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Worker In The Light
by William J. Birnes George NooryGeorge Noory has woven his life's work into both an amazing memoir and a miraculous key that you can use to unlock the secret to your own sensual transcendence.
Workhorse: My Sublime and Absurd Years in New York City's Restaurant Scene
by Kim ReedA razor-sharp look at one woman&’s nearly two decades in the New York City restaurant, including her time working with Joe Bastianich, and what happens when your job consumes your life.By day, Kim Reed was a social worker to the homebound elderly in Brooklyn Heights. By night, she scrambled into Manhattan to hostess at Babbo, where even the Pope would have had trouble scoring a reservation, and A-list celebrities squeezed through the jam-packed entryway like everyone else. Despite her whirlwind fifteen-hour workdays, Kim remained up to her eyeballs in grad school debt. Her training—problem solving, crisis intervention, dealing with unpredictable people and random situations—made her the ideal assistant for the volatile Joe Bastianich, a hard-partying, &“What's next?&” food and wine entrepreneur. He rose to fame in Italy as a TV star while Kim planned parties, fielded calls, and negotiated deals from two phones on the go. Decadent food, summers in Milan, and a reservation racket that paid in designer bags and champagne were fun only inasmuch as they filled the void left by being always on call and on edge. In a blink, the years passed, and one day Kim looked up and realized that everything she wanted beyond her job—friends, a relationship, a family, a weekend without twenty ominous emails dropping into her inbox—was out of reach. Workhorse is a deep-dive into coming of age in the chaos of New York City&’s foodie craze and an all-too-relatable look at what happens when your job takes over your identity, and when a scandal upends your understanding of where you work and what you do.. After spending years making the impossible possible for someone else, Kim realized she had to do the same for herself.
The Workhorse of Helmand: A Chinook Crewman's Account of Operations in Afghanistan & Iraq
by Michael FryAs a RAF Chinook crewman, Mick Fry’s exposure to Afghanistan spanned over 10 years and countless deployments, from watching 9/11 unfold in Australia, leaving the deck of HMS Ocean off the coast of Pakistan under the cover of darkness all the way through numerous fighting seasons and the chaos of Helmand Province. The Chinook helicopter was the workhorse of the British Military operations in Afghanistan, and the crews from RAF Odiham were confronted by their own mortality on an almost daily basis as they worked tirelessly and skillfully to support the troops on the ground. Whether it was taking part in air assault missions against a determined enemy, or extracting casualties from the battlefield under fire, and in a life or death race against time, Mick witnessed both the best and worst of humanity on a daily basis. His story is both gripping and confronting. It takes the reader on a journey through combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Author paints a gritty picture of repeated operational deployments, balancing harrowing scenes and the ever present threat of death with the humor and camaraderie of comrades and the exhilaration of surviving Taliban RPG’s and AK47 fire.
Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing
by Robert A. Caro&“One of the great reporters of our time and probably the greatest biographer.&” —The Sunday Times (London)From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Power Broker and The Years of Lyndon Johnson: an unprecedented gathering of vivid, candid, deeply moving recollections about his experiences researching and writing his acclaimed books.Now in paperback, Robert Caro gives us a glimpse into his own life and work in these evocatively written, personal pieces. He describes what it was like to interview the mighty Robert Moses and to begin discovering the extent of the political power Moses wielded; the combination of discouragement and exhilaration he felt confronting the vast holdings of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas; his encounters with witnesses, including longtime residents wrenchingly displaced by the construction of Moses' Cross-Bronx Expressway and Lady Bird Johnson acknowledging the beauty and influence of one of LBJ's mistresses. He gratefully remembers how, after years of working in solitude, he found a writers' community at the New York Public Library, and details the ways he goes about planning and composing his books.Caro recalls the moments at which he came to understand that he wanted to write not just about the men who wielded power but about the people and the politics that were shaped by that power. And he talks about the importance to him of the writing itself, of how he tries to infuse it with a sense of place and mood to bring characters and situations to life on the page. Taken together, these reminiscences—some previously published, some written expressly for this book—bring into focus the passion, the wry self-deprecation, and the integrity with which this brilliant historian has always approached his work.To understand more about Robert Caro's research, see the Sony Pictures Classic documentary &“Turn Every Page.&”
