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When I Passed the Statue of Liberty I Became Black
by Harry Edward"Harry Edward was a hugely talented athlete and an extraordinary man who fought all his life for justice and fairness in the face of repeated prejudice. His story is as powerful today as it was when he lived it and I urge everyone to read this book&”—Linford Christie, 1992 Olympic 100m Champion The lost memoir of Britain&’s first Black Olympic medal winner—and the America he discovered After winning Olympic medals for Britain in 1920, Harry Edward (1898–1973) decided to try his luck in America. The country he found was full of thrilling opportunity and pervasive racism. Immensely capable and energetic, Harry rubbed shoulders with kings and presidents, was influential in the revival of Black theatre during the Harlem Renaissance, and became a passionate humanitarian and advocate for child welfare. He was present at some of the twentieth century&’s most significant moments, worked alongside W. E. B. Du Bois and Orson Welles, and witnessed two world wars and the civil rights movement. Yet he was frustrated at almost every turn. Toward the end of his life he set down his story, crafting this memoir of athletics and activism, race and racism on both sides of the Atlantic. His manuscript went unpublished until now. This is the deeply engaging tale of Edward&’s life—and a moving testament to his drive to form a better world.
When I Spoke in Tongues: A Story of Faith and Its Loss
by Jessica WilbanksA memoir of the profound destabilization that comes from losing one's faith--and a young woman's journey to reconcile her lack of belief with her love for her deeply religious family.Growing up in poverty in the rural backwoods of southern Maryland, the Pentecostal church was at the core of Jessica Wilbanks' family life. At sixteen, driven by a desire to discover the world, Jessica walked away from the church--trading her faith for freedom, and driving a wedge between her and her deeply religious family. But fundamentalist faiths haunt their adherents long after belief fades--former believers frequently live in limbo, straddling two world views and trying to reconcile their past and present. Ten years later, struggling with guilt and shame, Jessica began a quest to recover her faith. It led her to West Africa, where she explored the Yorùbá roots of the Pentecostal faith, and was once again swept up by the promises and power of the church. After a terrifying car crash, she finally began the difficult work of forgiving herself for leaving the church and her family and finding her own path.When I Spoke in Tongues is a story of the painful and complicated process of losing one's faith and moving across class divides. And in the end, it's a story of how a family splintered by dogmatic faith can eventually be knit together again through love.
When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man
by Jerry Weintraub Rich CohenA fast talking wise-guy from the Bronx, Weintraub became a millionaire by handling some of the biggest acts in show biz, most notably Elvis and Frank. The stories in this work will speak to anyone who's ever had a dream and the moxie to make it happen.
When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man
by Jerry Weintraub Rich CohenHere is the story of Jerry Weintraub: the self-made, Brooklyn-born, Bronx-raised impresario, Hollywood producer, legendary deal maker, and friend of politicians and stars. No matter where nature has placed him--the club rooms of Brooklyn, the Mafia dives of New York's Lower East Side, the wilds of Alaska, or the hills of Hollywood--he has found a way to put on a show and sell tickets at the door. "All life was a theater and I wanted to put it up on a stage," he writes. "I wanted to set the world under a marquee that read: 'Jerry Weintraub Presents.'"In WHEN I STOP TALKING, YOU'LL KNOW I'M DEAD, we follow Weintraub from his first great success at age twenty-six with Elvis Presley, whom he took on the road with the help of Colonel Tom Parker; to the immortal days with Sinatra and Rat Pack glory; to his crowning hits as a movie producer, starting with Robert Altman and Nashville, continuing with Oh, God!, The Karate Kid movies, and Diner, among others, and summiting with Steven Soderbergh and Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen.Along the way, we'll watch as Jerry moves from the poker tables of Palm Springs (the games went on for days), to the power rooms of Hollywood, to the halls of the White House, to Red Square in Moscow and the Great Palace in Beijing-all the while counseling potentates, poets, and kings, with clients and confidants like George Clooney, Bruce Willis, George H. W. Bush, Armand Hammer, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, John Denver, Bobby Fischer . . .well, the list goes on forever.And of course, the story is not yet over . . .as the old-timers say, "The best is yet to come."As Weintraub says, "When I stop talking, you'll know I'm dead."With wit, wisdom, and the cool confidence that has colored his remarkable career, Jerry chronicles a quintessentially American journey, one marked by luck, love, and improvisation. The stories he tells and the lessons we learn are essential, not just for those who love movies and music, but for businessmen, entrepreneurs, artists . . . everyone.
