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End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood
by Jan Redford"Jan Redford is a bad–ass. She is also a born storyteller." —John Vaillant, author of The TigerIn this funny and gritty debut memoir, praised by Outside, Sierra, Alpinist, and more, Jan Redford grows from a reckless rock climber to a mother who fights to win back her future.As a teenager, she sets her sights on the improbable dream of climbing mountains. By age twenty, she’s a climber with a magnetic attraction to misadventures and the wrong men.Redford finally finds the love of her life, an affable Rockies climber. When he is killed in an avalanche in Alaska, a grieving Redford finds comfort in the arms of another extreme alpinist. Before long, they are married, with a baby on the way. While her husband works as a logger, Redford tackles the traditional role of wife and mother. But soon, she pursues her own dream, one that pits her against her husband. End of the Rope is Redford's telling of heart–stopping adventures, from being rescued off El Capitan to leading a group of bumbling cadets across a glacier. It is her laughter–filled memoir of friendships with women in that masculine world. Most moving, this is the story of her struggle to make her own way in the mountains and in life. To lead, not follow.
Dear Ann, Dear Abby: An Unauthorized Biography
by Bob Speziale Jan PottkerWith chutzpah, hard work, controversy, and a large bit of luck, identical twins Esther Pauline (Eppie) and Pauline Esther (Popo) Friedman rose from smalltown Iowa obscurity to unprecedented national fame and influence. As Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, two of the most loved, admired, and important women in the United States, they have articulated and often shaped America’s moral conscience for over thirty years. Despite the roadblocks put up by the twins to preserve their mystique, the authors interviewed several hundred friends and colleagues who knew Ann and Abby at various stages of their lives. These candid and revealing recollections, often contradicting the twins’ “endorsed” publicity, recreate the fascinating lives and careers of the women whose advice appears in more than two thousand newspapers. Dear Ann, Dear Abby uncovers the forces that propelled two fifties-era housewives into identical, highly influential careers, and the truth behind their private and public lives. It also examines the reasons why the twins repeatedly and openly feud with each other while giving human relations advice to millions, and how their enormous influence with the media has allowed them to escape close scrutiny--until now.
Janet & Jackie: The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
by Jan PottkerDespite hundreds of books and thousands of articles on Jackie Kennedy, surprisingly little is known about her mother's role in her life and achievements. Often dismissed as a social climber who faded into the woodwork after she divorced Jackie's father-the dashing, disreputable "Black Jack" Bouvier-and married the rich Hugh D. Auchincloss, Janet not only played a pivotal part in Jackie's own wedding to JFK, but often served as a stand-in for Jackie during the White House years, and helped her cope with John and Caroline after the assassination.The only book to explore this fascinating mother-daughter relationship, Janet & Jackie is filled with stories that shed new light on the personal life of an American icon.
Sara and Eleanor: The Story of Sara Delano Roosevelt and Her Daughter-in-Law, Eleanor Roosevelt
by Jan PottkerWe think we know the story of Eleanor Roosevelt--the shy, awkward girl who would marry Franklin Roosevelt and redefine the role of First Lady, becoming a civil rights activist and an inspiration to generations of young women. As legend has it, the bane of Eleanor's life was her demanding and domineering mother-in-law, FDR's mother Sara Delano Roosevelt. Biographers have overlooked the complexity of a relationship that had, over the years, been reinterpreted and embellished by Eleanor herself.Through diaries, letters, and interviews with Roosevelt family and friends, Jan Pottker uncovers a story never before told. The result is a triumphant blend of social history and psychological insight--a revealing look at Eleanor Roosevelt and the woman who made her historic achievements possible.
More Than A Champion: The Style of Muhammad Ali
by Jan Philipp ReemtsmaEssays on the life, career and image of the legendary boxer.
Amelia Earhart
by Jan ParrSixty years after Amelia Earhart's disappearance over the Atlantic, people are still arguing over her fate. This book presents her life from tomboy to headstrong young woman to polished celebrity and explores the impact of her husband, George Putnam, on her life and career It also examines Amelia's impact on aviation and feminism.
