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USS Constellation on the Dismal Coast: Willie Leonard's Journal, 1859–1861 (Studies in Maritime History)
by C. Herbert GillilandThis seaman’s journal recounts a twenty-month voyage from Boston to the African coast to intercept slave-trading vessels as America approach the Civil War.Today the twenty-gun sloop USS Constellation is a floating museum in Baltimore Harbor; in 1859 it was an emblem of the global power of the American sailing navy. William E. Leonard served aboard the Constellation during a crucial and eventful period, chronicling it all in this remarkable journal.Sailing from Boston, the Constellation, flagship of the US African Squadron, was charged with the interception and capture of slave-trading vessels illegally en route from Africa to the Americas. During the Constellation’s deployment, the squadron captured a record number of these ships, liberating their human cargo and holding the captains and crews for criminal prosecution. At the same time, tensions at home and in the squadron increased as the American Civil War approached and erupted in April 1861.Leonard recorded not only historic events but also fascinating details about his daily life as one of the nearly four-hundred-member crew. He saw himself as not just a diarist, but a reporter, making special efforts to seek out and record information about individual crewmen, shipboard practices, recreation and daily routine—from deck swabbing and standing watch to courts martial and dramatic performances by the Constellation Dramatic Society.
Usurpers, A New Look at Medieval Kings
by Michele MorricalIn the Middle Ages, England had to contend with a string of usurpers who disrupted the British monarchy and ultimately changed the course of European history by deposing England’s reigning kings and seizing power for themselves. Some of the most infamous usurper kings to come out of medieval England include William the Conqueror, Stephen of Blois, Henry Bolingbroke, Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry Tudor. Did these kings really deserve the title of usurper or were they unfairly vilified by royal propaganda and biased chroniclers? In this book we examine the lives of these six medieval kings, the circumstances which brought each of them to power, and whether or not they deserve the title of usurper. Along the way readers will hear stories of some of the most fascinating people from medieval Europe, including Empress Matilda, the woman who nearly succeeded at becoming the first ruling Queen of England; Eleanor of Aquitaine, the queen of both France and England who stirred her own sons to rebel against their father, Henry II; the cruel and vengeful reign of Richard II which caused his own family to overthrow him; the epic struggle for power between Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, Richard of York, and Edward IV during the Wars of the Roses; the notorious Richard III and his monstrous reputation as a child-killer; and Henry VII who rose from relative obscurity to establish the most famous royal family of all time: the Tudors.
Utah Women: Pioneers, Poets & Politicians (American Heritage)
by Emily Brooksby WheelerRepresenting lawmakers and lawbreakers, artists and adventurers or scholars and activists, the women of Utah defied stereotypes. At the crossroads of the West, they found new challenges and opportunities to forge their own paths. Emma Dean explored the Rocky Mountains with her famous spouse, John Wesley Powell. Martha Hughes Cannon defeated her husband to become the first female state senator. Maud Fitch drove an ambulance under German artillery fire to rescue downed pilots in World War I. Author Emily Brooksby Wheeler celebrates the remarkable Utah women who, whether racing into danger or nurturing those who fell behind, changed their world and ours.
'Uthman ibn 'Affan: Legend or Liability? (Makers of the Muslim World)
by Heather N. Keaney&‘Uthman ibn &‘Affan (d. 656) was an early convert to Islam and the third successor to the Prophet Muhammad. As caliph he established the first Islamic navy, consolidated the text of the Qur&’an, and expanded the Arab empire. His opponents, however, accused him of being corrupt and questioned his legitimacy. After twelve years &‘Uthman&’s troubled caliphate ended in revolt. His death at the hands of rebels led to civil war and contributed to the eventual split between Sunni and Shi&’i Islam. In this volume, Heather Keaney examines the life and legacy of the controversial caliph.
