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Broken Blue Line: How Life as Britain's Supercop Broke Me
by Alistair Livingstone'Broken Blue Line is a rollercoaster of a ride depicting the realities of twenty-first-century policing on the front-line. Its well written, honest and informative. Alistair Livingstone put his life on the line, and now he's put his heart on the line. Courageous and human. Highly recommended.'Mike Pannett, author of Now Then Lad . . . and Crime SquadAs a police officer, Alistair Livingstone was dubbed Supercop by the media for making more arrests than any other officer in the UK. But then Ali broke down. Broken Blue Line is the vividly told story of what brought him to that point, and the beginning of his slow, painful recovery.Ali was dubbed Supercop for making more than 1,000 arrests over one eighteen-month period, when the average arrest rate for officers in England and Wales is just nine a year. In his work as a police officer, he dealt with life-and-death situations on an almost daily basis: saving lives as a hostage negotiator; rescuing the occupant of a house fire; providing tactical advice during some of the most violent incidents; clinging onto a suicidal man hanging from the roof of a multi-storey car park; and entering a flat that had been blown up in an explosion just moments before. Ali was also engulfed in the aftermath and devastation of losing a colleague and friend who died doing the job she loved, and he witnessed the unprecedented response to the serial killings in Ipswich and the profound effect it had on the community and the police. But then an agonising and debilitating mental breakdown left the seemingly indestructible sergeant desperately seeking help. After almost two decades helping some of society's most vulnerable people he became so troubled by what he had seen and done in the line of duty that he hit rock bottom. Ali had no option but to walk away from the job that had defined him to embark on his biggest challenge yet: regaining his mental health. Ali's book offers an insight into the real world of modern policing: the demands and challenges faced by frontline officers throughout the UK. Ali's hope is that by opening up about his experiences and his struggle to regain his mental health in this no-holds-barred account, he will help to remove some of the lingering stigma that attaches to mental illness within the police and other professions and prevent others from making the same mistakes that he did. Ali says that he thoroughly enjoyed being a police officer and got to experience the sharp end of policing in so many different ways. When he finally made the decision to leave he was devastated and the months that followed his breakdown were the toughest he'd ever faced. Now that he is on the road to recovery, he hopes that by sharing his story it'll shine a light on the challenges of modern policing and the toll it can take, and, in doing so, to help others.
Broken Brain, Fortified Faith: Lessons of Hope through a Child's Mental Illness
by Virginia PillarsThe terms "mental illness” and “mental health” are often used casually, but many don’t believe mental illness is relevant to their lives. However, studies show that more people live with mental illness than heart disease, lung disease, and cancer combined. Broken Brain, Fortified Faith is the story of one family’s journey through schizophrenia, navigating the uncharted waters of mental illness to find help for their daughter, Amber, and support for their family. This memoir is an honest look at the stress, anger, education, and finally, hope experienced through eyes of a mother. Along the way, she questions her trust in God as their family encounters setbacks, inadequate treatments, and additional family health crises, but with the help of trusted family, friends, education, and support groups, author Virginia Pillars learns to rely on her faith as she faces the challenges that often accompany mental illness.
Broken But Unbowed
by Greg AbbottTexas governor and rising star in the Republican Party--one of the first prominent politicians to govern from a wheelchair since Franklin D. Roosevelt--Governor Greg Abbott pens his deeply personal and inspiring life story and proposes a plan to restore America to greatness in what Newt Gingrich calls a "bold and compelling" read.Texas Governor Greg Abbott lost his ability to walk when a huge oak tree crashed down on his back, fracturing vertebrae into his spinal cord, leaving him forever paralyzed. At twenty-six years old, he felt that the future he had dreamed of was gone. But he soon realized that our lives are not defined by our challenges, but by how we respond to them. He went on to overcome his paralytic limitations to become the longest-serving attorney general in Texas history and now governor, all while in a wheelchair. Greg Abbott waged a record number of legal challenges against the federal government that has come unhinged from the Constitution. He also led legal battles to defend the Second Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, and religious liberty. He personally appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol Grounds--and won. Through these fights he realized that his personal story held an important parallel to America's current challenges. The Constitution that forms the foundation of our country has been broken, but the people of this nation remain determined to achieve American greatness. Abbott explains that it is up to us to restore America to its rightful luster and power in the world, emerging triumphant from our stumbles. In Broken but Unbowed, Governor Abbott describes firsthand what it was like to be on the battlefield in the historic fights that have refined the Constitution and the lessons he's learned along the way, offering solutions that will bring us back a government that lives up to the American Dream.
Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets
by Jeff HorwitzBy an award-winning technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, a behind-the-scenes look at the manipulative tactics Facebook used to grow its business, how it distorted the way we connect online, and the company insiders who found the courage to speak out"Broken Code fillets Facebook&’s strategic failures to address its part in the spread of disinformation, political fracturing and even genocide. The book is stuffed with eye-popping, sometimes Orwellian statistics and anecdotes that could have come only from the inside." —New York Times Book ReviewOnce the unrivaled titan of social media, Facebook held a singular place in culture and politics. Along with its sister platforms Instagram and WhatsApp, it was a daily destination for billions of users around the world. Inside and outside the company, Facebook extolled its products as bringing people closer together and giving them voice.But in the wake of the 2016 election, even some of the company&’s own senior executives came to consider those claims pollyannaish and simplistic. As a succession of scandals rocked Facebook, they—and the world—had to ask whether the company could control, or even understood, its own platforms.Facebook employees set to work in pursuit of answers. They discovered problems that ran far deeper than politics. Facebook was peddling and amplifying anger, looking the other way at human trafficking, enabling drug cartels and authoritarians, allowing VIP users to break the platform&’s supposedly inviolable rules. They even raised concerns about whether the product was safe for teens. Facebook was distorting behavior in ways no one inside or outside the company understood. Enduring personal trauma and professional setbacks, employees successfully identified the root causes of Facebook's viral harms and drew up concrete plans to address them. But the costs of fixing the platform—often measured in tenths of a percent of user engagement—were higher than Facebook's leadership was willing to pay. With their work consistently delayed, watered down, or stifled, those who best understood Facebook&’s damaging effect on users were left with a choice: to keep silent or go against their employer.Broken Code tells the story of these employees and their explosive discoveries. Expanding on &“The Facebook Files,&” his blockbuster, award-winning series for The Wall Street Journal, reporter Jeff Horwitz lays out in sobering detail not just the architecture of Facebook&’s failures, but what the company knew (and often disregarded) about its societal impact. In 2021, the company would rebrand itself Meta, promoting a techno-utopian wonderland. But as Broken Code shows, the problems spawned around the globe by social media can&’t be resolved by strapping on a headset.
Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece
by Alex BeamThe true story of the intimate relationship that gave birth to the Farnsworth House, a masterpiece of twentieth-century architecture—and disintegrated into a bitter feud over love, money, gender, and the very nature of art.&“An amazing story, brilliantly told.&”—Sebastian Smee, Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic and author of The Art of Rivalry In 1945, Edith Farnsworth asked the German architect Mies van der Rohe, already renowned for his avant-garde buildings, to design a weekend home for her outside of Chicago. Edith was a woman ahead of her time—unmarried, she was a distinguished medical researcher, as well as an accomplished violinist, translator, and poet. The two quickly began spending weekends together, talking philosophy, Catholic mysticism, and, of course, architecture over wine-soaked picnic lunches. Their personal and professional collaboration would produce the Farnsworth House, one of the most important works of architecture of all time, a blindingly original structure made up almost entirely of glass and steel.But the minimalist marvel, built in 1951, was plagued by cost overruns and a sudden chilling of the two friends' mutual affection. Though the building became world famous, Edith found it impossible to live in, because of its constant leaks, flooding, and complete lack of privacy. Alienated and aggrieved, she lent her name to a public campaign against Mies, cheered on by Frank Lloyd Wright. Mies, in turn, sued her for unpaid monies. The ensuing lengthy trial heard evidence of purported incompetence by an acclaimed architect, and allegations of psychological cruelty and emotional trauma. A commercial dispute litigated in a rural Illinois courthouse became a trial of modernist art and architecture itself.Interweaving personal drama and cultural history, Alex Beam presents a stylish, enthralling narrative tapestry, illuminating the fascinating history behind one of the twentieth-century's most beautiful and significant architectural projects.