The Decline of Political Leadership in Australia? Changing Recruitment and Careers of Federal Politicians
by Jan Pakulski Bruce TranterThis book analyses the changing political recruitment of the Australian federal parliamentary elite. It argues that the elite's quality has been reduced to a worrisome degree, especially since the 1990s. It suggests that the declining quality of the Australian 'political class' is a major factor behind the declining public trust in politicians.
Going To The Dogs: Confessions Of A Mobile Pet Groomer
by Jan NiemanWhen Jan Nieman decided to become a mobile pet groomer, little did she know what a wild ride she was in for. Over the next 21 years, she tussled with feisty pets, wrestled with stubborn vans, chased down AWOL dogs, and learned to cope with wayward employees. Grooming more than her share of dogs and cats, not to mention the occasional wolf, she encountered a host of memorable animals and owners, that often matched their pets in style, temperament and unconventionality. In her no-holds-barred, hilarious account, Nieman not only shares the high points of her adventures, as well as the occasional horror 'tails' that are an inevitable part of a groomer's career. Through it all, her love and passion for animals shines forth from every page. By the end, after plenty of laughs, you'll know a good deal more about orphan pets, what goes on in the inner sanctum of mobile and brick-and-mortar grooming salons, and the joys and tribulations of owning a business that keeps you "going to the dogs. "
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.
Allegorizings
by Jan MorrisNew York Times Book Review • Editors' Choice Jan Morris delivers her final volume, brimming with reminiscences, meditations on daily life, and mini-essays on everything from maturity to whistling to Princess Diana. Not so long ago, feeling intimations of mortality, Jan Morris embarked on a wholly novel literary enterprise. What began as a series of high-minded letters to her late daughter—in the style of Lord Chesterfield addressing his son—quickly transformed itself into a potpourri of mini-essays and vibrant reminiscences, organized around experiences both majestic and mundane, from traveling the world with her lifelong partner, Elizabeth, to sneezing and kissing and simply growing old. So Allegorizings came to be, and so Morris decided that it should only be published upon her death, not because she had anything to hide but, merely, in parting. Featuring essays largely written in the early twenty-first century, Allegorizings reflects, above all, Morris’s steadfast conviction that nothing is only what it seems. In fact, she observes, everything is allegory. Indeed, in Morris’s telling, even life—the whole conundrum of existence—is one long, majestically impenetrable allegory. Taking us from the separatist hippie colony of Bolinas, California, to her home country of Wales, and introducing us to Nepalese Sherpas and elderly cruise-goers alike, Morris follows the throughline of allegory throughout her works. In one essay, she lambasts the joylessness of maturity (“Maturity! Did ever a heart thrill to the sound of it, still less the meaning?”) and in another, decries the nonsense of nationality. With characteristic verve, she offers odes to whistling and cursing, cats, and exclamation points. Morris’s travels anchor the collection, as she revisits the iconic settings of her previous works. We join her aboard the storied Orient Express, as well as tube trains passing through the purlieus of London. So too, we hike the foothills of the Himalayas—where Morris burst onto scene with her on-the-spot reportage of the first ascent of Everest—and reflect on the picaresque allure of Tournus, a dichotomized town in France where one France, bearing all the vestiges of privilege, seems to kiss another. Intimate and luminously wise, Allegorizings is as much a testament to the virtues of embracing life as it is a testament to its charming, indignant, and ever-surprising author. In her final work, Morris’s writing is as erudite as ever, conveying a generosity of spirit “flavored by well-earned crankiness” (Vox). Though newly bereft of her company, readers will be reminded what “a good, wise, and witty companion” (Alexander McCall Smith) Morris has been to so many, for so long.
Conundrum
by Jan MorrisThe great travel writer Jan Morris was born James Morris. James Morris distinguished himself in the British military, became a successful and physically daring reporter, climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and established a reputation as a historian of the British empire. He was happily married, with several children. To all appearances, he was not only a man, but a man's man.Except that appearances, as James Morris had known from early childhood, can be deeply misleading. James Morris had known all his conscious life that at heart he was a woman.Conundrum, one of the earliest books to discuss transsexuality with honesty and without prurience, tells the story of James Morris--s hidden life and how he decided to bring it into the open, as he resolved first on a hormone treatment and, second, on risky experimental surgery that would turn him into the woman that he truly was.
