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America
by E. R. Frank"Where would you like to be five years from now?" Dr. B. asks."Nowhere," America answers.By age fifteen, America has already been nowhere. Been nobody. Separated from his foster mother, Mrs. Harper. A runaway living for weeks in a mall, then for months in Central Park. A patient at Applegate, the residential treatment facility north of New York City. And now at Ridgeway, a hospital.America is a boy, he thinks to himself, who gets lost easy and is not worth the trouble of finding.But Dr. B. takes the trouble. With abiding care, he nudges America's story from him. An against-the-odds story about America's shattered past with his mother and brothers. About Browning, a man in Mrs. Harper's house who saves America, then betrays him. About a bighearted, hardheaded girl named Liza, and Ty and Fish and Wick and Marshall and Ernie and Tom and Dr. B. himself who care more than America does about whether he lives or dies.
America Was Hard to Find: A Novel
by Kathleen AlcottIn the wake of an affair, the lives of an astronaut and a radical are forever altered by the political fault lines of the 1960s, setting off a series of events ricocheting from anti-Vietnam activism to the Apollo program to the AIDS crisis, in this sprawling multigenerational novelEcuador, 1969: An American expatriate, Fay Fern, sits in the corner of a restaurant, she and her young son Wright turned away from the television where Vincent Kahn becomes the first man to walk on the moon.Years earlier, Fay and Vincent meet at a pilots’ bar in the Mojave Desert. Both seemed poised for reinvention—the married test pilot, Vincent, as an astronaut; the spurned child of privilege, Fay, as an activist. Their casual affair ends quickly, but its consequences linger.Though their lives split, their senses of purpose deepen in tandem, each becoming heroes to different sides of the political spectrum of the 1960s and 70s: Vincent an icon with no plan beyond the mission for which he has single-mindedly trained, Fay a leader of a violent leftist group whose anti-Vietnam actions make her one of the FBI’s most wanted. With her last public appearance, a demonstration that frames the Apollo program as a vehicle for distracting the American public from its country’s atrocities, Fay leaves Wright to contend with her legacy, his own growing apathy, and the misdeeds of both his mother and his country.An immense, vivid reimagining of the Cold War era, America Was Hard to Find traces the fallout of the cultural revolution that divided the country and explores the meaning of individual lives in times of upheaval. It also confirms Kathleen Alcott’s reputation as a fearless and vital voice in fiction.
America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag
by Sarah PalinIn the fall of 2009, with the publication of her #1 national bestselling memoir, Sarah Palin had the privilege of meeting thousands of everyday Americans on her extraordinary 35-city book tour. Inspired by these encounters, her new book, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, celebrates the enduring strengths and virtues that have made this country great. Framed by her strong belief in the importance of family, faith, and patriotism, the book ranges widely over American history, culture, and current affairs, and reflects on the key values-both national and spiritual-that have been such a profound part of Governor Palin's life and continue to inform her vision of America's future. Written in her own refreshingly candid voice, America By Heart will include selections from classic and contemporary readings that have moved her-from the nation's founding documents to great speeches, sermons, letters, literature and poetry, biography, and even some of her favorite songs and movies. Here, too, are portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her deep love of country, her strong rootedness in faith, and her profound love and appreciation of family. She will also draw from personal experience to amplify these timely (and timeless) themes-themes that are sure to inspire her numerous fans and readers all across the country.