La utopía arcaica: José María Arguedas y las ficciones del indigenismo
by Mario Vargas LlosaEn La utopía arcaica, Mario Vargas Llosa nos acerca a la figura del novelista peruano José María Arguedas, una de las más importantes del movimiento indigenista latinoamericano, conocido por su compromiso revolucionario. «Mi interés por Arguedas no se debe solo a sus libros; también a su caso, privilegiado y patético. Privilegiado porque en un país escindido en dos mundos, dos lenguas, dos culturas, dos tradiciones históricas, a él le fue dado conocer ambas realidades íntimamente, en sus miserias y grandezas. Patético porque el arraigo en esos dos mundos antagónicos hizo de él un desarraigado.»Mario Vargas Llosa Antropólogo, universitario e intelectual militante, Arguedas «fue un hombre bueno y un buen escritor, pero hubiera podido serlo más si, por su sensibilidad extrema, su generosidad, su ingenuidad y su confusión ideológica, no hubiera cedido a la presión política del medio académico e intelectual en el que se movía para que, renunciando a su vocación natural hacia la ensoñación, la memoria privada y el lirismo, hiciera literatura social, indigenista y revolucionaria», como afirma el propio Vargas Llosa. Cruce entre la biografía, la historia y la crítica literaria, La utopía arcaica dibuja un fresco del contexto histórico del país, reseña la vida de Arguedas, matiza sus libros y trata de describir la inmolación de un talento literario por razones éticas y políticas.
Utopia Parkway
by Debrorah SolomonDeborah Solomon's definitive biography of Joseph Cornell, one of America's most moving and unusual twentieth-century artists, now reissued ten years later Few artists ever led a stranger life than Joseph Cornell, the self-taught American genius prized for his enigmatic shadow boxes, who stands at the intersection of Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art. Legends about Cornell abound--the shy hermit, the devoted family caretaker, the artistic innocent--but never before has he been presented for what he was: a brilliant, relentlessly serious artist whose stature has now reached monumental proportions.
V. Goliath: The Trials of David Boies
by Karen DonovanDavid Boies, the star trial lawyer in a country obsessed with legal drama, proves endlessly fascinating in this compulsively readable account of his extraordinary career. A man of almost superhuman accomplishment, Boies argued a string of headline-making cases before being catapulted to international prominence when he represented Al Gore before the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. Brash, reckless, and prideful, he is also charming, charismatic, unerringly articulate in the courtroom, and supremely comfortable in the public eye. Legal journalist Karen Donovan, herself a lawyer, had unprecedented access to Boies for nearly two years. In v. Goliath she gives us a scintillating chronicle of the legal dramas in which Boies has played a crucial role and a riveting, up-close portrait of a singularly gifted lawyer.
V Is For Victory: Franklin Roosevelt's American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II
by Craig NelsonA NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023 &“Belongs in the library alongside the histories and biographies of Martin Gilbert, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and David McCullough.&” —Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers In this epic and definitive history of the American home front during World War II, New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR won the support of a nation antagonistic to war in Europe and pushed both government and industry to build &“the arsenal of democracy&”—the secret weapon that won the war.In 1938, the United States was so politically isolationist and pacifist that its defense forces were smaller than Portugal&’s. That same year, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the federal government to spark a dramatic expansion in domestic airplane production, and this minor effort—three years before the attack on Pearl Harbor—would in time become what Roosevelt called &“the arsenal of democracy,&” the full-throttle unleashing of American enterprise and ingenuity that was the secret weapon for victory in World War II. Signaled by Roosevelt&’s public fight with Lindbergh—known as the Great Debate—victory at land, sea, and air across the globe began at home. In this &“richly detailed, highly readable account of presidential leadership in perilous times&” (New York Journal of Books), Craig Nelson traces how under FDR, the United States rose from poverty and solitude to defeat the greatest evils of the 20th century. By transforming what Americans thought they could achieve, FDR&’s efforts ended the Great Depression; conquered the fascists of Germany, Italy, and Japan; birthed America&’s middle-class affluence and consumer society; led to jet engines, computers, radar, the military-industrial complex, Big Science, and nuclear weapons; triggered a global economic boom; and turned the U.S. military into a worldwide titan—with America the undisputed leader of world affairs. While the arsenal of democracy has come to mean this miracle of American industry, when Roosevelt said it, he meant the miracle of the American people. Revealing an era when Detroit was Silicon Valley; Ford was Apple; and Sears, Roebuck was Amazon, while filled with reflections on our own time, V Is for Victory draws on five years of research to create a powerful and essential narrative largely overlooked in conventional histories of the war but which, in Nelson&’s skilled, authoritative hands, becomes an illuminating and important work destined to become an American history classic.
