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All the Rage: A Quest
by Martin MoranA moving and surprisingly funny memoir about finding the right balance between anger and compassion"Why aren't you angry?" people often asked Martin Moran after he told his story of how he came to forgive the man who sexually abused him as a boy. At first, the question pissed him off. Then, it began to haunt him. Why didn't he have more anger? Why had he never sought redress for the crime committed against him? Was his fury hidden, buried? Was he not man enough? Here he was, an adult in mid-life, with an established acting career, a husband. A life. And yet the question of rage began to obsess him.As the narrative jumps from dream to memory to theory, from Colorado to New York to Johannesburg, Moran takes us along on his quest to understand the role of rage in our lives. Translating for an asylum seeker and survivor of torture, he wonders how the man is not consumed with the wrong done him, only to shortly thereafter find himself in a wild confrontation with his fuming stepmother at his father's funeral. He admires a pedestrian's furious put-down of a careless driver, and then, observing with a group of sex therapists at an S&M dungeon, he finds himself unexpectedly moved by the intimacy of the interchanges. Hiking the Rockies with his troubled younger brother, he's confronted by the anger and the love that seem to exist simultaneously and in equal measure between them.With each encounter, we move more deeply into the human complexities at the heart of this book: into how we wrong and are wronged, how we seek redress but also forgiveness, how we yearn to mend what we think broken in us and liberate ourselves from what's past. It is in this landscape of old wounds and complicated loves that Moran shows us how rage may meet compassion and our traumas unexpectedly open us to the humanity of others.
All the Silent Spaces: A Memoir
by Christine RistainoIn September 2007, Christine Ristaino was attacked in a store parking lot while her three- and five-year-old children watched. In All the Silent Spaces, Ristaino shares what it felt like to be an ordinary person confronted with an extraordinary event—a woman trying to deal with acute trauma even as she went on with her everyday life, working at a university and parenting two children with her husband. She not only narrates how this event changed her but also tells how looking at the event through both the reactions of her community and her own sensibility allowed her to finally face two other violent episodes she had previously experienced. As new memories surfaced after the attack, it took everything in Ristaino&’s power to not let catastrophe unravel the precarious threads holding everything together. Moving between the greater issues associated with violence and the personal voyage of overcoming grief, All the Silent Spaces is about letting go of what you think you know in order to rebuild.
All the Smoke: All the Stars, All the Stories, No Apologies
by Matt Barnes Stephen JacksonAn in-depth and fresh celebration of the award-winning, &“unapologetic, authentic, and at times unfiltered&” (The Sacramento Bee) sports podcast All the Smoke hosted by NBA champions Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, featuring exclusive photographs and more never-before-seen material. For over two hundred critically acclaimed episodes, famously outspoken and controversial NBA icons Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson have comprehensively explored the lives and most pressing issues facing today&’s basketball players both on and off the court. Now, the two dive deeper into the &“riveting, absurdly profane, and often unexpectedly poignant&” (Slate) podcast. From taking us behind the scenes of their greatest moments to eye-opening insights from their interviews with legends such as Shaquille O&’Neal, Stephen Curry, Snoop Dogg, and more, All the Smoke is a fascinating, sharp, and essential read for new and longtime fans.
All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life
by Loren C. EiseleyEiseley focuses not on the facts and linear details of his life but on how his ideas were formed and developed on class, identity, human tendencies, and relationships between humans and animals.
All the Sundays Yet to Come: An Athlete's Journey
by Kathryn BertineIn her hilarious and heartfelt memoir, Kathryn Bertine tells the strange-but-true story of what life is really like behind the glitz and glamour of professional figure skating. Bertine's childhood dream came true when she earned a place in a touring ice show. But as she traveled through the back roads of Chile and Argentina in a rickety bus with the international cast of Hollywood on Ice, she wondered if this was exactly the dream she had in mind. Gone were the days of athleticism and artistry. Hollywood on Ice was half Disney, half Playboy. The skaters apply false eyelashes the size of caterpillars and wriggle into progressively more revealing costumes. Some performers dress up as animals; some real animals actually skate. The undeniable showstopper was the Michael Jackson number, starring a middle-aged blonde with a beer belly that is barely contained by his flashy spandex costume. Bertine was no quitter, and she stuck it out--with laugh-out-loud humor and unfailing grace. But as she came to fully understand the differences between showbiz and sports, Bertine had to make the hardest choice of her life. Anyone who has known--or dreamed of becoming--a skater, dancer, or professional athlete will find here a poignant, funny, and utterly winning story of a young woman's courage, resolve, and grace under pressure.
