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Barbed: A Memoir
by Julie Morrison"Her poetic prose places readers right alongside her as we root for her and the friends she makes along the way." – MacKenzie Chase, Arizona Daily Sun"An extraordinary memoir and one we highly recommend!" – Chanticleer Reviews Standing at a professional crossroads, Julie Morrison decides to saddle up and start over. Her family's ranch is on the brink of bankruptcy. While fighting for its future, she simultaneously seeks to salvage her marriage and rediscover her best self. When you ride across the rock-strewn terrain of a family-owned horse and cattle business, though, a gritty challenge awaits along the trail to every panoramic view. Entangled in the barbs of ranching and relationships, Julie will meet cold-hearted cowboys and funny farriers, learn how to ranch one-handed, and become an expert in assessing what's essential. This is a romance in which the objects of devotion are hard-working horses and iconic western vistas, where hope and horseshoes harmonize and help arrives from the most unlikely places. Julie's journey of personal discovery will inspire readers to blaze their own trails to a future only they can create."... keenly observant prose, capable of transporting readers directly to the trail." – Kirkus Reviews
Barbie and Ruth
by Robin GerberThe tragic and redeeming story of how one visionary woman built the biggest toy company in the world and created a global icon. Barbie and Ruth is the entwined story of two exceptional women. There's Barbie: the diminutive yet arrestingly voluptuous doll unveiled at the 1959 Toy Fair who became the treasure of 90 percent of American girls and their counterparts in 150 countries. She went on to compete as an Olympic athlete, serve as an air force pilot, work as a boutique owner, run as a presidential candidate, and ignite a cultural firestorm. And then there's Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator: the tenth child of Polish Jewish immigrants, a passionately competitive and creative business pioneer, and a mother and wife who wanted it all. After a business scandal that forced Ruth out of Mattel, the company she founded, she drew on her experience as a breast cancer survivor to start a business that changed women's lives. She was ultimately honored as a pioneer, humanitarian, and masterful entrepreneur. Based on original research, extensive interviews, and previously unavailable material, Barbie and Ruth tells the fascinating story of how two women forever changed American business and culture.
Barbra Streisand: A Little Golden Book Biography (Little Golden Book)
by Judy KatschkeHelp your little one dream big with a Little Golden Book biography about legendary music icon, Barbra Streisand. Little Golden Book biographies are the perfect introduction to nonfiction for young readers—as well as fans of all ages!This Little Golden Book about Barbra Streisand--the EGOT-winning singer, actress, and director and star of Funny Girl and Hello, Dolly!--is an inspiring read-aloud for young readers.Look for more Little Golden Book biographies: Dolly PartonTaylor SwiftJulie AndrewsBeyoncé
Barbra: The Way She Is
by Christopher AndersenThe #1 New York Times bestselling biographer presents “a scandalicious new bio packed with fresh dirt on the world’s most reclusive diva” (New York Post).She is a one-name legend, a global icon. Yet most of what we know about Barbra Joan Streisand is the stuff of caricature: the Brooklyn girl turned Grammy–winning singer and Oscar–winning actress; a skinflint and a philanthropist; a connoisseur and a barbarian. Even to her legions of fans, the real Streisand has always remained tantalizingly unknowable. Until now. In Barbra, acclaimed biographer Christopher Andersen taps into important, eyewitness sources to paint a startling portrait of the artist . . . and the woman. The many revelations include:Surprising new details about her wedding and marriage to James Brolin.New information about her many failed love affairs, including her never-before-revealed relationships with Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s doomed lover Dodi Fayed—as well as Warren Beatty, Ryan O’Neal, former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Steve McQueen, Richard Gere, Kris Kristofferson, Don Johnson, Jon Voight, Andre Agassi, Peter Jennings, and more . . .An inside account of what happened between Streisand and Bill Clinton in the White House, their relationship today, and how Hillary feels about Barbra.Revealing behind the scenes details from her classic movies and historic recording sessionsNew insights into Barbra’s relationship with her only child, Jason.
