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Apeirogon: A Novel
by Colum McCann<P><P> From the National Book Award–winning and bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin comes an epic novel rooted in the unlikely real-life friendship between two fathers. Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on to the schools their children attend to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. But their lives, however circumscribed, are upended one after the other: first, Rami’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Smadar, becomes the victim of suicide bombers; a decade later, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, is killed by a rubber bullet. <P><P> Rami and Bassam had been raised to hate one another. And yet, when they learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them. Together they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace—and with their one small act, start to permeate what has for generations seemed an impermeable conflict. <P><P>This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too. With their blessing, and unprecedented access to their families, lives, and personal recollections, McCann began to craft Apeirogon, which uses their real-life stories to begin another—one that crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. <P><P>The result is an ambitious novel, crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, with these fathers’ moving story at its heart. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Aphra Behn: A Secret Life
by Janet ToddThe life, work and history of Aphra Behn: seventeenth century dramatist, poet of the erotic and bisexual, novelist, political propagandist, spy. <p><p> Aphra Behn, a spy in the Netherlands and the Americas, was the first professional woman writer. The most prolific dramatist of her age, innovative novelist, translator, lyrical and erotic poet, she expresses a frank sexuality addressing impotence, orgasm and bisexuality, whilst serving as political propagandist for the monarch. <p> This revised biography of the extraordinary, ground-breaking writer, who is emblematic of the Restoration period, a time of masks and self-fashioning, is set in conflict-ridden England, Europe, and in the mismanaged slave colonies, following the Puritan republic in 1660.
Aphrodite's Daughters: Three Modernist Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
by Maureen HoneyThe Harlem Renaissance was a watershed moment for racial uplift, poetic innovation, sexual liberation, and female empowerment. Aphrodite's Daughters introduces us to three amazing women who were at the forefront of all these developments, poetic iconoclasts who pioneered new and candidly erotic forms of female self-expression. Maureen Honey paints a vivid portrait of three African American women--Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery--who came from very different backgrounds but converged in late 1920s Harlem to leave a major mark on the literary landscape. She examines the varied ways these poets articulated female sexual desire, ranging from Grimké's invocation of a Sapphic goddess figure to Cowdery's frank depiction of bisexual erotics to Bennett's risky exploration of the borders between sexual pleasure and pain. Yet Honey also considers how they were united in their commitment to the female body as a primary source of meaning, strength, and transcendence. The product of extensive archival research, Aphrodite's Daughters draws from Grimké, Bennett, and Cowdery's published and unpublished poetry, along with rare periodicals and biographical materials, to immerse us in the lives of these remarkable women and the world in which they lived. It thus not only shows us how their artistic contributions and cultural interventions were vital to their own era, but also demonstrates how the poetic heart of their work keeps on beating.
Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past
by Gabrielle RobinsonA haunting personal story of Berlin at the end of the Third Reich—and an unflinching investigation into a family’s Nazi pastWhen Gabrielle Robinson found her grandfather’s Berlin diaries, hidden behind books in her mother’s Vienna apartment, she made a shocking discovery—her beloved Api had been a Nazi.The entries record his daily struggle to survive in a Berlin that was 90% destroyed. Near collapse himself Api, a doctor, tried to help the wounded and dying in nightmarish medical cellars without cots, water or light. The dead were stacked in the rubble outside.Searching to understand why her grandfather had joined the Nazi party, Robinson retraces his steps in the Berlin of the 21st century. She reflects on German guilt, political responsibility, and facing the past. But she also remembers Api, who had given her a loving home in those cold and hungry post-war years.“This a must read for anyone interested in the German experience during WWII”—Ariana Neumann, author of When Time StoppedScroll up and click “buy now” to read Api’s Berlin Diaries today
Apocalypse Child: A Life in End Times
by Flor EdwardsFor the first thirteen years of her life, Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God. The group's nomadic existence was based on the belief that, as God's chosen people, they would be saved in the impending apocalypse that would envelop the rest of the world in 1993. Flor would be thirteen years old. The group's charismatic leader, Father David, kept the family on the move, from Los Angeles to Bangkok to Chicago, where they would eventually disband, leaving Flor to make sense of the foreign world of mainstream society around her. <p><p> Apocalypse Child is a cathartic journey through Flor's memories of growing up within a group with unconventional views on education, religion, and sex. Whimsically referring to herself as a real life Kimmy Schmidt, Edwards's clear-eyed memoir is a story of survival in a childhood lived on the fringes.
