- Table View
- List View
After the Rebellion: The Later Years of William Lyon Mackenzie
by Lilian F. GatesThis comprehensive book on William Lyon Mackenzie’s later life focuses first on the period 1838-1849, Mackenzie’s years in exile in the United States. It examines his contribution to the American political scene, including his role in writing the constitution of the State of New York. The book also chronicles Mackenzie’s life from 1849, when he was granted amnesty and returned to Canada, to his death in 1861. In this, the only comprehensive look at Mackenzie’s life, Lillian Gates offers a meticulous account of one of Canada’s liveliest nineteenth century politicians.
After the Roof Caved In: An Immigrant's Journey from Ireland to America
by Michael J. Dowling Charles KenneyThe moving story of an Irish immigrant's life, from a poverty-stricken childhood in Ireland to becoming a captain of industry, After the Roof Caved In is a powerful, poignant look at how hard work and education enabled one young man to change his life and circumstances completely. Today, Michael J. Dowling is president and CEO of Northwell Health, New York state's largest healthcare provider and private employer, with over 68,000 employees and over 700 facilities. But he grew up in deep poverty in the village of Knockaderry in rural Ireland, in a small home without running water or a stable roof, in a family with little hope for improvement and a place with little opportunity—and he overcame it all to become wildly successful. After the Roof Caved In is Dowling's rags-to-riches story of his life and journey from his destitute youth to his realization of the power of education and his eventual departure from his home to attend university in Cork, and onward through his life as he gradually improved himself and his circumstances. Full of memories both fond and painful, this powerful memoir examines the family dynamics of his childhood—including the lives of his deaf mother and arthritic father—as well as the social systems of the time, the politics and concerns of the day, and the way a variety of disparate events came together to help Dowling change his life completely. Most importantly, it chronicles his lifelong effort to rise above the circumstances into which he was born and to create the sort of life he dreamed possible. For anyone interested in the stories of immigrants, the experiences of the Irish in the mid-20th century, or the value of hard work and education in changing one's life, After the Roof Caved In is an essential read, and a heartfelt, deeply moving meditation on an extraordinary life.
After the Roundup: Escape and Survival in Hitler's France
by Joseph WeismannOn the nights of July 16 and 17, 1942, French police rounded up 11-year-old Joseph Weismann, his family, and 13,000 other Jews. They were held for five days at the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium, before being sent by cattle car to the Beaune-la-Rolande transit camp. But where would they be transported to? Separated from his parents, who were deported to Auschwitz and certain death, Joseph remained with 1,000 other separated children, as they waited to discover their fates.But instead of waiting, Joseph and his new friend, Joe Kogan, chose to risk everything in a daring escape attempt. After eluding the guards and crawling under razor-sharp barbed wire, Joseph found freedom. But how would he survive the rest of the war in Nazi-occupied France and build a life for himself? His nightmare had just begun.After the Roundup is a story of hope, friendship, and courage in the face repression, hatred, and fear. This graphic novel, originally published in French, is based on Weismann's memoir of the same name.
After the Roundup: Escape and Survival in Hitler’s France
by Joseph Weismann Richard KutnerOn the nights of July 16 and 17, 1942, French police rounded up eleven-year-old Joseph Weismann, his family, and 13,000 other Jews. After being held for five days in appalling conditions in the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium, Joseph and his family were transported by cattle car to the Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp and brutally separated: all the adults and most of the children were transported on to Auschwitz and certain death, but 1,000 children were left behind to wait for a later train. The French guards told the children left behind that they would soon be reunited with their parents, but Joseph and his new friend, Joe Kogan, chose to risk everything in a daring escape attempt. After eluding the guards and crawling under razor-sharp barbed wire, Joseph found freedom. But how would he survive the rest of the war in Nazi-occupied France and build a life for himself? His problems had just begun.Until he was 80, Joseph Weismann kept his story to himself, giving only the slightest hints of it to his wife and three children. Simone Veil, lawyer, politician, President of the European Parliament, and member of the Constitutional Council of France—herself a survivor of Auschwitz—urged him to tell his story. In the original French version of this book and in Roselyne Bosch’s 2010 film La Rafle, Joseph shares his compelling and terrifying story of the Roundup of the Vél’ d’Hiv and his escape. Now, for the first time in English, Joseph tells the rest of his dramatic story in After the Roundup.
