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The Last Ocean: A Journey Through Memory and Forgetting
by Nicci GerrardFrom the award-winning journalist and author, a lyrical, raw and humane investigation of dementia that explores both the journeys of the people who live with the condition and those of their loved onesAfter a diagnosis of dementia, Nicci Gerrard’s father, John, continued to live life on his own terms, alongside the disease. But when an isolating hospital stay precipitated a dramatic turn for the worse, Gerrard, an award-winning journalist and author, recognized that it was not just the disease, but misguided protocol and harmful practices that cause such pain at the end of life. Gerrard was inspired to seek a better course for all who suffer because of the disease. The Last Ocean is Gerrard’s investigation into what dementia does to both the person who lives with the condition and to their caregivers. Dementia is now one of the leading causes of death in the West, and this necessary book will offer both comfort and a map to those walking through it. While she begins with her father’s long slip into forgetting, Gerrard expands to examine dementia writ large. Gerrard gives raw but literary shape both to the unimaginable loss of one’s own faculties, as well as to the pain of their loved ones. Her lens is unflinching, but Gerrard honors her subjects and finds the beauty and the humanity in their seemingly diminished states. In so doing, she examines the philosophy of what it means to have a self, as well as how we can offer dignity and peace to those who suffer with this terrible disease. Not only will it aid those walking with dementia patients, The Last Ocean will prompt all of us to think on the nature of a life well lived.
The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness
by Andy McCulloughThe definitive biography of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, examining the genesis of his brilliance, his epic quest to win the World Series, and his singular place within the evolving baseball landscape—based on exclusive interviews with Kershaw and more than 200 others. More than any baseball player of his generation, Clayton Kershaw has embodied the burden of athletic greatness, the prizes and perils that await those who strive for it all. He is a three-time Cy Young award winner, the first pitcher to win National League MVP since Bob Gibson, and a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Many of his peers consider him the greatest pitcher to ever climb atop a big-league mound. In an age when baseball became more impersonal, a sport altered by adherence to algorithms and actuarial tables, Kershaw personified the game&’s lingering humanity, with his joy and suffering on display each October as he chased a championship. He pitched through pain, placing his future at risk on the game&’s grandest stages. He endeared himself to teammates and foes alike with his refusal to make excuses, with his willingness to shoulder the blame when he failed. And he only further impressed them when he returned, year after year, even as his body broke down from the strain of his profession. The journey captivated fans in Los Angeles and beyond, so much so that when the Dodgers finally won a title in 2020, the baseball world exulted in his triumph. The Last of His Kind traces Kershaw&’s path from a boyhood fractured by divorce to his development as one of the most-heralded pitching prospects in Texas history to his emergence in Los Angeles as the spiritual heir to Sandy Koufax. But the book also charts Kershaw&’s place in baseball&’s changing landscape, as his own stubbornness butted against the game&’s evolution. The story of baseball in the 21st century can be told through Kershaw&’s career, from his apprenticeship with icons like Joe Torre and Greg Maddux, to his wary relationship with the implementation of analytics, to his victimhood in the 2017 sign-stealing scandal at the hands of the Houston Astros. The game has changed so much during Kershaw&’s illustrious career. To understand how baseball is played today, and how it got that way, you must understand the journey of Clayton Kershaw.
The Last of His Kind: The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America's Boldest Mountaineer
by David Roberts“Stunning and stirring.”—Boston GlobeIn The Last of His Kind, renowned adventure writer David Roberts gives readers a spellbinding history of mountain climbing in the twentieth century as told through the biography of Brad Washburn, legendary mountaineering pioneer and photographer. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, has praised David Roberts, saying, “Nobody alive writes better about mountaineering”—and nowhere is that truth more evident than in this breathtaking account of the life and exploits of America’s greatest mountain climber.