When I Was a Boy in China
by Richard V. Lee Yan Phou LeeThis book was originally published in the late nineteenth century. The author tells the story of his boyhood in China.
When I Was a Child I Read Books
by Marilynne RobinsonWhen I Was a Child I Read Books' tackles the charged political and social climate in this country, the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith, and the nature of individualism and the myth of the American West.
When I Was a Girl
by Alison PolletDiscover the defining moments and fondest memories of some of the world's most celebrated women!Based on the popular WE: Women's Entertainment television series and featuring an introduction by famed television journalist and author Linda Ellerbee,When I Was a Girlpresents a collection of timeless girlhood tales. Extraordinary women from the worlds of politics, sports, entertainment, literature, music, and beyond relive the early moments that shaped them: the first friendships and academic pitfalls, the consuming crushes and favorite outfits. These are some of the remarkable women who offer a glimpse into what inspired them when they were girls:Gillian AndersonIndia. ArieCandice BergenEllen BurstynCandace BushnellAnn CurryEllen DeGeneresIlleana DouglasMarian Wright EdelmanMelissa EtheridgeEdie FalcoFionnula FlanaganSue GraftonDenyce GravesMelanie GriffithCherry JonesGladys KnightLisa LeslieSusan LucciWendie MalickRita MorenoDee Dee MyersCynthia NixonElizabeth PerkinsKelly PrestonAnna QuindlenSally RideMichelle RodriguezAmy SedarisJamie-Lynn SiglerMary SteenburgenLee Ann WomackAnd many more!Here are cherished memories, evocative and insightful, for every woman who recalls fondly what she was like. . . when she was a girl. For more information on WE: Women's Entertainment and the seriesWhen I Was a Girllog on to www. we. tv.
When I Was a Nipper: The Way We Were in Disappearing Britain
by Alan TitchmarshIn When I Was a Nipper Alan Titchmarsh goes on a personal and nostalgic journey through post-War Britain in search of treasured values and traditions that were once the soul of society. With characteristic wit, warmth and humour he draws on the experience of his own childhood, and also takes a broader perspective, creating a wonderfully detailed and evocative portrait of a way of life that is fast disappearing, and asks what can we learn from this era of austerity to make our lives better today?Born in Yorkshire in 1949 and brought up in a Britain still recovering from World War 2, Alan remembers a time of relative calm, when it was enough to return home at night knowing that the house would still be standing. We were known throughout the world for our patience, resourcefulness and resilience. 'Mustn't grumble' was almost a national catchphrase, and queuing was second nature. Peppered with wonderful archive photographs and advertisements, When I Was a Nipper takes us back to those days, down high streets and through farmyards, on to trolley buses and into local pubs. As we move towards a global economy, as communities fragment and customs are lost, When I Was a Nipper captures a world that is fast receding into history. It's powerfully nostalgic for those who remember those days, but it's also Alan's timely call to all recession-hit Brits to heed the lessons of austerity Britain: 'make do and mend'; 'look on the bright side' and 'take the knocks on the chin'.
