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To the Left of Inspiration: Adventures in Living with Disabilities
by Katherine SchneiderWhen is the last time you've read an honest, funny book about living with disabilities? To the Left of Inspiration: Adventures in Living with Disabilities is just such a book. You'll learn from a woman blind from birth about activities of daily life, like talking to children about disabilities, traveling, going to church, and working. Great memoirs about amazing people with disabilities exist, as do hundreds of books about the diagnosis and treatment of a particular disability. There are also books for specialists about teaching, rehabilitating, or accommodating a particular kind of disability. Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, more and more people interact daily with students, customers, and clients with disabilities and want to do so knowledgeably and sensitively. The life experiences Schneider describes to exemplify her suggestions to the reader highlight the warmth and humor in all of our struggles to be humane with each other, whether we are temporarily able-bodied or disabled. Fifty-four million Americans have chronic illnesses or disabilities requiring them to make accommodations in the ways they live their lives. They have families, friends, coworkers, teachers, health care professionals, and church leaders who want to know what their disabled friend is going through and how to help. Schneider writes about living with blindness for over fifty years and fibromyalgia for ten years.
To the Mountain
by Phyllis BarberWritten by an award-winning writer, this spiritual memoir is distinguished by the author's Mormonism and literary prose. In a series of thought-provoking, personal essays, Phyllis Barber provides an engaging account of how she left her original Mormon faith and eventually returned to it decades later. Her journey begins in the 1990s. In search of spiritual healing and a deeper understanding of the divine, she travels widely and participates with people of many different persuasions, including Southern Baptists; Tibetan Buddhist monks in Tibet and North India; shamans in Peru and Ecuador; goddess worshipers in the Yucatan; and members of mega-church congregations, an Islamic society, and Gurdjieff study groups. Her 20-year hiatus from Mormonism transforms her in powerful ways. A much different human being when she decides to return to her original religion, her clarity and unflinching honesty will encourage others to continue with their own personal odysseys.
To the Mountain
by Phyllis BarberWritten by an award-winning writer, this spiritual memoir is distinguished by the author's Mormonism and literary prose. In a series of thought-provoking, personal essays, Phyllis Barber provides an engaging account of how she left her original Mormon faith and eventually returned to it decades later. Her journey begins in the 1990s. In search of spiritual healing and a deeper understanding of the divine, she travels widely and participates with people of many different persuasions, including Southern Baptists; Tibetan Buddhist monks in Tibet and North India; shamans in Peru and Ecuador; goddess worshipers in the Yucatan; and members of mega-church congregations, an Islamic society, and Gurdjieff study groups. Her 20-year hiatus from Mormonism transforms her in powerful ways. A much different human being when she decides to return to her original religion, her clarity and unflinching honesty will encourage others to continue with their own personal odysseys.
To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement
by Charlayne Hunter-Gault<p>A personal history of the civil rights movement from activist and acclaimed journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault. <p>On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people crowded the grounds of the Capitol to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. Among the masses was Charlayne Hunter-Gault. She had flown from South Africa for the occasion, to witness what was for many the culmination of the long struggle for civil rights in the United States. In this compelling personal history, she uses the event to look back on her own involvement in the civil rights movement, as one of two black students who forced the University of Georgia to integrate, and to relate the pivotal events that swept the South as the movement gathered momentum through the early 1960s. <p>With poignant black-and-white photos, original articles from the New York Times, and a unique personal viewpoint, this is a moving tribute to the men and women on whose shoulders Obama stood.</p>
To the New Owners: A Martha's Vineyard Memoir
by Madeleine BlaisThe Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist “gives a familial face to the mystique of Martha’s Vineyard” in a memoir with “gentle humor and . . . elegiac sweetness” (Kirkus Reviews). A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist In the 1970s, Madeleine Blais’s in-laws purchased a vacation house on Martha’s Vineyard. A little more than two miles down a dirt road, it had no electricity or modern plumbing, the roof leaked, and mice had invaded the walls. It was perfect. Sitting on Tisbury Great Pond—well-stocked with delicious oysters and crab—the house faced the ocean and the sky. Though improvements were made, the ethos remained the same: no heat, television, or telephone. Instead, there were countless hours at the beach, meals cooked and savored with friends, nights talking under the stars, until, in 2014, the house was sold. To the New Owners is Madeleine Blais’s “witty and charming . . . deeply felt memoir” of this house, and of the Vineyard itself, from the history of the island and its famous visitors, to the ferry, the pie shops, the quirky charms and customs, and the abundant natural beauty. But more than that, this is an elegy for a special place—a retreat that held the intimate history of her family (The National Book Review).