All the Things Left Unsaid: Confessions of Love and Regret
by Michael HardingThe new bestseller from the beloved memoirist and Irish Times columnist Michael Harding.For almost fifty years Michael Harding has been crafting words in a bid to express himself and explore truths about the human condition. But even still he found himself unable to say certain things he really wanted to. Then, while in recovery from surgery, he travelled to a cottage on the Atlantic coast and thought again about life and the people who had profoundly affected him; mentors, lovers and old friends.There at the ocean he wrote letters, with an intimacy not previously risked. Letters that were never posted, but that appear now in this audiobook - a vulnerable and beautifully wrought collection of insights into life, death, friendship and love.(P) 2022 Hachette Ireland
All the Things Left Unsaid: Confessions of Love and Regret
by Michael Harding'Powerful and profound' Deirdre Purcell'A beautiful book of great tenderness, love of life, and wisdom learned the tough way' Joseph O'ConnorFor almost fifty years, Michael Harding has been crafting words in a bid to express himself and to explore truths about the human condition. But even still he found himself unable to say certain things he really wanted to. Then, while in recovery from surgery, he travelled to a cottage on the Atlantic coast and thought again about life and the people who had profoundly affected him over the years: mentors, loves and old friends.There at the ocean he wrote letters, with an intimacy not previously risked. Letters that would never be posted but that appear now in All the Things Left Unsaid - a vulnerable and beautifully wrought collection of insights into life, death, friendship and love.
All the Things We Didn't Say: Two Memoirs (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)
by Marion Garrard Barnwell Mary DuBose ClarkIn this poignant and introspective dual memoir, Marion Garrard Barnwell embarks on a deeply personal journey. Inspired by the memoir of her maternal grandmother, Mary DuBose Trice Clark, affectionately known as “Ganny,” the narratives, though separated by decades, are brought together to offer readers a unique and moving exploration of growing up in Mississippi and the intersections of family, motherhood, and self-discovery. Clark’s memoir, penned in 1956, offers readers a glimpse into the past, telling the story of her life in Mississippi with unwavering commitment to “just plain facts.” Her narrative traverses the landscapes of Okalona, Nettleton, Verona, and Tupelo, revealing their histories and the vibrant tapestry of her life while artfully sidestepping the complexities of her relationships and emotional vulnerabilities. Reflecting on an era when discussions of emotion and self-awareness were often shrouded in reticence, Clark’s story leaves a void in which Barnwell seeks to uncover the unspoken truths that shaped their family dynamics. Written at the age of seventy-seven, the same age as her grandmother when she wrote her memoir, Barnwell’s writing emerges as a response to the enigmatic silence within her grandmother’s narrative. It paints a vivid and expansive picture of her own life in the Mississippi Delta while also addressing profound themes of alcoholism, racism, shared family history, and the intricate dynamics between generations of women. As Barnwell weaves her own memoir into the fabric of this book, she takes readers on her emotional journey of self-discovery and truth-telling that leads to healing. All the Things We Didn’t Say: Two Memoirs is a testament to the power of storytelling and a captivating ode to the enduring human spirit and the timeless pursuit of understanding the intricate threads that connect us across generations.
All the Things We Never Knew: Chasing the Chaos of Mental Illness
by Sheila HamiltonA reporter chases the biggest story of her life-her husband's descent into mental illness.Even as a reporter, Sheila Hamilton missed the signs as her husband David's mental illness unfolded before her. By the time she had pieced together the puzzle, it was too late. Her once brilliant, intense, and passionate partner was dead within six weeks of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, leaving his nine-year-old daughter and wife without so much as a note to explain his actions, a plan to help them recover from their profound grief, or a solution for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that they would inherit from him.All the Things We Never Knew takes readers from David and Sheila's romance through the last three months of their life together and into the year after his death. It details their unsettling descent from ordinary life into the world of mental illness, and examines the fragile line between reality and madness. Now, a decade after David's death, Sheila and her daughter, Sophie, have learned the power of choosing life over retreat; let themselves love and trust again; and understand the importance of forgiveness. Their story will resonate with all those who have loved someone who suffers from mental illness.