Barcelona Rule (Football Superstars #30)
by Simon MugfordIn this fun and fact-filled book, Football Superstar's dynamic duo, Dan and Simon tell the story of footballing giants Barcelona, charting the club's amazing history - from its formation by immigrants in 1899 to how it grew into a major European side in the 70s. Then, there was the club's evolution in the 2000s under master coach Pep Guardiola and his talisman Lionel Messi, and of course its lifelong rivalry with real Madrid. Along the way, you'll learn about the other legendary players, managers, matches, the club's lifelong rivalry with Real Madrid and much more that tell the story of the football institution admired around the world. True to the Football Superstars brand, the book is filled with fun cartoons, inspirational stories, a simple narrative style and a cast of characters chipping in with quotes, jokes and comments.
Barcelona the Great Enchantress
by Robert HughesRobert Hughes has been a regular visitor to Barcelona since the 1960s and published a book about the city in 1992 that was quickly hailed as a classic. InBarcelona the Great Enchantress,Hughes crafts a more personal tale of his nearly forty-year love affair with the Spanish metropolis, one of the most vibrant and fascinating cities in Europe. Beginning with a vivid description of his wedding in the splendid medieval ceremonial chamber in Barcelona's city hall, Hughes launches into a lively account of the history, art, and architecture of the storied city. He tells of architectural treasures abounding in 14th-century Barcelona, establishing it as one of Europe's great Gothic cities, while Madrid was hardly more than a cluster of huts. The city spawned such great artists as Antoni Gaudi, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Casals. Hughes's deep knowledge of the city is evident-but it's his personal reflections of what Barcelona, its people, and its storied history and culture have meant to him over the decades that setsBarcelona the Great Enchantressapart from all others' books.
Barco: Vida y sucesos de un presidente crucial, y del violento mundo que enfrentó.
by Malcolm DeasLa más completa biografía del ex presidente Virgilio Barco. Los biógrafos se inclinan naturalmente por personajes vistosos: grandes líderes de masas, oradores persuasivos, dirigentes carismáticos cuyas vidas se componen de anécdotas fascinantes. Pero Virgilio Barco no fue nada de lo anterior, y es allí precisamente donde reside su encanto. Según Malcolm Deas, son su sobriedad y discreción, su seriedad y aparente distancia, las expresiones de una figura profundamente digna e interesante. Esta singularidad contrastó con un período, una época, en los que sobresalen la dificultad y la violencia; la presidencia de Virgilio Barco tuvo que contener un desbordamiento poco común de las circunstancias, aun en un Estado cuyo orden público lo ha puesto a prueba más de una vez en el último siglo. A treinta años del sombrío año 1989, Malcolm Deas sorprende a sus lectores con el estudio biográfico de un hombre que fue ministro, alcalde y presidente durante la convulsa Colombia de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Con una formación y condiciones excepcionales, Barco merece ser redescubierto. En la presentación de su vida y sucesos, y del mundo que lo rodeó, Deas sigue un interés explícito por la evolución de las opiniones en su correspondencia y el trasfondo de las coyunturas. Es, sin duda, un novedoso aporte a la historia política de Colombia, y aun del hemisferio.
Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore
by Ronan KellyColm Tóibín has called Thomas Moore 'the most influential figure in shaping the Irish political psyche'. In Bard of Erin, Ronan Kelly tells the story of Moore's extraordinary life - from humble beginnings in Dublin to glittering social and literary success in London (at one point his popularity was eclipsed only by that of Sir Walter Scott and his close friend Lord Byron). Ronan Kelly's biography is a gripping and definitive account of a great romantic figure.'A stirring tale of the diminutive would-be duellist whom his friend Byron described as "Masking and humming, / Fifing and drumming, / Guitarring and strumming" in a way we'd not quite see again until the rise of Bob Dylan' Paul Muldoon, TLS Books of the Year'Thanks to Ronan Kelly's enthralling new biography, [Moore] is about to become an important part of our cultural landscape again ... There hasn't been a better biography published in Ireland for many a year' Irish Independent'Vividly absorbing ... an enthusiastic, persuasive and highly readable attempt to restore a full picture of the man ... Everything in this eloquent and intelligent life shows that Moore's achievement decisively transcended the "poetical"' Roy Foster, The Times'a major reassessment ... scholarly and comprehensive ... Kelly makes it clear what fun Moore was' Irish Daily Mail'This new biography of Thomas Moore delights in the reading. Ronan Kelly has done his groundwork well ... A substantial, highly readable examination of the life, social development and cultural significance of a figure who occupies a pivotal position in Irish history, both as an Irish writer of the Romantic period and as "Ireland's National Poet" of a pre-partition era' Sunday Business Post'Definitive ... a fascinating story' John Montague, Irish Times
Bare Bones: I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book
by Bobby BonesThe #1 New York Times–bestselling memoir from The Voice of Country Radio, host of one of the most listened-to drive time morning radio shows in the nation.Growing up poor in Mountain Pine, Arkansas, with a young, addicted mom, Bobby Estell fell in love with country music. Abandoned by his father at the age of five, Bobby saw the radio as his way out—a dream that came true in college when he went on air at the Henderson State University campus station broadcasting as Bobby Bones, while simultaneously starting The Bobby Bones Show at 105.nine KLAZ. Bobby’s passions were pop, country music, and comedy, and he blended the three to become a tastemaker in the country music industry, heard by millions daily. Bobby broke the format of standard country radio, mixing country and pop with entertainment news and information, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the business, including Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, and Jason Aldean.Yet despite the glamour, fame, and money, Bobby has never forgotten his roots, the mom and grandmother who raised him, the work ethic he embraced which saved him and encouraged him to explore the world, and the good values that shaped him. In this funny, poignant memoir told in Bobby’s distinctive patter, he takes fans on a tour of his road to radio. Bobby doesn’t shy away from the curves he continues to navigate—including his obsessive-compulsive disorder—on his journey to find the happiness of a healthy family.Funny and tender, raw and honest, Bare Bones is pure Bobby Bones—surprising, entertaining, inspiring, and authentic.
Bare Knuckles & Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life of John Morrissey (Sports)
by Brien BouyeaOne of the more dynamic characters of his time, John "Old Smoke" Morrissey made his way from undefeated bare-knuckle boxer to found the Saratoga Race Course and win elections to Congress and the New York State Senate. A poor, uneducated Irish immigrant, Morrissey became a leader in the Dead Rabbits street gang. He won fame as a fighter and fortune as the operator of a string of successful gambling houses. He then took Saratoga Springs by storm. He improbably resurrected thoroughbred racing during the Civil War and opened his famous Club House, the most glamorous casino the country had ever seen. Author Brien Bouyea chronicles the incomparable life of a true American legend.
Barefaced Lies and Boogie-Woogie Boasts
by Harriet Vyner Jools HollandJools Holland has had a fascinating life. From playing on bomb sites as a boy in the East End, to skiving off school and then selling millions of records with Squeeze, the first twenty years of his life were eventful, chaotic and colourful. Then came The Tube with Paula Yates, the seminal live music programme that propelled him to fame. Over the following three decades, Jools succeeded in placing himself at the epicentre of a global community comprising just about anybody who is anybody in music. Through Later with Jools Holland, the longest-running music programme on television, he has given British TV debuts to countless now world famous bands. Packed with hilarious anecdotes written in Holland’s own inimitable style and laced with quirky insights and deliciously acute detail, this autobiography by one of Britain’s most gifted and debonaire musicians is not just for music fans, but for anyone who is looking for something several cuts above the conventional showbiz memoir.
