- Table View
- List View
Looking After Minidoka: An American Memoir (Break Away Bks.)
by Neil NakadateDuring World War II, 110,000 Japanese Americans were removed from their homes and incarcerated by the U.S. government. In Looking After Minidoka the "internment camp" years become a prism for understanding three generations of Japanese American life, from immigration to the end of the twentieth century. Nakadate blends history, poetry, rescued memory, and family stories in an American narrative of hope and disappointment, language and education, employment and social standing, prejudice and pain, communal values and personal dreams.
Looking at Lincoln
by Maira KalmanAbraham Lincoln is one of the first giants of history children are introduced to, and now Maira Kalman brings him to life with her trademark style and enthusiasm. Lincoln's legacy is everywhere - there he is on your penny and five-dollar bill. And we are still the United States because Lincoln helped hold them together. But who was he, really? The little girl in this book wants to find out. Among the many other things, she discovers our sixteenth president was a man who believed in freedom for all, had a dog named Fido, loved Mozart, apples, and his wife's vanilla cake, and kept his notes in his hat. From his boyhood in a log cabin to his famous presidency and untimely death, Kalman shares Lincoln's remarkable life with young readers in a fresh and exciting way.
Looking At Lincoln
by Maira KalmanAbraham Lincoln is one of the first giants of history children are introduced to, and now Maira Kalman brings him to life with her trademark style and enthusiasm. Lincoln's legacy is everywhere - there he is on your penny and five-dollar bill. And we are still the United States because Lincoln helped hold them together. But who was he, really? The little girl in this book wants to find out. Among the many other things, she discovers our sixteenth president was a man who believed in freedom for all, had a dog named Fido, loved Mozart, apples, and his wife's vanilla cake, and kept his notes in his hat. From his boyhood in a log cabin to his famous presidency and untimely death, Kalman shares Lincoln's remarkable life with young readers in a fresh and exciting way. .
Looking at the Lights: My Path from Fan to a Wrestling Heel
by Pete Gas Jon Robinson John Layfield Adam CopelandHow did an untrained former college football player end up in the middle of a ring, wrestling during the highest-rated segment during the WWE’s acclaimed Attitude Era?That’s the story behind Looking at the Lights. As a childhood friend of Shane McMahon, Pete Gas was given the opportunity most only pray for. Beginning with appearances to interfere in McMahon’s matches, his role blossomed into becoming a full-fledge wrestler and leading the Mean Street Posse to WrestleMania, becoming one of the most fascinating success stories of the era.From his humble upbringing and friendship with Shane (and the McMahon family as a whole), Gas shares how a 9-to-5 average Joe got the chance of a lifetime and made the most out of it.But getting your foot in the door is one thing; staying is a completely different animal. With all eyes on him, knowing his lack of training and meal ticket being the boss’s son, Gas knew he had to win over all those doubters: from the fans and announcers to the wrestlers themselves.Knowing he had to prove himself, Gas took beatings, chair shots, and additional training to not only show that he could wrestle, but that he belonged with such superstars as The Rock, "Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and The Undertaker.Featuring forewords by Edge and JBL, who famously nailed Gas in the head with a steel chair, readers will get an inside look into not only the training and sacrifice these athletes go through, but the behind-the-scenes workings of a day in the WWE.
Looking Back
by Lois Lowry"I would like to introduce you to this book. It has no plot. It is about moments, memories, fragments, falsehoods, and fantasies. It is about things that happened, which caused other things to happen, so that eventually stories emerged." Children as well as adults often ask Lois Lowry where the ideas for her stories came from. In this fascinating, moving autobiography, the Newbery Medalist answers this and many other questions. Her writing often transports readers into her own world. She explores her rich history through family pictures, memories, and recollections of childhood friends. She details pivotal moments that affected her life, inspired her writing, and that magically evolved into rich and wonderful stories that one is reluctant to put down. Lowry fans, and anyone interested in the writing process, will tremendously enjoy this poignant trip through a remarkable writer's past.
Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties
by Joyce MaynardA memoir of what it was like to be a teenager in a tumultuous era, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Best of Us. Joyce Maynard was eighteen years old when her 1972 New York Times Magazine cover story catapulted her to national prominence. Published one year later, Looking Back is her remarkable follow-up—part memoir, part cultural history, and part social critique. She wrote about diving under her desk for air-raid practice during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Beatles&’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and catching the first glimpse (on the cover of Life magazine) of a human fetus in utero. Extraordinarily frank, sincere, and opinionated, Maynard seemed unafraid to take on any subject—including herself. But as she reveals in a poignant and candid new foreword, she carefully kept her inner life off the page. She didn&’t write about her difficult relationship with her mother, or her father&’s alcoholism, or the fact that her best friend at college had struggled with the knowledge that he was gay. And she did not mention the most important part of her life at the time she was writing this book: her relationship with reclusive author J. D. Salinger, who read and corrected every page, even as he condemned her for writing it. In this special anniversary edition, Maynard&’s candid introductory reflections on the girl behind the girl who wrote Looking Back lend a new dimension to this iconic analysis of a generation. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joyce Maynard including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
Looking Backward: True Stories from Chicago's Jewish Past
by Walter RothEssays chronicling the Jewish history of Chicago, from the late nineteenth century to the end of World War II. The history of Jews in Chicago is a fascinating, complex, and largely unknown story. Thanks to the unstinting efforts of Walter Roth, much of this history has been preserved. Now, for the first time, this material has been distilled into a single volume, chronicling events and people from the late nineteenth century to the end of World War II. There are six broad themes, each of which includes several essays: the first of which is &“Chicago Jews and the Secular City: Builders, Movers, Shakers&” about HL Mettes&’s huge 1924 history of Chicago Jews; financier Lazarus Silverman; the U of C Centennial; Jewish participation in the World&’s Columbian Exposition; Julius Rosenwald and the Museum of Science & Industry and the Jewish Day Pageant at the Century of Progress in 1933. The other five themes are &“Chicago Jews and Anti-Semitism: Tragedy Abroad, Challenges at Home&”; &“Chicago Jews and Zionism: Local Idealists&”; &“Chicago Jews and Zionism: Renowned Visitors&”; &“Chicago Jews and the Arts: The Page and the Stage&” and &“Chicago Jews on Both Sides of the Law: Colorful Characters.&” Anyone interested in Chicago history, ethnic history, Jewish history, will find Looking Backward a fascinating and informative read. Praise for Looking Backward&“Roth writes about the well known and the not so well known, bringing to life the people, events, and institutions that shaped the Jewish community.&” —Booklist
Looking Down to See What’s Up
by A. J. CrowSticks and bones, and dislocated homes.And parasites, and insights,And just let me make it to the mic.And you will see,There is a real mystery,To life, to love, to longevity.The poem above was written during recess, at a chartered school where I was employed as a General Assistant. Nestled behind Brick Church Pike was Smithson Craighead Academy&’s playground. Amongst the future Gen Alphas, and Thornburgs; the poem took flight. Sometimes, the external, and internal exploits of life are exactly as they seem.
Looking for Adventure
by Steve BackshallA Childhood Dream. A Lost Land. The Journey of a Lifetime.How do you become an explorer? It's a question every child has asked. And, Steve Backshall was no different. But after a rainy-day visit to an exhibition of artefacts from Papua New Guinea, it was a question that began to obsess the seven-year old Backshall. Due to this childhood interest, the vast, untamed wildness of Papua New Guinea was where Backshall forged his unlikely path. From crushing lows of early failures to the extraordinary highs of the BBC's Lost Land of the Volcano expedition, it was this dark island which gave Backshall his opportunity. Full of incredible wildlife, extraordinary wilderness, jungles, cannibals, pitfalls, triumph, danger and excitement, Looking for Adventure is the irresistible, inspiring story of a little boy who let his heart rule his head.
Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian Rebel
by Marc RaboyThe biography of a radical young idealist, her determination to make a difference in the world, and her disappearance in 1976, revealing the human cost and undying legacy of Argentina’s descent into rightwing madness. It started with a coincidence — when Marc Raboy happened to discover that he shared a surname with a young left-wing Argentinian journalist who in 1976 was ambushed by a right-wing death squad while driving with her family. Alicia’s partner was killed on the spot, and their baby daughter was taken and placed in an orphanage. The child was ultimately rescued, but Alicia was never heard from again. In Looking for Alicia, Raboy pursues her story not only to learn what happened when the post-Perón government in Argentina turned to state terror but also to understand the lives of those who risked everything to oppose it. Author and subject share more than a surname and a distant ancestral connection; their lives were both marked by youthful rebellion, journalistic ambition, and the radical politics that were a hallmark of the ’60s and ’70s. Raboy reassembles Alicia’s story using family archives, interviews with those who knew her, secret diplomatic correspondence recently made public by the U.S. State Department, and transcripts from the trial of former Argentine security forces personnel involved in her disappearance. Examining Alicia’s and his own different choices and circumstances, he attempts to discover how their lives diverged — and what drives people like Alicia to face death in the pursuit of their ideals.
Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Life and Times of L. M. Montgomery
by Irene GammelIn June 1908, a red-haired orphan appeared on to the streets of Boston and a modern legend was born. That little girl was Anne Shirley, better known as Anne of Green Gables, and her first appearance was in a book that has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 35 languages (including Braille). The author who created her was Lucy Maud Montgomery, a writer who revealed very little of herself and her method of crafting a story. On the centenary of its publication, Irene Gammel tells the braided story of both Anne and Maud and, in so doing, shows how a literary classic was born. Montgomery's own life began in the rural Cavendish family farmhouse on Prince Edward Island, the place that became the inspiration for Green Gables. Mailmen brought the world to the farmhouse's kitchen door in the form of American mass market periodicals sparking the young Maud's imagination. From the vantage point of her small world, Montgomery pored over these magazines, gleaning bits of information about how to dress, how to behave and how a proper young lady should grow. She began to write, learning how to craft marketable stories from the magazines' popular fiction; at the same time the fashion photos inspired her visual imagination. One photo that especially intrigued her was that of a young woman named Evelyn Nesbit, the model for painters and photographers and lover of Stanford White. That photo was the spark for what became Anne Shirley. Blending biography with cultural history, Looking forAnne of Green Gables is a gold mine for fans of the novels and answers a trunk load of questions: Where did Anne get the "e" at the end of her name? How did Montgomery decide to give her red hair? How did Montgomery's courtship and marriage to Reverend Ewan Macdonald affect the story? Irene Gammel's dual biography of Anne Shirley and the woman who created her will delight the millions who have loved the red haired orphan ever since she took her first step inside the gate of Green Gables farm in Avonlea.
Looking for Class
by Bruce FeilerAn irresistible, entertaining peek into the privileged realm of Wordsworth and Wodehouse, Chelsea Clinton and Hugh Grant, Looking for Class offers a hilarious account of one man's year at Oxford and Cambridge -- the garden parties and formal balls, the high-minded debates and drinking Olympics. From rowing in an exclusive regatta to learning lessons in love from a Rhodes Scholar, Bruce Feiler's enlightening, eye-popping adventure will forever change your view of the British upper class, a world romanticized but rarely seen.
Looking for Class
by Bruce FeilerAn irresistible, entertaining peek into the privileged realm of Wordsworth and Wodehouse, Chelsea Clinton and Hugh Grant, Looking for Class offers a hilarious account of one man's year at Oxford and Cambridge -- the garden parties and formal balls, the high-minded debates and drinking Olympics. From rowing in an exclusive regatta to learning lessons in love from a Rhodes Scholar, Bruce Feiler's enlightening, eye-popping adventure will forever change your view of the British upper class, a world romanticized but rarely seen.
Looking for Jimmy: A Search For Irish America
by Peter QuinnIn this stunning work chronicling the author’s exploration of his own past—and the lives of many hundreds of thousands of nameless immigrants who struggled alongside his own ancestors—Peter Quinn paints a brilliant new portrait of the Irish-American men and women whose evolving culture and values continue to play such a central role in all of our identities as Americans. In Quinn’s hands, the Irish stereotype of “Paddy” gives way to an image of “Jimmy”—an archetypal Irish-American. From Irish immigration to modern politics, Quinn vibrantly weaves together the story of a remarkable people and their immeasurable contribution to American history and culture.