All the Way: A Biography of Frank Sinatra 1915–1998
by Michael FreedlandFrom his rough beginnings to his early success as a crooner worshipped by bobby-soxers, Freedland's biography follows Sinatra's fall as a singer out of vogue and an actor labeled box-office poison, to his triumph as Oscar winner and entertainment legend.
All the Way: My Life in Four Quarters
by Joe NamathThe NFL icon who first brought show business to sports shares his life lessons on fame, fatherhood, and football. Three days before the 1969 Super Bowl, Joe Namath promised the nation that he would lead the New York Jets to an 18-point underdog victory against the seemingly invincible Baltimore Colts. When the final whistle blew, that promise had been kept. Namath was instantly heralded as a gridiron god, while his rugged good looks, progressive views on race, and boyish charm quickly transformed him - in an era of raucous rebellion, shifting social norms, and political upheaval - into both a bona fide celebrity and a symbol of the commercialization of pro sports. By 26, with a championship title under his belt, he was quite simply the most famous athlete alive. Although his legacy has long been cemented in the history books, beneath the eccentric yet charismatic personality was a player plagued by injury and addiction, both sex and substance. When failing knees permanently derailed his career, he turned to Hollywood and endorsements, not to mention a tumultuous marriage and fleeting bouts of sobriety, to try and find purpose. Now 74, Namath is ready to open up, brilliantly using the four quarters of Super Bowl III as the narrative backbone to a life that was anything but charmed. As much about football and fame as about addiction, fatherhood, and coming to terms with our own mortality, All the Way finally reveals the man behind the icon.
All the Way to Berlin: A Paratrooper at War in Europe
by James MegellasIn mid-1943 James Megellas, known as "Maggie" to his fellow paratroopers, joined the 82d Airborne Division, his new "home" for the duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountains outside Naples. In October 1943, when most of the 82d departed Italy to prepare for the D-Day invasion of France, Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, the Fifth Army commander, requested that the division's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Maggie's outfit, stay behind for a daring new operation that would outflank the Nazis' stubborn defensive lines and open the road to Rome. On 22 January 1944, Megellas and the rest of the 504th landed across the beach at Anzio. Following initial success, Fifth Army's amphibious assault, Operation Shingle, bogged down in the face of heavy German counterattacks that threatened to drive the Allies into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Anzio turned into a fiasco, one of the bloodiest Allied operations of the war. Not until April were the remnants of the regiment withdrawn and shipped to England to recover, reorganize, refit, and train for their next mission. In September, Megellas parachuted into Holland along with the rest of the 82d Airborne as part of another star-crossed mission, Field Marshal Montgomery's vainglorious Operation Market Garden. Months of hard combat in Holland were followed by the Battle of the Bulge, and the long hard road across Germany to Berlin. Megellas was the most decorated officer of the 82d Airborne Division and saw more action during the war than most. Yet All the Way to Berlin is more than just Maggie's World War II memoir. Throughout his narrative, he skillfully interweaves stories of the other paratroopers of H Company, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The result is a remarkable account of men at war.
All the Way to the Tigers: A Memoir
by Mary MorrisFrom the author of Nothing to Declare, a new travel narrative examining healing, redemption, and what it means to be a solo woman on the road. <P><P>In the tradition of Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Mary Morris turns a personal catastrophe into a rich, multilayered memoir full of personal growth, family history, and thrilling travel. <P><P>In February 2008 a casual afternoon of ice skating derailed the trip of a lifetime. Mary Morris was on the verge of a well-earned sabbatical, but instead she endured three months in a wheelchair, two surgeries, and extensive rehabilitation. <P><P>On Easter Sunday, when she was supposed to be in Morocco, Morris was instead lying on the sofa reading Death in Venice, casting her eyes over these words again and again: "He would go on a journey. Not far. Not all the way to the tigers." Disaster shifted to possibility and Morris made a decision. When she was well enough to walk again (and her doctor wasn't sure she ever would), she would go "all the way to the tigers." <P><P>So begins a three-year odyssey that takes Morris to India in search of the world's most elusive apex predator. Her first lesson: don't look for a tiger because you won't find it--you look for signs of a tiger. And all unseen tigers, hiding in the bush, are referred to as "she." Morris connects deeply with these magnificent and highly endangered animals, and her weeks on tiger safari also afford a new understanding of herself. <P><P>Written in over a hundred short chapters, All the Way to the Tigers offers an elegiac, wry, and wise look at a woman on the road and the glorious, elusive creature she seeks.
