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Texas and Christmas: A Collection of Traditions, Memories and Folklore
by Judy Alter Joyce Gibson RoachThroughout the world, Christmas is special. And everywhere, from Maine to California and beyond the ocean, it is celebrated differently in each community, each home. Yet those who like to think Texas is special believe that Christmas in that state is bigger, better, and more treasured than anywhere else. This collection grew out of that conviction. Most of these pieces bring the past into the present, reviving traditions and memories of Christmases long gone. Others reflect the diversity of Texas people, and still others describe customs that are even today setting new traditions for the future. Want to make syllabub? The recipe is here. Curious about the way the Germans in South Central Texas once celebrated the holiday? Minetta Goyne captures those special customs. Elmer Kelton and Joyce Gibson Roach recall the joy and sadness of Christmases during World War II
The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
by Jonathan AlterThis is the story of a political miracle -- the perfect match of man and moment. Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in March of 1933 as America touched bottom. Banks were closing everywhere. Millions of people lost everything. The Great Depression had caused a national breakdown. With the craft of a master storyteller, Jonathan Alter brings us closer than ever before to the Roosevelt magic. Facing the gravest crisis since the Civil War, FDR used his cagey political instincts and ebullient temperament in the storied first Hundred Days of his presidency to pull off an astonishing conjuring act that lifted the country and saved both democracy and capitalism. Who was this man? To revive the nation when it felt so hopeless took an extraordinary display of optimism and self-confidence. Alter shows us how a snobbish and apparently lightweight young aristocrat was forged into an incandescent leader by his domineering mother; his independent wife; his eccentric top adviser, Louis Howe; and his ally-turned-bitter-rival, Al Smith, the Tammany Hall street fighter FDR had to vanquish to complete his preparation for the presidency. "Old Doc Roosevelt" had learned at Warm Springs, Georgia, how to lift others who suffered from polio, even if he could not cure their paralysis, or his own. He brought the same talents to a larger stage. Derided as weak and unprincipled by pundits, Governor Roosevelt was barely nominated for president in 1932. As president-elect, he escaped assassination in Miami by inches, then stiffed President Herbert Hoover's efforts to pull him into cooperating with him to deal with a terrifying crisis. In the most tumultuous and dramatic presidential transition in history, the entire banking structure came tumbling down just hours before FDR's legendary "only thing we have to fear is fear itself" Inaugural Address. In a major historical find, Alter unearths the draft of a radio speech in which Roosevelt considered enlisting a private army of American Legion veterans on his first day in office. He did not. Instead of circumventing Congress and becoming the dictator so many thought they needed, FDR used his stunning debut to experiment. He rescued banks, put men to work immediately, and revolutionized mass communications with pioneering press conferences and the first Fireside Chat. As he moved both right and left, Roosevelt's insistence on "action now" did little to cure the Depression, but he began to rewrite the nation's social contract and lay the groundwork for his most ambitious achievements, including Social Security. From one of America's most respected journalists, rich in insights and with fresh documentation and colorful detail, this thrilling story of presidential leadership -- of what government is for -- resonates through the events of today. It deepens our understanding of how Franklin Delano Roosevelt restored hope and transformed America. The Defining Momentwill take its place among our most compelling works of political history.