The Last of NASA's Original Pilot Astronauts: Expanding the Space Frontier in the Late Sixties (Springer Praxis Books)
by Colin Burgess David J. ShaylerResulting from the authors' deep research into these two pre-Shuttle astronaut groups, many intriguing and untold stories behind the selection process are revealed in the book. The often extraordinary backgrounds and personal ambitions of these skilled pilots, chosen to continue NASA's exploration and knowledge of the space frontier, are also examined. In April 1966 NASA selected 19 pilot astronauts whose training was specifically targeted to the Apollo lunar landing missions and the Earth-orbiting Skylab space station. Three years later, following the sudden cancellation of the USAF's highly classified Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project, seven military astronauts were also co-opted into NASA's space program. This book represents the final chapter by the authors in the story of American astronaut selections prior to the era of the Space Shuttle. Through personal interviews and original NASA documentation, readers will also gain a true insight into a remarkable age of space travel as it unfolded in the late 1960s, and the men who flew those historic missions.
The Last of the 357th Infantry: Harold Frank's WWII Story of Faith and Courage
by Mark HagerFor those who loved Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers and E.B. Sledge's With the Old Breed. Drawing on toughness and skills forged in hardscrabble Depression-era North Carolina, Bronze Star recipient and expert B.A.R. rifleman Harold Frank invades Normandy, fights Germans, and endures a grueling stint in a German POW camp where he witnesses the fire-bombing of Dresden.From D-Day to Dresden with a Crack Shot B.A.R. Rifleman D-Day 1944: twenty-year-old PFC Harold Frank had moved as one with his battalion onto the shores of Utah Beach, pushing into France to cut off and blockade the pivotal Nazi-occupied deep-water port of Cherbourg. As a recognized crack shot with WW II's iconic American automatic rifle, Frank fought bravely across the bloody hedgerows of the Cotentin Peninsula. During the most intense fighting, Frank was ambushed and wounded in a deadly, nine-hour firefight with Germans. Taken prisoner and with a bullet lodged under one arm, Frank found himself dumped first in a brutal Nazi POW concentration camp, then shipped to a grueling work camp on the outskirts of Dresden, Germany, where the young PFC was exposed to the vengeance of a crumbling Nazi regime, the menace of a rapidly advancing Russian military—and the danger of thousands of Allied bombers screaming overhead during the firebombing of Dresden. Historian Mark Hager builds on hundreds of hours of interviews with Harold Frank, sharing the intimate and heart-pounding account of Frank&’s journey as a child of the Great Depression to the bloody shores of the D-Day invasion, into the bowels of Nazi Germany, and back to the U.S. where as a young man Harold would spend years resolutely dealing with the lingering effects of starvation rations while determinedly building a new life—a life always mindful of the legacy of his POW experience and his faithful service in America&’s hard-fought war against Nazi aggression.
The Last of the 39-ers: The Extraordinary Wartime Experiences of Squadron Leader Alfie Fripp
by Sean FeastThe story of the RAF pilot and POW shot down in 1939—including his role in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III—is told in this intimate WWII biography. While on a reconnaissance sortie over Germany in 1939, Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Alfie Fripp was shot down by the Luftwaffe and taken prisoner. The longest-serving British prisoner of war, he was also the last of the surviving &“39-ers&” when he died in 2012. His wartime years were spent in numerous camps, including the infamous Stalag Luft III, where he took an active role in the prison break immortalized by the film The Great Escape. Fripp also served during the interwar period and returned to service after being released in 1945. Before he died, Fripp, began working with aviation historian Sean Feast on his memoirs. Feast has now combined copious research with Fripp&’s candid account and personal photographs to produce this lively and authoritative biography.
