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To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse
by Howard FishmanThe mysterious true story of Connie Converse—a mid-century New York City songwriter, singer, and composer whose haunting music never found broad recognition—and one writer&’s quest to understand her lifeThis is the mesmerizing story of an enigmatic life. When musician and New Yorker contributor Howard Fishman first heard Connie Converse&’s voice on a recording, he was convinced she could not be real. Her recordings were too good not to know, and too out of place for the 1950s to make sense—a singer who seemed to bridge the gap between traditional Americana (country, blues, folk, jazz, and gospel), the Great American Songbook, and the singer-songwriter movement that exploded a decade later with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. And then there was the bizarre legend about Connie Converse that had become the prevailing narrative of her life: that in 1974, at the age of fifty, she simply drove off one day and was never heard from again. Could this have been true? Who was Connie Converse, really? Supported by a dozen years of research, travel to everywhere she lived, and hundreds of extensive interviews, Fishman approaches Converse&’s story as both a fan and a journalist, and expertly weaves a narrative of her life and music, and of how it has come to speak to him as both an artist and a person. Ultimately, he places her in the canon as a significant outsider artist, a missing link between a now old-fashioned kind of American music and the reflective, complex, arresting music that transformed the 1960s and music forever. But this is also a story of deeply secretive New England traditions, of a woman who fiercely strove for independence and success when the odds were against her; a story that includes suicide, mental illness, statistics, siblings, oil paintings, acoustic guitars, cross-country road trips, 1950s Greenwich Village, an America marching into the Cold War, questions about sexuality, and visionary, forward thinking about race, class, and conflict. It&’s a story and subject that is by turn hopeful, inspiring, melancholy, and chilling.
To Be a Friend Is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind
by Kirk W. JohnsonThe stunning memoir of "one of the few genuine heroes of America's war in Iraq" (Dexter Filkins), a rare glimpse into the perspective of the Iraqi people, and a searching exploration of America's moral obligations to those Iraqis who stepped forward to help.In January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID's only Arabic-speaking American employee. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq. Appointed as USAID's first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city's IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators--young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be. As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the US coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination. On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a "fugue state," crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged off. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD--crushed by having failed in Iraq. One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: People are trying to kill me and I need your help. After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson's now seven-year mission to get help from the US government for Yaghdan and thousands of abandoned Iraqis like him. The List Project has helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. To Be a Friend Is Fatal is Kirk W. Johnson's unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war and his efforts to redeem a shameful chapter of American history.
To Be a Friend Is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind
by Kirk W JohnsonIn January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID's only Arabic-speaking American employee. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq. Appointed as USAID's first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city's IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators--young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be. As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the US coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination. On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a "fugue state," crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged off. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD--crushed by having failed in Iraq. One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: "People are trying to kill me and I need your help. " After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson's now seven-year mission to get help from the US government for Yaghdan and thousands of abandoned Iraqis like him. The List Project has helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. "To Be a Friend Is Fatal" is Kirk W. Johnson's unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war and his efforts to redeem a shameful chapter of American history.
To be a Gay Man
by Will YoungIn To Be a Gay Man, Will Young speaks out about gay shame, revealing the impact it had on his own life, how he learned to deal with it, and how he can now truthfully say he is gay and happy.We know Will as a multi-platinum recording artist, Olivier-nominee, and the first winner of the Idol franchise. But his story began long before his first audition. Looking back on a world where growing up being called gay was the ultimate insult and coming out after a lifetime of hiding his sexuality, Will explores the long-lasting impact repressing his true self has had.As Will’s own story demonstrates, internalised shame in childhood increases the risk of developing low self-worth, and even self-disgust, leading to destructive behaviours in adult life. Will revisits the darkest extremes he has been to, sharing his vulnerabilities, his regrets, tracing his own navigation through it all and showing the way for others who might have felt alone in the same experience.Here you will find a friend, champion and mentor, breaking taboos with frank honesty, and offering invaluable practical advice on overcoming the difficult issues too often faced within the LGBTQ+ community.
