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Life and Def
by Russell SimmonsRussell Simmons, the original and eternal hip-hop mogul, is one of the most innovative and influential figures in modern American business and culture. When no one outside of inner-city New York had even heard of hip-hop, Simmons saw the seeds of a global force that would change the way people talk, dress, listen to music, and choose the heroes they hang on their walls. Today, he oversees a sprawling, multimillion-dollar empire of culture-defining businesses in everything from music to fashion, advertising to film, and media to visual art. At the same time he's broadened his interests and influence and pushed hip-hop to new plateaus of power and relevance. Life and Def is a one-of-a-kind tale that interweaves the remarkable journey of Russell Simmons with the story of the culture he's transformed and been transformed by. In his own brash, compelling voice, Simmons chronicles his numerous business successes and occasional failures. He tells the story of the founding of the legendary Def Jam Records, whose roster stretches from original rap icons like L.L. Cool J, Public Enemy, and the Beastie Boys to today's top stars, including Jay-Z and DMX. He traces the launching of Def Comedy Jam, the long-running hit television series that introduced a new generation of black comedic stars to America, from Martin Lawrence and Bill Bellamy to Bernie Mac and Chris Rock. He spins hilarious tales of his adventures in Hollywood, where he's produced hit movies like Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor and worked with quirky geniuses like Abel Ferrara. He also tells the story of Phat Farm, the wildly successful pioneering urban clothing label whose origins lay in Russell's longtime fascination with fashion (and fashion models).Simmons's story is also one of personal transformation, from the driven man who in the heady days of early success indulged himself with drugs, sex, and world-class decadence to the husband and father he is today, a man who has found meaning in activism, philanthropy, and spiritual practice while never losing his passion for the social, political, artistic, and commercial potential of hip-hop.Through it all he relates telling anecdotes about the characters he's dealt with: models and gangsters, street poets and gurus, and major players like Donald Trump, Sean Combs, Jon Peters, and Tupac Shakur. Full of advice, opinions, and behind-the-scenes scoop, Life and Def is the story of the quintessential hip-hop life.From the Hardcover edition.
Power Concedes Nothing: One Woman's Quest for Social Justice in America, from the Courtroom to the Kill Zones
by Connie RiceFrom one of America's most influential civil rights attorneys, Power Concedes Nothing is a hard-hitting memoir chronicling a fiercely dedicated woman's quest to win the first of all human rights: freedom from violence. CONNIE RICE has taken on school and bus systems, Death Row, the states of Mississippi and California, and the Los Angeles Police Department--and won. Not just in court, where she vindicated major civil rights cases, but also on the streets and in prisons, where she spearheaded campaigns to reduce gang violence. Los Angeles magazine concluded that Connie's work "has picked up where Clarence Darrow left off." In her extraordinary memoir, Rice chronicles her odyssey, the people who inspired her, and the teams she forged with allies and former foes. She counts among her partners LAPD police chiefs William Bratton and Charlie Beck, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, and gang interventionists such as Darren "Bo" Taylor. Rice--second cousin of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice--writes of being the great-granddaughter of former slaves and slave owners who prized the aggressive pursuit of knowledge. Even her U.S. Air Force childhood, with seventeen moves across three continents, could not disrupt this family legacy of voracious accomplishment. After joining the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's West Coast office in 1990, Rice left the courtroom and took to the streets of the "kill zones" in the wake of the cataclysmic LAPD beating of Rodney King in 1991. What she learned from the invisible poor of underground Los Angeles would change her mission forever. In her trek through gangland, Rice discovers that if you bury the underclass, you imperil yourself--a warning that her allies from law enforcement and the military strongly endorse. Provocative and passionate, studded with dramatic episodes from the trenches of impact litigation and America's most dangerous neighborhoods, Power Concedes Nothing is the story of an indomitable woman who knows that, without a demand, power concedes nothing.