America's Boy: A Memoir
by Wade Rouse&“A revelatory story about acceptance, pride, and the many ways even a seemingly prejudiced family can surprise us&” by the bestselling author of Magic Season (The Washington Post).Indie Next List &“Great Read&” SelectionAmerican Library Association&’s Inaugural &“Rainbow List&” Selection In this memoir, writer and journalist Wade Rouse delivers a humorous and heartwarming account of his Midwestern childhood and coming of age as a gay man. Born in Granby, a small farm town in the southwest Missouri Ozarks, Wade was a fish out of water as long as he could remember—or at least since he participated in his family&’s mock Miss America pageant when he was just five years old, clad in his grandmother&’s red &“whore&” heels and his mother&’s black-and-white polka-dot bikini. Life didn&’t get easier in Wade&’s conservative hometown, especially after his older brother died just a month after Wade graduated junior high school. It was then that Wade buried his brother—and his sexuality, so his parents wouldn&’t mourn the loss of a second son. Finally, after years of a descent into obsessive-compulsive behaviors and overeating, Wade was able to come out to himself, losing weight and gaining confidence until he had nothing left to hide. Filled with memories of happiness and heartbreak, America&’s Boy is both &“a quirky tribute to [Rouse&’s] rural Ozark family, and an easily digestible, homespun tale of a bygone era in Middle America&” (Time Out Chicago).&“A storyteller and a memoirist in the best sense of the words. . . . Reading Rouse&’s memoir is more like sitting with a good friend and a cold beer, trading stories and remembering those things that may have been painful or tragic at the time, but must now be respected for what they are.&” —Metro Weekly
America's Test Kitchen's Cooking For Kids: 32 Recipes Kids Will Love
by America'S Test Kitchen<P>This is America's Test Kitchen's first-ever collection of recipes that are kid approved—recipes that our favorite junior test cooks (our own kids) want to make, eat, and make again. Most of the recipes are familiar menu items at family restaurants--Chicken fingers, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Thin-Crust Pizza, Classic Chicken Noodle Soup, Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, Chewy Brownies--but they’ve never tasted so good, and better yet, you’ll know exactly what goes into every dish. <P>Each recipe features a brief Why This Recipe Works section, because it’s never too early to start learning the hows and whys of good cooking. Whether you’ve got a kid that’s permanently paused food-wise on mac and cheese, or a budding foodie that loves to mix it up in the kitchen, this collection of recipes makes cooking together fun.
America's White Table
by Margot Theis RavenA little-known tradition to the outside civilian world, "the white table" originated during the time of the Vietnam War as a symbol for and remembrance to service members held prisoner of war or missing in action. Solitary and solemn, it is the table where no one will ever sit. As a special gift to her Uncle John, Katie and her sisters are asked to help set this white table for dinner one night. When Mama explains the significance of each item placed on the table, Katie comes to understand and appreciate the depth of sacrifice that her uncle, and each member of America's armed services, may be called to give. The white table has been set across America in mess halls and at military events for almost 3o years. In thoughtful, evocative prose, Margot Theis Raven, author of Mercedes and the Chocolate 'Pilot, brings to life this ceremony of remembrance. Artist Mike Benny's intimate, detailed artwork gives a sense of meaning and shared experience. "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." --General George Washington
American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption
by Gabrielle Glaser&“Powerful… Tells a singular story to illuminate a universal truth.&”--The New York Times Book Review The shocking truth about postwar adoption in America, told through the bittersweet story of one teenager, the son she was forced to relinquish, and their search to find each otherDuring the Baby Boom in 1960s America, women were encouraged to stay home and raise large families, but sex and childbirth were taboo subjects. Premarital sex was common, but birth control was hard to get and abortion was illegal. In 1961, sixteen-year-old Margaret Erle fell in love and became pregnant. Her enraged family sent her to a maternity home, and after she gave birth, she wasn't even allowed her to hold her own son. Social workers threatened her with jail until she signed away her parental rights. Her son vanished, his whereabouts and new identity known only to an adoption agency that would never share the slightest detail about his fate. Claiming to be acting in the best interests of all, the adoption business was founded on secrecy and lies. American Baby lays out how a lucrative and exploitative industry removed children from their birth mothers and placed them with hopeful families, fabricating stories about infants' origins and destinations, then closing the door firmly between the parties forever. Adoption agencies and other organizations that purported to help pregnant women struck unethical deals with doctors and researchers for pseudoscientific "assessments," and shamed millions of young women into surrendering their children.Gabrielle Glaser dramatically demonstrates the power of the expectations and institutions that Margaret faced. Margaret went on to marry and raise a large family with David's father, but she never stopped longing for and worrying about her firstborn. She didn't know he spent the first years of his life living just a few blocks away from her; as he grew, he wondered about where he came from and why he was given up. Their tale--one they share with millions of Americans--is one of loss, love, and the search for identity.Adoption's closed records are being legally challenged in states nationwide. Open adoption is the rule today, but the identities of many who were adopted or who surrendered a child in the postwar decades are locked in sealed files. American Baby illuminates a dark time in our history and shows a path to reunion that can help heal the wounds inflicted by years of shame and secrecy.
