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We Were There,Too!: Young People in US History
by Phillip HooseBiographies of dozens of young people who made a mark in American history, including explorers, planters, spies, cowpunchers, sweatshop workers, and civil rights workers.
We Were Young and Carefree: The Autobiography of Laurent Fignon
by Laurent Fignon'Ah, I remember you: you're the guy who lost the Tour de France by eight seconds!''No monsieur, I'm the guy who won the Tour twice.The international bestselling autobiography of the legendary French cyclist Laurent Fignon Two-time winner of the Tour de France in the early eighties, Laurent Fignon became the star for a new generation. In the 1989 tour, he lost out to his American arch-rival, Greg LeMond, by an agonising eight seconds. In this revealing account, the former champion spares nobody, not even himself, and pulls back the curtain on what really went on behind the scenes of this epic sport - the friendships, the rivalries, the betrayals, the parties, the girls and, of course, the performance-enhancing drugs. Fignon's story bestrides a golden age in cycling: a time when the headlines spoke of heroes, not doping, and a time when cyclists were afraid of nothing.‘Sports book of the year: He's ruthlessly honest, about himself and about cycling, and he provides a gripping insight into an unrelenting hard world’ Independent
We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers
by Marcus BrothertonThe national bestseller of never-before-published stories from the Band of Brothers. They were the men of the now-legendary Easy Company. After almost two years of hard training, they parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and, later, Operation Market Garden. They fought their way through Belgium, France, and Germany, survived overwhelming odds, liberated concentration camps, and drank a victory toast in April of 1945 at Hitler's hideout in the Alps. Here, revealed for the first time, are stories of war, sacrifice, and courage as seen by one of the most revered combat units in military history. In We Who Are Alive and Remain, twenty men who were there, and the families of three deceased others, recount the horrors and the victories, the bonds they made, the tears and blood they shed, and the brothers they lost.
We Who Walk the Seven Ways: A Memoir
by Terra TrevorWe Who Walk the Seven Ways is Terra Trevor&’s memoir about seeking healing and finding belonging. After she endured a difficult loss, a circle of Native women elders embraced and guided Trevor (Cherokee, Lenape, Seneca, and German) through the seven cycles of life in Indigenous ways. Over three decades, these women lifted her from grief, instructed her in living, and showed her how to age from youth into beauty. With tender honesty, Trevor explores how every end is always a beginning. Her reflections on the deep power of women&’s friendship, losing a child, reconciling complicated roots, and finding richness in every stage of life show that being an American Indian with a complex lineage is not about being part something, but about being part of something.
We Will Be Free: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth (Library of Religious Biography (LRB))
by Nancy KoesterSojourner Truth&’s powerful voice calls to us through this evocative narrative of faith in action—and her words are more relevant than ever. Though born into slavery, Sojourner Truth would defy the limits placed upon her as a Black woman to become one of the nineteenth century&’s most renowned female preachers and civil rights advocates. In We Will Be Free, Nancy Koester chronicles her spiritual journey as an enslaved woman, a working mother, and an itinerant preacher and activist. On Pentecost in 1827, the course of Sojourner Truth&’s life was changed forever when she had a vision of Jesus calling her to preach. Though women could not be trained as ministers at the time, her persuasive speaking, powerful singing, and quick wit converted many to her social causes. During the Civil War, Truth campaigned for the Union to abolish slavery throughout the United States, and she personally recruited Black troops for the effort. Her activism carried her to Washington, DC, where she met Abraham Lincoln and ministered to refugees of Southern slavery. Truth&’s faith-driven action continued throughout Reconstruction, as she aided freed people, campaigned for reparations, advocated for women&’s rights, and defied segregation on public transportation. Sojourner Truth&’s powerful voice once echoed in the streets of Washington and New York. Her passion rings out again in Nancy Koester&’s vivid writing. As the legacy of slavery and segregation still looms over the United States today, students of American history, Christians, and all interested readers will find inspiration and illumination in Truth&’s story.