All the Ways You Taught Us: A Memoir Of Ability, Disability, And The Pursuit Of Meaning
by Janet R. GordonAll the Ways You Taught Us chronicles the sixty-year love story between Mort Gordon, a theoretical physicist blinded by retinitis pigmentosa, and Bernice, his wife and reader, who loses mobility from the spina bifida she was born with. After they've died, daughter Janet discovers a cache of love letters full of hope for a successful marriage. <P><P> The couple's ingenuity enables Mort, even as his sight disappears, to design innovative particle accelerators. Working for decades at the Michigan State University Cyclotron Laboratory, Mort helps other scientists see the unseen. Bernice reads physics aloud almost every day. As a child, Janet found her parents completely capable even as she began to understand their difficulties. <P><P> Janet reflects on how the parenting skills of Mort and Bernice help her find meaning―in Jewish culture, in science, in literature, and in American democracy, not just as a child, but as they all grow. Both mother and father insist on deep inquiry into the fundamentals of their world. We follow these influential parents until they can no longer manage daily activities alone. Conflicts and disappointments along the way raise questions about love, forgiveness and the limitations of simple distinctions like "ability" and "disability." The author conducts an examination of what we do for each other and how we gain from the doing―from one generation to the next. She must balance the responsibilities of a daughter with the concerns of a modern working wife and mother. <P><P> This family memoir will appeal to those interested in how a scientist works every day at the edge of discovery, in disability stories, and in Jewish life. It highlights American political perspectives and gender roles through the second half of the 20th century and the early 2000s. Traditional ideas about care, dependence and worth are challenged throughout. We root for this family to succeed.
All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep: Hope--and Hard Pills to Swallow--About Fighting for Black Lives
by Andre HenryA leading voice for social justice reveals how he stopped arguing with white people who deny the ongoing legacy of racism—and offers a proven path forward for Black people and people of color based on the history of nonviolent struggle.&“A moving personal journey that lends practical insight for expanding and strengthening the global antiracist movement.&”—Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, bestselling author of When They Call You a TerroristWhen the rallying cry &“Black Lives Matter&” was heard across the world in 2013, Andre Henry was one of the millions for whom the movement caused a political awakening and a rupture in some of his closest relationships with white people. As he began using his artistic gifts to share his experiences and perspective, Henry was aggrieved to discover that many white Americans—people he called friends and family—were more interested in debating whether racism existed or whether Henry was being polite enough in the way he used his voice.In this personal and thought-provoking book, Henry explores how the historical divides between Black people and non-Black people are expressed through our most mundane interactions, and why this struggle won&’t be resolved through civil discourse, diversity hires, interracial relationships, or education. What we need is a revolution, one that moves beyond symbolic progress to disrupt systems of racial violence and inequality in tangible, creative ways.Sharing stories from his own path to activism—from studying at seminary to becoming a student of nonviolent social change, from working as a praise leader to singing about social justice—and connecting those experiences to lessons from successful nonviolent struggles in America and around the world, Andre Henry calls on Black people and people of color to divest from whiteness and its false promises, trust what their lived experiences tell them, and practice hope as a discipline as they work for lasting change.
