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Thinking Again: A Diary
by Jan MorrisJan Morris, one of “Britain’s greatest living writers” (Times, UK), returns with this whimsical yet deeply affecting volume on life as a redoubtable nonagenarian. The irrepressible Jan Morris—author of such classics as Venice and Trieste—is at it again: offering a vibrant set of reminiscences that remind us “what a good, wise and witty companion Jan Morris has been for so many readers for so long” (Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times Book Review). “Like Michel de Montaigne” (Danny Heitman, Wall Street Journal), Morris waxes on the ironies of modern life in all their resonant glories and inevitable stupidities—from her daily exercise (a “statutory thousand paces of brisk walk”) to the troubles of Brexit; her enduring yet complicated love for America; and honest reflections on the vagaries and ailments of aging. Both intimate and luminously wise, Thinking Again is a testament to the virtues of embracing life, creativity, and, above all, kindness.
A Writer's House in Wales
by Jan MorrisThrough an exploration of her country home in Wales, acclaimed travel writer Jan Morris discovers the heart of her fascinating country and what it means to be Welsh. Trefan Morys, Morris's home between the sea and mountains of the remote northwest corner of Wales, is the 18th-century stable block of her former family house nearby. Surrounding it are the fields and outbuildings, the mud, sheep, and cattle of a working Welsh farm. She regards this modest building not only as a reflection of herself and her life, but also as epitomizing the small and complex country of Wales, which has defied the world for centuries to preserve its own identity. Morris brilliantly meditates on the beams and stone walls of the house, its jumbled contents, its sounds and smells, its memories and inhabitants, and finally discovers the profoundest meanings of Welshness.
Behind the Smile
by Jeannie MorrisIn 1992, Carol Moseley Braun became the first, and to this day only, African-American woman elected to the US Senate. Long before this historic victory, which Barack Obama would later say prefigured his own path to the Senate and presidency, veteran Chicago journalist Jeannie Morris saw an incredible opportunity. Here was a bold and politically courageous candidate, a feminist and sensible progressive with whom Morris quickly identified on a personal level. Morris joined the campaign to write the official story of a brilliant retail politician with a charismatic smile. What happened next resulted in a story that went well beyond what Morris could have imagined. Behind the Smile is the riveting campaign-trail memoir of a journalist coming to grips with the shortcomings of an ascendant politician--a charismatic trailblazer whose personal relationship with a key staffer led to her undoing. The narrative unfolds as the personal journey of a sympathetic reporter reconciling her own belief in an inspiring figure with her responsibility to deliver the facts. In Behind the Smile, Morris brings the social and political impact of Moseley Braun's story--from her meteoric rise to her eventual downfall--into clear focus.
Brian Piccolo: A Short Season
by Jeannie MorrisThe moving story of the hero of "Brian's Song." Chicago Bear running back Brian Piccolo died of cancer on June 16, 1970 at the age of 26. He left behind a young wife, three daughters, a host of friends--and a legend. Shortly after his death, Joy Piccolo, Brian's wife called her close friend and said, "Jeannie, would you finish Brian's book?" This is his story, a classic sports biography.
Legion Rising: Surviving Combat and the Scars It Left Behind
by Jeff Morris LC MicklerA U.S. Army Platoon Leader shares an honest account of Iraq War combat and his long journey of healing from trauma in this military memoir. During his time in Iraq, Jeff Morris saw and experienced some truly harrowing events, such as the time he had to pulled shards of another man's skull from the palm of his hand. When he got home, he struggled for years just to face his own reflection. In Legion Rising, Morris provides a candid account of his service—from the rigors of military training through the thrills, dangers, and tragedies of combat. Morris tells of losing eight men in the line of duty, and of the second battle he faced once his combat service was over. Scarred by trauma and haunted by the past, Morris faced a long struggle before his ultimate rise from adversity.
Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability
by Jenny MorrisDrawing on her own and other experiences of disability, Jenny Morris, editor of Able Lives, confronts the nature of the prejudice against disabled people. Pride Against Prejudice challenges the reality of being different, covering current and historical debates on the quality of disabled people's lives; the way disability is represented within Western culture; institutionalisation and independence; feminist research and 'community care'; and the politics of the disability movement. For too long, non-disabled people have defined the experience of disability and had control over disabled people's lives. Pride Against Prejudice has grown out of the increasing collective organisation of disabled people and is part of an emerging disability culture. Jenny Morris argues her case with energy, authority and conviction.