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna (Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna)
by Alda P. Dobbs2022 Pura Belpré Honor BookNYPL Best Book of 2021Texas Bluebonnet Master List SelectionNPR Best Book of 2021Based on a true story, the tale of one girl's perilous journey to cross the U.S. border and lead her family to safety during the Mexican Revolution."Wrenching debut about family, loss, and finding the strength to carry on."—Booklist, starred review"Blazes bright, gripping readers until the novel's last page."—Publishers Weekly, starred review"Vital and perilous and hopeful."—Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of RefugeeIt is 1913, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna's mama has died while the Revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papa is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will care for the family she has left—her abuelita, little sister Amelia, and baby brother Luisito—until they can be reunited. They flee north through the unforgiving desert as their town burns, searching for safe harbor in a world that offers none.Each night when Petra closes her eyes, she holds her dreams close, especially her long-held desire to learn to read. Abuelita calls these barefoot dreams: "They're like us barefoot peasants and indios—they're not meant to go far." But Petra refuses to listen. Through battlefields and deserts, hunger and fear, Petra will stop at nothing to keep her family safe and lead them to a better life across the U.S. border—a life where her barefoot dreams could finally become reality."Dobbs' wrenching debut, about family, loss, and finding the strength to carry on, illuminates the harsh realities of war, the heartbreaking disparities between the poor and the rich, and the racism faced by Petra and her family. Readers will love Petra, who is as strong as the black-coal rock she carries with her and as beautiful as the diamond hidden within it."—Booklist, starred review
Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child
by Elva Treviño Hart"Barefoot Heart is a vividly told autobiographical account of the life of a child growing up in a family of migrant farm workers. It brings to life the day-to-day existence of people facing the obstacles of working in the fields and raising a family in an environment that is frequently hostile to those who have little education and speak another language. This book is also the story of how the author overcame the disadvantages of this background, discovered her true talents, and, in the process, found herself." --BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc.
Barefoot Soldier
by Johnson BeharryBorn in 1979 in Grenada as one of eight children, living in a two-bedroom hut, surviving on meagre meals of beans and rice and walking barefoot, three miles to school. At 13 Johnson Beharry quit school and worked as a decorator and labourer. In 1999 he scraped together the airfare for England and joined the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. He served six months in Kosovo, three months in Northern Ireland and then went to Iraq. On 1 May 2004, Beharry helped assist a foot patrol caught in a series of ambushes. His vehicle was hit by multiple rocket propelled grenades but he drove through the ambush and extracted his wounded colleagues from the vehicle, all the time exposed to further enemy fire. He was cited on this occasion for 'valour of the highest order'. While back on duty on 11 June 2004, a rocket propelled grenade hit Beharry's vehicle incapacitating his commander and injuring several of the crew. Despite his very serious head injuries, Beharry took control of his vehicle and drove it out of the ambush area before losing consciousness. He required brain surgery for his head injuries, and he was still recovering when he was awarded the VC in March 2005.
Barefoot Soldier
by Johnson Beharry VCBorn in 1979 in Grenada as one of eight children, living in a two-bedroom hut, surviving on meagre meals of beans and rice and walking barefoot, three miles to school. At 13 Johnson Beharry quit school and worked as a decorator and labourer. In 1999 he scraped together the airfare for England and joined the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. He served six months in Kosovo, three months in Northern Ireland and then went to Iraq. On 1 May 2004, Beharry helped assist a foot patrol caught in a series of ambushes. His vehicle was hit by multiple rocket propelled grenades but he drove through the ambush and extracted his wounded colleagues from the vehicle, all the time exposed to further enemy fire. He was cited on this occasion for 'valour of the highest order'. While back on duty on 11 June 2004, a rocket propelled grenade hit Beharry's vehicle incapacitating his commander and injuring several of the crew. Despite his very serious head injuries, Beharry took control of his vehicle and drove it out of the ambush area before losing consciousness. He required brain surgery for his head injuries, and he was still recovering when he was awarded the VC in March 2005.