We Will Not Be Saved: A memoir of hope and resistance in the Amazon rainforest
by Nemonte Nenquimo'Nemonte's writing is as provocative as it is inspiring' EMMA THOMPSON'One of the most effective leaders for indigenous rights and environmental justice' LAURENE POWELL JOBS'I'm here to tell you my story, which is also the story of my people and the story of this forest.'Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. Age 14, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture.She listened. Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate-change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as the spears that her ancestors wielded - honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries.In this astonishing memoir, she partners with her husband Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of Indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.More praise for We Will Not Be Saved: 'A radical manifesto for our times' VANESSA KIRBY'An act of storytelling generosity' NATHALIE KELLY'Inspiring, moving and unforgettable' ROWAN HOOPER'Truly Inspiring and humbling' CAROLINE SANDERSON** Publishing in the US as WE WILL BE JAGUARS**
We Will Not Be Saved: A memoir of hope and resistance in the Amazon rainforest
by Nemonte Nenquimo** Publishing in the US as WE WILL BE JAGUARS**'I'm here to tell you my story, which is also the story of my people and the story of this forest.'Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. Age 14, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture.She listened. Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate-change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as the spears that her ancestors wielded - honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries.In this astonishing memoir, she partners with her husband Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of Indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.The Waorani language (referred to as Wao Tededo in the audiobook) is one of the world's most endangered languages and is only spoken by around 2,000 people. The Publishers would like to thank Oswando Nenquimo (Opi) and Connie Dickinson as well as the Endangered Languages Archive https://www.elararchive.org/ and the Endangered Languages Documentation Program https://www.eldp.net/ for their valuable support in ensuring accurate pronunciation of Waorani names and terms.
We Will Not Go to Tuapse: From the Donets to the Oder with the Legion Wallonie and 5th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade ‘Wallonien’ 1942–45
by Fernand KaisergruberA soldier with the German Army&’s Wallonian Legion chronicles his experience as a foreign volunteer for the Nazi war machine during WWII. A french-speaking Belgian, Fernand Kaisergruber volunteered to fight with the military force that occupied his country. His detailed chronicle of that time reads like a travelogue of the Eastern Front campaign. Until recently, very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals who fought with the Germans. Kaisergruber&’s book sheds light on issues of collaboration, the experiences and motives of volunteers, and the reactions they encountered in occupied countries. Kaisergruber draws upon his wartime diaries, those of his comrades, and his later work with them while secretary of their postwar veteran's league. Although unapologetic for his service, Khemakes no special claims for the German cause. He writes instead from his firsthand experience as a young man entering war for the first time. His narrative is full of observations of fellow soldiers, commanders, Russian civilians, and battlefields.
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
by Philip GourevitchWe Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. An unforgettable firsthand account of a people's response to genocide and what it tells us about humanity.This remarkable debut book from Philip Gourevitch chronicles what has happened in Rwanda and neighboring states since 1994, when the Rwandan government called on everyone in the Hutu majority to murder everyone in the Tutsi minority. Though the killing was low-tech--largely by machete--it was carried out at shocking speed: some 800,000 people were exterminated in a hundred days. A Tutsi pastor, in a letter to his church president, a Hutu, used the chilling phrase that gives Gourevitch his title.With keen dramatic intensity, Gourevitch frames the genesis and horror of Rwanda's "genocidal logic" in the anguish of its aftermath: the mass displacements, the temptations of revenge and the quest for justice, the impossibly crowded prisons and refugee camps. Through intimate portraits of Rwandans in all walks of life, he focuses on the psychological and political challenges of survival and on how the new leaders of postcolonial Africa went to war in the Congo when resurgent genocidal forces threatened to overrun central Africa.Can a country composed largely of perpetrators and victims create a cohesive national society? This moving contribution to the literature of witness tells us much about the struggle everywhere to forge sane, habitable political orders, and about the stubbornness of the human spirit in a world of extremity.
We Won The Lottery: Real Life Winner Stories
by Danny BucklandSince 1994, the UK's National Lottery has created 2,300 millionaires. Expensive cars, big houses and dream holidays are all top of the wish list for those ordinary people whose lives are changed with a winning lottery ticket. But what about buying a boob job for your sister, giving away holidays to children with cancer or hiring a private helicopter for the school prom? For the first time five winners share the details of their shopping sprees and the highs and lows of their lives once they became millionaires. "We Won The Lottery" also goes behind the scenes at the National Lottery to reveal funny facts, the luckiest numbers, the unusual purchases and exactly what happens when you win. "Quick Reads" are exciting, short, fast-paced books by leading, bestselling authors, specifically written for emergent readers and adult learners.