All in My Head: A memoir of life, love and patient power
by Jessica MorrisAll In My Head is a memoir by a woman who in her early fifties received a life-shattering diagnosis. It is about her determined search for effective treatment, the birth of a campaign to get proper data and funding for research into glioblastoma (GBM), and finally her coming to terms with the knowledge that she has reached the end of the road.Jessica Morris takes the reader on a whirlwind journey. How does an ordinary person who last studied biology aged sixteen negotiate with world-renowned doctors and surgeons about cutting-edge treatments she must decide between? How do you remain positive when the median statistics suggest you have only fourteen months to live? How instead do you cast those fears aside and bounce back?All In My Head is much more than a book about GBM. It takes the reader into the life of a woman who when confronted by devastating news chooses to be strong. It is about fighting adversity with hope and finding reasons to be positive in the darkest moments.
All in My Head: A memoir of life, love and patient power
by Jessica MorrisAll In My Head is a memoir by a woman who in her early fifties received a life-shattering diagnosis. It is about her determined search for effective treatment, the birth of a campaign to get proper data and funding for research into glioblastoma (GBM), and finally her coming to terms with the knowledge that she has reached the end of the road.Jessica Morris takes the reader on a whirlwind journey. How does an ordinary person who last studied biology aged sixteen negotiate with world-renowned doctors and surgeons about cutting-edge treatments she must decide between? How do you remain positive when the median statistics suggest you have only fourteen months to live? How instead do you cast those fears aside and bounce back?All In My Head is much more than a book about GBM. It takes the reader into the life of a woman who when confronted by devastating news chooses to be strong. It is about fighting adversity with hope and finding reasons to be positive in the darkest moments.
All in My Head: A Memoir of Life, Love and Patient Power (Language Acts and Worldmaking #6)
by Jessica MorrisAll In My Head is a memoir by a woman who in her early fifties received a life-shattering diagnosis. It is about her determined search for effective treatment, the birth of a campaign to get proper data and funding for research into glioblastoma (GBM), and finally her coming to terms with the knowledge that she has reached the end of the road. <p><p>Jessica Morris takes the reader on a whirlwind journey. How does an ordinary person who last studied biology aged sixteen negotiate with world-renowned doctors and surgeons about cutting-edge treatments she must decide between? How do you remain positive when the median statistics suggest you have only fourteen months to live? How instead do you cast those fears aside and bounce back? <p><p>All In My Head is much more than a book about GBM. It takes the reader into the life of a woman who when confronted by devastating news chooses to be strong. It is about fighting adversity with hope and finding reasons to be positive in the darkest moments.
The Dreaming Circus: Special Ops, LSD, and My Unlikely Path to Toltec Wisdom
by Jim Morris• Explains how the author became a student of Toltec spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz and how he traveled the world, as well as the astral realms, undergoing a deep spiritual journey of change • Details how the author discovered LSD after the Vietnam War and even tripped while skydiving • Recounts his time as a civil rights advocate and war correspondent, and how Toltec shamanism helped prepare him to ease his wife&’s long end-of-life journey During his third tour of duty in Vietnam where he served as a Green Beret, Jim Morris was wounded badly enough to be retired from the army. He came home bitter, angry that his career had been ended. After reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, he realized that many members of Ken Kesey&’s Merry Pranksters had also been combat officers. Following this spiritual &“hint,&” he spent the next couple of years as an acid head, even skydiving on LSD. Awakened by his LSD experiences, Morris immersed himself in the books of Carlos Castaneda as well as in Kriya yoga, Charismatic Christianity, and A Course in Miracles. From these experiences he was led to Toltec spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz and began a deep spiritual journey of change.Sharing his journey from PTSD to spiritual awakening, Morris recounts his time as a civil rights advocate for the Montagnard people in Vietnam and his years as a war correspondent at the same time he was following Castaneda&’s Warrior&’s Way. He describes his momentous meeting with don Miguel Ruiz as well as his travels around the world and in the astral realms. Sharing how his wife developed dementia and later became paralyzed, Morris explains how it required all his Toltec training, all his military training, everything he had to share her final years in a meaningful and fulfilling way. Written from a deep understanding of Toltec techniques this book shows in a heartfelt and resonant way what a spiritual path can give you.
