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Darwin's Love of Life: A Singular Case of Biophilia
by Karen L. HarelBiophilia—the love of life—encompasses the drive to survive, a sense of kinship with all life-forms, and an instinct for beauty. In this unconventional book, Kay Harel uses biophilia as a lens to explore Charles Darwin’s life and thought in deeply original ways. In a set of interrelated essays, she considers how the love of life enabled him to see otherwise unseen evolutionary truths.Harel traces the influence of biophilia on Darwin’s views of dogs, facts, thought, emotion, and beauty, informed by little-known material from his private notebooks. She argues that much of what Darwin described, envisioned, and felt was biophilia in action. Closing the book is a profile of Darwin’s marriage to Emma Wedgwood, his first cousin, a woman gifted in music and medicine who shared her husband’s love of life.Harel’s meditative, playful, and lyrical musings draw on the tools of varied disciplines—aesthetics, astronomy, biology, evolutionary theory, history of science, philosophy, psychiatry, and more—while remaining unbounded by any particular one. Taking unexpected paths to recast a figure we thought we knew, this book offers readers a different Darwin: a man full of love, joy, awe, humility, curiosity, and a zest for living.
Darwin's Man in Brazil: The Evolving Science of Fritz Müller
by David A. WestFritz Müller (1821-1897), though not as well known as his colleague Charles Darwin, belongs in the cohort of great nineteenth-century naturalists. Recovering Müller's legacy, David A. West describes the close intellectual kinship between Müller and Darwin and details a lively correspondence that spanned seventeen years. The two scientists, despite living on separate continents, often discussed new research topics and exchanged groundbreaking ideas that unequivocally moved the field of evolutionary biology forward. Müller was unique among naturalists testing Darwin's theory of natural selection because he investigated an enormous diversity of plants and animals, corresponded with prominent scientists, and published important articles in Germany, England, the United States, and Brazil. Darwin frequently praised Müller's powers of observation and interpretation, counting him among those scientists whose opinions he valued most. Despite the importance and scope of his work, however, Müller is known for relatively few of his discoveries. West remedies this oversight, chronicling the life and work of this remarkable and overlooked man of science.
Darwin's Orchids: Then and Now
by Retha Edens-Meier Peter BernhardtFor biologists, 2009 was an epochal year: the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of a book now known simply as The Origin of Species. But for many botanists, Darwin’s true legacy starts with the 1862 publication of another volume: On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilised by Insects and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing, or Fertilisation of Orchids. This slim but detailed book with the improbably long title was the first in a series of plant studies by Darwin that continues to serve as a global exemplar in the field of evolutionary botany. In Darwin’s Orchids, an international group of orchid biologists unites to celebrate and explore the continuum that stretches from Darwin’s groundbreaking orchid research to that of today. Mirroring the structure of Fertilisation of Orchids, Darwin’s Orchids investigates flowers from Darwin’s home in England, through the southern hemisphere, and on to North America and China as it seeks to address a set of questions first put forward by Darwin himself: What pollinates this particular type of orchid? How does its pollination mechanism work? Will an orchid self-pollinate or is an insect or other animal vector required? And how has this orchid’s lineage changed over time? Diverse in their colors, forms, aromas, and pollination schemes, orchids have long been considered ideal models for the study of plant evolution and conservation. Looking to the past, present, and future of botany, Darwin’s Orchids will be a vital addition to this tradition.
Darwin's Pious Idea: Why the Ultra-Darwinists and Creationists Both Get It Wrong
by Conor CunninghamIn "Darwin's Pious Idea," Cunningham puts forth a compelling, cutting-edge case for both creation and evolution, drawing skillfully on an array of philosophical, theological, historical, and scientific sources to buttress his arguments.
Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Human Evolution
by Adrian Desmond James MooreAn &“arresting&” and deeply personal portrait that &“confront[s] the touchy subject of Darwin and race head on&” (The New York Times Book Review). It&’s difficult to overstate the profound risk Charles Darwin took in publishing his theory of evolution. How and why would a quiet, respectable gentleman, a pillar of his parish, produce one of the most radical ideas in the history of human thought? Drawing on a wealth of manuscripts, family letters, diaries, and even ships&’ logs, Adrian Desmond and James Moore have restored the moral missing link to the story of Charles Darwin&’s historic achievement. Nineteenth-century apologists for slavery argued that blacks and whites had originated as separate species, with whites created superior. Darwin, however, believed that the races belonged to the same human family. Slavery was therefore a sin, and abolishing it became Darwin&’s sacred cause. His theory of evolution gave a common ancestor not only to all races, but to all biological life. This &“masterful&” book restores the missing moral core of Darwin&’s evolutionary universe, providing a completely new account of how he came to his shattering theories about human origins (Publishers Weekly, starred review). It will revolutionize your view of the great naturalist. &“An illuminating new book.&” —Smithsonian &“Compelling . . . Desmond and Moore aptly describe Darwin&’s interaction with some of the thorniest social and political issues of the day.&” —Wired &“This exciting book is sure to create a stir.&” —Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University, and author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging
Darwin's Worms: On Life Stories and Death Stories
by Adam PhillipsAdam Phillips has been called "the psychotherapist of the floating world" and "the closest thing we have to a philosopher of happiness. " His style is epigrammatic; his intelligence, electric. His new book, Darwin's Worms, uses the biographical details of Darwin's and Freud's lives to examine endings-suffering, mortality, extinction, and death. Both Freud and Darwin were interested in how destruction conserves life. They took their inspiration from fossils or from half-remembered dreams. Each told a story that has altered our perception of our lives. For Darwin, Phillips explains, "the story to tell was how species can drift towards extinction; for Freud, the story was how the individual tended to, and tended towards his own death. " In each case, it is a death story that uniquely illuminates the life story.
Das sizilianische Wesen
by Cristiano ParafioritiNach den Erzählungen in “Mein Dorf, meine Leute” (2014) veröffentlicht Cristiano Parafioriti weitere Geschichten über Galati Mamertino, sein Heimatdorf in Sizilien. Neue Personen, neue Umstände, neue Emotionen entspringen der Vielfalt des Herzens und rufen schlummernde Farben und Gefühle wach. Das sizilianische Wesen ist zwischen den Zeilen jeder Geschichte spürbar und tritt nach und nach immer stärker in den Vordergrund, sodass der Leser in eine ferne, melancholische, aber auch heißblütige und echte Welt eingetaucht wird. Zeit ist nur ein Begriff, Augenblicke von gestern und heute werden miteinander verknüpft und beschwören die Erinnerung und die Liebe für diese Insel und ihre Bevölkerung herauf. Je weiter man liest, desto mehr spürt man die untrennbare Verbindung des Autors mit seiner Geburtsinsel und noch mehr mit seinem Dorf. Eine beinahe angeborene Liebe, die den Autor stets umklammert, sodass zwischen den durch die Erinnerung schweifenden Zeilen die Sehnsucht nach dem sizilianischen Wesen durchschimmert.
Dasein Disclosed
by John Haugeland Joseph RouseAt his death in 2010, the Anglo-American analytic philosopher John Haugeland left an unfinished manuscript summarizing his life-long engagement with Heidegger’s Being and Time. As illuminating as it is iconoclastic, Dasein Disclosed is not just Haugeland’s Heidegger-this sweeping reevaluation is a major contribution to philosophy in its own right.
