Résultats de recherche de titre
Articles 221 à 240 sur 1003
Forward from Here: Leaving Middle Age—and Other Unexpected Adventures
Par Reeve Lindbergh. 2008
In her funny and wistful new book, Reeve Lindbergh contemplates entering a new stage in life, turning sixty, the period…
her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, once described as "the youth of old age." It is a time of life, she writes, that produces some unexpected surprises. Age brings loss, but also love; disaster, but also delight. The second-graders Reeve taught many years ago are now middle-aged; her own children grow, marry, have children themselves. "Time flies," she observes, "but if I am willing to fly with it, then I can be airborne, too." A milestone birthday is also an opportunity to take stock of oneself, although such self-reflection may lead to nothing more than the realization, as Reeve puts it, "that I just seem to continue being me, the same person I was at twelve and at fifty." At sixty, as she observes, "all I really can do with the rest of my life is to...feel all of it, every bit of it, as much as I can for as long as I can." Age is only one of many subjects that Reeve writes about with perception and insight. In northern Vermont, nature is an integral part of daily life, especially on a farm. Whether it is the arrival and departure of certain birds in spring and fall, wandering turtles, or the springtime ritual of lambing, the natural world is a constant revelation. With a wry sense of humor, Reeve contemplates the infirmities of the aging body, as well as the many new drugs that treat these maladies. Briefly considering the risks of drug dependency, she writes that "the least we [the "Sixties Generation"] can do for ourselves is live up to our mythology, and take lots of drugs." Legal drugs, that is -- although what sustains us as we grow older is not drugs but an appreciation for life, augmented by compassion, a sense of humor, and common sense. And of course there is family -- especially with the Lindberghs. Reeve writes about discovering, thirty years after her father's death and two and a half years after her mother's, that her father had three secret families in Europe. She travels to meet them, learning to expand her self-understanding: "daughter of," "mother of," "sister of" -- sister of many more siblings than she'd known, in a family more complicated than even she had imagined. Forward from Here is a brave book, a reflective book, a funny book -- a book that will charm and fascinate anyone on the journey from middle age to the uncertain future that lies ahead.No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home
Par Chris Offutt. 2003
From the critically acclaimed author of the novel The Good Brother and memoir My Father the Pornographer comes the unforgettable…
memoir No Heroes. “If you haven’t read Chris Offutt, you’ve missed an accomplished and compelling writer” (Chicago Tribune).In his fortieth year, Chris Offutt returns to his alma mater, Morehead State University, the only four-year school in the Kentucky hills. He envisions leading the modest life of a teacher and father. Yet present-day reality collides painfully with memory, leaving Offutt in the midst of an adventure he never imagined: the search for a home that no longer exists. Interwoven with this bittersweet homecoming tale are the wartime stories of Offutt’s parents-in-law, Arthur and Irene. An unlikely friendship develops between the eighty-year-old Polish Jew and the forty-year-old Kentucky hillbilly as Arthur and Offutt share comfort in exile, reliving the past at a distance. With masterful prose, Offutt combines these disparate accounts to create No Heroes, a profound meditation on family, home, the Holocaust, and history.The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten-Year Road Trip
Par Jeff Guinn. 2019
A &“fascinating slice of rarely considered American history&” (Booklist)—the story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison—whose annual summer sojourns introduced…
the road trip to our culture and made the automobile an essential part of modern life.In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They would continue their summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on.Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of chefs, butlers, and others, this elite fraternity also had a serious purpose: to examine the conditions of America&’s roadways and improve the practicality of automobile travel. Cars were unreliable and the roads were even worse. But newspaper coverage of these trips was extensive, and as cars and roads improved, the summer trip by automobile soon became a desired element of American life.The Vagabonds is &“a portrait of America&’s burgeoning love affair with the automobile&” (NPR) but it also sheds light on the important relationship between the older Edison and the younger Ford, who once worked for the famous inventor. The road trips made the automobile ubiquitous and magnified Ford&’s reputation, even as Edison&’s diminished. The automobile would transform the American landscape, the American economy, and the American way of life and Guinn brings this seminal moment in history to vivid life.John Wayne: The Life and Legend
