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There Is No Alternative
by Claire BerlinskiGreat Britain in the 1970s appeared to a nation be in terminal decline-- ungovernable and rapidly headed for global economic irrelevance. Three decades later, it is one of the richest and most influential countries in Europe and Margaret Thatcher deserves all the credit. As journalist and conservative pundit Claire Berlinski shows, Thatcher's transformation of Britain was no simple task. Her jarring economic reforms often came at a high human cost as inefficient subsidies, welfare programs, and industries were abandoned entirely. While Thatcher's legacy has been the subject of passionate debate, Berlinski argues that we should be on her side. Socialism is on the rise and only countries willing to abide by Thatcher's philosophy will prevail. ""There Is No Alternative"" provides a valuable account of Margaret Thatcher's visionary triumphs in the fight for free enterprise.
There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters
by Claire BerlinskiGreat Britain in the 1970s appeared to be in terminal decline-ungovernable, an economic train wreck, and rapidly headed for global irrelevance. Three decades later, it is the richest and most influential country in Europe, and Margaret Thatcher is the reason. The preternaturally determined Thatcher rose from nothing, seized control of Britain’s Conservative party, and took a sledgehammer to the nation’s postwar socialist consensus. She proved that socialism could be reversed, inspiring a global free-market revolution. Simultaneously exploiting every politically useful aspect of her femininity and defying every conventional expectation of women in power, Thatcher crushed her enemies with a calculated ruthlessness that stunned the British public and without doubt caused immense collateral damage. Ultimately, however, Claire Berlinski agrees with Thatcher: There was no alternative. Berlinski explains what Thatcher did, why it matters, and how she got away with it in this vivid and immensely readable portrait of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.
There Is No Blue
by Martha BaillieTHE GLOBE AND MAIL: BOOKS TO READ IN FALL 2023Martha Baillie’s richly layered response to her mother’s passing, her father's life, and her sister’s suicide is an exploration of how the body, the rooms we inhabit, and our languages offer the psyche a home, if only for a time. Three essays, three deaths. The first is the death of the author’s mother, a protracted disappearance, leaving space for thoughtfulness and ritual: the washing of her body, the making of a death mask. The second considers the author’s father, his remoteness, his charm, a lacuna at the centre of the family even before his death, earlier than her mother’s. And then, the shocking death of the author’s sister, a visual artist and writer living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, who writes three reasons to die on her bedroom wall and then takes her life."Martha Baillie’s novels are thrillingly, joyously singular, that rare combination of sui generis and just plain generous. That There Is No Blue, her memoir, is all of those things too, is no surprise; still, she has gone somewhere extraordinary. This triptych of essays, which exquisitely unfolds the “disobedient tale” of the lives and deaths of her mother, her father, and her sister, is a meditation on the mystery and wonder of grief and art making and home and memory itself. It made me think of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repair, in which the mending is not hidden but featured and beautifully illuminated. Baillie’s variety of attention, carved out of language, is tenderness, is love." – Maud Casey, author of City of Incurable Women"This is a stunning memoir, intense and meticulous in its observations of family life. Baillie subtly interrogates and conveys the devastating mistranslations that take place in childhood, the antagonism and porousness of siblings, and the tragedy of schizophrenia as it unfolds. I couldn’t put it down." – Dr. Lisa Appignanesi, author of Mad, Bad and Sad and Everyday Madness"Exquisite." – Souvankham Thammavongsa, author of How to Pronounce Knife"I am grateful for this profound meditation on family and loss.” – Charlie Kaufman, filmmaker"This strange, unsettling memoir of outer life and inner life and their bizarre twining captures the author’s identity by way of her mother’s death, her sister’s failing battle with mental illness, and the mysterious figure of her father. It combines anguished guilt, deep tenderness, and bemused affection in highly evocative, often disturbing prose. Its brave honesty is amplified by a persistent lyricism; its undercurrent of fear is uplifted by a surprising, resilient hopefulness. It is both a plea for exoneration and an act of exoneration, an authentic meditation on the terrible difficulty of being human." – Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon
There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish
by Anna AkbariPart memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfisher, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them. In 2011, three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels for the brilliant and charming Ethan Schuman. Unbeknownst to the others, each exchanged countless messages with Ethan, staying up late into the evenings to deepen their connections with this fascinating man. His detailed excuses about broken webcams and complicated international calling plans seemed believable, as did last minute trip cancellations. After all, why would he lie? Ethan wasn't after money — he never convinced his marks to shell out thousands of dollars for some imagined crisis. Rather, he ensnared these women in a web of intense emotional intimacy. After the trio independently began to question inconsistencies in their new flame's stories, they managed to find one another and uncover a greater deception than they could've ever imagined. As Anna Akbari and the women untangled their catfish&’s web, they found other victims and realized that without a proper crime, there was no legal reason for &“Ethan&” to ever stop. THERE IS NO ETHAN catalogues Akbari's experience as both victim and observer. By looking at the bigger picture of where these stories unfold — a world where technology mediates our relationships; where words and images are easily manipulated; and where truth, reality, and identity have become slippery terms — Akbari gives a page-turning and riveting examination of why stories like Ethan's matter for us all.