When I Was a Photographer
by Felix NadarThe first complete English translation of Nadar's intelligent and witty memoir, a series of vignettes that capture his experiences in the early days of photography.Celebrated nineteenth-century photographer—and writer, actor, caricaturist, inventor, and balloonist—Félix Nadar published this memoir of his photographic life in 1900 at the age of eighty. Composed as a series of vignettes (we might view them as a series of “written photographs”), this intelligent and witty book offers stories of Nadar's experiences in the early years of photography, memorable character sketches, and meditations on history. It is a classic work, cited by writers from Walter Benjamin to Rosalind Krauss. This is its first and only complete English translation.In When I Was a Photographer (Quand j'étais photographe), Nadar tells us about his descent into the sewers and catacombs of Paris, where he experimented with the use of artificial lighting, and his ascent into the skies over Paris in a hot air balloon, from which he took the first aerial photographs. He recounts his “postal photography” during the 1870-1871 Siege of Paris—an amazing scheme involving micrographic images and carrier pigeons. He describes technical innovations and important figures in photography, and offers a thoughtful consideration of society and culture; but he also writes entertainingly about such matters as Balzac's terror of being photographed, the impact of a photograph on a celebrated murder case, and the difference between male and female clients. Nadar's memoir captures, as surely as his photographs, traces of a vanished era.
When I Was a Photographer
by Felix Nadar Eduardo Cadava Liana TheodoratouCelebrated nineteenth-century photographer -- and writer, actor, caricaturist, inventor, and balloonist -- Félix Nadar published this memoir of his photographic life in 1900 at the age of eighty. Composed as a series of vignettes (we might view them as a series of "written photographs"), this intelligent and witty book offers stories of Nadar's experiences in the early years of photography, memorable character sketches, and meditations on history. It is a classic work, cited by writers from Walter Benjamin to Rosalind Krauss. This is its first and only complete English translation. In When I Was a Photographer (Quand j'étais photographe), Nadar tells us about his descent into the sewers and catacombs of Paris, where he experimented with the use of artificial lighting, and his ascent into the skies over Paris in a hot air balloon, from which he took the first aerial photographs. He recounts his "postal photography" during the 1870-1871 Siege of Paris -- an amazing scheme involving micrographic images and carrier pigeons. He describes technical innovations and important figures in photography, and offers a thoughtful consideration of society and culture; but he also writes entertainingly about such matters as Balzac's terror of being photographed, the impact of a photograph on a celebrated murder case, and the difference between male and female clients. Nadar's memoir captures, as surely as his photographs, traces of a vanished era.
When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Norman R. YetmanMore than 2,000 interviews with former slaves, who, in blunt, simple language, provide often-startling first-person accounts of their lives in bondage. Includes some of the most detailed, compelling, and engrossing life histories in the Slave Narrative Collection, a project funded by the U.S. Government. An illuminating source of information.
When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School
by Sam KashnerFirst student of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Sam Kashner tells with humor and grace his life with the Beats. But the best story is Kashner himself -- the coming-of-age of a young man in the chaotic world of the very idols he hoped to emulate.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
When I Was Old
by Helen Eustis Georges SimenonAn intimate inside look at the mind of Georges Simenon, immortalized here in his journals.In the 1960s, Simenon bought three leather-bound journals, planning to leave a record of his life and career for his sons. He was 57 years old, a best-selling author, and happily married for many years, and in these journals he began to reflect on the complexities of aging, relationships, and the life of a writer. When I Was Old, a collection of these writings, is an essential read for any fan of this prolific literary voice.From the Trade Paperback edition.
When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
by Esmeralda SantiagoOne of "The Best Memoirs of a Generation" (Oprah's Book Club): a young woman's journey from the mango groves and barrios of Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, and eventually on to Harvard In a childhood full of tropical beauty and domestic strife, poverty and tenderness, Esmeralda Santiago learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of tree frogs, the taste of morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby's soul to heaven. But when her mother, Mami, a force of nature, takes off to New York with her seven, soon to be eleven children, Esmeralda, the oldest, must learn new rules, a new language, and eventually a new identity. In the first of her three acclaimed memoirs, Esmeralda brilliantly recreates her tremendous journey from the idyllic landscape and tumultuous family life of her earliest years, to translating for her mother at the welfare office, and to high honors at Harvard.