Things I Should Have Told My Daughter
by Pearl CleageIn addition to being one of the most popular living playwrights in America, Pearl Cleage is a bestselling author with an Oprah Book Club pick and multiple awards to her credit, but there was a time when such stellar success seemed like a dream. In this revelatory and deeply personal work, Cleage takes readers back to the 1970s and '80s, retracing her struggles to hone her craft amid personal and professional tumult. Though born and raised in Detroit, it was in Atlanta that Cleage encountered the forces that would most shape her experience. At the time, married to Michael Lomax, now head of the United Negro College Fund, she worked with Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African-American mayor. Things I Should Have Told My Daughter charts not only the political fights but also the pull she began to feel on her own passions--a pull that led her away from Lomax as she grappled with ideas of feminism and self-fulfillment. This fascinating memoir follows her journey from a columnist for a local weekly to a playwright and Hollywood scriptwriter whose circle came to include luminaries Richard Pryor, Avery Brooks, Phylicia Rashad, Shirley Franklin, and Jesse Jackson. In the tradition of giants such as Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, Nora Ephron, and Maya Angelou, Cleage's self-portrait raises women's confessional writing to the level of fine literature.
After Visiting Friends
by Michael HaineyA decade in the writing, the haunting story of a son's quest to understand the mystery of his father's death--a universal memoir about the secrets families keep and the role they play in making us who we are.Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family's back door one morning with the tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael's father, was found alone near his car on Chicago's North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack. Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone, leaving behind a young widow, two sons, a fractured family--and questions surrounding the mysterious nature of his death that would obsess Michael throughout adolescence and long into adulthood. Finally, roughly his father's age when he died, and a seasoned reporter himself, Michael set out to learn what happened that night. Died "after visiting friends," the obituaries said. But the details beyond that were inconsistent. What friends? Where? At the heart of his quest is Michael's all-too-silent, opaque mother, a woman of great courage and tenacity--and a steely determination not to look back. Prodding and cajoling his relatives, and working through a network of his father's buddies who abide by an honor code of silence and secrecy, Michael sees beyond the long-held myths and ultimately reconciles the father he'd imagined with the one he comes to know--and in the journey discovers new truths about his mother. A stirring portrait of a family and its legacy of secrets, After Visiting Friends is the story of a son who goes in search of the truth and finds not only his father, but a rare window into a world of men and newspapers and fierce loyalties that no longer exists.
Manology
by Tyrese Gibson Rev Run Chris MorrowTyrese Gibson, multiplatinum R&B singer and movie star, and Rev Run of Run DMC and star of Run's House present a bold , honest, and uncensored loo k into the male mind. Tyrese and Rev are unlikely best friends--Rev is married with six kids and Tyrese is a single dad still hesitant to settle down. But after an unexpected disagreement in which Rev insisted that marriage is forever, and Tyrese pushed that you could bail when the sex went bad, the two decided not just to agree to disagree but to team up and open their debate to a larger audience. Even though they're at different points in their journeys, both have clear insights on what it takes to make a relationship work and what can sink it instantly. Manology is a guide to regaining your relationship confidence and weeding out the cheaters, MANipulators, and pimps from the good men. Just follow Tyrese and Rev's advice and finally understand the reasons behind your man's actions. Some men's behavior can't be changed, but it's better to face the truth. No matter how painful or distressing that truth might be, if you know it, you can confront it and move past it. Tyrese and Rev acknowledge that it can be difficult for men to open up, but they present real strategies for men and women to have honest and open discussions about relationship expectations. With Rev's hard-earned knowledge on what it takes to make a marriage work, and Tyrese's sometimes uncomfortable but always straight talk on the single man's mind-set, Manology is your one true source of knowledge to help you take control of your love life and truly understand your man.