To the One I Love the Best
by Ludwig BemelmansA witty and charming account of the wildly entertaining Elsie de Wolfe in 1950s Hollywood, recounted by her dear friend, the beloved creator of MadelineLudwig Bemelmans&’ charming intergenerational friendship with the late-in-life &“First Lady of Interior Decoration&” provides an enormously enjoyable nostalgia trip to the sun-soaked glamour of Los Angeles, where de Wolfe surrounded herself with classic movie stars and a luminous parade of life's oddities. With hilarity and mischief that de Wolfe would no doubt approve, To the One I Love the Best lifts the curtain on 1950s Hollywood--a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars. Bemelmans, who was working at MGM, had originally come to the California home of de Wolfe just for cocktails but by the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'. To the One I Love the Best (which refers to de Wolfe&’s dog) is a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman and an American icon. Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you. - Elsie de Wolfe
To the Ramparts of Infinity: Colonel W. C. Falkner and the Ripley Railroad
by Jack D. Elliott Jr.Before William Faulkner, there was Colonel William C. Falkner (1825–1889), the great-grandfather of the prominent and well-known Mississippi writer. The first biography of Falkner was a dissertation by the late Donald Duclos, which was completed in 1961, and while Faulkner scholars have briefly touched on the life of the Colonel due to his influence on the writer’s work and life, there have been no new biographies dedicated to Falkner until now. To the Ramparts of Infinity: Colonel W. C. Falkner and the Ripley Railroad seeks to fill this gap in scholarship and Mississippi history by providing a biography of the Colonel, sketching out the cultural landscape of Ripley, Mississippi, and alluding to Falkner’s influence on his great-grandson’s Yoknapatawpha cycle of stories. While the primary thrust of the narrative is to provide a sound biography on Falkner, author Jack D. Elliott Jr. also seeks to identify sites in Ripley that were associated with the Colonel and his family. This is accomplished in part within the main narrative, but the sites are specifically focused on, summarized, and organized into an appendix entitled “A Field Guide to Colonel Falkner’s Ripley.” There, the sites are listed along with old and contemporary photographs of buildings. Maps of the area, plotting military action as well as the railroads, are also included, providing essential material for readers to understand the geographical background of the area in this period of Mississippi history.
To the Rescue!: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival
by Carolyn Matthews"We live, as we dream - alone." Sometimes our inner isolation is alleviated; in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event, rescuer and rescued meet, and loneliness is bridged.This book of true stories shows ordinary people in extraordinary events - a ski accident, a missing child, thrilling sea rescues - that take place from snow-bound Labrador to the coast of California. It is about the lives of rescuers who search for life’s meaning while engaging in deeds of heroism and compassion. It is about the aftermath of rescue. There are stories from each Canadian provinces and from the United States. Each is a story of action and inspiration.
To the Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson
by Heidi SwintonBiography of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
To the Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground: Great Ideas Series (Great Idea Series #7)
by Monica KullingThe son of freed slaves, Garrett Morgan was determined to have a better life than laboring in the Kentucky fields with his parents and ten siblings. He began by sweeping floors in a clothing factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where he decided to invent a stronger belt for sewing machines. When he was promoted to sewing-machine repairman, Garrett was on his way. In 1911, 146 workers died in the shocking Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, so Garrett decided to invent a safety hood for firefighters. Little did he know that most people wouldn't be interested in buying his safety hood when they discovered its inventor was black. But an explosion that trapped workers in a tunnel under Lake Erie soon changed all that. Garrett's hoods were rushed to the scene and used to rescue as many men as possible. Developed further, Garrett's invention came to save thousands of soldiers from chlorine gas in the trenches of World War I.