A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life In Fashion, Art, and Letters
by Penelope RowlandsCarmel Snow, who changed the course of our culture by launching the careers of some of today's greatest figures in fashion and the arts, was one of the most extraordinary women of the twentieth century. As editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958 she championed the concept of "a well-dressed magazine for the well-dressed mind," bringing cutting-edge art, fiction, photography, and reportage into the American home. Now comes A Dash of Daring, a first and definitive biography of this larger-than-life figure in publishing, art, and letters. Veteran magazine journalist Penelope Rowlands describes the remarkable places Snow frequented and the people whose lives she transformed, among them Richard Avedon, Diana Vreeland, Geoffrey Beene, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cristobal Balenciaga, Lauren Bacall, and Truman Capote. She chronicles Snow's life on both sides of the Atlantic, beginning in nineteenth-century Ireland and continuing to Paris, Milan, and New York City, the fashion capitals of the world. Snow was the daughter of an Irish immigrant, who was herself a forward-thinking businesswoman, and she worked in her mother's custom dressmaking shop before being discovered by the magazine publisher Conde Nast and training under Edna Woolman Chase, the famous longtime editor of Vogue. From there it was on to Harper's Bazaar which, with the help of such key employees as Avedon, Vreeland, and art director Alexei Brodovitch, Snow turned into the most admired magazine of the century. Among the disparate talents who worked at Bazaar in the Snow era were Andy Warhol, the heiress Doris Duke, Maeve Brennan, and members of the storied Algonquin Round Table. Overflowing with previously untold stories of the colorful and glamorous, A Dash of Daring is a compelling portrait of the fashion world during a golden era.
A Dash of Daring
by Penelope RowlandsCarmel Snow, who changed the course of our culture by launching the careers of some of today's greatest figures in fashion and the arts, was one of the most extraordinary women of the twentieth century. As editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958 she championed the concept of "a well-dressed magazine for the well-dressed mind," bringing cutting-edge art, fiction, photography, and reportage into the American home. Now comes A Dash of Daring, a first and definitive biography of this larger-than-life figure in publishing, art, and letters. Veteran magazine journalist Penelope Rowlands describes the remarkable places Snow frequented and the people whose lives she transformed, among them Richard Avedon, Diana Vreeland, Geoffrey Beene, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cristobal Balenciaga, Lauren Bacall, and Truman Capote. She chronicles Snow's life on both sides of the Atlantic, beginning in nineteenth-century Ireland and continuing to Paris, Milan, and New York City, the fashion capitals of the world. Snow was the daughter of an Irish immigrant, who was herself a forward-thinking businesswoman, and she worked in her mother's custom dressmaking shop before being discovered by the magazine publisher Conde Nast and training under Edna Woolman Chase, the famous longtime editor of Vogue. From there it was on to Harper's Bazaar which, with the help of such key employees as Avedon, Vreeland, and art director Alexei Brodovitch, Snow turned into the most admired magazine of the century. Among the disparate talents who worked at Bazaar in the Snow era were Andy Warhol, the heiress Doris Duke, Maeve Brennan, and members of the storied Algonquin Round Table. Overflowing with previously untold stories of the colorful and glamorous, A Dash of Daring is a compelling portrait of the fashion world during a golden era.
Dasher: The Kevin Wheatley VC Story
by Michael C. MaddenKevin &‘Dasher&’ Wheatley VC is one of the most extraordinary characters in Australian history. Dasher was a husband, father, champion footballer and one of the finest soldiers this country has ever produced. The story of his sacrifice is used by the ADF as a perfect example of valour and mateship to this day. Although he is one of the most famous Victoria Cross recipients of all time, his story has never been fully told. Until now.Dasher: The Kevin Wheatley VC Story was written with first-hand accounts from Dasher&’s family and the men who served and fought alongside him. It tells not only the story of an unlikely lad from the mean streets of Sydney, but that of a soldier whose death devastated the ranks of three armies and changed the way Australia dealt with the overseas loss of service people forever. Everyone who met the man has a Dasher Wheatley story of larrikin behaviour, outstanding soldiering, stunning valour, or all three. Forwarded by Keith Payne VC and featuring the 2021 investiture of Dasher&’s American Silver Star, an award 56 years in the making, this book also investigates other gallantry awards Wheatley qualified for but was never given.