Broken Glory: The Final Years of Robert F. Kennedy
by Ed Sanders Rick VeitchBobby Kennedy's last campaign-an homage to a leader who might have changed history and a reconstruction of the conspiracy to stop him, in a magisterial feat of epic investigative poetry. June 5, 2018, is the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and there are still unanswered questions about whether his murder was the result of a conspiracy. Broken Glory is a graphic history told in epic verse of Bobby Kennedy's life and times leading up to the fateful 1968 election campaign, with 100 illustrations by artist Rick Veitch. It encompasses the story of his convicted killer, Sirhan Sirhan, as well as a large cast of characters that includes Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Eugene McCarthy, who was the first to challenge the sitting president of his own party in the 1968 election, and it recalls the major events that made 1968 a turning point in American history: the Tet offensive and battle of Hue, followed soon after by the My Lai massacre, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the riots that ensued. The authors illuminate the evidence for a conspiracy, fostered perhaps by elements of the CIA, that fielded a second shooter and made of Sirhan Sirhan a patsy, mirroring the part played by Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an event that haunted JFK’s younger brother until his dying day.
Broken Greek
by Pete Paphides*AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4 'BOOK OF THE WEEK'*'Lip-lickingly, dance-around-the-living-room good... A smash hit' Observer'Unflinching and heartwarming' - Adam Kay'Tender, clever and as funny as it gets ... a heart-piercing joy' - Lauren Laverne'An exceptional coming-of-age story [...] Pete Paphides may very well have the biggest heart in Britain' - Marina Hyde'I ADORE this utterly wonderful coming-of-age memoir. Joyful, clever, and a bit heartbreaking' - Nina Stibbe'Heartfelt, hilarious and beautifully written, Broken Greek is a childhood memoir like no other' - Cathy Newman'So wonderfully written, such a light touch. Drenched in sentiment yet not in the least sentimental' - John Niven'It's brilliant. Sad, really funny and beautifully written ... just fantastic' - Alexis Petridis'A truly beautiful book' - James O'Brien'Intoxicating' - Kirsty Wark'Oh, how I love Pete Paphides and this book' - Daniel Finkelstein'A balm in these times' David Nicholls'Fantastic ... Can't recommend it highly enough' Tim Burgess__________'Do you sometimes feel like the music you're hearing is explaining your life to you?'When Pete's parents moved from Cyprus to Birmingham in the 1960s in the hope of a better life, they had no money and only a little bit of English. They opened a fish-and-chip shop in Acocks Green. The Great Western Fish Bar is where Pete learned about coin-operated machines, male banter and Britishness.Shy and introverted, Pete stopped speaking from age 4 to 7, and found refuge instead in the bittersweet embrace of pop songs, thanks to Top of the Pops and Dial-A-Disc. From Brotherhood of Man to UB40, from ABBA to The Police, music provided the safety net he needed to protect him from the tensions of his home life. It also helped him navigate his way around the challenges surrounding school, friendships and phobias such as visits to the barber, standing near tall buildings and Rod Hull and Emu.With every passing year, his guilty secret became more horrifying to him: his parents were Greek, but all the things that excited him were British. And the engine of that realisation? 'Sugar Baby Love', 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', 'Tragedy', 'Silly Games', 'Going Underground', 'Come On Eileen', and every other irresistibly thrilling chart hit blaring out of the chip shop radio.Never have the trials and tribulations of growing up and the human need for a sense of belonging been so heart-breakingly and humorously depicted.*Listen along with Pete's BROKEN GREEK playlist on Spotify!*
Broken Greek: Radio 4 Book of the Week
by Pete Paphides'Tender, clever and as funny as it gets ... a heart-piercing joy' - Lauren Laverne'I ADORE this utterly wonderful coming-of-age memoir. Joyful, clever, and a bit heartbreaking' - Nina Stibbe'Heartfelt, hilarious and beautifully written, Broken Greek is a childhood memoir like no other' - Cathy Newman'So wonderfully written, such a light touch. Drenched in sentiment yet not in the least sentimental' - John Niven'It's brilliant. Sad, really funny and beautifully written ... just fantastic' - Alexis Petridis'Intoxicating' - Kirsty Wark__________'Do you sometimes feel like the music you're hearing is explaining your life to you?'When Pete's parents moved from Cyprus to Birmingham in the 1960s in the hope of a better life, they had no money and only a little bit of English. They opened a fish-and-chip shop in Acocks Green. The Great Western Fish Bar is where Pete learned about coin-operated machines, male banter and Britishness.Shy and introverted, Pete stopped speaking from age 4 to 7, and found refuge instead in the bittersweet embrace of pop songs, thanks to Top of the Pops and Dial-A-Disc. From Brotherhood of Man to UB40, from ABBA to The Police, music provided the safety net he needed to protect him from the tensions of his home life. It also helped him navigate his way around the challenges surrounding school, friendships and phobias such as visits to the barber, standing near tall buildings and Rod Hull and Emu.With every passing year, his guilty secret became more horrifying to him: his parents were Greek, but all the things that excited him were British. And the engine of that realisation? 