To the River: Losing My Brother
by Don GillmorAn eloquent and haunting exploration of suicide in which one of Canada's most gifted writers attempts to understand why his brother took his own life. Which leads him to another powerful question: Why are boomers killing themselves at a far greater rate than the Silent Generation before them or the generations that have followed?In the spring of 2006, Don Gillmor travelled to Whitehorse to reconstruct the last days of his brother, David, whose truck and cowboy hat were found at the edge of the Yukon River just outside of town the previous December. David's family, his second wife, and his friends had different theories about his disappearance. Some thought David had run away; some thought he'd met with foul play; but most believed that David, a talented musician who at the age of 48 was about to give up the night life for a day job, had intentionally walked into the water. Just as Don was about to paddle the river looking for traces, David's body was found, six months after he'd gone into the river. And Don's canoe trip turned into an act of remembrance and mourning. At least David could now be laid to rest. But there was no rest for his survivors. As his brother writes, "When people die of suicide, one of the things they leave behind is suicide itself. It becomes a country. At first I was a visitor, but eventually I became a citizen." In this tender, probing, surprising work, Don Gillmor brings back news from that country for all of us who wonder why people kill themselves. And why, for the first time, it's not the teenaged or the elderly who have the highest suicide rate, but the middle aged. Especially men.
To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface (Canons #71)
by Olivia LaingAn author&’s walk &“from source to sea along the Ouse in Sussex is a meandering, meditative delight&” drawing on history, literature, and the river itself (The Guardian, UK).In To The River, author Olivia Laing embarks on a weeklong, midsummer odyssey along the banks of the River Ouse in Sussex, England, from its source near Haywards Heath to the sea, where it empties into the Channel at Newhaven. More than sixty years after Virginia Woolf drowned herself in the River Ouse, Laing still finds inspiration and guidance in the author&’s abiding presence.Through cow pastures, woods, and neighborhood streets, Laing&’s meandering walk occasions a profound and haunting reflection on histories both personal and cultural, and on landscapes both physical and emotional. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology and folklore. Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.&“Magical…By turns lyrical, melancholic and exultant, To the River just makes you want to follow Olivia Laing all the way to the sea.&”—Daily Telegraph, UK
To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette
by Carolly Erickson Lisa DrewOne of history's most misunderstood figures, Marie Antoinette represents the extravagance and the decadence of pre-Revolutionary France. Yet there was innocence about Antoinette, who was thrust as a child into the chillingly formal French court. Married to the maladroit, ill-mannered Dauphin, Antoinette found pleasure in costly entertainments and garments.
To the Stars!: The First American Woman to Walk in Space
by Carmella Van Vleet Dr Kathy SullivanKathy Sullivan wanted to go everywhere. She loved blueprints and maps. She loved languages and the ocean. She didn’t like the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” <p><p>She wanted to explore and do exciting things that girls weren’t supposed to be able to do. Only men had the exciting jobs. Kathy liked fishing and swimming; flying planes and studying science. That’s what she liked and that’s what she decided to do with her life. She followed her heart and eventually became a NASA astronaut and the first woman to walk in space. Kathy wanted to see the whole world and so she did: from space! <p><p>Backmatter includes further information about Dr. Sullivan and her career, as well as other famous firsts made by women astronauts.
To the Temple of Tranquility...And Step On It!: A Memoir
by Ed Begley Jr.Beloved actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. shares hilarious and poignant stories of his improbable life, focusing on his relationship with his legendary father, adventures with Hollywood icons, the origins of his environmental activism, addiction and recovery, and his lifelong search for wisdom and common ground. Ed Begley Jr. is truly one of a kind, a performer who is known equally for his prolific film and television career and his environmental activism. From an appearance on My Three Sons to a notable role in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to starring in St. Elsewhere—as well as films with Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and mockumentarian Christopher Guest—Begley has worked with just about everyone in Hollywood. His "green" bona fides date back to 1970, and have been the topic of two books, a reality show, countless media appearances, and even repeated spoofs on The Simpsons (in one episode, Begley's solar‑powered car stalls out on train tracks, but is saved when the train is revealed to be an "Ed Begley Solar‑Powered Train&”). In To the Temple of Tranquility...And Step On It!, Begley shares a fountain of hilarious and poignant stories throughout his life. The memoir is candid and endearing; in one chapter, he is summoned to Marlon Brando's house to discuss the practical uses of electric eels. In another, he tells the story of taking Annette Bening to the Oscars in &“an oddball kit-car that had gull wing doors, and was nearly impossible to get in or out of, unless you were a yoga master, which fortunately she was.&” Not to mention insightful and surprising tales about The Beatles, Monty Python, Richard Pryor, Cesar Chavez, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Waits, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carrie Fisher, and so many more luminaries. Begley&’s unmistakable voice is honest and revealing in a way that only a comic of his caliber can accomplish. Behind all the stories, Begley has wisdom to impart. This is a book about family, friends, addiction, failure, and redemption.