After the Stroke: My Journey Back to Life
by Mark McewenThe intimate, life-affirming journey of recovery and rehabilitation from a major stroke, written by one of morning television's most beloved personalities Mark McEwen was at the top of his game and enjoying life when he suffered a stroke. After fifteen years on The Early Show, he had moved to Orlando to anchor the local news and spend more time with his family. While traveling, he experienced symptoms that led him to a hospital, where he was misdiagnosed with the flu. Two days later, on an airplane flight just hours before he finally collapsed, flight attendants and airport staff dismissed his slurred speech and heavy sweating. Misinformation not only delayed his treatment, but it also nearly cost him his life. Now, in a candid and moving memoir, America's beloved morning-show weatherman recalls his harrowing journey of rehabilitation from a massive stroke. After the Stroke traces his recovery in the aftermath of temporarily losing some of his greatest gifts- his talent as a public speaker, and his warm, witty exuberance-while his wife worked valiantly to care for their children as well as her seriously ill husband. Sharing an ultimately triumphant story, McEwen emerges as one of our most dynamic new crusaders for stroke victims and their families. .
After the Stroke: A Journal
by May SartonAn intimate and uplifting memoir chronicling May Sarton's efforts to regain her health, art, and sense of self after suffering from a stroke Feeling cut off and isolated--from herself most of all--after suffering a stroke at age 73, May Sarton began a journal that helped her along the road to recovery. She wrote every day without fail, even if illness sometimes prevented her from penning more than a few lines. From her sprawling house off the coast of Maine, Sarton shares the quotidian details of her life in the aftermath of what her doctors identified as a small brain hemorrhage. What they did not tell her was the effect it would have on her life and work. Sarton's journal is filled with daily accounts of the weather, her garden, beloved pets, and her concerns about losing psychic energy and no longer feeling completely whole. A woman who had always prized her solitude, Sarton experiences feelings of intense loneliness. When overwhelmed by the past, she tries to find comfort in soothing remembrances of her travels, and struggles to learn to live moment by moment. As Sarton begins to regain her strength, she rejoices in the life "recaptured and in all that still lies ahead." Interspersed with heartfelt recollections about fellow poets and aspiring writers who see in Sarton a powerful muse, this is a wise and moving memoir about life after illness.
After the Workshop: A Novel
by John McnallyYou graduate from the Iowa Writers' Workshop with a short story published in The New Yorker and subsequently Best American Short Stories. You stay in town and work on your novel. And work on your novel. Until, finally, twelve years have passed and you are working as a media escort for author tours and your unfinished novel sits in a box under your bed. Your girlfriend has left you. Your car is missing a muffler. Your neighbor is walking around naked because his hands are bandaged and he can't unzip his pants. You are at the whims of a slew of increasingly crazy writers, and when one of them disappears, an insane New York publicist begins stalking you. This is the life of Jack Hercules Sheahan, a character well understood by author John McNally. He is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop as well as a former media escort, and these misadventures are brought to life by his very own. Recalling the ease and humor of novels by Nick Hornby and Michael Chabon, After the Workshop tells the satirical story of a writer who confronts the demons from his past while escorting those of his present.
After the Worst has Happened: Tales from a funeral director on the lighter side of death
by Richard GoslingWhen Richard Gosling's young daughter faced emergency surgery, a colleague carelessly asked what would happen if she died. In that moment, Richard was forced to picture his own daughter's funeral, and the people who are there to help families after the worst has happened.Aged 40, Richard left his job in the public service and started preparing coffins, driving hearses, assisting in the mortuary and bringing in the deceased from hospitals and nursing homes, slowly working his way up to become operations manager of a venerable Sydney funeral home.After the Worst Has Happened lifts the curtain on a world we all try to avoid but must pass through. It shows the lighter side of death amid all its other facets, as Richard steers families through heartbreak, anger and grief while holding space for love and acceptance. Ultimately, it's about how extraordinarily beautiful it can be to spend a daily life surrounded by our final rite of passage.
After This
by Claire Bidwell SmithIn After This, acclaimed author, and therapist Claire Bidwell Smith confronts the question she encounters every day in private practice--what happens after we die? In an exploration of the afterlife that is part personal, part prescriptive--Smith invites us on her journey into the unknown. She wonders: How do we grieve our loved ones without proof that they live on? Will we ever see them again? Can they see us now, even though they are gone?Chronicling our steps along the path that bridges this world and the next, Smith undergoes past-life regressions and sessions with mediums and psychics and immerses herself in the ceremonies of organized religion and the rigor of scientific experiments to try and find the answers. Drawing on both her personal losses, recounted in her memoir The Rules of Inheritance, as well as her background working in hospice as a bereavement counselor, Smith attempts to show how exploring the afterlife can have a positive impact on the grief process. personal journey that underlies the book's message: What we believe about what happens next affects everything about how we live--and love--right now.