'Sugar Baby Love', 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', 'Tragedy', 'Silly Games', 'Going Underground', 'Come On Eileen', and every other irresistibly thrilling chart hit blaring out of the chip shop radio.Never have the trials and tribulations of growing up and the human need for a sense of belonging been so heart-breakingly and humorously depicted.(P)2020 Quercus Editions Ltd
Broken Horses: A Memoir
by Brandi CarlileThe critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, producer, and six-time Grammy winner opens up about a life shaped by music in this candid, heartfelt, and intimate story. <P><P>Brandi Carlile was born into a musically gifted, impoverished family on the outskirts of Seattle and grew up in a constant state of change, moving from house to house, trailer to trailer, fourteen times in as many years. Though imperfect in every way, her dysfunctional childhood was as beautiful as it was strange, and as nurturing as it was difficult. At the age of five, Brandi contracted bacterial meningitis, which almost took her life, leaving an indelible mark on her formative years and altering her journey into young adulthood. <P><P>As an openly gay teenager, Brandi grappled with the tension between her sexuality and her faith when her pastor publicly refused to baptize her on the day of the ceremony. Shockingly, her small town rallied around Brandi in support and set her on a path to salvation where the rest of the misfits and rejects find it: through twisted, joyful, weird, and wonderful music. <P><P>In Broken Horses, Brandi Carlile takes readers through the events of her life that shaped her very raw art—from her start at a local singing competition where she performed Elton John’s “Honky Cat” in a bedazzled white polyester suit, to her first break opening for Dave Matthews Band, to many sleepless tours over fifteen years and six studio albums, all while raising two children with her wife, Catherine Shepherd. This hard-won success led her to collaborations with personal heroes like Elton John, Dolly Parton, Mavis Staples, Pearl Jam, Tanya Tucker, and Joni Mitchell, as well as her peers in the supergroup The Highwomen, and ultimately to the Grammy stage, where she converted millions of viewers into instant fans. <P><P>Evocative and piercingly honest, Broken Horses is at once an examination of faith through the eyes of a person rejected by the church’s basic tenets and a meditation on the moments and lyrics that have shaped the life of a creative mind, a brilliant artist, and a genuine empath on a mission to give back.
Broken Lives: How Ordinary Germans Experienced the 20th Century
by Konrad JarauschThe gripping stories of ordinary Germans who lived through World War II, the Holocaust, and Cold War partition—but also recovery, reunification, and rehabilitationBroken Lives is a gripping account of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of ordinary Germans who came of age under Hitler and whose lives were scarred and sometimes destroyed by what they saw and did.Drawing on six dozen memoirs by the generation of Germans born in the 1920s, Konrad Jarausch chronicles the unforgettable stories of people who not only lived through the Third Reich, World War II, the Holocaust, and Cold War partition, but also participated in Germany's astonishing postwar recovery, reunification, and rehabilitation. Written decades after the events, these testimonies, many of them unpublished, look back on the mistakes of young people caught up in the Nazi movement. In many, early enthusiasm turns to deep disillusionment as the price of complicity with a brutal dictatorship--fighting at the front, aerial bombardment at home, murder in the concentration camps—becomes clear.Bringing together the voices of men and women, perpetrators and victims, Broken Lives reveals the intimate human details of historical events and offers new insights about persistent questions. Why did so many Germans support Hitler through years of wartime sacrifice and Nazi inhumanity? How did they finally distance themselves from this racist dictatorship and come to embrace human rights? Jarausch argues that this generation's focus on its own suffering, often maligned by historians, ultimately led to a more critical understanding of national identity—one that helped transform Germany from a military aggressor into a pillar of European democracy.The result is a powerful account of the everyday experiences and troubling memories of average Germans who journeyed into, through, and out of the abyss of a dark century.