Apollinaire in the Great War (1914-18)
by David HunterA major literary figure in pre-war Paris, Guillaume Apollinaire volunteered for war in 1914, trained as an artilleryman and was posted in April 1915 to the Champagne front in northern France, participating in the bloody but little-known offensive that September and then moving into the front line as an infantry officer, before being wounded in March 1916 and invalided out of active service. Back in Paris, Apollinaire plunged back into the activities of the capital's artistic avant-garde, meanwhile publishing poetry, prose and plays that were deeply influenced by his involvement in the conflict. He died on 9 November 1918, two days before the Armistice, a victim of the influenza pandemic, but with a literary reputation secured, as well as a certain fame for coining the term 'Surrealism'. This book draws heavily on Apollinaire's writings to tell the story of his war years, within the wider context of the French experience of the Great War. In this period, Apollinaire also wrote hundreds of letters, the bulk of them to two women: Louise de Coligny, a flighty socialite of aristocratic origin, and Madeleine Pagès, a young schoolteacher. In these letters he poured out his passionate feelings for both in often highly erotic poetry and prose, as well as giving detailed descriptions of his life as a front-line soldier.
Apollo 11: The Eagle Has Landed
by Leigh AndersonHave you ever looked into the night sky and wished that you could walk on the Moon? Find about what it is like from the astronauts that were first to do it! Learn about how Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins traveled into space and created history in 1969, and what it was like to take those famous first steps that made “one giant leap for mankind."
Apollo 13
by Jim Lovell Jeffrey KlugerDramatic story of near disaster and rescue of Apollo 13 en route to the moon.
Apollo Confidential: Memories of Men On the Moon
by Lukas VigliettiThe inside stories of the Apollo program and the live of astronauts, as told to the author by the men themselves—with a forward by astronaut Charlie Duke. Between 1969 and 1972, twelve people walked on the surface of the Moon. Twelve others flew over its majestic surface. They were the sons of ordinary individuals. But they believed anything was possible―and they proved it to the entire world. Fascinated by these men—heroes such as Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and many others—airline pilot Lukas Viglietti personally recorded their testimonies, becoming a close friend and confidant to many of them in the process. Now he shares his exclusive and unprecedented insight into their adventures and the Apollo program overall in Apollo Confidential.
Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight)
by Francis French Donn Eisele Susan Eisele BlackIn October 1968 Donn Eisele flew with fellow astronauts Walt Cunningham and Wally Schirra into Earth orbit in Apollo 7. The first manned mission in the Apollo program and the first manned flight after a fire during a launch pad test killed three astronauts in early 1967, Apollo 7 helped restart NASA’s manned-spaceflight program. Known to many as a goofy, lighthearted prankster, Eisele worked his way from the U.S. Naval Academy to test pilot school and then into the select ranks of America’s prestigious astronaut corps. He was originally on the crew of Apollo 1 before being replaced due to injury. After that crew died in a horrific fire, Eisele was on the crew selected to return Americans to space. Despite the success of Apollo 7, Eisele never flew in space again, as divorce and a testy crew commander led to the three astronauts being labeled as troublemakers. Unbeknownst to everyone, after his retirement as a technical assistant for manned spaceflight at NASA’s Langley Research Center in 1972, Eisele wrote in detail about his years in the air force and his time in the Apollo program. Long after his death, Francis French discovered Eisele’s unpublished memoir, and Susie Eisele Black (Donn’s widow) allowed French access to her late husband’s NASA files and personal effects. Readers can now experience an Apollo story they assumed would never be written as well as the story behind its discovery.