After This... An Inspirational Journey for All the Wrong Reasons
by Marcus EngelCatastrophic injuries. Immediate and total blindness. An innocent young life shattered at the hands of a drunk driver. This is an unforgettable account of turning tragedy into triumph. With heart wrenching honesty, humor and insight, Marcus Engel guides us on a path to self-discovery. This coming-of-age story will cause you to view obstacles as opportunities and discover that choices, not circumstances, determine ultimate happiness. "All medical personnel who read this book will experience a transformation in their understanding and approach to the severely injured patient. Engel so vividly describes the steps in his recovery, I was moved to tears." Paul H.Ward M.D. F.A.C.S. Professor of Surgery Emeritus Chief of Head and Neck Surgery Emeritus UCLA School of Medicine "Engel's perseverance and determination offer an inspiring illustration of the human spirit. Marcus' story will provide immeasurable benefit to every student and parent." Steve Hirst Director of Greek Life Wake Forest University
After Visiting Friends
by Michael HaineyA decade in the writing, the haunting story of a son's quest to understand the mystery of his father's death--a universal memoir about the secrets families keep and the role they play in making us who we are.Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family's back door one morning with the tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael's father, was found alone near his car on Chicago's North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack. Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone, leaving behind a young widow, two sons, a fractured family--and questions surrounding the mysterious nature of his death that would obsess Michael throughout adolescence and long into adulthood. Finally, roughly his father's age when he died, and a seasoned reporter himself, Michael set out to learn what happened that night. Died "after visiting friends," the obituaries said. But the details beyond that were inconsistent. What friends? Where? At the heart of his quest is Michael's all-too-silent, opaque mother, a woman of great courage and tenacity--and a steely determination not to look back. Prodding and cajoling his relatives, and working through a network of his father's buddies who abide by an honor code of silence and secrecy, Michael sees beyond the long-held myths and ultimately reconciles the father he'd imagined with the one he comes to know--and in the journey discovers new truths about his mother. A stirring portrait of a family and its legacy of secrets, After Visiting Friends is the story of a son who goes in search of the truth and finds not only his father, but a rare window into a world of men and newspapers and fierce loyalties that no longer exists.
After The Wall: Confessions From An East German Childhood And The Life That Came Next
by Jana Hensel Jefferson ChaseJana Hensel was thirteen on November 9, 1989, the night the Berlin Wall fell. In all the euphoria over German reunification, no one stopped to think what it would mean for Jana and her generation of East Germans. These were the kids of the seventies, who had grown up in the shadow of Communism with all its hokey comforts: the Young Pioneer youth groups, the cheerful Communist propaganda, and the comforting knowledge that they lived in a Germany unblemished by an ugly Nazi past and a callouscapitalist future. Suddenly everything was gone. East Germany disappeared, swallowed up by the West, and in its place was everything Jana and her friends had coveted for so long: designer clothes, pop CDs, Hollywood movies, supermarkets, magazines. They snapped up every possible Western product and mannerism. They changed the way they talked, the way they walked, what they read, where they went. They cut off from their parents. They took English lessons, and opened bank accounts. Fifteen years later, they allhave the right haircuts and drive the right cars, but who are they? Where are they going? InAfter the Wall, Jana Hensel tells the story of her confused generation of East Germans, who were forced to abandon their past and feel their way through a foreign landscape to an uncertain future. Now as they look back, they wonder whether the oppressive, yet comforting life of their childhood wasn't so bad after all.
After You've Gone
by Jeffrey LentA widower finds healing and the surprise of new love in 1920s Amsterdam in this “intricate and rewarding” historical novel (Publishers Weekly).College professor Henry Dorn has spent years building a family in Nova Scotia, but it only takes a single afternoon for it to fall apart. Abruptly widowed of the love of his life, Henry buys a steamer ticket for Amsterdam, the city of his heritage, hoping to start life anew.Nothing could have prepared Henry for the woman he meets on the ship: the fiery Lydia Pearce—one of a new generation of self-sufficient women. Before long the two have fallen into an affair of a depth and significance for which neither was prepared. But the memory of his wife and the vexed relationship he had with their son haunt Henry in the midst of his new beginning.After You’ve Gone beautifully charts the sweep of a life, the grim reach of Word War I, and the discovery—and loss—of life-defining love.
