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The Wild Other: A memoir of love, adventure and how to be brave
by Clover StroudClover Stroud's idyllic childhood in rural England was shattered when a horrific riding accident left her mother permanently brain-damaged. Just sixteen, she embarked on a journey to find the sense of home that had been so savagely broken. Travelling from gypsy camps in Ireland, to the rodeos of west Texas and then to Russia's war-torn Caucasus, Clover eventually found her way back to England's lyrical Vale of the White Horse.The Wild Other is a grippingly honest account of love, loss, family and the healing strength of nature. Powerful and deeply emotional, this is the story of an extraordinary life lived at its fullest.(P) 2017 Hodder & Stoughton
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story ... with Wings
by Mark BittnerTrue story of the flock of wild parrots who live in San Francisco's Telegraph Hill, and the man who became a local expert on them. When Judith Irving made a documentary about Mark and the parrots, his life took a surprising turn.
A Wild Path
by Douglas WoodA soul-satisfying journey through the wilderness that uncovers hope, healing, and the abiding grace of wild things A Wild Path is author Douglas Wood&’s highly anticipated followup to the critically acclaimed memoir Deep Woods, Wild Waters. He again leads readers along a meditative path through a wilderness of many dimensions—from the lakes and islands of his beloved Canoe Country to rugged ocean coasts to a mountain chasm, from camping on the Canadian Shield to listening to the soft strains of Beethoven in the pines, and from the pain of childhood wounds to appreciation for a life rich with nature. As on every good journey, there is plenty of laughter, warmth, and humor on the trail. With the generosity and compassion of a good wilderness guide, Douglas Wood welcomes readers to accompany him as he navigates his life-path from struggling student and &“worst reader in the class&” to prolific writer and best-selling author. He offers courage and hope to those who feel different or left behind, and he shares how he found, through the counsel of rocks, trees, and waters, his own way toward joy and wonder and an unshakable sense of belonging. Exploring the meanings of myriad outdoor experiences, Wood seeks to understand the importance and existence of beauty, the emotional poignancy of a wilderness sunset, and the realization of dreams, while also honoring his outdoor and literary mentors, including Sigurd Olson and Aldo Leopold. Traveling across continents, over oceans, and through the landscape of time, A Wild Path ranges from solitary shorelines of introspection to peaks of triumph, finding rest and tranquility in a simple cup of jasmine tea, sipped by a campfire under the stars.
A Wild Perfection: The Selected Letters of James Wright
by James WrightThe life and work of a major American poet described in his own words."There is something about the very form and occasion of a letter--the possibility it offers, the chance to be as open and tentative and uncertain as one likes and also the chance to formulate certain ideas, very precisely--if one is lucky in one's thoughts," wrote James Wright, one of the great lyric poets of the last century, in a letter to a friend. A Wild Perfection is a compelling collection that captures the exhilarating and moving correspondence between Wright and his many friends. In letters to fellow poets Donald Hall, Theodore Roethke, Galway Kinnell, James Dickey, Mary Oliver, and Robert Bly, Wright explored subjects from his creative process to his struggles with depression and illness.A bright thread of wit, gallantry, and passion for describing his travels and his beloved natural world runs through these letters, which begin in 1946 in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, the hometown he would memorialize in verse, and end in New York City, where he lived for the last fourteen years of his life. Selected Letters is no less than an epistolary chronicle of a significant part of the midcentury American poetry renaissance, as well as the clearest biographical picture now available of a major American poet.