Norman Mailer: A Double Life
by J. Michael LennonFrom the biographer who knew Norman Mailer for decades comes the definitive, authorized portrait of the eminent novelist, journalist, and controversial public figure, based on extensive interviews and unpublished letters.Norman Mailer was the one of the most famous writers of his generation, a figure as notorious for his stormy romances and quarrels with other writers as he was respected for his numerous bestsellers and literary accolades. In this candid biography, J. Michael Lennon brings a wealth of research informed by his years of personal acquaintance with Mailer, as well as the cooperation of Mailer's family, to reveal the life and work of an American legend. In a career that produced eleven bestsellers, Mailer lived through every great postwar event of the twentieth century and commented on many of them. From his initial success with his World War II novel The Naked and the Dead, through his observations on the convulsive 1960s in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Armies of the Night, to his own quixotic run for mayor of New York City, his life was a reflection of the turbulent times in which he lived. A man of sharp complexities, he was loved and loathed, the most prominent public intellectual of his time, at once an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and the bête noir of the women's rights movement. Lennon explores Mailer's dualities: journalist and activist, devoted family man (he was married six times and was the father of nine children) and notorious philanderer, intellectual and fighter, writer and public figure, all of them evolving through Mailer's self-conscious effort to create a distinctive identity for himself. Capturing this protean life as never before, Norman Mailer: A Double Life gives us the man in full--a remarkable and unique figure, a giant in the context of his time.
My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper
by Gabrielle Reece Karen KarboSo you got the guy on the big white horse, and the beautiful little mermaids, and the picket fence, and your life isn' t . . . perfect in every imaginable way? You're not alone. In 1997, Gabrielle Reece married the man of her dreams--professional surfer Laird Hamilton--in a flawless Hawaiian ceremony. Naturally, the couple filed for divorce four years later. In the end they worked it out, but not without the ups and downs, minor hiccups, and major setbacks that beset every modern family. With hilarious stories, wise insights, and concrete takeaways on topics ranging from navigating relationship issues to aging gracefully to getting smart about food, My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper is the brutally honest, wickedly funny, and deeply helpful portrait of the humor, grace, and humility it takes to survive the happily ever after.ns the notion that women can "have it all" on its head. As Gabby dismantles the notion of happily ever after, she gives readers plenty of concrete takeaways about how to deal. She underscores the notion that you have to make yourself happy before you can make anyone else happy. My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper is an irresistible, hilarious, and helpful portrait of the humor, grace, and humility it really takes to stay sane given the challenges of being a modern wife and mother.
Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler
by Trudi Kanter" FOR EVEN IN NAZI VIENNA, Trudi realized, women still looked in the mirror. . . . She knows that even in the bleak darkness, we feel, love, desire. She left no child (she and Walter tried, with no success); her hats are long lost, but her book is her legacy, discovered once again." --From the introduction by Linda Grant, a uthor of The Clothes on Their Backs, The Thoughtful Dresser and We Had It So Good In 1938 Trudi Kanter, stunningly beautiful, chic and charismatic, was a hat designer for the best-dressed women in Vienna. She frequented the most elegant cafés. She had suitors. She flew to Paris to see the latest fashions. And she fell deeply in love with Walter Ehrlich, a charming and romantic businessman. But as Hitler's tanks rolled into Austria, the world this young Jewish couple knew collapsed, leaving them desperate to escape. In prose that cuts straight to the bone, Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler tells the true story of Trudi's astonishing journey from Vienna to Prague to blitzed London seeking safety for her and Walter amid the horror engulfing Europe. It was her courage, resourcefulness and perseverance that kept both her and her beloved safe during the Nazi invasion and that make this an indelible memoir of love and survival. Sifting through a secondhand bookshop in London, an English editor stumbled upon this extraordinary book, and now, though she died in 1992, the world has a second chance to discover Trudi Kanter's enchanting story. In these pages she is alive--vivid, tenacious and absolutely unforgettable.
On These Courts
by Wayne B DrashThe incredible true story of the NBA's once future star, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, who finally fulfills his basketball promise when he takes over coaching the Lester Middle School team in the roughest section of Memphis--eventually leading the boys all the way to the state finals and earning him his first-ever championship.Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway was once on track to be the NBA's next big thing, following in the footsteps of such greats as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. He even had his own Spike Lee-produced Nike campaign. It seemed inevitable that one day he would win at least one championship and end up in the Hall of Fame. But plagued with injuries, Penny never lived up to his full potential. After returning to his hometown of Memphis, Penny struggled with the question most professional athletes face when their whirlwind career comes to an end: what now? The answer came from one of Penny's oldest friends, Desmond Merriweather. Merriweather had recently been diagnosed with colon cancer and needed someone to replace him as coach of the Lester Middle School basketball team. On These Courts is the moving story of a coach helping his young players navigate their way through impossible circumstances: failing grades, incarcerated fathers, gang pressures, and the crime-ridden streets of Memphis. But Penny never shied away. He selflessly provided on-the-court coaching, support with homework, and a positive role model committed to staying involved in their lives. In turn, the players gave him his first championship season, eventually winning the state title by one point.