Dashiell Hammett: Man of Mystery
by Sally ClineDashiell Hammett changed the face of crime fiction. In five novels published over five years as well as a string of stories, he transformed the mystery genre into literature and left us with the figure of the hard-boiled detective, from the Continental Op to Sam Spade--immortalized on film by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon--and the more glamorous Thin Man, also made iconic with the aid of Hollywood. A brilliant writer, Hammett was a complex and enigmatic man. After 1934 until his death in 1961, he published no more novels and suffered from a writer's block that both shamed and maimed him. He is identified with his tough protagonists, but his tuberculosis compromised his masculine identity and alcoholism may have been his answer. A former Pinkerton detective who valued honesty, he was attracted to women who lied outrageously, most notably Lillian Hellman, with whom he conducted a thirty-year affair. A controversial political activist who stood up for civil liberty, he was also a very private man. In this compact new biography, Sally Cline uses fresh research, including interviews with Hammett's family and Hellman's heir, to reexamine the life and works of the writer whom Raymond Chandler called "the ace performer."
Dashing for the Post: The Letters of Patrick Leigh Fermor
by Patrick Leigh FermorA revelatory collection of letters written by the author of The Broken Road.Handsome, spirited and erudite, Patrick Leigh Fermor was a war hero and one of the greatest travel writers of his generation. He was also a spectacularly gifted friend. The letters in this collection span almost seventy years, the first written ten days before Paddy's twenty-fifth birthday, the last when he was ninety-four. His correspondents include Deborah Devonshire, Ann Fleming, Nancy Mitford, Lawrence Durrell, Diana Cooper and his lifelong companion, Joan Rayner; he wrote his first letter to her in his cell at the monastery Saint Wandrille, the setting for his reflections on monastic life in A Time to Keep Silence. His letters exhibit many of his most engaging characteristics: his zest for life, his unending curiosity, his lyrical descriptive powers, his love of language, his exuberance and his tendency to get into scrapes - particularly when drinking and, quite separately, driving. Here are plenty of extraordinary stories: the hunt for Byron's slippers in one of the remotest regions of Greece; an ignominious dismissal from Somerset Maugham's Villa Mauresque; hiding behind a bush to dub Dirk Bogarde into Greek during the shooting of Ill Met by Moonlight, the film based on the story of General Kreipe's abduction; his extensive travels. Some letters contain glimpses of the great and the good, while others are included purely for the joy of the jokes.
Dashing for the Post: The Letters of Patrick Leigh Fermor
by Patrick Leigh FermorA revelatory collection of letters written by the author of The Broken Road.Handsome, spirited and erudite, Patrick Leigh Fermor was a war hero and one of the greatest travel writers of his generation. He was also a spectacularly gifted friend. The letters in this collection span almost seventy years, the first written ten days before Paddy's twenty-fifth birthday, the last when he was ninety-four. His correspondents include Deborah Devonshire, Ann Fleming, Nancy Mitford, Lawrence Durrell, Diana Cooper and his lifelong companion, Joan Rayner; he wrote his first letter to her in his cell at the monastery Saint Wandrille, the setting for his reflections on monastic life in A Time to Keep Silence. His letters exhibit many of his most engaging characteristics: his zest for life, his unending curiosity, his lyrical descriptive powers, his love of language, his exuberance and his tendency to get into scrapes - particularly when drinking and, quite separately, driving. Here are plenty of extraordinary stories: the hunt for Byron's slippers in one of the remotest regions of Greece; an ignominious dismissal from Somerset Maugham's Villa Mauresque; hiding behind a bush to dub Dirk Bogarde into Greek during the shooting of Ill Met by Moonlight, the film based on the story of General Kreipe's abduction; his extensive travels. Some letters contain glimpses of the great and the good, while others are included purely for the joy of the jokes.
Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment
by Susannah BreslinA Belletrist Book Pick for December 2023Lab Girl meets Brain on Fire in this provocative and poignant memoir delving into a woman's formative experiences as a veritable "lab rat" in a lifelong psychological study, and her pursuit to reclaim autonomy and her identity as a adult. What if your parents turn you into a human lab rat when you&’re a child? Will that change the story of your life? Will that change who you are? When Susannah Breslin is a toddler, her parents enroll her in an exclusive laboratory preschool at the University of California, Berkeley, where she becomes one of over a hundred children who are research subjects in an unprecedented thirty-year study of personality development that predicts who she and her cohort will grow up to be. Decades later, trapped in what she feels is an abusive marriage and battling breast cancer, she starts to wonder how growing up under a microscope shaped her identity and life choices. Already a successful journalist, she makes her own curious history the subject of her next investigation. From experiment rooms with one-way mirrors, to children&’s puzzles with no solutions, to condemned basement laboratories, her life-changing journey uncovers the long-buried secrets hidden behind the renowned study. The question at the gnarled heart of her quest: Did the study know her better than she knew herself? At once bravely honest and sharply witty, Data Baby is a compelling and provocative account of a woman&’s quest to find her true self, and an unblinking exploration of why we turn out as we do. Few people in all of history have been studied from such a young age and for as long as this author, but the message of her book is universal. In an era when so many of us are looking to technology to tell us who to be, it&’s up to us to discover who we actually are.
Data, A Love Story
by Amy WebbA lively, thought-provoking memoir about how one woman "gamed" online dating sites like JDate, OKCupid and eHarmony - and met her eventual husband. After yet another online dating disaster, Amy Webb was about to cancel her JDate membership when an epiphany struck: It wasn't that her standards were too high, as women are often told, but that she wasn't evaluating the right data in suitors' profiles. That night Webb, an award-winning journalist and digital-strategy expert, made a detailed, exhaustive list of what she did and didn't want in a mate. The result: seventy-two requirements ranging from the expected (smart, funny) to the super-specific (likes selected musicals: Chess, Les Misérables. Not Cats. Must not like Cats!). Next she turned to her own profile. In order to craft the most compelling online presentation, she needed to assess the competition--so she signed on to JDate again, this time as a man. Using the same gift for data strategy that made her company the top in its field, she found the key words that were digital man magnets, analyzed photos, and studied the timing of women's messages, then adjusted her (female) profile to make the most of that intel. Then began the deluge--dozens of men wanted to meet her, men who actually met her requirements. Among them: her future husband, now the father of her child. Forty million people date online each year. Most don't find true love. Thanks to Data, a Love Story, their odds just got a whole lot better.
Dating Amy: 50 True Confessions of a Serial Dater
by Amy DezellarDating today can seem like Alices tumble down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Whether starting out or starting again, women face the difficult task of sorting through the good (guy), the bad (boy), and the ugly (morning after) in their search for Mr. Right. Here to give hope to smart single women everywhere is Amy DeZellar, who bravely dedicated two years of her life to debunking common dating myths and documenting 50 of her dates. Shes gone wine-tasting with Indentured Cats, on a blind date who also happens to be blind, and found her artistic sentiments at odds with her desire for financial security when she simultaneously got involved with a painter named Harry Potter and a NASA super-computer designer named Teflon, all in her quest to find true love. Each of the 50 chapters in this book is dedicated to a different date, and includes the kinds of tips and sharp observations that only someone on the front lines can offer. Get ready to laugh, cry, and commiserate with Amyand learn, as she did, a few things about finding the perfect man.