V. L. Parrington: Through the Avenue of Art
by H. Lark HallH. Lark Hall presents the first comprehensive biography of Vernon Louis Parrington (1871-1929). The recipient of the 1928 Pulitzer Prize in history for the first two volumes of his Main Currents in American Thought, Parrington remains one of the most influential literary and historical scholars of the early twentieth century.Parrington was a man in search of a personal myth. He found his self-image successively mirrored in Victorian novels, painting, poetry, populism, religion, the arts and crafts movement, American literature, and American history. These changes were also reflected in his teaching as a professor of English - at the College of Emporia, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Washington. Published late in his career, the two volumes of Main Currents represented the culmination of his search.Drawing upon his personal papers - including correspondence, diaries, and student course work, Main Currents chapter drafts, and other unpublished writings - Hall traces Parrington's intellectual development from his Midwestern childhood through his mid-life engagement with English poet and artist William Morris, then from the radical impact of "the new history" to the tempered post World War One reflection of his career at the University of Washington. Hall's reinterpretation of Main Currents emphasizes Parrington's concern with the drama of the life of the mind and links his historical viewpoint to his own personal history.
V. S. Srinivasa Sastri
by Mohan RamananBiography of Valangiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri, 1869-1946, freedom fighter and nationalist who also wrote commentary on the Ramayana.
V. Shantaram: The Man Who Changed Indian Cinema
by Madhura Pandit JasrajHe immortalized movies on celluloid… An authentic, heartfelt, insightful and comprehensive account of one of India’s most respected and eminent filmmakers, who was an institution in himself…V. Shantaram (1901–90) stands out as a colossus in Indian cinema. As one of the pioneers in this field, he honed his skills not only as a producer and director but also as an actor, writer, cameraman, technician and editor. He effectively used the medium of cinema as a vehicle for creating awareness about numerous social problems (such as communalism, dowry and the cycle of debt and poverty) and tried to bring about a change in society. This riveting biography – penned by his daughter – brings alive the life and times of Shantaram and his contemporaries, while simultaneously throwing light on a bygone era of Indian cinema marked by struggles, uncertainties and difficulties but yet infused with hope, perseverance and determination. Among Shantaram’s prominent creations in Hindi are Ayodhya Ka Raja (1932), Sairandhari (1933; India’s first colour film), Amrit Manthan (1934), Duniya Na Maane (1937), Aadmi (1939), Padosi (1941), Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946), Dahej (1950), Janak Janak Pyal Baaje (1955), Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957), Navrang (1959), Sehra (1963), Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne (1964) and Pinjra (1972)
The V-Word
by Amber J. KeyserAn honest and poignant collection of essays by women about losing their virginity in their teens. The V-Word captures the complexity of this important life-decision and reflects diverse real-world experiences. Includes helpful resources for parents and teens.Losing it. Popping your cherry. Handing in your V-card. First time sex is a big unknown. Will it be candlelight and rose petals or quick and uncomfortable? Is it about love or about lust? Deciding to have sex for the first time is a choice that's often fraught with anxiety and joy. But do you have anyone telling you what sex is really like? In The V-Word seventeen writers (including Christa Desir, Justina Ireland, Sara Ryan, Carrie Mesrobian, Erica Lorraine Scheidt, and Jamia Wilson) pull back the sheets and tell all, covering everything from straight sex to queer sex, diving-in versus waiting, and even the exhilaration and disappointment that blankets it all. Some of their experiences happened too soon, some at just the right time, but all paint a broad picture of what first-time sex is really like. Funny, hot, meaningful, cringe-worthy, gross, forgettable, magnificent, empowering, and transformative, the stories in The V-Word are never preachy, but provide a map for teens to chart their own course through the steamy waters of sex. With The V-Word girls can finally take control, learn what's on the horizon, and eliminate the fear and mystery surrounding this important milestone.
Va Va Froome: The Remarkable Rise of Chris Froome
by David SharpThe story of a unique athlete&’s remarkable journey—from riding his bike in the Ngong Hills of Kenya to the sport&’s pinnacle, victory in the Tour de France. On 21 July 2013 Chris Froome made history as the second British cyclist to win the Tour de France—in the 100th edition of the world&’s most famous bike race—and the first ever African-born rider to wear the coveted maillot jaune on the top step of the podium in Paris. Froome&’s path into the elite ranks of road racing has been unlike any other in the annals of the sport. Born in Nairobi to British parents he was educated in South Africa and studied economics at university. But he abandoned his degree to take up the offer of a professional cycling contract in Europe. A fish out of water, Froome encountered a shock entrance into the rough and tumble world of top-level European bike racing. Incredibly, within two years—and despite his progress being severely hampered when he contracted a debilitating tropical disease—Froome had signed for the world&’s biggest cycling team, British cycling supremo Sir Dave Brailsford&’s Team Sky, finished second overall in the Vuelta a Espana, and sacrificed his own ambitions to help teammate Bradley Wiggins claim Britain&’s first ever Tour de France title in 2012. At the turn of 2013 Froome superseded Wiggins as Sky&’s team leader and went on to win four out of the five stage races he entered, including the prestigious Criterium du Dauphine, before dominating the 2013 Tour de France on a relentless pursuit of the ultimate prize in cycling.
Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches
by John HodgmanAlthough his career as a bestselling author and on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was founded on fake news and invented facts, in 2016 that routine didn’t seem as funny to John Hodgman anymore. Everyone is doing it now. Disarmed of falsehood, he was left only with the awful truth: John Hodgman is an older white male monster with bad facial hair, wandering like a privileged Sasquatch through three wildernesses: the hills of Western Massachusetts where he spent much of his youth; the painful beaches of Maine that want to kill him (and some day will); and the metaphoric haunted forest of middle age that connects them. Vacationland collects these real life wanderings, and through them you learn of the horror of freshwater clams, the evolutionary purpose of the mustache, and which animals to keep as pets and which to kill with traps and poison. There is also some advice on how to react when the people of coastal Maine try to sacrifice you to their strange god. Though wildly, Hodgmaniacally funny as usual, it is also a poignant and sincere account of one human facing his forties, those years when men in particular must stop pretending to be the children of bright potential they were and settle into the failing bodies of the wiser, weird dads that they are.
The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Joe Miller Ugur SahinWhen the world stopped, all hopes rested on finding a vaccine. An unlikely team answered the call. Before Covid-19 was even given its name, a select group of scientists in Germany, assembled by married couple and decades-long research partners Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, began building 20 potential vaccines.As the deadly disease spread from country to country, what followed was a desperate race against time to conduct rigorous tests and clinical trials, whilst navigating political interference and seeking the support of the pharmaceutical industry.Shedding a light on the science behind the breakthrough, The Vaccine tells the story of the trailblazers who led the fightback against Covid-19, whose discoveries could now help the world tackle cancer, along with many other pervasive diseases. It draws back the curtain on one of the most important medical achievements of our age, containing contributions from the fascinating couple themselves, as well as more than 60 scientists, politicians, public health officials, and BioNTech staff.More suspenseful than a novel, this is a real-life story of an extraordinary race against time to save the world.
The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Joe Miller Özlem Türeci Ugur SahinWinners of the Paul Ehrlich PrizeThe dramatic story of the married scientists who founded BioNTech and developed the first vaccine against COVID-19.Nobody thought it was possible. In mid-January 2020, Ugur Sahin told Özlem Türeci, his wife and decades-long research partner, that a vaccine against what would soon be known as COVID-19 could be developed and safely injected into the arms of millions before the end of the year. His confidence was built upon almost thirty years of research. While working to revolutionize the way that cancerous tumors are treated, the couple had explored a volatile and overlooked molecule called messenger RNA; they believed it could be harnessed to redirect the immune system's forces against any number of diseases. As the founders of BioNTech, they faced widespread skepticism from the scientific community at first; but by the time Sars-Cov-2 was discovered in Wuhan, China, BioNTech was prepared to deploy cutting edge technology and create the world’s first clinically approved inoculation for the coronavirus.The Vaccine draws back the curtain on one of the most important medical breakthroughs of our age; it will reveal how Doctors Sahin and Türeci were able to develop twenty vaccine candidates within weeks, convince Big Pharma to support their ambitious project, navigate political interference from the Trump administration and the European Union, and provide more than three billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to countries around the world in record time.Written by Joe Miller—the Financial Times’ Frankfurt correspondent who covered BioNTech’s COVID-19 project in real time—with contributions from Sahin and Türeci, as well as interviews with more than sixty scientists, politicians, public health officials, and BioNTech staff, the book covers key events throughout the extraordinary year, as well as exploring the scientific, economic, and personal background of each medical innovation. Crafted to be both completely accessible to the average reader and filled with details that will fascinate seasoned microbiologists, The Vaccine explains the science behind the breakthrough, at a time when public confidence in vaccine safety and efficacy is crucial to bringing an end to this pandemic.
El vacío no se llena
by Dani Marrero¿Qué significa «El vacío no se llena»? Es la frase que pronunció Dani Marrero en redes tras regresar de su repentina ausencia. ¿Es un grito de socorro, o tal vez uno de victoria? Es la razón de su desaparición, del viaje de autoconocimiento que hace consigo mismo en estas mismas páginas. Con este libro, Dani nos abre su corazón y nos invita a conocer su historia, su infancia, su adolescencia. Con esta frase, Dani nos confiesa que lleva años luchando por su salud mental y tiende la mano a sus seguidores: no estáis solos, nos dice. Y esto es lo que ocurre cuando el vacío no se llena.