To Be a Problem: A Black Woman's Survival in the Racist Disability Rights Movement
by Dara BaldwinA searing critique of the disability rights movement from within, and a call for collective liberation that is pro-Black and centers disabled people of colorFor over twenty years, Dara Baldwin has often been the only person of color in the room when significant disability policy decisions are made. Disenfranchisement of people of color and multi-marginalized communities within the disability rights community is not new and has left many inside the community feeling frustrated and erased.In To Be a Problem, Baldwin candidly shares her journey to becoming a disability activist and policymaker in DC while critiquing the disability rights community. She reveals the reality of erasure for many Black people and people of color in the disability movement and argues that, in turn, many white disabled people center themselves within the work without addressing their own white privilege.Disability rights groups have been centering white, straight, cisgender people while racial justice groups often fail to center disabled people, leading many Black and Brown disabled people to start their own Disability Justice organizations. Drawing from her unique vantage point, Baldwin calls readers to understand the shortcomings of the disability rights movement while inspiring us to push all movements towards a more inclusive and authentic liberation.
To Be a U.S. Secret Service Agent
by Henry HoldenA look inside the renowned law enforcement agency—its history, its recruiting and training process, and tips for those seeking a Secret Service career.The Secret Service was established after the Civil War by the Treasury Department, originally to protect American currency against counterfeiters. It was only after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 that Congress directed the Secret Service to protect the President of the United States. Today, protection remains the primary mission of the United States Secret Service.It takes a special type of individual to be a U.S. Secret Service agent, one willing to “take a bullet” to preserve the ideals on which the United States was founded. To Be a U.S. Secret Service Agent lifts the curtain for a look inside this law enforcement agency, including the highly selective recruiting, the intense training, and the specialized weapons and equipment used to protect current and past presidents, vice presidents, their families, and visiting heads of state.Includes photos
To Be an Actress: Labor and Performance in Anna May Wong's Cross-Media World (Feminist Media Histories #7)
by Yiman WangA free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Between 1919 and 1961, pioneering Chinese American actress Anna May Wong established an enduring legacy that encompassed cinema, theater, radio, and American television. Born in Los Angeles, yet with her US citizenship scrutinized due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Wong—a defiant misfit—innovated nuanced performances to subvert the racism and sexism that beset her life and career. In this critical study of Wong's cross-media and transnational career, Yiman Wang marshals extraordinary archival research and a multifocal approach to illuminate a lifelong labor of performance. Viewing Wong as a performer and worker, not just a star, To Be an Actress adopts a feminist decolonial perspective to speculatively meet her as an interlocutor while inviting a reconsideration of racialized, gendered, and migratory labor as the bedrock of the entertainment industries.
To Be Honest: A Memoir
by Michael LevitonA memoir of “great wit and irony” about growing up in a family fanatically devoted to honesty, and navigating what came next (Publishers Weekly, starred review). If you’re like most people, you probably lied today. It may have been a small one, some insignificant falsehood meant to protect someone’s feelings or guard your true thoughts. Now imagine if your parents ingrained in you a compulsion to never, under any circumstances, withhold the truth or fail to speak your mind. It might be wonderfully freeing. Everyone else might not appreciate it so much. To Be Honest is Michael Leviton’s extraordinary account of being raised in a family he calls a “little honesty cult.” For young Michael, his parents’ core philosophy felt liberating. He loved “just being honest.” By the time he was twenty-nine years old, Michael had told only three “lies” in his entire life. But this honesty had consequences—in friendships, on dates, and at job interviews. And when honesty slowly poisoned a great romance, Michael decided there had to be something to lying after all. He set himself the task of learning to be as casually dishonest as the rest of us.
To Be Hoosiers: Historic Stories of Character & Fortitude
by Ray E. BoomhowerSince Indiana joined the Union in 1816, residents and visitors alike have pondered the essential question: "What is a Hoosier?" The final answer may never be determined, but there are, at least, ways to understand the Hoosier character. It was African American pilots taking a stand for equal rights. It was a speech by a presidential candidate that helped keep peace on a tragic night. It was the triumph and near tragedy involving a Mercury Seven astronaut. And it was a sacrifice that ensured a crucial American victory in the Pacific during World War II. As Kurt Vonnegut once said, "I don't know what it is about Hoosiers, but wherever you go there is always a Hoosier doing something very important there." Award-winning biographer Ray E. Boomhower tells us why.