Apolo VIII - El viaje más largo
by Philip Gibson Federico Renzi¿Qué hubiera pasado si hubieran existido medios de comunicaciones sociales durante la misión del Apolo 8 a la Luna en el 1968? Esta misión sería el viaje más largo y más peligroso jamás intentado por el hombre. Este relato regresará a todos ustedes atrás en el tiempo pero de una forma creíble directamente dentro de esos seis días tensos y dramáticos del 1968. Es la historia de la primera misión tripulada hacía la Luna relatada en una forma moderna con el sistema de los medios de comunicación sociales de hoy en día, permitiéndonos ser testigos de los dramas de la misión, como si la estuviéramos siguiendo en tiempo real y como si los participantes y observadores estuvieran compartiendo sus pensamientos y acciones con nosotros directamente. En diciembre de 1968, quedaba mucho por conocer. Sería el primer lanzamiento tripulado utilizando el gigantesco cohete Saturno V y si todo iba a salir bien ese mismo cohete los regresaría a la órbita de la Tierra. ¿Serían los seres humanos capaces de sobrevivir atravesando los cinturones de radiación de Van Allen presente entre la Tierra y Luna? ¿Qué pasaría a los astronautas en el momento de pasar alrededor de la cara oculta de la a la luna fuera del contacto con la Tierra? ¿Podrá el único motor lograr impulsar la nave espacial fuera de la órbita lunar en un viaje de regreso hacía la Tierra como todos se esperan? ¿Tendrá éxito la primera recuperación nocturna de una nave espacial en el océano Pacífico? Si la misión Apolo 8 tendrá éxito, las astronautas a bordo se convertirían en los primeros seres humanos a viajar tan lejos y tan increíblemente, increíblemente rápido. Serían los primeros en salir de la esfera de influencia de la Tierra y los primeros en ver todo el planeta Tierra desde el espacio. Ellos serían los primeros en orbitar alrededor de la Luna, los primeros en poner los ojos en la cara oculta de la Luna y los primeros seres humanos a presenciar la esp
Apologia: A Memoir
by Aidan NicholsAidan Nichols has been contributing to theological literature since the beginning of the 1980s. Now in his seventy-fifth year, he looks back not only at his writings but at the three-quarters of a century of life from which they came. He explains how, despite a nominally Anglican background, his early sense of the transcendent was really of God in nature. Only through an experience in the Russian church in Geneva did he become a confessing Christian. Back home, where he was left a teenage orphan, he moved from Anglo-Catholicism into the Roman Catholic Church. After reading Modern History at Oxford, that led by a natural progression to becoming a Religious and a priest. In this book Nichols describes the wide variety of situations in which he has lived in Scotland, Norway, Rome, France, Ethiopia, and Jamaica, as well as England and the United States. Over the years, drawing on not only Catholic but also Orthodox and Anglican sources, he has produced a small library of books, touching on many areas of theology and culture while also seeking, at different times, to bind them together into a coherent unity, inspired by, principally, two great giants: Thomas Aquinas, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Apologies to My Censor
by Mitch MoxleyThe story of a young mans outrageous adventures in China and his search for identity in the most unexpected of places. Mitch Moxley came to Beijing in the spring of 2007 to take a job as a writer and editor for China Daily, the countrys only English-language national newspaper. The Chinese economy was booming, the Olympics were on the horizon, and Beijing was being transformed into a world-class city overnight. Moxley planned to stay only through the Olympics and then head back to Canada. But that was six years ago. In that time, Moxley fed a goat to a lion, watched a lingerie-wearing bear ride a bicycle, and crisscrossed the country writing stories. He also appeared as one of Cosmopolitans one hundred most eligible bachelors in China, acted in a state-funded Chinese movie, and was paid to pose as a fake businessman. During Moxleys journey of self-exploration, his comic adventures and misadventures in China gave way to the creation of his alter ego--Mi Gao, or Tall Rice. A funny and honest look at expat life, Apologies to My Censor also depicts the ways a country can touch and inspire you.
