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Almost Like A Song
by Ronnie Milsap Tom CarterRonnie Milsap, a legend in country music, shares the story of his life including the obstacles and opportunities created by his blindness. He describes his childhood in the rural south and gives an insider's view of life at a school for the blind. He chronicles his entry into country music and shares stories about his travels.
The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters: A True Story of Family Fiction
by Julie KlamNew York Times–bestselling author Julie Klam&’s funny and moving story of the Morris sisters, distant relations with mysterious pasts. Ever since she was young, Julie Klam has been fascinated by the Morris sisters, cousins of her grandmother. According to family lore, early in the twentieth century the sisters&’ parents decided to move the family from Eastern Europe to Los Angeles so their father could become a movie director. On the way, their pregnant mother went into labor in St. Louis, where the baby was born and where their mother died. The father left the children in an orphanage and promised to send for them when he settled in California—a promise he never kept. One of the Morris sisters later became a successful Wall Street trader and advised Franklin Roosevelt. The sisters lived together in New York City, none of them married or had children, and one even had an affair with J. P. Morgan. The stories of these independent women intrigued Klam, but as she delved into them to learn more, she realized that the tales were almost completely untrue. The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters is the revealing account of what Klam discovered about her family—and herself—as she dug into the past. The deeper she went into the lives of the Morris sisters, the slipperier their stories became. And the more questions she had about what actually happened to them, the more her opinion of them evolved. Part memoir and part confessional, and told with the wit and honesty that are hallmarks of Klam&’s books, The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters is the fascinating and funny true story of one writer&’s journey into her family&’s past, the truths she brings to light, and what she learns about herself along the way.
Almost Interesting
by David SpadeI've learned over the last year that books are a lot harder to write than Twitter posts.--@davidspade (free plug)Welcome to my book, guys. Here are 200 pages of my blood, sweat, and jizz. It took a long time to write, and I hope you think it was worth it. These are the stories I tell to my friends or at dinner when I'm drunk and everyone darts their eyes around and squirms in their chair hoping I'll finish soon. Others I've told on Stern or Ellen or anyone else I can name-drop.It's me telling you about my fake problems in life and a few real ones (my neck is actually really a disaster). It is a book about comedy, and how I came up from the dusty roads of Arizona with my OP shorts and my blond fluffy hair, to the mean streets of Beverly Hills, with nothing but a few props in my mom's old honeymoon suitcase and a few dry jokes. I blather on about how I got into stand-up, how I lost my virginity, and meeting Johnny Carson, to my years on Saturday Night Live (I couldn't write decent sketches for shit for a long time), to making Tommy Boy with Farlz, to the time I got the shit kicked out of me by my assistant while I was wearing a Coneheads T-shirt . . . this is my memoir.So, anyway, take a minute . . . to buy this, you don't even have to read it, just gave away all the good parts, anyway. Who reads books, right? Fuck this, let's go do molly at Coachella!
Almost Home: A Brazilian Americans Reflections on Faith, Culture, and Immigration
by H. B. CavalcantiIn Almost Home, H. B. Cavalcanti, a Brazilian-born scholar who has spent three decades working and living in the United States, reflects on his life as an immigrant and places his story within the context of the larger history of immigration. Due to both his family background and the prevalence of U.S. media in Latin America, Cavalcanti already felt immersed in U.S. culture before arriving in Kentucky in 1981 to complete graduate studies. At that time, opportunities for advancement in the United States exceeded those in Brazil, and in an era of military dictatorships throughout much of Latin America, Cavalcanti sought in the United States a nation of laws. In this memoir, he reflects on the dynamics of acculturation, immigrant parenting, interactions with native-born U.S. citizens, and the costs involved in rejecting his country of birth for an adopted nation. He also touches on many of the factors that contribute to migration in both the “sending” and “receiving” countries and explores the contemporary phenomenon of accelerated immigration. With its blend of personal anecdotes and scholarly information, Almost Home addresses both individual and policy-related issues to provide a moving portrait of the impact of migration on those who, like Cavalcanti, confront both the wonder and the disorientation inherent in the immigrant experience.