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self
by Claire TomalinFor a decade, beginning in 1660, an ambitious young London civil servant kept an astonishingly candid account of his life during one of the most defining periods in British history. In Samuel Pepys, Claire Tomalin offers us a fully realized and richly nuanced portrait of this man, whose inadvertent masterpiece would establish him as the greatest diarist in the English language.<P> Against the backdrop of plague, civil war, and regicide, with John Milton composing diplomatic correspondence for Oliver Cromwell, Christopher Wren drawing up plans to rebuild London, and Isaac Newton advancing the empirical study of the world around us, Tomalin weaves a breathtaking account of a figure who has passed on to us much of what we know about seventeenth-century London. We witness Pepys's early life and education, see him advising King Charles II before running to watch the great fire consume London, learn about the great events of the day as well as the most intimate personal details that Pepys encrypted in the Diary, follow him through his later years as a powerful naval administrator, and come to appreciate how Pepys's singular literary enterprise would in many ways prefigure our modern selves. With exquisite insight and compassion, Samuel Pepys captures the uniquely fascinating figure whose legacy lives on more than three hundred years after his death.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Soul Patrol
by Ed EmanuelLRRPs had to be the best.Anything less meant certain death.When Ed Emanuel was handpicked for the first African American special operations LRRP team in Vietnam, he knew his six-man team couldn't have asked for a tougher proving ground than Cu Chi in the summer of 196868. Home to the largest Viet cong tunnel complex in Vietnam, Cu Chi was the deadly heart of the enemy's stronghold in Tay Ninh Province. Team 2/6 of Company F, 51st Infantry, was quickly dubbed the Soul Patrol, a gimmicky label that belied the true depth of their courage. Stark and compelling, Emanuel's account provides an unforgettable look at the horror and the heroism that became the daily fare of LRRPs in Vietnam. Every mission was a tightrope walk between life and death as Emanuel's team penetrated NVA bases, sidestepped lethal booby traps, or found themselves ambushed and forced to fight their way back to the LZ to survive. Emanuel's gripping memoir is an enduring testament to the valor of all American LRRPs, who courageously risked their lives so that others might be free.From the Paperback edition.
True Notebooks
by Mark SalzmanIn 1997 Mark Salzman, bestselling author Iron and Silk and Lying Awake, paid a reluctant visit to a writing class at L.A.'s Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for violent teenage offenders, many of them charged with murder. What he found so moved and astonished him that he began to teach there regularly. In voices of indelible emotional presence, the boys write about what led them to crime and about the lives that stretch ahead of them behind bars. We see them coming to terms with their crime-ridden pasts and searching for a reason to believe in their future selves. Insightful, comic, honest and tragic, True Notebooks is an object lesson in the redemptive power of writing.From the Trade Paperback edition.nlightening, and ultimately hopeful--driven by the insight and humor of Salzman's voice and by the intelligence, candor, and strength of his students, whose writing appears throughout the book--True Notebooks is itself a reward of the self-expression Mark Salzman teaches: a revelatory meditation on the process, power, and meaning of writing.From the Hardcover edition.
