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Loose Head: Confessions of an (un)professional rugby player
by Joe MarlerSHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEARThe truth about being a rugby player from the horsey's mouth.This book is not just about how a psychiatrist called Humphrey helped me get back on my horse and clippity-clop all the way to the World Cup semi-final in Japan. It's the story of how a fat kid who had to live up to the nickname Psycho grew up to play and party for over a decade with rugby's greatest pros and live weird and wonderful moments both in and out of the scrum. That's why I'm letting you read my diary on my weirdest days. You never know what you're going to get with me. From being locked in a police cell to singing Adele on Jonathan Ross (I'll let you decide which is worse), being kissed by a murderer on the number 51 bus to drug tests where clipboard-wielding men hover inches away from my naked genitalia, melting opponents in rucks, winning tackles, and generally losing blood, sweat and ears in the name of the great sport of rugby. This is how (not) to be a rugby player.
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity
by Kerry CohenFor everyone who was that girl.For everyone who knew that girl.For everyone who wondered who that girl was. Kerry Cohen is eleven years old when she recognizes the power of her body in the leer of a grown man. Her parents are recently divorced and it doesn't take long before their lassitude and Kerry's desire to stand out--to be memorable in some way--combine to lead her down a path she knows she shouldn't take. Kerry wanted attention. She wanted love. But not really understanding what love was, not really knowing how to get it, she reached for sex instead. Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction--not just to sex, but to male attention--Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. It didn't matter who he was. It was their movement that mattered, their being together. And for a while, that was enough. From the early rush of exploration to the day she learned to quiet the desperation and allow herself to love and be loved, Kerry's story is never less than riveting. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness. Kerry Cohen's journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. The unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, Loose Girl will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity
by Kerry CohenThis captivating and deeply emotional memoir pulls back the curtain on the complex relationship women have between their bodies, love, and the way the two work together. Kerry Cohen is eleven years old when she recognizes the power of her body in the leer of a grown man. Her parents are recently divorced and it doesn't take long before their lassitude and Kerry's desire to stand out—to be memorable in some way—combine to lead her down a path she knows she shouldn't take. Kerry wanted attention. She wanted love. But not really understanding what love was, not really knowing how to get it, she reached for sex instead.Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction—not just to sex, but to male attention—Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. It didn't matter who he was. It was their movement that mattered, their being together. And for a while, that was enough.From the early rush of exploration to the day she learned to quiet the desperation and allow herself to love and be loved, Kerry's story is never less than riveting. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness.Kerry Cohen's journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. The unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, Loose Girl will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.
Loose Diamonds
by Amy Ephron"I've never bought loose diamonds but the idea of them appeals to me, sparkling stones that I imagine come wrapped in a velvet cloth . . . " With her wonderful sense of humor, marvelously candid voice, and astonishing perception, Amy Ephron weaves together the most insightful, profound, and just plain funny stories of her life to form a tapestry of a woman's experiences from childhood through young adulthood, marriage, divorce (and remarriage), and everything in between. Writing with great honesty and exacting prose, Ephron gives us an evocative, engaging, and often piercing look at modern life. Along the way, we meet colorful and unforgettable characters such as the Birdman, who invited Ephron when she was a young girl into his Spanish-style home that he'd magically turned into an exotic aviary. And there's Honey, the Cristal-loving Southern beauty, who struggles in her affairs with men and who orders "champagne by the case." Ephron also recounts the afternoon she spent with the infamous Squeaky Fromme, and describes what happened after one of the mothers at her son's school rear-ended her car. Did it have anything to do with Ephron's soon-to-be ex-husband? And through it all is Ephron's mother, whose perspectives on everything-from shoes to egg cups-pervade this book, and whose alcoholism was a constant challenge, forcing Ephron out on her own at an early age. Finally, Ephron professes her lifelong love affair with Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, a touchstone and a companion in a world that always moves too fast and is sometimes upside down. It is an ode to a simpler time of elegance and style, and an incisive look at today's times. Throughout Loose Diamonds, Amy Ephron celebrates these memories and her friendships, as well as her romances and marriages, and the things that make life livable (such as her Filofax, which she would be lost without). She writes unflinchingly about the fragility and tenuousness of life, how fortune can turn on a dime and circumstances aren't always in our control. She explores the enduring effects of parental wisdom, the complications and rewards that marriage can bring, and the intricate ups and downs of friendships-all with a quick wit and a delicate eye.
Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business
by Bruce TipLooptail is Bruce Poon Tip's extraordinary first-person account of his entrepreneurial instincts to start and develop G Adventures, the highly successful international travel adventure company - and along the way he reveals his unusual management secrets that not only keep his employees fully engaged and energized but also keep his customers extremely happy.His unique appraoch has worked in marvellous ways. Poon Tip has created an entirely new and refreshing approach to management. For example, there is no CEO at G Adventures - instead, every employee is a CEO, empowered to make instantaneous decisions to help clients on the spot. But while there's no CEO, there is a company Mayor, who take the pulse of corporate morale. There's no HR department - but there is a Talent Agency and company Culture Club.It hasn't always been easy to try to balance his desire for a socially responsible company along with the desire to generate profits. But thanks to Poon Tip's vision, G Adventures has floruished and has done its best to maintain its looptail approach. In short, it's been an extraordinary ride, and in many ways G Adventures is at the vanguard of what modern-day companies are beginning to look like.
Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business
by Bruce TipLooptail is Bruce Poon Tip's extraordinary first-person account of his entrepreneurial instincts to start and develop G Adventures, the highly successful international travel adventure company - and along the way he reveals his unusual management secrets that not only keep his employees fully engaged and energized but also keep his customers extremely happy.His unique appraoch has worked in marvellous ways. Poon Tip has created an entirely new and refreshing approach to management. For example, there is no CEO at G Adventures - instead, every employee is a CEO, empowered to make instantaneous decisions to help clients on the spot. But while there's no CEO, there is a company Mayor, who take the pulse of corporate morale. There's no HR department - but there is a Talent Agency and company Culture Club.It hasn't always been easy to try to balance his desire for a socially responsible company along with the desire to generate profits. But thanks to Poon Tip's vision, G Adventures has floruished and has done its best to maintain its looptail approach. In short, it's been an extraordinary ride, and in many ways G Adventures is at the vanguard of what modern-day companies are beginning to look like.
Loon
by Jack McleanA lyrical memoir of a prep school boy who creates his own path to higher learning--enlisting in the U. S. Marine Corps, fighting in Vietnam, and then studying at Harvard--"Loon" offers great insight into a pivotal period of American history.
Loomered: How I Became the Most Banned Woman in the World
by Laura LoomerLaura Loomer is the most banned woman in the world.An investigative journalist, activist, and truth-teller who has earned many powerful enemies in Silicon Valley and the media, Loomer has been banned from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, PayPal, Venmo, GoFundMe, Periscope, Medium, and TeeSpring…so far. Loomer works tirelessly for Americans banned from essential online services for having the wrong political opinions. In addition to filing lawsuits against the companies that have wrongfully ostracized and defamed her, she is running for Congress in Florida&’s 21st District. This is her story.
Looks Like Daylight: Voices of Indigenous Kids
by Deborah EllisAuthor Deborah Ellis travels across the continent, interviewing more than forty Native American kids and letting them tell their own stories. They come from all over the continent — from Iqaluit to Texas, Haida Gwaii to North Carolina. Their stories are sometimes heartbreaking; more often full of pride and hope. You’ll meet Tingo, who has spent most of his young life living in foster homes and motels, and is now thriving after becoming involved with a Native Friendship Center; Myleka and Tulane, young Navajo artists; Eagleson, who started drinking at age twelve but now continues his family tradition working as a carver in Seattle; Nena, whose Seminole ancestors remained behind in Florida during the Indian Removals, and who is heading to New Mexico as winner of her local science fair; Isabella, who defines herself more as Native than American; Destiny, with a family history of alcoholism and suicide, who is now a writer and pow-wow dancer. Deborah briefly introduces each child and then steps back, letting the kids speak directly to the reader. The result is a collection of frank and often surprising interviews with kids aged nine to eighteen, as they talk about their daily lives, about the things that interest them, and about how being Indigenous has affected who they are and how they see the world. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.9 Compare and contrast one author's presentation of events with that of another (e.g., a memoir written by and a biography on the same person).