When I Was Someone Else: The Incredible True Story of Past Life Connection
by Stéphane AllixA journalist&’s profound investigation into the reality behind an intense waking vision and the search for healing after death • Details the author&’s vivid waking vision of a dying German soldier in World War II and how he discovered the soldier was a real person, including his research into German military archives and meeting the man&’s surviving family members • Explores synchronicities, reincarnation, and communication across the veil between life and death • Reveals how the author helped the dead soldier find forgiveness and healing While on a spiritual retreat in Peru, journalist Stéphane Allix experienced a vivid waking vision of a soldier dying on a snowy battlefield, followed by scenes from the soldier&’s earlier life. He also clearly saw the man&’s name, Alexander Herrmann, and felt a disturbing sense of closeness with the soldier. Obsessed by the power of this extremely real vision, Allix began an intensive investigation that revealed this individual had actually existed: a German soldier who died in World War II during the 1941 Russian campaign. As he began retracing Herrmann&’s past, he found that the other images accompanying the battle scene were also of people who had truly existed and were close to the man who died. Diving deep into German military archives, meeting the man&’s surviving family members, and following his own intuitive hunches, the author also discovered that the soldier was part of the Waffen S.S., the infamous Totenkopf Brigade, and his investigation broadened to explore what drove Herrmann to become part of such an organization. While Allix&’s initial impression is that this German soldier was a past life, as he progresses in his rigorous investigation and his decoding of the events surrounding it, he realizes that it was actually his own work with the paranormal and his unresolved feelings over the death of his brother and his father that made him particularly sensitive to the veil between life and death, culminating in the soul of this dead soldier coming to him in search of forgiveness and healing. Allix realizes that his mission is not to bring about the rebirth of this person but to heal him--and the victims of his ignominious actions during the war. Offering a fascinating exploration of visions, synchronicities, reincarnation, and the connections between the spiritual and physical planes, When I Was Someone Else shares a powerful message of healing after death along with the profound epiphany that light needs darkness to be perceived.
When I Was White: A Memoir
by Sarah ValentineThe stunning and provocative coming-of-age memoir about Sarah Valentine's childhood as a white girl in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, and her discovery that her father was a black man.At the age of 27, Sarah Valentine discovered that she was not, in fact, the white girl she had always believed herself to be. She learned the truth of her paternity: that her father was a black man. And she learned the truth about her own identity: mixed race.And so Sarah began the difficult and absorbing journey of changing her identity from white to black. In this memoir, Sarah details the story of the discovery of her identity, how she overcame depression to come to terms with this identity, and, perhaps most importantly, asks: why? Her entire family and community had conspired to maintain her white identity. The supreme discomfort her white family and community felt about addressing issues of race–her race–is a microcosm of race relationships in America.A black woman who lived her formative years identifying as white, Sarah's story is a kind of Rachel Dolezal in reverse, though her "passing" was less intentional than conspiracy. This memoir is an examination of the cost of being black in America, and how one woman threw off the racial identity she'd grown up with, in order to embrace a new one.
When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown
by Kenan ThompsonWhen I Was Your Age is a hilarious, heartwarming and surprising ode to growing up, getting older and wiser, and luck, life, and learning from the school of hard knocks, from SNL's longest-serving actor, Kenan ThompsonKenan Thompson is Saturday Night Live’s longest-ever-serving cast member and a star of such pioneering sketches as “Black Jeopardy” and is hugely beloved thanks to a tidal wave of nostalgic fans who grew up on early 2000s classics All That, Good Burger, and Kenan & Kel on Nickelodeon.He’s also a dad (to two girls) in his mid-40s living in suburbia, and whose universal, relatable, family-friendly humor has created unbelievable appeal and engagement from fans from middle America to coastal elites. Becoming a dad sucked the cool right out of him -- and he's OK with that!When I Was Your Age is packed with hilarious yet poignant essays that are aimed to offer any reader valuable advice on parenting, focusing on positivity, and having fun in life. Kids, new parents, fellow fathers, budding comics, and aunties who want to pinch his cheeks, can all learn from his biggest mistakes and most triumphant victories. There’s something for everybody here!