Par Scott Eyman. 2014
The New York Times bestselling biography of John Wayne: &“authoritative and enormously engaging…Eyman takes you through Wayne&’s life, his death,…
and his legend in a detailed, remarkably knowledgeable yet extremely readable way&” (Peter Bogdanovich, The New York Times Book Review).John Wayne died more than thirty years ago, but he remains one of today’s five favorite movie stars. The celebrated Hollywood icon comes fully to life in this complex portrait by noted film historian and master biographer Scott Eyman.Exploring Wayne’s early life with a difficult mother and a feckless father, “Eyman gets at the details that the bean-counters and myth-spinners miss…Wayne’s intimates have told things here that they’ve never told anyone else” (Los Angeles Times). Eyman makes startling connections to Wayne’s later days as an anti-Communist conservative, his stormy marriages to Latina women, and his notorious—and surprisingly long-lived—passionate affair with Marlene Dietrich. He also draws on the actor’s own business records and, of course, his storied film career.“We all think we know John Wayne, in part because he seemed to be playing himself in movie after movie. Yet as Eyman carefully lays out, ‘John Wayne’ was an invention, a persona created layer by layer by an ambitious young actor” (The Washington Post). This is the most nuanced and sympathetic portrait available of the man who became a symbol of his country at mid-century, a cultural icon and quintessential American male against whom other screen heroes are still compared.The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America
Par Marcus J. Moore. 2020
This &“smart, confident, and necessary&” (Shea Serrano, New York Times bestselling author) first cultural biography of rap superstar and &“master…
of storytelling&” (The New Yorker) Kendrick Lamar explores his meteoric rise to fame and his profound impact on a racially fraught America—perfect for fans of Zack O&’Malley Greenburg&’s Empire State of Mind.Kendrick Lamar is at the top of his game.The thirteen-time Grammy Award-winning rapper is just in his early thirties, but he&’s already won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, produced and curated the soundtrack of the megahit film Black Panther, and has been named one of Time&’s 100 Influential People. But what&’s even more striking about the Compton-born lyricist and performer is how he&’s established himself as a formidable adversary of oppression and force for change. Through his confessional poetics, his politically charged anthems, and his radical performances, Lamar has become a beacon of light for countless people.Written by veteran journalist and music critic Marcus J. Moore, this is much more than the first biography of Kendrick Lamar. &“It&’s an analytical deep dive into the life of that good kid whose m.A.A.d city raised him, and how it sparked a fire within Kendrick Lamar to change history&” (Kathy Iandoli, author of Baby Girl) for the better.Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time
Par Valerie Bertinelli. 2008
Valerie Bertinelli, then: bubbly sitcom star and America's Sweetheart turned tabloid headline and rock star wife. Now: actress, single working…
mother of teenage rock star, and weight-loss inspiration to millions. We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she played girl-next-door cutie Barbara Cooper in the hit TV show One Day at a Time, and then starred in numerous TV movies. From wholesome primetime in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest-partying band of the decadent eighties when she became, at twenty, wife to rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Losing It is Valerie's frank account of her life backstage and in the spotlight. Here are the ups and downs of teen stardom, of her complicated marriage to a brilliant, tormented musical genius, and of her very public struggle with her weight. Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It takes you behind the scenes of Valerie's acting career and marriage, recalling the comforts, friendships, and problems of her television family, her close relationships with her parents and brothers, the stress and worries of being the wife of a rock star, and the joys of motherhood. Like many women, Valerie often remembers the state of her life by the food she ate and the numbers on her scale. So despite her celebrity, Valerie's voice is so down-to-earth, honest, and appealing that you'll feel as if you're talking with a girlfriend over coffee. Funny and candid, Valerie recounts her attempts to maintain a healthy self-image while dealing with social pressures to look and act a certain way, and to overcome career insecurities and relationship problems, all of which will be familiar to the hundreds of thousands of women who struggle every day with these same issues. From marital turmoil to the joys of a new career, from being named among Penthouse's ten sexiest women in the world to overhearing whispers about her weight gain in the grocery store, this is Valerie's inspiring journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.A Dream Called Home: A Memoir