Apology to the Young Addict: A Memoir
by James BrownHusband, addict, father, skeptic. Now sixty—with years of sobriety under his belt—the celebrated author of The Los Angeles Diaries and This River returns with his most moving work yet.Opening with the tragic tale of an elderly couple consumed by opioid addiction and moving through the horrors of a Las Vegas massacre to the loss of a beloved sponsor, these essays draw on Brown’s personal journey to illustrate how an individual life, in all its messiness and charm, can offer a blueprint for healing. From writing about finding a new path in life while raising three sons, to making peace with the family whose ghosts have haunted him, and helping the next generation of addicts overcome their disease, this haunting and hopeful book is a reinvention of the recovery story and a lasting testimony from the master of the modern memoir.“The third panel in Brown’s masterwork triptych on addiction from youth to sixty, Apology to the Young Addict also accomplishes at last a staggeringly rare mercy—on the ghosts of memory, the ravages of disease, the brutal hypocrisies of religion, and finally—most shockingly—on himself.” —Gina Frangello, author of Every Kind of Wanting and A Life in Men
Apostate Englishman: Grey Owl the Writer and the Myths
by Albert BrazIn the 1930s Grey Owl was considered the foremost conservationist and nature writer in the world. He owed his fame largely to his four internationally bestselling books, which he supported with a series of extremely popular illustrated lectures across North America and Great Britain. His reputation was transformed radically, however, after he died in April 1938, and it was revealed that he was not of mixed Scottish-Apache ancestry, as he had often claimed, but in fact an Englishman named Archie Belaney. Born into a privileged family in the dominant culture of his time, what compelled him to flee to a far less powerful one? Albert Braz’s Apostate Englishman: Grey Owl the Writer and the Myths is the first comprehensive study of Grey Owl’s cultural and political image in light of his own writings. While the denunciations of Grey Owl after his death are often interpreted as a rejection of his appropriation of another culture, Braz argues that what troubled many people was not only that Grey Owl deceived them about his identity, but also that he had forsaken European culture for the North American Indigenous way of life. That is, he committed cultural apostasy.
Apostle Paul (Get to Know)
by Nancy I. SandersApostle Paul—part of the Get to Know series—is a unique biography about Paul. Focusing on the life and character of this Biblical hero, using color photographs, maps, and other visual resources to tell the whole story, young biography fans will come to learn more about this man of the God, his writings, his impact on the early church, and the role he plays in history.Featuring a bibliography and scriptural references throughout, this is sure to become a favorite for young readers and for first book reports.
Apostle Paul: A Novel
by James CannonThe iconic Saint Paul - in his lifetime a scholar, prosecutor for the high court of the Jews, accomplice in murder, adventurer, traveler, orator, writer, advocate, and organizer of a new faith - was in fact a Jewish-Hellenistic citizen of the Roman Empire, a man who by the force of his intellect and indomitable will changed the course of history. Eventually he became the leader of the movement that delivered the social and moral authority of Christianity to a pagan world. Given a message - that man and woman had a purpose in earthly life and a future beyond the grave - he carried it first and unsuccessfully to his fellow Jews, then successfully to the gentiles and all mankind. His quality of mind and ability to exhort and persuade, his personal commitment to ethical conduct and values, and his courage and indefatigability made Paul one of the continuing forces in the progress of Western civilization.Author James Cannon has written about political leaders as a journalist, has served with leaders in public life, and has written feature stories while on the staffs of Time and Newsweek. Now he has taken the story of one of the most momentous quests in history and brought it to life with a vitality and immediacy that is at once gripping, informative, and inspiring.
Apostle of Progress: Modesto C. Rolland, Global Progressivism, and the Engineering of Revolutionary Mexico (The Mexican Experience)
by J. Justin CastroFrom the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, Mexico experienced major transformations influenced by a global progressive movement that thrived during the Mexican Revolution and influenced Mexico’s development during subsequent governments. Engineers and other revolutionary technocrats were the system builders who drew up the blueprints, printed newspapers, implemented reforms, and constructed complexity—people who built modern Mexico with an eye on remedying long-standing problems through social, material, and infrastructural development during a period of revolutionary change. In Apostle of Progress J. Justin Castro examines the life of Modesto C. Rolland, a revolutionary propagandist and a prominent figure in the development of Mexico, to gain a better understanding of the role engineers played in creating revolution-era policies and the reconstruction of the Mexican nation. Rolland influenced Mexican land reform, petroleum development, stadium construction, port advancements, radio broadcasting, and experiments in political economy. In the telling of Rolland’s story, Castro offers a captivating account of the Mexican Revolution and the influence of global progressivism on the development of twentieth-century Mexico.