When I Wished upon a Star: From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts
by Brandon Lane Phillips Jeremy James MillerGrowing up as a patient with congenital heart disease, Brandon Lane Phillips often felt alone. He knew no one else who had his heart condition and believed no one understood his condition. Brandon believed he would die young. Like many congenital heart patients, he wondered if he would have a long life. It is only natural to question one’s mortality when open-heart surgery is what enabled you to survive childhood.Brandon worried that his heart defect caused his parents’ divorce and questioned just how much his illness had affected his siblings since so much extra attention was devoted to him. He longed to have the type of close relationship with his father that he saw on many of his favorite TV shows.At 11 years of age, he was so desperate to find answers that he asked God to show him that He loved him. Soon after, he received a wish to meet child actor Jeremy Miller from TV’s Growing Pains. Brandon had wished to meet him because he envied his “perfect” fictional family. After one of the show’s stars told Brandon that God had a plan for his life, Brandon left the set that evening feeling that the trip had been orchestrated as an answer to his prayer.There are several God-like coincidences that occur along Brandon’s path of becoming a pediatric cardiologist. Many times when Brandon would face a life experience big enough to shake his faith, an improbable experience would occur that would remind him of his wish and God’s answer to his prayer. Throughout his career, he would encounter other patients who felt alone and had questions about their own mortality.Brandon chose medicine as his profession because he greatly admired his childhood pediatric cardiologist. And even though a need for a second open-heart surgery at the beginning of medical school threatened Brandon’s dream of becoming a physician, he would ultimately be trained by the very physicians who had cared for him.Brandon’s journey of hope found within the pages of When I Wished Upon a Star is a story of giving back and finding purpose in life through the intervention of God’s great grace and perfect timing.The other life examined in this book belongs to Jeremy Miller, child actor, celebrity wish, and the friend who played an important role in Brandon’s journey. Brandon’s life truly changed forever after having met Jeremy on the television set of Growing Pains.While Brandon was dealing with his struggles, so too was Jeremy. In When I Wished Upon a Star, Jeremy shares “secrets” from his childhood that have previously gone untold. It would be easy to say that Jeremy was a child star, and that historically, most child stars aren’t expected to have a good end. Still Jeremy’s secrets shocked Brandon and brought him to tears. They also shed light on the reason for Jeremy’s battle with alcohol. Brandon would learn that Jeremy, too, envied the life that his fictional character lived. And so when the TV show ended, Jeremy almost did too.At the time of his wish, only God could have predicted how Brandon’s life and those of the stars of his favorite TV show would intertwine in the decades to follow; no one could have foreseen that a wish made by a young boy would give both he and Jeremy hope for their future and help them find purpose in the lives they were created for by a loving God--lives that would live on despite troubles and despair.Brandon was meant to use the experiences of his childhood to help others. It is the only way to explain how his life has come full circle time and time again.
When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine
by Barron H. LernerOutstanding Academic Title, 2007, Choice magazineSteve McQueen had cancer and was keeping it secret. Then the media found out, and soon all of America knew. McQueen’s high profile changed forever the way the public perceived a dreaded disease. In When Illness Goes Public, Barron H. Lerner describes the evolution of celebrities' illnesses from private matters to stories of great public interest. Famous people who have become symbols of illness include Lou Gehrig, the first "celebrity patient"; Rita Hayworth, whose Alzheimer disease went undiagnosed for years; and Arthur Ashe, who courageously went public with his AIDS diagnosis before the media could reveal his secret. And then there are private citizens like Barney Clark, the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, and Lorenzo Odone, whose neurological disorder became the subject of a Hollywood film. While celebrity illnesses have helped to inform patients about treatment options, ethical controversies, and scientific proof, the stories surrounding these illnesses have also assumed mythical characteristics that may be misleading. Marrying great storytelling to an exploration of the intersection of science, journalism, fame, and legend, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of health and illness.