Almost Home: A Story Based on the Life of the Mayflower's Mary Chilton (Daughters of the Faith Series)
by Wendy LawtonDaughters of the Faith: Ordinary Girls Who Lived Extraordinary Lives.Almost Home is the story of the pilgrims&’ journey to America and of God&’s providence and provision.Several of the characters in the story—Mary Chilton, Constance Hopkins, and Elizabeth Tilley—were actual passengers on the Mayflower. Mary Chilton was a young girl when she left her home in Holland and traveled to America onboard the Mayflower with her parents. The journey was filled with trials, joys, and some surprises, but when she reached the New World, she experienced a new life, new freedom, and new home. Wendy Lawton has taken the facts of the pilgrims&’ journey to the New World, and from this information filled in personal details to create a genuine and heart-warming story.
Almost Home: A Story Based on the Life of the Mayflower's Mary Chilton (Daughters of the Faith Series)
by Wendy LawtonDaughters of the Faith: Ordinary Girls Who Lived Extraordinary Lives.Almost Home is the story of the pilgrims&’ journey to America and of God&’s providence and provision.Several of the characters in the story—Mary Chilton, Constance Hopkins, and Elizabeth Tilley—were actual passengers on the Mayflower. Mary Chilton was a young girl when she left her home in Holland and traveled to America onboard the Mayflower with her parents. The journey was filled with trials, joys, and some surprises, but when she reached the New World, she experienced a new life, new freedom, and new home. Wendy Lawton has taken the facts of the pilgrims&’ journey to the New World, and from this information filled in personal details to create a genuine and heart-warming story.
Almost Hemingway: The Adventures of Negley Farson, Foreign Correspondent
by Rex Bowman Carlos SantosWould it surprise you to learn that there was a contemporary of Ernest Hemingway’s who, in his romantic questing and hell-or-high-water pursuit of life and his art, was closer to the Hemingwayesque ideal than Hemingway himself? Almost Hemingway relates the life of Negley Farson, adventurer, iconoclast, best-selling writer, foreign correspondent, and raging alcoholic who died in oblivion. Born only a few years before Hemingway, Farson had a life trajectory that paralleled and intersected Hemingway’s in ways that compelled writers for publications as divergent as the Guardian and Field & Stream to compare them. Unlike Hemingway, however, Farson has been forgotten.This high-flying and literate biography recovers Farson’s life in its multifaceted details, from his time as an arms dealer to Czarist Russia during World War I, to his firsthand reporting on Hitler and Mussolini, to his assignment in India, where he broke the news of Gandhi’s arrest by the British, to his excursion to Kenya a few years before the Mau Mau Uprising. Farson also found the time to publish an autobiography, The Way of a Transgressor, which made him an international publishing sensation in 1936, as well as Going Fishing, one of the most enduring of all outdoors books.F. Scott Fitzgerald, a fellow member of the Lost Generation whose art competed with a public image grander than reality, once confessed that while he had to rely on his imagination, Farson could simply draw from his own event-filled life. Almost Hemingway is the definitive window on that remarkable story.