Ambrose Bierce, Alone in Bad Company
by Roy Morris Jr.Detailed biography and analysis of his literature.
Gertrude Stein Has Arrived: The Homecoming of a Literary Legend
by Roy Morris Jr.The American book tour that catapulted Gertrude Stein from quirky artist to a household name.In 1933, experimental writer and longtime expatriate Gertrude Stein skyrocketed to overnight fame with the publication of an unlikely best seller, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Pantomiming the voice of her partner Alice, The Autobiography was actually Gertrude's work. But whoever the real author was, the uncharacteristically lucid and readable book won over the hearts of thousands of Americans, whose clamor to meet Gertrude and Alice in person convinced them to return to America for the first time in thirty years from their self-imposed exile in France. For more than six months, Gertrude and Alice crisscrossed America, from New England to California, from Minnesota to Texas, stopping at thirty-seven different cities along the way. They had tea with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, attended a star-studded dinner party at Charlie Chaplin's home in Beverly Hills, enjoyed fifty-yard-line seats at the annual Yale-Dartmouth football game, and rode along with a homicide detective through the streets of Chicago. They met with the Raven Society in Edgar Allan Poe's old room at the University of Virginia, toured notable Civil War battlefields, and ate Oysters Rockefeller for the first time at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans. Everywhere they went, they were treated like everyone's favorite maiden aunts—colorful, eccentric, and eminently quotable.In Gertrude Stein Has Arrived, noted literary biographer Roy Morris Jr. recounts with characteristic energy and wit the couple's rollicking tour, revealing how—much to their surprise—they rediscovered their American roots after three decades of living abroad. Entertaining and sympathetic, this clear-eyed account captures Gertrude Stein for the larger-than-life legend she was and shows the unique relationship she had with her indefatigable companion, Alice B. Toklas—the true power behind the throne.
Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan
by Roy Morris Jr.A biography of the U.S. Army General describes Sheridan's role in such Civil War battles as Perryville, Yellow Tavern, and Five Forks, and his experiences in the post-war period. 15,000 first printing.
Fit for the Presidency?: Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans
by Seymour Morris Jr.Every four years Americans embark on the ultimate carnival, the Super Bowl of democracy: a presidential election campaign filled with endless speeches, debates, handshakes, and passion. But what about the candidates themselves? In Fit for the Presidency? Seymour Morris Jr. applies an executive recruiter’s approach to fifteen presidential prospects from 1789 to 1980, analyzing their résumés and references to determine their fitness for the job. Were they qualified? How real were their actual accomplishments? Could they be trusted, or were their campaign promises unrealistic? The result is a fresh and original look at a host of contenders from George Washington to William McAdoo, from DeWitt Clinton to Ronald Reagan. Gone is the fluff of presidential campaigns, replaced by broad perspective and new insights on candidates seeking the nation’s highest office.
Don't You Know Who I Used to Be?: From Manolos to Motherhood
by Julia MorrisJulia Morris is the first to admit she does not know much, but these are some of the things she knows for sure: - Writing a Logie speech when you are aged eight is not normal; - Cathy Freeman is the only woman in the world who looks good in white lycra; - $22,000 Aussie dollars converts to about 23 pounds Sterling; - 'Overnight romance' sounds better than 'one-night stand'; - Tom Jones is not the only dark-haired Welsh man with sex appeal; - A blue cross on a white stick WILL change your life. DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I USED TO BE? is a delightful memoir from one of Australia's best-loved comedians about moving to the UK, frocking up, dating, getting married, giving birth to her first child and coming home...and not always wearing Manolos.
My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor
by Keith Morris Jim RulandKeith Morris is a true punk icon. No one else embodies the sound of Southern Californian hardcore the way he does. With his waist-length dreadlocks and snarling vocals, Morris is known the world over for his take-no-prisoners approach on the stage and his integrity off of it. Over the course of his forty-year career with Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and OFF!, he's battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry...and he's still going strong.My Damage is more than a book about the highs and lows of a punk rock legend. It's a story from the perspective of someone who has shared the stage with just about every major figure in the music industry and has appeared in cult films like The Decline of Western Civilization and Repo Man. A true Hollywood tale from an L.A. native, My Damage reveals the story of Morris's streets, his scene, and his music-as only he can tell it.