American Bar Association Guide to Resolving Legal Disputes: Inside and Outside the Courtroom
by American Bar AssociationWhether you’re fighting with a neighbor about who should pay for a fence, pursuing a charge of discrimination at work, or chasing a $5000 loan, theABA Guide toResolving Legal Disputes: Inside and Outside the Courtroomcan help you decide what steps to take to resolve disputes. This book, written in easy-to-read language with dozens of real-life examples, includes tips on how to be a better negotiator. It also provides important information about mediation, arbitration, small claims court, and civil court procedures, and includes a chapter on working with a lawyer, with tips on how you can save time and money.
American Daughter: A Memoir
by Elissa Wald Stephanie Thornton Plymale"Gut-wrenching and absorbing...in the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle."—BOOKLIST"a story of redemption and forgiveness."—MARY BETH KEANE, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW"Impressive...Readers will find themselves recalibrating their judgments about villains and victims"–—BOOKPAGE (STARRED REVIEW)For 50 years, Stephanie Plymale kept her past a fiercely guarded secret. No one outside her immediate family would have guessed that her childhood was fraught with every imaginable hardship: a mentally ill mother who was in and out of jails and psych wards throughout Stephanie's formative years, neglect, hunger, poverty, homelessness, truancy, foster homes, a harrowing lack of medical care, and worse.Stephanie, in turn, knew very little about the past of her mother, from whom she remained estranged during most of her adult life. All this changed with a phone call that set a journey of discovery in motion, leading to a series of shocking revelations that forced Stephanie to revise the meaning of almost every aspect of her very compromised childhood.American Daughter is at once the deeply moving memoir of a troubled mother-daughter relationship and a meditation on resilience, transcendence, and redemption. Stephanie's story is unique but its messages are universal, offering insight into what it means to rise above, heal, and forgive.
American Dervish: A Novel
by Ayad AkhtarHayat Shah is a young American in love for the first time. His normal life of school, baseball, and video games had previously been distinguished only by his Pakistani heritage and by the frequent chill between his parents, who fight over things he is too young to understand. Then Mina arrives, and everything changes. <P><P>Mina is Hayat's mother's oldest friend from Pakistan. She is independent, beautiful and intelligent, and arrives on the Shah's doorstep when her disastrous marriage in Pakistan disintegrates. Even Hayat's skeptical father can't deny the liveliness and happiness that accompanies Mina into their home. Her deep spirituality brings the family's Muslim faith to life in a way that resonates with Hayat as nothing has before. Studying the Quran by Mina's side and basking in the glow of her attention, he feels an entirely new purpose mingled with a growing infatuation for his teacher. <P>When Mina meets and begins dating a man, Hayat is confused by his feelings of betrayal. His growing passions, both spiritual and romantic, force him to question all that he has come to believe is true. Just as Mina finds happiness, Hayat is compelled to act -- with devastating consequences for all those he loves most. <P>American Dervish is a brilliantly written, nuanced, and emotionally forceful look inside the interplay of religion and modern life. Ayad Akhtar was raised in the Midwest himself, and through Hayat Shah he shows readers vividly the powerful forces at work on young men and women growing up Muslim in America. This is an intimate, personal first novel that will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.
American Dervish: From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize
by Ayad AkhtarTHE EXPLOSIVE NOVEL FROM PULITZER PRIZE WINNER AYAD AKHTAR'Terrific' The Times'Extraordinary' Sunday Express'A great American story' MetroHOW OFTEN DOES SOMEONE YOU MEET TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE?Hayat Shah was captivated by Mina long before he met her: his mother's beautiful, brilliant friend is a family legend. When he learns that Mina is leaving Pakistan to live with the Shahs in America, Hayat is thrilled.Hayat's father is less enthusiastic. Ever wary of fundamentalism, he doesn't relish the idea of Mina's fervid devotion under his roof. What no one expects is that when Mina shows Hayat the beauty of the Quran, it will utterly transform him.Mina's real magic may be that the Shah household becomes a happy one. But when Mina catches the eye of a Jewish doctor and family friend, Hayat's jealousy is inflamed by the community's anti-Semitism - and he acts with catastrophic consequences for those he loves most. A DEVASTATINGLY MOVING NOVEL FROM ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST EXCITING WRITERSA Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the YearA Globe and Mail Best Book of the YearA Shelf Awareness Best Book of the YearAn O, the Oprah Magazine Book of the Year
American Diabetes Association Guide to Raising a Child with Diabetes