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
by Imani PerryA revealing portrait of one of the most gifted and charismatic, yet least understood, Black artists and intellectuals of the twentieth century. <p><p> Lorraine Hansberry, who died at thirty-four, was by all accounts a force of nature. Although best-known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, her short life was full of extraordinary experiences and achievements, and she had an unflinching commitment to social justice, which brought her under FBI surveillance when she was barely in her twenties. While her close friends and contemporaries, like James Baldwin and Nina Simone, have been rightly celebrated, her story has been diminished and relegated to one work—until now. <p> In 2018, Hansberry will get the recognition she deserves with the PBS American Masters documentary “Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart” and Imani Perry’s multi-dimensional, illuminating biography, Looking for Lorraine. <p> After the success of A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry used her prominence in myriad ways: challenging President Kennedy and his brother to take bolder stances on Civil Rights, supporting African anti-colonial leaders, and confronting the romantic racism of the Beat poets and Village hipsters. Though she married a man, she identified as lesbian and, risking censure and the prospect of being outed, joined one of the nation’s first lesbian organizations. Hansberry associated with many activists, writers, and musicians, including Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, among others. <p> Looking for Lorraine is a powerful insight into Hansberry’s extraordinary life—a life that was tragically cut far too short.
Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots
by Yvette D. Melanson Claire SafranIn this haunting memoir, Yvette Melanson tells of being raised to believe that she was white and Jewish. At age forty-three, she learned that she was a "Lost Bird," a Navajo child taken against her family's wishes, and that her grieving birth mother had never stopped looking for her until the day she died... This is the story of her learning who she is.
Looking For Madeleine: Updated 2019 Edition
by Anthony Summers Robbyn SwanLOOKING FOR MADELEINE is the must-read account that the online haters tried to silence. Its award-winning authors, Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan, are featured in the NETFLIX series 'The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann'."EXPLOSIVE" Sun "COMPELLING" Daily TelegraphThe book:· Identifies the blunders made during the police search for Madeleine· Draws on confidential police sources· Analyses the thousands of pages of the Portuguese police dossier · Pinpoints the misreading of forensic evidence that - for a time - turned Kate and Gerry McCann into formal suspects· Follows the clues indicating that the McCanns' apartment was watched, that the apartment had been visited by a phoney "charity collector"· Reports, in frightening detail, on the many earlier sex assaults on British children in the areaTwelve years on, as Scotland Yard and Portuguese investigators continue their work, the Yard is focusing on a specific suspect. A senior officer told the authors: "The case is solvable."What readers have said about LOOKING FOR MADELEINE:"Lucidly written, superbly researched...non-judgemental...An excellent, fascinating update.""A wonderful book. I was engrossed from beginning to end.""Extensive research...plausible and sensible conclusions..."
Looking For Madeleine: Updated 2019 Edition
by Anthony Summers Robbyn SwanLOOKINGFORMADELEINE is the must-read account that the online haters tried to silence. Its award-winning authors, Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan, are featured in the NETFLIX series 'The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann'."EXPLOSIVE" Sun "COMPELLING" DailyTelegraphThe book:· Identifies the blunders made during the police search for Madeleine· Draws on confidential police sources· Analyses the thousands of pages of the Portuguese police dossier · Pinpoints the misreading of forensic evidence that - for a time - turned Kate and Gerry McCann into formal suspects· Follows the clues indicating that the McCanns' apartment was watched, that the apartment had been visited by a phoney "charity collector"· Reports, in frightening detail, on the many earlier sex assaults on British children in the areaTwelve years on, as Scotland Yard and Portuguese investigators continue their work, the Yard is focusing on a specific suspect. A senior officer told the authors: "The case is solvable."What readers have said about LOOKING FOR MADELEINE:"Lucidly written, superbly researched...non-judgemental...An excellent, fascinating update.""A wonderful book. I was engrossed from beginning to end.""Extensive research...plausible and sensible conclusions..."
Looking for Mary, or the Blessed Mother and Me
by Beverly DonofrioWhen Beverly Donofrio enters her fortieth year, she begins a love affair with the Virgin Mary. Suffering over a grown son she's neglected and unsure of where her life is really headed, she feels she's entered her own version of Dante's dark wood. So she begins to meditate - and to collect Virgin Marys at yard sales. Beverly is hardly a devout Catholic: she starts out thinking of her Mary collection as nothing more than kitsch. But by effectively making a shrine of her home, she has invited the Virgin Mary in. Knowing a good opportunity when she sees one, the Virgin Mary sneaks into Beverly's heart. Following the idea that if she could just act as if she believed, then belief might follow, Beverly the "lapsed Catholic" begins reciting Hail Marys, reading the Bible, and traveling to Mary sightings around the United States. And she embarks on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Medjugorje - with forty-nine rabid Catholics in tow. There, she prays more rosaries in one week than she had in her entire childhood. She also learns that Mary comes into your life only when pride steps out of it, and receives a bonus: hope.