The Weak Made Strong: Enduring tragedy and the battles as a fatherless man
by Colin RooneyAfter enduring tragedy through losing his dad and older brother in a plane crash, Colin’s perfect life was crushed. Through his faith in Jesus he had hope to keep pressing on through the pain. During his junior season of baseball at Pepperdine University, God did some amazing things on the baseball field. From hitting a game-winning walk off homerun while his nephew throughout the first pitch to receiving a Gold Glove Award using his older brother’s glove, these things weren’t coincidences, they were miracles. After Colin’s baseball career he endured many challenges not having his dad around to lead him and help teach him how to be a man. These things he faced were emotional lions that came against him trying to defeat him and keep him from being the man that God created him to be. Through his realness and honesty about his wound and the depression, anxiety, and fear that he has experienced as a fatherless man, Colin hopes to encourage others who are facing similar struggles so that they will see that God wants to use their weaknesses and challenges that they are facing to do great things for His glory.
Weak Thing in Moni Land: The Story of Bill and Gracie Cutts
by William A. CuttsWeak Thing In Moni Land—The Cutts' story is dramatic, humorous and compelling. Hazi Talk! That's what the Moni people of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, call the Christian message. It is the gospel that Bill and Gracie Cutts spent a lifetime proclaiming as missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Suffering from congenital deformities, Bill had every excuse not to become a misionary in the rugged interior of Irian Jaya. But instead he and Gracie carried on a ministry that was truly apostolic—accompanied by miracles and divine providence. But the overwhelming message is that God can use the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And as He chose to use the Cuttses for His purposes, He would be delighted to use you if you are fully surrendered to Him.
Weak Thing in Moni Land: The Story of Bill and Gracie Cutts
by William A. CuttsWeak Thing In Moni Land—The Cutts' story is dramatic, humorous and compelling. Hazi Talk! That's what the Moni people of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, call the Christian message. It is the gospel that Bill and Gracie Cutts spent a lifetime proclaiming as missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Suffering from congenital deformities, Bill had every excuse not to become a misionary in the rugged interior of Irian Jaya. But instead he and Gracie carried on a ministry that was truly apostolic—accompanied by miracles and divine providence. But the overwhelming message is that God can use the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And as He chose to use the Cuttses for His purposes, He would be delighted to use you if you are fully surrendered to Him.
The Weaker Vessel: Women's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England
by Antonia FraserThe renowned historian and biographer Lady Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, investigates the lot of women in seventeenth-century England. Drawing on period diaries, letters, and other papers, Fraser sketches portraits of a variety of women, both highborn and humble, during the tumultuous century between the death of Elizabeth and Queen Anne's assumption of the throne. More than a collection of female biographies, The Weaker Vessel offers fresh insight into its subjects' attitudes and lives, with appearances by heiresses and dairy maids, holy women and prostitutes, criminals and educators, widows and witches, midwives and mothers, heroines, courtesans, prophetesses, businesswomen, ladies of the court, and that new breed, the actress."An almost encyclopedic chronicle of women in 17th century England...wives, warriors, heiresses, preachers... alive with anecdote after anecdote." - The New York Times Book Review
The Wealth of My Mother's Wisdom: The Lessons That Made My Life Rich
by Terrence J."It's amazing how much my mom did on my behalf. As a seventeen-year-old single mom with relatively little support and all the chips stacked against her, she was able to provide an incredible amount of support for me. Her lessons enriched my spirit, my emotions, and my relationship with God."When Lisa, a seventeen-year-old from Queens, New York, found out she was pregnant, she knew she only had one choice—to keep the child and give him the best life she could. That baby was Terrence Jenkins, better known to the world as Terrence J. From hosting gigs on BET's 106 and Park and E! News to roles in some of Hollywood's biggest movies, Terrence J is living a life he could have only imagined when he was a young boy. But it was the lessons he learned from his mother that helped make him a man—lessons about sacrifice, courage, loyalty, dreams, and perseverance. Through her words and her actions, Lisa showed Terrence the right path.From an early age Terrence's mother pushed him to succeed and led by example. Most important, she put her son first—even if it meant leaving behind the only life she had ever known in New York City in search of a safer environment for her son, having the drive to go back to school to learn a new skill, or having the courage to start her own business and build it from the ground up. Her drive eventually became Terrence's drive.Inspirational, funny, current, and down-to-earth, The Wealth of My Mother's Wisdom offers advice for a new generation. With stories, lessons, and advice from one of the top young names in Hollywood, along with input from some of his famous friends like Kevin Hart, Ludacris, T.I., Trey Songz, and Laz Alonso, Terrence J offers a positive, powerful message: with a strong family bond, the possibilities are endless.
