- Table View
- List View
A Fiddler's Tale
by Louis KaufmanThis fascinating memoir, written by one of the greatest American violinists of the twentieth century, recounts an extraordinary life in music. Once called by the New York Times "a violinist's violinist and a musician's musician," Louis Kaufman was born in 1905 in Portland, Oregon. He studied violin with Franz Kneisl at New York's Institute of Musical Art. He was the original violist of the Musical Art Quartet (1926-1933) and won the Naumburg Award in 1928, the year of his American solo recital debut in New York's Town Hall. During these early years, he played chamber music with Pablo Casals, Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Efrem Zimbalist, among others. After performing the violin solos for Ernst Lubitsch's 1934 film The Merry Widow, Kaufman became the most sought after violin soloist in Hollywood, playing in some 500 films, including Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, The Diary of Anne Frank, Wuthering Heights, The Grapes of Wrath, and Spartacus. He worked closely with Robert Russell Bennett, Bernard Herrmann, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alfred Newman, Miklós Rózsa, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, and Victor Young. Extraordinary as it seems today, Kaufman was largely responsible for bringing the once-forgotten music of Antonio Vivaldi to its current popularity worldwide among both classical musicians and the general population of music lovers. The book includes a music CD with Kaufman’s performances of Vivaldi’s Concerto 2 of op. 9, Havanaise by Camille Saint Saëns, Nocturne for Violin and Piano by Aaron Copland, Much Ado about Nothing Suite for violin and piano by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Jerome Kern, among other favorites.
A Field Full of Butterflies: Memories of a Romany Childhood
by Rosemary PenfoldGypsy tales from the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author...Rosemary Penfold was born in 1938 in a traditional Gypsy wagon, and grew up in the fields of the English countryside. In this beautiful and evocative memoir, she recounts her life within a loving extended family and small but close-knit community.From early memories of her father bringing home oranges during the war, to the simple beauty of a field full of butterflies on a hot summer's day, Rosemary's stunningly elegant narrative captures the love and losses, hopes and struggles, traditions and prejudices that bound her to her family and helped her adapt to a fast-changing world. Rosemary's story is a moving testament to a forgotten world and a rapidly disappearing way of life.
A Field Full of Butterflies: Memories of a Romany Childhood
by Rosemary PenfoldGypsy tales from the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author...Rosemary Penfold was born in 1938 in a traditional Gypsy wagon, and grew up in the fields of the English countryside. In this beautiful and evocative memoir, she recounts her life within a loving extended family and small but close-knit community.From early memories of her father bringing home oranges during the war, to the simple beauty of a field full of butterflies on a hot summer's day, Rosemary's stunningly elegant narrative captures the love and losses, hopes and struggles, traditions and prejudices that bound her to her family and helped her adapt to a fast-changing world. Rosemary's story is a moving testament to a forgotten world and a rapidly disappearing way of life.
A Field Full of Butterflies: Memories of a Romany Childhood
by Rosemary PenfoldRosemary Penfold was born in 1938 in a traditional Gypsy wagon, and grew up in the fields of the English countryside. In this beautiful and evocative memoir, she recounts her life within a loving extended family and small but close-knit community.From early memories of her father bringing home oranges during the war, to the simple beauty of a field full of butterflies on a hot summer's day, Rosemary's stunningly elegant narrative captures the love and losses, hopes and struggles, traditions and prejudices that bound her to her family and helped her adapt to a fast-changing world. Rosemary's story is a moving testament to a forgotten world and a rapidly disappearing way of life.Read by Anna Bentinck(p) 2011 Orion Publishing Group
A Field Guide to Awkward Silences
by Alexandra PetriWashington Post columnist Alexandra Petri turns her satirical eye on her own life in this hilarious new memoir...Most twentysomethings spend a lot of time avoiding awkwardness.Not Alexandra Petri.Afraid of rejection? Alexandra Petri has auditioned for America's Next Top Model. Afraid of looking like an idiot? Alexandra Petri lost Jeopardy! by answering "Who is that dude?" on national TV. Afraid of bad jokes? Alexandra Petri won an international pun championship.Petri has been a debutante, reenacted the Civil War, and fended off suitors at a Star Wars convention while wearing a Jabba the Hutt suit. One time, she let some cult members she met on the street baptize her, just to be polite. She's a connoisseur of the kind of awkwardness that most people spend whole lifetimes trying to avoid. If John Hodgman and Amy Sedaris had a baby...they would never let Petri babysit it.But Petri is here to tell you: Everything you fear is not so bad. Trust her. She's tried it. And in the course of her misadventures, she's learned that there are worse things out there than awkwardness--and that interesting things start to happen when you stop caring what people think.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Canons #66)
by Rebecca Solnit&“An intriguing amalgam of personal memoir, philosophical speculation, natural lore, cultural history, and art criticism.&” —Los Angeles TimesFrom the award-winning author of Orwell's Roses, a stimulating exploration of wandering, being lost, and the uses of the unknownWritten as a series of autobiographical essays, A Field Guide to Getting Lost draws on emblematic moments and relationships in Rebecca Solnit's life to explore issues of uncertainty, trust, loss, memory, desire, and place. Solnit is interested in the stories we use to navigate our way through the world, and the places we traverse, from wilderness to cities, in finding ourselves, or losing ourselves. While deeply personal, her own stories link up to larger stories, from captivity narratives of early Americans to the use of the color blue in Renaissance painting, not to mention encounters with tortoises, monks, punk rockers, mountains, deserts, and the movie Vertigo. The result is a distinctive, stimulating voyage of discovery.