Broken Music: A Memoir
by StingHaving been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to music, I had never really considered writing a book. But upon arriving at the reflective age of fifty, I found myself drawn, for the first time, to write long passages that were as stimulating and intriguing to me as any songwriting I had ever done.And so Broken Music began to take shape. It is a book about the early part of my life, from childhood through adolescence, right up to the eve of my success with the Police. It is a story very few people know.I had no interest in writing a traditional autobiographical recitation of everything that's ever happened to me. Instead I found myself drawn to exploring specific moments, certain people and relationships, and particular events which still resonate powerfully for me as I try to understand the child I was, and the man I became.From the Hardcover edition.
Broken Open: What Painkillers Taught Me About Life and Recovery
by William Cope MoyersWilliam Cope Moyers was a model of sober success. As his inspiring story of overcoming addiction was on its way to becoming a New York Times bestseller, everyone thought he had finally achieved the redemption promised by recovery—including him. But the perfect story that helped Moyers become a famous face of the recovery movement was already unraveling, revealing a yet-to-be healed chasm between his public persona and conflicted inner life. A follow-up to his 2006 memoir Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption, this is Moyers&’s story of the ups and downs of life beyond the bright moments of early sobriety and what happened when a new crisis invaded what once seemed like a steady and secure recovery.William didn&’t know something was missing until it happened. He&’d been in recovery for alcohol and drugs for years. He was a recovery activist and a spokesperson for the gold standard of treatment and recovery organizations. He was a model leader and follower of Twelve Step programs. But, still, he slipped. And his slip lasted a few years. Privately, he was addicted to painkillers while publicly saying he was in recovery from alcohol and drug use. So, was he still in recovery? How could this happen to someone who did everything &“right&”? How did it go so wrong? With brutal honesty and introspection, William shares what happened after sobriety—after he&’d published his candid and shocking memoir, Broken, in 2006. While he no longer frequented or passed out on the floor of crack houses, his life of sobriety wasn&’t perfect. But his recovery was strong, or so he thought. Unfortunately, the opioid epidemic was stronger. It broke him. Broken Open could be one long story of self-justification. Instead, William takes a courageous look at the years he struggled and suffered to reclaim his recovery. He concludes by sharing the new perspectives these experiences provided. Recovery isn&’t black and white. Our recovery stories aren&’t things we have to live up to; they&’re journeys we get to live into. All-or-nothing approaches don&’t address the complications that make us human. As we continue our life journeys we learn and change and grow—and the things and people that help us sometimes change too.
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity In The Unexpected (Ted 2 Ser.)
by Nnedi OkoraforNnedi Okorafor was never supposed to be paralyzed. A college track star and budding entomologist, Nnedi’s lifelong battle with scoliosis was just a bump in her plan - something a simple surgery would easily correct. But when Nnedi wakes from the surgery to find she can’t move her legs, her entire sense of who she is begins to waver. Confined to a hospital bed for months, unusual things begin to happen. Psychedelic bugs crawl her hospital walls; strange dreams visit her nightly. She begins to feel as if she’s turning into a cyborg. Unsure if she’ll ever walk again, Nnedi begins to put these experiences into writing, conjuring up strange, fantastical stories. What Nnedi discovers during her confinement would prove to be the key to her life as a successful science fiction writer: In science fiction, when something breaks, something greater often emerges from the cracks. While she may be bedridden, instead of stopping her journey Nnedi’s paralysis opens up new windows in her mind, kindles her creativity and ultimately leads her to become more alive than she ever could have imagined. Nnedi takes the reader on a journey from her hospital bed deep into her memories, from her painful first experiences with racism as a child in Chicago to her powerful visits to her parents’ hometown in Nigeria, where she got her first inkling that science fiction has roots beyond the West. This was not the Africa that Nnedi knew from Western literature - an Africa that she always read was a place left behind. The role of technology in Nigeria opened her eyes to future-looking Africa: cable TV and cell phones in the village, 419 scammers occupying the cybercafés, the small generator connected to her cousin’s desktop computer, everyone quickly adapting to portable tech devices due to unreliable power sources. Nnedi could see that Africa was far from broken, as she’d been taught, and her experience there planted the early seeds of sci-fi - a genre that speculates about technologies, societies, and social issues - from an entirely new lens. In Broken Places & Outer Spaces, Nnedi uses her own experience as a jumping off point to follow the phenomenon of creativity born from hardship. From Frida Kahlo to Mary Shelly, she examines great artists and writers who have pushed through their limitations, using hardship to fuel their work. Through these compelling stories and her own, Nnedi reveals a universal truth: What we perceive as limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths - far greater than when we were unbroken.