A Working-Class Family Ages Badly
by Juno Roche'Delicate and devastating. Up there with the best of them.' HANNAH LOWE, WINNER OF THE COSTA PRIZE'Roche is a charming, unflinchingly honest guide on a journey that's as funny as it is heart-breaking.' JUNO DAWSONHow does an untrained eye recognise the process of dying, when your mind is fixed firmly on living?A radically honest and uplifting memoir about defying death and learning to live.Juno Roche was born into a working-class family in London in the sixties, who dabbled in minor crime. For their father, violence and love lived together; for their mother, addiction was the only way to survive. School was a respite, but shortly after beginning their university course Juno was diagnosed with HIV, then a death sentence.Juno is a survivor; they outlived their diagnosis, got a degree and became an artist. But however hard you try to take the kid out of the family, some scars go too deep; trying to run from AIDS and their childhood threw Juno into dark years of serious drug addiction, addiction often financed by sex work.Running from home eventually took Juno across the sea to a tiny village in Spain, surrounded by mountains. Only once they found a quiet little house with an olive tree in the garden did Juno start to wonder if they had run too far, and whether they have really been searching for a family all along.In an incredibly honest and brave book, Juno takes us through the moments of their life: Mum sending Christmas cards containing Valium, drug withdrawal on a River Nile cruise, overcoming their father's violence and finding their dream house in Spain. Showing immense resilience, Juno's memoir is a book about what it means to stay alive.Emotional, tragic and incredibly funny, A Working-Class Family Ages Badly is an unforgettable must-read memoir for anyone who loves Educated, Deborah Levy and Motherwell.'Full of heart, wit and charm. I'm obsessed with this book.' Travis Alabanza 'So gripping, I had to make myself slow down to appreciate the quality of the writing. Such a powerful story and so beautifully written.' Paul Burston'Utterly unique. Nobody can write with warmth and confrontation the way Juno can.' Tom Rasmussen'Compassionate, dreamlike and deeply moving.' CN Lester 'Should be read by everyone.' Irenosen Okojie 'Juno has always been a literary voice like no one else, scathingly honest and endlessly expansive.' Amelia Abraham
A Working-Class Family Ages Badly: 'Remarkable' The Observer (Karen Pirie #13)
by Juno Roche'An incredibly honest tale of survival, escape and resilience' The Observer 'Roche is a charming, unflinchingly honest guide on a journey that's as funny as it is heart-breaking.' JUNO DAWSONHow does an untrained eye recognise the process of dying, when your mind is fixed firmly on living?A radically honest and uplifting memoir about defying death and learning to live.Juno Roche was born into a working-class family in London in the sixties, who dabbled in minor crime. For their father, violence and love lived together; for their mother, addiction was the only way to survive. School was a respite, but shortly after beginning their university course Juno was diagnosed with HIV, then a death sentence.Juno is a survivor; they outlived their diagnosis, got a degree and became an artist. But however hard you try to take the kid out of the family, some scars go too deep; trying to run from AIDS and their childhood threw Juno into dark years of serious drug addiction, addiction often financed by sex work.Running from home eventually took Juno across the sea to a tiny village in Spain, surrounded by mountains. Only once they found a quiet little house with an olive tree in the garden did Juno start to wonder if they had run too far, and whether they have really been searching for a family all along.In an incredibly honest and brave book, Juno takes us through the moments of their life: Mum sending Christmas cards containing Valium, drug withdrawal on a River Nile cruise, overcoming their father's violence and finding their dream house in Spain. Showing immense resilience, Juno's memoir is a book about what it means to stay alive.Emotional, tragic and incredibly funny, A Working-Class Family Ages Badly is an unforgettable must-read memoir for anyone who loves Educated, Deborah Levy and Motherwell.'Delicate and devastating. Up there with the best of them.' HANNAH LOWE, WINNER OF THE COSTA PRIZE'Full of heart, wit and charm. I'm obsessed with this book.' Travis Alabanza 'So gripping, I had to make myself slow down to appreciate the quality of the writing. Such a powerful story and so beautifully written.' Paul Burston'Utterly unique. Nobody can write with warmth and confrontation the way Juno can.' Tom Rasmussen'Compassionate, dreamlike and deeply moving.' CN Lester 'Should be read by everyone.' Irenosen Okojie 'Juno has always been a literary voice like no one else, scathingly honest and endlessly expansive.' Amelia Abraham
Working Class Mystic