Václav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts
by John KeaneThis authorized biography of Havel, based on unrestricted access to him, his circle, and even his enemies, is not only the first definitive account of one of the modern world's great moral and political leaders but also a vivid panorama of the tumultuous events of his times. Havel's life, like that of his African counterpart Nelson Mandela, has been shaped and determined by the large political shifts of the twentieth century. Readers will taste the moments of joy, irony, farce, and misfortune through which he has lived, and realize that he has taught the world more about the powerful and the powerless, power-grabbing and power-sharing, than virtually anyone else on the world stage.
Vacuuming in the Nude: And Other Ways to Get Attention
by Peggy RowePeggy Rowe is at it again—this time giving a hilarious inside look at her writing career.Peggy Rowe has been writing all of her adult life. In fact, she doesn&’t know how not to write—even through those years of constant rejection from publishing houses. But between her tenacity and the encouragement of her family, Peggy&’s breakthrough finally came—at the age of eighty! Vacuuming in the Nude is most likely her funniest prose to date as she shares her journey of attending myriad writers&’ conferences and honing her ability to see humor in everyday situations. From the family&’s beloved dog Shim, who thrived on piles of fresh, warm manure from the horse pasture—to vacationing on the sweltering beach with mosquitos the size of dune buggies—to the challenges of aging, Peggy Rowe delivers a hilarious array of stories that reflect her addiction to making people laugh. Even in her cancer support group, she manages to use her humor to affect others for the good. If Peggy isn&’t putting her publisher on hold to finish a game of Mahjongg, she&’s at her kitchen table window-on-the-world taking notes for the next story for fans old and new to enjoy.
Vagabond Policeman
by Max K. HurlbutThe author jjoins LAPD in the fading "Noir" era and is assigned to Hollywood. Ride with him as he encounters thugs, colorful pimps, and other characters in patrol & vice. MAX is "The crow collecting shiny things---the bits and pieces that color life." He writes with wit and humor of incidents and characters. MAX heads north to Alaska to police the Aleutian Chain, the Pribilofs, and Kodiak Island. He gives a "Sourdough's" insight into some peculiar happenings in the "Land of the Midnight Sun" as he patrols in kayak & snowshoes. He is called out of retirement to become City Marshal of Tombstone, Arizona, to find corruption and a department run amok. Two of his four deputies are shot to death. MAX travels the world as an Army Advisor. He tests experimental parachutes, is arrested in Egypt, pursued in The Sudan, hunts in the Congo, and sees action on the Thai/Cambodian border. He meets kings & presidents, generals & cannibals---and marries the Colonel's daughter in the Republic of China.
Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan
by Ruby LalA captivating biography of one of the world&’s greatest adventurers, the itinerant Mughal Princess Gulbadan, based on her long-forgotten memoir &“Finally, a serious consideration of Gulbadan&’s achievement.&’&”—Kirkus Reviews Situated in the early decades of the magnificent Mughal Empire, this first ever biography of Princess Gulbadan offers an enthralling portrait of a charismatic adventurer and unique pictures of the multicultural society in which she lived. Following a migratory childhood that spanned Kabul and north India, Gulbadan spent her middle years in a walled harem established by her nephew Akbar to showcase his authority as the Great Emperor. Gulbadan longed for the exuberant itinerant lifestyle she&’d known. With Akbar&’s blessing, she led an unprecedented sailing and overland voyage and guided harem women on an extended pilgrimage in Arabia. Amid increasing political tensions, the women&’s &“un-Islamic&” behavior forced their return, lengthened by a dramatic shipwreck in the Red Sea. Gulbadan wrote a book upon her return, the only extant work of prose by a woman of the age. A portion of it is missing, either lost to history or redacted by officials who did not want the princess to have her say. Vagabond Princess contemplates the story of the missing pages and breathes new life into a daring historical figure. It offers a portal to a richly complex world, rife with movement and migration, where women&’s conviviality, adventure, and autonomies shine through.