Lookout: Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest
by Trina MoylesA page-turning memoir about a young woman's grueling, revelatory summers working alone in a remote lookout tower and her eyewitness account of the increasingly unpredictable nature of wildfire in the Canadian north.While growing up in Peace River, Alberta, Trina Moyles heard many stories of Lookout Observers--strange, eccentric types who spent five-month summers alone, climbing 100-foot high towers and watching for signs of fire in the surrounding boreal forest. How could you isolate yourself for that long? she wondered. "I could never do it," she told herself. Craving a deeper sense of purpose, she left northern Alberta to pursue a decade-long career in global humanitarian work. After three years in East Africa, and newly engaged, Trina returned to Peace River with a plan to sponsor her fiance, Akello's, immigration to Canada. Despite her fear of being alone in the woods, she applied for a seasonal lookout position and got the job. Thus begins Trina's first summer as one of a handful of lookouts scattered throughout Alberta, with only a farm dog, Holly--labeled "a domesticated wolf" by her former owners--to keep her company. While searching for smoke, Trina unravels under the pressure of a long-distance relationship--and a dawning awareness of the environmental crisis that climate change is producing in the boreal. Through megafires, lightning storms, and stunning encounters with wildlife, she learns to survive at the fire tower by forging deep connections with nature and with an extraordinary community of people dedicated to wildfire detection and combat. In isolation, she discovers a kind of self-awareness--and freedom--that only solitude can deliver. Lookout is a riveting story of loss, transformation, and belonging to oneself, layered with an eyewitness account of the destructive and regenerative power of wildfire in our northern forests.
Looking Within: Understanding Ourselves through Human Imaging
by Cullen RuffWhat would it be like to have x-ray vision?Beyond diagnosing illness or injury, can images of ourselves tell us more about life?What if you could see that an accident victim will never walk again; that a young mother has breast cancer; or that a teenager is brain-dead and will be removed from life support? Can imaging help us better appreciate the complexity of existence, our strengths and vulnerabilities? Does looking into the body give insight into what it means to be human? Would it allow you, at least indirectly, to glimpse evidence of the human soul?Looking Within is the first mainstream collection of dramatic non-fiction narratives about discoveries in patients found by medical imaging. Ruff highlights the wonder and mystery of the human body, literally and metaphorically looking inside of others. Each story describes a patient in whom a life-changing discovery is made: tumors, stroke, domestic violence, substance abuse, sterility, unexpected pregnancy, infection, surgical complications, evidence of criminal activity, mental illness, even impending death. Dr. Ruff’s words, images, and insights help us see ourselves like never before.
Looking Up: The True Adventures of a Storm-Chasing Weather Nerd
by Matthew CappucciAn energetic and electrifying narrative about all things weather—by one of today's rising meteorological stars.Get in—we&’re going storm-chasing! Imagine a very cool weather nerd has just pulled up to you and yelled this out the window of his custom-built armored storm-chasing truck. The wind is whipping around, he&’s munching on Wawa, it&’s all very chaotic—yet as you look into his grinning face, you feel the greatest surge of adrenaline you have ever felt in your life. Hallelujah: your cavalry is here! Welcome to the brilliance of Looking Up, the lively new book from rising meterology star Matthew Cappucci. He&’s a meteorologist for The Washington Post, and you might think of him as Doogie Howser meets Bill Paxton from Twister, with a dash of Leonardo DiCaprio from Catch Me If You Can. A self-proclaimed weather nerd, at the age of fourteen he talked his way into delivering a presentation on waterspouts at the American Meteorological Society's annual broadcast conference by fudging his age on the application and created his own major on weather science while an undergrad at Harvard. Combining reportage and accessible science with personal storytelling and infectious enthusiasm, Looking Up is a riveting ride through the state of our weather and a touching story about parents and mentors helping a budding scientist achieve his improbable dreams. Throughout, readers get a tutorial on the basics of weather science and the impact of the climate. As our country&’s leaders sound the alarm on climate change, few people have as close a view to how serious the situation actually is than those whose job is to follow the weather, which is the daily dose of climate we interact with and experience every day. The weather affects every aspect of our lives (even our art) as well as our future. The way we think about it requires a whole-life overhaul. Rain or shine, tropical storm or twister, Cappucci is here to help us begin the process. So get in his storm-chasing truck already, will ya?
