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Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books
by Nancy Carpenter Michelle MarkelThis rollicking and fascinating picture book biography chronicles the life of the first pioneer of children's books—John Newbery himself. While most children's books in the 18th century contained lessons and rules, John Newbery imagined them overflowing with entertaining stories, science, and games. He believed that every book should be made for the reader's enjoyment. Newbery—for whom the prestigious Newbery Medal is named—became a celebrated author and publisher, changing the world of children's books forever. This book about his life and legacy is as full of energy and delight as any young reader could wish.
Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books
by Nancy Carpenter Michelle MarkelThis rollicking and fascinating picture book biography chronicles the life of the first pioneer of children's books—John Newbery himself. While most children's books in the 18th century contained lessons and rules, John Newbery imagined them overflowing with entertaining stories, science, and games. He believed that every book should be made for the reader's enjoyment. Newbery—for whom the prestigious Newbery Medal is named—became a celebrated author and publisher, changing the world of children's books forever. This book about his life and legacy is as full of energy and delight as any young reader could wish.
Ballplayer
by Bobby Cox Carroll Rogers Walton Chipper JonesAtlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones—one of the greatest switch-hitters in baseball history—shares his remarkable story, while capturing the magic nostalgia that sets baseball apart from every other sport. Before Chipper Jones became an eight-time All-Star who amassed Hall of Fame–worthy statistics during a nineteen-year career with the Atlanta Braves, he was just a country kid from small town Pierson, Florida. A kid who grew up playing baseball in the backyard with his dad dreaming that one day he’d be a major league ballplayer. With his trademark candor and astonishing recall, Chipper Jones tells the story of his rise to the MLB ranks and what it took to stay with one organization his entire career in an era of booming free agency. His journey begins with learning the art of switch-hitting and takes off after the Braves made him the number one overall pick in the 1990 draft, setting him on course to become the linchpin of their lineup at the height of their fourteen-straight division-title run. Ballplayer takes readers into the clubhouse of the Braves’ extraordinary dynasty, from the climax of the World Series championship in 1995 to the last-gasp division win by the 2005 “Baby Braves”; all the while sharing pitch-by-pitch dissections of clashes at the plate with some of the all-time great starters, such as Clemens and Johnson, as well as closers such as Wagner and Papelbon. He delves into his relationships with Bobby Cox and his famous Braves brothers—Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, among them—and opponents from Cal Ripken Jr. to Barry Bonds. The National League MVP also opens up about his overnight rise to superstardom and the personal pitfalls that came with fame; his spirited rivalry with the New York Mets; his reflections on baseball in the modern era—outrageous money, steroids, and all—and his special last season in 2012. Ballplayer immerses us in the best of baseball, as if we’re sitting next to Chipper in the dugout on an endless spring day.
Baltimore Prohibition: Wet and Dry in the Free State
by Michael T. WalshThere was perhaps no region more opposed to Prohibition than Baltimore and Maryland. The Free State was defiant in its protest from thoroughly wet Governor Albert Ritchie to esteemed Catholic Cardinal James Gibbons. Maryland was the only state to not pass a "baby" Volstead enforcement act. Speakeasies emerged at Frostburg's Gunter Hotel and at Baltimore's famed Belvedere Hotel, whose famous owls' blinking eyes would notify its patrons if it was safe to indulge in bootleg liquor. Rumrunners were frequent on the Chesapeake Bay as bootleggers populated the city streets. Journalist H.L. Mencken, known as the "Sage of Baltimore," drew national attention criticizing the new law. Author Michael T. Walsh presents this colorful history.
Band on the Bus: Around the World in a Double-Decker
by Richard KingWhen nine friends set out from England in 1969 to travel the world in a double-decker bus called ‘Hairy Pillock’, little did they know that they would become honorary citizens of Texas, hold the keys to New York, release a record in Australia, perform for the Shah and Empress of Iran, and appear on countless television and radio shows around the world. Their epic three-year journey, which began as a bet with the landlord of their local pub, took them across perilous roads through Europe to Iran and Afghanistan, through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and India, then to Australia and, finally, the United States and Canada. Initially planning on getting work as export salesmen, they soon had to supplement their meagre funds by performing the folk songs they sang in the pubs back home, after which they achieved minor stardom as The Philanderers throughout Australia and the US. This light-hearted account follows the group on their trip across deserts and mountains, as they undertook an incredible expedition that would be impossible today.