The Dating Game Killer: The True Story of a TV Dating Show, a Violent Sociopath, and a Series of Brutal Murders (St. Martin's True Crime Classics)
by Stella SandsThe true crime story of the California serial killer who won a date on the 1970s TV show The Dating Game during his killing spree.The real story behind the Anna Kendrick Netflix film Woman of the Hour In 1978, Rodney Alcala was a contestant on The Dating Game, one of America&’s most popular television shows at the time. Handsome, successful, and romantic, he was embraced by the audience—and chosen as the winner by the beautiful bachelorette. To viewers across the country, Rodney seemed like the answer to every woman&’s dreams. Until they learned the truth about his once and future crimes... Ten years before his TV appearance, Rodney was charged with the sexual assault and attempted murder of an eight-year-old girl. In the decades that followed, he would be accused of seven murders—and, as new DNA evidence continues to be uncovered, the list may grow. The case is so disturbing that it&’s been documented in several news outlets, from People magazine and USA Today to 48 Hours Mystery and Dr. Phil. The Dating Game Killer is the shocking true story about the dark and twisted man. &“Ms. Sands presents the crimes and evidence with professional skill and objectivity…. A must read!&”—Steve Hodel, New York Times bestselling true-crime author, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, Detective Supervisor, LAPD Hollywood Homicide Division
Datsun Angel: A true-story adventure inside the savage heart of 1980s Australia
by Anna Broinowski'Hilarious, terrifying and fun - much like the 80s, only smarter.' ANNA FUNDER'Fiercely funny. This is a road trip of danger, love and hope. Brilliant!' JULIA ZEMIRO'Witty, brave, honest and wise. Mad Max meets 1980s feminism, fuelled by undergraduate outrage and hedonism.' CATHERINE LUMBYDatson Angel is a turbo-charged adventure into the savage heart of 1980s Australia: a place completely alien, yet frighteningly similar, to today.EVERYTHING IN THIS BOOK HAPPENED . . .At seventeen, Anna Broinowski is precocious, naive and convinced she knows how the world works. But O-Week at Sydney University changes that. She's suddenly in a hyper-masculine caste system, where future captains of industry terrorise freshers and invade dorms in naked, screaming packs. Nothing is what she thought it'd be . . . until Anna finds her people. New dreams are made. Playing violin, auditioning for NIDA, losing her virginity. Then Peisley, a gentle giant, talks of a hitchhiking trip up north. And, after agreeing on three rules - never split up, remain platonic, accept every lift that gets them closer to Darwin - Anna decides to go.Hitchhiking the highways leads her into a dystopian dustbowl on society's hard edges, where outsiders must adapt or perish, and women teeter on an existential knife edge. In this flyblown asylum, love and danger collide with the toxic misogyny in the guts of the Australian soul. Anna will learn that the line between victim and survivor can be as cruel as luck and as random as a shiny blue Datson on a red dirt road.Based on her battered travel diary, Datsun Angel is a savage, darkly funny memoir of sex, drugs and violence-fuelled adventure through the brutal 1980s Australian outback. It is a feminist On the Road, told through a #MeToo filter.
Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (Ambikatanayadatta)
by G. S. AmurOn the works of Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre, b. 1896, Kannada poet.
Daughter in Retrograde: A Memoir
by Courtney KerstenWhen she isn't eavesdropping on family gossip or gazing at taxidermy squirrels in smoky dives, Courtney Kersten charts the uncertainty of her midwestern homeland by looking to the stars and planets. As a teen she had plunged deep into the worlds of signs, symbols, and prophecy. But as her mother—her traveling companion into these spheres—lies dying, Kersten must learn to navigate without the person who always lit the way. Their last journey together, to swim in a Wisconsin lake, is a bittersweet, darkly comic, poignant climax to this transformative memoir.
Daughter, Mother, Grandmother, and Whore: The Story of a Woman Who Decided to be a Puta (Latin America in Translation)
by Gabriela LeiteIn the early 1970s, while living at home with her conservative middle-class family and studying at the University of São Paulo, Gabriela Leite decided to become a sex worker. From her first client in a tiny room in downtown São Paulo to the launch of an exuberant clothing line designed for sex workers in Rio de Janeiro thirty years later, Daughter, Mother, Grandmother, and Whore tells the fascinating story of Leite’s bold and unique life in her own words. After helping to organize Brazil’s first protests by sex workers against police brutality, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she quickly became ensconced in the city’s storied red-light district. From there, Leite built a national network of politicized sex workers, worked for HIV/AIDS prevention, and participated in Brazil’s robust new civil society after its return to democracy in 1985 following a twenty-one-year military dictatorship. Insistent on advocating for the sex worker’s comprehensive human rights, Leite pioneered an irreverent grassroots Latin American feminism, which critiqued moral hypocrisies and Christian conservatism while affirming pleasure, joy, and agency. Daughter, Mother, Grandmother, and Whore also includes a foreword by artist and activist Carol Leigh.