In My Mind's Eye: A Thought Diary
by Jan MorrisRiffing on cats and Brexit, the Royals and the annoyances of aging, the nonagenarian Jan Morris delights with her wickedly hilarious first-ever diary collection. Celebrated as the “greatest descriptive writer of her time” (Rebecca West), Jan Morris has been dazzling readers since she burst on the scene with her on-the-spot reportage of the first ascent of Everest in 1953. Now, the beloved ninety-two-year-old, author of classics such as Venice and Trieste, embarks on an entirely new literary enterprise—a collection of daily diaries, penned over the course of a single year. Ranging widely from the idyllic confines of her North Wales home, Morris offers diverse sallies on her preferred form of exercises (walking briskly), her frustration at not recognizing a certain melody humming in her head (Beethoven’s Pathétique, incidentally), her nostalgia for small-town America, as well as intimate glimpses into her home life. With insightful quips on world issues, including Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States and the #MeToo movement, In My Mind’s Eye will charm old and new Jan Morris fans alike.
Lincoln: A Foreigner's Quest
by Jan MorrisWith a fresh eye and inimitable style, the peerless travel and history writer Jan Morris journeys through the life of Abraham Lincoln to sketch an insightful new portrait of America's sixteenth president, one of our greatest and most enigmatic figures. Looking past his saintly image and log-cabin legend, Morris travels from Lincoln's birthplace to the White House to the infamous Ford Theater and conjures him in public and in private, as politician and as father, as commander-in-chief and as husband. With her skepticism and humor and marvelous sense of place, Morris seamlessly blends narrative, history, and biography to reveal the man behind the myth.
Pleasures of a Tangled Life
by Jan MorrisMorris's account of her sex-change operation, is intended as a celebration of personal pleasures, everyday sensual experiences, and her political and social viewpoints.
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.
Earth As It Is (Break Away Book Club Edition)
by Jan Maher&“A small-town hairdresser is not quite what she seems in this . . quietly luminous tale of folksy gender-bending that&’s entertaining and authentic&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Texas, 1930s. Charlie Bader has come of age struggling with urges he doesn&’t understand. After his new bride finds him wearing her lingerie, she leaves in disgust and Charlie tries to move on. Landing in Chicago, he soon discovers a community of cross-dressers and starts attending their secret soirees. But when the attack on Pearl Harbor draws the United States into World War II, Charlie volunteers for the army, serving as a dentist and trying once again to leave his obsession with soft clothes behind. After the war, thanks in part to the army&’s faulty record-keeping, Charlie reappears in the small town of Heaven, Indiana—as Charlene. There, Charlene opens a beauty shop where Heaven&’s women safely share their stories and secrets as she shampoos, clips, curls, and combs their hair. Charlene manages to keep her story hidden and her sexual desires quiet. But when she falls in love with a female customer, she faces a moment of truth—and risk—unlike any she&’s known before. &“A complex and deeply emotional novel which explores a rarely discussed aspect of gender identity in the post-war Midwest . . . captivating.&” —Historical Novel Society
The Brilliant Calculator: How Mathematician Edith Clarke Helped Electrify America
by Jan LowerHidden Figures meets Rosie Revere, Engineer in this STEM/STEAM picture book about Edith Clarke, the innovator who solved an electrical mystery and built the first graphing calculator—from paper!Long before calculators were invented, little Edith Clarke devoured numbers, conquered calculations, cracked puzzles, and breezed through brainteasers. Edith wanted to be an engineer—to use the numbers she saw all around her to help build America.When she grew up, no one would hire a woman engineer. But that didn&’t stop Edith from following her passion and putting her lightning-quick mind to the problem of electricity. But the calculations took so long! Always curious, Edith couldn&’t help thinking of better ways to do things. She constructed a &“calculator&” from paper that was ten times faster than doing all that math by hand! Her invention won her a job, making her the first woman electrical engineer in America. And because Edith shared her knowledge with others, her calculator helped electrify America, bringing telephones and light across the nation.
A Day with a Doctor (Hard Work)
by Jan KottkeStudents will learn about the exciting aspects of a given job from the point of view of a professional in the field. Original, dynamic photographs illustrate text exactly to ensure young readers' comprehension.