Looking for Miss America: A Pageant's 100-Year Quest to Define Womanhood
by Margot MifflinFrom an author praised for writing “delicious social history” (Dwight Garner, The New York Times) comes a lively account of memorable Miss America contestants, protests, and scandals—and how the pageant, nearing its one hundredth anniversary, serves as an unintended indicator of feminist progressLooking for Miss America is a fast–paced narrative history of a curious and contradictory institution. From its start in 1921 as an Atlantic City tourist draw to its current incarnation as a scholarship competition, the pageant has indexed women’s status during periods of social change—the post–suffrage 1920s, the Eisenhower 1950s, the #MeToo era. This ever–changing institution has been shaped by war, evangelism, the rise of television and reality TV, and, significantly, by contestants who confounded expectations.Spotlighting individuals, from Yolande Betbeze, whose refusal to pose in swimsuits led an angry sponsor to launch the rival Miss USA contest, to the first black winner, Vanessa Williams, who received death threats and was protected by sharpshooters in her hometown parade, Margot Mifflin shows how women made hard bargains even as they used the pageant for economic advancement. The pageant’s history includes, crucially, those it excluded; the notorious Rule Seven, which required contestants to be “of the white race,” was retired in the 1950s, but no women of color were crowned until the 1980s.In rigorously researched, vibrant chapters that unpack each decade of the pageant, Looking for Miss America examines the heady blend of capitalism, patriotism, class anxiety, and cultural mythology that has fueled this American ritual.
Looking for Mr. Gilbert: The Unlikely Life of the First African American Landscape Photographer (History Ser.)
by John Hanson MitchellLooking for Mr. Gilbert is an account of the quest to uncover the heretofore unknown life of Robert A. Gilbert, an African American serving man who worked for the ornithologist William Brewster. A man of many talents, Gilbert went on to become the first African American landscape photographer.
Looking for My Country
by Robert MacneilMacNeil, retired co-anchor of PBS' Newshour, views history through the lens of his Canadian upbringing and career as a journalist who became a US citizen. The book begins with his letter to President Roosevelt in 1942, and concludes with how responses to the 9/11/01 attacks made him feel like a true American. Some material derives from his out-of-print memoir, The Right Place at the Right Time. Harvest is the trade book imprint for Harcourt. First published in 2003 by Nan A. Talese, an imprint of Doubleday. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Looking For Palestine: Growing Up Confused In An Arab-American Family
by Najla SaidThe daughter of a prominent Palestinian father and a sophisticated Lebanese mother, Majla Said grew up in New York City, confused and conflicted about her cultural background and identity. But while her father and brother shared a passion for debate about the politics of the Middle East and her mother held on deeply to her Lebanese roots, Said was satisfied to be her father's darling daughter, content with her life on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Her home life was rich and embracing, but outside her apartment she felt entirely unsure about who she was supposed to be, and often in denial of the differences she sensed between her family and those around her. She may have been born a Palestinian Lebanese American, but in her own mind she grew up first as a WASP (baptized Episcopalian in Boston; attending Chapin, the wealthy Upper East Side girls' school), then as a teenage Jew, essentially denying her true roots, even to herself, until well into adulthood. The fact that her father was Edward Said - the famous intellectual, founding father of postcolonial thought, and outspoken advocate for the political and human rights of the Palestinian people - only made things more complicated. Said knew that her parents identified deeply with the countries they had come from, but growing up in a Manhattan world that was defined largely by class and confirmity, where she felt her family was a cultural island all its own, she sought comfort by fitting in with their peers, until, ultimately, the psychological toll of her self-hatred began to threaten her health. As she grew older, and made increased visits to Palestine and Beirut, Said's worldview shifted. The attacks on the World Trade Center, and some of the ways in which Americans responded, finally made it impossible for her to continue to pick and choose her identity, and allowed her to see herself and her passions more clearly. In Looking for Palestine, she shares the journey to this understanding and the experience of growing up in an immigrant family and learning to embrace its cultures. Praise for Looking for Palestine 'Najla Said's Looking for Palestine is a compassionate and candid book on her courageous coming-of-age in contemporary America. Said is a brilliant, talented, and sensitive artist with a larger-than-life, loving father. ' Professor Cornel West' A deeply penetrating, often hilarious, and occasionally devastating account of growing up Arab-American. After finally finding the conviction to be at peace with herself, Najla Said has written more than a memoir. Looking for Palestine is a survivor's guide for all of us who live with that feeling of being out of place wherever we are. ' Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America' thoughtful, searching, and open-eyed, Looking for Palestine takes readers on a journey into an Arab-American girl's search for identity . . . A haunting and singular life story. ' Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent' It can be a difficult story to tell: that of one's discontent in the midst of privilege. And yet with great skill, humor, and poignancy, Said accomplishes just that. In the end, she is her late father's great inheritor, ever journeying toward that elusive home.