by Gary TilleryJohn Lennon called himself a working class hero. George Harrison was a working class mystic. Born in Liverpool as the son of a bus conductor and a shop assistant, for the first six years of his life he lived in a house with no indoor bathroom. This book gives an honest, in-depth view of his personal journey from his blue-collar childhood to his role as a world-famous spiritual icon.Author Gary Tillery's approach is warmly human, free of the fawning but insolent tone of most rock biographers. He frankly discusses the role of drugs in leading Harrison to mystical insight but emphasizes that he soon renounced psychedelics as a means to the spiritual path. It was with conscious commitment that Harrison journeyed to India, studied sitar with Ravi Shankar, practiced yoga, learned meditation from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and became a devotee of Hinduism. George worked hard to subdue his own ego and to understand the truth beyond appearances. He preferred to keep a low profile, but his empathy for suffering people led him to spearhead the first rock-and-roll super event for charity. And despite his wealth and fame, he was always delighted to slip on overalls and join in manual labor on his grounds. At ease with holy men discussing the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, he was ever the bloke from Liverpool whose father drove a bus, whose brothers were tradesmen, and who had worked himself as an apprentice electrician until the day destiny called.Tillery's engaging narrative depicts Harrison as a sincere seeker who acted out of genuine care for humanity and used his celebrity to be of service in the world. Fans of all generations will treasure this book for the inspiring portrayal it gives of their beloved "quiet" Beatle.
Working Class Mystic
by Gary TilleryJohn Lennon called himself a working class hero. George Harrison was a working class mystic. Born in Liverpool as the son of a bus conductor and a shop assistant, for the first six years of his life he lived in a house with no indoor bathroom. This book gives an honest, in-depth view of his personal journey from his blue-collar childhood to his role as a world-famous spiritual icon.Author Gary Tillery's approach is warmly human, free of the fawning but insolent tone of most rock biographers. He frankly discusses the role of drugs in leading Harrison to mystical insight but emphasizes that he soon renounced psychedelics as a means to the spiritual path. It was with conscious commitment that Harrison journeyed to India, studied sitar with Ravi Shankar, practiced yoga, learned meditation from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and became a devotee of Hinduism. George worked hard to subdue his own ego and to understand the truth beyond appearances. He preferred to keep a low profile, but his empathy for suffering people led him to spearhead the first rock-and-roll super event for charity. And despite his wealth and fame, he was always delighted to slip on overalls and join in manual labor on his grounds. At ease with holy men discussing the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, he was ever the bloke from Liverpool whose father drove a bus, whose brothers were tradesmen, and who had worked himself as an apprentice electrician until the day destiny called. Tillery's engaging narrative depicts Harrison as a sincere seeker who acted out of genuine care for humanity and used his celebrity to be of service in the world. Fans of all generations will treasure this book for the inspiring portrayal it gives of their beloved "quiet" Beatle.
The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism
by Henry OlsenIn this sure to be controversial book in the vein of The Forgotten Man, a political analyst argues that conservative icon Ronald Reagan was not an enemy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, but his true heir and the popular program’s ultimate savior.Conventional political wisdom views the two most consequential presidents of the twentieth-century—FDR and Ronald Reagan—as ideological opposites. FDR is hailed as the champion of big-government progressivism manifested in the New Deal. Reagan is seen as the crusader for conservatism dedicated to small government and free markets. But Henry Olsen argues that this assumption is wrong.In Ronald Reagan: New Deal Republican, Olsen contends that the historical record clearly shows that Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal itself were more conservative than either Democrats or Republicans believe, and that Ronald Reagan was more progressive than most contemporary Republicans understand. Olsen cuts through political mythology to set the record straight, revealing how Reagan—a longtime Democrat until FDR’s successors lost his vision in the 1960s—saw himself as FDR’s natural heir, carrying forward the basic promises of the New Deal: that every American deserves comfort, dignity, and respect provided they work to the best of their ability. Olsen corrects faulty assumptions driving today’s politics. Conservative Republican political victories over the last thirty years have not been a rejection of the New Deal’s promises, he demonstrates, but rather a representation of the electorate’s desire for their success—which Americans see as fulfilling the vision of the nation’s founding. For the good of all citizens and the GOP, he implores Republicans to once again become a party of "FDR Conservatives"—to rediscover and support the basic elements of FDR (and Reagan’s) vision.