Daughter, Mother, Me: How to survive when the people in your life need you most
by Alana Kirk'In life women can have many labels: daughter, single girl, wife, career woman, mother. I had worn them all and, while life was hectic, I was the one in control. Then four days after the birth of my third daughter, my mum had a massive stroke and, just like that, everything changed.Over the time to come - what I call 'the Sandwich Years' - I found myself both grieving for and caring for my beloved mum, supporting my dad, raising my three young daughters, while trying to get my career back on track. The cracks began to show. I discovered that, sometimes, having it all, means doing it all and that, amid the maelstrom of need, I had lost the label I had started out with: me.'Daughter, Mother, Me is the heartfelt, inspirational story of the bond between a mother and a daughter and how one woman - through caring for the person she had relied on the most - finally found herself.
Daughter of Apartheid
by Lindi TardifIt’s been two decades since the fall of apartheid, a quarter century since the liberation of Eastern European states, five decades since the death of American “Jim Crow,” and seventy-plus years since the beginning of the emancipation of the African states. Freedom has advanced, yet there are some Black people in South Africa, the United States, and other parts around the globe who question if it has advanced far enough and are embittered. <p><p> I am a Black woman born to the racist apartheid regime of South Africa. My family suffered the slights of apartheid--petty and grand--as well as the poverty, degradation, street violence, lack of opportunity, and other ills of the system. <p> Twenty years old when apartheid gave way to the Rainbow Nation, I have lived about half my life under that system. Those who came before me knew only separation and oppression, while those who followed were born to the idea that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”. My generation--perhaps it’s not really a generation, but rather a seven- to ten-year cohort--knows both. Therefore. My generation has a unique perspective on what happened then as well as what is happening now, on transitioning from restriction to freedom, on recognizing and celebrating progress, on pushing through negatives to embrace forgiveness, hope, and humanity, and on understanding the importance of choice. <p> In telling my story, as well as the stories of some of my friends and teachers, I share my perspective on the issues I have grappled with--including choice, identity, forgiveness, and humanity--with those who are wrestling with similar issues in the United States, my adopted home country, and in South Africa, the country of my birth. Deprivation and marginalization are, after all, as hurtful and debilitating in inner city Baltimore as they are in Soweto, and making a deliberate decision to move forward in the face of either, or both, is always powerful, no matter what your address or particular circumstances.
The Daughter of Auschwitz: A heartbreaking and incredible true story of courage, resilience and survival
by Tova Friedman Malcolm BrabantThe harrowing, moving and poignant account of one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz: a girl who was only five years old when she was sent to an extermination camp, and was one of the few people who entered a gas chamber and lived to tell her story.'I am a survivor. That comes with a survivor's obligation to represent one and half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. They cannot speak. So I must speak on their behalf.'With a special foreword by Sir Ben Kingsley.'Every so often a book arrives that demands to be read' John Humphrys'An unforgettable and deeply moving story' Jeremy Bowen'I read this book with gratitude and urgency' Fergal Keane '[A] vividly written and compelling story' Lindsey HilsumAN INCREDIBLE STORY OF COURAGE, RESILIENCE AND SURVIVAL Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was five when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labour camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau. During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale. As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited.In The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it is in danger of fading from memory. She has used those memories that have shaped her life to honour the victims. Written with award-winning former war reporter Malcolm Brabant, this is an extremely important book. Brabant's thorough research has helped Tova recall her experiences in searing detail. Together they have painstakingly recreated Tova's extraordinary story about one of the worst ever crimes against humanity.