Last of the Donkey Pilgrims: A Man's Journey Through Ireland
by Kevin O'HaraKevin O'Hara's journey of self-discovery begins as a mad lark: who in their right mind would try to circle the entire coastline of Ireland on foot and with a donkey and cart no less? But Kevin had promised his homesick Irish mother that he would explore the whole of the Old Country and bring back the sights and the stories to their home in Massachusetts. Determined to reach his grandmother's village by Christmas Eve, Kevin and his stubborn but endearing donkey, Missie, set off on 1800-mile trek along the entire jagged coast of a divided Ireland. Their rollicking adventure takes them over mountains and dales, through smoky cities and sleepy villages, and into the farmhouses and hearts of Ireland's greatest resource --its people. Along the way, Kevin would meet incredible characters, experience Ireland in all of its glory, and explore not only his Irish past, but find his future self.
The Last of the Duchess: The Strange and Sinister Story of the Final Years of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor
by Caroline Blackwood James FoxIntriguing, suspenseful, and witty, this is the story of journalist and novelist Caroline Blackwood's search for the late Duchess of Windsor. It is also a provocative exploration of the often bizarre connection between heightened celebrity and approaching death--in Blackwood's words, "the fatal effects of myth." First serial to New York Times Magazine.
The Last of the Duchess
by Caroline Blackwood James FoxIntriguing, suspenseful, and witty, this is the story of journalist and novelist Caroline Blackwood's search for the late Duchess of Windsor. It is also a provocative exploration of the often bizarre connection between heightened celebrity and approaching death--in Blackwood's words, "the fatal effects of myth." First serial to New York Times Magazine.
Last of the Giants: The True Story of Guns N' Roses
by Mick Wall'Last Of the Giants is the mad, funny, dark and often painful story of a lost band from a now-distant time' CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINEINCLUDES BRAND NEW CHAPTER COVERING GUNS N' ROSES EPIC WORLD TOUR'Any story about Guns is worth reading. But when the author is Mick Wall it's absolutely essential' KERRANGMany millions of words have already been written about Guns N' Roses, the old line-up, the new line-up. But none of them have ever really gotten to the truth. Which is this: Guns N' Roses has always been a band out of time, the Last of the Giants. They are what every rock band since the Rolling Stones has tried and nearly always failed to be: dangerous. At a time when smiling, MTV-friendly, safe-sex, just-say-no Bon Jovi was the biggest band in the world, here was a band that seemed to have leapt straight out of the coke-smothered pages of the original, golden-age, late-sixties rock scene.'Live like a suicide', the band used to say when they all lived together in the Hell House, their notorious LA home. And this is where Mick Wall first met them, and became part of their inner circle, before famously being denounced by name by Axl Rose in the song 'Get in the Ring'.But this book isn't about settling old scores. Written with the clear head that 25 years later brings you, this is a celebration of Guns N' Roses the band, and of Axl Rose the frontman who really is that thing we so desperately want him to be: the last of the truly extraordinary, all-time great, no apologies, no explanations, no giving-a-shit rock stars. The last of his kind.
Last of the Great Scouts: The Life Story of William F. Cody ["Buffalo Bill"]
by Helen Cody WetmoreBuffalo Bill: Last of the Great Scouts is the entertaining and fascinating story of William F. Cody, known to millions for over a century as the legendary Buffalo Bill. Born in a log cabin in Iowa, he was a buffalo hunter, stagecoach driver, Pony Express rider, Civil War soldier, and a scout for the U.S. army before beginning his career as the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, which electrified audiences around the world from 1883 to 1917. Bill’s sister, Helen Cody Wetmore, has written an affectionate biography that recalls fully both the man and the legend, his colorful personality and ironic wit, as well as his celebrated international status. Some of her anecdotes read like the dime novels they were probably based on, but others provide fascinating glimpses of frontier life. Before becoming a showman, Cody tried his luck as a land speculator, a hotelkeeper, and a justice of the peace. These pages also show the author herself growing up on the wild frontier. Humorous and informative, Buffalo Bill introduces us to an unforgettable and controversial figure in American frontier history. This commemorative edition includes the full text of the original 1899 edition, a foreword and afterword by novelist Zane Grey, illustrations by Frederic Remington, E. W. Deming, and Rosa Bonheur from a rare 1903 edition, and an introduction by scholar Joy S. Kasson.