Visions From a Foxhole
by William FoleyAn absolutely harrowing first-person account of the 94th Infantry Division's bold campaign to break through Hitler's "impregnable" Siegfried line at the end of World War IIEighteen-year-old William Foley was afraid the war would be over before he got there, but the rifleman was sent straight to the front lines, arriving January 25, 1945-just in time to join the 94th Infantry Division poised at Hitler's legendary West Wall. By the time Foley finally managed to grab a few hours sleep three nights later, he'd already fought in a bloody attack that left sixty percent of his battalion dead or wounded. That was just the beginning of one of the toughest, bloodiest challenges the 94th would ever face: breaking through the Siegfried Line. Now, in Visions from a Foxhole, Foley recaptures that desperate, nerve-shattering struggle in all its horror and heroism.Features the author's artwork of his fellow soldiers and battle scenes, literally sketched from the foxholeLook for these remarkable stories of American courage at warBEHIND HITLER'S LINESThe True Story of the Only Soldier to Fight for BothAmerica and the Soviet Union in World War IIThomas H. TaylorTHE HILL FIGHTSThe First Battle of Khe Sanhby Edward F. MurphyNO BENDED KNEEThe Battle for Guadalcanalby Gen. Merrill B. Twining, USMC (Ret.)THE ROAD TO BAGHDADBehind Enemy Lines: The Adventures of an American Soldier in the Gulf Warby Martin StantonFrom the Paperback edition.
Wuhu Diary
by Emily PragerIn 1994 an American writer named Emily Prager met her new daughter LuLu. All she knew about her was that the baby had been born in Wuhu, a city in southern China, and left near a police station in her first three days of life. Her birth mother had left a note with Lulu's western and lunar birth dates. In 1999 Emily and her daughter-now a happy, fearless four-year-old--returned to China to find out more. That journey and its discoveries unfold in this lovely, touching and sensitively observed book.In Wuhu Diary, we follow Emily and LuLu through a country where children are doted on yet often summarily abandoned and where immense human friendliness can coexist with outbursts of state-orchestrated hostility-particularly after the U. S. accidentally bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. We see Emily unearthing precious details of her child's past and LuLu coming to terms with who she is. The result is a book that will delight anyone interested in China, and that will move and instruct anyone who has ever adopted--or considered adopting--a child.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Peace Diplomacy, Global Justice and International Agency
by Carsten Stahn Henning MelberAs UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld shaped many of the fundamental principles and practices of international organisations, such as preventive diplomacy, the ethics of international civil service, impartiality and neutrality. He was also at the heart of the constitutional foundations and principles of the UN. This tribute and critical review of Hammarskjöld's values and legacy examines his approach towards international civil service, agency and value-based leadership, investigates his vision of internationalism and explores his achievements and failures as Secretary-General. It draws on specific conflict situations and strategies such as Suez and the Congo for lessons that can benefit contemporary conflict resolution and modern concepts such as human security and R2P. It also reflects on ways in which actors such as international courts, tribunals and the EU can benefit from Hammarskjöld's principles and experiences in the fields of peace and security and international justice.
Piano Man: Life of John Ogdon
by Charles BeauclerkThe first full biography of John Ogdon; a tortured genius and arguably the greatest British pianist of all time.<P> From the beginning of his professional career as a soloist John Ogdon was hailed as a musician of rare understanding and phenomenal technical gifts. Able to play and memorize just about any score at sight, tales of his impossible exploits at the keyboard are legion. Yet Ogdon was a man of extremes and it was this very extremity, while the source of much of his gift, that also led to appalling suffering.<P> Here was a man whose feelings were inexpressibly deep and often tormenting, and Ogdon's glory days, following his coveted Tchaikovsky prize in 1962, came to a sudden end in 1973 when he suffered a severe mental breakdown which led to his being certified insane and made patient of the Court of Protection. Over the course of several harrowing years Ogdon would spend large periods of time in and out of psychiatric wards and halfway houses. The drugs and treatments prescribed sometimes affected his coordination, and his reputation suffered as a result. Yet Ogdon's commitment to his art remained undimmed, and until the end he drew out performances of tremendous beauty and conviction from the depths of his ravaged heart.<P> In this illuminating biography, Charles Beauclerk explores the life of a brilliantly inspired artist, for whom music was both his cross and his salvation.