by Jean Betschart RoemerThe American Diabetes Association Guide to Raising a Child with Diabetes, 3rd edition features the latest advances in diabetes care to help your child have a healthy active childhood. Full of problem-solving examples and easy-to-use tables, you will learn how:To adjust insulin to allow for the foods kids love to eatTo help the child with type 2 diabetesTo plan meals that are nutritious and balancedTo play sports and games safelyTo handle sick daysYour child can maintain a busy schedule and still feel healthy and strongTo negotiate the twists and turns of being "different"To accept the physical and emotional challenges that life has to offerAnd much more
American Dirt: A Novel
by Jeanine Cummins<P><P>También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams. <P><P>Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. <P><P>Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. <P><P>Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. <P><P>Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page. It is one of the most important books for our times. <p><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
American Dreams
by Janet DaileyA stirring story of love and passion on the Trail of Tears from New York Times–bestselling author Janet Dailey, America&’s first lady of romance.Temple Gordon&’s family is one of the oldest, and proudest, to call Cherokee country home. Although their house may look like a southern plantation, the blood in their veins and the land beneath their feet is Cherokee. Nothing will change that—or so they believe. When President Andrew Jackson begins agitating to push the Indian tribe west, Temple&’s family prepares to fight to keep their homes. But when her heart is tempted by the fiery Cherokee known as &“The Blade,&” who believes removal is inevitable, Temple feels passion stirring on the eve of one of the greatest tragedies in American history. Previously published as The Proud and the Free, American Dreams is a stirring historical novel from one of the greatest names in romance.
American Dreams Trilogy: Dream of Freedom, Dream of Life, and Dream of Love
by Michael PhillipsAll three novels in the acclaimed Christian author’s historical fiction series about a Southern family following God’s will as Civil War tensions rise.Dream of FreedomIn the pre-Civil War South, Richmond Davidson and his family decide to follow God’s will and free their slaves. The controversy over this decision sets off escalating tensions as the lines are being drawn between North and South.Dream of LifeWhen the Underground Railroad hears that the Davidson family home is a potential safe house, runaways began appearing at their door. Unable to turn them away, the Davidsons must find a way to help. But the prying eyes of neighbors make this a dangerous calling.Dream of LoveAs the Civil War rages, the Davidsons continue their work with the Underground Railroad. But as one son fights for the Confederacy while another has gone North, the family will face its most difficult trials yet.
American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt
by Karen HarperBefore there was Meghan Markle, there was Consuelo Vanderbilt, the original American Duchess. Perfect for readers of Jennifer Robson and lovers of Downton Abbey.Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.”On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Massive crowds surge forward, awaiting their glimpse of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. Just 18, the beautiful bride has not only arrived late, but in tears, yet her marriage to the aloof Duke of Marlborough proceeds. Bullied into the wedding by her indomitable mother, Alva, Consuelo loves another. But a deal was made, trading some of the vast Vanderbilt wealth for a title and prestige, and Consuelo, bred to obey, realizes she must make the best of things. At Blenheim Palace, Consuelo is confronted with an overwhelming list of duties, including producing an “heir and a spare,” but her relationship with the duke quickly disintegrates. Consuelo finds an inner strength, charming everyone from debutantes to diplomats including Winston Churchill, as she fights for women’s suffrage. And when she takes a scandalous leap, can she hope to attain love at last…?From the dawning of the opulent Gilded Age, to the battles of the Second World War, American Duchess is a riveting tale of one woman’s quest to attain independence—at any price.
American Eyes: New Asian-American Short Stories for Young Adults
by Cynthia Kadohata Lori M. CarlsonHeartfelt short stories written by ten young Asian-American writers who share the conflicts that many young people feel living in two distinct worlds - one of memories and traditions, and one of today. Stories by Marie G. Lee, Ryan Oba, Katherine Min, Mary F. Chen, Lois-ann Yamanaka, Fae Myenne Ng, Cynthia Kadohata, Peter Bacho, Lan Samantha Chang, and Nguyen Duc Minh.
American Families: A Multicultural Reader
by Stephanie Coontz Maya Parson Gabrielle RaleyThis collection testifies to the extraordinary variety of families in the U.S, revealing that family arrangements have always been diverse and have often been in flux. Case studies describe the wide array of family forms and values, gender roles, and parenting practices.