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected (TED Books)
by Nnedi OkoraforA powerful journey from star athlete to sudden paralysis to creative awakening, award-winning science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor shows that what we think are our limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths.Nnedi Okorafor was never supposed to be paralyzed. A college track star and budding entomologist, Nnedi’s lifelong battle with scoliosis was just a bump in her plan—something a simple operation would easily correct. But when Nnedi wakes from the surgery to find she can’t move her legs, her entire sense of self begins to waver. Confined to a hospital bed for months, unusual things begin to happen. Psychedelic bugs crawl her hospital walls; strange dreams visit her nightly. Nnedi begins to put these experiences into writing, conjuring up strange, fantastical stories. What Nnedi discovers during her confinement would prove to be the key to her life as a successful science fiction author: In science fiction, when something breaks, something greater often emerges from the cracks. In Broken Places & Outer Spaces, Nnedi takes the reader on a journey from her hospital bed deep into her memories, from her painful first experiences with racism as a child in Chicago to her powerful visits to her parents’ hometown in Nigeria. From Frida Kahlo to Mary Shelly, she examines great artists and writers who have pushed through their limitations, using hardship to fuel their work. Through these compelling stories and her own, Nnedi reveals a universal truth: What we perceive as limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths—far greater than when we were unbroken. A guidebook for anyone eager to understand how their limitations might actually be used as a creative springboard, Broken Places & Outer Spaces is an inspiring look at how to open up new windows in your mind.
Broken Pots, Mending Lives: The Archaeology of Operation Nightingale
by Richard OsgoodA fully illustrated insight into an innovative recovery program that supports wounded soldiers through involvement in archaeology. For those that survive, the traumas of military conflict can be long-lasting. It might seem astonishing that archaeology, with its uncovering of the traces of the long-dead, of battlefields, of skeletal remains, could provide solace, and yet there is something magical about the subject. Operation Nightingale is a program set up in 2011 within the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom to help facilitate the recovery of armed forces personnel recently engaged in armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, using the archaeology of the British Training Areas. In the following decade, the project expanded to include veterans of older conflicts and of other nations – from the United States, from Poland, from Australia and elsewhere. In archaeology there is a job for everyone: from surveying and drawing, to examining the finds, to digging itself. Often this is in some of the most beautiful and restful of landscapes and with talks around a campfire at the end of the day. This book is the story of those veterans, of their incredible discoveries, of their own journeys of recovery – and sometimes into a lifetime of archaeology. From the crash sites of Spitfires and trenches of the Western Front in the First World War, through to burial grounds of convicts, camp sites of Hessian mercenaries, and Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Lavishly illustrated, this work will show the reader how the discovery of our shared past – of long-forgotten houses, of glinting gold jewelry, of broken pots, can be restorative and help people mend otherwise damaged lives.
Broken Roads: Returning to My Amish Father
by Ira WaglerIn this insightful memoir, the New York Times bestselling author of Growing Up Amish tries to reconcile his father, family, and heritage after leaving his faith behind.In Broken Roads, Ira Wagler uses his singular voice to unapologetically, but compassionately, illuminate the inner world of the Amish community through his story of life after leaving, what feels like his inevitable return to his Amish father, and how they might mend the relationship between them before it's too late.Through difficult reunions, struggles confronted, and betrayals revisited, Wagler explores burning questions of faith and identity shared by millions, whether Amish or not. Readers may recognize themselves along these paths with Wagler, as he grapples with choices, faith, family, the past, and the future.