Love Life
by Rob LoweROB LOWE IS BACK WITH STORIES HE ONLY TELLS HIS BEST FRIENDS. When Rob Lowe's first book was published in 2011, he received the kind of rapturous reviews that writers dream of and rocketed to the top of the bestseller list. Now, in Love Life, he expands his scope, using stories and observations from his life in a poignant and humorous series of true tales about men and women, art and commerce, fathers and sons, addiction and recovery, and sex and love. In Love Life, you will find stories about: * KISSING UNEXPECTEDLY * THE SECRETS THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN ACTING SCHOOL * HIS GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER'S ROLE IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION * PARKS AND RECREATION, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA, AND CALIFORNICATION * TRYING TO COACH A KIDS' BASKETBALL TEAM DOMINATED BY HELICOPTER PARENTS * THE HOT TUB AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION * STARRING IN AND PRODUCING A FLOP TV SERIES * CAMPING AT SEA WORLD * PLAYING SAXOPHONE FOR PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON * THE FIRST JOURNEY TO COLLEGE WITH HIS SON * WARREN BEATTY * THE BENEFITS OF MARRIAGE Throughout this entertaining book, you will find yourself in the presence of a master raconteur, a multi-talented performer whose love for life is as intriguing as his love life.
Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs
by Jim DerogatisThe fascinating, tawdry and tragic life story of rock's greatest critic.
Listening to Whales: What The Orcas Have Taught Us
by Alexandra MortonAlexandra Morton shares spellbinding stories about her career in whale and dolphin research and what she has learned from and about these magnificent mammals. In the late 1970s, while working at Marineland in California, Alexandra pioneered the recording of orca sounds by dropping a hydrophone into the tank of two killer whales. She recorded the varied language of mating, childbirth, and even grief after the birth of a stillborn calf. At the same time she made the startling observation that the whales were inventing wonderful synchronized movements, a behavior that was soon recognized as a defining characteristic of orca society. In 1984, Alexandra moved to a remote bay in British Columbia to continue her research with wild orcas. Her recordings of the whales have led her to a deeper understanding of the mystery of whale echolocation, the vocal communication that enables the mammals to find their way in the dark sea. A fascinating study of the profound communion between humans and whales, this book will open your eyes anew to the wonders of the natural world.
Little House Off the Grid
by Cam Mather Michelle MatherLike so many other city-dwellers, Cam and Michelle Mather longed for a simpler, quieter life in the country. When they found a century-old farmhouse on 150 acres of land that was in their price range, they jumped at the chance to make their move. The fact that the home was "off-grid" with no power or telephone lines connecting it to the outside world seemed like a bonus!Twelve years later their life in the country is not quite as simple as they had envisioned, but it is peaceful. There were more challenges than they could have anticipated, as well as more rewards.Along the way they installed more solar panels, erected a wind turbine, and upgraded and replaced all of the major components of their off-grid electrical system. They installed a solar-thermal hot water system; figured out how to have a phone, internet, and satellite TV; and kept their home heated with wood cut from their own property. They also carved out a garden and began growing much of their own food.They acquired new skills and knowledge, but, most importantly, they learned to appreciate the value of good neighbors, good books, and good manure.Cam Mather is a writer, publisher, and video producer who knows how to equalize batteries and pinch suckers off of tomato plants.Michelle Mather looks after the editing, the website, and the dwindling bank account and keeps Cam calm during times of crisis.
The Rice Queen Diaries
by Daniel GawthropIn this moving autobiography, Daniel Gawthrop writes about the politics and pleasures of being a self-identified "rice queen": a gay man who is attracted to Asians. Navigating through the urban jungles of Western cities like Vancouver and London, as well as the humid streets of Bangkok and Hanoi, Daniel explores the multicultural minefields of sexuality and culture as he articulates the manners and contradictions of his desires. <P> The politics of race, and the unspoken rules of gay Asian culture in both Western and Eastern settings, underscore Daniel's personal journey, in which he recalls his teen years spent idolizing Bruce Lee and his fixation on an Asian schoolmate whose hazing becomes a sexual spectacle for him. As he enters adulthood, his desires become manifest as he explores the subcultures of Long Yang Clubs (where gay Asians and "their admirers" can meet) before departing for Asia, where his encounters become transactions, and he learns the hard way that sexual desire has a human and emotional cost. <P> Evoking the themes of Edward Said's Orientalism, The Rice Queen Diaries is as much a personal statement about culture and otherness as it is about gay desire. Traversing three continents, these diaries are a personal reckoning, a bold coming to terms with the nuances of sexuality that has relevance for all of us.