Bandit Mentality: Hunting Insurgents in the Rhodesian Bush War, A Memoir
by Lindsay O’BrienA former officer of British South Africa&’s anti-terrorist unit recounts his experiences on the frontlines of the Rhodesian Bush war from 1976–1980. A native of New Zealand, Lindsay &‘Kiwi&’ O&’Brien served in the British South Africa Police Support Unit&’s anti-terrorist battalion. He traveled across the country as a section leader and a troop commander before joining the UANC political armies as trainer and advisor. The BSA Support Unit started poorly supplied and equipped, but the caliber of the men, mostly African, was second-to-none. Support Unit specialized in the &“grunt&” work inside Rhodesia with none of the flamboyant helicopter or cross-border raids carried out by the army. O&’Brien&’s war was primarily within selected tribal lands, seeking out and destroying Communist guerilla units in brisk close-range battles with little to no support. O&’Brien moved from the police to working with the initial UANC deployment in the Zambezi Valley where the poorly trained recruits had to learn fast or die. O&’Brien&’s account is a foreign-born perspective from a junior commander uninterested in promotion and the wrangling of upper command. He was decorated and wounded three times.
Bannon: Always the Rebel
by Keith Koffler"By now, everyone in America knows Steve Bannon, the force of nature who has shaped the Trump presidency more than anyone except Trump himself. If you want to know what's behind that force of nature—if you want to know Steve Bannon the man—this is the indispensable book for you." —DAVID HOROWITZ, author of Big Agenda.He helped engineer one of the greatest upsets in political history—the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States.And he's far from done.Now he wants to restore America—its prosperity, its sense of self, and its ability to survive a perilous twenty-first century.To do that, former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon intends to transform the Republican Party from a club for establishment flunkies into a populist political force powerful enough to take on America's military, economic, and cultural adversaries.In Bannon: Always the Rebel, veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler—who had hours of exclusive access to Bannon, both during and immediately after his tenure at the White House—offers a penetrating portrait of the man and his ideas.In Bannon, you'll learn: How Bannon's core values come from his Catholic faith, his working-class background, and his service in the Navy How Bannon's faith helped him stop drinking Why Bannon—even as a Harvard Business School grad—was always an outsider How he made his money in Hollywood—and then became both a maverick writer, producer, and director of conservative documentaries and the leader of a political movement at Breitbart How Bannon plans to remake the GOP as a workers' party that will attract minority voters and become the dominant political force of the twenty-first century Why Bannon believes America is a civilization in crisis Provocative, original, concise, Bannon: Always the Rebel might just change the way you think—not only about Steve Bannon, but about politics and America's future.
Bapuna Ashramman
by Haribhau Upadyayઆ પુસ્તક ઇતિહાસનું કે ચરિત્રનું નથી. સંસ્મરણોનું છે અને એ લખતી વખતે ભગવાન કૃષ્ણ પ્રત્યે ગોપીઓના આ મામિર્ક અને સાર્થક વચને મને સદા પ્રેરણા આપી છે: तव कथामृतं तप्तजीवनं कविभिरीडितं कल्मषापहम्| श्रवणमडलं श्रीमदाततं भुवि गृणन्ति ते भूरिदा जना:|| હે વહાલા, તારી કથા તો અમૃતની ધારા છે. એ સંતાપમાં પડેલા જનોને જીવન, શાંતિ અને શીતળતા આપે છે. કવિઓએ એની ઘણી પ્રશંસા કરી છે. એ પાપનો નાશ કરનારી છે. એના શ્રવણથી મનુષ્યનું કલ્યાણ થાય છે. એ સમૃદ્ધ છે, અને નિત્ય છે. એથી જે કવિઓ એનું ગાન કરતા વિચરે છે, તેઓ જગતને એક અતિ કીમતી વસ્તુનું દાન કરે છે.