Broken Shackles: Old Man Henson From Slavery to Freedom
by Peter MeylerIn 1889, Broken Shackles was published in Toronto under the pseudonym of Glenelg. This very unique book, containing the recollections of a resident of Owen Sound, Ontario, an African American known as Old Man Henson, was one of the very few books that documented the journey to Canada from the perspective of a person of African descent. Now, over 112 years later, a new edition of Broken Shackles is available. Henson was a great storyteller and the spark of life shines through as he describes the horrors of slavery and his goal of escaping its tenacious hold. His times as a slave in Maryland, his refuge in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and his ultimate freedom in Canada are vividly depicted through his remembrances. The stories of Henson’s family, friends and enemies will both amuse and shock the readers of Broken Shackles: Old Man Henson From Slavery to Freedom. It is interesting to discover that his observations of life’s struggles and triumphs are as relevant today as they were in his time.
Broken Sword: The Tumultuous Life of General Frank Crozier, 1897–1937
by Charles MessengerBrigadier General Frank Crozier (1879- 1937) was a highly controversial figure in his day. As a young soldier he saw active service in the Boer War and West Africa before being forced to leave the British army because of financial irresponsibility. He tried to start a new life in Canada and then, on his return to Britain, joined the Ulster Volunteer Force.On the outbreak of the First World War he was appointed second-in-command of a battalion in 36th Ulster Division, becoming its commanding officer in autumn 1915 and leading it in action on 1 July 1916. He commanded a brigade with much success for the rest of the war.Forbidden to stay on in the British army after the war, he became inspector-general of the Lithuanian army in 1919, but resigned after six months. Made commandant of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary at the height of the Troubles, he resigned in highly controversial circumstances.After being declared bankrupt for a second time, he was involved in the League of Nations Union and then turned topacifism, becoming a founder member of the Peace Pledge Union. By now he had, through his best-selling writings, become a thorn in the side of the establishment. Charles Messenger's meticulously researched and highly readable biography of this maverick soldier is the first full account of his life and times.
Broken Vessels: Essays
by Andre DubusBroken Vessels, Andre Dubus's first collection of essays, was written between 1977 and 1990. During this period, Dubus hit his peak as an essayist, survived an accident that almost destroyed his will to write, and went on to regain and exceed his earlier power as a writer. Reading this book is almost as rich an experience as meeting a fascinating person: you'll learn the best way to scramble eggs, why baseball is a transcendental experience, the risks and rewards of idealistic poverty, and what it's like to see ghosts. Dubus writes as a Catholic, and most of his essays speak explicitly of the sacramental nature of his everyday experiences. Particularly effective are the essays describing Dubus's struggle to recover from a traffic accident that occurred after he stopped to help stranded motorists on a roadside in 1986. "Lights of the Long Night" is among the best of these, containing the kind of writing that makes you close the book immediately, knowing you've seen so deeply into a person's soul that you have to sit with what you've learned and wait for some sense of how to respond before you're entitled to keep turning the pages.
Broken Vessels: Essays
by Andre Dubus IIIThe reflective essays of one of America&’s most accomplished authors. Andre Dubus is celebrated for depicting the subtlest of human emotions and finding compassion for the most damaged, and damaging, of characters. In the essays collected here, the author turns the microscope on himself, and the results are no less illuminating. Intimate and evocative, these autobiographical accounts of his childhood in Louisiana, his experiences in the Marine Corps, and, later, his life as a husband and father, paint a vivid portrait of this acclaimed author. Written with the sapience and depth of feeling that made his reputation in fiction, Broken Vessels is perhaps Dubus&’s most intimate work of all. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Andre Dubus including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s estate.
Broken Whole: A Memoir
by Jane BinnsAt the age of thirty-five, desperate to salvage a self that has been suffocating for years—and to save her two-year-old son from witnessing a miserable relationship between his parents—Jane Binns leaves her husband of twelve years. She has no plan or intention but to leave, however, and therein begins the misadventures lying in wait for her. Over the years that follow, Binns falls in love with Steve, a man eighteen years her senior who has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since his return from military service in Vietnam forty years prior, and who has a talent for making her feel heard. Despite his inability to provide anything more than a spurious connection, run on a mercurial and erratic schedule, and despite his repeated rejections of her love, she continues to pursue him. During their off periods, she dates other men—but she inevitably compares each new suitor to Steve, and all of them fall short. Ultimately, it takes the loss of her father in the summer of 2014, followed by the death of her ex-husband five months later, for her to finally let go of Steve—and, in the process, fully unearth the self she&’s been chasing all along.