His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life
by Jonathan AlterFrom one of America&’s most-respected journalists and modern historians comes the first full-length biography of Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States and Nobel Prize–winning humanitarian. Jonathan Alter tells the epic story of an enigmatic man of faith and his improbable journey from barefoot boy to global icon. Alter paints an intimate and surprising portrait of the only president since Thomas Jefferson who can fairly be called a Renaissance Man, a complex figure—ridiculed and later revered—with a piercing intelligence, prickly intensity, and biting wit beneath the patented smile. Here is a moral exemplar for our times, a flawed but underrated president of decency and vision who was committed to telling the truth to the American people. Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the twenty-first. Drawing on fresh archival material and five years of extensive access to Carter and his entire family, Alter traces how he evolved from a timid, bookish child—raised mostly by a black woman farmhand—into an ambitious naval nuclear engineer writing passionate, never-before-published love letters from sea to his wife and full partner, Rosalynn; a peanut farmer and civic leader whose guilt over staying silent during the civil rights movement and not confronting the white terrorism around him helped power his quest for racial justice at home and abroad; an obscure, born-again governor whose brilliant 1976 campaign demolished the racist wing of the Democratic Party and took him from zero percent to the presidency; a stubborn outsider who failed politically amid the bad economy of the 1970s and the seizure of American hostages in Iran but succeeded in engineering peace between Israel and Egypt, amassing a historic environmental record, moving the government from tokenism to diversity, setting a new global standard for human rights, and normalizing relations with China among other unheralded and far-sighted achievements. After leaving office, Carter eradicated diseases, built houses for the poor, and taught Sunday school into his mid-nineties. This engrossing, monumental biography will change our understanding of perhaps the most misunderstood president in American history.
The Promise
by Jonathan AlterBarack Obama's inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of "Change We Can Believe In" was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama's historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery. In The Promise: President Obama, Year One, Jonathan Alter, one of the country's most respected journalists and historians, uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama's difficult debut. What happened in 2009 inside the Oval Office? What worked and what failed? What is the president really like on the job and off-hours, using what his best friend called "a Rubik's Cube in his brain"? These questions are answered here for the first time. We see how a surprisingly cunning Obama took effective charge in Washington several weeks before his election, made trillion-dollar decisions on the stimulus and budget before he was inaugurated, engineered colossally unpopular bailouts of the banking and auto sectors, and escalated a treacherous war not long after settling into office. The Promise is a fast-paced and incisive narrative of a young risk-taking president carving his own path amid sky-high expectations and surging joblessness. Alter reveals that it was Obama alone--"feeling lucky"--who insisted on pushing major health care reform over the objections of his vice president and top advisors, including his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who admitted that "I begged him not to do this." Alter takes the reader inside the room as Obama prevents a fistfight involving a congressman, coldly reprimands the military brass for insubordination, crashes the key meeting at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, and realizes that a Senate candidate's gaffe about baseball in a Massachusetts special election will dash the big dream of his first year.In Alter's telling, the real Obama is an authentic, demanding, unsentimental, and sometimes overconfident leader. He adapted to the presidency with ease and put more "points on the board" than he is given credit for, but neglected to use his leverage over the banks and failed to connect well with an angry public. We see the famously calm president cursing leaks, playfully trash-talking his advisors, and joking about even the most taboo subjects, still intent on redeeming more of his promise as the problems mount. This brilliant blend of journalism and history offers the freshest reporting and most acute perspective on the biggest story of our time. It will shape impressions of the Obama presidency and of the man himself for years to come.
The Promise: President Obama, Year One
by Jonathan AlterIn The Reality of Hope Alter takes the reader into the inner circles of Obama's intimates, those who were there from the start, and the gradually expanding circles, to show for the first time the emotions, rivalries, alliances of the extremely tight-lipped and disciplined administration: Biden, whom he chose because he had the experience even though he was not an early supporter, Hillary, whom he had long wanted for Secretary of State. There are stunning portraits of Obama's oldest friends, including Valerie Jarrett, and his early supporters; the Kennedys, Daschle, and of the more volatile newcomers, Rahm of course, and Larry Summers, and Geitner. Watch the president dominate his Cabinet with silences and stares (instead of shouting like Clinton or LBJ). Add to that the knowledge that leaking can lose you your job. (One advisor called Obama, 'The most unsentimental man I have ever known. ') Obama is, in this portrait, self-aware and shrewd, well organized and confident, a natural leader who doesn't need or crave praise and is not given to spreading it around. (One intimate notes his praise is more likely to be 'What's next?' than 'Good job. ') Nevertheless he is equable and attentive, and he listens. (It's one of his techniques. ) In fact, if one doesn't have anything to say at his meetings, you may not be invited back. Alter characterizes Obama as a deductive thinker, and a fast one -- eager for action. It is said that Clinton's meetings always ran on too long and that Obama's may be too short.