Writing and Wrestling with the Heart: Jan Karonfs Washington National Cathedral Lecture
by Jan KaronIn this Penguin eSpecial, Jan Karon, the bestselling author of the Mitford and Father Tim novels, tells the personal story of her life as a writer. Illuminating the way in which faith has influenced both her life and her writing, Karon also discusses her calling as an author--a calling she received early but took years to answer. Only an incredible leap of faith gave her the courage to give up all she had, risking everything to follow this call. Intimate, funny, and straight-from-the-heart, this eSpecial is a superb companion to Jan Karon's novels, providing a revealing glimpse into the life of a novelist who has moved so many people with her words.
Hidden in the Enemy's Sight: Resisting the Third Reich from Within
by Jan KamieńskiFor 16-year-old Jan Kamienski, life as he knows it ends when Germany invades Poland on September 1, 1939. After a great deal of hardship, he joins the Polish Resistance and eventually, in 1941, is sent to Dresden, Germany, to take up Underground activities there. Armed with false papers, he works at various jobs, maintains a clandestine stopover for Allied couriers, produces Polish-language news bulletins for Poles housed in forced-labour camps, and does everything he can within the heartland of the Third Reich to sabotage the Nazis’ war effort. Among Kamienksi’s many horrific experiences is his survival during the terrible firebombing of Dresden in February 1945. After the war, the author becomes a translator in East Germany for the Russian occupiers, studies at the art academy in Dresden, and eventually finds work as an artist. In 1948, after marrying a German woman, he escapes the Soviet zone, is brutally interrogated in a Polish
Unforgettable Galveston Characters (American Chronicles)
by Jan JohnsonFrom financiers of the Texas Revolution to contestants in the Pageant of Pulchritude, the shores of Galveston enticed and cultivated a host of memorable men and women. Bishops and bookies, concert pianists and cotton tycoons--all left an indelible print on their remarkable home. Magnolia Willis Sealy and the members of the Women's Health Protective Association reshaped the ravages of the Great Storm into the glories of the Oleander City. The benevolent activism of Norris Wright Cuney transformed the social landscape, while actress Charlotte Walker and painter Boyer Gonzales Sr. extended the island's cultural reach abroad. Jan Johnson keeps company with Galveston's most fascinating characters.
Liberace Extravaganza!
by Connie Furr Soloman Jan JewettKnown for his spectacular performances, the magnificent Wladziu Valentino Liberace was a world-renowned star in the entertainment industry for more than four decades, and his dazzling, often outrageous costumes are what made him most memorable. In Liberace Extravaganza! the entertainer's sequined, bejeweled, and rhinestone-studded outfits, as well as his extravagant collection of furs, feather capes, sparkling bow ties, and custom-made shoes are exhibited in book form for the very first time.These mesmerizing costumes grew from Liberace's humble beginnings when, as a young man, he would perform in his brother's hand-me-downs. From there, his suits, worth as much as twenty-four thousand dollars, featured layers of silk and satin ruffles, Swarovski crystal rhinestones, and fourteen-karat white-gold, diamond-encrusted buttons, culminating in his "electric" costumes with four thousand light bulbs weighing more than twenty-five pounds.Michael Travis, Liberace's principal designer, has written the foreword for this breathtaking volume. Jim Lapidus, another of Liberace's designers, furrier Anna Nateece, and Ray Arnett, his producer, have contributed original sketches used to design Liberace's costumes. The result is a book that is one of a kind: a celebration of the legendary performer and a visual feast of the most extraordinary costumes ever created.With more than 260 full-color photographs
Eleanor in the Village: Eleanor Roosevelt's Search for Freedom and Identity in New York's Greenwich Village
by Jan Jarboe RussellA vivid and incisive account of a mostly unknown yet critical chapter in the life of Eleanor Roosevelt—when she moved to New York&’s Greenwich Village, shed her high-born conformity, and became the progressive leader who pushed for change as America&’s First Lady.Hundreds of books have been written about FDR and Eleanor, both together and separately, but yet she remains a compelling and elusive figure. And, not much is known about why in 1920, Eleanor suddenly abandoned her duties as a mother of five and moved to Greenwich Village, then the symbol of all forms of transgressive freedom—communism, homosexuality, interracial relationships, and subversive political activity. Now, in this fascinating, in-depth portrait, Jan Russell pulls back the curtain on Eleanor&’s life to reveal the motivations and desires