Looking Up: A Humorous and Unflinching Account of Learning to Live Again With Sudden Disability
by Tim Rushby-SmithTim Rushby-Smith is six foot two and highly active, with a love of high places and the great outdoors. Three years ago, with a booming garden design and landscaping business and his wife five months pregnant with their first child, Tim fell six metres out of a tree and broke his back, confining him to a wheelchair. As he came to terms with his injury, treatment and rehabilitation, Tim faced an entirely new life, in which suddenly many of life's simplest tasks became monumental challenges. This is Tim's very human story of learning to live with disability, from overwhelming feelings of anger and despair, to learning how to face the future head on, and watching his daughter take her first steps. Emotional but never self-pitying, this is his unflinchingly honest account of how he built a new life; as a man, a husband and a father.
Looking Up: How a Different Perspective Turns Obstacles into Advantages
by Michele SullivanWe&’ve all had moments of feeling like we didn&’t belong, but imagine being born into a world where fitting in was never an option. Michele Sullivan, who has a rare form of dwarfism, shares how her physical posture taught her the most effective relational posture with others, which helped her become one of the most powerful women in philanthropy.Born with a rare form of dwarfism, Michele has spent her life looking up. As the first female president of the Caterpillar Foundation, she has used her unique point of view to impact countless lives around the world.As a child, Michele realized she had a choice to make. A life-changing choice.She could tailor her differences into something more suitable for the world.She could hide from the world and live on the fringe.Or, she could embrace her differences, turn them into assets, and come to recognize that there was a strength within them that could help others.She chose the third option.Looking Up is the story of how Michele became the smallest woman at the largest earth-moving manufacturer in the world. Her story begins with her passage from a young person who, in spite of being looked down upon by others, learned to look up: to find an elevated view of others that would change the course of millions of lives.While her height has presented challenges that are different from those most have experienced (containing some uniquely humorous moments as well), it has allowed her to see things, literally and figuratively, that others do not. Embedded in this narrative are unique takeaways for individuals about the importance of making the first move, being wrong at first, choosing intimacy over influence, and learning that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. Looking Up is poised to be an inspiring nonfiction work full of heartfelt lessons that will resonate with individuals in their lives and at work.
Looking Like the Enemy (The Young Reader's Edition)
by Maureen R. Michelson Mary Matusda GruenewaldMary Matsuda is a typical 16-year-old girl living on Vashon Island, Washington with her family. On December 7, 1942, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and Mary's life changes forever. Mary and her brother, Yoneichi, are U.S. citizens, but they are imprisoned, along with their parents, in a Japanese-American internment camp. Mary endures an indefinite sentence behind barbed wire in crowded, primitive camps, struggling for survival and dignity. Mary wonders if they will be killed, or if they will one day return to their beloved home and berry farm. The author tells her story with the passion and spirit of a girl trying to make sense of this terrible injustice to her and her family. Mary captures the emotional and psychological essence of what it was like to grow up in the midst of this profound dislocation, questioning her Japanese and her American heritage. Few other books on this subject come close to the emotional power, raw honesty, and moral significance of this memoir. This personal story provides a touchstone for the young student learning about World War II and this difficult chapter in U.S. history.
Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps
by Mary Matsuda GruenewaldOn the morning Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, 16-year-old Mary Matsuda realized that her life was about to change. Four months later she and her family boarded a train with thick shades over the windows and headed south to an unknown destination. This memoir recounts Mary's story of internment in a series of "relocation camps," her eventual release in order to attend nursing school, and her journey from silence to healing.