CRUSH: Writers Reflect on Love, Longing, and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush
by Cathy Alter Dave SingletonA star-studded collection of essays from acclaimed and bestselling authors and celebrities that illuminates the lasting power of desire and longing, and celebrates our initiation into the euphoria, pain, and mystery that is our first celebrity crush.You never forget your first crush . . .CRUSH brings together stories of heartbreak, humiliation, and hilarity from a roster of popular luminaries, including James Franco, Carrie Fisher, Stephen King, Roxane Gay, Jodi Picoult, Emily Gould, and Hanna Rosin, who share intimate memories of that first intense taste of love. Here are funny, whimsical, sometimes cringe-worthy tales of falling head over heels for River Phoenix, Mary Tyler Moore, Howard Cosell, Jared Leto, and a host of other pop culture icons.A few contributors channeled their devotion into obsessively writing embarrassing fan letters. Some taped pics in school lockers. Others decorated their bedroom walls with posters. For tweenaged Karin Tanabe, it was discovering bad boy Andy Garcia—playing the gun-loving mobster Vincent Corleone in The Godfather III. Barbara Graham unsuccessfully staked out an apartment on Park Avenue for a glimpse of her blue-eyed soulmate, Paul Newman. There was only one puppy for six-year-old Jodi Picoult—Donny Osmond—while Jamie Brisick’s pre-teen addiction was Speed Racer.Swoon-worthy and unforgettable, the essays in CRUSH will leave you laughing, make you cry, and keep you enthralled—just like your first celebrity crush.
Up For Renewal
by Cathy AlterBy age thirty-seven, Cathy Alter had made a mess of her life. With a failed marriage already under her belt, she was continuing down the path of poor decisions, one paved with a steady stream of junk food, unpaid bills, questionable friends, and highly inappropriate men. So she sat down and asked herself what she truly wanted. A decent guy. A nicer home. More protein. When she took a closer look at her wants, she noticed something that seemed very familiar -- with the addition of exclamation points, her list could easily be transformed into the cover lines on every women's magazine: Find the love you deserve! Paint to the rescue! Eggs-actly perfect meals! So Cathy gave over her life to the glossies for the next twelve months, resolving to follow their advice without question. By the end of her subscriptions, she would get rid of upper-arm jiggle, crawl out of debt, host the perfect dinner party, run a mile without puking, engage in better bathtub booty, ask for a raise, and rehaul her apartment. Well, at least that was the premise of her social experiment. What actually happened was much less about cosmetic change and much more about internal transformation. Singular in its voice and yet completely universal, Up for Renewal will appeal to all who have ever wondered if they could actually make their life over.
A Matter of Life and Death
by Rosemary Altea"The Voice of the Spirit World" takes readers further along the path of spiritual awakening pioneered in her international bestsellers The Eagle and the Rose and Proud Spirit. Rosemary Altea has touched the lives of millions with her gift for connecting the living with the dead. In this illuminating book, she offers awe-inspiring stories of working with her Apache spirit guide, Grey Eagle, to help sick and grief-stricken people heal, recognize their true path in life, and find peace in reunion with departed loved ones. A Matter of Life and Death recounts Altea's recent miraculous encounters with the spirit world, including a soldier who was killed in Iraq, a firefighter who lost his life on September 11, and a woman who died at the hands of her husband and who asks Altea not to reveal the whole truth in order to avoid family strife. For the first time, Altea shares with readers the fascinating process by which she witnesses events gone by-"going down and through the hole" from the present dimension into the past, traversing time and space. And for readers eager for more of Grey Eagle's wisdom, this book contains his timely and poetic answers to questions of war and peace, life and death. From defending her integrity as a medium in a vicious lawsuit to struggling with the loss of a friend who was very close to her heart, this book details a new chapter in Rosemary Altea's rich personal history.