Wealth Warrior: 8 Steps for Communities of Color to Conquer the Stock Market
by Linda GarciaThis much-needed conversational guide to the stock market by a financial expert empowers you to heal money wounds, establish financial literacy, and make your money work for you. Financial educator Linda García breaks down one of the most elusive yet effective financial systems in existence. A single mother at a young age, Linda struggled to survive. As bills and eviction notices flowed in, she felt stuck. After getting advice from a work friend, Linda took the leap and invested two hundred dollars. Soon, two hundred dollars a month grew to seven thousand dollars, then that became a high six-figure investment. Now she owns her home and is making more money than she&’d ever imagined, and is ready to help other people of color access stock knowledge and achieve financial success. As a proud Latina, García understands that building wealth can mean more than stepping into financial arenas historically kept from communities of color. It may first require getting to the root of our money wounds—the factors and experiences that limit our capacity to feel deserving of wealth and capable of building it. In this investing playbook, she guides you on how to establish a budget, create your &“opportunity fund,&” and pay yourself first. She shows you how to analyze a company, choose the right stocks for you, and create a plan to multiply your money. You&’ll learn: What it means to invest, where your money goes, and how to read stock charts. How to assess companies, pick your first stock, and buy your first shares. Tactics to break free from a scarcity mindset and grow your stocks to create life-changing wealth. Complete with an accessible glossary of stock market terms, Wealth Warrior is a true primer on how to generate the wealth you deserve!
Wealthy Men Only: The True Story of a Lonely Millionaire, a Gorgeous Younger Woman, and the Love Triangle that Ended in Murder
by Stella SandsThe shocking true crime account of a gold-digging woman’s diabolical and deadly seduction from the award-winning author of The Dating Game Killer.Nanette Johnston’s personal ad made it clear: “I know how to take care of my man if he knows how to take care of me.” Newport Beach millionaire Bill MacLaughlin made the fatal mistake of responding.Within months, the gorgeous twenty-eight-year-old moved in with the middle-aged entrepreneur. Three years later, she began seeing another man on the side, a former NFL linebacker who took a job at a nearby nightclub. Three weeks later, MacLaughin would be dead.He was found lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. Nannette had an alibi—and a million-dollar life insurance policy on the victim. Police discovered she’d embezzled a small fortune from MacLaughlin’s business but didn’t have enough evidence to charge her with murder. For years, the crime went unsolved, until new evidence brought the gold digger and her boyfriend back to the courtroom—in a sordid case of lust, betrayal, greed, and murder . . .
Wear and Tear: The Threads of My Life
by Tracy TynanA candid, entertaining memoir told through clothes.Tracy Peacock Tynan grew up in London in the 1950's and 60s, privy to her parents' glamorous parties and famous friends--Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Orson Welles. Cecil Beaton and Katharine Hepburn were her godparents. Tracy was named after Katherine Hepburn's character, Tracy Lord, in the classic film, The Philadelphia Story. These stylish showbiz people were role models for Tracy, who became a clotheshorse at a young age. Tracy's father, Kenneth Tynan, was a powerful theater critic and writer for the Evening Standard, The Observer, and The New Yorker. Her mother was Elaine Dundy, a successful novelist and biographer, whose works have recently been revived by The New York Review of Books. Both of Tracy's parents, particularly her father, were known as much for what they wore as what they wrote. In the Tynans' social circles, style was essential, and Tracy had firm ideas about her own clothing for as long as she can remember. Shopping was an art passed down through the family; though shopping trips with her mother were so traumatic that Tracy started shopping on her own when she was fourteen. When Tracy started writing about her life she found that clothing was the focus of many of her stories. She recalls her father's dandy attire and her mother's Pucci dresses, as well as her parents' rancorous marriage and divorce, her father's prodigious talents and celebrity lifestyle, and her mother's lifelong struggle with addiction. She tackles issues big and small using clothes as an entrée--relationships, marriage, children, stepchildren, blended families, her parent's decline and deaths, and her work as a costume designer are all recounted with humor, with insight, and with the special joy that can only come from finding the perfect outfit.