Looking for Votes in All the Wrong Places: Tales and Rules from the Campaign Trail
by Rick RidderThe veteran presidential campaign manager recounts his many adventures, travesties, triumphs, and lessons from more than forty years on the trail. Over his long and legendary career, campaign strategist Rick Ridder has been at the center of everything from presidential death matches to the legalization of marijuana. In this lively memoir, he recounts his life on the trail from the McGovern campaign to more recent candidates and causes. Along the way, he reveals his &“twenty-two rules of campaign management&”―each one illustrated by entertaining, instructive, and mostly true stories from his own experiences. Rick offers an unsparing, often hilarious self-portrait of the political guru as a young man, criss-crossing the country from one drafty campaign headquarters to the next, making mistakes and pulling rabbits out of hats, wrangling temperamental celebrities, winning some elections and losing others. Through his stories, you&’ll meet the state legislature candidate who said he&’d win thanks to his reputation as a judge in cat competitions; the US Senate candidate who told the Southern press, &“I hate southern accents&”; a young Senator Al Gore who campaigned for President in 1988 by eating his way through New York City alongside Mayor Koch; Leonard Nimoy, good-naturedly trekking through rural Wisconsin in Rick&’s own Jeep because Rick was too young to rent a more appropriate vehicle; and many other colorful characters.
Looking for Trouble
by Leslie CockburnNews correspondent Leslie Cockburn has dined with the Cali Cartel, marched with the Khmer Rouge, hunted down the Black Turban in Afghanistan, pursued the Russian mafia to the Arctic Circle, shared pomegranate sauce with the Ayatollahs, and stopped a small Kurdish war, but she has never told these stories in a book-until now.Cockburn was one of the first women to break into the tight fraternity of combat and third-world reportage when she began work at the London bureau of NBC News in 1976-where successful news gathering required "unorthodox tactics, stamina, and, for best results, a criminal mind." By the time she moved to CBS's "60 Minutes," Cockburn had interviewed Muammar Qaddaffi and Margaret Thatcher, been arrested as spy in Gambia, and effectively eliminated whatever doubts her colleagues might have had about a woman's ability to tackle the news business's most dangerous assignments.A mother of three who has made a career of breaking down barriers, Leslie Cockburn has exposed the tobacco lobby in Washington and human rights violations in Cambodia, and her impact on foreign and domestic policy has been as powerful as her impact on the rights and prerogatives of working women. In an industry in which, as late as 1973, women had to lobby to wear trousers to work, Leslie Cockburn was determined to combine a strong family life with a strong professional life, sacrificing neither.With a cast of generals, drug lords, rock stars, and kings, LOOKING FOR TROUBLE is the incredible story of a career that has spanned the history-making news events of the last two decades.
Looking for Trouble: The Classic Memoir of a Trailblazing War Correspondent
by Virginia CowlesThe rediscovered memoir of an American gossip columnist turned &“amazingly brilliant reporter&” (The New York Times Book Review) as she reports from the frontlines of the Spanish Civil War and World War II&“A long-overlooked classic that could not be timelier or more engrossing.&”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris WifeForeword by Christina Lamb, Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent and co-author of I Am Malala Virginia Cowles was just twenty-seven years old when she decided to transform herself from a society columnist into a foreign press correspondent. Looking for Trouble is the story of this evolution, as Cowles reports from both sides of the Spanish Civil War, London on the first day of the Blitz, Nazi-run Munich, and Finland&’s bitter, bloody resistance to the Russian invasion. Along the way, Cowles also meets Adolf Hitler (&“an inconspicuous little man&”), Benito Mussolini, Winston Churchill, Martha Gellhorn, and Ernest Hemingway. Her reportage blends sharp political analysis with a gossip columnist&’s chatty approachability and a novelist&’s empathy. Cowles understood in 1937—long before even the average politician—that Fascism in Europe was a threat to democracy everywhere. Her insights on extremism are as piercing and relevant today as they were eighty years ago.
Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria
by Noo Saro-WiwaNoo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England, but every summer she was dragged back to visit her father in Nigeria - a country she viewed as an annoying parallel universe where she had to relinquish all her creature comforts and sense of individuality. After her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was killed there, she didn't return for several years. Recently, she decided to come to terms with the country her father given his life for.Saro-Wiwa travels from the exuberant chaos of Lagos to the calm beauty of the eastern mountains; from the eccentricity of a Nigerian dog show to the decrepit kitsch of the Transwonderland Amusement Park. She explores Nigerian Christianity, delves into the country's history of slavery, examines the corrupting effect of oil, and ponders the huge success of Nollywood.She finds the country as exasperating as ever, and frequently despairs at the corruption and inefficiency she encounters. But she also discovers that it si far more beautiful and varied than she had ever imagined, with its captivating thick tropical rainforest and ancient palaces and monuments. Most engagingly of all, she introduces us to the many people she meets, and gives us hilarious insights into the African character, its passion, wit and ingenuity.