There Is No F*cking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch
by Kelly OsbournePeople ask Kelly Osbourne all the time: “What’s your secret?”Kelly Osbourne may not always have been a typical role model, but no one can say that her perspective isn’t hard won after spending three decades in the spotlight: from growing up completely exposed to the heavy metal scene—replete with crazy antics most readers have only begun to hear about—to spending her teenage years as the wild middle child of an even wilder Ozzy Osbourne, to the family’s popular stint on their wacky eponymous reality show. Since then, Osbourne has forged her own path as a style icon and powerful woman in the media who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is and be honest with her fans. But being the daughter of a music legend hasn’t always been glamorous; growing up Osbourne is an experience that Kelly wouldn’t trade, but there are battle scars, and she is finally now ready to embrace and reveal their origins.Told as a series of letters to various people and places in her life, There Is No F*cking Secret gives readers an intimate look at the stories and influences that have shaped Osbourne’s highly speculated-about life, for better or for worse. The stories will make readers’ jaws drop, but ultimately, they will come away empowered to forge their own path to confidence, no matter how deranged and out of control it may be, and to learn the ultimate lesson: that there just is no f*cking secret.
There Is No God and He Is Always with You: A Search for God in Odd Places
by Brad WarnerCan you be an atheist and still believe in God? Can you be a true believer and still doubt? Can Zen give us a way past our constant fighting about God? Brad Warner was initially interested in Buddhism because he wanted to find God, but Buddhism is usually thought of as godless. In the three decades since Warner began studying Zen, he has grappled with paradoxical questions about God and managed to come up with some answers. In this fascinating search for a way beyond the usual arguments between fundamentalists and skeptics, Warner offers a profoundly engaging and idiosyncratic take on the ineffable power of the “ground of all being.”
There Is No Next: NBA Legends on the Legacy of Michael Jordan
by Sam SmithThirty years after Michael Jordan&’s first NBA game comes an oral history of his legendary career, told by the men who played with him and against him, coached him, and witnessed first-hand the iconic greatness of the most dominant athlete sports has ever seen.Featuring interviews with: Larry Bird • Magic Johnson • Phil Jackson • Reggie Miller • Isiah Thomas • Reggie Theus • Chris Mullin • Doug Collins • Dominique Wilkins • Steve Kerr • John Paxson • David Stern • Gregg Popovich • Derek Harper • Bill Walton • Karl Malone • Horace Grant • Joe Dumars • Danny Ainge • B.J. Armstrong • Marv Albert • Grant Hill • Jerry Colangelo • Bill Cartwright • Jerry Reinsdorf • Johnny Bach • Rod Thorn • Rick Barry • Kevin Loughery • David Axelrod • President Barack Obama • and many more!Written by Sam Smith—author of the New York Times bestseller THE JORDAN RULES and recent inductee into the NBA Hall of Fame—THERE IS NO NEXT assembles a cast of Hall-of-Famers, teammates, opponents, coaches, and others who experienced the ferocious drive and unparalleled greatness that defined Jordan&’s career. Packed with previously untold stories and stunning insight into Jordan and his six championships, THERE IS NO NEXT is the last word on why there has never been, and will never be, another Michael Jordan.