All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer
by Karen BabineA &“lovely&” memoir of caring for a mother with cancer, reflecting on our appetites for food and for life (Minneapolis Star Tribune). When her mother is diagnosed with a rare cancer, Karen Babine—cook, collector of vintage cast iron, and fiercely devoted daughter, sister, and aunt—can&’t help but wonder: feed a fever, starve a cold, but what do we do for cancer? And so she commits to preparing her mother anything she will eat, a vegetarian diving into the unfamiliar world of bone broth and pot roast. In this series of mini-essays, Babine ponders the intimate connections between food, family, and illness. As she notes that her sister&’s unborn baby is the size of lemon while her mother&’s tumor is the size of a cabbage, she reflects on what draws us toward food metaphors to describe disease. What is the power of language, of naming, in a medical culture where patients are too often made invisible? How do we seek meaning where none is to be found—and can we create it from scratch? And how, Babine asks as she bakes cookies with her small niece and nephew, does a family create its own food culture across generations? Generous and bittersweet, All the Wild Hungers is an affecting chronicle of one family&’s experience of illness and of a writer's culinary attempt to make sense of the inexplicable. &“[Babine] continues to navigate her way through extraordinary challenges with ordinary comforts, finding poetry in the everyday. Reading this quiet book should provide the sort of balm for those in similar circumstances that writing it must have for the author.&”―Kirkus Reviews &“Profound…Anyone who has experienced a family member&’s struggle with cancer will be stabbed by recognition throughout this book…In the end, the overriding hunger referred to in this lovely book&’s title is the hunger for life.&”―Minneapolis Star Tribune
All the Women in My Brain: And Other Concerns
by Betty Gilpin"If DAVID RAKOFF and DAVID SEDARIS had a baby and that baby was Betty." —Zoe KazanIf you’ve ever felt like you were more, or at least weirder, than the world expected?you're not alone...In this collection, EMMY AWARD-nominated ACTRESS/WRITER Betty Gilpin "writes like an avenging angel, weaving a tapestry of light and darkness, hilarity, and pathos." (Dani Shapiro)"Pick up this WILDLY ORIGINAL, LAUGH-OUT-LOUD, freakishly-incisive debut." —Lisa Taddeo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Three WomenOh. Hi. *takes six long gulps of water during which you’re like, may I help you?*My name is Betty. I have depression. I have passion. I have tits the size of printers. And also: I have a brain full of women.There’s Blanche VonFuckery, Ingrid St. Rash, and a host of others—some cowering in sweatpants, some howling plans for revolution, and one, oh God, and one . . . slowly vomiting up a crow? Worried for her. These women take turns at the wheel. That’s why I feel like a million selves. With a raised eyebrow and a soul-scalpel, I’d like to tell you how I got this way. Because maybe you feel this way too.Let’s hop from wild dissections of modern womanhood to boarding school musings to the glossy cringe of Hollywood. Let’s laugh at my failures and then quietly hope with me for the dream. Whether that dream is love or liberation or enough IMDB credits to taze the demon snapping at my ankles, we won’t know until the shit-fanning end.As a dear friend said after reading this book, it’s “either a masterpiece, or it’s…completely…” and then she glazed over into a haunted stare. Reader? This book is my opus and it is chaos.Welcome to All the Women in My Brain.
All the World Over: Notes From Alaska
by John MuirMuir explores into the vast and varied splendors of the natural world in Alaska.
All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians
by Phil Elwood"A rollicking, unexpectedly affecting story. . . It’s going to be one of the big, buzzy Beltway books of the year."—PoliticoA bridge-burning, riotous memoir by a top PR operative in Washington who exposes the secrets of the $129-billion industry that controls so much of what we see and hear in the media—from a man who used to pull the strings, and who is now pulling back the curtain.After nearly two decades in the Washington PR business, Elwood wants to come clean, by exposing the dark underbelly of the very industry that’s made him so successful. The first step is revealing exactly what he’s been up to for the past twenty years—and it isn’t pretty. Elwood has worked for a murderer’s row of questionable clients, including Gaddafi, Assad, and the government of Qatar. In All the Worst Humans, Elwood unveils how the PR business works, and how the truth gets made, spun, and sold to the public—not shying away from the gritty details of his unlikely career.This is a piercing look into the corridors of money, power, politics, and control, all told in Elwood’s disarmingly funny and entertaining voice. He recounts a four-day Las Vegas bacchanal with a dictator’s son, plotting communications strategies against a terrorist organization in Western Africa, and helping to land a Middle Eastern dictator’s wife a glowing profile in Vogue on the same time the Arab Spring broke out. And he reveals all his slippery tricks for seducing journalists in order to create chaos and ultimately cover for politicians, dictators, and spies—the industry-secret tactics that led to his rise as a political PR pro. Along the way, Phil walks the halls of the Capitol, rides in armored cars through Abuja, and watches his client lose his annual income at the roulette table. But as he moved up the ranks, he felt worse and worse about the sleaziness of it all—until Elwood receives a shocking wake-up call from the FBI. This risky game nearly cost Elwood his life and his freedom. Seeing the light, Elwood decides to change his ways, and his clients, and to tell the full truth about who is the worst human.