Barefoot Soldier
by Johnson Beharry VC**INCLUDES AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR**Born in 1979 in Grenada as one of eight children, living in a two-bedroom hut, surviving on meagre meals of beans and rice and walking barefoot, three miles to school. At 13 Johnson Beharry quit school and worked as a decorator and labourer. In 1999 he scraped together the airfare for England and joined the Prince of Wales' Royal Regiment. He served six months in Kosovo, three months in Northern Ireland and then went to Iraq. On 1 May 2004, Beharry helped assist a foot patrol caught in a series of ambushes. His vehicle was hit by multiple rocket propelled grenades but he drove through the ambush and extracted his wounded colleagues from the vehicle, all the time exposed to further enemy fire. He was cited on this occasion for 'valour of the highest order'. While back on duty on 11 June 2004, a rocket propelled grenade hit Beharry's vehicle incapacitating his commander and injuring several of the crew. Despite his very serious head injuries, Beharry took control of his vehicle and drove it out of the ambush area before losing consciousness. He required brain surgery for his head injuries, and he was still recovering when he was awarded the VC in March 2005.
Barefoot at the Lake
by Bruce FogleEvery year, from the end of June to the end of August, Bruce and his family go to their cedar-clad cottage on the blue, wide lake. At first, this summer of 1954 seems like any other: floating in the row boat with Grace from next door, jumping off the diving raft, eating peach pie, exploring with Angus the dog, watching the seagulls, frogs and herons and catching crayfish.But just when he realizes life is perfect, everything starts to change. He's ten, the family dynamics are shifting, and over the summer both the harshness of the adult world and the patterns of the natural world reveal themselves. By the time the weather turns he will be a different child, and will have chosen his own path to understanding the wilderness that waits behind their wooden homes. Funny, subtle and true, Barefoot at the Lake transports us to a long, hot, poignant summer.
Barefoot in Baghdad
by Manal Omar<P>"Walk barefoot and the thorns will hurt you..." --Iraqi-Turkmen proverb <P>A riveting story of hope and despair, of elation and longing, Barefoot in Baghdad takes you to the front lines of a different kind of battle, where the unsung freedom fighters are strong, vibrant--and female. <P>An American aid worker of Arab descent, Manal Omar moves to Iraq to help as many women as she can rebuild their lives. She quickly finds herself drawn into the saga of a people determined to rise from the ashes of war and sanctions and rebuild their lives in the face of crushing chaos. <P>This is a chronicle of Omar's friendships with several Iraqis whose lives are crumbling before her eyes. It is a tale of love, as her relationship with one Iraqi man intensifies in a country in turmoil. And it is the heartrending stories of the women of Iraq, as they grapple with what it means to be female in a homeland you no longer recognize."
Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity-My Own and What It Means to Be a Woman in Chaos
by Manal M. Omar"Walk barefoot and the thorns will hurt you. . . " -Iraqi-Turkmen proverb. A riveting story of hope and despair, of elation and longing, Barefoot in Baghdad takes you to the front lines of a different kind of battle, where the unsung freedom fighters are strong, vibrant-and female. An American aid worker of Arab descent, Manal Omar moves to Iraq to help as many women as she can rebuild their lives. She quickly finds herself drawn into the saga of a people determined to rise from the ashes of war and sanctions and rebuild their lives in the face of crushing chaos. This is a chronicle of Omar's friendships with several Iraqis whose lives are crumbling before her eyes. It is a tale of love, as her relationship with one Iraqi man intensifies in a country in turmoil. And it is the heartrending stories of the women of Iraq, as they grapple with what it means to be female in a homeland you no longer recognize.