I Will Never See the World Again: The Memoir of an Imprisoned Writer
by Ahmet AltanA resilient Turkish writer’s inspiring account of his imprisonment that provides crucial insight into political censorship amidst the global rise of authoritarianism. The destiny I put down in my novel has become mine. I am now under arrest like the hero I created years ago. I await the decision that will determine my future, just as he awaited his. I am unaware of my destiny, which has perhaps already been decided, just as he was unaware of his. I suffer the pathetic torment of profound helplessness, just as he did. Like a cursed oracle, I foresaw my future years ago not knowing that it was my own. Confined in a cell four meters long, imprisoned on absurd, Kafkaesque charges, novelist Ahmet Altan is one of many writers persecuted by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s oppressive regime. In this extraordinary memoir, written from his prison cell, Altan reflects upon his sentence, on a life whittled down to a courtyard covered by bars, and on the hope and solace a writer’s mind can provide, even in the darkest places.
Nunca volveré a ver el mundo: Textos desde la cárcel
by Ahmet AltanUn testimonio escalofriante sobre la fragilidad de la libertad. Estoy escribiendo esto desde una celda en prisión.Pero no estoy encarcelado. Soy un escritor.No soy donde estoy ni donde dejo de estar. Podéis encarcelarme, pero no podéis convertirme en vuestro prisionero.Pues, como en todo escritor, la magia habita en mi interior. Puedo traspasar las paredes con facilidad. El 16 de febrero de 2018 un tribunal de justicia turco sentenció a cadena perpetua sin libertad condicional a Ahmet Altan, arguyendo su participación implícita en el fallido golpe de Estado de julio del 2016 contra el Gobierno de Erdogan. La fiscalía alegó que Altan envió «mensajes subliminales» a través de sus apariciones en televisión y sus columnas de opinión, instando al derrocamiento del Gobierno mediante el uso de la fuerza y la violencia. Dos años después de su detención Altan sigue encerrado en la prisión de Silivri, en las afueras de la ciudad de Estambul. No puede recibir visitas a excepción de las reuniones semanales supervisadas con su familia. Los breves ensayos aquí reunidos representan una colección de textos muy poderosos compuestos desde la prisión. Son reflexiones íntimas, incluso filosóficas, sobre la libertad y su fragilidad. Con este libro el testimonio de Altan esquiva la censura y traspasa las fronteras para hacernos partícipes de la situación política de su país.
La Navidad en las montañas y El Zarco
by Ignacio Manuel Altamirano"Aquel hombre era el Zarco, el famoso bandido cuyo renombre había llenado de terror toda la comarca". Aquí se reúnen dos de las novelas más famosas del maestro Altamirano, referente de las letras mexicanas del siglo XIX. La Navidad en las montañas nos conduce al utópico encuentro, la víspera de Navidad, entre un militar liberal en la Guerra de Reforma y un cura de aldea, quien resulta un genuino guía espiritual. Esa noche, ambos presencian el desenlace de una historia de amor entre el huérfano del pueblo y la sobrina del alcalde. El Zarco, novela de bandidos, narra las peripecias entre un apuesto jefe criminal de los Plateados, banda que asoló Yautepec antes de la Intervención Francesa, y Manuela, la muchacha más bella del pueblo, quien corresponde a sus amores sin imaginar los peligros a los que se expone, mientras la población organiza grupos de autodefensa. Esta nueva edición estuvo a cargo de Luz América Viveros, doctora en Letras por El Colegio de México, académica de la UNAM y miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores. Edición de LUZ AMÉRICA VIVEROS
No More Mr. Nice Guy: How I Survived a Corporate Career Derailment
by James E. Alston Jr.In this professional biography, the author draws extensive conclusions on race relations in corporate America. He writes with a heartfelt conviction from an insider's perspective as a top restaurant executive for over thirty years. The author outlines the instances and impact of evasive, covert discriminatory practices of managers and coworkers on all levels of employment and sets a bold course to tell it like it is on the frontlines of the American food and beverage industry.