Par Reyna Grande. 2018
&“Here is a life story so unbelievable, it could only be true.&” —Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on…
Mango StreetFrom bestselling author of the remarkable memoir The Distance Between Us comes an inspiring account of one woman&’s quest to find her place in America as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for her family one fearless word at a time.As an immigrant in an unfamiliar country, with an indifferent mother and abusive father, Reyna had few resources at her disposal. Taking refuge in words, Reyna&’s love of reading and writing propels her to rise above until she achieves the impossible and is accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz.Although her acceptance is a triumph, the actual experience of American college life is intimidating and unfamiliar for someone like Reyna, who is now estranged from her family and support system. Again, she finds solace in words, holding fast to her vision of becoming a writer, only to discover she knows nothing about what it takes to make a career out of a dream.Through it all, Reyna is determined to make the impossible possible, going from undocumented immigrant of little means to &“a fierce, smart, shimmering light of a writer&” (Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild); a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist whose &“power is growing with every book&” (Luis Alberto Urrea, Pultizer Prize finalist); and a proud mother of two beautiful children who will never have to know the pain of poverty and neglect.Told in Reyna&’s exquisite, heartfelt prose, A Dream Called Home demonstrates how, by daring to pursue her dreams, Reyna was able to build the one thing she had always longed for: a home that would endure.House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World's Most Powerful Address
Par Michael Gross. 2006
“Michael Gross’s new book…packs [in] almost as many stories as there are apartments in the building. The Jackie Collins of…
real estate likes to map expressions of power, money and ego… Even more crammed with billionaires and their exploits than 740 Park” (Penelope Green, The New York Times).With two concierge-staffed lobbies, a walnut-lined library, a lavish screening room, a private sixty-seat restaurant offering residents room service, a health club complete with a seventy-foot swimming pool, penthouses that cost almost $100 million, and a tenant roster that’s a roll call of business page heroes and villains, Fifteen Central Park West is the most outrageously successful, insanely expensive, titanically tycoon-stuffed real estate development of the twenty-first century.In this “stunning” (CNN) and “deliciously detailed” (Booklist, starred review) New York Times bestseller, journalist Michael Gross turns his gimlet eye on the new-money wonderland that’s sprung up on the southwest rim of Central Park. Mixing an absorbing business epic with hilarious social comedy, Gross “takes another gossip-laden bite out of the upper crust” (Sam Roberts, The New York Times), whichincludes Denzel Washington, Sting, Norman Lear, top executives, and Russian and Chinese oligarchs, to name a few. And he recounts the legendary building’s inspired genesis, costly construction, and the flashy international lifestyle it has brought to a once benighted and socially déclassé Manhattan neighborhood.More than just an apartment building, 15CPW represents a massive paradigm shift in the lifestyle of New York’s rich and famous—and is a bellwether of the city’s changing social and financial landscape.The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump
Par Mary Jordan. 2020
In this &“scrupulously reported biography&” (NPR) Jordan documents how Melania Trump had discussing being First Lady nearly two decades before…
she landed in the White House and how she encouraged her husband to enter the race for president.Based on interviews with more than one hundred people in five countries, The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump is &“an extraordinary work&” (Salon) that draws an unprecedented portrait of the first lady. We see that behind the scenes Melania Trump is not only part of President Trump&’s inner circle, but for some key decisions she has been his single most influential advisor.Jordan interviewed key people in Melania's close circle who speak publicly for the first time and uncovered never-before-seen photos and tapes of the tall woman with &“tiger eyes,&” as a judge in an early modeling contest said. The Art of Her Deal shows Melania&’s ascent from a modest life, tracing her journey from childhood under a communist dictator to her complicated relationship with Donald Trump. The picture that emerges is &“that the first lady is not a pawn but a player... and a woman able to get what she wants from one of the most powerful and transparently vain men in the world&” (NPR).And while it is her husband who became famous for the phrase &“the art of the deal,&” this is the story of the art of her deal.Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero
Par David Maraniss. 2006
Discover the remarkable life of Roberto Clemente—one of the most accomplished—and beloved—baseball heroes of his generation from Pulitzer Prize winner…
David Maraniss.On New Year&’s Eve 1972, following eighteen magnificent seasons in the major leagues, Roberto Clemente died a hero&’s death, killed in a plane crash as he attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. David Maraniss now brings the great baseball player brilliantly back to life in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball&’s Last Hero, a book destined to become a modern classic. Much like his acclaimed biography of Vince Lombardi, When Pride Still Mattered, Maraniss uses his narrative sweep and meticulous detail to capture the myth and a real man.Anyone who saw Clemente, as he played with a beautiful fury, will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971, getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits, the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat, and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths.There is delightful baseball here, including thrilling accounts of the two World Series victories of Clemente&’s underdog Pittsburgh Pirates, but this is far more than just another baseball book. Roberto Clemente was that rare athlete who rose above sports to become a symbol of larger themes. Born near the canebrakes of rural Carolina, Puerto Rico, on August 18, 1934, at a time when there were no blacks or Puerto Ricans playing organized ball in the United States, Clemente went on to become the greatest Latino player in the major leagues. He was, in a sense, the Jackie Robinson of the Spanish-speaking world, a ballplayer of determination, grace, and dignity who paved the way and set the highest standard for waves of Latino players who followed in later generations and who now dominate the game.The Clemente that Maraniss evokes was an idiosyncratic character who, unlike so many modern athletes, insisted that his responsibilities extended beyond the playing field. In his final years, his motto was that if you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth. Here, in the final chapters, after capturing Clemente&’s life and times, Maraniss retraces his final days, from the earthquake to the accident, using newly uncovered documents to reveal the corruption and negligence that led the unwitting hero on a mission of mercy toward his untimely death as an uninspected, overloaded plane plunged into the sea.Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith
Par Joe Perry, David Ritz. 2014
Joe Perry’s New York Times bestselling memoir of life in the rock-and-roll band Aerosmith: “An insightful and harrowing roller coaster…
ride through the career of one of rock and roll’s greatest guitarists. Strap yourself in” (Slash).Before the platinum records or the Super Bowl half-time show or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Joe Perry was a boy growing up in small-town Massachusetts. He idolized Jacques Cousteau and built his own diving rig that he used to explore a local lake. He dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. But Perry’s neighbors had teenage sons, and those sons had electric guitars, and the noise he heard when they started playing would change his life.The guitar became his passion, an object of lust, an outlet for his restlessness and his rebellious soul. That passion quickly blossomed into an obsession, and he got a band together. One night after a performance he met a brash young musician named Steven Tyler; before long, Aerosmith was born. What happened over the next forty-five years has become the stuff of legend: the knockdown, drag-out, band-splintering fights; the drugs, the booze, the rehab; the packed arenas and timeless hits; the reconciliations and the comebacks.Rocks is an unusually searching memoir of a life that spans from the top of the world to the bottom of the barrel—several times. It is a study of endurance and brotherhood, with Perry providing remarkable candor about Tyler, as well as new insights into their powerful but troubled relationship. It is an insider’s portrait of the rock and roll family, featuring everyone from Jimmy Page to Alice Cooper, Bette Midler to Chuck Berry, John Belushi to Al Hirschfeld. It takes us behind the scenes at unbelievable moments such as Joe and Steven’s appearance in the movie of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (they act out the murders of Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees).Full of humor, insight, and brutal honesty about life in and out of one of the biggest bands in the world, Rocks is “well-paced, well-plotted…a mini-masterpiece” (The Boston Globe).Filthy Beasts: A Memoir
Par Kirkland Hamill. 2020
Running with Scissors meets Grey Gardens in this &“vivid tragicomedy&” (People), a riveting riches-to-rags tale of a wealthy family who…
