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Women: A Novel
by Charles Bukowski“The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates, bestselling author“He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriterLow-life writer and unrepentant alcoholic Henry Chinaski was born to survive. After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at fifty, he is reveling in his sudden rock-star life, running three hundred hangovers a year, and maintaining a sex life that would cripple Casanova.With all of Charles Bukowski's trademark humor and gritty, dark honesty, Women, the 1978 follow-up to Post Office and Factotum, is an uncompromising account of life on the edge.
Women: Our Story (DK A History of)
by DKReexamining history from a female perspective, this book celebrates the pivotal but less well-known roles women have played in culture and society.Packed full of evocative images, this gloriously illustrated book reveals the key events in women's history--from early matriarchal societies through women's suffrage, the Suffragette movement, 20th-century feminism, and gender politics, to recent movements such as #MeToo and International Women's Day--and the key role women have had in shaping our past.Learn about the everyday lives of women through the ages as well as the big names of women's history--powerful, inspirational, and trailblazing women such as Cleopatra, Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eva Peron, and Rosa Parks--and discover the unsung contributions of lesser-known women who have changed the world, and the "forgotten" events of women's history.Placing women firmly center stage, Women: Our Story shows women where they came from, and in celebrating the achievements of women of the past, offers positive role models for women of today.
Womenfolks: Growing Up Down South
by Shirley AbbottFrom a childhood spent leaning on the back of a wooden porch chair while the womenfolks peeled peaches, Shirley Abbott learned about life. Womenfolks is about that life, about growing up female in the South in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Shirley Abbott's South is red dirt and country people, back-breaking chores and roof-raising revival meetings--a far cry from the Gone With the Wind images of plantations, magnolias, and mint juleps on the verandah. In Womenfolks, Shirley Abbott examines one kind of Southern heritage, as reflected in her family, her experience, and the history and mythology of the South as it filtered through to her-and she captures the strength and wisdom of the women of the South. There is Grandma Lizzie Ethridge, who has heard mountain lions scream at night, who has watched a milk snake drink from a cow's udder in the light of dawn, and who has been saved by the Lord Jesus and baptized in a running stream; Lavisa Eugenia, who ran a self-sufficient farm and mothered two families; Velma, who broke tradition and moved into town to marry a gambling man; and Aunt Laura, who, though eighty and living in Oregon, was an eyewitness to many years of Southern history and wonders now, "What is this special thing we know? Who were these women we remember?" In her search for the answer, Shirley Abbott gives us a vivid account of a vanishing rural culture, at once historical and very personal. Womenfolks is honest, vibrant, and revealing--a remarkable evocation of a piece of American life.
Women’s Life Writing, 1700–1850
by Daniel Cook Amy CulleyThis collection discusses British and Irish life writings by women in the period 1700-1850. It argues for the importance of women's life writing as part of the culture and practice of eighteenth-century and Romantic auto/biography, exploring the complex relationships between constructions of femininity, life writing forms and models of authorship.
Won by Love: Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, Speaks Out for the Unborn as She Shares Her New Conviction for Life
by Gary Thomas Norma McCorveyIn Roe v. Wade, perhaps the most controversial United States Supreme Court decision, Norma McCorvey fought for and won the right to secure an abortion. Though she never had an abortion, under the pseudonym "Jane Roe," Norma reluctantly became the poster child for the pro-choice movement.Over the next two decades, Norma experienced the grief and despair of millions of women who chose to abort their babies; she witnessed the destruction of thousands of human lives in abortion clinics where she worked; and the "champion" of the pro-choice movement was soon being crushed by the weight of so much pain, so much death, and so many ill-considered "choices."Finally, she began to break. She found out that the real choice she had been burdened with was not about abortion but about eternal life. It was a choice that would shock the world and change Norma's life forever.
Won't Back Down: Teams, Dreams, and Family
by Kim Mulkey Peter MayThe only person ever to win a Division 1 national championship as a player (twice), as an assistant coach, and as a head coach.
Won't You Come Home, Billy Bob Bailey?
by Lewis GrizzardLewis Grizzard is known as a humorist, but he takes the important things of life very seriously. Thing is, not everybody takes the time and care to recognize what's really important... like cooking good grits or cooking grits GOOD, and keeping your Willie Nelson album off the window ledge where the sun will warp it, and that Harold's Barbecue isn't closing and isn't about to serve beer because Harold's mama wouldn't allow it. Other books by Lewis Grizzard are available in this library.