A Field Guide to Internet Boyfriends: Meme-Worthy Celebrity Crushes from A to Z
by Esther ZuckermanFrom Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba to Timothe Chalamet, A Field Guide to Internet Boyfriends is the ultimate celebration of the suave, sexy, sensitive, and silly celebrities who have captured our hearts and memes!Handsome and heartfelt, with winning smiles and pinnable Tweets -- this is what Internet Boyfriends are made of. But who are these meme-able men, and what makes them catch fire online? Discover the answers to these questions and more in A Field Guide to Internet Boyfriends, an interactive exploration of our collective crushes. Entertainment journalist Esther Zuckerman breaks down the world of Internet Boyfriends -- and even a few Internet Girlfriends -- from documentary-style "spotting guides" to discussions on the key categories of boyfriend, like Sensitive Souls, Beautiful Boys and Daddys. A playful, teen magazine-style quiz -- to help readers find their ideal crush -- and in-depth profiles of some of the most beloved Internet Boyfriends and Girlfriends, from Ryan Gosling (the original) to Harry Styles (the Gen Z icon) to Janelle Monae (the space queen), round out this fully-illustrated romp through the celebs behind the memes.
A Field Guide to the English Clergy: A Compendium of Diverse Eccentrics, Pirates, Prelates and Adventurers; All Anglican, Some Even Practising
by The Revd Butler-GallieA Book of the Year for The Times, Mail on Sunday and BBC History Magazine Judge not, lest ye be judged. This timeless wisdom has guided the Anglican Church for hundreds of years, fostering a certain tolerance of eccentricity among its members. Good thing, too. The &‘Mermaid of Morwenstow&’ excommunicated a cat for mousing on a Sunday. When he was late for a service, Bishop Lancelot Fleming commandeered a Navy helicopter. &‘Mad Jack&’ swapped his surplice for a leopard skin and insisted on being carried around in a coffin. And then there was the man who, like Noah&’s evil twin, tried to eat one of each of God&’s creatures… In spite of all this they saw the church as their true calling. After all, who cares if you're wearing red high heels when there are souls to be saved?
A Field Guide to the Subterranean: Reclaiming the Deep Earth and our Deepest Selves
by Justin HockingA radically inventive excavation of one man&’s life and our relationship to the earth by the critically acclaimed author of The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld Justin Hocking grew up in a part of Colorado where so many things happened beneath the surface—mining exploits, underground nuclear testing just thirty miles from his family&’s home, and geothermal activity that heats one of the world&’s largest hot spring pools. His homelife, too, was plagued by hidden patterns of abuse and virulent masculinity. A Field Guide to the Subterranean charts the author&’s lifelong process of unearthing the past and reclaiming his own identity and connection to the natural world.How might we transform our traumas into deeper care for one another and the landscapes that sustain us? How do we transcend the mythos of the rugged American male so rooted in extraction and exploitation? And how far can we move beyond the self in a memoir? Hocking explores these and other vital questions by combining personal introspection with expansive narratives that examine geology, ecology, gender theory, mining history, labor rights, and even skateboarding. Abundant with historical research and teeming with birdlife—and ranging in location from remote caves and mountains to secluded surf breaks in Costa Rica—A Field Guide to the Subterranean heralds a boldly original and kaleidoscopic approach to the genres of memoir and nature writing.