Wear Your Dreams: My Life in Tattoos
by Ed Hardy Joel SelvinThe memoir of iconic tattoo artist Ed Hardy from his beginnings in 1960s California, to leading the tattoo renaissance and building his name into a hugely lucrative international brand"Ed Hardy" is emblazoned on everything from t-shirts and hats to perfumes and energy drinks. From LA to Japan, his colorful cross-and-bones designs and ribbon-banners have become internationally ubiquitous. But long before the fashion world discovered his iconic designs, the man behind the eponymous brand spearheaded nothing less than a cultural revolution.In Wear Your Dreams, Ed Hardy recounts his genesis as a tattoo artist and leader in the movement to recognize tattooing as a valid and rich art form, through to the ultimate transformation of his career into a multi-billion dollar branding empire. From giving colored pencil tattoos to neighborhood kids at age ten to working with legendary artists like Sailor Jerry to learning at the feet of the masters in Japan, the book explains how this Godfather of Tattoos fomented the explosion of tattoo art and how his influence can be witnessed on everyone, from countless celebs to ink-adorned rockers to butterfly-branded, stroller-pushing moms. With over fifty different product categories, the Ed Hardy brand generates over $700 million in retail sales annually. Vividly packaged with original Ed Hardy artwork and ideal for ink devotees and Ed Hardy aficionados alike, Wear Your Dreams is a never-before-seen look at the tattoo artist who rocked the art world and has left a permanent mark on fashion history.
Wearing the Green Beret: A Canadian with the Royal Marine Commandos
by Jake OlafsenIn 2004, Jake Olafsen signed up for the Royal Marines Commandos. He left everything behind at home in Canada on the basis of a spur-of-the-moment decision. The Royal Marines have the toughest and longest basic training of any infantry unit in the world. For Olafson, this meant eight months of wet and cold in England and Wales. It was hell, but he came out with the four Commando qualities that the corps look for: courage, determination, unselfishness, cheerfulness in the face of adversity.Olafsen went on to serve for four years as a Commando in the Royal Marines, an elite military unit based in the United Kingdom. He went to Afghanistan twice: in 2006, he went to confront the Taliban in Helmand Province for six months, and in 2007, he was sent to do it all over again. His story is filled with good experiences, like the sense of accomplishment, patriotism, and camaraderie, and the opportunity to travel the world. But all good things come at a price. The sacrifices he made for the Corps are significant; he has killed the enemy and he has buried his friends. And in telling his story, Olafsen hopes that he can make sense of it all. This is an honest, gutsy story about the mud and the blood, the triumphs and the tragedies.From the Hardcover edition.
Weary: King of the River
by Sue EburyIn a wartime nightmare of starvation, disease, brutality and death, Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's courage and compassion made him an Australian legend. During more than three years as a surgeon in the notorious work camps and vast hospital camps along the Burma-Thailand railway, he worked tirelessly to save lives and get men home to their families. He confronted his captors fearlessly; three times he was tortured and taken out to be executed, only to be reprieved at the last moment. Fellow prisoners regarded him as 'a symbol of hope and a rock'. This new, illustrated biography of Weary includes more than 150 images as well as never-before-published material about his betrayal to his captors. Weary was the quintessential Australian all-rounder-brilliant student, outstanding sportsman and irrepressible larrikin who dedicated his life to caring for people. When he died in July 1993, 10 000 people stood silently to farewell the most honoured medical man in Australia. By then, this great humanitarian's influence had spread far beyond the veteran community to embrace the entire nation.
