking moment took eight long years, a journey filled with dogged commitment, horrifying setbacks, and finally, remarkable triumph. Fate came knocking for the 14-year-old Hnida in the unlikely form of a torn thigh muscle -- an injury that would drive her off the soccer field in search of another outlet for her athletic talent. She found football and with it gender-defying success. The same day Hnida's high school classmates voted her homecoming queen, she donned her helmet and pads and kicked six extra points in the homecoming game. When she is recruited to play for the University of Colorado Buffaloes, her great dream is realized, and she seems set for glory on a much larger stage. But upon arriving in Boulder, she begins a tour of hell inside the University of Colorado's football program, a hell that culminates in Hnida being raped by a teammate. It is here that the story truly begins. Katie is physically and emotionally devastated. She leaves the university and begins climbing her way back to who she was and what she wanted. She learns to speak about what happened to her and to push through harrowing flashbacks of violence. The very thing that drew her into the darkest days of her life will ultimately save her: football. She sends 80 kicking tapes to 80 Division I schools and is invited to visit several top football programs. But it is the blue-collar, no-nonsense team that wins her trust: the University of New Mexico Lobos. Under head coach Rocky Long, Hnida continues her long road to recovery through hard work and the will to never give up. She is not only accepted by her teammates, she also finds herself part of a team that's a family. In Albuquerque, Hnida is reunited with her dream. Under a true leader, she blossoms. Her teammates are teammates, supporting and encouraging her to reach her goal. And with just seven minutes and 20 seconds to go in a game against Southwest Texas, the history-making extra point kick is made in under two seconds, changing everyone's ideas about what is possible.
Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing
by Abigail ThomasFrom the New York Times bestselling author of A Three Dog Life, a witty and irreverent look at aging and the writing life, delivered with trademark brevity, humor, and wise wit.&“The Emily Dickinson of memoirists&” (Stephen King) Abigail Thomas shares her thoughts on aging in this irresistibly wry memoir-in-vignettes—offering richly insightful writing tips along the way. While reflecting on the past, Abby accepts the shape of her present. No more driving, no more dancing, mostly sitting in a comfortable chair in a sunny corner with three dogs for company—as well as the birds and other critters that she watches out her window. Only this beloved writer could generate so much enthusiasm over what might seem so little. Vivid memories fall like confetti, as time contracts, shoots forward, loops and suddenly she is back in her twenties in New York City, drinking, sleeping with strangers, falling in and out of love, believing in a better world. Sometimes dread or grief arrives, inhabits her body like a shadow, and all she can do is write it away, paying close attention to what catches her eye, sticks in her brain, keeps her in the moment. Whether you&’re a book lover, dog lover—or both—pull up a chair, pour a cup of tea, and enter Abigail Thomas&’s quietly mesmerizing world.
Still Life with Bones: 'I defy you not to be moved' - Sue Black
by Dr Alexa HagertyAn anthropologist working with forensic teams and victims' families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America explores what science can tell us about the lives of the dead in this haunting account of grief, the power of ritual, and a quest for justice."Exhumation can divide brothers and restore fathers, open old wounds and open the possibility of regeneration-of building something new with the pile of broken mirrors that is loss and mourning."Over the course of Guatemala's thirty-year armed conflict -the longest ever in Central America-over 200,000 people were killed. During Argentina's military dictatorship in the seventies, over 30,000 people were disappeared. Today, forensic anthropologists in each country are gathering evidence to prove atrocities and seek justice. But these teams do more than just study skeletons-they work to repair families and countries torn apart by violence.In Still Life with Bones, anthropologist Alexa Hagerty learns to see the dead body with a forensic eye. She examines bones for evidence of torture and fatal wounds-hands bound by rope, cuts from machetes-but also for signs of a life lived: to articulate how life shapes us down to the bone. A weaver is recognized from the tiny bones of the toes, molded by years of kneeling before a loom; a girl is identified alongside her pet dog. In the tenderness of understanding these bones, Hagerty discovers how exhumation serves as a ritual in the naming and placement of the dead, and connects ancestors with future generations. She shows us how this work can bring meaning to families dealing with unimaginable loss, and how its symbolic force can also extend to entire societies in the aftermath of state terror and genocide. Encountering the dead has the power to transform us, making us consider each other, our lives, and the world differently.Weaving together powerful stories about investigative breakthroughs, grieving families, histories of violence, and her own forensic coming of age, Hagerty crafts a moving portrait of the living and the dead."Touching, but achingly honest-a most amazing account of training as a forensic anthropologist. When Hagerty talks about "lives being violently made into bones," I defy you not to be moved. The text is unflinching, but then the crimes and the victims deserve nothing less. I guarantee this will make you think long and hard about cruelty and human rights and the dedication and humanity of the forensic scientist." - PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK
Still Life with Bones: 'I defy you not to be moved' - Sue Black
by Dr Alexa HagertyAn anthropologist working with forensic teams and victims' families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America explores what science can tell us about the lives of the dead in this haunting account of grief, the power of ritual, and a quest for justice."Exhumation can divide brothers and restore fathers, open old wounds and open the possibility of regeneration-of building something new with the pile of broken mirrors that is loss and mourning."Over the course of Guatemala's thirty-year armed conflict -the longest ever in Central America-over 200,000 people were killed. During Argentina's military dictatorship in the seventies, over 30,000 people were disappeared. Today, forensic anthropologists in each country are gathering evidence to prove atrocities and seek justice. But these teams do more than just study skeletons-they work to repair families and countries torn apart by violence.In Still Life with Bones, anthropologist Alexa Hagerty learns to see the dead body with a forensic eye. She examines bones for evidence of torture and fatal wounds-hands bound by rope, cuts from machetes-but also for signs of a life lived: to articulate how life shapes us down to the bone. A weaver is recognized from the tiny bones of the toes, molded by years of kneeling before a loom; a girl is identified alongside her pet dog. In the tenderness of understanding these bones, Hagerty discovers how exhumation serves as a ritual in the naming and placement of the dead, and connects ancestors with future generations. She shows us how this work can bring meaning to families dealing with unimaginable loss, and how its symbolic force can also extend to entire societies in the aftermath of state terror and genocide. Encountering the dead has the power to transform us, making us consider each other, our lives, and the world differently.Weaving together powerful stories about investigative breakthroughs, grieving families, histories of violence, and her own forensic coming of age, Hagerty crafts a moving portrait of the living and the dead."Touching, but achingly honest-a most amazing account of training as a forensic anthropologist. When Hagerty talks about "lives being violently made into bones," I defy you not to be moved. The text is unflinching, but then the crimes and the victims deserve nothing less. I guarantee this will make you think long and hard about cruelty and human rights and the dedication and humanity of the forensic scientist." - PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK(P) 2023 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
Still Life with Chickens
by Catherine GoldhammerIn this lovely, unconventional, often funny memoir, we meet Catherine Goldhammer, newly separated and several tax brackets poorer, forced by circumstance to move from the affluent New England suburb of her daughter's childhood into a new, more rustic life by the sea. Against all logic, partly to please her daughter and partly for reasons not clear to her at the time, she begins this year of transition by purchasing six baby chickens--whose job, she comes to suspect, is to pull her and her daughter forward, out of one life and into another. As she gradually transforms her new house, nine hundred feet from the sea--with its tawdry exterior but radiant soul--tile by tile, flower bed by flower bed; as she watches her precocious twelve-year-old daughter blossom into a stylish and sophisticated teenager; and as she tends to the needs of six enigmatic chickens, Catherine's life starts to slowly shift from chaos to grace. Beautifully written and ultimately inspiring. Still Life with Chickens is an unforgettable lesson in hope, in starting over, and in the transcendent wisdom that can often be found in the most unlikely of places.
Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy
by Mark DotyMark Doty's prose has been hailed as "tempered and tough, sorrowing and serene" (The New York Times Book Review) and "achingly beautiful" (The Boston Globe). In Still Life with Oysters and Lemon he offers a stunning exploration of our attachment to ordinary things-how we invest objects with human store, and why.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Still Life with Remorse
by Maira KalmanFrom the critically acclaimed artist, designer, and author of the bestsellers The Principles of Uncertainty, My Favorite Things, and Women Holding Things comes a moving meditation in words and pictures on remorse, joy, ancestry, and memory. Maira Kalman’s most autobiographical and intimate work to date, Still Life with Remorse is a beautiful, four-color collection combining deeply personal stories and 50 striking full-color paintings in the vein of her and Alex Kalman’s acclaimed Women Holding Things.Tracing her family’s story from her grandfather’s birth in Belarus and emigration to Tel Aviv—where she was born—Maira considers her unique family history, illuminating the complex relationship between recollection, regret, happiness, and heritage. The vibrant original art accompanying these autobiographical pieces are mostly still lifes and interiors which serve as counterpoints to her powerful words. In addition to vignettes exploring her Israeli and Jewish roots, Kalman includes short stories about other great artists, writers, and composers, including Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, Gustav Mahler, and Robert Schumann.Through these narratives, Kalman uses her signature wit and tenderness to reveal how family history plays an influential role in all of our work, lives, and perspectives. A feat of visual storytelling and vulnerability, Still Life with Remorse explores the profound hidden in the quotidian, and illuminates the powerful universal truths in our most personal family stories.