A Field Marshal in the Family
by Brian MontgomeryField Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein has attracted the attention of countless historians over the last 70 years but, despite this coverage, views of his character remain controversial and contradictory. His younger brother Brian, himself a successful soldier, enters the fray with this charming and revealing book examining the background of this legendary military commander. He provides a fascinating account of the influences of Montys family genes together with a wealth of unknown details about his career. His grandfather, Sir Robert Montgomery, played a key role in crushing the Indian Mutiny and his adventures have intriguing parallels with those of Montys two generations later. Dean Farrar, his maternal grandfather, was a powerful Victorian educational and religious figure (Headmaster of Marlborough College and Dean of Canterbury) and author of the iconic Eric, or Little by Little.The author examines in the most entertaining and frank manner Montys idiosyncratic character traits; his opposition to tradition, his Nelsonian approach to rules and regulations, his ruthlessness and determination and his unfashionable views on the absolute necessity for self publicity and the most intensive training to get the maximum from his subordinates, down to the most junior levels.
A Field in Flux: Sixty Years of Industrial Relations
by Robert B. McKersieA Field in Flux chronicles the extraordinary journey of industrial and labor relations expert Robert McKersie. One of the most important industrial relations scholars and leaders of our time, McKersie pioneered the study of labor negotiations, helping to formulate the concepts of distributive and integrative bargaining that have served as analytical tools for understanding the bargaining process more generally.The book provides a window into McKersie's life and work and its impact on the evolution of labor and industrial relations. Spanning six decades, the reader learns about the intersection of labor and the Civil Rights movement, the watershed moment of the Air Traffic Controller's Strike, his relationship with George Schultz, the shift from labor relations to human resource management, and McKersie's role in the seminal cases (Motorola, GM, Toyota) of the labor movement. A Field in Flux serves two important functions: it demonstrates how people have influenced past employment policies and practices when called to action in critical situations, and it seeks to instill confidence in those who will be called on to address the big challenges facing the future of work today and in the years to come. During a time when the basic values of industrial relations are being challenged and violated, McKersie argues that the profession must adapt to the changing world of work and not forget about the value placed on efficiency, equity, and inclusive employment policies and practices.
A Fierce Belief in Miracles: My Journey from Rape to Healing and Wholeness
by Anne Reeder HeckWhen faced with overwhelming hardship, what we believe makes all the difference. At age twenty-six, Anne Reeder Heck was attacked by a stranger and brutally raped. Years later, still seeking to heal the remnants of this trauma, Anne stands alone in her living room one winter day and claims her desired belief aloud: &“This is my year of strength.&” Her clear intention results in a phone call; her rapist has been identified—fourteen years after the crime.Offering all the gripping and uplifting details of a story that sparked national interest—Heck appeared on the front page of The Washington Post and was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America—A Fierce Belief in Miracles lights the way for those seeking to heal from life&’s traumas by demonstrating the importance of clear intention and trusting inner guidance, and the transformative power of forgiveness.
A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France
by Miranda Richmond MouillotA young woman moves across an ocean to uncover the truth about her grandparents' mysterious estrangement and pieces together the extraordinary story of their wartime experiences In 1948, after surviving World War II by escaping Nazi-occupied France for refugee camps in Switzerland, the author's grandparents, Anna and Armand, bought an old stone house in a remote, picturesque village in the South of France. Five years later, Anna packed her bags and walked out on Armand, taking the typewriter and their children. Aside from one brief encounter, the two never saw or spoke to each other again, never remarried, and never revealed what had divided them forever.A Fifty-Year Silence is the deeply involving account of Miranda Richmond Mouillot's journey to find out what happened between her grandmother, a physician, and her grandfather, an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, who refused to utter his wife's name aloud after she left him. To discover the roots of their embittered and entrenched silence, Miranda abandons her plans for the future and moves to their stone house, now a crumbling ruin; immerses herself in letters, archival materials, and secondary sources; and teases stories out of her reticent, and declining, grandparents. As she reconstructs how Anna and Armand braved overwhelming odds and how the knowledge her grandfather acquired at Nuremberg destroyed their relationship, Miranda wrestles with the legacy of trauma, the burden of history, and the complexities of memory. She also finds herself learning how not only to survive but to thrive - making a home in the village and falling in love.With warmth, humor, and rich, evocative details that bring her grandparents' outsize characters and their daily struggles vividly to life, A Fifty-Year Silence is a heartbreaking, uplifting love story spanning two continents and three generations.From the Hardcover edition.