Unfinished Revolution: Daniel Ortega and Nicaragua's Struggle for Liberation
by Kenneth E. MorrisThe first full-length biography of Daniel Ortega in any language, this exhaustive account draws from a wealth of untapped sources to tell the story of Nicaragua's continuing struggle for liberation through the prism of the Revolution's most emblematic yet enigmatic hero. It traces Ortega's life from his childhood in Nicaragua's mountainous mining region, where his parents instilled in him a hatred of Yankee imperialism, through a current presidential administration that has many of the earmarks of the authoritarianism he opposed in others. In between, it shows him as a teenager caught up in political agitation, a political prisoner locked in a jail cell for seven years, a strategist and fighter of the Revolution, a leader in the new republic, and a behind-the-scenes powerbroker plotting his own return to power. The portrait that emerges is of a man who wants the best for his country--and often gets it--yet also one prone to making questionable compromises in pursuit of his lofty ambitions.
Ernest Hemingway & Gary Cooper in Idaho: An Enduring Friendship (American Legends)
by Larry E. MorrisAn account of the decades-long friendship between the iconic author and the famed actor, with photos included.In the autumn of 1940, two icons of American culture met in Sun Valley, Idaho—writer Ernest Hemingway and actor Gary Cooper. Although “Hem” was known as brash, larger-than-life, and hard-drinking and “Coop” as courteous, non-confrontational, and taciturn, the two became good friends. And though they would see each other over the years in Hollywood, Cuba, New York, and Paris, it was to Idaho they always returned. Here they hunted together, waded through marshes, and hiked sagebrush-covered hills, sometimes talking and sometimes not, but continually forging a close comradeship. That bond sustained them through the highs and lows of stardom, through personal trials and triumphs, and from their first conversation to their deaths seven weeks apart in 1961. Here, historian Larry Morris celebrates the story of that unforgettable friendship.
The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers After the Expedition
by Larry E. Morris&“Combines adventure, mystery, and tragedy . . . a &‘Who&’s Who&’ of explorers who opened the pathway for an ocean-to-ocean America.&” —St. Joseph News-Press (Missouri) The story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition has been told many times. But what became of the thirty-three members of the Corps of Discovery once the expedition was over? The expedition ended in 1806, and the final member of the corps passed away in 1870. In the intervening decades, members of the corps witnessed the momentous events of the nation they helped to form—from the War of 1812 to the Civil War and the opening of the transcontinental railroad. Some of the expedition members went on to hold public office; two were charged with murder. Many of the explorers could not resist the call of the wild and continued to adventure forth into America&’s western frontier. Engagingly written and based on exhaustive research, The Fate of the Corps chronicles the lives of the fascinating men (and one woman) who opened the American West. &“A fascinating afterword to the expedition . . . demands inclusion in the canon of essential Lewis and Clark books.&”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer &“Succinct, clear style . . . The diverse fates of the members of the expedition . . . give the feel of a Greek epic.&”—Santa Fe New Mexican
Bush Parson
by Leon MorrisThis … is my tribute to the big-hearted people I met in the outback. I want to acknowledge my debt to so many battlers in their very difficult situations. And with them I want to link those in our cities who are interested enough in what is done in this vast country to support with their prayers and their gifts those who go out to minister to their outback cousins. I am indebted to them both.,Dr Leon Morris, former principal of Ridley College, Melbourne, was best known as a respected Bible scholar and lecturer of international stature.Few would know that he spent the years of World War 2 with The Bush Church Aid Society among the people of the Minnipa Mission on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. With a population depleted by the war effort and tough farm conditions, Leon and Mildred Morris carried out their ministry in a parish covering thousands of square miles.In this new edition of Bush Parson celebrating the centenary of Bush Church Aid, we join with Leon in his tribute to the big-hearted people of the Australian outback.
A Great and Terrible King: Edward I And The Forging Of Britain
by Marc MorrisThe first major biography of a truly formidable king, whose reign was one of the most dramatic and important of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale. Edward I is familiar to millions as "Longshanks," conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in "Braveheart"). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king's action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled to the Holy Land; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers and constructing a magnificent chain of castles. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliaments; notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom.The longest-lived of England's medieval kings, he fathered fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and, after her death, he erected the Eleanor Crosses--the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch. In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England's destiny--a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward's opponents (including Robert Bruce) to resist him. The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.