There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century
by Fiona HillA celebrated foreign policy expert and key impeachment witness reveals how declining opportunity has set America on the grim path of modern Russia—and draws on her personal journey out of poverty, as well as her unique perspectives as an historian and policy maker, to show how we can return hope to our forgotten places. <p><p> Fiona Hill grew up in a world of terminal decay. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father urged her to get out of their blighted corner of northern England: “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said. <p><p> The coal-miner’s daughter managed to go further than he ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served three U.S. Presidents. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the United States, she saw troubling reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the first impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from Russia’s fate. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and shows why expanding opportunity is the only long-term hope for our democracy.
There Is a Garden in the Mind
by Paul A. LeeThere Is a Garden in the Mind presents an engaging look at the work and life of pioneering organic gardener Alan Chadwick and his profound influence on the organic farming movement. In this wide-ranging and philosophical memoir, author Paul Lee recounts his first serendipitous meeting with Chadwick in Santa Cruz, California, in 1967, and their subsequent founding of the Chadwick Garden at UC Santa Cruz, the first organic and biointensive garden at a U.S. university. Today, there are few who would dispute the ecological and health benefits of organically produced food, and the student garden project founded by Chadwick and Lee has evolved into a world-renowned research center that helps third-world farmers obtain high yields using organic gardening. But when Chadwick and Lee first broke ground in the 1960s, the term "organic" belonged to the university's chemists, and the Chadwick Garden spurred a heated battle against the whole system of industrial existence. Lee's memoir contextualizes this struggle by examining the centuries-old history of the conflict between industrial science and organic nature, the roots of the modern environmental movement and the slow food movement, and the origin of the term "organic." His account of Chadwick's work fills in a gap in the history of the sustainable agriculture movement and proposes that Chadwick's groundwork continues to bear fruit in today's burgeoning urban garden, locavore, and self-sufficiency movements.Table of contents:Chapter one The English Gardener ArrivesChapter two The English Gardener Goes to WorkChapter three The Garden PlotChapter four Goethe the Vitalist contra Newton the PhysicalistChapter five Urea! I Found It!Chapter six USA and Earth DayChapter seven The MethodChapter eight Chadwick DepartsChapter nine A Moral Equivalent of WarChapter ten The Death of ChadwickChapter eleven California Cuisine and the Homeless Garden ProjectChapter twelve A Biodynamic Garden on Long IslandChapter thirteen Chadwick's LegacyFrom the Trade Paperback edition.cy
There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness
by M. Leona GodinFrom Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the invention of braille to the science of echolocation, M. Leona Godin explores the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with her own story of gradually losing her sight. There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be &“blind.&” For millennia, blindness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (&“blind faith&”), irrationality (&“blind rage&”), and unconsciousness (&“blind evolution&”). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil). Godin—who began losing her vision at age ten—illuminates the often-surprising history of both the condition of blindness and the myths and ideas that have grown up around it over the course of generations. She combines an analysis of blindness in art and culture (from King Lear to Star Wars) with a study of the science of blindness and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, embossed printing, digital technology) to paint a vivid personal and cultural history. A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential blindness and vision are to humanity&’s understanding of itself and the world.
There Shall We Be Also: Tribal Fractures And Auxiliaries In The Indian Wars Of The Northern Great Plains
by Major Jason E. WarnerFrom its beginning in the American Revolution to its current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States (U.S.) Army has had to deal with tribal societies. In order to succeed in tribal societies it is essential that the U.S. Army understand tribal structures and the fractures in tribal societies that present opportunities and possible solutions.Tribal structures create an environment in which conflict over resources and status creates traditional enemies between the tribes. It further weakens internal tribal loyalty as loyalty resides at the lowest level within the tribe that can provide resources, increase the group's status and security. These characteristics create fractures within tribal societies that create an atmosphere in which it is possible to use tribal auxiliaries to resolve conflicts or issues within complex tribal environments.The Indian Wars on the northern Great Plains from 1865 to 1890 provide some of the best examples in which tribal fractures created the opportunity to use tribal auxiliaries. By closely examining specific events during the Indian Wars, it is possible to identify the characteristics of tribal structures and societies that create the opportunity for using tribal auxiliaries as well as the fact that they provide a unique method for resolving conflict and issues within tribal societies. This study specifically focuses on events that occurred on the northern Great Plains as the U.S. Army sought to subdue and bring into compliance the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes. By examining tribes that assisted the U.S. Army, it is possible to identify tribal fractures and motivations behind why tribes such as the Crow and Pawnee faithfully served as allies to the U.S. Army. It is also possible to identify what led to the collapse of the Sioux and Cheyenne alliance, which resulted in Sioux and Cheyenne bands turning on one another by supporting the U.S. Army against others that refused to comply.