Weasel Tail: Stories Told By Joe Crowshoe Sr, A Peigan-blackfoot Elder
by Michael RossPeigan elders Joe and Josephine Crowshoe belonged to a generation still bright with the traditional knowledge and deep memories of their grandparents. They lived under a paternalistic government system that denied them their language, culture, and religion. They reclaimed their heritage and shared it with the larger community, receiving honours for their work and lifetime commitment as articulate representatives of Peigan stories, spirituality, and ceremonial practices. Weaving interviews together with archival photographs and documentation, interviewer Michael Ross tracks not only the life history of Joe and Josephine Crowshoe but also records stories of their culture. Weasel Tail opens a window onto a world and people who form a part of Alberta's history... and future.
The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman's Memoirs
by Urmila Pawar"My mother used to weave aaydans, the Marathi generic term for all things made from bamboo. I find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. The weave is similar. It is the weave of pain, suffering, and agony that links us."Activist and award-winning writer Urmila Pawar recounts three generations of Dalit women who struggled to overcome the burden of their caste. Dalits, or untouchables, make up India's poorest class. Forbidden from performing anything but the most undesirable and unsanitary duties, for years Dalits were believed to be racially inferior and polluted by nature and were therefore forced to live in isolated communities.Pawar grew up on the rugged Konkan coast, near Mumbai, where the Mahar Dalits were housed in the center of the village so the upper castes could summon them at any time. As Pawar writes, "the community grew up with a sense of perpetual insecurity, fearing that they could be attacked from all four sides in times of conflict. That is why there has always been a tendency in our people to shrink within ourselves like a tortoise and proceed at a snail's pace." Pawar eventually left Konkan for Mumbai, where she fought for Dalit rights and became a major figure in the Dalit literary movement. Though she writes in Marathi, she has found fame in all of India. In this frank and intimate memoir, Pawar not only shares her tireless effort to surmount hideous personal tragedy but also conveys the excitement of an awakening consciousness during a time of profound political and social change.
Web of Friendship: Selected Letters (1928-1973)
by Christina Stead'I am not a born writer, but I must say that when I have actually launched myself I get the profoundest and most passionate satisfaction from writing.'—Christina SteadA Web of Friendship is a collection of Christina Stead's intimate correspondence with influential literary figures such as Stanley Burnshaw, Ettore Rella, Nettie Palmer, Clem Christesen, Elizabeth Harrower and A.D. Hope.These letters span the life of one of Australia's most illustrious writers, offering a rare insight into the relationships that influenced and sustained her work. They reveal Stead's reflections on the art of literature, the development of her political thought, and the significance of a handful of friendships that would endure throughout her life and career.The letters cover Stead's arrival in England in 1928, as well as her time abroad in Europe and the United States. They also detail her marriage to William Blake, their life in England where they settled in 1953, as well as her brief return to Australia and her final years in England following Blake's death.
Webspinner: Songs, Stories, and Reflections of Duncan Williamson, Scottish Traveller
by John D. NilesBorn in 1928 in a tent on the shore of Loch Fyne, Argyll, Duncan Williamson (d. 2007) eventually came to be recognized as one of the foremost storytellers in Scotland and the world. Webspinner: Songs, Stories, and Reflections of Duncan Williamson, Scottish Traveller is based on more than a hundred hours of tape-recorded interviews undertaken with him in the 1980s. Williamson tells of his birth and upbringing in the west of Scotland, his family background as one of Scotland’s seminomadic travelling people, his varied work experiences after setting out from home at about age fifteen, and the challenges he later faced while raising a family of his own, living on the road for half the year. The recordings on which the book is based were made by John D. Niles, who was then an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Niles has transcribed selections from his field tapes with scrupulous accuracy, arranging them alongside commentary, photos, and other scholarly aids, making this priceless self-portrait of a brilliant storyteller available to the public. The result is a delight to read. It is also a mine of information concerning a vanished way of life and the place of singing and storytelling in Traveller culture. In chapters that feature many colorful anecdotes and that mirror the spontaneity of oral delivery, readers learn much about how Williamson and other members of his persecuted minority had the resourcefulness to make a living on the outskirts of society, owning very little in the way of material goods but sustained by a rich oral heritage.