To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown
by Berry GordyThe story of Motown Records and how it changed the course of American music, as told by its founder—&“an African American culture hero of historic stature&” (The New York Times). Berry Gordy Jr., who once considered becoming a boxer, started a record company with a family loan of $800 in 1959. Gordy&’s company, Motown Records, went on to create some of the most popular music of all time. By the time he sold the company nearly thirty years later, it was worth $61 million and had produced musical legends including Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5. Here, the revolutionary who shattered the color barrier in the American entertainment industry and forever changed the way the world hears music, shares his story of ambition and vision. From humble beginnings, Gordy amassed a fortune and became a musical kingmaker in the cultural heydays of the 1960s and &’70s. Quelling rumors and detailing his relationships with the artists he managed, Gordy pens &“a vivid recreation of a great period and a seminal company in popular music&” (Kirkus Reviews).
To Be, or Not… to Bop
by Dizzy Gillespie Al FraserThis book is a complete, authentic, and authoritative autobiography of Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), a jazz musician, ever published.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate: A Novella
by Becky ChambersIn the future, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the galaxy transform themselves.*FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR* At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the wonders and dangers of her journey, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.(P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in her Own Words
by Lorraine HansberryAn informal autobiography by the author of "Raisin in the Sun", with an introduction by James Baldwin.
To Bear Witness: A Journey of Healing and Solidarity, Updated, Revised, and Expanded Edition
by Kevin M. CahillFor more than fifty years, Dr. Cahill has been helping to heal the world, as a leading specialist in tropical medicine and as a driving force in humanitarian assistance and relief efforts around the globe. In this revised and expanded edition, he chronicles extraordinary achievements of compassion and commitment. Bringing together a rich selection of writings, he crafts a fascinating memoir of a life devoted to others. The book includes front-line reports from places under siege—Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Nicaragua, Gaza, and Ireland; there are also visionary essays from the origins of the AIDS epidemic and landmine crises, and no less passionate concerns of his own experiences of pain and suffering—as well as of joy and beauty—in the worlds in which he has traveled. As the distinguished neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, M.D., notes in his endorsement, “These essays, by turns elegiac, lyrical, funny, tender, nostalgic, and vehemently impassioned, come together in an ongoing tapestry, a portrait of a dedicated physician who has dared to make a difference.”
To Begin Again: Stories and Memoirs 1908-1929
by M. F. K. FisherTo Begin Again provides us with a new portrait of her early years, from her family's migration to California in 1912 to her first marriage in 1929. Some pieces were written as early as 1927, some as recently as 1990. All are suffused with her trademark wit, intelligence, and insight. Fisher speaks here of the people and events which first shaped her finely tuned and lasting appetites.
To The Bitter End: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1942-45
by Victor KlempererThe international bestselling record of a German Jew in Nazi Germany.'Deserves to stand beside the diary of Anne Frank as a day-to-day description of the sufferings of the victims of Hitler's evil regime' EVENING STANDARD'Few English readers will fail to be moved as I was - ultimately to the point of tears' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'Packed with vivid observation, profound reflection ... they find hope, dignity and even tart humour in the jaws of hell' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAYA sensation when first published, this is one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was by 1933 a professor of languages in Dresden. Over the next decade he lost his job, his house and many of his friends, even his cat, as Jews were not allowed to own pets. Saved for much of the war from the Holocaust by his marriage to a gentile, he was able to escape in the aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden and survived the remaining months of the war in hiding. Throughout, Klemperer kept a diary, for a Jew in Nazi Germany a daring act in itself. This volume covers the period from the beginnings of the Holocaust to the end of the war, telling the story of Klemperer's increasing isolation, his near miraculous survival, his awareness of the development of the growing Holocaust as friends and associates disappeared, and his narrow escapes from deportation and the Dresden firebombing in 1945.Shocking and moving by turns, it is a remarkable and important document, as powerful and astonishing in its way as Anne Frank's classic.