When in French: Love in a Second Language
by Lauren CollinsA language barrier is no match for love. Lauren Collins discovered this firsthand when, in her early thirties, she moved to London and fell for a Frenchman named Olivier--a surprising turn of events for someone who didn't have a passport until she was in college. But what does it mean to love someone in a second language? Collins wonders, as her relationship with Olivier continues to grow entirely in English. Are there things she doesn't understand about Olivier, having never spoken to him in his native tongue? Does "I love you" even mean the same thing as "je t'aime"? When the couple, newly married, relocates to Francophone Geneva, Collins--fearful of one day becoming "a Borat of a mother" who doesn't understand her own kids--decides to answer her questions for herself by learning French. When in French is a laugh-out-loud funny and surprising memoir about the lengths we go to for love, as well as an exploration across culture and history into how we learn languages--and what they say about who we are. Collins grapples with the complexities of the French language, enduring excruciating role-playing games with her classmates at a Swiss language school and accidently telling her mother-in-law that she's given birth to a coffee machine. In learning French, Collins must wrestle with the very nature of French identity and society--which, it turns out, is a far cry from life back home in North Carolina. Plumbing the mysterious depths of humanity's many forms of language, Collins describes with great style and wicked humor the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises, and, finally, joys of learning--and living in--French.From the Hardcover edition.
When in Rome: Chasing la dolce vita
by Penelope GreenWe've all dreamed of a new exotic life in a European city, but who actually goes? The delightful and award-winning WHEN IN ROME shows what can happen when you are courageous - and perhaps crazy - enough to chase this dream. With her thirtieth birthday on the horizon and a safe and comfortable life in Sydney outside her front door, Penelope Green decided it was now or never. Undaunted by the fact she spoke absolutely no Italian, had no job, no friends and nowhere to live and armed only with an Italian/English dictionary, irresistible optimism and a fair dash of bravery, she was determined to carve out her own slice of la dolce vita.
When It Gets Dark
by Thomas DebaggioWith his first memoir,Losing My Mind, Thomas DeBaggio stunned readers by laying bare his faltering mind in a haunting and beautiful meditation on the centrality of memory to human life, and on his loss of it to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In this second extraordinary narrative, he confronts the ultimate loss: that of life. And as only DeBaggio could, he treats death as something to honor, to marvel at, to learn from. Charting the progression of his disease with breathtaking honesty, DeBaggio deftly describes the frustration, grief, and terror of grappling with his deteriorating intellectual faculties. Even more affecting, the prose itself masterfully represents the mental vicissitudes of his disease -- DeBaggio's fragments of memory, observation, and rumination surface and subside in the reader's experience much as they might in his own mind. His frank, lilting voice and abundant sense of wonder bind these fragments into a fluid and poetic portrait of life and loss. Over the course of the book, DeBaggio revisits many of the people, places, and events of his life, both in his memory and in fact. In a sense, he is saying goodbye, paying his respects to the world as it recedes from him -- and it is a poignant irony that even as this happens, he is at the height of his remarkable descriptive powers. In his moments of clarity, his love for life's details only grows deeper and richer: the limestone creek where he has fished for years; his satisfying and lonely herb farming days; the goldfish pond his son designed and built in his backyard in honor of DeBaggio's passion for "any hole in the ground with some liquid in it"; the thirty years in his beloved home in Arlington, Virginia; his early career as a muckraker; the innumerable precious moments spent with his wife and son; his belated grief over his parents' deaths. Adeptly navigating between elegy and celebration, fear and determination, confusion and clarity, DeBaggio delivers an exquisitely moving and inspiring book that will resonate with all those who have grappled with their own or their loved ones' memory loss and with death.