Still Life with Teapot: On zen, writing and creativity
by Brigid LowryThe good thing about being my age is that if you haven’t grown up already, you don’t have to.What do you do when you start talking to yourself on the bus? If you’re the writer Brigid Lowry, you change tack and write a book about what it means to be an ageing woman in the 21st century.In Still Life with Teapot Lowry offers advice, observations, hope and reality checks in equal measure. She drops us straight into the writer’s world into the nuts and bolts of writing practice and into the art of life and ways to write about it.Still Life with Teapot is an essential brew for people who love to make lists, for people who love to write and for people who love to read about writing.
Still Life: A Memoir of Living Fully with Depression
by Gillian Marchenko"I stand on the edge of a cliff in my own bedroom." Gillian Marchenko continues her description of depression: "I must keep still. Otherwise I will plunge to my death. 'Please God, take this away,' I pray when I can." For Gillian, "dealing with depression" means learning to accept and treat it as a physical illness. In these pages she describes her journey through various therapies and medications to find a way to live with depression. She faces down the guilt of a wife and mother of four, two with special needs. How can she care for her family when she can't even get out of bed? Her story is real and raw, not one of quick fixes. But hope remains as she discovers that living with depression is still life.
Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin
by Peter OrnerFinalist for the Vermont Book AwardFinalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the EssayA new collection of pieces on literature and life by the author of Am I Alone Here?, a finalist for the NBCC Award for CriticismStationed in the South Pacific during World War II, Seymour Orner wrote a letter every day to his wife, Lorraine. She seldom responded, leading him to plead in 1945, &“Another day and still no word from you.&” Seventy years later, Peter Orner writes in response to his grandfather&’s plea: &“Maybe we read because we seek that word from someone, from anyone.&”From the acclaimed fiction writer about whom Dwight Garner of The New York Times wrote, &“You know from the second you pick him up that he&’s the real deal,&” comes Still No Word from You, a unique chain of essays and intimate stories that meld the lived life and the reading life. For Orner, there is no separation. Covering such well-known writers as Lorraine Hansberry, Primo Levi, and Marilynne Robinson, as well as other greats like Maeve Brennan and James Alan McPherson, Orner&’s highly personal take on literature alternates with his own true stories of loss and love, hope and despair. In his mother&’s copy of A Coney Island of the Mind, he&’s stopped short by a single word in the margin, &“YES!&”—which leads him to conjure his mother at twenty-three. He stops reading Penelope Fitzgerald&’s The Beginning of Spring three quarters of the way through because he knows that finishing the novel will leave him bereft. Orner&’s solution is to start again from the beginning to slow the inevitable heartache.Still No Word from You is a book for anyone for whom reading is as essential as breathing.
Still Open All Hours: The Story of a Classic Comedy
by Graham McCannFrom its first episode in 1973, Open All Hours was an instant hit. Audiences around Britain loved its familiar setting, good natured humour, and the hilarious partnership of Ronnie Barker and David Jason. Whilst it only ran for 26 episodes, it firmly cemented itself as a British comedy classic.To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show in 2014, the BBC revived it for a one-off Christmas Special. Still Open All Hours was swamped by a tsunami of audience affection and the BBC promptly commissioned a full series. The first episode of the fifth series is expected to air in late 2014.With recollections from David Jason, his fellow cast members, and from the scriptwriter Roy Clarke, plus never before seen BBC archive material, acclaimed popular TV historian Graham McCann tells the inside story of this very British sitcom, with wit, insight and affection.
Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory
by Janet Malcolm“Superb . . . [The] final, splendid, most personal work of [Janet Malcolm’s] long career.” —Charles Finch, The New York Times Book ReviewFor decades, Janet Malcolm’s books and dispatches for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books poked and prodded at reportorial and biographical convention, gesturing toward the artifice that underpins both public and private selves. In Still Pictures, she turns her gimlet eye on her own life—a task demanding a writer just as peerlessly skillful as she was widely known to be.Still Pictures, then, is not the story of a life but an event on its own terms, an encounter with identity and family photographs as poignant and original as anything since Roland Barthes’s Camera Lucida. Malcolm looks beyond the content of the image and the easy seductions of self-recognition, constructing a memoir from memories that pose questions of their own. Still Pictures begins with the image of a morose young girl on a train, leaving Prague for New York at the age of five in 1939. From her fitful early loves, to evenings at the old Metropolitan Opera House, to her fascination with what it might mean to be a “bad girl,” Malcolm assembles a composite portrait of a New York childhood, one that never escapes the tug of Europe and the mysteries of fate and family. Later, Still Pictures delves into her marriage to Gardner Botsford, the world of William Shawn’s New Yorker, and the libel trial that led Malcolm to become a character in her own drama. Displaying the sharp wit and astute commentary that are Malcolmian trademarks, this brief volume develops into a memoir like few others in our literature.
Still Pitching
by Michael SteinbergStill Pitching is the coming-of-age story of growing up in New York in the '50s revolving around Steinberg's passion for baseball.
Still Points North
by Leigh NewmanPart adventure story, part love story, part homecoming, Still Points North is a page-turning memoir that explores the extremes of belonging and exile, and the difference between how to survive and knowing how to truly live.Growing up in the wilds of Alaska, seven-year-old Leigh Newman spent her time landing silver salmon, hiking glaciers, and flying in a single-prop plane. But her life split in two when her parents unexpectedly divorced, requiring her to spend summers on the tundra with her "Great Alaskan" father and the school year in Baltimore with her more urbane mother.Navigating the fraught terrain of her family's unraveling, Newman did what any outdoorsman would do: She adapted. With her father she fished remote rivers, hunted caribou, and packed her own shotgun shells. With her mother she memorized the names of antique furniture, composed proper bread-and-butter notes, and studied Latin poetry at a private girl's school. Charting her way through these two very different worlds, Newman learned to never get attached to people or places, and to leave others before they left her. As an adult, she explored the most distant reaches of the globe as a travel writer, yet had difficulty navigating the far more foreign landscape of love and marriage.In vivid, astonishing prose, Newman reveals how a child torn between two homes becomes a woman who both fears and idealizes connection, how a need for independence can morph into isolation, and how even the most guarded heart can still long for understanding. Still Points North is a love letter to an unconventional Alaskan childhood of endurance and affection, one that teaches us that no matter where you go in life, the truest tests of courage are the chances you take, not with bears and blizzards, but with other people.Praise for Still Points North "Newman has crafted a vivid exploration of a broken family. . . . Her pain will resonate strongly with readers, and she vividly brings both Alaska and Maryland to life. . . . A natural for book clubs."--Booklist "Newman's adult search for her own true home is riveting, as are her worldwide adventures; it's a joy to be in on the ride."--Reader's Digest"Leigh Newman writes so lucidly about bewilderment, so honestly about self-deception, so courageously about fear, so compassionately about insensitivity, so hilariously about suffering and loss. Still Points North is a remarkable book: a travel memoir of the mapless, dangerous seas and territories between childhood and adulthood."--Karen Russell, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Swamplandia! "Still Points North begins in the remote woods of Alaska and then travels around the world and back again, following the adventures of a girl adrift. Newman navigates her way through these vividly written pages with the strength and skill of a river guide, always keeping her bearings. And, like the salmon she and her father fish for in the wilderness, Newman makes her way past the traps and rapids of life to find her way back home."--Hannah Tinti, bestselling author of The Good Thief "At once harrowing and tender-hearted, Still Points North is a memoir that reminds us of the fragility of family architecture and of father figures as mysterious, heroic, flawed humans. Leigh Newman illuminates the power of domestic discord to become a literal struggle for survival, brilliantly drawing a picture of a child tumbling through her family's dissolution as she struggles to make sense of what family means."--A. M. Homes, bestselling author of The Mistress's DaughterFrom the Hardcover edition.