William I: England's Conqueror (Penguin Monarchs)
by Marc MorrisOn Christmas Day 1066, William, duke of Normandy was crowned in Westminster, the first Norman king of England. It was a disaster: soldiers outside, thinking shouts of acclamation were treachery, torched the surrounding buildings. To later chroniclers, it was an omen of the catastrophes to come.During the reign of William the Conqueror, England experienced greater and more seismic change than at any point before or since. Marc Morris's concise and gripping biography sifts through the sources of the time to give a fresh view of the man who changed England more than any other, as old ruling elites were swept away, enemies at home and abroad (including those in his closest family) were crushed, swathes of the country were devastated and the map of the nation itself was redrawn, giving greater power than ever to the king. When, towards the end of his reign, William undertook a great survey of his new lands, his subjects compared it to the last judgement of God, the Domesday Book. England had been transformed forever.
Lou Harrison: American Musical Maverick
by Mark Morris Bill Alves Brett CampbellAmerican composer Lou Harrison (1917–2003) is perhaps best known for challenging the traditional musical establishment along with his contemporaries and close colleagues: composers John Cage, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Leonard Bernstein; Living Theater founder, Judith Malina; and choreographer, Merce Cunningham. Today, musicians from Bang on a Can to Björk are indebted to the cultural hybrids Harrison pioneered half a century ago. His explorations of new tonalities at a time when the rest of the avant garde considered such interests heretical set the stage for minimalism and musical post-modernism. His propulsive rhythms and ground-breaking use of percussion have inspired choreographers from Merce Cunningham to Mark Morris, and he is considered the godfather of the so-called "world music" phenomenon that has invigorated Western music with global sounds over the past two decades.In this biography, authors Bill Alves and Brett Campbell trace Harrison's life and career from the diverse streets of San Francisco, where he studied with music experimentalist Henry Cowell and Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, and where he discovered his love for all things non-traditional (Beat poetry, parties, and men); to the competitive performance industry in New York, where he subsequently launched his career as a composer, conducted Charles Ives's Third Symphony at Carnegie Hall (winning the elder composer a Pulitzer Prize), and experienced a devastating mental breakdown; to the experimental arts institution of Black Mountain College where he was involved in the first "happenings" with Cage, Cunningham, and others; and finally, back to California, where he would become a strong voice in human rights and environmental campaigns and compose some of the most eclectic pieces of his career.
Out Loud: A Memoir
by Mark Morris Wesley StaceFrom the most brilliant and audacious choreographer of our time, the exuberant tale of a young dancer’s rise to the pinnacle of the performing arts world, and the triumphs and perils of creating work on his own terms—and staying true to himself Before Mark Morris became “the most successful and influential choreographer alive” (The New York Times), he was a six year-old in Seattle cramming his feet into Tupperware glasses so that he could practice walking on pointe. Often the only boy in the dance studio, he was called a sissy, a term he wore like a badge of honor. He was unlike anyone else, deeply gifted and spirited. Moving to New York at nineteen, he arrived to one of the great booms of dance in America. Audiences in 1976 had the luxury of Merce Cunningham’s finest experiments with time and space, of Twyla Tharp’s virtuosity, and Lucinda Childs's genius. Morris was flat broke but found a group of likeminded artists that danced together, travelled together, slept together. No one wanted to break the spell or miss a thing, because “if you missed anything, you missed everything.” This collective, led by Morris’s fiercely original vision, became the famed Mark Morris Dance Group. Suddenly, Morris was making a fast ascent. Celebrated by The New Yorker’s critic as one of the great young talents, an androgynous beauty in the vein of Michelangelo’s David, he and his company had arrived. Collaborations with the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yo-Yo Ma, Lou Harrison, and Howard Hodgkin followed. And so did controversy: from the circus of his tenure at La Monnaie in Belgium to his work on the biggest flop in Broadway history. But through the Reagan-Bush era, the worst of the AIDS epidemic, through rehearsal squabbles and backstage intrigues, Morris emerged as one of the great visionaries of modern dance, a force of nature with a dedication to beauty and a love of the body, an artist as joyful as he is provocative. Out Loud is the bighearted and outspoken story of a man as formidable on the page as he is on the boards. With unusual candor and disarming wit, Morris’s memoir captures the life of a performer who broke the mold, a brilliant maverick who found his home in the collective and liberating world of music and dance.