Bapuna Jivanvrato
by Dashrathlal Shahગાંધીજી જે જાતના સમાજની નવરચના કરવા માગતા હતા, એમાં આ એકાદશ વ્રતોના પાલનને સ્થાન હતું. આશ્રમ એની પ્રયોગશાળા કે તાલીમશાળા હતી. આશ્રમના નાનકડા સમુદાયમાં જો વ્રતો મૂતિર્મંત થાય તો વિશાળ જનસમાજ એને અપનાવશે એવી એમની શ્રદ્ધા હતી. આવી શ્રદ્ધા સાથે સત્યાગ્રહાશ્રમ, સાબરમતીમાં પંદર વર્ષ વ્રતપાલનનો એક સામુદાયિક પ્રયોગ એમણે કર્યો. આ અભિનવ પ્રયોગ દ્વારા એમણે બતાવી આપ્યું કે સત્ય અહિંસાદિ વ્રતો એ કંઈ મોક્ષમાર્ગી સાધુસંતોનો ઇજારો નથી; સામાન્ય જનસમાજ પણ એનું આચરણ કરી શકે છે. ગાંધીવિચારના હાર્દ સમા આ એકાદશ વ્રતોની મીમાંસા અનેકોએ અનેક રીતે કરી છે. પ્રસ્તુત પુસ્તિકા ‘મંગળપ્રભાત’નાં બાપુનાં એકાદશ વ્રતો વિશેના શ્રી દશરથલાલ શાહના લેખોનો સંગ્રહ છે. ગાંધીપ્રેમીઓ અને વિશેષ કરીને ગાંધીદર્શનના વિદ્યાર્થીઓને એ ઉપયોગી નીવડશે એવી શ્રદ્ધા છે. —મગનભાઈ જો. પટેલ
Bark (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Georges Didi-HubermanA noted French thinker's poignant reflections, in words and photographs, on his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.On a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Georges Didi-Huberman tears three pieces of bark from birch trees on the edge of the site. Looking at these pieces after his return home, he sees them as letters, a flood, a path, time, memory, flesh. The bark serves as a springboard to Didi-Huberman's meditations on his visit, recorded in this spare, poetic, and powerful book. Bark is a personal account, drawing not on the theoretical apparatus of scholarship but on Didi-Huberman's own history, memory, and knowledge. The text proceeds as a series of reflections, accompanied by Didi-Huberman's photographs of the visit. The photographs are not meant to be art—Didi-Huberman confesses that he “photographed practically everything without looking”—but approach it nevertheless. Didi-Huberman tells us that his grandparents died at Auschwitz, but his account is more universal than biographical. As he walks from place to place, he observes that in German birches are birken; Birkenau designates the meadow where the birches grow. Didi-Huberman sees and photographs the “reconstructed” execution wall; the floors of the crematorium, forgotten witnesses to killing; and the birch trees, lovely but also resembling prison bars. Taking his own photographs, he thinks of the famous photographs taken in 1944 by a member of the Sonderkommando, the only photographic documentation of the camp before the Germans destroyed it, hoping to hide the evidence of their crimes. Didi-Huberman notices a “bizarre proliferation of white flowers on the exact spot of the cremation pits.” The dead are not departed.
Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship
by Gregory BoyleIn a moving example of unconditional love in difficult times, Gregory Boyle, the Jesuit priest and New York Times bestselling author of Tattoos on the Heart, shares what working with gang members in Los Angeles has taught him about faith, compassion, and the enduring power of kinship.In his first book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Gregory Boyle introduced us to Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. Critics hailed that book as an &“astounding literary and spiritual feat&” (Publishers Weekly) that is &“destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality&” (Los Angeles Times). Now, after the successful expansion of Homeboy Industries, Boyle returns with Barking to the Choir to reveal how compassion is transforming the lives of gang members. In a nation deeply divided and plagued by poverty and violence, Barking to the Choir offers a snapshot into the challenges and joys of life on the margins. Sergio, arrested at age nine, in a gang by age twelve, and serving time shortly thereafter, now works with the substance-abuse team at Homeboy to help others find sobriety. Jamal, abandoned by his family when he tried to attend school at age seven, gradually finds forgiveness for his schizophrenic mother. New father Cuco, who never knew his own dad, thinks of a daily adventure on which to take his four-year-old son. These former gang members uplift the soul and reveal how bright life can be when filled with unconditional love and kindness. This book is guaranteed to shake up our ideas about God and about people with a glimpse at a world defined by more compassion and fewer barriers. Gently and humorously, Barking to the Choir invites us to find kinship with one another and re-convinces us all of our own goodness.