When It Gets Dark: An Enlightened Reflection on Life with Alzheimer's
by Thomas DeBaggioAdeptly navigating between elegy and celebration, fear and determination, confusion and clarity, DeBaggio delivers an exquisitely moving and inspiring book that will resonate with all those who have grappled with their own or their loved ones' memory loss and with death.With his first memoir, Losing My Mind, Thomas DeBaggio stunned readers by laying bare his faltering mind in a haunting and beautiful meditation on the centrality of memory to human life, and on his loss of it to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In this second extraordinary narrative, he confronts the ultimate loss: that of life. And as only DeBaggio could, he treats death as something to honor, to marvel at, to learn from. Charting the progression of his disease with breathtaking honesty, DeBaggio deftly describes the frustration, grief, and terror of grappling with his deteriorating intellectual faculties. Even more affecting, the prose itself masterfully represents the mental vicissitudes of his disease—DeBaggio's fragments of memory, observation, and rumination surface and subside in the reader's experience much as they might in his own mind. His frank, lilting voice and abundant sense of wonder bind these fragments into a fluid and poetic portrait of life and loss. Over the course of the book, DeBaggio revisits many of the people, places, and events of his life, both in his memory and in fact. In a sense, he is saying goodbye, paying his respects to the world as it recedes from him—and it is a poignant irony that even as this happens, he is at the height of his remarkable descriptive powers. In his moments of clarity, his love for life's details only grows deeper and richer: the limestone creek where he has fished for years; his satisfying and lonely herb farming days; the goldfish pond his son designed and built in his backyard in honor of DeBaggio's passion for "any hole in the ground with some liquid in it"; the thirty years in his beloved home in Arlington, Virginia; his early career as a muckraker; the innumerable precious moments spent with his wife and son; his belated grief over his parents' deaths.
When It Was Our War: A Soldier's Wife on the Home Front
by Stella SubermanWhen Stella Suberman wrote her first memoir, The Jew Store, at the age of seventy-six, she was widely praised for shedding light on a forgotten piece of American history--Jewish life in the rural South. In her new memoir, Suberman reveals yet another overlooked aspect of America's past--the domestic side of war. Her story begins in the Miami Beach she grew up in, when hotel signs boasted "Always a View, Never a Jew" and where a passenger ship lingered just off shore carrying hundreds of European Jews hoping for--but never finding--sanctuary. It was a time of innocence, before that war in Europe became our war. Stella was nineteen when America entered the fighting. By the time she was twenty-three, the war was over. She married Jack Suberman the week he enlisted and set out alone to join him in California. She was kicked off trains to make room for soldiers, her luggage was stolen, she was arrested for soliciting, but she was determined to follow her husband. And she did so for the next four years as he was sent from air base to air base, first training to be a bombardier and then training others. It wasn't until he was sent overseas to fly combat missions that she finally went back home to wait, as did so many other soldier's wives. This remarkable memoir renders a double understanding of war--of how it matured a young woman and how it matured a country. By personalizing the patriotism of the 1940s, Stella Suberman's story becomes the story of all military wives and serves as a powerful reminder of how differently many Americans feel about war sixty years later.
When It's Your Turn to Serve: Experiencing God's Grace in His Calling for Your Life
by Karen PenceLife is full of unexpected obstacles, but there’s no challenge too big for God to handle. Washington D.C. is crammed with people eager to bend your ear about statistics, polls, and policies. Karen Pence is more likely to talk about beekeeping—if she’s not busy teaching an art class, painting watercolors, or riding her bike.An elementary schoolteacher who never expected to leave Indiana, Karen found during her extraordinary journey to becoming Second Lady that—despite the turbulence inherent to political campaigning, and through eighteen moves and countless surprises—God’s grace was sufficient.When It’s Your Turn to Serve is full of heartwarming and relatable stories of being a leader, a teacher, a mom, and a Christian throughout an unpredictable life. From turning up to “Pet Night” on Capitol Hill toting a lizard, two cats, and a dog—only to find it was an event for lobbyists—to getting the unexpected news that her husband had become Donald Trump’s nominee for vice president, Karen has learned to take surprises in stride. In this warm and deeply personal book, the former second lady shares the lessons she’s learned about God, faith, and family. Brimming with stories that mattered but didn’t make the headlines, the book challenges you to be open when opportunities arise, recognize your purpose in God’s plan, and step up to make a difference when it’s your turn.