Almost Gone: Twenty-Five Days and One Chance to Save Our Daughter
by John Baldwin Mackenzie Baldwin Stephanie BaldwinThis is the never-before-told, riveting true story about a teenage Christian girl who was seduced online by a charming young Muslim man from Kosovo, and her father who ultimately worked with the FBI to save her from disappearing forever.The Baldwins were a strong Christian family, living in Plano, Texas. When their seventeen-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, met Aadam in a random-match online chat room, she fell for his good looks, his charm, and his respectful conversation. He told her he lived in New York, and they began an online friendship. But over the course of a few months, Aadam revealed that he actually lived in Kosovo and had only pretended to live in New York so Mackenzie would keep chatting with him. The more attached she became to Aadam, the more detached she became from her family. John and Stephanie, Mackenzie’s parents, had no clue what was behind their daughter’s change in personality, her surprising interest in Islam, her suddenly modest dress, and her withdrawal from friends and family. When Mackenzie’s attachment to Aadam increased even more and they became “engaged,” she started making plans to secretly fly to Kosovo where she and Aadam would be married. But twenty-five days before Mackenzie was scheduled to fly to Kosovo, John found out about his daughter’s dangerous plan when three of her friends came forward. John contacted the FBI, and asked for help. Though the FBI did not believe Aadam was trying to radicalize Mackenzie, they were concerned about his intentions, as that part of Kosovo was known for sex-trafficking, human-trafficking, and citizenship frauds. Kosovo was no place for an unaccompanied, naïve teenager to secretly travel and marry a stranger she knew only through online chats. Within the limited time remaining before Mackenzie’s departure, John and Stephanie had to confront Mackenzie and stop her before she would be lost to them forever. Told from the viewpoint of both father and daughter, Almost Gone follows Mackenzie’s network of lies and deceit and her parents’ escalating bewilderment and alarm. More than a cautionary tale, this is the incredible story of unconditional parental love, unwavering faith, and how God helped a family save their daughter from a relationship that jeopardized not only her happiness, but also her safety.
Almost French
by Sarah Turnbull'This isn't like me. I'm not the sort of girl who crosses continents to meet up with a man she hardly knows. Paris hadn't even been part of my travel plan . ' After backpacking her way around Europe journalist Sarah Turnbull is ready to embark on one last adventure before heading home to Sydney. A chance meeting with a charming Frenchman in Bucharest changes her travel plans forever. Acting on impulse, she agrees to visit Fr d ric in Paris for a week. Put a very French Frenchman together with a strong-willed Australian girl and the result is some spectacular - and often hilarious - cultural clashes. Language is a minefield of misunderstanding and the simple act of buying a baguette is fraught with social danger. But as she navigates the highs and lows of this strange new world, from the sophisticated caf s and haute couture fashion houses to the picture postcard French countryside, little by little Sarah falls under its spell: passionate, mysterious, infuriating, and charged with that French specialty - s duction. And it becomes her home. ALMOST FRENCH is the story of an adventurous heart, a maddening city - and love.
Almost Chosen People: Oblique Biographies in the American Grain
by Michael ZuckermanFew historians are bold enough to go after America's sacred cows in their very own pastures. But Michael Zuckerman is no ordinary historian, and this collection of his essays is no ordinary book. In his effort to remake the meaning of the American tradition, Zuckerman takes the entire sweep of American history for his province. The essays in this collection, including two never before published and a new autobiographical introduction, range from early New England settlements to the hallowed corridors of modern Washington. Among his subjects are Puritans and Southern gentry, Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Spock, P.T. Barnum and Ronald Reagan. Collecting scammers and scoundrels, racists and rebels, as well as the purest genius, he writes to capture the unadorned American character. Recognized for his energy, eloquence, and iconoclasm, Zuckerman is known for provoking- and sometimes almost seducing- historians into rethinking their most cherished assumptions about the American past. Now his many fans, and readers of every persuasion, can newly appreciate the distinctive talents of one of America's most powerful social critics.