There Was A Fire Here: A Memoir
by Risa NyeLess than a month before her 40th birthday, a devastating firestorm destroys Risa Nye’s home and neighborhood in Oakland, California. Already mourning the perceived loss of her youth, she now must face the loss of all tangible reminders of who she was before. There Was a Fire Here is the story of how Nye adjusts to the turning point that will forever mark the “before and after” in her life—and a chronicle of her attempts to honor the lost symbols of her past even as she struggles to create a new home for her family.
There Was A Piper, A Scottish Piper: Memoirs of Pipe Major John T. MacKenzie
by John T. MackenzieThe memoirs of John T. MacKenzie reveal a truly remarkable man: a highly respected authority on highland piping with a commitment to tradition and excellence in performance. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, John T. was a student of piping at age nine. Enlisted in the Scots Guards, he saw active service in the war zones of North Africa, participated in the Liberation of Norway and was later posted to active duty in the Malaysian jungle. John T. MacKenzie bears personal witness to the horrors and valour of warfare. Throughout, his devotion to highland piping remained, and remains, in the forefront of his life. Appointed personal piper to the Royal Household in 1946, John T. MacKenzie has piped at numerous ceremonial events in Europe and North America. His recruitment as a Pipe Major to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1952 brought him to Canada, and ultimately to Glengarry County, where his contributions to piping are legendary.
There Was Light
by Jean StoneAutobiography of a University: a collection of essays by alumni of the University of California, Berkeley
There Was Night and There Was Morning: A Memoir of Trauma and Redemption
by Sara SherbillA searing memoir about growing up in a fiercely loving, abusive rabbinical family in which the author&’s father, the charismatic head of a splinter Orthodox religious community, demands unswerving loyalty—and a commitment to guarding terrible secrets. Sara Sherbill was raised by a father who was both a representative of God and a broken man harboring an intricate set of secrets. Her riveting story explores what happens when a daughter is tasked with keeping those secrets, and the cost of keeping them. It asks: How do we live with suffering? What does it mean to heal? In the face of unspeakable harm, what can be reclaimed? Sherbill&’s tale, written with grace and brutal honesty, reveals her struggle to reclaim her identity as a daughter, woman, and now mother. Most of all, it&’s a story about learning to live alongside our traumas without letting them consume us—what some might call redemption.Perfect for fans of Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman or other books about religious trauma, There Was Night and There Was Morning offers a nuanced exploration of faith, family, and the courage to reclaim one's identity. Sherbill's tale of survival and self-discovery sheds light on the often-unseen struggles within religious communities, and will resonate with readers navigating their own paths to healing from hidden abuse.
There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen's “Born In The U.S.A.” and the End of the Heartland
by Steven HydenA thought-provoking exploration of Bruce Springsteen&’s iconic album, Born in the U.S.A.—a record that both chronicled and foreshadowed the changing tides of modern America On June 4, 1984, Columbia Records issued what would become one of the best-selling and most impactful rock albums of all time. An instant classic, Bruce Springsteen&’s Born in the U.S.A. would prove itself to be a landmark not only for the man who made it, but rock music in general and even the larger American culture over the next 40 years. In There Was Nothing You Could Do, veteran rock critic Steven Hyden shows exactly how this record became such a pivotal part of the American tapestry. Alternating between insightful criticism, meticulous journalism, and personal anecdotes, Hyden delves into the songs that made—and didn&’t make—the final cut, including the tracks that wound up on its sister album, 1982&’s Nebraska. He also investigates the myriad reasons why Springsteen ran from and then embraced the success of his most popular (and most misunderstood) LP, as he carefully toed the line between balancing his commercial ambitions and being co-opted by the machine. But the book doesn&’t stop there. Beyond Springsteen&’s own career, Hyden explores the role the album played in a greater historical context, documenting not just where the country was in the tumultuous aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, but offering a dream of what it might become—and a perceptive forecast of what it turned into decades later. As Springsteen himself reluctantly conceded, many of the working-class middle American progressives Springsteen wrote about in 1984 had turned into resentful and scorned Trump voters by the 2010s. And though it wasn&’t the future he dreamed of, the cautionary warnings tucked within Springsteen&’s heartfelt lyrics prove that the chaotic turmoil of our current moment has been a long time coming. How did we lose Springsteen&’s heartland? And what can listening to this prescient album teach us about the decline of our country? In There Was Nothing You Could Do, Hyden takes readers on a journey to find out.