American Family: A Novel
by Catherine Marshall-SmithRichard and Michael, both three years sober, have just decided to celebrate their love by moving in together when Richard—driven by the desire to do the right thing for his ten-year-old-daughter, Brady, whom he has never met—impulsively calls his former father-in-law to connect with her. With that phone call, he jeopardizes the one good thing he has—his relationship with Michael—and also threatens the world of the fundamentalist Christian grandparents who love Brady and see her as payback from God for the alcohol-related death of her mother. Unable to reach an agreement, the two parties hire lawyers who have agendas far beyond the interests of the families—and Brady is initially trusted into Richard and Michael&’s care. But when the judge learns that the young girl was present when a questionable act took place while in their custody, she returns Brady to her grandparents. Ultimately, it&’s not until further tragedy strikes that both families are finally motivated to actually act in the &“best interests of the child.&”
American Fatherhood: A History
by Jürgen MartschukatExplores the surprising diversity of fathers and fatherhood throughout American history and society The nuclear family has been endlessly praised as the bedrock of American society, even though there has rarely been a time in history when a majority of Americans lived in such families. This book deconstructs the myth of the nuclear family by presenting the rich diversity of family lives in American history from the American Revolution to the twenty-first century. To tell this story, Jürgen Martschukat focuses on fathers and their relations to families and American society. Using biographical close-ups of twelve different characters, each embedded in historical context, American Fatherhood provides a much more realistic picture of how fatherhood has been performed within different kinds of families. Each protagonist covers a crucial period or event in American history, presents a different family constellation, and makes a different argument with regard to how American society is governed through the family.
American Girls
by Alison UmmingerA bittersweet, honest, and widely acclaimed YA coming-of-age novel that distills honest truths about American girldomAnna is a fifteen-year-old girl slouching toward adulthood, and she's had it with her life at home. So Anna "borrows" her stepmom's credit card and runs away to Los Angeles, where her half-sister takes her in. But LA isn't quite the glamorous escape Anna had imagined.As Anna spends her days on TV and movie sets, she engrosses herself in a project researching the murderous Manson girls—and although the violence in her own life isn't the kind that leaves physical scars, she begins to notice the parallels between herself and the lost girls of LA, and of America, past and present.In Anna's singular voice, we glimpse not only a picture of life on the B-list in LA, but also a clear-eyed reflection on being young, vulnerable, lost, and female in America—in short, on the B-list of life. Alison Umminger writes about girls, violence, and which people society deems worthy of caring about, which ones it doesn't, in a way not often seen in teen fiction.American Girls is:An ALA Booklist Top 10 First Novel A KirkusBest Book of the YearA Barnes & Noble Best YA Book of the YearA Chicago Public Library Best of the Best of 2016A Bustle Best YA Book of the YearYALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults"Messy, honest, and unflinchingly real. I can't get this book out of my head. I don't want to get this book out of my head." —Becky Albertalli, Morris Award-winning author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers
by Nancy Jo SalesA New York Times BestsellerInstagram. Whisper. Yik Yak. YouTube. Kik. Ask.fm. Tinder. The dominant force in the lives of girls coming of age in America today is social media. What it is doing to an entire generation of young women is the subject of award-winning Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales’s riveting and explosive American Girls.With extraordinary intimacy and precision, Sales captures what it feels like to be a girl in America today. From Montclair to Manhattan and Los Angeles, from Florida and Arizona to Texas and Kentucky, Sales crisscrossed the country, speaking to more than two hundred girls, ages thirteen to nineteen, and documenting a massive change in the way girls are growing up, a phenomenon that transcends race, geography, and household income. American Girls provides a disturbing portrait of the end of childhood as we know it and of the inexorable and ubiquitous experience of a new kind of adolescence—one dominated by new social and sexual norms, where a girl’s first crushes and experiences of longing and romance occur in an accelerated electronic environment; where issues of identity and self-esteem are magnified and transformed by social platforms that provide instantaneous judgment. What does it mean to be a girl in America in 2016? It means coming of age online in a hypersexualized culture that has normalized extreme behavior, from pornography to the casual exchange of nude photographs; a culture rife with a virulent new strain of sexism and a sometimes self-undermining notion of feminist empowerment; a culture in which teenagers are spending so much time on technology and social media that they are not developing basic communication skills. From beauty gurus to slut-shaming to a disconcerting trend of exhibitionism, Nancy Jo Sales provides a shocking window into the troubling world of today’s teenage girls. Provocative and urgent, American Girls is destined to ignite a much-needed conversation about how we can help our daughters and sons negotiate unprecedented new challenges.