Barney: Grove Press and Barney Rosset: America’s Maverick Publisher and His Battle against Censorship
by Michael RosenthalAn incisive, compulsively readable biography of the man the Guardian called the most influential avant-garde publisher of the twentieth century.An impetuous outsider who delighted in confronting American hypocrisy and prudery, Barney Rosset liberated American culture from the constraints of Puritanism. As the head of Grove Press, he single-handedly broke down the laws against obscenity, changing forever the nature of writing and publishing in this country. He brought to the reading public the European avant-garde, among them Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, radical political and literary voices such as Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and Jack Kerouac, steamy Victorian erotica, and banned writers such as D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, and William Burroughs. His almost mystical belief in the sacrosanct nature of the First Amendment essentially demarcates the before and after of American publishing.Barney explores how Grove's landmark legal victories freed publishers to print what they wanted, and it traces Grove's central role in the countercultural ferment of the sixties and early seventies. Drawing on the Rosset papers at Columbia University and personal interviews with former Grove Press staff members, friends, and wives, it tells the fascinating story of this feisty, abrasive, visionary, and principled cultural revolutionary—a modern Huckleberry Finn according to Nobel Prize–winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe—who altered the reading habits of a nation.
Barriers and Belonging: Personal Narratives of Disability
by Alison Quaggin Harkin Leila Monaghan Michelle JarmanWhat is the direct impact that disability studies has on the lives of disabled people today? The editors and contributors to this essential anthology, Barriers and Belonging, provide thirty-seven personal narratives thatexplore what it means to be disabled and why the field of disability studies matters. The editors frame the volume by introducing foundational themes of disability studies. They provide a context of how institutions—including the family, schools, government, and disability peer organizations—shape and transform ideas about disability. They explore how disability informs personal identity, interpersonal and community relationships, and political commitments. In addition, there are heartfelt reflections on living with mobility disabilities, blindness, deafness, pain, autism, psychological disabilities, and other issues. Other essays articulate activist and pride orientations toward disability, demonstrating the importance of reframing traditional narratives of sorrow and medicalization. The critical, self-reflective essays in Barriers and Belonging provide unique insights into the range and complexity of disability experience.
Barth in Conversation: Volume 1, 1959-1962
by Eberhard BuschKarl Barth is widely regarded as the most important theologian of the twentieth century, and his observations about the church and its place in a modern world continue to engage religious scholars nearly fifty years after his death. This English translation of the Swiss-published Conversations is a three-volume collection featuring correspondence, articles, interviews, and other short-form writings by Barth from 1959–1962. Among them are dialogues with representatives of the Evangelical Community Movement (1959); conversations with prison chaplains and a question-and-answer session with the Conference of the World Student Christian Federation (1960); discussions with Methodist preachers, Zurich pastors, and Catholic students of theology (1961); press conferences in New York and Chicago (1962); and an interview at the United Nations (1962). Within these pages, scholars and students will find a comprehensive view into Barth’s life and thinking about theology and its role in society today.
Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game That Saved Me
by Stacey May FowlesA passionate ode to baseball, its culture, and its community, which both celebrates and challenges the game – and reminds us why it really matters. What is it about a man hitting a small white ball with a slim wooden bat out of a park that’s so beautiful? In this entertaining and thoughtful book, Stacey May Fowles gives us a refreshingly candid and personal perspective on subjects ranging from bat flips to bandwagoners, from the romance of spring training to the politics of booing, from the necessity of taking a hard look at players’ injuries and mental health issues to finding solace at the ballpark. Fowles confronts head-on the stereotype that female fans lack real knowledge about the game, and calls out the “boys will be boys” attitude and its implications both on and off the field. She also offers exhilarating snapshots of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2015 and 2016 seasons. With remarkable humanity, intelligence, and an unabashed enthusiasm for the game, Fowles explores how we can use the lens of baseball to examine who we are. A must-read for both diehard and casual fans.