To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights
by Angela Dalton Lauren SemmerPerfect for fans of Hidden Figures and Mae Among the Stars! To Boldly Go tells the true story of Nichelle Nichols and how she used her platform on Star Trek to inspire and recruit a new generation of diverse astronauts and many others in the space and STEM fields. <p><p> As Lieutenant Uhura on the iconic prime-time television show Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols played the first Black female astronaut anyone had ever seen on-screen. A smart, strong, independent Black woman aboard the starship Enterprise was revolutionary in the 1960s, when only white men had traveled to outer space in real life and most Black characters on TV were servants. <p><p> Nichelle not only inspired a generation to pursue its dreams but also opened the door for the real-life pioneering astronauts Sally Ride, Dr. Mae Jemison, and more. <p><p> This empowering tribute to the trailblazing pop culture icon reminds us of the importance of perseverance and the power of representation in storytelling. You just might be inspired to boldly go where no one like you has ever gone before! <P><P><i>Advisory: Bookshare has learned that this book offers only partial accessibility. We have kept it in the collection because it is useful for some of our members. Benetech is actively working on projects to improve accessibility issues such as these.</i>
To Boldly Go Where No Book Has Gone Before: A Joyous Journey Through All of Science
by Luke O'NeillScience is a serious business, right? Wrong. Scientists have been participants in the best reality show of all time, with all the highs, lows, bust-ups, and strange personalities of any show on telly today. From Luke O'Neill - the science teacher you wish you'd had - this hugely accessible history of science reveals the human stories behind the biggest discoveries.For example, we meet Charles Darwin as he weighs up the pros and cons of marrying his cousin: 'constant companion' vs 'less money for books'. Tough call.To Boldly Go Where No Book Has Gone Before covers everything from space travel and evolution to alchemy and AI. Written by one of our leading scientists, this is an insider's account that celebrates the joy of science. It is filled with all the juicy bits that other histories leave out.
To Boldly Grow: Finding Joy, Adventure, and Dinner in Your Own Backyard
by Tamar HaspelA love-letter to the unexpected delights (and occasional despair) of so-called &“first-hand food&”—meals we grow, forage, fish, or even hunt from the world around us. To Boldly Grow is &“part memoir, part how-to guide and wholly delightful&” (Washington Post).Journalist and self-proclaimed &“crappy gardener&” Tamar Haspel is on a mission: to show us that raising or gathering our own food is not as hard as it&’s often made out to be. When she and her husband move from Manhattan to two acres on Cape Cod, they decide to adopt a more active approach to their diet: raising chickens, growing tomatoes, even foraging for mushrooms and hunting their own meat. They have more ambition than practical know-how, but that&’s not about to stop them from trying…even if sometimes their reach exceeds their (often muddy) grasp. With &“first-hand food&” as her guiding principle, Haspel embarks on a grand experiment to stop relying on experts to teach her the ropes (after all, they can make anything grow), and start using her own ingenuity and creativity. Some of her experiments are a rousing success (refining her own sea salt). Others are a spectacular failure (the turkey plucker engineered from an old washing machine). Filled with practical tips and hard-won wisdom, To Boldly Grow allows us to journey alongside Haspel as she goes from cluelessness to competence, learning to scrounge dinner from the landscape around her and discovering that a direct connection to what we eat can utterly change the way we think about our food--and ourselves.
To Break Russia's Chains: Boris Savinkov and His Wars Against the Tsar and the Bolsheviks
by Vladimir AlexandrovA brilliant examination of the enigmatic Russian revolutionary about whom Winston Churchill said "few men tried more, gave more, dared more and suffered more for the Russian people," and who remains a legendary and controversial figure in his homeland today.Although now largely forgotten outside Russia, Boris Savinkov was famous, and notorious, both at home and abroad during his lifetime, which spans the end of the Russian Empire and the establishment of the Soviet Union. A complex and conflicted individual, he was a paradoxically moral revolutionary terrorist, a scandalous novelist, a friend of epoch-defining artists like Modigliani and Diego Rivera, a government minister, a tireless fighter against Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and an advisor to Churchill. At the end of his life, Savinkov conspired to be captured by the Soviet secret police, and as the country&’s most prized political prisoner made headlines around the world when he claimed that he accepted the Bolshevik state. But as this book argues, this was Savinkov&’s final play as a gambler and he had staked his life on a secret plan to strike one last blow against the tyrannical regime. Neither a "Red" nor a "White," Savinkov lived an epic life that challenges many popular myths about the Russian Revolution, which was arguably the most important catalyst of twentieth-century world history. All of Savinkov&’s efforts were directed at transforming his homeland into a uniquely democratic, humane and enlightened state. There are aspects of his violent legacy that will, and should, remain frozen in the past as part of the historical record. But the support he received from many of his countrymen suggests that the paths Russia took during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries--the tyranny of communism, the authoritarianism of Putin&’s regime--were not the only ones written in her historical destiny. Savinkov's goals remain a poignant reminder of how things in Russia could have been, and how, perhaps, they may still become someday. Written with novelistic verve and filled with the triumphs, disasters, dramatic twists and contradictions that defined Savinkov's life, this book shines a light on an extraordinary man who tried to change Russian and world history.