All the Wrong Moves: A Memoir About Chess, Love, and Ruining Everything
by Sasha ChapinAn enthralling journey into the world of chess--a story of heartbreak, obsession, failure, and the hunger for greatness.Sasha Chapin is a victim of chess. Like countless amateurs before him--Albert Einstein, Humphrey Bogart, and Marcel Duchamp among them--the game has consumed his life and his mind. First captivated by it as a member of his high school chess club, he found his passion rekindled during an accidental encounter with chess hustlers on the streets of Kathmandu. In its aftermath, he forgot to care about anything else. Like a spurned lover, he tried to move on, but he found the game more seductive the more he resisted it.And so, he reasons, if he can't defeat his addiction, he will try instead to master the game.All the Wrong Moves traces Chapin's rollicking two-year journey around the globe in search of glory. He travels to tournaments in Bangkok and Hyderabad. He seeks out a mentor in St. Louis, a grandmaster whose personality is half rabbi and half monk, and who offers cryptic wisdom and caustic insults ("you're the best player in your chair.") His story builds toward the Los Angeles Open, where Chapin is clearly outmatched and yet determined not to lose.Stylish, inventive, and laugh-out-loud funny, All the Wrong Moves is more than a work of history or autobiography. It is a chronicle of the highs and lows of obsession, of love pursued to its limits, and of a life driven by lust, terror, and the elusive possibility of victory.
All the Wrong Moves: A Memoir About Chess, Love, and Ruining Everything
by Sasha Chapin"A smart, funny, and slyly profound book about the dark ecstasies of obsessive love. Sasha Chapin is a gentlemanly Gonzo, a dirty Bond, and he writes like a dream."--Claudia Dey, author of HeartbreakerSasha Chapin is a victim of chess. Like countless amateurs before him--Albert Einstein, Humphrey Bogart, Marcel Duchamp--the game has consumed his life and his mind. First captivated by it as a member of his high school chess club, his passion was rekindled during an accidental encounter with chess hustlers on the streets of Kathmandu. In its aftermath, he forgot how to care about anything else. He played at all hours, for weeks at a time. Like a spurned lover, he tried to move on, but he found the game more seductive the more he resisted it. And so, he thought, if he can't defeat his obsession, he had to succumb to it. All the Wrong Moves traces Chapin's rollicking two-year journey around the globe in search of glory. He travels to tournaments in Bangkok and Hyderabad. He seeks out a mentor in St. Louis, a grandmaster whose personality is half rabbi and half monk, and who offers cryptic wisdom and caustic insults ("you're the best player in your chair"). His story builds toward the Los Angeles Open, where Chapin is clearly outmatched and yet no less determined not to lose.Along the way, he chronicles the highs and lows of his fixation, driven on this quest by lust, terror, and the elusive possibility of victory. Stylish, inventive, and laugh-out-loud funny, All the Wrong Moves is more than a work of history or autobiography. It's a celebration of the purity, violence, and beauty of the game.
All the Wrong Places: A Life Lost and Found
by Philip ConnorsThe prize-winning author of Fire Season returns with the heartrending story of his troubled years before finding solace in the wilderness. In his debut Fire Season, Philip Connors recounted with lyricism, wisdom, and grace his decade as a fire lookout high above remote New Mexico. Now he tells the story of what made solitude on the mountain so attractive: the years he spent reeling in the wake of a family tragedy. At the age of twenty-three, Connors was a young man on the make. He'd left behind the Minnesota pig farm on which he'd grown up and the brother with whom he'd never been especially close. He had a magazine job lined up in New York City and a future unfolding exactly as he'd hoped. Then one phone call out of the blue changed everything. All the Wrong Places is a searingly honest account of the aftermath of his brother's shocking death, exploring both the pathos and the unlikely humor of a life unmoored by loss. Beginning with the otherworldly beauty of a hot-air-balloon ride over the skies of Albuquerque and ending in the wilderness of the American borderlands, this is the story of a man paying tribute to the dead by unconsciously willing himself into all the wrong places, whether at the copy desk of the Wall Street Journal, the gritty streets of Bed-Stuy in the 1990s, or the smoking rubble of the World Trade Center. With ruthless clarity and a keen sense of the absurd, Connors slowly unmasks the truth about his brother and himself, to devastating effect. Like Cheryl Strayed's Wild, this is a powerful look back at wayward years--and a redemptive story about finding one's rightful home in the world.