To the Victor the Spoils
by Sean LongdenFrom the D-Day landings in June 1944 to the final declaration of peace the following year the Allied forces fought a bitter battle to the end against Hitler's Nazi Germany. Sean Longden re-tells the unexpected true story of life among the ranks of Field Marshall Montgomery's 21st Army group and reveals a tale of sex, burglary, rape, pillage and alcohol. Uncovering new material from interviews, documents and personal accounts, Sean Longden recounts what really happened on the road to Berlin. 'A meticulously-researched, utterly absorbing account of the human story behind the battle to crush Hitler's forces.' Yorkshire Post'From D-Day to VE Day, historian Sean Longden reveals the sex 'n' rock 'n' drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll of soldiering' The Times
To Timbuktu for a Haircut: A Journey Through West Africa
by Rick AntonsonTimbuktu: the African city known to legend as a land of scholars, splendor and mystery, a golden age in the Sahara Desert. But to many it is a vaguely recognizable name - a flippant tag for "the most remote place on earth." With this fabled city as his goal, author Rick Antonson began a month-long trek. His initial plan? To get a haircut. Aided by an adventuresome spirit, Rick endures a forty-five hour train ride, a swindling travel agent, "Third World, three-lane" roads, rivers, and a flat deck ferry boat before finally reaching Timbuktu. Rick narrates the history of this elusive destination through the teachings of his Malian guide Zak, and encounters with stranded tourists, a camel owner, a riverboat captain, and the people who call Timbuktu home.Antonson's eloquence and quiet wit highlight the city's myths--the centuries old capital and traveler's dream--as well as its realities: A city gripped by poverty, where historic treasures lie close to the sands of destruction. Indeed, some 700,000 ancient manuscripts remain there, endangered. Both a travelogue and a history of a place long forgotten, To Timbuktu for a Haircut emerges as a plea to preserve the past and open cultural dialogues on a global scale.The second edition of this important book outlines the volatile political situations in Timbuktu following the spring 2012 military coup in Mali and the subsequent capture of the city by Islamic extremists. Literally, it is a race against time to save the city's irreplaceable artifacts, mosques, and monuments, and to understand why Timbuktu's past is essential to the future of Africa.
To Try Men's Souls: A Novel (George Washington Series #1)
by Newt Gingrich William R. ForstchenAfter two bestselling series examining the Civil War and WWII, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen have turned their sharp eye for detail on the Revolutionary War with To Try Men's Souls.The story follows three men with three very different roles to play in history: General George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Jonathan Van Dorn, a private in Washington's army. The action focuses on one of the most iconic events in American history: Washington crossing the Delaware. Unlike the bold, courageous General in Emanuel Leutze's painting, Washington is full of doubt on the night of December 25, 1776. After five months of defeat, morale is dangerously low. Each morning muster shows that hundreds have deserted in the night. While Washington prepares his weary troops for the attack on Trenton, Thomas Paine is in Philadelphia, overseeing the printing of his newest pamphlet, The Crisis. And Jonathan Van Dorn is about to bring the war to his own doorstep. In the heat of battle, he must decide between staying loyal to the cause and sparing his brother who has joined up with the British. Through the thoughts and private fears of these three men, Gingrich and Forstchen illuminate the darkest days of the Revolution. With detailed research and an incredible depth of military insight, To Try Men's Souls is a novel that provides a rare and personal perspective of the men who fought for, and founded the United States of America.