A Fighter Pilot's Call to Arms: Defending Britain and France Against the Luftwaffe, 1940–1942
by Simon Muggleton Stanislav FejfarThe World War II memoir of a Battle of Britain fighter ace who escaped Czechoslovakia to serve in France and with the RAF in England. Stunned into action by the rapid collapse of his country in 1938, Czech pilot Stanislav Fejfar escaped and traveled through Poland to serve initially with the French Foreign Legion, then as a sous-lieutenant with the French air force in early 1940. After the demise of that country, he fled to England in July 1940 to join the RAF. Posted to 310 Squadron, he saw much feverish action and he rapidly became an ace during the Battle of Britain but was to lose his life on 17 May 1942, shot down over Boulogne flying his beloved Spitfire. Until recently it was not known that throughout his short career, Stanislav kept a full day-by-day diary which has been translated by Henry Prokop and is the basis for this book. Augmented by the diligent research of Norman Franks and Simon Muggleton in unearthing previously unpublished combat reports, letters and other articles of memorabilia, together with their annotated comments, this is an extremely valuable and moving account by a man who gave his life defending freedom. A book which will be sought out by anyone interested in the history of the Battle of Britain.
A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting
by Sam SheridanThis “whirling, no-holds-barred,” national bestselling memoir of mixed martial arts by the author of The Fighter’s Mind is “adrenaline-addled and addictive” (Playboy). In A Fighter’s Heart, former merchant marine and Harvard graduate Sam Sheridan shares a “fascinating” first-person account of his life inside the world of professional MMA fighting “and his behind-the-scenes access makes for a gripping read” (Sara Cardace, The Washington Post). In 1999, after a series of adventurous jobs—construction at the South Pole, ranching in Montana, and sailing private yachts around the world—Sheridan found himself in Australia with time to finally indulge a long-dormant obsession: fighting. After training in Bangkok at the legendary Fairtex Gym, Sheridan stepped through the ropes for a professional bout, embarking on an epic journey to discover what only a fighter can know about fear, violence, and most of all, himself. From small-town Iowa to the beaches of Rio, from the streets of Oakland to the arenas of Tokyo, Sheridan trained, traveled, and fought with Olympic boxers, Brazilian jiu-jitsu stars, and Ultimate Fighting champions. This chronicle offers an insightful look at violence as a spectator sport, as well as a dizzying account of what it’s like to hit—and be hit by—some of the best fighters in the world.
A Fighting Chance
by Elizabeth WarrenAn unlikely political star tells the inspiring story of the two-decade journey that taught her how Washington really works—and really doesn’t As a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and then become an elementary school teacher—an ambitious goal, given her family’s modest means. Early marriage and motherhood seemed to put even that dream out of reach, but fifteen years later she was a distinguished law professor with a deep understanding of why people go bankrupt. Then came the phone call that changed her life: could she come to Washington DC to help advise Congress on rewriting the bankruptcy laws? Thus began an impolite education into the bare-knuckled, often dysfunctional ways of Washington. She fought for better bankruptcy laws for ten years and lost. She tried to hold the federal government accountable during the financial crisis but became a target of the big banks. She came up with the idea for a new agency designed to protect consumers from predatory bankers and was denied the opportunity to run it. Finally, at age 62, she decided to run for elective office and won the most competitive—and watched—Senate race in the country. In this passionate, funny, rabble-rousing book, Warren shows why she has chosen to fight tooth and nail for the middle class—and why she has become a hero to all those who believe that America’s government can and must do better for working families.
A Fighting Chance
by Elizabeth WarrenA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An unlikely political star tells the inspiring story of the two-decade journey that taught her how Washington really works—and really doesn't—in A Fighting ChanceAs a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and then become an elementary school teacher—an ambitious goal, given her family's modest means. Early marriage and motherhood seemed to put even that dream out of reach, but fifteen years later she was a distinguished law professor with a deep understanding of why people go bankrupt. Then came the phone call that changed her life: could she come to Washington DC to help advise Congress on rewriting the bankruptcy laws?Thus began an impolite education into the bare-knuckled, often dysfunctional ways of Washington. She fought for better bankruptcy laws for ten years and lost. She tried to hold the federal government accountable during the financial crisis but became a target of the big banks. She came up with the idea for a new agency designed to protect consumers from predatory bankers and was denied the opportunity to run it. Finally, at age 62, she decided to run for elective office and won the most competitive—and watched—Senate race in the country. In this passionate, funny, rabble-rousing book, Warren shows why she has chosen to fight tooth and nail for the middle class—and why she has become a hero to all those who believe that America's government can and must do better for working families.