There Was Once a Slave
by Shirley GrahamBorn into chains. Driven by truth. Destined for freedom. Before he was a legend, he was a boy—enslaved, beaten, denied the right to read, and told he was nothing. But Frederick Douglass refused to be broken. Armed only with fierce intelligence, relentless courage, and the fire of justice burning in his heart, he taught himself to read and write in secret—igniting a revolution that would change not just his life, but the soul of a nation. There Was Once a Slave... brings to life the astonishing journey of Frederick Douglass, from the brutal fields of Maryland to the thundering podiums of abolitionist rallies. It is a story of struggle and triumph, of words used as weapons, and of a man who rose from slavery to become a voice for liberty, dignity, and human rights. A gripping, inspiring portrait of one of history&’s greatest self-made heroes. His fight was for freedom—not just his own, but for all.
There Was a Country: A Memoir
by Chinua AchebeFrom the legendary author of Things Fall Apart—a long-awaited memoir of coming of age in a fragile new nation, and its destruction in a tragic civil warFor more than forty years, Chinua Achebe has maintained a considered silence on the events of the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering account of one of modern Africa’s most disastrous events, from a writer whose words and courage have left an enduring stamp on world literature. A marriage of history and memoir, vivid firsthand observation and decades of research and reflection, There Was a Country is a work whose wisdom and compassion remind us of Chinua Achebe’s place as one of the great literary and moral voices of our age.
There Was a Little Girl
by Brooke ShieldsActress and author of the New York Times bestseller Down Came the Rain, Brooke Shields, explores her relationship with her unforgettable mother, Teri, in her new memoir. Brooke Shields never had what anyone would consider an ordinary life. She was raised by her Newark-tough single mom, Teri, a woman who loved the world of show business and was often a media sensation all by herself. Brooke's iconic modeling career began by chance when she was only eleven months old, and Teri's skills as both Brooke's mother and manager were formidable. But in private she was troubled and drinking heavily.As Brooke became an adult the pair made choices and sacrifices that would affect their relationship forever. And when Brooke's own daughters were born she found that her experience as a mother was shaped in every way by the woman who raised her. But despite the many ups and downs, Brooke was by Teri's side when she died in 2012, a loving daughter until the end.Only Brooke knows the truth of the remarkable, difficult, complicated woman who was her mother. And now, in an honest, open memoir about her life growing up, Brooke will reveal stories and feelings that are relatable to anyone who has been a mother or daughter.
There Was a Little Girl
by Brooke ShieldsActress and author of the New York Times bestseller Down Came the Rain, Brooke Shields, explores her relationship with her unforgettable mother, Teri, in her new memoir. Brooke Shields never had what anyone would consider an ordinary life. She was raised by her Newark-tough single mom, Teri, a woman who loved the world of show business and was often a media sensation all by herself. Brooke's iconic modeling career began by chance when she was only eleven months old, and Teri's skills as both Brooke's mother and manager were formidable. But in private she was troubled and drinking heavily.As Brooke became an adult the pair made choices and sacrifices that would affect their relationship forever. And when Brooke's own daughters were born she found that her experience as a mother was shaped in every way by the woman who raised her. But despite the many ups and downs, Brooke was by Teri's side when she died in 2012, a loving daughter until the end.Only Brooke knows the truth of the remarkable, difficult, complicated woman who was her mother. And now, in an honest, open memoir about her life growing up, Brooke will reveal stories and feelings that are relatable to anyone who has been a mother or daughter.