Looking for Strangers: The True Story of My Hidden Wartime Childhood
by Dori KatzDori Katz is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who thought that her lost memories of her childhood years in Belgium were irrecoverable. But after a chance viewing of a documentary about hidden children in German-occupied Belgium, she realized that she might, in fact, be able to unearth those years. Looking for Strangers is the deeply honest record of her attempt to do so, a detective story that unfolds through one of the most horrifying periods in history in an attempt to understand one’s place within it.In alternating chapters, Katz journeys into multiple pasts, setting details from her mother’s stories that have captivated her throughout her life alongside an account of her own return to Belgium forty years later—against her mother’s urgings—in search of greater clarity. She reconnects her sharp but fragmented memories: being sent by her mother in 1943, at the age of three, to live with a Catholic family under a Christian identity; then being given up, inexplicably, to an orphanage in the years immediately following the war. Only after that, amid postwar confusion, was she able to reconnect with her mother. Following this trail through Belgium to her past places of hiding, Katz eventually finds herself in San Francisco, speaking with a man who claimed to have known her father in Auschwitz—and thus known his end. Weighing many other stories from the people she meets along her way—all of whom seem to hold something back—she attempts to stitch thread after thread into a unified truth, to understand the countless motivations and circumstances that determined her remarkable life.A story at once about self-discovery, the transformation of memory, a fraught mother-daughter relationship, and the oppression of millions, Looking for Strangers is a book of both historical insight and imaginative grasp. It is a book in which the past, through its very mystery, becomes alive, immediate—of the most urgent importance.
Looking for The Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic
by Alice KaplanThe Stranger is a rite of passage for readers around the world. Since its publication in France in 1942, Camus's novel has been translated into sixty languages and sold more than six million copies. It's the rare novel that's as at likely to be found in a teen's backpack as in a graduate philosophy seminar. If the twentieth century produced a novel that could be called ubiquitous, The Stranger is it. How did a young man in his twenties who had never written a novel turn out a masterpiece that still grips readers more than seventy years later? With Looking for "The Stranger", Alice Kaplan tells that story. In the process, she reveals Camus's achievement to have been even more impressive--and more unlikely--than even his most devoted readers knew. Born in poverty in colonial Algeria, Camus started out as a journalist covering the criminal courts. The murder trials he attended, Kaplan shows, would be a major influence on the development and themes of The Stranger. She follows Camus to France, and, making deft use of his diaries and letters, re-creates his lonely struggle with the novel in Montmartre, where he finally hit upon the unforgettable first-person voice that enabled him to break through and complete The Stranger. Even then, the book's publication was far from certain. France was straining under German occupation, Camus's closest mentor was unsure of the book's merit, and Camus himself was suffering from near-fatal tuberculosis. Yet the book did appear, thanks in part to a resourceful publisher, Gaston Gallimard, who was undeterred by paper shortages and Nazi censorship. The initial critical reception of The Stranger was mixed, and it wasn't until after liberation that The Stranger began its meteoric rise. As France and the rest of the world began to move out of the shadow of war, Kaplan shows, Camus's book-- with the help of an aggressive marketing campaign by Knopf for their 1946 publication of the first English translation--became a critical and commercial success, and Camus found himself one of the most famous writers in the world. Suddenly, his seemingly modest tale of alienation was being seen for what it really was: a powerful parable of the absurd, an existentialist masterpiece. Few books inspire devotion and excitement the way The Stranger does. And it couldn't have a better biographer than Alice Kaplan, whose books about twentieth-century French culture and history have won her legions of fans. No reader of Camus will want to miss this brilliant exploration.