Wonder Boy: Tony Hsieh, Zappos, and the Myth of Happiness in Silicon Valley
by Angel Au-Yeung David JeansA Financial Times best business book of 2023In 1998, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million.In 2009, at the age of 35, he sold his e-commerce company, Zappos, to Amazon for $1.2 billion.In 2020, at the age of 46, he died.Tony Hsieh revolutionized both the tech world and corporate culture. He was a business visionary. He was also a man in search of happiness. So why did it all go so wrong?Tony Hsieh’s first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. From there, he went on to build the billion-dollar online shoe empire of Zappos.The secret to his success? Making his employees happy.At its peak, Zappos’s employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it inspired copycats and earned a cult following. Then Hsieh moved the Zappos headquarters to Las Vegas, where he personally funded a nine-figure campaign to revitalize the city’s historic downtown area. But as Hsieh fell deeper into his struggles with mental health and drug addiction, the people making up his inner circle began changing from friends to enablers.Drawing on hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people whose lives Hsieh touched, journalists Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans craft a rich portrait of a man who was plagued by his eternal search for happiness and ultimately succumbed to his own demons.
Wonder Dogs: Inspirational True Stories of Real-Life Dog Heroes That Will Melt Your Heart
by Ben HoltLife isn’t perfect, but dogs certainly make it betterMeet the incredible dogs in this inspiring collection of true stories, championing the often underestimated role of man’s best friendDaisy, the tiny Dachshund who put her life on the line to save her humans from a bear.Charco, the veteran sniffer dog who has saved countless human lives, and yet still keeps his tail wagging.Delta, the dog who died trying to protect her young owner from a volcano – after already having saved his life three times.It’s a truth universally acknowledged that dogs are pretty great. But when it comes to facing peril, these loyal creatures always seem willing to step up to the mark and become true doggy heroes. Whether they’re saving humans from dangerous people or situations, helping the sick, fighting crime or just following their animal instincts to do good, the true stories featured in this expanded and updated collection prove that dogs aren’t just man’s best friend – they’re also inspirational, courageous and selfless companions to us all.
Wonder Dogs: Inspirational True Stories of Real-Life Dog Heroes That Will Melt Your Heart
by Ben HoltLife isn’t perfect, but dogs certainly make it betterMeet the incredible dogs in this inspiring collection of true stories, championing the often underestimated role of man’s best friendDaisy, the tiny Dachshund who put her life on the line to save her humans from a bear.Charco, the veteran sniffer dog who has saved countless human lives, and yet still keeps his tail wagging.Delta, the dog who died trying to protect her young owner from a volcano – after already having saved his life three times.It’s a truth universally acknowledged that dogs are pretty great. But when it comes to facing peril, these loyal creatures always seem willing to step up to the mark and become true doggy heroes. Whether they’re saving humans from dangerous people or situations, helping the sick, fighting crime or just following their animal instincts to do good, the true stories featured in this expanded and updated collection prove that dogs aren’t just man’s best friend – they’re also inspirational, courageous and selfless companions to us all.
Wonder Dogs: True Stories of Canine Courage
by Ben HoltWhether they’re saving humans from dangerous people or situations, helping those who are ill, fighting crime or just following their animal instincts to do good, the true stories collected in this book prove that dogs aren’t only man’s best friend – they’re also inspirational, courageous and selfless companions.
Wonder Dogs: True Stories of Canine Courage
by Ben HoltWhether they’re saving humans from dangerous people or situations, helping those who are ill, fighting crime or just following their animal instincts to do good, the true stories collected in this book prove that dogs aren’t only man’s best friend – they’re also inspirational, courageous and selfless companions.
Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims
by Jennifer VanderbesA riveting account of the most notorious drug of the twentieth century and the never-before-told story of its American survivorsIn 1959, a Cincinnati pharmaceutical firm, the William S. Merrell Company, quietly began distributing samples of an exciting new wonder drug already popular around the world. Touted as a sedative without risks, thalidomide was handed out freely, under the guise of clinical trials, by doctors who believed approval by the Food and Drug Administration was imminent. But in 1960, when the application for thalidomide landed on the desk of FDA medical reviewer Frances Kelsey, she quickly grew suspicious. When she learned that the drug was causing severe birth abnormalities abroad, she and a team of dedicated doctors, parents, and journalists fought tirelessly to block its authorization in the United States and stop its sale around the world.Jennifer Vanderbes set out to write about this FDA success story only to discover a sinister truth that had been buried for decades: For more than five years, several American pharmaceutical firms had distributed unmarked thalidomide samples in shoddy clinical trials, reaching tens of thousands of unwitting patients, including hundreds of pregnant women. As Vanderbes examined government and corporate archives, probed court records, and interviewed hundreds of key players, she unearthed an even more stunning find: Scores of Americans had likely been harmed by the drug. Deceived by the pharmaceutical firms, betrayed by doctors, and ignored by the government, most of these Americans had spent their lives unaware that thalidomide had caused their birth defects. Now, for the first time, this shocking episode in American history is brought to light. Wonder Drug gives voice to the unrecognized victims of this epic scandal and exposes the deceptive practices of Big Pharma that continue to endanger lives today.
Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History
by Sam MaggsA fun and feminist look at forgotten women in science, technology, and beyond, from the bestselling author of THE FANGIRL'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY You may think you know women's history pretty well. But have you ever heard of. . . · Alice Ball, the chemist who developed an effective treatment for leprosy--only to have the credit taken by a man? · Mary Sherman Morgan, the rocket scientist whose liquid fuel compounds blasted the first U.S. satellite into orbit? · Huang Daopo, the inventor whose weaving technology revolutionized textile production in China--centuries before the cotton gin? Smart women have always been able to achieve amazing things, even when the odds were stacked against them. In Wonder Women, author Sam Maggs tells the stories of the brilliant, brainy, and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers, and inventors. Plus, interviews with real-life women in STEM careers, an extensive bibliography, and a guide to women-centric science and technology organizations--all to show the many ways the geeky girls of today can help to build the future. Table of Contents: Women of Science Women of Medicine Women of Espionage Women of Innovation Women of Adventure
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
by Mary SeacoleWritten in 1857, this is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale's during the Crimean War. Seacole's offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, Seacole set out independently to the Crimea where she acted as doctor and 'mother' to wounded soldiers while running her business, the 'British Hotel'. A witness to key battles, she gives vivid accounts of how she coped with disease, bombardment and other hardships at the Crimean battlefront."In her introduction to the very welcome Penguin edition, Sara Salih expertly analyses the rhetorical complexities of Seacole's book to explore the richness of her story. Traveller, entrepreneur, healer and woman of colour, Mary Seacole is a singular and fascinating figure, overstepping all conventional boundaries." Jan Marsh, Independent"It's hard to believe that this amazing adventure story is the true-life experience of a Jamaican woman - it would make a great film." Andrea Levy, Sunday Times
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
by Mary Seacole ; Sara SalihWritten in 1857, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivaled Florence Nightingale’s during the Crimean War. Seacole traveled widely before arriving in London, where her offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war was met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, she set out independently to the Crimea, where she acted as doctor and “mother” to wounded soldiers while running her business, the “British Hotel.” Told with energy, warmth, and humor, her remarkable life story and accounts of hardships at the battlefront offer significant insights into the history of race politics.
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands: Edited By W. J. S. ; With An Introductory Preface By W. H. Russell (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Mary SeacoleFamed for her work among the sick and wounded of the Crimean War, Mary Seacole possessed a unique perspective: that of a Victorian-era black woman at a battlefield's front line. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1805, she began her career as a healer by helping her mother nurse British officers at nearby military camps. In the 1850s, her compassion aroused by agonizing reports from Crimea, she headed for England to offer her services. Seacole was denied entry to Florence Nightingale's "angel band" of military nurses, possibly on account of her race. Undaunted, she traveled independently to Crimea to set up accommodations near Balaclava that provided treatment and domestic comforts to convalescing soldiers. Seacole's years of service left her bankrupt and impoverished, but her memoirs, published to popular and critical acclaim in 1857, express no regrets. Humorous and tragic by turns, this autobiography recaptures the voice of a fearless adventurer and humanitarian.
Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me
by Pattie Boyd Penny JunorFor the first time, rock music's most famous muse tells her incredible story Pattie Boyd, former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, finally breaks a forty-year silence and tells the story of how she found herself bound to two of the most addictive, promiscuous musical geniuses of the twentieth century and became the most legendary muse in the history of rock and roll. The woman who inspired Harrison's song "Something" and Clapton's anthem "Layla," Pattie Boyd has written a book that is rich and raw, funny and heartbreaking--and totally honest.