There Was a Little Girl
by Brooke ShieldsActress and author of the New York Times bestseller Down Came the Rain, Brooke Shields, explores her relationship with her unforgettable mother, Teri, in her new memoir. Brooke Shields never had what anyone would consider an ordinary life. She was raised by her Newark-tough single mom, Teri, a woman who loved the world of show business and was often a media sensation all by herself. Brooke's iconic modeling career began by chance when she was only eleven months old, and Teri's skills as both Brooke's mother and manager were formidable. But in private she was troubled and drinking heavily.As Brooke became an adult the pair made choices and sacrifices that would affect their relationship forever. And when Brooke's own daughters were born she found that her experience as a mother was shaped in every way by the woman who raised her. But despite the many ups and downs, Brooke was by Teri's side when she died in 2012, a loving daughter until the end.Only Brooke knows the truth of the remarkable, difficult, complicated woman who was her mother. And now, in an honest, open memoir about her life growing up, Brooke will reveal stories and feelings that are relatable to anyone who has been a mother or daughter.
There Was a Little Girl
by Brooke ShieldsActress and author of the New York Times bestseller Down Came the Rain, Brooke Shields, explores her relationship with her unforgettable mother, Teri, in her new memoir. Brooke Shields never had what anyone would consider an ordinary life. She was raised by her Newark-tough single mom, Teri, a woman who loved the world of show business and was often a media sensation all by herself. Brooke's iconic modeling career began by chance when she was only eleven months old, and Teri's skills as both Brooke's mother and manager were formidable. But in private she was troubled and drinking heavily.As Brooke became an adult the pair made choices and sacrifices that would affect their relationship forever. And when Brooke's own daughters were born she found that her experience as a mother was shaped in every way by the woman who raised her. But despite the many ups and downs, Brooke was by Teri's side when she died in 2012, a loving daughter until the end.Only Brooke knows the truth of the remarkable, difficult, complicated woman who was her mother. And now, in an honest, open memoir about her life growing up, Brooke will reveal stories and feelings that are relatable to anyone who has been a mother or daughter.
There Was a Soldier
by Angus KonstamFor hundreds of years, the Scottish soldier has been recording his experiences. From the War of the Spanish Succession until the deployment of regiments in Iraq, Scottish soldiers have written home with tales of their exploits, or had details of their experiences published in newspapers, regimental histories and books. The result is a wealth of primary information, telling the story of the Scottish soldiers who fought in Europe, America, Africa, India and the Far East. Included in the collection are letters, lyrics of songs and poems composed by the soldiers themselves, highland anecdotes, extracts from official reports, and even typescripts of interviews. This is the gritty, real-life story of the Scottish soldier, told in his own words.
There Will Be No Miracles Here: A Memoir
by Casey GeraldThe testament of a boy and a generation who came of age as the world came apart--a generation searching for a new way to live. <p><p> Casey Gerald comes to our fractured times as a uniquely visionary witness whose life has spanned seemingly unbridgeable divides. His story begins at the end of the world: Dallas, New Year's Eve 1999, when he gathers with the congregation of his grandfather's black evangelical church to see which of them will be carried off. His beautiful, fragile mother disappears frequently and mysteriously; for a brief idyll, he and his sister live like Boxcar Children on her disability checks. <p> When Casey--following in the footsteps of his father, a gridiron legend who literally broke his back for the team--is recruited to play football at Yale, he enters a world he's never dreamed of, the anteroom to secret societies and success on Wall Street, in Washington, and beyond. But even as he attains the inner sanctums of power, Casey sees how the world crushes those who live at its margins. He sees how the elite perpetuate the salvation stories that keep others from rising. And he sees, most painfully, how his own ascension is part of the scheme. <p> There Will Be No Miracles Here has the arc of a classic rags-to-riches tale, but it stands the American Dream narrative on its head. If to live as we are is destroying us, it asks, what would it mean to truly live? Intense, incantatory, shot through with sly humor and quiet fury, There Will Be No Miracles Here inspires us to question--even shatter--and reimagine our most cherished myths.
There Will Be Rainbows: A Biography of Rufus Wainwright
by Kirk LakeThe first biography of legendary singer/songwriter/composer Rufus Wainwright, There Will Be Rainbows reveals the integrity and complexity of Wainwright’s work while fully embracing the self-deprecating humor, wild flamboyance, and fascinating contradictions that embody Rufus Wainwright, the man. There Will Be Rainbows tells Wainwright unforgettable true story—a classic tale of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, with many an unexpected Wainwright-esque twist.