A Final Arc of Sky
by Jennifer CulkinA critical care and emergency flight nurse, Jennifer Culkin is no stranger to death and its dramas. Her memoir plunges the reader into chaotic scenes where she struggles to keep seriously injured patients alive while wedged against the door of an Augusta 109A helicopter. She pulls us into the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), where she works on babies born too soon, as well as into the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), where she cares for kids seemingly too small to contain their devastating illnesses. Through these experiences, Culkin explores the overlap between her work and her private life, where her caregiving must eventually be extended to accommodate her sons, her dying mother, then her father, and finally, as she adjusts to life with multiple sclerosis herself. In the closing chapter, Culkin writes of friends and colleagues injured or killed in helicopter crashes, calling again on her constant awareness of the fragility of life.
A Final Valiant Act: The Story of Doug Dickey, Medal of Honor
by Lt. Col. John B. LangThis Vietnam War biography recounts the story of an American soldier who heroically gave his life to save his comrades. Private 1st Class Douglas E. Dickey was just twenty years old when he dove onto a grenade, saving the lives of four men, including his platoon leader. The young Marine&’s actions on Easter Sunday 1967 won him a posthumous Medal of Honor. Dickey grew up in Ohio and enlisted in the Marine Corps with four of his high school friends. After he was deployed to Vietnam, he took part in Operation Deckhouse VI, a landing in Quang Ngai, then Operation Beacon Hill, which led him and his comrades into a devastating ambush. During the ensuing battle—one that nearly wiped out the entire platoon—a grenade landed in their midst. Without hesitation, Dickey took action. This biography grounds Dickey&’s final, valiant act in the context of his life and the lives of his comrades and family. It is based on over a decade of research, including interviews with family members and Dickey&’s letters home. A tribute to a true hero, A Final Valiant Act also includes the most detailed account of Operation Beacon Hill ever written.
A Fine Place to Daydream: Racehorses, Romance and the Irish
by Bill BarichExperience the sheer thrill and joy of national hunt racing as an American novelist follows a select group of leading horses and their Irish trainers on their annual pilgrimage to the Cheltenham Festival, in this evocative book on the jumps and the Irish love of horse racing. The last thing Bill Barich expected when he left California for a holiday in London was to fall in love - and yet he did, with a charming Irish woman. This led to Dublin becoming his home from home. 'I had friends who thought I was being rash or just plain foolish,' he writes, 'but trust and conviction grow if real love is in the mix. ' His leap-of-faith left him slightly unmoored, adrift in a new city; so to anchor himself he began visiting the local betting shops to play the horses. Barich came to share Ireland's passion for the National Hunt. He even felt a kinship for the chasers and hurdlers who 'hang for a half-second in a cloud of uncertainty' every time they jump. That passion revealed to him a great deal about Irish culture, immediate and unvarnished, beyond any touristy stereotypes. So Barich wanted to go deeper. He spent a season - the season of Best Mate's third Gold Cup bid - with the leading Irish trainers, jockeys and horses, charting their progress on the road to their annual tilt against the British at the Cheltenham Festival. Here such major players as Jessica Harrington, Michael Hourigan, Paul Carberry, and Barry Geraghty are captured as never before, with Barich following the caravan from the humble races at Thurles to the glories of the Hennessy at Leopardstown. Here, too, are the big horses - Florida Pearl, Beef Or Salmon, and the quirky Moscow Flyer, who never loses except when he beats himself. A Fine Place to Daydream is a beautifully written elegy to a vanishing way of life. It will reveal an Ireland that is largely hidden to visitors, and will be a timeless account of what promises to be a vintage racing season.