Broken on the Back Row: A Journey through Grace and Forgiveness
by Sandi PattyA story of hope and new beginnings<P><P> Sandi Patty's tumultuous journey from devastating sin through healing forgiveness and into God's incredible grace began on the back row of a church balcony. This book is the heart-touching narrative of her happy childhood, her stellar career, her fall from public acclaim, and the steps she worked through with her church to find forgiveness and peace. And now as Sandi sings once again to packed audiences, there's a new richness in her music that reflects the journey of her heart.
Brokenness: How God Redeems Pain and Suffering
by Lon SolomonPastor Lon Solomon tells how God shattered him through his severely disabled daughter, and how pain and suffering are part of God's plan to bring us closer to Him.
Bronshtein in the Bronx
by Robert LittellA wry, thought-provoking fictional portrayal of ten pivotal weeks in the life of Leon Trotsky, inspired by the Russian revolutionary's exile in New York City in 1917, by the New York Times bestselling author of The CompanyJanuary 12, 1917: An ocean liner docks in New York Harbor. Among the disembarking emigrants is one Lev Davidovich Bronshtein—better known by his nom de guerre, Leon Trotsky. Bronshtein has been on the run for a decade, driven from his beloved Russia after escaping political exile in Siberia. He lives for—and is ready to sacrifice his life for—a workers&’ revolution, at any cost. But is he ready to become an American?In the weeks leading up to the February Revolution that will eventually see Lenin&’s Bolsheviks seize power, Bronshtein haunts the streets, newspaper offices, and socialist watering holes of New York City, wrestling with the difficult questions of his personal revolutionary ideology, his place in his own family, his relationship to Lenin, and, above all, his conscience.Master of the espionage novel Robert Littell brings to life the world-famous revolutionist&’s sojourn in the Bronx in this extraordinary meditation on purpose, passion, and the price of progress.
Bronte's Mistress: A Novel
by Finola Austin&“A beautifully written, highly seductive debut….The chemistry between Branwell and Lydia positively crackles on the page….Masterful storytelling which is sure to delight fans of the Brontës and of historical fiction.&” –Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Lighthouse Keeper&’s Daughter This dazzling debut novel for fans of Mrs. Poe and Longbourn explores the scandalous historical love affair between Branwell Brontë and Lydia Robinson, giving voice to the woman who allegedly corrupted her son&’s innocent tutor and brought down the entire Brontë family.Yorkshire, 1843: Lydia Robinson—mistress of Thorp Green Hall—has lost her precious young daughter and her mother within the same year. She returns to her bleak home, grief-stricken and unmoored. With her teenage daughters rebelling, her testy mother-in-law scrutinizing her every move, and her marriage grown cold, Lydia is restless and yearning for something more. All of that changes with the arrival of her son&’s tutor, Branwell Brontë, brother of her daughters&’ governess, Miss Anne Brontë and those other writerly sisters, Charlotte and Emily. Branwell has his own demons to contend with—including living up to the ideals of his intelligent family—but his presence is a breath of fresh air for Lydia. Handsome, passionate, and uninhibited by social conventions, he&’s also twenty-five to her forty-three. A love of poetry, music, and theatre bring mistress and tutor together, and Branwell&’s colorful tales of his sisters&’ elaborate play-acting and made-up worlds form the backdrop for seduction. But Lydia&’s new taste of passion comes with consequences. As Branwell&’s inner turmoil rises to the surface, his behavior grows erratic and dangerous, and whispers of their passionate relationship spout from her servants&’ lips, reaching all three protective Brontë sisters. Soon, it falls on Lydia to save not just her reputation, but her way of life, before those clever girls reveal all her secrets in their novels. Unfortunately, she might be too late. Meticulously researched and deliciously told, Brontë&’s Mistress is a captivating reimagining of the scandalous affair that has divided Brontë enthusiasts for generations and an illuminating portrait of a courageous, sharp-witted woman who fights to emerge with her dignity intact.