Comfort Food for Breakups
by Marusya BociurkiwAn elegiac memoir about food, family, and the thorns of personal history written by a Ukrainian Canadian lesbian, whose family recipes connect intimate vignettes in which food nourishes, comforts, and heals the wounds of the past, including those of a father haunted by memories of time spent in a concentration camp during World War II. The author, both at home and in her travels through North America and Europe, also reconciles her family life with her queer identity; food becomes her salvation and a way to engage with the world. Thoughtful, sensual, and passionate, Comfort Food for Breakups muses on the ways in which food intersects with a nexus of hungers: for intimacy, for family, for home. Marusya Bociurkiw is a filmmaker and the author of three previous books.
LD
by Daniel FrancisLD is the colourful biography of Louis Taylor, the longest-serving mayor in Vancouver's history; he was first elected mayor in 1910, and served off and on until 1934, for a total of eleven years. Taylor's story is also the story of Vancouver in the early decades of the 20th century, a young city experiencing a turbulent adolescence.Louis Taylor, or LD as he was known, arrived in Vancouver from Chicago in 1896 at the age of 39. He got involved in the newspaper business, first as an executive with The Daily Province, then as proprietor of The World, during which time he built the World Tower, which remains one of Vancouver's landmark buildings (now better known as the Sun Tower).He launched his political career in 1902 when he ran successfully for licence commissioner; it was the first of 26 civic elections in which he ran, including 20 for mayor. In his early political life he was considered "the workers' friend" and was opposed by the city's business elite, who portrayed him as corrupt. He also had a reputation for being soft on crime, and was implicated in a 1928 police investigation that lost him an election. But his achievements included the establishment of the airport, a town planning commission, and the water board.His private life, however, was another story, a virtual soap opera that mirrored the ups and downs of his political career; his wife was addicted to opium, and he found himself mired in bigamy and divorce scandals.As Vancouver grew from small frontier town to a major international port city, LD saw the city through the Depression, and in a sense Vancouver grew up under his tutelage.LD: Mayor Louis Taylor and The Rise of Vancouver vividly documents the life of a man who dominated the city for years.
The Last Genet
by David Homel Hadrien LarocheThe final decades of Jean Genet's life were preoccupied with the struggles of the disenfranchised: the Black Panthers, Baader-Meinhoff, and the Palestinians. Laroche's book is a careful philosophical and historical reading of these groups and Genet's relation to them.
The World is Moving Around Me
by Dany Laferrière David Homel Michaëlle JeanOn January 12, 2010, novelist Dany Laferrière had just ordered dinner at a Port-au-Prince restaurant with a friend when the earthquake struck. He survived; some three hundred thousand others did not. The quake caused widespread destruction and left over one million homeless.This moving and revelatory book is an eyewitness account of the quake and its aftermath. In a series of vignettes, Laferrière reveals the shock, rage, and grief experienced by those around him, the acts of heroism he witnessed, and his own sense of survivor guilt. At one point, his nephew, astonished at still being alive, asks his uncle not to write about "this," "this" being too horrible to give up so easily to those who were not there. But as a writer, Laferrière can't make such a promise. Still, the question is raised: to whom does this disaster belong? Who gets to talk and write about it? In this way, this book is not only the chronicle of a natural disaster; it is also a personal meditation about the responsibility and power of the written word in a manner that echoes certain post-Holocaust books.Includes a foreword by Michaëlle Jean, UN special envoy to Haiti and the former Governor General of Canada.Dany Laferrière was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1953. He is the author of fourteen novels, including Heading South and How to Make Love to a Negro without Getting Tired. His awards include the Prix Médicis and the Governor General's Literary Award. He lives in Montreal, Quebec.