Afterglow: A Dog Memoir
by Eileen Myles<P>This newest book paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of a beloved confidant: the pit bull called Rosie. <P>In 1990, Myles chose Rosie from a litter on the street, and their connection instantly became central to the writer’s life and work. During the course of their sixteen years together, Myles was madly devoted to the dog’s wellbeing, especially in her final days. Starting from the emptiness following Rosie’s death, Afterglow (a dog memoir) launches a heartfelt and fabulist investigation into the true nature of the bond between pet and pet-owner. Through this lens, we witness Myles’s experiences with intimacy and spirituality, celebrity and politics, alcoholism and recovery, fathers and family history, as well as the fantastical myths we spin to get to the heart of grief. <P>Moving from an imaginary talk show where Rosie is interviewed by Myles’s childhood puppet to a critical reenactment of the night Rosie mated with another pit bull, from lyrical transcriptions of their walks to Rosie’s enlightened narration from the afterlife, Afterglow (a dog memoir) illuminates all that it can mean when we dedicate our existence to a dog.
Afterglow: (a dog memoir) (Books That Changed the World)
by Eileen Myles“A ravishingly strange and gorgeous book about a dog that’s really about life and everything there is…astonishing.” ?Helen Macdonald, New York Times-bestselling author of H Is for HawkIn 1990, poet Eileen Myles chose Rosie from a litter of pit bulls on the street, and their connection instantly became central to the writer's life and work. During the course of their sixteen years together, Myles was madly devoted to the dog’s well-being, especially in her final days. Starting from the emptiness following Rosie's death, Afterglow launches a heartfelt and fabulist investigation into the true nature of the bond between pet and pet owner. Through this lens, we witness Myles’s experiences with intimacy and spirituality, celebrity and politics, alcoholism and recovery, fathers and family history, as well as the fantastical myths we spin to get to the heart of grief.Moving from an imaginary talk show where Rosie is interviewed by Myles’s childhood puppet to a critical reenactment of the night Rosie mated with another pit bull, from lyrical transcriptions of their walks to Rosie’s enlightened narration from the afterlife, Afterglow illuminates all that it can mean when we dedicate our existence to a dog.“Myles gets at something no other dog book I’ve read has gotten at quite this distinctly: The sense of wordless connection and spiritual expansion you feel when you love and are loved by a creature who’s not human…raw and affecting.” ?Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air, NPR
Afterimage: Film, Trauma, and the Holocaust
by Joshua HirschThe appearance of Alain Resnais' 1955 French documentaryNight and Fogheralded the beginning of a new form of cinema, one that used the narrative techniques of modernism to provoke a new historical consciousness. Afterimagepresents a theory of posttraumatic film based on the encounter between cinema and the Holocaust. Locating its origin in the vivid shock of wartime footage,Afterimagefocuses on a group of crucial documentary and fiction films that were pivotal to the spread of this cinematic form across different nations and genres. Joshua Hirsch explores the changes in documentary brought about by cinema verite, culminating in Shoah. He then turns to the appearance of a fictional posttraumatic cinema, tracing its development through the vivid flashbacks in Resnais'Hiroshima, mon amourto the portrayal of pain and memory inThe Pawnbroker. He excavates a posttraumatic autobiography in three early films by the Hungarian IstvÁn SzabÓ. Finally, Hirsch examines the effects of postmodernism on posttraumatic cinema, looking atSchindler's Listand a work about a different form of historical trauma,History and Memory, a videotape dealing with the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. Sweeping in its scope,Afterimagepresents a new way of thinking about film and history, trauma and its representation. Author note: Joshua Hirschis visiting lecturer in Film and Electronic Arts at the California State University, Long Beach.