Wild Pitches: Extra Innings from Out of My League
by Dirk Hayhurst"Dirk Hayhurst has done it again...Turns out he's a starter and a closer."--Tim Kurkjian, ESPNAs a major and not-so-major league pitcher, Dirk Hayhurst has learned to master more than striking out batters. While waiting for his name to be called in the bullpen, he honed his gifts as a storyteller, one the New York Times calls the "best writer in a baseball uniform." In this often hilarious collection of adventures on and off the diamond, Dirk details the intricacies of pulling off an epic team prank, even if it's at his own expense; the art of creating the perfect professional baseball nickname; his comically ineffective attempts at writing romance novels; and the bizarre tale in which a bear gets punched in the face (yes, really). No matter how wild his story, Dirk proves once again he knows that it's all in the delivery."I find his writing both entertaining and thought provoking...unlike his fastball."--Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays All-Star "Dirk Hayhurst writes about baseball in a unique way. Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious." --Bob Costas"Hayhurst delivers an entertaining story for more than just sports fans."--Jordan Bastian, MLB.com"Hayhurst explains life in the minors and the major leagues like you've never read it before."--J. J. Cooper, Baseball America"Insight and humor from the pitcher's mound."--Businessweek51,300 Words.
Wild Rescues: A Paramedic's Extreme Adventures in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton
by Kevin GrangeWild Rescues is a fast-paced, firsthand glimpse into the exciting lives of paramedics who work with the National Park Service: a unique brand of park rangers who respond to medical and traumatic emergencies in some of the most isolated and dangerous parts of America. In 2014, Kevin Grange left his job as a paramedic in Los Angeles to work in a response area with 2.2 million acres: Yellowstone National Park. Seeking a break from city life and urban EMS, he wanted to experience pure nature, fulfill his dream of working for the National Park Service, and take a crash-course in wilderness medicine. Between calls, Grange reflects upon the democratic ideal of the National Park mission, the beauty of the land, and the many threats facing it. With visitation rising, budgets shrinking, and people loving our parks to death, he realized that—along with the health of his patients—he was also fighting for the life of "America's Best Idea."
Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships
by Hayley ArceneauxThe youngest American to ever orbit the earth—cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux—shows us all that when we face our fears with hope and faith, extraordinary things can happen.&“A potent reminder to all of us that nothing on earth—or in the heavens, for that matter—can keep us from becoming commanders of our own destiny.&”—Marlo Thomas, actor, author, and national outreach director for St. Jude Children&’s Research HospitalIn this boldly optimistic debut memoir, Hayley Arceneaux details how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to grab hold of a life greater than she&’d ever imagined. With her signature upbeat messaging, Arceneaux recounts her odyssey, from her cancer diagnosis at age ten and the yearlong treatment that inspired her goal of working with pediatric cancer patients, to living through her father&’s terminal cancer diagnosis, to getting her lifelong dream job at St. Jude Children&’s Research Hospital as a physician assistant. She was sure she&’d finally attained the life she wanted, and then the amazing and unimaginable happened: She was invited to go to space as a St. Jude ambassador.Throughout the book, Arceneaux encourages readers to fight for the life they want, saying, You have to hold on, because you don&’t know what great thing can come and change your life. Take the chance and you will feel, and learn, and grow, and become even more you. Following your dreams can take you to dreams you didn&’t know you had.Arceneaux&’s uplifting story is the inspiration we all need today. She offers wisdom and lessons in courage to anyone fighting against the odds. And through it all, she reveals how resilience and faith can help us grab hold of the life we&’ve always wanted and live it to the fullest.
Wild Ride (Adapted for Young Readers): My Journey from Cancer Kid to Astronaut
by Hayley ArceneauxA young reader&’s adaptation of the story of the youngest American to ever orbit the Earth—cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux—who shows us all that when we face our fears with hope and faith, the extraordinary is possible&“Hayley will capture your heart as she proves that even the wildest dreams can come true. Young minds will leave awestruck and eager to chase their own wild ride.&”—Emily Calandrelli, host of Netflix&’s Emily&’s Wonder Lab&“It may be hard to believe while I&’m gravity-bound on my bedroom floor, but if there&’s one thing I&’ve learned in my time on Earth, it&’s that as long as you keep saying yes, everything is possible,&” says Arceneaux.In this adaptation of her heartfelt memoir, especially inspiring for middle-grade readers, Arceneaux shares the details of her wild ride with never-before-told stories written especially for kids coming to this edition. Arceneaux not only tells readers what it was like to go to space—from training in a fighter jet to lifting off in a Dragon capsule—but she also offers stories from her childhood: things that she faced at the hospital when going through cancer treatment, what she had to overcome when she went back to school, and the courage it took to dream big dreams for her teenage and adult years.For students navigating a time of uncertainty, and for the adults and educators who seek to offer them hope, Arceneaux&’s uplifting story is one that will inspire kids for years to come. She offers wisdom and courage to anyone fighting against the odds, and shows us that dreaming is always possible.
Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse, a Family Memoir
by Christine HempAn amazingly joyous memoir told with humor and brilliant irony that illuminates the beauty of the absurdity that is life. Christine Hemp's debut work of nonfiction, Wild Ride Home, is a brilliant memoir, looping themes of finding love and losing love, of going away and coming home, of the wretched course of Alzheimer's, of cancer, of lost pregnancies, of fly fishing and horsemanship, of second chances, and, ultimately, of the triumph of love and family--all told within the framework of the training of a little white horse named Buddy. Wild Ride Home invites the reader into the close Hemp family, which believes beauty and humor outshine the most devastating circumstances. Such optimism is challenged when the author suffers a series of blows: a dangerous fiancé, her mother&’s dementia, unexpected death and illness. Buddy, a feisty, unforgettable little Arabian horse with his own history to overcome, offers her a chance to look back on her own life and learn to trust again, not only others, but more importantly, herself. Hemp skillfully guides us through a memoir that is, despite devastating loss, above all, an ode to joy.
Wild River Blues
by Sarah MenkedickIn her early thirties and an aspiring literary journalist, Sarah Menkedick joins her baby brother Jackson and his precious Honda, the ”Jackwagon,” for fourteen transformative days on an east-coast backpacking adventure. The two cross mountains and by the end—exhausted to the core and unshowered—they reflect on the trajectory of their lives, the music they make and listen to, the principles to which they strive, and the disillusionment one can encounter after years of doggedly pursuing a passion. With only each other for company, they escape the trappings of their material lives. Together, they learn to heal, to love, and finally—to listen to one another. A Vintage Shorts Original. A ebook short.
Wild Rose: Rose O'Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy
by Ann BlackmanFor sheer bravado and style, no woman in the North or South rivaled the Civil War heroine Rose O'Neale Greenhow. Fearless spy for the Confederacy, glittering Washington hostess, legendary beauty and lover, Rose Greenhow risked everything for the cause she valued more than life itself. In this superb portrait, biographer Ann Blackman tells the surprising true story of a unique woman in history. "I am a Southern woman, born with revolutionary blood in my veins," Rose once declared-and that fiery spirit would plunge her into the center of power and the thick of adventure. Born into a slave-holding family, Rose moved to Washington, D. C. , as a young woman and soon established herself as one of the capital's most charming and influential socialites, an intimate of John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, and Dolley Madison. She married well, bore eight children and buried five, and, at the height of the Gold Rush, accompanied her husband Robert Greenhow to San Francisco. Widowed after Robert died in a tragic accident, Rose became notorious in Washington for her daring-and numerous-love affairs. But with the outbreak of the Civil War, everything changed. Overnight, Rose Greenhow, fashionable hostess, become Rose Greenhow, intrepid spy. As Blackman reveals, deadly accurate intelligence that Rose supplied to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard written in a fascinating code (the code duplicated in the background on the jacket of this book). Her message to Beauregard turned the tide in the first Battle of Bull Run, and was a brilliant piece of spycraft that eventually led to her arrest by Allan Pinkerton and imprisonment with her young daughter. Indomitable, Rose regained her freedom and, as the war reached a crisis, journeyed to Europe to plead the Confederate cause at the royal courts of England and France. Drawing on newly discovered diaries and a rich trove of contemporary accounts, Blackman has fashioned a thrilling, intimate narrative that reads like a novel. Wild Rose is an unforgettable rendering of an astonishing woman, a book that will stand with the finest Civil War biographies.