Batter Will Fly: 21 Life-Flipping Lessons from a Seasoned Chef
by Marisol MuranoBatter Will Fly is an inspiring book with 21 life-flipping lessons from international destination chef Marisol Murano, based on her travels around the world. Chef Marisol’s advice will inspire and give you the confidence to flip your life around both in and out of the kitchen. Equal parts travelogue, memoir, and motivational self-help book, Batter Will Fly will be the new secret ingredient to fulfilling your life. After joining Chef Marisol in her travel and cooking adventures, you’ll be eager to embrace your life and to take the biggest risk of all: living on your own terms. Love, money, and sacred cows, you’ll find them all here, alongside travel stories that will inspire you to get out of the rut.
Battle Hardened: An Infantry Officer's Harrowing Journey from D-Day to V-E Day
by Craig S. ChapmanBattle-Hardened: An Infantry Officer's Harrowing Journey from D-Day to VE-Day tells the story of an American soldier's growth from a 2nd Lieutenant eager to prove his worth in battle to a skilled and resolute commander over the course of the Northern European Campaign. Craig Chapman delves deep into the personal recollections and mental state of Bill Champman as he fought against the Nazis, enduring frontline combat and witnessing horror on a massive scale. Lieutenant Chapman maintains his sanity by isolating his emotions from the chaos of the battlefield, and the young officer turns into a hard-edged warrior who dispassionately orders men to risk their lives yet still manages to hold onto his humanity.
Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story Of Robert Smalls' Escape From Slavery To Union Hero
by Cate Lineberry"A stunning tale of a little-known figure in history. Robert Smalls' astounding heroism during the Civil War helped convince Lincoln and the country that African Americans were extraordinarily capable of fighting for their freedom. Lineberry has produced a triumph in this heroic story that illuminates our country's ongoing struggles with race." —Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Professor in American History Harvard University and Executive Producer of Finding Your Roots“Be Free or Die makes you want to stand up and cheer. Cate Lineberry has done us all a great service by telling this incredibly moving, thrilling, and important story about an American hero who deserves to be remembered, and admired.” —Candice Millard, author of Hero of the EmpireFacing death rather than enslavement—a story of one man's triumphant choice and ultimate rise to national heroIt was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a twenty-three-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces. To be unsuccessful was a death sentence for all. Smalls’ courageous and ingenious act freed him and his family from slavery and immediately made him a Union hero while simultaneously challenging much of the country’s view of what African Americans were willing to do to gain their freedom. After his escape, Smalls served in numerous naval campaigns off Charleston as a civilian boat pilot and eventually became the first black captain of an Army ship. In a particularly poignant moment Smalls even bought the home that he and his mother had once served in as house slaves.Be Free or Die is a compelling narrative that illuminates Robert Smalls’ amazing journey from slave to Union hero and ultimately United States Congressman. This captivating tale of a valuable figure in American history gives fascinating insight into the country's first efforts to help newly freed slaves while also illustrating the many struggles and achievements of African Americans during the Civil War.
Bearing Witness: How Writers Brought the Brutality of World War II to Light
by John R. CarpenterIt has been said that during times of war, the Muses fall silent. However, anyone who has read the major figures of mid-twentieth-century literature—Samuel Beckett, Richard Hillary, Norman Mailer, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others—can attest that it was through writing that people first tried to communicate and process the horrors that they saw during one of the darkest times in human history even as it broke out and raged on around them.In Bearing Witness, John Carpenter explores how across the world those who experienced the war tried to make sense of it both during and in its immediate aftermath. Writers such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Theodore Plievier questioned the ruling parties of the time based on what they saw. Correspondents and writer-soldiers like John Hersey and James Jones revealed the chaotic and bloody reality of the front lines to the public. And civilians, many of who remain anonymous, lent voice to occupation and imprisonment so that those who didn’t survive would not be forgotten. The digestion of a cataclysmic event can take generations. But in this fascinating book, Carpenter brings together all those who did their best to communicate what they saw in the moment so that it could never be lost.