Working for a Better World
by Carolyn Y. WooWorking for a Better World is an engrossing account not only of Dr. Woo's own life, but of the ongoing critical work of Catholic Relief Services in meeting the needs of the poor, the traumatized, and the needy throughout the world. From typhoon-flattened cities in the Philippines to earthquake-devastated Haiti, CRS is there before the TV cameras arrive and there after they leave. And there in over 100 countries-helping subsistence farmers and health-care workers, orphans and refugees-in those neglected places where the cameras never come.
Working for Freedom: The Story of Josiah Henson
by Rona AratoJosiah Hensons life is an epic tale of one mans battle against evil and ignorance. By the time he was six, Josiah had been sold three times. When he was nine, his familys owner beat him for trying to learn to read. In spite of his physical pain and emotional heartache, he never lost the sense of morality that was his bedrock. After his escape, Josiah became an advocate for those still in bondage. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, he led 118 slaves to safety in Canada. Working for Freedom is the story of a man who proved that one person can make a difference in defending and promoting human rights.
Working Girl: On Selling Art and Selling Sex
by Sophia GiovannittiThe portrait of a young artist making both a living and a lifeAs a young artist trying to make a living in New York without sacrificing all her time to paying rent, Sophia Giovannitti turned to sex work: first, telling herself it was part of her art, and then quickly accepting it as simply the way to make the most money in the shortest possible time. Weaving between the art world and the sex industry, she learned how much the two markets have in common: both built on the buying and selling of creativity and desire, authenticity and intimacy. The power of each lies in believing—or pretending—they can provide meaning outside of monetary exchange. In this searching and provocative work, moving from the author&’s own experiences to political analyses and the workings of the contemporary art world, Giovannitti asks how we might face the great dilemma of the art and sex industries head on: what happens to desire, beauty, creativity, and autonomy when everything is a transaction? Giovannitti finds a way to commit her life to art, to intimacy, and to freedom on her own terms.
Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens (Music in American Life)
by Bill C Malone Hazel DickensHazel Dickens is an Appalachian singer and songwriter known for her superb musicianship, feminist country songs, union anthems, and blue-collar laments. Growing up in a West Virginia coal mining community, she drew on the mountain music and repertoire of her family and neighbors when establishing her own vibrant and powerful vocal style that is a trademark in old-time, bluegrass, and traditional country circles. Working Girl Blues presents forty original songs that Hazel Dickens wrote about coal mining, labor issues, personal relationships, and her life and family in Appalachia. Conveying sensitivity, determination, and feistiness, Dickens comments on each of her songs, explaining how she came to write them and what they meant and continue to mean to her. Bill C. Malone's introduction traces Dickens's life, musical career, and development as a songwriter, and the book features forty-one illustrations and a detailed discography of her commercial recordings.
Working It Out: A Journey of Love, Loss, and Hope
by Shay Sorrells Abby RikeDESCRIPTION:In 2006, Abby Rike lost the life she knew and loved when her husband and two young children were killed in a car accident. Devastated and numb, she shut down. For nearly three years she walked through life like a spectre, present in body only. As she descended, so did her health.Fortunately, Abby was not alone. She had loving parents, supportive friends, and a faith that continued to sustain her. Little by little she found the courage to return to life. Joining The Biggest Loser proved a catalyst for the physical and emotional changes she needed to make. In fact, against all odds Abby gained strength, courage, wisdom, and continued her steadfast relationship with God. Instead of anger, she found herself slowly but steadily healing. She lost a hundred pounds but gained hope.In this riveting book, Abby tells her story--from her joyous life before the accident to the unbearable pain that followed it and her eventual emergence as a woman reinvigorated by her faith in God. Today Abby's resilience and positivity are a testament to the power and importance of faith in the darkest hours.