The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten-Year Road Trip
by Jeff GuinnA &“fascinating slice of rarely considered American history&” (Booklist)—the story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison—whose annual summer sojourns introduced the road trip to our culture and made the automobile an essential part of modern life.In 1914 Henry Ford and naturalist John Burroughs visited Thomas Edison in Florida and toured the Everglades. The following year Ford, Edison, and tire maker Harvey Firestone joined together on a summer camping trip and decided to call themselves the Vagabonds. They would continue their summer road trips until 1925, when they announced that their fame made it too difficult for them to carry on.Although the Vagabonds traveled with an entourage of chefs, butlers, and others, this elite fraternity also had a serious purpose: to examine the conditions of America&’s roadways and improve the practicality of automobile travel. Cars were unreliable and the roads were even worse. But newspaper coverage of these trips was extensive, and as cars and roads improved, the summer trip by automobile soon became a desired element of American life.The Vagabonds is &“a portrait of America&’s burgeoning love affair with the automobile&” (NPR) but it also sheds light on the important relationship between the older Edison and the younger Ford, who once worked for the famous inventor. The road trips made the automobile ubiquitous and magnified Ford&’s reputation, even as Edison&’s diminished. The automobile would transform the American landscape, the American economy, and the American way of life and Guinn brings this seminal moment in history to vivid life.
The Vagina Monologues
by Eve Ensler2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of V-Day, the radical grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls, inspired by Eve Ensler's international sensation The Vagina Monologues. This special edition features six never-before-published monologues, a new foreword by National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson, a new introduction by the author, and a new afterword by One Billion Rising director Monique Wilson on the stage phenomenon's global impact.A landmark work in women's empowerment, as relevant as ever after a year marked by unprecedented social and political protest in the face of unapologetic racism and misogyny, The Vagina Monologues honours women's sexuality in all its complexity, mystery and power. Witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, this award-winning masterpiece gives voice to real women's deepest fantasies, fears, anger and pleasure, and calls for a world where all women are safe, equal, free and alive in their bodies.'This play changed the world. Seeing it changed my soul. Performing in it changed my life'Kerry Washington
The Vagina Monologues
by Eve EnslerI decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues ... At first women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them. Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one's ever asked them before.' Eve Ensler A poignant and hilarious tour of the last frontier, the ultimate forbidden zone, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. Hailed as the bible for a new generation of women, it has been performed in cities and colleges throughout the world, and has inspired a dynamic grassroots movement -- V-Day -- to stop violence against women. Read here by the author herself, it is witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, and Eve Ensler's award-winning masterpiece gives voice to real women's deepest fantasies and fears, guaranteeing that no one who listens to it will ever look at a woman's body, or think of sex, in quite the same way again.
Vagina Problems: Endometriosis, Painful Sex, and Other Taboo Topics
by Lara Parker“In Vagina Problems…Lara Parker unpacks the personal and economic costs of endometriosis.” —Vanity Fair“A refreshingly honest read about living with chronic pain.” —Hello GigglesWith unflinching honesty, Lara Parker, the Deputy Director for BuzzFeed, shares her day-to-day challenges of living, working, and loving with chronic pain caused by endometriosis in this raw, darkly humorous, and hopeful memoir.I wasn’t ready to be completely honest about my vagina yet, and the world wasn’t ready for that either. But I was getting there. I wanted the world to know that all of this pain I had been feeling…that it was related to my vagina. Thus, Vagina Problems was born. It was a cutesy name. It was my way of taking this pain and saying, “Whatever. I’m here. I have it. It sucks. Let’s talk about it.”In April 2014, Deputy Editorial Director at BuzzFeed Lara Parker opened up to the world in an article on the website: she suffers from endometriosis. And beyond that? She let the whole world know that she wasn’t having any sex, as sex was excruciatingly painful. Less than a year before, she received not only the diagnosis of endometriosis, but also a diagnosis of pelvic floor dysfunction, vulvodynia, vaginismus, and vulvar vestibulitis. Combined, these debilitating conditions have wreaked havoc on her life, causing excruciating pain throughout her body since she was fourteen years old. These are her Vagina Problems. It was five years before Lara learned what was happening to her body. Five years of doctors insisting she just had “bad period cramps,” or implying her pain was psychological. Shamed and stigmatized, Lara fought back against a medical community biased against women and discovered that the ignorance of many doctors about women’s anatomy was damaging more than just her own life. One in ten women have endometriosis and it takes an average of seven years before they receive an accurate diagnosis—or any relief from this incurable illness’ chronic pain. With candid revelations about her vaginal physical therapy, dating as a straight woman without penetrative sex, coping with painful seizures while at the office, diet and wardrobe malfunctions when your vagina hurts all the time, and the depression and anxiety of feeling unloved, Lara tackles it all in Vagina Problems: Endometriosis, Painful Sex, and Other Taboo Topics with courage, wit, love, and a determination to live her best life.