To Catch a Cat: How Three Stray Kittens Rescued Me
by Heather GreenA heartfelt, funny memoir about how a kitten rescue project changed one cynic's life... Journalist Heather Green was finally putting down roots: in shiny, buzzing Manhattan. She loved her work and threw herself into sixty-hour weeks--once walking into a subway pole, getting a concussion, and still going to the office. Her new boyfriend Matt lived across the river in a New Jersey town that had none of the glamour of New York. She liked Matt--a lot--yet she wasn't sure what to make of weekends in gritty, dilapidated Union City. But things changed the summer morning Heather discovered a beautiful stray cat and her three black-and-white kittens in Matt's neighbor's backyard. When she made eye contact with one of the kittens, she felt something she'd never felt before. She and Matt had to save the little animals. Because if they didn't, who would? The crazy world of cat rescue soon drew Heather in. As she and Matt worked together to figure out how to trap, tame, and find homes for their foundlings, she began to question the life she had back in Manhattan. This is the story of how three furry beings taught one woman about love, community, and what truly matters in life.From the Trade Paperback edition.
To Catch the Lightning: A Novel of American Dreaming
by Alan CheuseThe critically acclaimed winner of the Grub Street National Book Prize for Fiction. Until someone tells you, you never know in whose dreams you appear... -from the prologue. Beginning in the late 1890s, Edward Sheriff Curtis embarked on an overwhelming odyssey to document and photograph the fading way of life of the American Indian. In To Catch the Lightning, Alan Cheuse creates a remarkable portrait of the man who would become a legend. Curtis turned his lens on a landscape of unparalleled beauty and tradition, and in so doing, became the architect of the finest lasting visual record of a culture close to extinction. Here is a haunting tale of the struggle between ambition and duty and a testament to the power of the sacrifices we make for the dreams that compel us. "Digs deep into the mystery and sacrifice and selfishness of creative vision." Charles Frazier. "A worthy effort... illuminating unknown corners of a great photographer's life." Kirkus Reviews
To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism
by Ross DouthatA New York Times columnist and one of America’s leading conservative thinkers considers Pope Francis’s efforts to change the church he governs.Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, today Pope Francis is the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis’s stewardship of the Church, while perceived as a revelation by many, has provoked division throughout the world. “If a conclave were to be held today,” one Roman source told The New Yorker, “Francis would be lucky to get ten votes.” In To Change the Church, Douthat explains why the particular debate Francis has opened—over communion for the divorced and the remarried—is so dangerous: How it cuts to the heart of the larger argument over how Christianity should respond to the sexual revolution and modernity itself, how it promises or threatens to separate the church from its own deep past, and how it divides Catholicism along geographical and cultural lines. Douthat argues that the Francis era is a crucial experiment for all of Western civilization, which is facing resurgent external enemies (from ISIS to Putin) even as it struggles with its own internal divisions, its decadence, and self-doubt. Whether Francis or his critics are right won’t just determine whether he ends up as a hero or a tragic figure for Catholics. It will determine whether he’s a hero, or a gambler who’s betraying both his church and his civilization into the hands of its enemies.
To China and Back: The Story of Anthony and Evelyn Bollback (The\jaffray Collection Of Missionary Portraits Ser.)
by Anthony G. BollbackTo China And Back describes the multi-faceted ministry of Anthony and Evelyn Bollback which affirms that God intervenes in the everyday affairs of those who love Him and habitually seek His guidance. Hardly yet able to communicate in Chinese, the Bollbacks were forced to flee China and to continue their missionary careers in Japan and Hong Kong. And always, there was the usual and unexpected.