The Story of Ruby Bridges: A Biography Book for New Readers (The Story Of: A Biography Series for New Readers)
by Arlisha Norwood AlstonDiscover the life of Ruby Bridges—a story about bravery and breaking down barriers for kids ages 6 to 9 Ruby Bridges was the first Black student to attend an all-white public school in the southern United States. Before she helped desegregate schools and change the course of history, Ruby had a simple childhood. She was a happy girl who helped take care of her younger siblings and loved to play outside. Her life changed when she was chosen to attend William Frantz Elementary, where she became a civil rights leader at a very young age. Explore how Ruby went from being a thoughtful girl growing up in Mississippi to a national leader in the fight for equality. The Story of Ruby Bridges includes: Core curriculum—Learn the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of Ruby's life, and take a quick quiz to test your knowledge. Her lasting legacy—Explore how Ruby Bridges made the world a better place for future generations, including you! Word definitions—Discover easy-to-understand explanations of some of the more advanced words and ideas inside the book. How will Ruby's courage inspire you?
Delaware State Police (Images of America)
by John R. Alstadt Jr.April 28, 1923, marks the birth of the Delaware State Police. Discussions occurred as early as 1906 for a statewide police organization to cope with speeding automobiles, roving bands of troublemakers, and the ever-present bootleggers. Prohibition and the 18th Amendment brought the discussion to the forefront. With the hiring of Charles J. McGarigle and Joseph A. McVey, the Delaware Highway Police Department came to fruition on January 1, 1920. Using many never-before-published photographs from the Delaware State Police Museum archive, Images of America: Delaware State Police illustrates the storied past of the Delaware State Police from 1920 to 1985.
Lady Sackville: A Biography
by Susan Mary Alsop[from inside flaps] ""Quel roman est ma vie!" was one of Lady Victoria Sackville's frequent exclamations. The accuracy of the phrase--had she been able to see her life story written out as it is in this charming and delightful biography--would have pleased her and doubtless prompted the observation yet again, "My life is just like a novel!" And few upper-class young Englishwomen have ever had more reason to say so. Born in 1862, she was the illegitimate daughter of Pépita, the Spanish dancer, and Lionel Sackville-West, the distinguished British diplomat. Part of the fascination of her story is how that irregular birth affected her life and how she learned to triumph over its liabilities and skillfully manipulate its assets to her advantage. "It was," as Nigel Nicolson (Victoria's grandson) says, "an astonishing life." Her father was named British Minister to the United States, and as his hostess Victoria became the most popular girl in the American capital. As wife of her cousin, also named Lionel Sackville-West, she became mistress of Knole, one of the largest of the stately homes of England. As a high-living adventuress, she was the object of two bizarre lawsuits, one of them to prove her illegitimacy--ironically thereby preserving Knole and the Sackville title for her husband. She enchanted the major artistic and political figures of her time, and her story will fascinate readers today as her personality fascinated, and sometimes shocked, her own generation. This biography completes a trilogy, begun by Vita Sackville-West's Pépita (the life of her grandmother, the Spanish dancer) and continued by Portrait of a Marriage, in which Nigel Nicolson re-created the story of his parents, Vita and Harold Nicolson. Lady Sackville bridges the space between those two books, one by her daughter, the other by her grandson, to complete the picture of three generations of an ancient, noble, and gifted family. Susan Mary Alsop's previous book was To Marietta from Paris. Mrs. Alsop lives in Washington D.C."
Nixon & Rockefeller: A Double Portrait
by Stewart AlsopA fascinating analysis of two of the most important figures in 1960s American politics, written during their battle for the GOP presidential nomination. Richard Milhous Nixon was one of the most controversial politicians in America's history: a California congressman, senator, vice president, and president who was forced to resign his position as US Chief Executive because of his role in the scandalous Watergate affair. Nelson Rockefeller was the scion of a phenomenally wealthy American family and longtime governor of New York State. In 1960 they were the leading contenders to win the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States, one of whom would face the Democratic challenger, Senator John F. Kennedy, in November's general election. Written by acclaimed journalist Stewart Alsop during the heat of the political race to the Republican Convention, Nixon & Rockefeller provides a revealing, often surprising dual portrait of two giants of twentieth-century American politics. Alsop, an acknowledged Washington, DC, insider and one of the most esteemed political analysts of his era, explores the backgrounds, mindsets, and distinct personalities, as well as the strengths and failings of these two candidates vying for the highest office in the country. The author's intelligent and insightful views on the nature of a Nixon presidency versus a Rockefeller presidency make for fascinating reading in light of the political outcome that ultimately was and one that might have been.