lost it all and the unforgettable journey of a man coming to terms with his family&’s deep flaws and his own hidden secrets. &“Wake up, you filthy beasts!&” Wendy Hamill would shout to her children in the mornings before school. Startled from their dreams, Kirk and his two brothers couldn&’t help but wonder—would they find enough food in the house for breakfast?Following a hostile exit from New York&’s upper-class society, newly divorced Wendy and her three sons are exiled from the East Coast elite circle. Wendy&’s middle son, Kirk, is eight when she moves the family to her native Bermuda, leaving the three young boys to fend for themselves as she chases after the highs of her old life: alcohol, a wealthy new suitor, and other indulgences.After eventually leaving his mother&’s dysfunctional orbit for college in New Orleans, Kirk begins to realize how different his family and upbringing is from that of his friends and peers. Split between rich privilege—early years living in luxury on his family&’s private compound—and bare survival—rationing food and water during the height of his mother&’s alcoholism—Kirk is used to keeping up appearances and burying his inconvenient truths from the world, until he&’s eighteen and falls in love for the first time.A keenly observed, fascinating window into the life of extreme privilege and a powerful story of self-acceptance, Filthy Beasts is &“a stunning, deeply satisfying story about how we outlive our upbringings&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).The Second Life of Tiger Woods
Par Michael Bamberger. 2020
It&’s one of the greatest comebacks of all time. And for Tiger Woods, getting back to the winner&’s circle was…
only half the story. Written by a New York Times bestselling author and reporter who &“knows the world of professional golf…like few others&” (The Wall Street Journal) comes &“the most insightful and evenhanded book written yet about one of the signature athletes of the last twenty-five years&” (Booklist, starred review).Tiger Woods&’s long descent into a personal and professional hell reached bottom in the early hours of Memorial Day in 2017. Woods&’s DUI arrest that night came on the heels of a desperate spinal surgery, just weeks after he told close friends he might never play tournament golf again. His mug shot and alarming arrest video were painful to look at and, for Woods, a deep humiliation. The former paragon of discipline now found himself hopelessly lost and out of control, exposed for all the world to see. That episode could have marked the beginning of Tiger&’s end. It proved to be the opposite.Instead of sinking beneath the public disgrace of drug abuse and the private despair of a battered and ailing body, Woods embarked on the long road to redeeming himself. In The Second Life of Tiger Woods, Michael Bamberger, who has covered Woods since the golfer was an amateur, draws upon his deep network of sources inside locker rooms, caddie yards, clubhouses, fitness trailers, and back offices to tell the true and inspiring story of the legend&’s return. Packed with new information and graced by insight, Bamberger&’s story reveals how this iconic athlete clawed his way back to the top.This is a &“gripping&” (Kirkus Reviews) and intimate portrait of a man who has spent his life in front of the camera but has done his best to make sure he was never really known. Here is Tiger, barefoot, in handcuffs, showing a police officer a witty and self-deprecating side of himself that the public never sees. Here is Tiger on the verge of tears with his children at the British Open. Here is Tiger trying to express his gratitude to his mother at a ceremony at the Rose Garden. In these pages, Tiger is funny, cold, generous, self-absorbed, inspiring—and real.The Second Life of Tiger Woods is not only the saga of an exceptional man but also a celebration of second chances. Bamberger&’s bracingly honest book is about what Tiger Woods did, and about what any of us can do, when we face our demons head-on.Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music
Par Archie Roach. 2019
A powerful memoir of a true Australian legend: stolen child, musical and lyrical genius, and leader. Not many have lived…
as many lives as Archie Roach – stolen child, seeker, teenage alcoholic, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, and leader – but it took him almost a lifetime to find out who he really was. Roach was only two years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. Brought up by a series of foster parents until his early teens, his world imploded when he received a letter that spoke of a life he had no memory of. In this intimate, moving and often shocking memoir, Archie&’s story is an extraordinary odyssey through love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal – and the healing power of music. Overcoming enormous odds to find his story and his people, Archie voices the joy, pain and hope he found on his path through song to become the legendary singer-songwriter and storyteller that he is today – beloved by fans worldwide.Tell Me Why is a stunning account of resilience and the strength of spirit – and of a great love story.Winner of the 2020 Indie Book of the Year Non-FictionWinner of the 2021 Victorian Premier&’s Literary Award for Indigenous WritingShortlisted