The Last of the Lascars: Yemeni Muslims in Britain, 1836-2012
by Mohammad Siddique Seddon"Dr. Seddon has contributed an important and fascinating chapter to the modern history of Britain. "#151;David Waines, emeritus professor of Islamic Studies, Lancaster University, UK Originally arriving as imperial oriental sailors and later as postcolonial labor migrants, Yemeni Muslims have lived in British ports and industrial cities from the mid-nineteenth century. They married local British wives, established a network of "Arab-only" boarding houses and cafes, and built Britain's first mosques and religious communities. Mohammed Siddique Seddon is lecturer in religious and Islamic studies at the department of theology and religious studies, University of Chester, England.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls: A Memoir
by Sheila McclearIn the last of Times Square's peep shows, a man pays $40 to watch a girl strip naked behind glass. These institutions, left over from the days when 42nd Street was the vicious center of vice, will soon disappear completely from a rapidly gentrifying New York City, their stories lost forever. Yet, the story of the peeps is too interesting and too vital to the history of Times Square not to be told.In The Last of the Live Nude Girls, Sheila McClear pulls back the curtain back on the little-documented world of the peep shows and their history. A late bloomer from the Midwest, McClear became a stripper in the peeps after finding herself adrift in New York. But after-dark Times Square seeped into her blood, and she ended up staying much longer than she imagined. The story she tells is not just of her own coming-of-age-nor is it one of sex and vice and salaciousness. Rather, it is a redemptive narrative of modern life on the fringes of society in New York City.
The Last of the Shackdwellers: The Autobiography of Bestselling Author Lena Kennedy
by Lena KennedyIn this, story of her life as a writer, Lena Kennedy looks back on the formative influences that shaped her career, such as the idyllic summers spent at her family`s holiday home in Kent, where among the `shackdwellers` of the woods and the simple beauty of the countryside she began to realise her growing need to express her feeling through writing. But the realisation of the need to write is only the beginning, as Lena soon acknowledged when her career took its first faltering steps, and the setback late in life that nearly robbed her of many year“s work. The Last of the Shackdwellers is told in her inimitable style, sheds much light on the life of this much-loved writer. Lena Kennedy died in August l986.
The Last of the Shackdwellers: The Autobiography of Bestselling Author Lena Kennedy
by Lena KennedyThe evocative, illuminating autobiography of one of Britain's best-loved novelists.Lena Kennedy was sixty-four before her first novel, MAGGIE, was accepted, and it was among the shackdwelling community of the woods that she began to realise her growing need to express her feelings through writing. THE LAST OF THE SHACKDWELLERS examines the inspirations for each of her novels, such as the bestsellers EVE`S APPLES and LILY, MY LOVELY. Lena also vividly describes the long search for a publisher, her joy at finding success and her road to fame.'Absolutely fascinating' - 5-STAR reader review
Last of the Summer Wine: The Story of the World's Longest-Running Comedy Series
by Andrew VineAn insider’s look at story behind the longest running situation comedy in British television history.Quite simply, Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running comedy programme in the world. It premiered thirty-seven years ago, in 1973, and, after thirty-one series it finally came to an end—even though all its original protagonists—Compo, Foggy, even Nora Batty—are now dead.Remarkably, for a series of such longevity and international appeal, it is all about elderly people, has little action or plot, and is set and filmed in and around the small Yorkshire town of Holmfirth.Now, Andrew Vine, the deputy editor of Yorkshire’s daily newspaper, has written the definitive history of this television phenomenon. It covers the show’s inauspicious beginnings, with low ratings, its endless reinvention as participants like Bill Owen, Michael Bates, Brian Wilde and Kathy Staff retired or died, the appearance of a string of guest stars from John Cleese and Norman Wisdom to Thora Hird and Russ Abbott (both of whom soon found themselves fixtures in the cast), and the ingenious plot contrivances as the protagonists became too old and frail to attempt any of the slapstick stunts with runaway prams—indeed any outdoor action.The town of Holmfirth is now a year-round tourist attraction, and the endless availability of the show via streaming, ensures that Last of the Summer Wine, and the book it inspired, will live on for generations of fans.