Bearing the Cross: My Inspiring Journey from Poverty to the NFL and Sports Television
by Irv Cross Clifton Brown Gil BrandtBorn into poverty in Hammond, Indiana, not much was expected from Irvin Acie Cross. But with much hard work and dedication, he put together one of the most incredible life stories imaginable.After being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1961 out of Northwestern University, Cross went on to have a nine-year career in the NFL, appearing in two Pro Bowls. After retiring, he joined the Eagles as a coach, and did so until 1971 when a rare opportunity came along.With his player career over and without any experience, Cross hired by CBS sports as an analyst and commentator, becoming the first African American to work full-time as a sports analyst on national television. He then joined NFL Today in 1975 with Brent Musburger, former Miss America Phyllis George, and sports bookie Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, and the show would go on to win thirteen Emmy Awards that first year. Throughout his life, Irv Cross has shown off his signature smile. With his strong spiritual belief, he has accomplished more than most people could ever dream of. His hard work and dedication have led him on a storied journey, and in 2009 we was awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio and TV Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bearing the Cross is Irv at his finest. From childhood to retirement, he shares an incredible life; the friends he’s made, the people he’s helped, and the lives he’s changed. With the help from longtime journalist Clifton Brown, Bearing the Cross will not only give you an inside look into this incredible man, but teach you the life lessons that have warmed his life.
Bears by the Numbers: A Complete Team History of the Chicago Bears by Uniform Number
by Lew FreedmanWhat do Al Campana, Frank Dempsey, Stan Wallace, Don Mullins, Gale Sayers, and Steve Trimble all have in common? They all wore number 40 for the Chicago Bears, even though more than four decades passed between the last time Campana last pulled on his jersey and the number was retired for Sayers in 1994 (along with 51 for Dick Butkus). Since the Chicago Bears first adopted uniform numbers in 1932, the team has handed out only 99 numbers to more than 1,000 players. That’s a lot of overlap. It also makes for a lot of good stories. Bears by the Numbers tells those stories for every Bear since ’32, from Red Grange to Pernell McPhee. This book lists the players alphabetically and by number; these biographies help trace the history of one of football’s oldest and most beloved teams in a new way.For Bears fans, anyone who ever wore the uniform is like family. Bears by the Numbers reintroduces readers to some of their long-lost ancestors, even those they think they already know.
Beautiful Scars: A Life Redefined
by Kilee Brookbank Lori Highlander Jessica Noll"Kilee’s spirit shines through her every word. Beautiful Scars is a down-to-earth primer on how to let our hearts define us, not our scars."- J.R. Martinez, Actor, U.S. Army veteran, bestselling author, and burn survivorA moment can change everything…Kilee Brookbank was a typical sixteen-year-old, but her last ordinary day erupted in an explosion that consumed her house, burning forty-five percent of her body and sending her to the brink of death. After thirty-eight days of surgeries, skin grafts, physical therapy, and excruciating pain, Kilee had to discover how to live again. With unwavering support from her mom, Lori, and the rest of her family, Kilee faced her journey with determination, strength, and a positive attitude that inspired not only her community, but people around the world.Told together by Kilee and Lori, Beautiful Scars is a story of recovery, healing, and hope, reminding us all that we’re never powerless, never alone, and that each challenge we face helps make us the people we are meant to be.Now a thriving college student, Kilee has become an author, advocate, and philanthropist focused on helping other young burn survivors and their families. She has met with individual survivors and their parents and spoken to school groups, burn camps and civic organizations across the country. Her charity, the Kilee Gives Back Foundation, has raised more than $170,000 for Shriners Hospitals for Children-Cincinnati, and Kilee has partnered with Shriners Hospitals to promote its national Be Burn Aware campaign.… It’s what you do with each moment that defines you."Beautiful Scars is a reminder that we don’t always get to choose the path we walk in life, but we can always choose the manner in which we walk it."- John O’Leary, bestselling author of ON FIRE: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life and inspirational speakerA portion of the proceeds from sales of Beautiful Scars: A Life Redefined will benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children-Cincinnati.
Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home
by Tom Wilson"I'm scared and scarred but I’ve survived" Tom Wilson was raised in the rough-and-tumble world of Hamilton—Steeltown— in the company of World War II vets, factory workers, fall-guy wrestlers and the deeply guarded secrets kept by his parents, Bunny and George. For decades Tom carved out a life for himself in shadows. He built an international music career and became a father, he battled demons and addiction, and he waited, hoping for the lies to cease and the truth to emerge. It would. And when it did, it would sweep up the St. Lawrence River to the Mohawk reserves of Quebec, on to the heights of the Manhattan skyline. With a rare gift for storytelling and an astonishing story to tell, Tom writes with unflinching honesty and extraordinary compassion about his search for the truth. It's a story about scars, about the ones that hurt us, and the ones that make us who we are. From Beautiful Scars: Even as a kid my existence as the son of Bunny and George Wilson seemed far-fetched to me. When I went over it in my head, none of it added up. The other kids on East 36th Street in Hamilton used to tell me stories of their mothers being pregnant and their newborn siblings coming home from the hospital. Nobody ever talked about Bunny's and my return from the hospital. In my mind my birth was like the nativity, only with gnarly dogs and dirty snow and a chipped picket fence and old blind people with short tempers and dim lights, ashtrays full of Export Plain cigarette butts and bottles of rum. Once, when I was about four, I asked Bunny, "How come I don't look anything like you and George? How come you are old and the other moms are young?" "There are secrets I know about you that I’ll take to my grave," she responded. And that pretty well finished that. Bunny built up a wall to protect her secrets, and as a result I built a wall to protect myself.
Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West (Outdoor Lives)
by Mark SpitzerFisherman Mark Spitzer takes readers on an action-packed investigation of the most fierce and fearsome freshwater grotesques of the American West ever to inspire both hatred and fascination. Through the lenses of history, folklore, biology, ecology, and politics, Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West depicts the environmental destruction plaguing the most maligned creatures in our midst while subtly interweaving Spitzer’s experiences of personal tragedy and self-discovery. Join Spitzer as he noodles for flathead catfish in Oklahoma, snags paddlefish in Missouri, trotline- and electro-fishes American eels in Arkansas, studies razorback suckers in Arizona, bounty hunts for pikeminnows in Washington State, attends a burbot festival in Utah, stirs up Asian carp in Kansas, and breaks the state record for the largest yellow bullhead ever caught in Nebraska. By examining freakish links in a vital chain and working with specialists in the field, Spitzer portrays a planet in environmental crisis and dispels the illusion that our actions don’t result in long-term, toxic consequences. Spitzer offers models for fisheries and provides other sources of hope in this informative epic of redemption that ultimately celebrates the wild and resilient beauty and remaining possibilities of the American West.Watch a book trailer. Visit the Where in the West is Mark Spitzer? blog series for additional reading and a look at more photographs not included in the book.
Becky Sauerbrunn (Real Sports Content Network Presents)
by David SeigermanBefore she was scoring goals, Becky Sauerbrunn was just a kid trying to fit in. Learn more in this first book in a brand-new nonfiction series about the childhoods of your favorite athletes.Midway through her first soccer game for the US Women’s National Team, Becky Sauerbrunn broke her nose. More to the point, it exploded, really, in a head-to-head collision. Still, it never occurred to her to leave the field until she saw the horrified reaction from her teammates and coaches. Sauerbrunn’s toughness is one of the reasons she has developed into perhaps the finest defender in women’s soccer on the planet. The source of that toughness? Being the younger sister to two older brothers. Becky would do anything to play with her brothers—including allowing them to duct tape plywood to her forearms so she could play street hockey goalie and have her brothers shoot slapshots at her. Or letting them wrap her in blankets (so tightly she still has a phobia of bundling up) and launch her off the bed, trying to see how far they could get her to fly. But Sauerbrunn’s brothers also helped her in another important way—they helped her learn to read, which fueled a lifelong passion for books. In fact, she believes that reading has helped train her brain for the kind of problem-solving challenges she faces on the field, defending the most talented forwards in the world. Her cerebral approach, combined with her toughness, are the keys to her soccer success—the roots of both can be traced back to the little girl who wanted to hang with her brothers.