for the 2020 ABIA Biography Book of the YearShortlisted for the 2020 Victorian Premier&’s Literary Awards, Non-FictionShortlisted for the Booksellers' Choice 2020 Book of the Year Awards, Non-Fiction Archie Roach was the 2020 VIC Australian of the Year 'Tell Me Why is an extraordinary odyssey and offering. Archie has come through snares, pits and suffering to bring us an inspiring tale of survival, grace and generosity. This book should be in every school.' Paul Kelly &‘Just like his early songs, Tell Me Why was written with empathy as its impetus and that intent shines through on every page. This is a phenomenal work by one of the most articulate and recognisable members of the Stolen Generations. It will be read, studied and discussed for many years to come.&’ The Australian &‘Beautiful, gut-wrenching and compelling memoir&’ Sydney Morning Herald &‘Archie&’s deeply resonant voice sings out – of a broken country and a life renewed. The voice of Australia.&’ Daniel Browning, ABC journalist and producer &‘Roach is honest and humble in his oft-heartbreaking retelling of his search for identity, belonging and purpose&’ Courier Mail &‘Best book of 2019: Tell Me Why by Archie Roach, a beautifully written autobiography that captures one of the most remarkable lives in Australian music&’ Weekend AustraliaBetter to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia
Par Akash Kapur. 2021
*Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, New Statesman, Air Mail,…
and more * Longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize * Recipient of a Whiting Grant*A &“haunting and elegant&” (The Wall Street Journal) story about love, faith, the search for utopia—and the often devastating cost of idealism.It&’s the late 1960s, and two lovers converge on an arid patch of earth in South India. John Walker is the handsome scion of a powerful East Coast American family. Diane Maes is a beautiful hippie from Belgium. They have come to build a new world—Auroville, an international utopian community for thousands of people. Their faith is strong, the future bright.So how do John and Diane end up dying two decades later, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon? This is the mystery Akash Kapur sets out to solve in Better to Have Gone, and it carries deep personal resonance: Diane and John were the parents of Akash&’s wife, Auralice. Akash and Auralice grew up in Auroville; like the rest of their community, they never really understood those deaths.In 2004, Akash and Auralice return to Auroville from New York, where they have been living with John&’s family. As they reestablish themselves in the community, along with their two sons, they must confront the ghosts of those distant deaths. Slowly, they come to understand how the tragic individual fates of John and Diane intersected with the collective history of their town.&“A riveting account of human aspiration and folly taken to extremes&” (The Boston Globe), Better to Have Gone probes the underexplored yet universal idea of utopia and portrays in vivid detail the daily life of one such community. Richly atmospheric and filled with remarkable characters, spread across time and continents, this is narrative writing of the highest order—a &“gripping…compelling…[and] heartbreaking story, deeply researched and lucidly told&” (The New York Times Book Review).Home Before Dark: A Biographical Memoir of John Cheever by His Daughter
Par Susan Cheever. 1984
In Home Before Dark, Susan Cheever, daughter of the famously talented writer John Cheever, uses previously unpublished letters, journals, and…
her own precious memories to create a candid and insightful tribute to her father. While producing some of the most beloved and celebrated American literature of this century, John Cheever wrestled with personal demons that deeply affected his family life as well as his career. In this poignant memoir of a man driven by boundless genius and ambition, Susan Cheever writes with heartwrenching honesty of family life with the father, the writer, and the remarkable man she loved.Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin
Par Andrew Wilson. 2015
The first, definitive biography of the iconic, notoriously private British fashion designer Alexander McQueen “offers new insights...and provides unprecedented access…
to a misunderstood soul” (The Boston Globe).When forty-year-old Alexander McQueen committed suicide in February 2010, a shocked world mourned the loss. McQueen had risen from humble beginnings as the son of an East London taxi driver to scale the heights of fame, fortune, and glamour. He created a multimillion-dollar luxury brand that became a favorite with celebrities, including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. He designed clothes for the world’s most beautiful women and royalty, most famously the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore a McQueen dress on her wedding day.But behind the confident facade and bad-boy image, lay a sensitive soul who struggled to survive in the ruthless world of fashion. As the pressures of work intensified, McQueen became increasingly dependent on the drugs that contributed to his tragic end. Meanwhile, his failure to find lasting love in a string of boyfriends only added to his despair. And then there were the secrets that haunted his sleep…A modern-day fairy tale infused with the darkness of a Greek tragedy, Alexander McQueen provides “a thorough and emotionally compelling exploration…of a complex and enigmatic artist” (Publishers Weekly). Andrew Wilson’s “magnificent” (The Independent, UK) and “compelling and heavily researched bio” (Entertainment Weekly), featuring never-before-seen photographs and rare interviews, dispels myths, corrects inaccuracies, and shares new insights into McQueen’s private life and the source of his creative genius.Dear Father: Breaking the Cycle of Pain