Looking for Palestine
by Najla SaidA frank and entertaining memoir, from the daughter of Edward Said, about growing up second-generation Arab American and struggling with that identity. The daughter of a prominent Palestinian father and a sophisticated Lebanese mother, Najla Said grew up in New York City, confused and conflicted about her cultural background and identity. Said knew that her parents identified deeply with their homelands, but growing up in a Manhattan world that was defined largely by class and conformity, she felt unsure about who she was supposed to be, and was often in denial of the differences she sensed between her family and those around her. The fact that her father was the famous intellectual and outspoken Palestinian advocate Edward Said only made things more complicated. She may have been born a Palestinian Lebanese American, but in Said's mind she grew up first as a WASP, having been baptized Episcopalian in Boston and attending the wealthy Upper East Side girls' school Chapin, then as a teenage Jew, essentially denying her true roots, even to herself--until, ultimately, the psychological toll of all this self-hatred began to threaten her health. As she grew older, making increased visits to Palestine and Beirut, Said's worldview shifted. The attacks on the World Trade Center, and some of the ways in which Americans responded, finally made it impossible for Said to continue to pick and choose her identity, forcing her to see herself and her passions more clearly. Today, she has become an important voice for second-generation Arab Americans nationwide.
Looking for The Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic
by Alice KaplanThe Stranger is a rite of passage for readers around the world. Since its publication in France in 1942, Camus's novel has been translated into sixty languages and sold more than six million copies. It's the rare novel that's as at likely to be found in a teen's backpack as in a graduate philosophy seminar. If the twentieth century produced a novel that could be called ubiquitous, The Stranger is it. How did a young man in his twenties who had never written a novel turn out a masterpiece that still grips readers more than seventy years later? With Looking for "The Stranger", Alice Kaplan tells that story. In the process, she reveals Camus's achievement to have been even more impressive--and more unlikely--than even his most devoted readers knew. Born in poverty in colonial Algeria, Camus started out as a journalist covering the criminal courts. The murder trials he attended, Kaplan shows, would be a major influence on the development and themes of The Stranger. She follows Camus to France, and, making deft use of his diaries and letters, re-creates his lonely struggle with the novel in Montmartre, where he finally hit upon the unforgettable first-person voice that enabled him to break through and complete The Stranger. Even then, the book's publication was far from certain. France was straining under German occupation, Camus's closest mentor was unsure of the book's merit, and Camus himself was suffering from near-fatal tuberculosis. Yet the book did appear, thanks in part to a resourceful publisher, Gaston Gallimard, who was undeterred by paper shortages and Nazi censorship. The initial critical reception of The Stranger was mixed, and it wasn't until after liberation that The Stranger began its meteoric rise. As France and the rest of the world began to move out of the shadow of war, Kaplan shows, Camus's book-- with the help of an aggressive marketing campaign by Knopf for their 1946 publication of the first English translation--became a critical and commercial success, and Camus found himself one of the most famous writers in the world. Suddenly, his seemingly modest tale of alienation was being seen for what it really was: a powerful parable of the absurd, an existentialist masterpiece. Few books inspire devotion and excitement the way The Stranger does. And it couldn't have a better biographer than Alice Kaplan, whose books about twentieth-century French culture and history have won her legions of fans. No reader of Camus will want to miss this brilliant exploration.