Barefoot in the Bindis
by Angela WalesA circle of pine trees, a sagging wire fence, and a roof that was once painted red. `There it is,? said Dad. In 1953, after doctors prescribed fresh country air for his health, Scottish-born Robert Wales uprooted his young family from the city life of Sydney and set out to establish a sheep farm in the bush. What he lacked in experience and expertise, he made up for in enthusiasm. Or so he hoped. When the family arrived on a lonely hill in northern New South Wales, they had no electricity, no running water, no telephone and no choice but to make that tangle of bush their home. From Angela Wales, eldest of the five kids, comes this extraordinarily vivid and evocative account of the next ten years as they tried to tame six thousand acres and navigate the challenges of country life. Filled with drama and hilarity, joy and back-breaking toil, Barefoot in the Bindis portrays a childhood spent in the bush, and is a sensational picture of Australia past.
Barefoot in the Bindis
by Angela WalesA circle of pine trees, a sagging wire fence, and a roof that was once painted red.&‘There it is,&’ said Dad.In 1953, after doctors prescribed fresh country air for his health, Scottish-born Robert Wales uprooted his young family from the city life of Sydney and set out to establish a sheep farm in the bush. What he lacked in experience and expertise, he made up for in enthusiasm. Or so he hoped.When the family arrived on a lonely hill in northern New South Wales, they had no electricity, no running water, no telephone and no choice but to make that tangle of bush their home. From Angela Wales, eldest of the five kids, comes this extraordinarily vivid and evocative account of the next ten years as they tried to tame six thousand acres and navigate the challenges of country life.Filled with drama and hilarity, joy and back-breaking toil, Barefoot in the Bindis portrays a childhood spent in the bush, and is a sensational picture of Australia past.
Barefoot to Avalon: A Brother's Story
by David PayneAn Amazon Best Book of 2015, A Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of 2015 A brave book with beautiful sentences on every page.” New York Times Piercing...a tour de force.” Los Angeles Times In 2000, while moving his household from Vermont to North Carolina, David Payne watched from his rearview mirror as his younger brother, George A., driving behind him in a two-man convoy of rental trucks, lost control of his vehicle, fishtailed, flipped over in the road, and died instantly. Soon thereafter, David’s life hit a downward spiral. His career came to a standstill, his marriage disintegrated, and his drinking went from a cocktail-hour indulgence to a full-blown addiction. He found himself haunted not only by George A.’s death, but also by his brother’s manic depression, a hereditary illness that overlaid a dark family history whose roots now gripped David. Barefoot to Avalon is Payne’s earnest and unflinching account of George A. and their boyhood footrace that lasted long into their adulthood, defining their relationship and their lives. As universal as it is intimate, this is an exceptional memoir of brotherhood, of sibling rivalries and sibling love, and of the torments a family can hold silent and carry across generations.
Barefoot to Billionaire: Reflections on a Life's Work and a Promise to Cure Cancer
by Jon HuntsmanAn inspiring autobiography by &“one of the finest human beings, industrial leaders, and philanthropists on the planet&” (Stephen R. Covey). The company Jon Huntsman founded in 1970, the Huntsman Corporation, is now one of the largest petrochemical manufacturers in the world, employing more than 12,000 people and generating over $10 billion in revenue each year. Success in business, though, was always a means to an end for him—never an end in itself. In Barefoot to Billionaire, Huntsman revisits the key moments in his life that shaped his view of faith, family, service, and the responsibility that comes with wealth. He writes candidly about his brief tenure in the Nixon administration, which preceded the Watergate scandal but still left a deep impression on him about the abuse of power and the significance of personal respect and integrity. He also opens up about his faith and prominent membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But most importantly, Huntsman reveals the rationale behind his commitment to give away his entire fortune before his death. In 1995, Huntsman and his wife, Karen, founded the Huntsman Cancer Institute and eventually dedicated more than a billion dollars of their personal funds to the fight for a cure. In this increasingly materialistic world, Barefoot to Billionaire is a refreshing reminder of the enduring power of traditional values.