The Wild Silence: A Memoir
by Raynor WinnAN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERThe incredible follow-up to the international bestseller The Salt Path, a story of finding your way back home.Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth. After walking 630 homeless miles along The Salt Path, living on the windswept and wild English coastline; the cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home. Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but together on the wild coastal path, with their feet firmly rooted outdoors, they discover that anything is possible.Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything. A chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills; rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes their saving grace and their new path to follow. The Wild Silence is a story of hope triumphing over despair, of lifelong love prevailing over everything. It is a luminous account of the human spirit's connection to nature, and how vital it is for us all.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Perennial Non-fiction Promotion Ser.)
by Jung ChangThe story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author.An engrossing record of Mao&’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord&’s concubine; her mother&’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents&’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a &“barefoot doctor,&” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.
Wild Tales
by Graham NashThis ebook includes 4 videos, 34 audio clips, and 11 additional photos from Graham Nash's personal collection. Audio and video content does not play on all reading devices. Check your user manual for details.From Graham Nash--the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies--comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan. Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll--he's written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," "On A Carousel," "Simple Man," "Our House," "Marrakesh Express," and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life--with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity--and the sanity--of a magical era of music.
Wild Tales
by Graham NashThis ebook includes 4 videos, 34 audio clips, and 11 additional photos from Graham Nash's personal collection. Audio and video content does not play on all reading devices. Check your user manual for details.From Graham Nash--the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies--comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan. Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll--he's written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," "On A Carousel," "Simple Man," "Our House," "Marrakesh Express," and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life--with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity--and the sanity--of a magical era of music.
Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life
by Graham NashThis ebook includes 4 videos, 34 audio clips, and 11 additional photos from Graham Nash's personal collection. Audio and video content does not play on all reading devices. Check your user manual for details.From Graham Nash--the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies--comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan. Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll--he's written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," "On A Carousel," "Simple Man," "Our House," "Marrakesh Express," and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life--with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity--and the sanity--of a magical era of music.
Wild Thing: The short, spellbinding life of Jimi Hendrix
by Philip NormanAlmost 50 years after his lonely death, Hendrix is the abiding symbol of musical genius cut tragically short. Wild Thing will be the first biography to bring together the splendour and sadness of his brief life, and to attempt to unravel the circumstances of his death. Hendrix revolutionised classic rock, inventing a whole new vocabulary for the guitar. Onstage he pushed the boundaries of Sixties permissiveness, fellating the strings of the guitar with his tongue, lying it flat and straddling it, even setting fire to it. Yet in private he was polite, shy and sweet-natured. Norman will explore these contradictions in a narrative that takes us from Hendrix's roots in Seattle to his louche and glamorous life in Mayfair, when London was the world's most 'swinging' capital and then back to the US with the series of historic outdoor rock festivals that rounded out the decade. Wild Thing will be a celebration of matchless artistry, and a gripping chronicle of those now mythical times. But it will also investigate the peculiar conditions of his death, part whodunnit as it tells the most cautionary of rock 'n' roll parables. After all these years of rumour and speculation, Jimi's ghost may finally be laid to rest.
Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life Of Jimi Hendrix
by Philip NormanA shattering new biography of rock music’s most outrageous—and tragic—genius. Over fifty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) is celebrated as the greatest rock guitarist of all time. But before he was setting guitars and the world aflame, James Marshall Hendrix was a shy kid in Seattle, plucking at a broken ukulele and in fear of a father who would hit him for playing left-handed. Bringing Jimi’s story to vivid life against the backdrop of midcentury rock, and with a wealth of new information, acclaimed music biographer Philip Norman delivers a captivating and definitive portrait of a musical legend. Drawing from unprecedented access to Jimi’s brother, Leon Hendrix, who provides disturbing details about their childhood, as well as Kathy Etchingham and Linda Keith, the two women who played vital roles in Jimi’s rise to stardom, Norman traces Jimi’s life from playing in clubs on the segregated Chitlin’ Circuit, where he encountered daily racism, to barely surviving in New York’s Greenwich Village, where was taken up by the Animals’ bass player Chas Chandler in 1966 and exported to Swinging London and international stardom. For four staggering years, from 1966 to 1970, Jimi totally rewrote the rules of rock stardom, notably at Monterey and Woodstock (where he played his protest-infused rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner”), while becoming the highest-paid musician of his day. But it all abruptly ended in the shabby basement of a London hotel with Jimi’s too-early death. With remarkable detail, Wild Thing finally reveals the truth behind this long-shrouded tragedy. Norman’s exhaustive research reveals a young man who was as shy and polite in private as he was outrageous in public, whose insecurity about his singing voice could never be allayed by his instrumental genius, and whose unavailing efforts to please his father left him searching for the family he felt he never truly had. Filled with insights into the greatest moments in rock history, Wild Thing is a mesmerizing account of music’s most enduring and endearing figures.
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin
by Sue PrideauxOne of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025 One of Five Books Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 Shortlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize An original and revealing portrait of the misunderstood French Post-Impressionist artist. Paul Gauguin’s legend as a transgressive genius arises as much from his biography as his aesthetically daring Polynesian paintings. Gauguin is chiefly known for his pictures that eschewed convention, to celebrate the beauty of an indigenous people and their culture. In this gorgeously illustrated, myth-busting work, Sue Prideaux reveals that while Gauguin was a complicated man, his scandalous reputation is largely undeserved. Self-taught, Gauguin became a towering artist in his brief life, not just in painting but in ceramics and graphics. He fled the bustle of Paris for the beauty of Tahiti, where he lived simply and worked consistently to expose the tragic results of French Colonialism. Gauguin fought for the rights of Indigenous people, exposing French injustices and corruption in the local newspaper and acting as advocate for the Tahitian people in the French colonial courts. His unconventional career and bold, breathtaking art influenced not only Vincent van Gogh, but Matisse and Picasso. Wild Thing upends much of what we thought we knew about Gauguin through new primary research, including the resurfaced manuscript of Gauguin’s most important writing, the untranslated memoir of Gauguin’s son, and a sample of Gauguin’s teeth that disproves the pernicious myth of his syphilis. In the first full biography of Paul Gauguin in thirty years, Sue Prideaux illuminates the extraordinary oeuvre of a visionary artist vital to the French avant-garde. The result is “a brilliantly readable and compassionate study of Gauguin—not just as a painter, sculptor, carver and potter, but as a human soul perpetually searching for what is always just out of reach” (Artemis Cooper, Spectator).
Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult
by Bruce HandyAn irresistible, nostalgic, insightful—and &“consistently intelligent and funny&” (The New York Times Book Review)—ramble through classic children&’s literature from Vanity Fair contributing editor (and father of two) Bruce Handy.The dour New England Primer, thought to be the first American children&’s book, was first published in Boston in 1690. Offering children gems of advice such as &“Strive to learn&” and &“Be not a dunce,&” it was no fun at all. So how did we get from there to &“Let the wild rumpus start&”? And now that we&’re living in a golden age of children&’s literature, what can adults get out of reading Where the Wild Things Are and Goodnight Moon, or Charlotte&’s Web and Little House on the Prairie? A &“delightful excursion&” (The Wall Street Journal), Wild Things revisits the classics of every American childhood, from fairy tales to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and explores the back stories of their creators, using context and biography to understand how some of the most insightful, creative, and witty authors and illustrators of their times created their often deeply personal masterpieces. Along the way, Handy learns what The Cat in the Hat says about anarchy and absentee parenting, which themes are shared by The Runaway Bunny and Portnoy&’s Complaint, and why Ramona Quimby is as true an American icon as Tom Sawyer or Jay Gatsby. It&’s a profound, eye-opening experience to re-encounter books that you once treasured decades ago. A clear-eyed love letter to the greatest children&’s books and authors from Louisa May Alcott and L. Frank Baum to Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, Mildred D. Taylor, and E.B. White, Wild Things is &“a spirited, perceptive, and just outright funny account that will surely leave its readers with a new appreciation for childhood favorites&” (Publishers Weekly).
Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth
by Jane AlexanderA moving, inspiring, personal look at the vastly changing world of wildlife on planet earth as a result of human incursion, and the crucial work of animal and bird preservation across the globe being done by scientists, field biologists, zoologists, environmentalists, and conservationists. From a longtime, much-admired activist, impassioned wildlife proponent and conservationist, former chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts, four time Academy Award nominee, and Tony Award and two-time Emmy Award-winning actress. In Wild Things, Wild Places, Jane Alexander movingly, with a clear eye and a knowing, keen grasp of the issues and on what is being done in conservation and the worlds of science to help the planet's most endangered species to stay alive and thrive, writes of her steady and fervent immersion into the worlds of wildlife conservation, of her coming to know the scientists throughout the world--to her, the prophets in the wilderness--who are steeped in this work, of her travels with them--and on her own--to the most remote and forbidding areas of the world as they try to save many species, including ourselves.From the Hardcover edition.
The Wild Truth: The Untold Story Of Sibling Survival
by Carine MccandlessIn the more than twenty years since the body of Chris McCandless was discovered in the wilds of Alaska, his spellbinding story has captivated millions who have either read Jon Krakauer's iconic Into the Wild or seen Sean Penn's acclaimed film of the same name.And yet, only one person has truly understood what motivated Chris's unconventional decision to forsake his belongings, abandon his family, and embrace the harsh wilderness. In The Wild Truth, his beloved sister Carine McCandless finally provides a deeply personal account of the many misconceptions about Chris, revealing the truth behind his fateful journey while sharing the remarkable details of her own.Exposing the dark reality that existed behind the McCandless's seemingly idyllic home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Carine details a violent home life, one where both parents manipulated the truth about a second family--a deception that pushed Chris over the edge and set the stage for his willing departure into the wild. And though he cut off all family ties, Carine understood--through their indelible bond and some cryptic communication--what Chris was seeking.This understanding, kept under wraps for years as Carine struggled to maintain a relationship with her parents, now comes to spectacular light in the pages of The Wild Truth. In the decades since Chris's death, Carine and her half-siblings have come together to find their own truth and build their own beauty in his absence. In each other, they've found absolution, just as Chris found absolution in the wild before he died.Beautiful and haunting, told with candor and heartbreaking insight, The Wild Truth presents a man the world only thought they knew--and the sister who has finally found redemption in sharing the rest of their story.