App Kid (Spanish-language Edition)
by Michael SaymanUna historia inspiradora y profundamente personal de uno de los empresarios más extraordinarios de Silicon Valley, quien aprendió a codificar por sí mismo cuando tenía trece años y así comenzó su sueño americano. Cuando veía que sus padres perdían sus trabajos a raíz de la Gran Recesión, Michael Sayman, entonces de trece años, hacía una búsqueda en Google: "¿Cómo codificar?". En un año ya había lanzado una aplicación para el iPhone y con ella ganaba miles de dólares al mes, lo suficiente para mantener a su familia a flote y sin tener que irse de Estados Unidos. Totalmente autodidacta, Sayman pasó de la escuela secundaria directamente al mundo profesional, y cuando tenía diecisiete años, era el empleado más joven de Facebook, creando nuevas funciones que cautivaron a Mark Zuckerberg. Tres años después, decidió irse a Google. En estas memorias sinceras e inspiradoras, Sayman comparte los altibajos, los éxitos y fracasos, de su trascendental viaje. Cuenta la apasionante historia de cómo un joven latino, que aún ni tenía la mayoría de edad, se destacó y triunfó en el despiadado y feroz mundo de Silicon Valley. Además, está lleno de sabiduría práctica, por lo que es una lectura necesaria e inspiradora para aquellas personas que marchan a su propio ritmo.
App Kid: How a Child of Immigrants Grabbed a Piece of the American Dream
by Michael SaymanAn inspiring and deeply personal coming of age memoir from one of Silicon Valley&’s youngest entrepreneurs—a second-generation Latino immigrant who taught himself how to code as a thirteen-year-old and went on to claim his share of the American dream.As his parents watched their restaurant business collapse in the wake of the Great Recession, Michael Sayman was googling &“how to code.&” Within a year, he had launched an iPhone app that was raking in thousands of dollars a month, enough to keep his family afloat—and in America. Entirely self-taught, Sayman headed from high school straight into the professional world, and by the time he was seventeen, he was Facebook&’s youngest employe ever, building new features that wowed its founder Mark Zuckerberg and are now being used by more than half a billion people every day. Sayman pushed Facebook to build its own version of Snapchat&’s Stories and, as a result, engagement on the platform soared across all demographics. Millions of Gen Z and Millennials flocked to Facebook, and as teen engagement rose dramatically on Instagram and WhatsApp, Snapchat&’s parent company suffered a billion-dollar loss in value. Three years later, Sayman jumped ship for Google.App Kid is the galvanizing story of a young Latino, not yet old enough to drink, who excelled in the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley and went on to become an inspiration to thousands of kids everywhere by following his own surprising, extraordinary path. In this candid and uplifting memoir, Sayman shares the highs and lows, the successes and failures, of his remarkable journey. His book is essential and affirming reading for anyone marching to the beat of their own drum.
Appalachian Mountain Girl: Coming of Age in Coal Mine Country
by Rhoda WarrenAppalachian Mountain Girl is a sensitive and beautifully written autobiographical account of a childhood in the coalmine district of Depression-era Kentucky. With humor and warmth--but without sentimentality--Rhoda Warren recounts the lives of these mining people whose religion and family values buttressed and sustained them. As a young girl, Rhoda began to catch glimpses of the world outside her narrow mountain community through the stories in True Confessions magazine and the pictures in the Montgomery Ward catalog--which to her seemed like "visions of a fairy world." When Rhoda married and moved to a small town in New York State, it seemed that her dreams of a better life had been realized. Yet scenes of Letcher always "hovered in the back roads of her memory." When she revisited her homeland, this time as a New Yorker, Rhoda found that Letcher was no longer the place of her memories.