The Working Mom: The Honest Mum's Guide to Surviving and Thriving at Work and at Home
by Vicki BroadbentChosen by the Independent as one of the 10 best business books written by women'Vicki is one inspirational mumboss, who shares her secrets to juggling a thriving business with raising a family in this entertaining and empowering read!' Una Healy'Ideal for going back to work without losing your mind . . . a no-nonsense guide to navigating the transition' Marie Claire 'If ever there is a person who has shown just how successful you can be online whilst also being an amazing parent it is Vicki. Read, learn and follow. A brilliant book from an inspirational mother'. Natasha Courtenay-Smith, author of The Million Dollar BlogIn The Working Mom, Vicki Psarias, founder of HonestMum.com, shares her manifesto for surviving and thriving at work and at home. Vicki writes about everything from juggling work and family, to regaining your confidence after having a baby and battling imposter syndrome.An award-winning blogger and vlogger, in this book Vicki shares how to turn your passions into a business that suits the modern mum's lifestyle. The Working Mom is full of practical advice, tips and tricks to help fellow #mumbosses build their own business or return to work, while creating a personal brand and learning how to market yourself.Vicki's funny, fresh approach to life and work as a mum has brought her a loyal fanbase and a brilliantly successful business: her blog Honest Mum is one of the UK's most popular parenting and lifestyle sites, and the blog combined with Vicki's social channels has an average monthly reach of 1 million. A Lean In for the blogging and vlogging generation, The Working Mom is an essential book for all parents, whether they are returning to work or looking to start a new career, as well as anyone looking to build their brand or business online.'A must-read for the modern Mum; particularly one who has aspirations to build her own business. I wish I had been able to read it three years ago!' Katie Massie-Taylor, Co-Founder, Mush
The Working Mom: The Honest Mum's Guide to Surviving and Thriving at Work and at Home
by Vicki BroadbentChosen by the Independent as one of the 10 best business books written by women'Vicki is one inspirational mumboss, who shares her secrets to juggling a thriving business with raising a family in this entertaining and empowering read!' Una Healy'Ideal for going back to work without losing your mind . . . a no-nonsense guide to navigating the transition' Marie Claire'If ever there is a person who has shown just how successful you can be online whilst also being an amazing parent it is Vicki. Read, learn and follow. A brilliant book from an inspirational mother'. Natasha Courtenay-Smith, author of The Million Dollar BlogIn The Working Mom, Vicki Psarias, founder of HonestMum.com, shares her manifesto for surviving and thriving at work and at home. Vicki writes about everything from juggling work and family, to regaining your confidence after having a baby and battling imposter syndrome.An award-winning blogger and vlogger, in this book Vicki shares how to turn your passions into a business that suits the modern mum's lifestyle. The Working Mom is full of practical advice, tips and tricks to help fellow #mumbosses build their own business or return to work, while creating a personal brand and learning how to market yourself.Vicki's funny, fresh approach to life and work as a mum has brought her a loyal fanbase and a brilliantly successful business: her blog Honest Mum is one of the UK's most popular parenting and lifestyle sites, and the blog combined with Vicki's social channels has an average monthly reach of 1 million. A Lean In for the blogging and vlogging generation, The Working Mom is an essential book for all parents, whether they are returning to work or looking to start a new career, as well as anyone looking to build their brand or business online.'A must-read for the modern Mum; particularly one who has aspirations to build her own business. I wish I had been able to read it three years ago!' Katie Massie-Taylor, Co-Founder, Mush
The Working Mom: The Honest Mum's Guide to Surviving and Thriving at Work and at Home