Par J. Ivy. 2015
Hip-hop&’s favorite poet and Grammy Award–winning artist J. Ivy bares his soul in this inspirational memoir of pain transformed into…
healing and empowerment.J. Ivy is a true pioneer and trendsetter who&’s bridged the worlds of hip-hop and poetry through his appearances on HBO&’s Def Poetry and his collaborations with Kanye West and Jay-Z. But throughout his success, he carried with him the pain of being abandoned by his father and growing up in the tough neighborhoods of Chicago&’s South Side.So he sat down with pen and paper and processed his pain the only way he knew how—through poetry. The resulting poem, Dear Father, became his vehicle of forgiveness and healing. It is a pivotal poem that has touched and inspired the lives of millions.Fused with his signature raw lyricism and street consciousness, J. Ivy&’s memoir shows what it takes to deal with your emotions before your emotions deal with you. His story is personal yet universal, and will inspire others to channel whatever pain they have experienced into their own powerful gift of expression.Don't Kiss Them Good-Bye
Par Allison DuBois. 2005
"Death is a funny thing. It brings out the best and worst in people. It casts light on the truth…
and makes life blindingly clear." Her visions have helped solve crimes; her instincts have helped find missing people; she can predict future events and sense your thoughts. These are some of the extraordinary gifts that define the remarkable Allison DuBois, the real-life medium, wife, and mother whose life is the inspiration for the hit NBC television series Medium. When she was six years old, Allison's deceased great-grandfather came to her with a message for her mother: "I am okay, I am still with you. Tell your mom there's no more pain." Allison shared his comforting words with her mother and thus began a lifetime of creating connections between loved ones and those they have lost. The purpose of her gifts became clearer when Allison worked as an intern in the homicide bureau of the district attorney's office and found that she visualized the crime as she handled the evidence. Allison now works as a profiler on criminal investigations. In this stunning book, Allison shares fascinating stories of her encounters with people who have passed and her adventures as a profiler for various law enforcement organizations. With wit and compassion, Allison shows us what it is like to live with these special gifts and talents and also tells about her struggle to live a normal life as a devoted wife and mother. She shows how learning to accept her own gifts has helped her accept the unique gifts of others and how her compelling desire to relieve the pain of others has helped define her own life, a life committed to the search for ultimate truth. If you have ever questioned whether there is an afterlife, this book will help you see that there is a living energy beyond death.The Journey of Duty: From Africa to Europe
Par Olgett Kazimoto. 1942
Early life experiences of the author in the northern province of Zambia in Africa, and training in healthcare with subsequent…
employment in the mining industry healthcare owned jointly by the Anglo-American Corporation and the Government of the Republic of Zambia, mark the beginning of the journey of duty. After working for eight years from 1990 to 1998, this initial part of the journey of duty becomes full of challenging encounters and adventure stories associated with copper mining operations. Moving to Britain as a migrant worker marks the second part of the long journey of duty. Over the next 22 years, the author is immersed in the busy National Health Service (NHS), an umbrella organisation for thousands of hospitals and allied institutions. Experiencing the British way of life becomes fascinating but then part of this way of life is about how politics influence the way healthcare is delivered by the NHS which takes the centre stage throughout the rest of this book. The NHS tales about itsorigins, evolution, inspiring radical transformation in the 21st century, traffic light targets, and the dark times of scandals with red tape are quite revealing especially for people intending to work, train or are working as healthcare professionals. In the thick of it are some of the shining stars with rare qualities of fixing the broken parts of the healthcare systems that end this book.