To Venice with Love: A Midlife Adventure
by Philip Gwynne Jones'An inspiring, life-affirming story' Reader's Digest Philip and Caroline Jones, a middle-aged couple living in Edinburgh, found themselves facing redundancy and an uncertain future. Until they received some advice from a complete stranger in a pub.Their response was to sell everything in order to move to Venice, in search of a better, simpler life. They were wrong about the 'simpler' bit...To Venice with Love recounts how they arrived in Venice with ten pieces of luggage, no job, no friends and no long-term place to stay. From struggling with the language to battling bureaucracy; the terror of teaching English to Italian teenagers, the company of a modestly friendly cat... and finally, from debugging financial systems on an Edinburgh industrial estate, to building an ordinary life in an extraordinary city, To Venice with Love is a love-letter to a city that changed their lives. It's a story told through the history, music, art, architecture (and, of course, the food) of La Serenissima.
To Venice with Love: A Midlife Adventure
by Philip Gwynne JonesPhilip and Caroline Jones, a middle-aged couple living in Edinburgh, found themselves facing redundancy and an uncertain future. Until they received some advice from a complete stranger in a pub.Their response was to sell everything in order to move to Venice, in search of a better, simpler life. They were wrong about the 'simpler' bit...To Venice with Love recounts how they arrived in Venice with ten pieces of luggage, no job, no friends and no long-term place to stay. From struggling with the language to battling bureaucracy; the terror of teaching English to Italian teenagers, the company of a modestly friendly cat... and finally, from debugging financial systems on an Edinburgh industrial estate, to building an ordinary life in an extraordinary city, To Venice with Love is a love-letter to a city that changed their lives. It's a story told through the history, music, art, architecture (and, of course, the food) of La Serenissima.
To Walk It Is To See It: 1 Couple, 98 Days, 1400 Miles on Europe's GR5
by Kathy ElkindIn 2018, Kathy Elkind and her husband decided to take a grown-up “gap year” in Europe and walk the 1,400-mile Grande Randonnée Cinq (GR5) across The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.At fifty-seven, Kathy has chosen comfort over hardship: Unlike the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Coast Trail, the GR5 winds from village to village instead of campsite to campsite. She and Jim get to indulge in warm beds and delicious regional food every night and croissants in the mornings. The GR5 is not all comfort. Walking day after day for ninety-eight days bring sickness, accommodation struggles, language barriers, and storm-shrouded mountains in the Alps. Meanwhile, Kathy finds herself reflecting on difficult topics—primarily, her struggles with dyslexia, overeating, and shame. But she also finds that the walking becomes a moving meditation and the beauty of the landscape heals; she begins to discover her own wise strength; and as the days unfold, she comes to the gratifying realization that a long marriage is like a long trail: there are ups and downs and it takes hard work to keep going, but the beauty along the way is staggering.Written with raw honesty and compassion, and rich with dazzling scenery, To Walk It Is To See It will inspire you to lace up your walking shoes and discover your own path.
To War with a 4th Hussar: Fighting in Greece, North Africa & The Balkans
by Peter CrichtonThis vivid WWII memoir recounts the exploits of a 4th Queen&’s Own Hussar through the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern theatre of combat. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Peter Crichton was quick to enlist and escape his journalistic job in London. The adventuresome young man transferred to the 4th Queen&’s Own Hussars and soon found himself fighting a desperate and ill-fated rear-guard action in the mountains of Northern Greece. One of the few in his Regiment to be evacuated, Crichton went on to see combat in the battles of Alam Halfa and El Alamein. But he also found time to play polo and fall in love. Crichton was later deployed to Yugoslavia where he was attached to Tito&’s partisans, a guerilla resistance movement that fought their way North, island by island, hurrying the Germans&’ withdrawal. After four and a half years&’ absence, he returned to London on VE Day, 1945, grateful to be alive.