The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas Ii And The Russia Revolution
by Robert ServiceA riveting account of the last eighteen months of Tsar Nicholas II's life and reign from one of the finest Russian historians writing today. In March 1917, Nicholas II, the last Tsar of All the Russias, abdicated and the dynasty that had ruled an empire for three hundred years was forced from power by revolution. Now, on the hundredth anniversary of that revolution, Robert Service, the eminent historian of Russia, examines Nicholas's life and thought from the months before his momentous abdication to his death, with his family, in Ekaterinburg in July 1918. The story has been told many times, but Service's deep understanding of the period and his forensic examination of previously untapped sources, including the Tsar's diaries and recorded conversations, as well as the testimonies of the official inquiry, shed remarkable new light on his troubled reign, also revealing the kind of Russia that Nicholas wanted to emerge from the Great War. The Last of the Tsars is a masterful study of a man who was almost entirely out of his depth, perhaps even willfully so. It is also a compelling account of the social, economic and political ferment in Russia that followed the February Revolution, the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917 and the beginnings of Lenin's Soviet socialist republic.
Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson And The Battle Of The Century
by Youssef Daoudi Adrian MatejkaA groundbreaking graphic portrait of boxing legend Jack Johnson, Last On His Feet offers a front-row seat to the Battle of the Century. On the morning of July 4, 1910, thousands of boxing fans stormed a newly built stadium in Reno, Nevada, to witness an epic showdown. Jack Johnson, the world’s first Black heavyweight champion—and most infamous athlete in the world because of his race—was paired against Jim Jeffries, a former heavyweight champion then heralded as the “great white hope.” It was the height of the Jim Crow era, and spectators were eager for Jeffries to restore the racial hierarchy that Johnson had pummeled with his quick fists. Transporting readers directly into the ring, artist Youssef Daoudi and poet Adrian Matejka intersperse dramatic boxing action with vivid flashbacks to reveal how Johnson, the self-educated son of formerly enslaved parents, reached the pinnacle of sport—all while facing down a racist justice system. Through a combination of breathtaking illustrations and striking verse, Last on His Feet honors a contentious civil rights figure who has for more than a century been denied his proper due.
The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Final Days of the Dalton Gang
by Tom ClavinThe definitive account of the Dalton Gang and the most brazen bank heist in history, by the multiple New York Times bestselling author. The Last Outlaws is the thrilling true story of the last of one of the greatest outlaw gang. The dreaded Dalton Gang consisted of three brothers and their rotating cast of colorful accomplices who saw themselves as descended from the legendary James brothers. They soon became legends themselves, beginning their career as common horse thieves before graduating to robbing banks and trains. On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang attempted their boldest and bloodiest raid yet: robbing two banks in broad daylight in Coffeyville, Kansas, simultaneously. As Grat, Bob, and Emmett Dalton and Bill Power and Dick Broadwell crossed the plaza to enter the two buildings, the outlaws were recognized by townspeople, who raised the alarm. Citizens armed themselves with shotguns and six-shooters from nearby hardware stores and were locked and loaded when the thieves emerged from the banks. The ensuing gun battle was a lead-filled firefight of epic proportions. As the smoke cleared, eight men lay dead––including four of the five members of the doomed Dalton Gang. For the first time ever, the full story of the Dalton Gang's life of crime, culminating in one of the Wild West’s most violent events, are chronicled in detail––a last gruesome gasp of the age of gunfights.