by Vicki BroadbentChosen by the Independent as one of the 10 best business books written by women'Vicki is one inspirational mumboss, who shares her secrets to juggling a thriving business with raising a family in this entertaining and empowering read!' Una Healy'Ideal for going back to work without losing your mind . . . a no-nonsense guide to navigating the transition' Marie Claire 'If ever there is a person who has shown just how successful you can be online whilst also being an amazing parent it is Vicki. Read, learn and follow. A brilliant book from an inspirational mother'. Natasha Courtenay-Smith, author of The Million Dollar BlogIn The Working Mom, Vicki Psarias, founder of HonestMum.com, shares her manifesto for surviving and thriving at work and at home. Vicki writes about everything from juggling work and family, to regaining your confidence after having a baby and battling imposter syndrome.An award-winning blogger and vlogger, in this book Vicki shares how to turn your passions into a business that suits the modern mum's lifestyle. The Working Mom is full of practical advice, tips and tricks to help fellow #mumbosses build their own business or return to work, while creating a personal brand and learning how to market yourself.Vicki's funny, fresh approach to life and work as a mum has brought her a loyal fanbase and a brilliantly successful business: her blog Honest Mum is one of the UK's most popular parenting and lifestyle sites, and the blog combined with Vicki's social channels has an average monthly reach of 1 million. A Lean In for the blogging and vlogging generation, The Working Mom is an essential book for all parents, whether they are returning to work or looking to start a new career, as well as anyone looking to build their brand or business online.'A must-read for the modern Mum; particularly one who has aspirations to build her own business. I wish I had been able to read it three years ago!' Katie Massie-Taylor, Co-Founder, Mush
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
by T. J. Mitchell Judy MelinekThe fearless memoir of a young forensic pathologist's "rookie season" as a NYC medical examiner, and the cases--hair-raising and heartbreaking and impossibly complex--that shaped her as both a physician and a mother.Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband T.J. and their toddler Daniel holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation--performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy's two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines flight 587. Lively, action-packed, and loaded with mordant wit, Working Stiff offers a firsthand account of daily life in one of America's most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies--and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on shows like CSI and Law & Order to reveal the secret story of the real morgue.
Working Stiff: The Misadventures of an Accidental Sexpert
by Grant StoddardA twenty-two-year-old perennial virgin, Englishman Grant Stoddard didn't know what to do with his life in America—until he won an X-rated online contest, the prize being intercourse with an infamous married sex columnist. He consequently wound up delivering mail at Nerve.com but accidentally found his calling as a gonzo sex reporter who would try any and every lurid activity his crafty coworkers devised—from offering himself up as man-bait at a hard-core gay bar to attending an elite orgy, to being a hapless participant in a sexual home invasion—all the while wishing he could be safely tucked in bed.Working Stiff is the humble, hilarious, and delightfully salacious fish-into-water story of a young man who followed his heart—and other organs—into places where few would dare to venture.
A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir
by Iain LevisonA humorous memoir of working in dead-end jobs around the United States. The author classifies work into two categories: jobs he's not qualified for, and jobs he doesn't want. Despite these obstacles, he finds himself having had 42 jobs over ten years, from fish cutter to computer wirer. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Working the Dead Beat: 50 Lives that Changed Canada
by Sandra MartinLonglisted for the Charles Taylor Prize and selected as a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book and an iTunes Store Best Book Globe and Mail columnist Sandra Martin honours the lives of Canada's famous, infamous, and unsung heroes in this unique collection of obituaries of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Here are Canadian icons such as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, social activist June Callwood, and urban theorist Jane Jacobs. Here are builders such as feminist and editor Doris Anderson, and businessman and famed art collector Ken Thomson. Here are our rogues, rascals, and romantics; our service men and women; and here are those private citizens whose lives have had an undeniable public impact. Finally, Martin interweaves these elegant and eloquent biographies with the autobiography of the obit writer, offering an exclusive and intimate view of life on the dead beat. Beautifully written, compelling, and vivid, Working the Dead Beat is a tribute to those individuals who, each on their own and as a collective, tell the story of our country, and to the life of the obit writer who chronicles their extraordinary lives.