To War With the Walkers: One Family's Extraordinary Story of the Second World War
by Annabel Venning'A sensationally good book . . . I see reflections of my own family, and beyond them, like those mirrors tilted slightly into infinity, I can see literally miles of others lined up, inexorably linked forever by a shared experience . . . this is an exceptional book and should be required reading in modern history classes' JOANNA LUMLEY 'An extraordinary, compelling picture of a family entwined in the Second World War . . . at turns funny, sad, redemptive and tragic. Fabulous' JAMES HOLLAND 'A moving book . . . This account of one family's experience takes us to hidden crannies of the war that more official accounts might not bother with . . . Once read, never forgotten' THE TIMES 'Uplifting and enlightening . . . Venning has a good eye for what makes the Walker story both unique and universal' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Superb . . . With its sweeping narrative, readable style, sense of humanity and breadth of research, the saga casts a highly personal light on some of the most significant episodes of [the Second World War]' DAILY EXPRESS 'A heart-pounding narrative that feels fresh . . . this marvellous book also depicts a world that was soon to vanish' DAILY MAIL 'A loving tribute . . . Brimming with anecdote and rich in fascinating detail' KEGGIE CAREW ~The miraculous story of the Walkers, six siblings who survived Blitz, battle and internment and whose incredible experiences tell a new social history of WW2, told by historian and Walker descendant Annabel Venning. How would it feel if all your sons and daughters were caught up in war? What would it be like to spend six years fearing what a telegram might bring? That was the heart-wrenching reality faced by so many families throughout the Second World War, including the parents of the Walker children. From the Blitz to the battlefields of Europe and the Far East, this is the remarkable story of four brothers and two sisters who were swept along by the momentous events of the war. Harold was a surgeon in a London hospital alongside his sister Ruth, a nurse, when the bombs began to fall in 1940. Peter was captured in the fall of Singapore. Edward fought the Germans in Italy, and Walter the Japanese in Burma, while in London, glamorous Bee hoped for lasting happiness with an American airman. In To War With the Walkers, Annabel Venning, Walter's granddaughter, tells the enthralling and moving tales of her relatives, six ordinary young men and women, who each faced an extraordinary struggle for survival(P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
To Win and Die in Dixie: The Birth of the Modern Golf Swing and the Mysterious Death of Its Creator
by Steve EubanksA fascinating biography of a forgotten golf legend, a riveting whodunit of a covered-up killing, a scalding exposeacute; of a closed society-in To Win and Die in Dixie, award-winning writer Steve Eubanks weaves all these elements into a masterly book that resurrects a superb sportsman and reconstructs a startling crime. J. Douglas Edgar was the British-born golfer who broke every record, invented the modern swing, and coached such winners as Bobby Jones, the greatest amateur in history, and Alexa Stirling, the finest female player of her day. But on August 8, 1921, he was a man dead in the middle of the road, the victim, conventional wisdom said, of a hit-and-run. Comer Howell thought otherwise. He was an Atlanta Constitution reporter and heir to the paper’s fortune, a man frustrated by his reputation as the pampered boss’s son. To Howell, the physical evidence didn’t add up to a car accident. As he chronicled Edgar’s life, Howell discovered a working-class striver who had risen in the world through a passion to succeed, a quality the newspaperman admired. And as he investigated Edgar’s death, Howell also found a man whose recklessness may have doomed him to a violent demise. Cutting cinematically between Howell’s present and Edgar’s championship past,To Win and Die in Dixiebrilliantly portrays one man’s quest for excellence and another’s search for redemption and the truth. Their stories meet in a Southern society of plush country-club golf courses, vast wealth, and decadent secrets. Filled with the vivid golf writing for which its author is renowned,To Win and Die in Dixieis a real-life story both shocking and inspiring, a book that propels Steve Eubanks to a new level of literary achievement.
To Write as if Already Dead (Rereadings)
by Kate ZambrenoTo Write As If Already Dead circles around Kate Zambreno’s failed attempts to write a study of Hervé Guibert’s To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life. In this diaristic, transgressive work, the first in a cycle written in the years preceding his death, Guibert documents with speed and intensity his diagnosis and disintegration from AIDS and elegizes a character based on Michel Foucault.The first half of To Write As If Already Dead is a novella in the mode of a detective story, searching after the mysterious disappearance of an online friendship after an intense dialogue on anonymity, names, language, and connection. The second half, a notebook documenting the doubled history of two bodies amid another historical plague, continues the meditation on friendship, solitude, time, mortality, precarity, art, and literature.Throughout this rigorous, mischievous, thrilling not-quite study, Guibert lingers as a ghost companion. Zambreno, who has been pushing the boundaries of literary form for a decade, investigates his methods by adopting them, offering a keen sense of the energy and confessional force of Guibert’s work, an ode to his slippery, scarcely classifiable genre. The book asks, as Foucault once did, “What is an author?” Zambreno infuses this question with new urgency, exploring it through the anxieties of the internet age, the ethics of friendship, and “the facts of the body”: illness, pregnancy, and death.