The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
by Thom HatchThe Old West was coming to an end. Two legendary outlaws refused to go with it. As leaders of the Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid executed the most daring bank and train robberies of their day. For several years at the end of the 1890s, the two friends, along with a revolving band of thieves, eluded law enforcement while stealing from the rich bankers and Eastern railroad corporations who exploited Western land...until they rode headlong into the twentieth century. In The Last Outlaws, Thom Hatch brings these memorable characters to life like never before. From their early holdup attempts to that fateful day in Bolivia, Hatch draws on a wealth of fresh research to go beyond the myth and provide a compelling new look at these legends of the Wild West. Includes Photographs
The Last Palace: Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House
by Norman EisenA sweeping yet intimate narrative about the last hundred years of turbulent European history, as seen through one of Mitteleuropa’s greatest houses—and the lives of its occupants When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture in his new home. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past. From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s, and The Last Palace chronicles the upheavals that transformed the continent over the past century. There was the optimistic Jewish financial baron, Otto Petschek, who built the palace after World War I as a statement of his faith in democracy, only to have that faith shattered; Rudolf Toussaint, the cultured, compromised German general who occupied the palace during World War II, ultimately putting his life at risk to save the house and Prague itself from destruction; Laurence Steinhardt, the first postwar US ambassador whose quixotic struggle to keep the palace out of Communist hands was paired with his pitched efforts to rescue the country from Soviet domination; and Shirley Temple Black, an eyewitness to the crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring by Soviet tanks, who determined to return to Prague and help end totalitarianism—and did just that as US ambassador in 1989. Weaving in the life of Eisen’s own mother to demonstrate how those without power and privilege moved through history, The Last Palace tells the dramatic and surprisingly cyclical tale of the triumph of liberal democracy.
The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night
by Anthony Haden-GuestA riveting memoir of disco-era nightlife and the outrageous goings-on behind the doors of New York City&’s most famous and exclusive nightclub In the disco days and nights of New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, the place to be was Studio 54. Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, and Bianca Jagger were among the nightly assortment of A-list celebrity regulars consorting with New York&’s young, wild, and beautiful. Studio 54 was a place where almost nothing was taboo, from nonstop dancing and drinking beneath the coke-dusted neon moon to drugs and sex in the infamous unisex restrooms to the outrageous money-skimming activities taking place in the office of the studio&’s flamboyant co-owner Steve Rubell. Author Anthony Haden-Guest was there on opening night in 1977 and over the next decade spent many late nights and early mornings basking in the strobe-lit wonder. But The Last Party is much more than a fascinating account of the scandals, celebrities, crimes, and extreme excesses encouraged within the notorious Manhattan nightspot. Haden-Guest brings an entire era of big-city glitz and unapologetic hedonism to breathtaking life, recalling a vibrant New York night world at once exhilarating and dangerous before the terrible, sobering dawn of the age of AIDS.
The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End
by Gary M. PomerantzOut of the greatest dynasty in American professional sports history, an intimate story of race, mortality, and regretAbout to turn ninety, Bob Cousy, the Hall of Fame Boston Celtics captain who led the team to its first six championships on an unparalleled run, has much to look back on in contentment. But he has one last piece of unfinished business. The last pass he hopes to throw is to close the circle with his great partner on those Celtic teams, fellow Hall of Famer Bill Russell, now 84. These teammates were basketball's Ruth and Gehrig, and Cooz, as everyone calls him, was famously ahead of his time as an NBA player in terms of race and civil rights. But as the decades passed, Cousy blamed himself for not having done enough, for not having understood the depth of prejudice Russell faced as an African-American star in a city with a fraught history regarding race. Cousy wishes he had defended Russell publicly, and that he had told him privately that he had his back. At this late hour, he confided to acclaimed historian Gary Pomerantz over the course of many interviews, he would like to make amends. At the heart of the story THE LAST PASS tells is the relationship between these two iconic athletes. The book is also in a way Bob Cousy's last testament on his complex and fascinating life. As a sports story alone it has few parallels: An poor kid whose immigrant French parents suffered a dysfunctional marriage, the young Cousy escaped to the New York City playgrounds, where he became an urban legend known as the Houdini of the Hardwood. The legend exploded nationally in 1950, his first year as a Celtic: he would be an all-star all 13 of his NBA seasons. But even as Cousy's on-court imagination and daring brought new attention to the pro game, the Celtics struggled until Coach Red Auerbach landed Russell in 1956. Cooz and Russ fit beautifully together on the court, and the Celtics dynasty was born. To Boston's white sportswriters it was Cousy's team, not Russell's, and as the civil rights movement took flight, and Russell became more publicly involved in it, there were some ugly repercussions in the community, more hurtful to Russell than Cousy feels he understood at the time. THE LAST PASS situates the Celtics dynasty against the full dramatic canvas of American life in the 50s and 60s. It is an enthralling portrait of the heart of this legendary team that throws open a window onto the wider world at a time of wrenching social change. Ultimately it is a book about the legacy of a life: what matters to us in the end, long after the arena lights have been turned off and we are alone with our memories.