The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine
by Todd KlimanA rich romp through untold American history featuring fabulous characters, The Wild Vineis the tale of a little-known American grape that rocked the fine-wine world of the nineteenth century and is poised to do so again today. Author Todd Kliman sets out on an epic quest to unravel the mystery behind Norton, a grape used to make a Missouri wine that claimed a prestigious gold medal at an international exhibition in Vienna in 1873. At a time when the vineyards of France were being ravaged by phylloxera, this grape seemed to promise a bright future for a truly American brand of wine-making, earthy and wild. And then Norton all but vanished. What happened? The narrative begins more than a hundred years before California wines were thought to have put America on the map as a wine-making nation and weaves together the lives of a fascinating cast of renegades. We encounter the suicidal Dr. Daniel Norton, tinkering in his experimental garden in 1820s Richmond, Virginia. Half on purpose and half by chance, he creates a hybrid grape that can withstand the harsh New World climate and produce good, drinkable wine, thus succeeding where so many others had failed so fantastically before, from the Jamestown colonists to Thomas Jefferson himself. Thanks to an influential Long Island, New York, seed catalog, the grape moves west, where it is picked up in Missouri by German immigrants who craft the historic 1873 bottling. Prohibition sees these vineyards burned to the ground by government order, but bootleggers keep the grape alive in hidden backwoods plots. Generations later, retired Air Force pilot Dennis Horton, who grew up playing in the abandoned wine caves of the very winery that produced the 1873 Norton, brings cuttings of the grape back home to Virginia. Here, dot-com-millionaire-turned-vintner Jenni McCloud, on an improbable journey of her own, becomes Norton's ultimate champion, deciding, against all odds, to stake her entire reputation on the outsider grape. Brilliant and provocative,The Wild Vineshares with readers a great American secret, resuscitating the Norton grape and its elusive, inky drink and forever changing the way we look at wine, America, and long-cherished notions of identity and reinvention.
Wild West Village: Not a Memoir (Unless I Win an Oscar, Die Tragically, or Score a Country #1)
by Lola KirkeIn this darkly humorous memoir-in-essays, actress and singer-songwriter Lola Kirke untangles an extraordinary upbringing in a family of eccentric, messy artists and explains how a big city girl went a little bit country. &“Lola is a wise, witty, and unsparing writer.&” —Lena Dunham &“Probably the only book I&’ll read this year.&” —Zoë Kravitz The youngest daughter of a rock star father and clothing designer mother, Lola and her siblings (including actress Jemima and celebrity doula Domino), spent their childhoods freshly plucked from their English heritage in an eclectic West Village brownstone, hosting everyone from Cuban exiles to Courtney Love. But behind the enviable exterior of worldly coolness, was a home in disarray.In Wild West Village, Kirke chronicles a search for self amidst the chaos of the affairs, addictions, and afflictions surrounding her, detailing misadventures in everything from masturbation to marijuana, Cadbury&’s to country music, and a dream of salvation on the silver screen. Filled with unforgettable characters and insights into identities forged in fire, Wild West Village locates humor and lightness in life&’s darker situations. Irreverent and high-spirited, these are the stories of a young woman, teetering between a twang and a British accent, trying to fit in with larger-than-life personalities while secretly coming into her own.
Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era
by Autumn StephensA delightful collection of 150 profiles of women who refused to confine themselves to the nineteenth-century Victorian model for proper womanhood.During the Victorian era, a woman&’s pedestal was her prison . . . &“Women should not be expected to write, or fight, or build, or compose scores. She does all by inspiring man to do all.&” —Ralph Waldo Emerson &“There is nothing more dangerous for a young woman than to rely chiefly upon her intellectual powers, her wit, her imagination, her fancy.&” —Godey&’s Lady&’s Book magazineBut, scores of nineteenth-century American women chose to live life on their terms. In this book you will meet women who refused to remain on a Victorian pedestal. In San Francisco, a courtesan appeared as a plaintiff in court, suing her clients for fraud. In Montana, a laundress in her seventies decked a gentleman who refused to pay his bill. A forty-three-year-old schoolteacher plunged down Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. A frail lighthouse keeper pulled twenty-two sinking sailors out of the ocean off Rhode Island. A pair of Colorado madams fought a public pistol duel over their mutual beau. Two lady lovebirds were legally wed in Michigan. An ad hoc abolitionist spirited away scores of slaves on the Underground Railroad. A Secessionist spy swallowed a secret message as she was arrested, claiming that no one could capture her soul.Featuring fifty black-and-white photos from the era.Perfect for fans of Women Who Run with the Wolves or Badass Affirmations.Praise for Wild Women&“A fantastic read with unforgettable woman from across the world. I love this groundbreaking and fascinating book of wonderful women!&” —Becca Anderson, author of The Book of Awesome Women