Apparently There Were Complaints: A Memoir
by Sharon GlessEmmy Award–winning actress Sharon Gless tells all in this laugh-out-loud, juicy, &“unforgettably memorable&” (Lily Tomlin) memoir about her five decades in Hollywood, where she took on some of the most groundbreaking roles of her time.Anyone who has seen Sharon Gless act in Cagney & Lacey, Queer as Folk, Burn Notice, and countless other shows and movies, knows that she&’s someone who gives every role her all. She holds nothing back in Apparently There Were Complaints, a hilarious, deeply personal memoir that spills all about Gless&’s five decades in Hollywood. A fifth-generation Californian, Sharon Gless knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress. After some rocky teenage years that included Sharon&’s parents&’ divorce and some minor (and not-so-minor) rebellion, Gless landed a coveted spot as an exclusive contract player for Universal Studios. In 1982, she stepped into the role of New York Police Detective Christine Cagney for the series Cagney & Lacey, which eventually reached an audience of 30 million weekly viewers and garnered Gless with two Emmy Awards. The show made history as the first hour-long drama to feature two women in the leading roles. Gless continued to make history long after Cagney & Lacey was over. In 2000, she took on the role of outrageous Debbie Novotny in Queer as Folk. Her portrayal of a devoted mother to a gay son and confidant to his gay friends touched countless hearts and changed the definition of family for millions of viewers. Apparently There Were Complaints delves into Gless&’s remarkable career and explores Gless&’s complicated family, her struggles with alcoholism, and her fear of romantic commitment as well as her encounters with some of Hollywood&’s biggest names. Brutally honest and incredibly relatable, Gless puts it all out on the page in the same way she has lived—never with moderation.
Apparition of Splendor: Marianne Moore Performing Democracy through Celebrity, 1952–1970
by Elizabeth GregoryWhile the later work of the great Modernist poet Marianne Moore was hugely popular during her final two decades, since her death critics have condemned it as trivial. This book challenges that assessment: with fresh readings of many of the late poems and of the iconic, cross-dressing public persona Moore developed to deliver them, Apparition of Splendor demonstrates that Moore used her late-life celebrity to activate egalitarian principles that had long animated her poetry, in daring and innovative ways. Dressed as George Washington in cape and tricorn and writing about accessible topics, she reached a wide cross-section of Americans, engaging them in consideration of what democracy means in their daily lives, around issues of gender, sexuality, racial integration, class, age, immigration, and species-ism. Her work resonates with that of her younger contemporaries, including poets like John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara, and Elizabeth Bishop, and artists like Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and Ray Johnson. Published by the University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.
Appendix Project: Talks and Essays (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents)
by Kate ZambrenoOn the ongoing project of writing about grief; Zambreno's addendum to Book of Mutter.“I came up with the idea of writing these notes, or talks, out of a primary desire to not read from Book of Mutter, and instead to keep gesturing to its incompleteness and ongoingness, which connects, for me, to the fragmentary project of literature, and what I long for in writing."—from Appendix ProjectInspired by the lectures of Roland Barthes, Anne Carson, and Jorge Luis Borges, Kate Zambreno's Appendix Project collects eleven talks and essays written in the course of the year following the publication of Book of Mutter, Zambreno's book on her mother that took her over a decade to write. These surprising and moving performances, underscored by the sleeplessness of the first year of her child's life, contain Zambreno's most original and dazzling thinking and writing to date. In Appendix Project Zambreno thinks through the work of On Kawara, Roland Barthes, W.G. Sebald, Bhanu Kapil, Walter Benjamin, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Marguerite Duras, Marlene Dumas, Louise Bourgeois, Doris Salcedo, Jenny Holzer, and more.
Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child
by Noel Riley FitchJulia Child became a household name when she entered the lives of millions of Americans through our hearts and kitchens. Yet few know the richly varied private life that lies behind this icon, whose statuesque height and warmly enthused warble have become synonymous with the art of cooking. In this biography we meet the earthy and outrageous Julia, who, at age eighty-five, remains a complex role model. Fitch, who had access to all of Julia's private letters and diaries, takes us through her life, from her exuberant youth as a high-spirited California girl to her years at Smith College, where she was at the center of every prank and party. When most of her girlfriends married, Julia volunteered with the OSS in India and China during World War II, and was an integral part of this elite corps. There she met her future husband, the cosmopolitan Paul Child, who introduced her to the glories of art, fine French cuisine, and love. Theirs was a deeply passionate romance and a modern marriage of equals. Julia began her culinary training only at the age of thirty-seven at the Cordon Bleu. Later she roamed the food markets of Marseilles, Bonn, and Oslo. She invested ten years of learning and experimentation in what would become her first bestselling classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Now, her career is legend, spanning nearly forty years and still going strong. Generations love the humor and trademark aplomb that have made Julia a household name. Resisting fads and narrow, fanatical conventions of health-consciousness, Julia is the quintessential teacher. The perfect gift for food lovers and a romantic biography of a woman modern before her time, this is a truly American life.