Barefoot-Hearted
by Kathleen Meyer"The Wyoming Centennial Wagon Train ended in Cody in a dismal, torn-down drive-in movie theater. Before setting up the corral, we were forced to clear away shards of glass, bent nails, broken lumber. My prairie skirt and petticoats hung ragged and clay-caked, and under a droopy Stetson my frizzled hair appeared at once greased and starched beyond human recognition. A cloud, a sort of vaporousness, redolent with fresh acrid sweat on top of powerful stale sweat, hung thickly about me. Laced, as it was, with a woman's sweet musky secretions, and all gone past ripe, oddly it was a pungency I savored. Such goaty piquance, though, was cause to be shunned in any town setting. The look of my world had changed. Gone were the high-dollar designer clothes and the zipping around fabled Marin County in a candy-apple-red 1966 Mustang convertible. It was true that I unfailingly sought the ironies in life and, with a kind of dual personality, shifted easily through incongruencies such as town strolls in high heels and backcountry hiking in bare feet; the bucket seats of a classic automobile and the broken-down bench of a beater truck. It was only during the years that Iíd worn white overalls, taped drywall, and come home every night much like Charles Schulz's Pig Pen, flaking a cloud of dried white mud bits onto the rug, that I'd felt moved to keep my fingernails painted red. Now I was to slip farther than ever planned toward one end of my seesaw and then, incredibly, by conscious design, inch out even farther." --from Barefoot-Hearted. Now, from the Rocky Mountain West, Meyer brings us Barefoot-Hearted: A Wild Life Among Wildlife, a coming-into-the-country story told with the frank, dry humor and sharp research of her first book. The country, in this case, is Montana's tall, reaching landscape with its ever underfoot wild critters; the on-tenterhooks territory of a new romantic relationship; and the pressure cooker that is our precarious global imbalance. Meyer finds herself in midlife standing out under yawning skies, surrounded by sagebrush and cactus, having fallen for the Irish charm of itinerant farrier Patrick McCarron. As partners, they travel across three mountain states with draft horses and a covered wagon and then set up housekeeping in a seventy-five-year-old dairy barn. In this primitive structure, the author rapidly discovers she's living with troops of mice, a nursery colony of seventy-five bats, sexually fired-up skunks, and more flies than in a pig shed. She tells of a freakish season that orphaned seventy-seven bear cubs, an unusual fly-fishing trip on a famed blue-ribbon trout stream, the visitations of moose, and the discovery of a den of wolves. Meyer's prose is original and inspired, playful yet provocative. She carries us vividly back to the settlers' old West while pondering modern-day dilemmas, those of fitting into this fast hurtling world, of determining amid the earth's rising extinctions of species, whose planet it is, and of managing to stay empowered residing with a man who "stands six feet six and beats steel on an anvil for a living." A personal chronicle of conscience and a love story of rare and quirky dimension, Barefoot-Hearted catapults readers into new realms of thought, deftly guided there by Meyer's sense of the ironic, the randy, and the humorous.
Bareknuckle: Memoirs of the Undefeated Champion
by Peter Walsh Bartley GormanAs bareknuckle fighting is poised to steal MMA&’s spotlight, its greatest modern-day champion tells his story of rising to the top in the brutal sport. Steeped in the tradition of his Irish Traveller ancestry, Bartley Gorman also embraced its dangerous subculture: bareknuckle fighting. Though it gave birth to boxing as we know it today, the sport has remained underground—and illegal in most developed countries. But that didn&’t stop Gorman from rising through the prize-fighting ranks of Great Britain and Ireland and staying undefeated for twenty years. Now, through Gorman&’s thrilling memoir, readers get a front row view of the punches exchanged in back parking lots and fair grounds, the gritty characters populating the fight circles, and the hazards facing a sought after champion. &“A rare glimpse into a secret world,&” Bareknuckle celebrates one man&’s mastery of fighting in its purest form and heralds the rebirth of one of the oldest combat sports in history (The Independent on Sunday). &“Every page shines. A tremendous book.&” —Traveller Magazine &“Well-written and interesting.&” —Boxing News