The Afterlife: A Memoir
by Donald AntrimFrom "a fiercely intelligent writer" (The New York Times), a wry, poignant story of the difficult love between a mother and a sonIn the winter of 2000, shortly after his mother's death from cancer and malnourishment, Donald Antrim, author of the absurdist, visionary masterworks Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, The Hundred Brothers, and The Verificationist, began writing about his family. In pieces that appeared in The New Yorker and were anthologized in Best American Essays, Antrim exploredhis intense and complicated relationships with his mother, Louanne, an artist and teacher who was, at her worst, a ferociously destabilized and destabilizing alcoholic; his gentle grandfather, who lived in the mountains of North Carolina and who always hoped to save his daughter from herself; and his father, who married Louanne twice. The Afterlife is not a temporally linear coming-of-age memoir; instead, Antrim follows a logic of unconscious life, of dreams and memories, of fantasies and psychoses, the way in which the world of the alcoholic becomes a sleepless, atemporal world. In it, he comes to terms with—and fails to comes to terms with—the nature of addiction and the broken states of loneliness, shame, and loss that remain beyond his power to fully repair. This is a tender and even blackly hilarious portrait of a family—faulty, cracked, enraging. It is also the story of the way the author works, in part through writing this book, to become a man more fully alive to himself and to others, a man capable of a life in which he may never learn, or ever hope to know, the nature of his origins.
Afterlife: What You Really Want to Know About Heaven, the Hereafter, & Near-Death Experiences
by Hank Hanegraaff[Back Cover]: "New York Times bestsellers on near-death experiences depict--A 3-year-old who meets Jesus and his rainbow-colored horse; A neurosurgeon encountering Om and the Orb on the wing of a butterfly; [and] A real estate broker descending to earth's center to discover hell is 300 degrees and zero humidity. Do such exotic experiences provide trustworthy information about the afterlife? If not, how can we know what happens beyond death's door? In AfterLife, Hank Hanegraaff, one of the most remarkable theological minds of our time, explains how life in the present intersects with life after life and ultimately life after life after life. With laser-sharp clarity this surprisingly insightful book demonstrates that death is not the end--in fact, it's just the beginning. AfterLife will forever change the way you view your eternal destiny!"
The Afterlife of Billy Fingers: Life, Death and Everything Afterwards
by Annie KaganIn 2004, bad boy Billy Fingers Cohen, a homeless small-time drug dealer and addict in a state of drug induced euphoria ran into a busy intersection and was killed instantly by a speeding automobile. He left behind a grieving sister. For weeks she struggled with grief and tried to make sense of Billy's seemingly wasted life and tragic death.A few weeks after his death, William Cohen, aka Billy Fingers, woke his sister Annie at dawn. 'I'm drifting weightlessly through these glorious stars and galaxies and I feel a Divine Presence, a kind, loving beneficent presence, twinkling all around me.'Billy's ongoing after-death communications take his sister on an unprecedented journey into the bliss and wonder of life beyond death. Billy's profound, detailed description of the mystical realms he traverses, the Beings of Light that await him, and the wisdom he receives take the reader beyond the near-death experience. Billy is, indeed, as Dr. Raymond Moody points out in his foreword, explaining the phenomena we've known about since ancient times, an afterworld walker. A fascinating page-turner filled with wisdom, humour and hope, The Afterlife of Billy Fingers, will forever change your views about life, death and the hereafter.If I could give you a gift it would be to find the glory inside yourself, beyond the roles and the drama, so you can dance the dance of the game of life with a little more rhythm, a little more abandon, a little more shaking-those-hips.
The Afterlife of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
by Hogan Michael J.In his new book, Michael J. Hogan, a leading historian of the American presidency, offers a new perspective on John Fitzgerald Kennedy, as seen not from his life and times but from his afterlife in American memory. The Afterlife of John Fitzgerald Kennedy considers how Kennedy constructed a popular image of himself, in effect, a brand, as he played the part of president on the White House stage. The cultural trauma brought on by his assassination further burnished that image and began the process of transporting Kennedy from history to memory. Hogan shows how Jacqueline Kennedy, as the chief guardian of her husband's memory, devoted herself to embedding the image of the slain president in the collective memory of the nation, evident in the many physical and literary monuments dedicated to his memory. Regardless of critics, most Americans continue to see Kennedy as his wife wanted him remembered: the charming war hero, the loving husband and father, and the peacemaker and progressive leader who inspired confidence and hope in the American people.