A Fine Romance (A Bestselling Memoir)
by Candice BergenIn this New York Times bestseller, acclaimed actress Candice Bergen “shows how to do a memoir right...The self-possessed, witty, and down-to-earth voice that made Bergen’s first memoir a hit when it was published in 1984 has only been deepened by life’s surprises” (The New York Times Book Review).“Candice Bergen is unflinchingly honest” (The Washington Post), and in A Fine Romance she describes her first marriage at age thirty-four to famous French director Louis Malle; her overpowering love for her daughter, Chloe; the unleashing of her inner comic with Murphy Brown; her trauma over Malle’s death; her joy at finding new love; and her pride at watching Chloe blossom. In her decidedly nontraditional marriage to the insatiably curious Louis, Bergen takes readers on world travels to the sets where each made films. Pregnant with Chloe at age thirty-nine, this mature primigravida also recounts a journey through motherhood that includes plundering the Warner Bros. costume closets for Halloween getups and never leaving her ever-expanding menagerie out of the fun. She offers priceless, behind-the-scenes looks at Murphy Brown, from caterwauling with Aretha Franklin to the surreal experience of becoming headline news when Dan Quayle took exception to her character becoming a single mother. Bergen tackles familiar rites of passage with moving honesty: the rigors of caring for a spouse in his final illness, getting older, and falling in love again after she was tricked into a blind date. By the time the last page is turned, “we’re all likely to be wishing Bergen herself—funny, insightful, self-deprecating, flawed (and not especially concerned about that), and slugging her way through her older years with bemused determination—was living next door” (USA TODAY).
A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
by David LehmanWith a poet's eye for language and nuance, Lehman takes a personal journey into the past of American music, showing how the songs that we view as quintessentially American were almost all written by Jews, many of them immigrants. Recounting the stories behind numerous songs and shows, the author explains how Jewish songsmiths combined their native plaintiveness and wit with Black blues to create a distinctively American musical form. With analytical skill, wit, and exuberance, Lehman helps readers understand how natural it is that Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlen was the son of a cantor who incorporated "Over the Rainbow" into his Sabbath liturgy Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
A Fire at the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector
by Karen Van FossanA firsthand account of two colonial pipelines and their resistance: the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and the Line 3 pipeline on Anishinaabe lands. This is a story of becoming and un-becoming. When the living waters that crisscrossed the Standing Rock reservation came under threat, minister of the nearby Unitarian Universalist congregation Karen Van Fossan asked herself what it means, as a descendent of colonialism, to resist her own colonial culture. When another pipeline, Line 3, came to threaten Anishinaabe ways of life, the question became even more resounding. In A Fire at the Center, Van Fossan takes readers behind the scenes of the Dakota Access Pipeline conflict, to penitentiaries where prisoners of war have carried the movement onward, to the jail cell where she was held for protesting Line 3, to a reimagining of decolonized family constellations, and to moments of collective hope and strength. With penetrating insight, she blends memoir, history, and cultural critique. Guided by the generous teachings of Oceti Sakowin Camp near Standing Rock, she investigates layers of colonialism—extractive industries, mass incarceration, broken treaties, disappearances of Indigenous people—and the boundaries of imperial whiteness. For all those striving for liberation and meaningful allyship, Van Fossan’s learnings and practices of genuine, mutual solidarity and her thoughtful critique of whiteness will be transformational.
A Fire in His Soul: Van Gogh, Paris, and the Making of an Artist
by Miles J. UngerThe fascinating story of Vincent van Gogh&’s two groundbreaking years in Paris, where he transformed himself from a provincial unknown into one of the world&’s great visionary artists.Vincent Van Gogh arrived in the French capital on the last day of February 1886, a month short of his thirty-third birthday. He was a man beaten down by life, half-starved, and nearly broken psychologically. He was saved by his brother Theo, who provided him with room, board, and, most crucially, emotional support while he attempted to master the difficult craft of painting. Thus far, Vincent's crude scenes of peasant life rendered in murky shades of brown and gray were both hackneyed and amateurish. Theo, a successful art dealer at a prestigious Parisian firm, dismissed them as gloomy, unappealing, and, worst of all, unmarketable. By the time Vincent left Paris, almost exactly two years later, he&’d transformed himself into one of the most original artists of the age, turning out works of hallucinatory intensity in vivid hues and stamped with his own distinctive personality. A Fire in His Soul chronicles this remarkable transformation. It&’s a tale filled with tragedy and triumph, personal anguish and creative fulfillment, as Vincent, through sheer force of will, reinvents himself as a painter of unparalleled expressive power. Along the way, the reader will discover an unfamiliar Van Gogh: not the solitary genius of the popular imagination, shunned by an uncomprehending world and conjuring masterpieces from the depths of his lonely soul. In Paris, he was at the center of a community of like-minded seekers. Here, Van Gogh was able to engage in a lively dialogue with fellow artists almost as daring as he was, expanding his notion of what art could and should be. It was in the cafes and studios of Montmartre and in the grand galleries of the Louvre and Luxembourg, that Van Gogh received his artistic education—a crash course that at first disoriented him but ultimately sparked his creative breakthrough. Working alongside such legendary figures as Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, and Signac, he found his voice and launched an artistic revolution.