American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers
by Nancy Jo SalesA New York Times BestsellerInstagram. Whisper. Yik Yak. YouTube. Kik. Ask.fm. Tinder. The dominant force in the lives of girls coming of age in America today is social media. What it is doing to an entire generation of young women is the subject of award-winning Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales’s riveting and explosive American Girls.With extraordinary intimacy and precision, Sales captures what it feels like to be a girl in America today. From Montclair to Manhattan and Los Angeles, from Florida and Arizona to Texas and Kentucky, Sales crisscrossed the country, speaking to more than two hundred girls, ages thirteen to nineteen, and documenting a massive change in the way girls are growing up, a phenomenon that transcends race, geography, and household income. American Girls provides a disturbing portrait of the end of childhood as we know it and of the inexorable and ubiquitous experience of a new kind of adolescence—one dominated by new social and sexual norms, where a girl’s first crushes and experiences of longing and romance occur in an accelerated electronic environment; where issues of identity and self-esteem are magnified and transformed by social platforms that provide instantaneous judgment. What does it mean to be a girl in America in 2016? It means coming of age online in a hypersexualized culture that has normalized extreme behavior, from pornography to the casual exchange of nude photographs; a culture rife with a virulent new strain of sexism and a sometimes self-undermining notion of feminist empowerment; a culture in which teenagers are spending so much time on technology and social media that they are not developing basic communication skills. From beauty gurus to slut-shaming to a disconcerting trend of exhibitionism, Nancy Jo Sales provides a shocking window into the troubling world of today’s teenage girls. Provocative and urgent, American Girls is destined to ignite a much-needed conversation about how we can help our daughters and sons negotiate unprecedented new challenges.
American Gothic: The Story of America's Legendary Theatrical Family—Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth
by Gene SmithA New York Times–bestselling author&’s &“lively&” account of a family of famous actors—who became notorious after the assassination of President Lincoln (The New Yorker). Junius Booth and his sons, Edwin and John Wilkes, were nineteenth-century America&’s most famous theatrical family. Yet the Booth name is forever etched in the history books for one terrible reason: the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford&’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. In American Gothic, bestselling historian Gene Smith vividly chronicles the triumphs, scandals, and tragedies of this infamous family. The preeminent English tragedian of his day, Junius Booth was a madman and an alcoholic who abandoned his wife and young son to move to America and start a new family. His son Edwin became the most renowned Shakespearean actor in America, famously playing Hamlet for one hundred consecutive nights, but he suffered from depression and a crippling fear of inheriting his father&’s insanity. Blessed with extraordinary good looks and a gregarious nature, John Wilkes Booth seemed destined for spectacular fame and fortune. However, his sympathy for the Confederate cause unleashed a dangerous instability that brought permanent disgrace to his family and forever changed the course of American history. Richly detailed and emotionally insightful, American Gothic is a &“ripping good tale&” that brings to life the true story behind a family tragedy of Shakespearean proportions (The New York Times).
American Gypsy: A Memoir
by Oksana MarafiotiA vivid and funny memoir about growing up Gypsy and becoming AmericanFifteen-year-old Oksana Marafioti is a Gypsy. This means touring with the family band from the Mongolian deserts to the Siberian tundra. It means getting your hair cut in "the Lioness." It also means enduring sneering racism from every segment of Soviet society. Her father is determined that his girls lead a better, freer life. In America! Also, he wants to play guitar with B. B. King. And cure cancer with his personal magnetism. All of this he confides to the woman at the American embassy, who inexplicably allows the family entry. Soon they are living on the sketchier side of Hollywood.What little Oksana and her sister, Roxy, know of the United States they've learned from MTV, subcategory George Michael. It doesn't quite prepare them for the challenges of immigration. Why are the glamorous Kraft Singles individually wrapped? Are the little soaps in the motels really free? How do you protect your nice new boyfriend from your opinionated father, who wants you to marry decently, within the clan?In this affecting, hilarious memoir, Marafioti cracks open the secretive world of the Roma and brings the absurdities, miscommunications, and unpredictable victories of the immigrant experience to life. With unsentimentally perfect pitch, AmericanGypsy reveals how Marafioti adjusted to her new life in America, one slice of processed cheese at a time.