Almost Brown: A Memoir
by Charlotte GillAn award-winning writer retraces her dysfunctional, biracial, globe-trotting family&’s journey as she reckons with ethnicity and belonging, diversity and race, and the complexities of life within a multicultural household.&“Almost Brown is that rarest of things: a memoir that is both deeply intimate and intellectually ambitious.&”—Susan Orlean, author of The Library BookCharlotte Gill&’s father is Indian. Her mother is English. They meet in 1960s London when the world is not quite ready for interracial love. Their union results in a total meltdown of familial relations, a lot of immigration paperwork, and three children, all in varying shades of tan. Together they set off on a journey from the United Kingdom to Canada to the United States in an elusive pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness—a dream that eventually tears them apart. Almost Brown is an exploration of diasporic intermingling involving two eccentric parents from worlds apart and their half-brown children as they experience the paradoxes and conundrums of life as it&’s lived between race checkboxes. Their intercultural experiment features turbans and tube socks, chana masala and Cherry Coke. Over time, Gill&’s parents drift apart because they just aren&’t compatible. But as she too finds herself distancing from her father—Why is she embarrassed to walk down the street with him and not her mom?—she doesn&’t know if it&’s because of his personality or his race. Is this her own unconscious bias favoring one parent over the other in the racial tug-of-war that plagues our society? Almost Brown looks for answers to questions shared by many mixed-race people: What am I? What does it mean to be a person of color when the concept is a societal invention and really only applies halfway if you are half white? Eventually, after years of silence, Gill and her father reclaim a space for forgiveness and love. In a funny, turbulent, and ultimately heartwarming story, Gill examines the brilliant messiness of ancestry, &“diversity,&” and the idea of &“race,&” a historical concept that still informs our beliefs about ethnicity today.
Almost Brown: A Mixed-Race Family Memoir
by Charlotte Gill"A Canadian masterpiece."—Toronto StarAn award-winning writer retraces her unconventional, biracial, globe-trotting family&’s journey as she reckons with ethnicity and belonging, diversity and race, and the complexities of life within a multicultural household.Charlotte Gill&’s father is Indian. Her mother is English. They meet in 1960s London when the world is not quite ready for interracial love. Their union results in a total meltdown of familial relations, a lot of immigration paperwork, and three children, all in varying shades of tan. Together they set off on a journey to Canada and the United States in an elusive pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness—a dream that eventually tears them apart.Almost Brown is an exploration of diasporic intermingling involving two deeply eccentric parents from worlds apart and their half-brown children as they experience the paradoxes and conundrums of life as it&’s lived between race checkboxes. Their intercultural experiment features turbans and tube socks, chana masala and Cherry Coke, feminist uprisings, racial alliances and divides, a divorce, multiple grudges, and plenty of bad fashion. The family implodes, but after twenty years of silence, father and daughter reclaim a space for forgiveness and love.Almost Brown is a funny, turbulent, and ultimately heartwarming book about the brilliant messiness of a mixed-race family and a search for answers to the question, What are you? Tender and incisive, it is both a deeply personal memoir and an excavation into ethnicity, ancestry, and race—a historical concept that still informs our beliefs about identity today.
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
by Tanya Lee StoneNearly twenty years before the first women were allowed into NASA's astronaut program, a group of thirteen women proved not only that they were as tough as any man but also that they were brave enough to challenge the government. Almost Astronauts tells the story of the "Mercury 13" women, who were blocked by prejudice, jealousy, and a note scrawled by one of the most powerful men in Washington. In the end, the inspiring example of these space-age pioneers empowered young people to take their rightful place in the sky and beyond, piloting jets and commanding space capsules.<P><P> Winner of the Sibert Medal
Almost Anywhere: Road Trip Ruminations on Love, Nature, National Parks, and Nonsense
by Krista SchlyerWhat do you do when your world ends? At twenty-eight years old, Krista Schlyer sold almost everything she owned and packed the rest of it in a station wagon bound for the American wild. Her two best friends joined her--one a grumpy, grieving introvert, the other a feisty dog--and together they sought out every national park, historic site, forest, and wilderness they could get to before their money ran out or their minds gave in. The journey began as a desperate escape from urban isolation, heartbreak, and despair, but became an adventure beyond imagining. Chronicling their colorful escapade, Almost Anywhere explores the courage, cowardice, and heroics that live in all of us, as well as the life of nature and the nature of life. This eloquent and accessible memoir is at once an immersion in the pain of losing someone particularly close and especially young and a healing journey of a broken life given over to the whimsy and humor of living on the road.
Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir
by Robin HaHarvey Award Nominee, Best Children or Young Adult Book A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life—perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo. <p><p>For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin is devastated. <p><p>Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn’t understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends in Seoul and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in with her new stepfamily, and worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother. Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined. <p><p>This nonfiction graphic novel with four starred reviews is an excellent choice for teens and also accelerated tween readers, both for independent reading and units on immigration, memoirs, and the search for identity. <P><P><i>Advisory: Bookshare has learned that this book offers only partial accessibility. We have kept it in the collection because it is useful for some of our members. Benetech is actively working on projects to improve accessibility issues such as these.</i>
Almost a Woman: A Memoir (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
by Esmeralda SantiagoFollowing the enchanting story recounted in When I Was Puerto Rican of the author&’s emergence from the barrios of Brooklyn to the prestigious Performing Arts High School in Manhattan, Esmeralda Santiago delivers the tale of her young adulthood, where she continually strives to find a balance between becoming American and staying Puerto Rican. While translating for her mother Mami at the welfare office in the morning, starring as Cleopatra at New York&’s prestigious Performing Arts High School in the afternoons, and dancing salsa all night, she begins to defy her mother&’s protective rules, only to find that independence brings new dangers and dilemmas.
Almost a Family
by John DarntonFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author: a beautifully crafted memoir of his lifelong chase after his father's shadow.John was eleven months old when his father, Barney Darnton--a war correspondent for The New York Times--was killed in World War II, but his absence left a more profound imprint on the family than any living father could have. John's mother, a well-known Times reporter and editor, tried to keep alive the dream of raising her two sons in ideal surroundings. When that proved impossible, she collapsed emotionally and physically. But along the way she created such a powerful myth of the father-hero who gave his life for his family, country, and the fourth estate that John followed his footsteps into the same newsroom. Decades after his father's death, John and his brother, the historian Robert Darnton, began digging into the past to uncover the truth about their parents. To discover who the real-life Barney Darnton was--and in part who he himself is--John delves into turn-of-the-century farm life in Michigan, the anything-goes Jazz Age in Greenwich Village, the lives of hard-drinking war correspondents in the Pacific theater, and the fearful loneliness of the McCarthy years in Washington, D.C. He ends his quest on a beach in Papua New Guinea, where he learns about his father's last moments from an aged villager who never forgot what he saw sixty-five years earlier.From the Hardcover edition.
Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet: Indian Traditions in Beauty and Health
by Sharada Dwivedi Shalini Devi HolkarA national bestseller in India, Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet is the fictional memoir of a wise Indian princess, who recalls the ways the women of the Indian court found friendship, faith, and love through their beauty traditions. We journey with her as she recounts a lifetime of comforting rituals, tantalizing textures, colors, and fragrances, exquisite jewels and adornments, and assorted beauty and health secrets passed through generations of women by word of mouth.In Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet, Sharada Dwivedi, a native of India, and Shalini Devi Holkar, an Indian princess by marriage, draw on the oral histories of privileged Indian women to capture and revive their many wonderful and wise beauty traditions. The result is a rich cultural tapestry, filled with ancient remedies, recipes, and tonics used to soften skin, silken hair, enrich the body, and lift the spirit like no store-bought products can. Additionally, the book offers a glossary of plants, flowers, spices, and grains and simple home remedies for women in all stages of life—from puberty to pregnancy to menopause—including:Almond-Saffron for cleansing and exfoliationPapaya-Mint-Tea for acne and pimplesCream & Honey for dry skin and wrinklesCress & Rosewater for post-natal strengthTulsi Kadha (Basil Tea) for coughs or morning sicknessReplete with gorgeous photos and illustrations from a bygone era, Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet is a treasure trove of time-honored health and beauty customs that will delight the senses of modern women everywhere.