Wondering Who You Are: A Memoir
by Sonya LeaIn exploring her husband's traumatic brain injury and loss of memory, Sonya Lea has written a memoir that is both a powerful look at perseverance in the face of trauma and a surprising exploration into what lies beyond our fragile identities. In the twenty-third year of their marriage, Sonya Lea’s husband, Richard, went in for surgery to treat a rare appendix cancer. When he came out, he had no recollection of their life together: how they met, their wedding day, the births of their two children. All of it was gone, along with the rockier parts of their past—her drinking, his anger. Richard could now hardly speak, emote, or create memories from moment to moment. Who he’d been no longer was. Wondering Who You Are braids the story of Sonya and Richard’s relationship, those memories that he could no longer conjure, together with his fateful days in the hospital—the internal bleeding, the near-death experience, and eventual traumatic brain injury. It follows the couple through his recovery as they struggle with his treatment, and through a marriage no longer grounded on decades of shared experience. As they build a fresh life together, as Richard develops a new personality, Sonya is forced to question her own assumptions, beliefs, and desires, her place in the marriage and her way of being in the world. With radical candor and honesty, Sonya Lea has written a memoir that is both a powerful look at perseverance in the face of trauma and a surprising exploration into what lies beyond our fragile identities.
Wonderkids: 100 Children Who grew Up to Be Champions of Change
by Anu KumarMeet a hundred famous people who started small but made a big difference in the world It?s easy to forget that all the great people who shaped the world we live in ? inventors, leaders, writers, actors, musicians, environmentalists, reformers, athletes and artists ? were once children, just like you! That there was something ? a spark, a talent, a curiosity or just a dream ? which was shaped by them as they grew, and led them to become amazing achievers who inspired others to look at things in a different way. From Anne Frank to Malala Yousafzai, Marco Polo to Muhammad Yunus, Jesse Owens to Thandiwe Chama, Jagadish Chandra Bose to Albert Einstein, and Charles Darwin to Coco Chanel, Wonder Kids gives you a peek into the childhoods of icons from different walks of life. Tracing how their thoughts and actions as children had an impact on their communities or the whole world later, the compact life stories in this book have a common, shining message ? that you are never too young to start to break the mould!
Wonderland: A Tale of Hustling Hard and Breaking Even
by Nicole TreskaA poignant memoir of growing up inside Boston&’s criminal underworld—and breaking free.Nicole Treska was born to a family of gangsters. In the 1970s, during Boston&’s mob wars, her grandfather&’s diner was an unofficial headquarters for Whitey Bulger and other members of the Winter Hill Gang. Nicole&’s father was also an associate of the gang: there was talk that, before Nicole could walk, her stroller was used as a decoy to sell drugs. In 1985, her father too was arrested and tried—sentenced to two years in prison for federal drug trafficking. Wanting to offer a better life to her children, Nicole&’s mother moved her and her sister out of Boston. As an adult, Nicole strove to separate herself from her past, establishing a career as a writer and professor in New York City. But when she learns her father&’s sister has passed away, she returns to her hometown and reunites with her dad—now stooped and struggling to walk on a bad knee. As she gets reacquainted with him and the old neighborhood, Nicole is forced to reconcile with her harrowing childhood and its lingering impact. With gritty and gripping prose, Wonderland masterfully explores and elucidates the line between helping family and hurting ourselves.
Wonderlandscape: A Cultural History Of Yellowstone National Park
by John ClaytonAn evocative blend of history and nature writing that tells the story of Yellowstone’s evolving significance in American culture through the stories of ten iconic figures. Yellowstone is America's premier national park. Today is often a byword for conservation, natural beauty, and a way for everyone to enjoy the great outdoors. But it was not always this way. Wonderlandscape presents a new perspective on Yellowstone, the emotions various natural wonders and attractions evoke, and how this explains the park's relationship to America as a whole. Whether it is artists or naturalists, entrepreneurs or pop-culture icons, each character in the story of Yellowstone ends up reflecting and redefining the park for the values of its era. For example, when Ernest Thompson Seton wanted to observe bears in 1897, his adventures highlighted the way the park transformed from a set of geological oddities to a wildlife sanctuary, reflecting a nation was concerned about disappearing populations of bison and other species. Subsequent eras added Rooseveltian masculinity, democratic patriotism, ecosystem science, and artistic inspiration as core Yellowstone hallmarks. As the National Park system enters its second century, Wonderlandscape allows us to reflect on the values and heritage that Yellowstone alone has come to represent—how it will shape the America's relationship with her land for generations to come.