Looking For Palestine: Growing Up Confused In An Arab-American Family
by Najla SaidThe daughter of a prominent Palestinian father and a sophisticated Lebanese mother, Majla Said grew up in New York City, confused and conflicted about her cultural background and identity. But while her father and brother shared a passion for debate about the politics of the Middle East and her mother held on deeply to her Lebanese roots, Said was satisfied to be her father's darling daughter, content with her life on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Her home life was rich and embracing, but outside her apartment she felt entirely unsure about who she was supposed to be, and often in denial of the differences she sensed between her family and those around her. She may have been born a Palestinian Lebanese American, but in her own mind she grew up first as a WASP (baptized Episcopalian in Boston; attending Chapin, the wealthy Upper East Side girls' school), then as a teenage Jew, essentially denying her true roots, even to herself, until well into adulthood. The fact that her father was Edward Said - the famous intellectual, founding father of postcolonial thought, and outspoken advocate for the political and human rights of the Palestinian people - only made things more complicated. Said knew that her parents identified deeply with the countries they had come from, but growing up in a Manhattan world that was defined largely by class and confirmity, where she felt her family was a cultural island all its own, she sought comfort by fitting in with their peers, until, ultimately, the psychological toll of her self-hatred began to threaten her health. As she grew older, and made increased visits to Palestine and Beirut, Said's worldview shifted. The attacks on the World Trade Center, and some of the ways in which Americans responded, finally made it impossible for her to continue to pick and choose her identity, and allowed her to see herself and her passions more clearly. In Looking for Palestine, she shares the journey to this understanding and the experience of growing up in an immigrant family and learning to embrace its cultures. Praise for Looking for Palestine 'Najla Said's Looking for Palestine is a compassionate and candid book on her courageous coming-of-age in contemporary America. Said is a brilliant, talented, and sensitive artist with a larger-than-life, loving father. ' Professor Cornel West' A deeply penetrating, often hilarious, and occasionally devastating account of growing up Arab-American. After finally finding the conviction to be at peace with herself, Najla Said has written more than a memoir. Looking for Palestine is a survivor's guide for all of us who live with that feeling of being out of place wherever we are. ' Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America' thoughtful, searching, and open-eyed, Looking for Palestine takes readers on a journey into an Arab-American girl's search for identity . . . A haunting and singular life story. ' Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent' It can be a difficult story to tell: that of one's discontent in the midst of privilege. And yet with great skill, humor, and poignancy, Said accomplishes just that. In the end, she is her late father's great inheritor, ever journeying toward that elusive home.
Looking for Palestine
by Najla SaidA frank and entertaining memoir, from the daughter of Edward Said, about growing up second-generation Arab American and struggling with that identity. The daughter of a prominent Palestinian father and a sophisticated Lebanese mother, Najla Said grew up in New York City, confused and conflicted about her cultural background and identity. Said knew that her parents identified deeply with their homelands, but growing up in a Manhattan world that was defined largely by class and conformity, she felt unsure about who she was supposed to be, and was often in denial of the differences she sensed between her family and those around her. The fact that her father was the famous intellectual and outspoken Palestinian advocate Edward Said only made things more complicated. She may have been born a Palestinian Lebanese American, but in Said's mind she grew up first as a WASP, having been baptized Episcopalian in Boston and attending the wealthy Upper East Side girls' school Chapin, then as a teenage Jew, essentially denying her true roots, even to herself--until, ultimately, the psychological toll of all this self-hatred began to threaten her health. As she grew older, making increased visits to Palestine and Beirut, Said's worldview shifted. The attacks on the World Trade Center, and some of the ways in which Americans responded, finally made it impossible for Said to continue to pick and choose her identity, forcing her to see herself and her passions more clearly. Today, she has become an important voice for second-generation Arab Americans nationwide.
Looking for My Country
by Robert MacneilMacNeil, retired co-anchor of PBS' Newshour, views history through the lens of his Canadian upbringing and career as a journalist who became a US citizen. The book begins with his letter to President Roosevelt in 1942, and concludes with how responses to the 9/11/01 attacks made him feel like a true American. Some material derives from his out-of-print memoir, The Right Place at the Right Time. Harvest is the trade book imprint for Harcourt. First published in 2003 by Nan A. Talese, an imprint of Doubleday. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)