The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society
by Chris StewartThe good life abroad just keeps getting better as Christ Stewart, one-time Genesis drummer, turned sheepshearer, trned bestselling writer, returns with a new book on his life in the decidedly oddball region of Las Alpujarras, south of Granada.THE ALOMOND BLOSSOM APPRECIATION SOCIETY finds Chris and his family still living on their farm, El Varo - but life there never stands still. You will find yourself laughing out loud as Chris is instructed by his daughter on the way to treat dung beetles; bluffs his way as an art history guide to millionaire Bostonians; collects seeds in North Africa; and joins an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society. And you'll cringe as he tries his hand at office work in an immigrants' advice centre in Granada...In this sequel to DRIVING OVER LEMONS and A PARROT IN A PEPPER TREE, Chris Stewart's optimism and zest for life is as infectious as ever.Read by Chris Stewart(p) 2006 Orion Publishing Group
Los almendros en flor
by Chris StewartChris Stewart vuelve a deleitarnos con episodios asombrosos de su vida campestre en «El Valero», su ya famosa finca en la Alpujarra granadina. Las vivencias recogidas en este tercer volumen de la serie iniciada con Entre limones y El loro en el limonero #que no sólo cosecharon un enorme éxito en España, sino que también suman más de un millón de ejemplares vendidos en Reino Unido# reflejan el particular talante de una persona con una incorregible tendencia a actuar movida por cierta visión idealista de las cosas. De esas vivencias emerge el retrato de un hombre inasequible al desaliento y siempre dispuesto a acometer nuevos desafíos, ya sea cuando forma parte del Club de Admiradores de los Almendros en Flor, cuando su hija lo instruye en los usos y costumbres de los adolescentes españoles, o cuando inesperadamente le toca hacer una visita guiada de Sevilla a millonarios norteamericanos y a posteriori decide enfrentarse al trabajo de oficina en un centro de ayuda al inmigrante. Los almendros en flor es una muestra más de la capacidad de Chris para contagiarnos con su mirada abierta, su optimismo sincero y, sobre todo, su inquebrantable buen humor. La crítica ha dicho...«Exquisito [...]. El estilo consistente y dinámico de Stewart, así como su falta de pretensiones, hacen que la narración avance con fluidez.»The Daily Telegraph «Un libro maravilloso [...] fiel retrato de un lugar y su gente [...]. No olvide meterlo en su equipaje de vacaciones y dejarse llevar.»The Daily Mail
The Almanac of American Politics 2014 (Almanac of American Politics)
by Michael Barone Chuck MccutcheonThe Almanac of American Politics is the gold standard--the book that everyone involved, invested, or interested in American politics must have on their reference shelf. Continuing the tradition of accurate and up-to-date information, the 2014 almanac includes new and updated profiles of every member of Congress and every state governor. These profiles cover everything from expenditures to voting records, interest-group ratings, and, of course, politics. In-depth overviews of each state and house district are included as well, along with demographic data, analysis of voting trends, and political histories. The new edition contains Michael Barone's sharp-eyed analysis of the 2012 election, both congressional and presidential, exploring how the votes fell and what they mean for future legislation. The almanac also provides comprehensive coverage of the changes brought about by the 2010 census and has been reorganized to align with the resulting new districts. Like every edition since the almanac first appeared in 1972, the 2014 edition is helmed by veteran political analyst Michael Barone. Together with Chuck McCutcheon, collaborator since 2012, and two new editors, Sean Trende, senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics, and Josh Kraushaar, managing editor at National Journal, Barone offers an unparalleled perspective on contemporary politics. Full of maps, census data, and detailed information about the American political landscape, the 2014 Almanac of American Politics remains the most comprehensive resource for journalists, politicos, business people, and academics.