Wondrous Beauty
by Carol BerkinFrom the award-winning historian and author of Revolutionary Mothers ("Incisive, thoughtful, spiced with vivid anecdotes. Don't miss it."--Thomas Fleming) and Civil War Wives ("Utterly fresh . . . Sensitive, poignant, thoroughly fascinating."--Jay Winik), here is the remarkable life of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, renowned as the most beautiful woman of nineteenth-century Baltimore, whose marriage in 1803 to Jérôme Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, became inextricably bound to the diplomatic and political histories of the United States, France, and England. In Wondrous Beauty, Carol Berkin tells the story of this audacious, outsized life. We see how the news of the union infuriated Napoleon and resulted in his banning the thenpregnant Betsy Bonaparte from disembarking in any European port, offering his brother the threat of remaining married to that "American girl" and forfeiting all wealth and power--or renouncing her, marrying a woman of Napoleon's choice, and reaping the benefits. Jérôme ended the marriage posthaste and was made king of Westphalia; Betsy fled to England, gave birth to her son and only child, Jérôme's namesake, and was embraced by the English press, who boasted that their nation had opened its arms to the cruelly abandoned young wife. Berkin writes that this naïve, headstrong American girl returned to Baltimore a wiser, independent woman, refusing to seek social redemption or a return to obscurity through a quiet marriage to a member of Baltimore's merchant class. Instead she was courted by many, indifferent to all, and initiated a dangerous game of politics--a battle for a pension from Napoleon--which she won: her pension from the French government arrived each month until Napoleon's exile. Using Betsy Bonaparte's extensive letters, the author makes clear that the "belle of Baltimore" disdained America's obsession with moneymaking, its growing ethos of democracy, and its rigid gender roles that confined women to the parlor and the nursery; that she sought instead a European society where women created salons devoted to intellectual life--where she was embraced by many who took into their confidence, such as Madame de Staël, Madame Récamier, the aging Marquise de Villette (goddaughter of Voltaire), among others--and where aristocracy, based on birth and breeding rather than commerce, dominated society. Wondrous Beauty is a riveting portrait of a woman torn between two worlds, unable to find peace in either--one a provincial, convention-bound new America; the other a sophisticated, extravagant Old World Europe that embraced freedoms, a Europe ultimately swallowed up by decadence and idleness. A stunning revelation of an extraordinary age.From the Hardcover edition.
Wondrous Ocean of Eloquence: Histories of the Taklung Kagyu Tradition
by Taklungpa Ngawang NamgyelA comprehensive history of the Taklung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, composed in the seventeenth century, and includes glossy color images of recently discovered twelfth-century portraits and inscriptions.This is the first ever English translation of a multilayered and comprehensive historiographical volume on the political, artistic, architectural, biographical, and mystical dimensions of the Taklung, one of four primary subsects of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The bulk of the volume is a translation of an early seventeenth-century Tibetan history by Taklung Ngawang Namgyel and includes supplements to that history written in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Centering an otherwise marginal and understudied Buddhist tradition, this volume contains an extraordinary wealth of historical, religious, and biographical information not found in any other published work. It is a complex tale of Tibetan religiopolitical maneuvering in the face of centuries of civil unrest and armed conflict with Central Asian warring dynasties.While detailing the abbatial succession of the tradition&’s two main monastic seats, Taklung and Riwoche Monasteries, it is also broad and vast in scale, going back to sixth-century BCE India to include early Indian Buddhist canon formulation, moving then to narratives on the Tibetan Kagyu lineage holders (Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa), to the twelfth-century founding of the Taklung sect in Tibet, and then all the way through to the early twentieth century, which saw Tibet&’s first modern military and cultural conflicts both within the country and with Chinese, Mongol, and Gorkha forces.An introductory essay by art historian Jane Casey on painting in the Taklung tradition includes her scholarly analysis of the dating and provenance of thirteenth-century portraits and inscriptions, only discovered in recent decades. Glossy color images of these paintings are included in the volume.Shambhala Publications gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Robert H. N. Ho and John Eskenazi in sponsoring the translation, and the Tsadra Foundation in sponsoring the preparation and printing of this book.
Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane
by Kirsten W. LarsonThis riveting nonfiction picture book biography explores both the failures and successes of self-taught engineer Emma Lilian Todd as she tackles one of the greatest challenges of the early 1900s: designing an airplane.Emma Lilian Todd's mind was always soaring--she loved to solve problems. Lilian tinkered and fiddled with all sorts of objects, turning dreams into useful inventions. As a child, she took apart and reassembled clocks to figure out how they worked. As an adult, typing up patents at the U.S. Patent Office, Lilian built the inventions in her mind, including many designs for flying machines. However, they all seemed too impractical. Lilian knew she could design one that worked. She took inspiration from both nature and her many failures, driving herself to perfect the design that would eventually successfully fly. Illustrator Tracy Subisak's art brings to life author Kirsten W. Larson's story of this little-known but important engineer.