The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins: A Black Woman Filmmaker's Search for New Life (Studies in the Cinema of the Black Diaspora)
by L. H. StallingsAn absorbing portrait of a groundbreaking Black woman filmmaker.Kathleen Collins (1942–88) was a visionary and influential Black filmmaker. Beginning with her short film The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy and her feature film Losing Ground, Collins explored new dimensions of what narrative film could and should do. However, her achievements in filmmaking were part of a greater life project. In this critically imaginative study of Collins, L.H. Stallings narrates how Collins, as a Black woman writer and filmmaker, sought to change the definition of life and living. The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins: A Black Woman Filmmaker's Search for New Life explores the global significance and futurist implications of filmmaker and writer Kathleen Collins. In addition to her two films, Stallings examines the broad and expansive and varying forms of writing produced by Collins during her short life time. The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins showcases how Collins used filmmaking, writing, and teaching to assert herself as a poly-creative dedicated to asking and answering difficult philosophical questions about human being and living. Interrogating the ideological foundation of life-writing and cinematic life-writing as they intersect with race and gender, Stallings intervenes on the delimited concepts of life and Black being that impeded wider access, distribution, and production of Collins's personal, cinematic, literary, and theatrical works.The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins definitively emphasizes the evolution of film and film studies that Collins makes possible for current and future generations of filmmakers.
Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self
by Susan J. BrisonOn July 4, 1990, while on a morning walk in southern France, Susan Brison was attacked from behind, severely beaten, sexually assaulted, strangled to unconsciousness, and left for dead. She survived, but her world was destroyed. Her training as a philosopher could not help her make sense of things, and many of her fundamental assumptions about the nature of the self and the world it inhabits were shattered. At once a personal narrative of recovery and a philosophical exploration of trauma, this book examines the undoing and remaking of a self in the aftermath of violence. It explores, from an interdisciplinary perspective, memory and truth, identity and self, autonomy and community. It offers imaginative access to the experience of a rape survivor as well as a reflective critique of a society in which women routinely fear and suffer sexual violence. As Brison observes, trauma disrupts memory, severs past from present, and incapacitates the ability to envision a future. Yet the act of bearing witness, she argues, facilitates recovery by integrating the experience into the survivor's life's story. She also argues for the importance, as well as the hazards, of using first-person narratives in understanding not only trauma, but also larger philosophical questions about what we can know and how we should live. Bravely and beautifully written, Aftermath is that rare book that is an illustration of its own arguments.
Aftermath: When It Felt Like Life Was Over
by Alec KleinFor years, Alec Klein investigated cases where people faced the nightmare of wrongful accusations. Suddenly, he found himself on the other side, falsely accused himself.For years, Alec Klein investigated cases where people faced the nightmare of wrongful accusations. Suddenly, he found himself on the other side, falsely accused himself. In a coordinated media attack, he was accused of misconduct as a professor at a top U.S. university, and in a rush to judgment, before he had a chance to defend himself, his life was destroyed. What happens when you have little hope? In the aftermath, Alec gravitated to the unlikeliest of places, among the unlikeliest of people, doing the unlikeliest of things. This is a first-person true story about faith, forgiveness and redemption.
Aftermath: A Firefighter's Life
by Bryan Ratushniak“Powerful, honest, & moving.” — Open BookWho doesn’t rush to the window when a fire truck rushes by? Bryan Ratushniak, has spent a thirty-two-year career working on the busiest fire trucks in Canada and has detailed his adventures in this witty memoir. The book details the emotional damage inflicted by the horrors of the job and how the author came out the other side more or less in one piece. Ratushniak shares the ups and downs of balancing home and professional life while trying to hold onto his sanity. Aftermath: A Firefighter’s Life is filled with candid, humorous, tragic, and hopeful stories from behind the “big red doors.”
Aftermath
by Preti TanejaWinner of the 2022 Gordon Burn PrizeShortlisted for 2023 British Book Awards Book of the Year in the Discover category Usman Khan was convicted of terrorism-related offences at age 20, and sent to high-security prison. He was released eight years later, and allowed to travel to London for one day, to attend an event marking the fifth anniversary of a prison education programme he participated in. On 29 November 2019, he sat with others at Fishmongers&’ Hall, some of whom he knew. Then he went to the bathroom to retrieve the things he had hidden there: a fake bomb vest and two knives, which he taped to his wrists. That day, he killed two people: Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt. Preti Taneja taught fiction writing in prison for three years. Merritt oversaw her program; Khan was one of her students. &‘It is the immediate aftermath,&’ Taneja writes. &‘&“I am living at the centre of a wound still fresh.&” The I is not only mine. It belongs to many.&’ In this searching lament by the award-winning author of We That Are Young, Taneja interrogates the language of terror, trauma and grief; the fictions we believe and the voices we exclude. Contending with the pain of unspeakable loss set against public tragedy, she draws on history, memory, and powerful poetic predecessors to reckon with the systemic nature of atrocity. Blurring genre and form, Aftermath is a profound attempt to regain trust after violence and to recapture a politics of hope through a determined dream of abolition.