Alma y vida: Almeyda. Biografía autorizada
by Diego BorinskyLa vida de este símbolo de River escrita por el secretario de redacciónde El Gráfico. Un repaso por su carrera futbolística, sus pensamientos yla opinión de sus colegas. «Recuerdo de Matías su placer por competir, evidente al comprobar que,al hacerlo, disponía de un porcentaje muy alto de sus cualidades. Tantosaños de crecimiento profesional y personal en los grandes equipos de lasmejores ligas no impidieron que, cada vez que me tocara verlo entrenar yjugar, se hicieran visibles en él la misma frescura y entusiasmo de losjóvenes que se forman en las divisiones menores de cualquier club denuestro país. Generaba aceptación, afecto y respeto, sin excepciones, enlos grupos que integraba. Era querido por todos, sin esforzarse porconseguirlo».Marcelo Bielsa«Como jugador no era muy pegador, pero corría por todos. "Salí de acá",le tenía que decir en las prácticas, porque no me la dejaba tocar.Muchos se sorprenden ahora porque saca a las figuras en algunospartidos, pero el que conoce al Pelado sabe que le puede errar, porquetodos nos equivocamos, pero por el lado de la personalidad y las bolas yde estar seguro de lo que quiere, no lo vas a agarrar nunca en offside».Enzo Francescoli
Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide
by Michael B. OrenNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERMichael B. Oren's memoir of his time as Israel's ambassador to the United States--a period of transformative change for America and a time of violent upheaval throughout the Middle East--provides a frank, fascinating look inside the special relationship between America and its closest ally in the region. Michael Oren served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. An American by birth and a historian by training, Oren arrived at his diplomatic post just as Benjamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton assumed office. During Oren's tenure in office, Israel and America grappled with the Palestinian peace process, the Arab Spring, and existential threats to Israel posed by international terrorism and the Iranian nuclear program. Forged in the Truman administration, America's alliance with Israel was subjected to enormous strains, and its future was questioned by commentators in both countries. On more than one occasion, the friendship's very fabric seemed close to unraveling. Ally is the story of that enduring alliance--and of its divides--written from the perspective of a man who treasures his American identity while proudly serving the Jewish State he has come to call home. No one could have been better suited to strengthen bridges between the United States and Israel than Michael Oren--a man equally at home jumping out of a plane as an Israeli paratrooper and discussing Middle East history on TV's Sunday morning political shows. In the pages of this fast-paced book, Oren interweaves the story of his personal journey with behind-the-scenes accounts of fateful meetings between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, high-stakes summits with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and diplomatic crises that intensified the controversy surrounding the world's most contested strip of land. A quintessentially American story of a young man who refused to relinquish a dream--irrespective of the obstacles--and an inherently Israeli story about assuming onerous responsibilities, Ally is at once a record, a chronicle, and a confession. And it is a story about love--about someone fortunate enough to love two countries and to represent one to the other. But, above all, this memoir is a testament to an alliance that was and will remain vital for Americans, Israelis, and the world.Praise for Ally "The smartest and juiciest diplomatic memoir that I've read in years, and I've read my share. . . . The best contribution yet to a growing literature--from Vali Nasr's Dispensable Nation to Leon Panetta's Worthy Fights--describing how foreign policy is made in the Age of Obama."--Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal "Illuminating . . . [Oren's] personal odyssey exemplifies the shift from a liberal and secular Zionism to a more belligerent nationalism."--The New York Times"Provocative . . . Oren's book offers a view into the deep rifts that have opened not only between Washington and Jerusalem, but also between Israeli and American Jews."--Newsweek "[Oren is] one of the most uniquely qualified judges of this ever more crucial special relationship."--The Washington Times "The diplomatic equivalent of a 'kiss-and-tell' memoir . . . informative and in parts entertaining."--Financial Times "The talk of Washington and Jerusalem . . . an ultimate insider's story."--New York PostFrom the Hardcover edition.
The Allure of the Archives
by Arlette FargeArlette Farge’s Le Goût de l’archive is widely regarded as a historiographical classic. While combing through two-hundred-year-old judicial records from the Archives of the Bastille, historian Farge was struck by the extraordinarily intimate portrayal they provided of the lives of the poor in pre-Revolutionary France, especially women. She was seduced by the sensuality of old manuscripts and by the revelatory power of voices otherwise lost. In The Allure of the Archives, she conveys the exhilaration of uncovering hidden secrets and the thrill of venturing into new dimensions of the past. Originally published in 1989, Farge’s classic work communicates the tactile, interpretive, and emotional experience of archival research while sharing astonishing details about life under the Old Regime in France. At once a practical guide to research methodology and an elegant literary reflection on the challenges of writing history, this uniquely rich volume demonstrates how surrendering to the archive’s allure can forever change how we understand the past.