The Last Pick: The Boston Marathon Race Director's Road to Success
by David J. Mcgillivray Linda Glass Fechter<p>"If you can dream it, it can happen." In this heartening book, Boston Marathon race director and motivational speaker David McGillivray shares the challenges he has overcome to inspire readers to similar triumphs in their own lives. <p>Always the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, David McGillivray drove himself to excel at individual sports. <p>When he was 16, he set himself up for the one "failure" that would motivate the rest of his life. <p>He attempted to run in his first Boston Marathon--without training for the event. Not crossing the finish line could have been a crushing blow. <p>Instead he went on to complete 115 marathons and eventually to become the Boston Marathon's race director. <p>At age 23, McGillivray completed his celebrated 3,452-mile run across the United States to raise money for cancer research. <p>The story of his journey and what he learned about himself will give all readers a new understanding of how to prepare for and achieve success. <p>McGillivray's many accomplishments will convince readers that virtually any goal is possible. <p>This book will motivate them to overcome the mental obstacles that often keep dreams from becoming reality.
The Last Pilgrimage: My Mother's Life and Our Journey to Saying Goodbye
by Linda DalyLinda Daly had a seemingly charmed life: her mother Nancy was married to the head of Warner Bros, and her parents were one of the most influential and prominent couples in Los Angeles. Even their divorce couldn't test the bond between mother and daughter, and their family grew: her mother married Dick Riordan, mayor of L.A.; her father married songwriter Carole Bayer Sager. The extended family used their combined resources to help a number of cultural and philanthropic concerns across the country until they encountered the one thing they could not overcome: Nancy's diagnosis of stage four pancreatic cancer.So mother and daughter teamed up to begin a search for a miracle cure - a roller-coaster ride through the rigors of western medicine, the surgeries and chemotherapies, and the untested boundaries of alternative medicine. All along Linda stayed by her mother's side, facing the fear of the unknown, as she struggled with both her mother's diagnosis and her own lifelong issues with faith and religion. Out of choices and almost out of time, Linda and her mother put their rocky faith in one last pilgrimage: a visit to a Brazilian faith healer, John of God, during his residence in upstate New York.Fleeing the dubious practices of the faith healer, and with Nancy's time quickly running out, Linda and her siblings embarked on a final road trip home, in a rented, unruly RV, to bring Nancy back to her beloved City of Angles. What Linda learned on their final pilgrimage together would change her forever and speaks to the issues faced by many adult sons and daughters today: how to help those who gave you life face the end of their own.Ultimately, The Last Pilgrimage is Linda's love letter to her mother, proof that the end of life can offer a peaceful and comforting farewell. Nancy's final gift to her daughter was a single moment of serenity that came with the most incredible sensation of being brushed with a thousand feathers. Peace like none other. Linda finally realized that the journey she needed to make was an interior one; that even when life is untidy, it's ever changing patterns can be exciting and fulfilling. That closeness to God, and being a part of something larger than herself, could be found by anyone, even within the confines of an RV.