All the Young Men: How One Woman Risked It All To Care for the Dying
by Ruth Coker Burks"If I have one message with this book it's that we all have to care for one another. Today, not just in 1986. Life is about caring for each other, and I learned more about life from the dying than I ever learned from the living. It's in an elephant ride, it's in those wildflowers dancing on their way to the shared grave of two men in love, and it's in caring for that young man who just needed information without judgement." <p><p>In 1986, 26-year-old Ruth Coker Burks visits a friend in hospital when she notices that the door to one of the patient's rooms is painted red. The nurses are reluctant to enter, drawing straws to decide who will tend to the sick person inside. Out of impulse, Ruth herself enters the quarantined space and begins to care for the young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. And in doing so, Ruth's own life changes forever. <p><p>As word spreads in the community that she is the only person willing to help the young men afflicted by the growing AIDS crisis, Ruth goes from being an ordinary young mother to an accidental activist. Forging deep friendships with the men she helps, Ruth works to find them housing and jobs, and then funeral homes willing to take their bodies—often in the middle of the night. She prepares and delivers meals to 'her guys,' supplementing her own income with discarded food found in the dumpsters behind supermarkets. She defies local pastors and the medical community to store rare medications for her most urgent patients, and teaches sex education to drag queens after hours at secret bars. <p><p>Emboldened by the weight of their collective pain, she fervently advocates for their safety and visibility, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis, and in doing so becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of ailing gay men on the fringes of society. Ruth kept her story a secret for years, fearful of repercussions within her deeply conservative community. But at a time when it's more important than ever to stand up for those who can't, Ruth has found the courage to have her voice—and the voices of those who were stigmatised, rejected and abandoned—heard.
All the Young Men: A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South
by Ruth Coker Burks Kevin Carr O'LearyA compassionate act drives a young single mother in Arkansas to the forefront of America’s fight against AIDS in this “powerful” memoir (Library Journal).In 1986, twenty-six-year-old Ruth visits a friend at the hospital when she notices that the door to one of the hospital rooms is painted red. She witnesses nurses drawing straws to see who would tend to the patient inside, all of them reluctant to enter the room. Out of impulse, Ruth herself enters the quarantined space and immediately begins to care for the young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. Before she can even process what she’s done, word spreads in the community that Ruth is the only person willing to help these young men afflicted by AIDS, and is called upon to nurse them. As she forges deep friendships with the men she helps, she works tirelessly to find them housing and jobs, even searching for funeral homes willing to take their bodies—often in the middle of the night. She cooks meals for tens of people out of discarded food found in the dumpsters behind supermarkets, stores rare medications for her most urgent patients, teaches sex-ed to drag queens after hours at secret bars, and becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of ailing gay men on the fringes of a deeply conservative state.Throughout the years, Ruth defies local pastors and nurses to help the men she cares for: Paul and Billy, Angel, Chip, Todd and Luke. Emboldened by the weight of their collective pain, she fervently advocates for their safety and visibility, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis.This deeply moving and elegiac memoir honors the extraordinary life of Ruth Coker Burks and the beloved men who fought valiantly for their lives with AIDS during a most hostile and misinformed time in America.Praise for All the Young MenA Finalist for the Lambda Literary AwardOne of Library Journal’s Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2020“Burks’s spirited, straightforward prose balances the heartbreak of her story with just enough humor and toughness. A must-read for anyone interested in narratives of front-line responses to the early AIDS crisis as well as personal accounts of kindness and determination.” —Library Journal (starred review)“Burks’ vivid memories of ‘my guys’ and the trials she endured fighting against prejudice offer a portrait of courageous compassion that is both rare and inspiring . . . [A] deeply moving, meaningful book.” —Kirkus Reviews“Anecdotes of small-town gay bars and drag queen rivalries add levity to tales of hardship and sacrifice—crosses set ablaze on her lawn, her young daughter ostracized at school. . . . This worthy account offers as much bitter as sweet.” —Publishers Weekly
All There Is
by Dave IsayA celebration of love from StoryCorps In All There Is, StoryCorps founder David Isay shares stories from the revolutionary oral history project, revealing the many remarkable journeys that relationships can take. In these pages we discover that love is found in unexpected places: a New York tollbooth, a military base in Iraq, an airport lounge. We encounter love that survives discrimination, illness, poverty, distance--even death. Carrying us from the excitement and anticipation of courtship to the deep connection of lifelong commitment, All There Is enriches our understanding of love and of the resilience of the human spirit.