Stay of Execution: A Sort of Memoir
by Stewart AlsopA poignant memoir of a full life and an impending death, written by one of America's foremost journalists during his battle with terminal cancer. For three decades, from the end of World War II well into the Watergate era, internationally renowned newspaper and magazine columnist Stewart Alsop was a fixture on the Washington, DC, political landscape. In 1971, the respected journalist was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, marking the beginning of his courageous three-year battle with the terrible cancer that ravaged his body but could not damage his spirit or slow his facile and brilliantly incisive mind. A passionate social critic and peerless political analyst who hobnobbed with presidents from FDR to Nixon, and enjoyed the respectful fellowship of such notable figures as Winston Churchill, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and Henry Kissinger, Alsop insightfully chronicles the course of his medical history without a trace of maudlin self-pity while celebrating his family, friends, colleagues, and an extraordinary life well lived. Stay of Execution is Stewart Alsop's moving, powerful, and inspiring memoir of his terminal illness and his life before--an unforgettable true story of courage and accomplishment, trials and tragedy from one of the most revered American journalists of the twentieth century.
Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man
by Peter Alson Teddy Atlas"Of all the people who have affected by my life and influence the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father."So begins the autobiography of legendary boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas, who grew from the rebellious son of a doctor to a man who embraces, and lives by, his father's values and code.In this gritty, spellbinding tale, Atlas recounts his fascinating life -- as a juvenile delinquent on the streets of Staten Island; as a boxer and Golden Gloves champion under the tutelage of famed trainer Cus D'Amato; as a companion to the dangerous, unpredictable Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, up until the day Gravano turned rat and brought down crime boss John Gotti; and as a trainer of champions and contenders, among them fourteen-year-old Mike Tyson and heavyweight Michael Moorer, whom he led to the crown with a win over Evander Holyfield.Equally engrossing are Teddy Atlas's accounts of training dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp for her successful comeback at age forty-two; his work with actor Willem Dafoe, preparing him for his role as a concentration camp boxer in the film Triumph of the Spirit; his journey to Poland to choreograph the film's boxing scenes; and his own performance in movies such as Play It to the Bone. In sharing his stories, Atlas reveals the philosophy by which he lives.Like Teddy Atlas -- inimitable, tough, honest, and wise -- this book inspires. It is about so much more than boxing. It is a story of overcoming hardships, of compassion for those in need, of tremendous personal integrity, and of personal and professional triumph.
Take Me to the River
by Peter AlsonMEET PETER ALSON An overeducated underachiever, he's spent his postcollege decades doing his best not to grow up. Now, having just turned the incomprehensible (to him) age of fifty, and staring down his own mortality, this rambling- gambling bachelor decides it's time to settle down. After years of equivocating, he pops the question to his longtime girlfriend. A wedding date is set for just after Labor Day, and to pay for it, a plan is hatched involving poker and a trip to Vegas. Alson boards a plane bound for the neon desert on his way to the biggest game in town, the 2005 World Series of Poker. Thus begins Take Me to the River, a first-person account of one inveterate gambler and bad boy's quest to grow up while at the same time compete with more than 5,000 players vying for over $56 million in prize money during a scorching Vegas summer. Take Me to the River is a hilarious, heart-wrenching tale of Las Vegas and an exploration of what it means to be part of one of the fastest-growing and most popular sports in the United States, at the moment of its apogee, and of the lessons that poker has to teach about probability and luck, good and bad fortune, patience, perseverance, and -- most fitting for a man with marriage in his near future -- commitment.
Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From
by Kamal Al-SolayleeDrawing on extensive reporting from around the world and astute political analysis, Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From illuminates a personal quest. Kamal Al-Solaylee, author of the bestselling and award-winning Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes and Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (for Everyone), yearns to return to his homeland of Yemen, now wracked by war, starvation and daily violence, to reconnect with his family. Yemen, as well as Egypt, another childhood home, call to him, even though he ran away from them in his youth and found peace and prosperity on the calm shores of Toronto. In Return, Al-Solaylee interviews dozens of people who have chosen to or long to return to their homelands, from the Basques to the Irish to the Taiwanese. The author does make a return of sorts himself, to the Middle East, visiting Israel and the West Bank as well as Egypt to meet up with his sisters. His Arabic stilted and his mannerisms foreign, Al-Solaylee finds that the English language and Western customs are now his only cultural currency.Return is a chronicle of love and loss, of global reach and personal desires. It sets the narrative of going home against geopolitical forces that are likely to shape the rest of this century and beyond. It’s a book for anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to return to their roots.
The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story
by Hanan Al-ShaykhNew York, 2001 As Hanan al-Shaykh travels through the streets of Manhattan to her daughter's wedding her mind is elsewhere. Remembering own secret ceremony some thirty years ago, her thoughts turn to her mother, Kamila, who was sacrificed into marriage: her absent mother who, in recent, reconciled years, has pleaded with Hanan, her daughter the writer, to tell this story. Lebanon, 1934. Kamila is nine years old when she is taken from the poverty of her childhood village in southern Lebanon to Beirut. Though she has never learned to read or write, stories, poetry and films are her passion, and she longs to go to school. Instead, she is to lead a life of domestic servitude-and worse, she has been secretly betrothed to her brother-in-law, Abu-Hussein, a man eighteen years her senior. A welcome escape from the strict household, Kamila is apprenticed to Fatme the seamstress. One day Kamila catches sight of a beautiful young man, Muhammad, sitting by a fountain. At the age of thirteen, for what will be the first and only time in her life, Kamila falls deeply in love. The following year, to her fury and anguish, Kamila is married to Abu-Hussein. That night, he forces himself upon his child-bride and a daughter is conceived: four years later, Kamila's second daughter, Hanan, is born. In secret, but risking everything, Kamila continues to see Muhammad. But in choosing to follow her heart, she must also, agonisingly, leave behind her beloved daughters. . . ; Beautifully evoking the fabric of life in Lebanon, The Locust and the Bird is a remarkable and intensely moving memoir. Told in a voice that is entirely distinctive and authentic, this unique portrait of the life of one woman gives us an astonishing insight into the lives of many others in the Arab world.
Daring to Drive: A gripping account of one woman's home-grown courage that will speak to the fighter in all of us
by Manal Al-SharifA visceral coming-of-age tale from the young woman who dared to stand up to a kingdom of men. Best known for her campaign work for women's rights, including the Women2Drive campaign, this is Manal al-Sharif's fiercely intimate memoir. 'Future generations will marvel at Manal al-Sharif. Her gripping account of homegrown courage will speak to the fighter in all of us. Books like this one can change the world' Deborah Feldman, New York Times bestselling author of Unorthodox 'Manal al-Sharif is following in a long tradition of women activists around the world who have put themselves on the line to expose and challenge discriminatory laws and policies' Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International NewsManal al-Sharif was born in Mecca the year fundamentalism took hold in Saudi Arabia. As a young girl she would burn her brother's boy band CDs in the oven because music was haram: forbidden by Islamic law. By her twenties she was a computer security engineer. But as she became older, the unequal way in which women are treated became too much to bear: she was branded a slut for talking to male colleagues at work; her school-age brother had to chaperone her on business trips and, while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down Saudi streets. Her personal rebellion began the day she got behind the wheel of a car: an act that ultimately led to her arrest and imprisonment. Manal's Women2Drive campaign inspired other women to take action. Manal has been lauded by the Oslo Freedom Forum, described by Time Magazine as one of the most 100 most influential people in the world, and she was awarded the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. Daring to Drive is an account of Manal al-Sharif’s fight for equality in an unequal society. It is also a celebration of resilience, the power of education and the strength of female solidarity in the face of hardship.
Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening
by Manal Al-SharifA ferociously intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of a courageous movement to support women’s right to drive.Manal al-Sharif grew up in Mecca the second daughter of a taxi driver, born the year fundamentalism took hold. In her adolescence, she was a religious radical, melting her brother’s boy band cassettes in the oven because music was haram: forbidden by Islamic law. But what a difference an education can make. By her twenties she was a computer security engineer, one of few women working in a desert compound that resembled suburban America. That’s when the Saudi kingdom’s contradictions became too much to bear: she was labeled a slut for chatting with male colleagues, her teenage brother chaperoned her on a business trip, and while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down city streets behind the wheel. Daring to Drive is the fiercely intimate memoir of an accidental activist, a powerfully vivid story of a young Muslim woman who stood up to a kingdom of men—and won. Writing on the cusp of history, Manal offers a rare glimpse into the lives of women in Saudi Arabia today. Her memoir is a remarkable celebration of resilience in the face of tyranny, the extraordinary power of education and female solidarity, and the difficulties, absurdities, and joys of making your voice heard.
J. D. Salinger and the Nazis
by Eberhard AlsenBefore J.D. Salinger became famous for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and infamous as a literary recluse, he was a soldier in World War II. While serving in the U.S. Army's Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) in Europe, Salinger wrote more than twenty short stories and returned home with a German war bride. Eberhard Alsen, through meticulous archival research and careful analysis of the literary record, corrects mistaken assumptions about the young writer's war years and their repercussions. Though recent biographies and films claim that Salinger regularly participated in combat, Alsen cites military documents showing that his counterintelligence work was well behind the front lines. Alsen, a longtime Salinger scholar who witnessed the Nazi regime firsthand as a child in Germany, tracks Salinger's prewar experiences in the army, his work for the CIC during significant military campaigns, and his reactions to three military disasters that killed more than a thousand fellow soldiers in his Fourth Infantry Division. Alsen also identifies the Nazi death camp where Salinger saw mounds of recently burned bodies. Revealing details shed light on Salinger's outspoken disgust for American military leaders, the personality changes that others saw in him after the war, and his avoidance of topics related to the Holocaust.
Sit, Stay, Heal: What Dogs Can Teach Us About Living Well
by Renee Alsarraf“Written with grace and emotional honesty, Sit, Stay, Heal will live with you long after the last page.”— John Grogan, bestselling author of Marley & MeFor more than two decades, esteemed veterinary oncologist Dr. Renee Alsarraf treated cancer in her beloved canine patients. Then, at age fifty-one, she was diagnosed with cancer herself.Sit, Stay, Heal: What Dogs Can Teach Us About Living Well is Dr. Renee’s unforgettable testament to the extraordinary healing nature of dogs. Every day in her veterinary practice, she bears witness to the undeniable bond between pets and their people. However, while we are busy teaching them to “sit” and “stay,” they have their own, more profound, lessons to impart. In Sit, Stay, Heal, we meet Cosmo, the golden retriever who arrives at Renee’s office just before his fourteenth family vacation to the beach; Daisy, the cocker spaniel, an emotional support dog for a special needs child; and Franny, the bloodhound, a police dog who wasn’t ready to retire from the force. Then there’s Dr. Renee’s own dog Newtie, who falls ill when she needs him most.Our dogs are wise in ways humans are not. For Dr. Renee, it was her patients—those furry, four-legged, slobbering animals—who seemed to uniquely understand her difficult journey and who showed her the true power of positivity and unconditional love. Full of life lessons and healing metaphors, perfect dogs and their imperfect humans, Sit, Stay, Heal is a captivating, heartwarming story for dog lovers far and wide.