that drew her to the Village and how her time there changed her political outlook. A captivating blend of personal history detailing Eleanor&’s struggle with issues of marriage, motherhood, financial independence, and femininity, and a vibrant portrait of one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world, this unique work examines the ways that the sensibility, mood, and various inhabitants of the neighborhood influenced the First Lady&’s perception of herself and shaped her political views over four decades, up to her death in 1962. When Eleanor moved there, the Village was a neighborhood of rogues and outcasts, a zone of Bohemians, misfits, and artists. But there was also freedom there, a miniature society where personal idiosyncrasy could flourish. Eleanor joined the cohort of what then was called &“The New Women&” in Greenwich Village. Unlike the flappers in the 1920s, the New Women had a much more serious agenda, organizing for social change—unions for workers, equal pay, protection for child workers—and they insisted on their own sexual freedom. These women often disagreed about politics—some, like Eleanor, were Democrats, others Republicans, Socialists, and Communists. Even after moving into the White House, Eleanor retained connections to the Village, ultimately purchasing an apartment in Washington Square where she lived during World War II and in the aftermath of Roosevelt&’s death in 1945. Including the major historical moments that served as a backdrop for Eleanor&’s time in the Village, this remarkable work offers new insights into Eleanor&’s transformation—emotionally, politically, and sexually—and provides us with the missing chapter in an extraordinary life.
Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson
by Jan Jarboe RussellLong obscured by her husband's shadow, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson emerges in this first comprehensive biography as a figure of surprising influence and the centering force for LBJ, a man who suffered from extreme mood swings and desperately needed someone to help control his darker impulses. Expertly researched and written, Lady Bird draws from rare conversations with the former First Lady and from interviews with key members of Johnson's inner circle of friends, family, and advisers. With chapters such as "Motherless Child," "A Ten- Week Affair," and "LBJ's Midlife Crisis," Lady Bird sheds new light on Mrs. Johnson's childhood, on her amazing acumen as a businesswoman, and on the central role she played in her husband's life and political career. A vital link to the Kennedys during LBJ's uneasy tenure as vice president and a voice of conscience on civil rights, Lady Bird is portrayed here as a political force, strikingly different from the somewhat minor figure depicted in previous works on LBJ. Especially fascinating today, in light of the enormous attention now focused on the private lives of our leaders, are the personal details about her marriage to a man whose extramarital affairs were widely discussed. In this intimate portrait, Russell shows us the private Lady Bird-not only a passionate conservationist but a remarkable woman who greatly influenced her husband, his administration, and the country.
Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson (Biography Ser.)
by Jan Jarboe RussellA revealing biography of Lady Bird Johnson with startling new insights into her marriage to Lyndon Baines Johnson and her unexpectedly strong impact on his presidency. Long obscured by her husband's shadow, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson emerges in this first comprehensive biography as a figure of surprising influence and the centering force for LBJ, a man who suffered from extreme mood swings and desperately needed someone to help control his darker impulses. Expertly researched and written, Lady Bird draws from rare conversations with the former First Lady and from interviews with key members of Johnson's inner circle of friends, family, and advisers. With chapters such as "Motherless Child," "A Ten-Week Affair," and "LBJ's Midlife Crisis," Lady Bird sheds new light on Mrs. Johnson's childhood, on her amazing acumen as a businesswoman, and on the central role she played in her husband's life and political career. A vital link to the Kennedys during LBJ's uneasy tenure as vice president and a voice of conscience on civil rights, Lady Bird is portrayed here as a political force, strikingly different from the somewhat minor figure depicted in previous works on LBJ. Especially fascinating today, in light of the enormous attention now focused on the private lives of our leaders, are the personal details about her marriage to a man whose extramarital affairs were widely discussed. In this intimate portrait, Russell shows us the private Lady Bird -- not only a passionate conservationist but a remarkable woman who greatly influenced her husband, his administration, and the country.