Working the Sea: Misadventures, Ghost Stories, and Life Lessons From a Maine Lobsterman
by Wendell SeaveyWorking the Sea is the story of a Maine fisherman’s life, a collection of memories and teachings from a master storyteller. <p><p>Author Wendell Seavey, who grew up in the 1940s in the fishing village that inspired this story, avoids the overly romantic or picturesque language of other fishing and working-class narratives, writing in a true Downeast Yankee voice and candidly describing both the joys and hardships of the fishing life. Seavey is firmly rooted in the fishing traditions of his community and family, and the book reflects these deep roots. But his perspectives and observations are unique and at times unexpected as he travels across the United States, engages in psychic and spiritual activity, develops an environmental philosophy of life, and meets a host of memorable countercultural characters. <p><p>Seavey also shares practical lessons about approaching life’s “insurmountable obstacles” and getting past them, and about his transformation from a “fisherman-user” to a “fisherman-ecologist” striving to be part of the cycle of life. <p><p>This new edition includes an account of the author’s two-year sojourn in Texas as well as several other new stories.
Working the Waterfront: The Ups and Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman
by Gilbert Mers"Somebody said, 'History is written by the winners. The losers have nothing to say.' This book is by one of the losers, a bit player, not the star of the drama." So begins Gilbert Mers in these personal recollections of forty-two years on the Texas waterfront as longshoreman and radical union activist. But far from having "nothing to say," Mers reveals himself as a thoughtful philosopher of democratic ideals and eloquent agitator for union reform. He challenges the conventional wisdom that the leader is more valuable than the led. He contends that long tenure in positions of power dulls the union officer's working-class instincts. Always one to row against the current, Mers believes the union exists for the benefit of its members! This is primary material of the best kind, vivid and evocative, and Mers, in his eighties at the time of writing the book, is an unusually vigorous and articulate spokesman for a democratic and humane unionism. Whether he is describing the sweaty, dangerous and back-breaking work of loading cotton bales into the hold of an outbound ship or the gut-gripping tension of a face-to-face encounter with Texas Rangers bent on "law and order," Mers writes with the voice and conscience of the rank-and-file worker. He paints the waterfront world as it was, and perhaps still is—full of danger, humor, dignity in demoralizing circumstances, frustration, struggle, and sometimes hope—and tells his story with such wry humanity that even those who disagree with his destination will enjoy the ride.
Working with Disney: Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists
by Don PeriIn this volume Don Peri expands his extraordinary work conducting in-depth interviews with Disney employees and animators. These interviews include conversations with actors and performers rather than solely animators. This book offers Peri’s extensive interviews with Marc Davis, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston, three of Walt Disney’s famed “Nine Old Men of Animation.” Peri interviewed two Disney Mouseketeers—Bobby Burgess and Sharon Baird—from the original Mickey Mouse Club Show, providing valuable perspectives on how the Walt Disney Company worked with television. Lou Debney, a Disney television producer, discusses the company’s engagement with television and live-action film. Walter Lantz talks about his work in the animation business, especially with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. And Dave Hand discusses his legendary work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Taken together, the interviews in Working with Disney create an enlightening perspective on the Walt Disney Company as it grew from its animation roots into a media powerhouse.
Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists
by Don PeriThis book includes interviews with Ken Anderson, Les Clark, Larry Clemmons, Jack Cutting, Don Duckwall, Marcellite Garner, Harper Goff, Floyd Gottfredson, Dick Huemer, Wilfred Jackson, Eric Larson, Clarence Nash, Ken O'Connor, Herb Ryman, and Ben Sharpsteen. Walt Disney created or supervised the creation of live-action films, television specials, documentaries, toys, merchandise, comic books, and theme parks. His vision, however, manifested itself first and foremost in his animated shorts and feature-length cartoons, which are loved by millions around the world. Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists collects revealing conversations with animators, voice actors, and designers who worked extensively with Disney during the heyday of his animation studio. The book includes fifteen interviews with artists who directed segments of such classic animated features as Dumbo and Fantasia. Some interviewed were part of Disney’s famed team dubbed “The Nine Old Men of Animation,” and some worked closely with Disney on Steamboat Willie, his first cartoon with sound. Among the subjects the interviewees discuss are the studio’s working environment, the high-water mark of animation during Hollywood's Golden Age, and Disney’s mixture of childlike charm and hard-nosed business drive. Through these voices, Don Peri preserves an account of the Disney magic from those who worked closely with him.