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Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda
By Rosamond Halsey Carr, Ann Howard Halsey. 1999
In 1949, Rosamond Halsey Carr, a young fashion illustrator living in New York City, accompanied her dashing hunter-explorer husband to…
what was then the Belgian Congo. When the marriage fell apart, she decided to stay on in neighboring Rwanda, as the manager of a flower plantation. Land of a Thousand Hills is Carr's thrilling memoir of her life in Rwanda--a love affair with a country and a people that has spanned half a century. During those years, she has experienced everything from stalking leopards to rampaging elephants, drought, the mysterious murder of her friend Dian Fossey, and near-bankruptcy. She has chugged up the Congo River on a paddle-wheel steamboat, been serenaded by pygmies, and witnessed firsthand the collapse of colonialism. Following 1994's Hutu-Tutsi genocide, Carr turned her plantation into a shelter for the lost and orphaned children-work she continues to this day, at the age of eighty-seven.Blackfoot Lodge Tales
By George Bird Grinnell. 2012
This collection of powerful stories reveals the complex and wondrous world of the Blackfoot nation in the nineteenth century. The…
thirty tales transcribed by George Bird Grinnell provide an intimate look into Blackfoot culture and philosophy and remind us of tribal values to be upheld and taught. Classic tales of adventure speak of deeds accomplished, and cultural heroes roam across an arresting Native landscape of legend and history. Ancient stories, captured in oral tradition, cast the shadow of the Blackfoot people far into the past and provide foundation and meaning for their lives in the present. The final section of this book is an insightful overview of the history and culture of the Blackfoot Nation. First published in 1892, Blackfoot Lodge Tales is based on George Bird Grinnell's personal interactions with the Blackfoot people.Life of Charlotte Bronte
By Elizabeth Gaskell. 2013
Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another.…
Gaskell was a friend of Charlotte Brontë, and, having been invited to write the official life, determined both to tell the truth and to honour her friend. She contacted those who had known Charlotte and travelled extensively in England and Belgium to gather material. She wrote from a vivid accumulation of letters, interviews, and observation, establishing the details of Charlotte's life and recreating her background. Through an often difficult and demanding process, Gaskell created a vital sense of a life hidden from the world. This edition is based on the Third Edition of 1857, revised by Gaskell. It has been collated with the manuscript, and the previous two editions, as well as with Charlotte Brontë's letters, and thus offers fuller information about the process of composition than any previous edition.Without Child
By Laurie Lisle. 1996
Without Child challenges the stigma of childlessness by offering childless women the lifeaffirming story of themselves. Beginning with the difficult…
inner journey a woman faces before finally deciding or realizing she will not bear children, Without Child explores the myth of the childless woman's rejection of the maternal instinct. It also examines the childless woman's relationship to mothers and mothering, to her femininity, to men, to achievement, to her body,and to old age.Laurie Lisle contends that childless women are part of an ancient and respectable cultural tradition that includes biblical matriarchs, celibate saints, and nineteenth-century social reformers. However, like other aspects of women's history, this tradition has been forgotten and, in the process, maligned. Without Child bring childless women out of obscurity and places them back in women's history.Without Child brings scope and depth to a subject that has long been misunderstood. Weaving rich materials from history, literature, religion, and sociology with the author's own and other stories, this groundbreaking book does what no other has done before-presents childlessnessin a multifaceted and positive light.Most women grow up thinking they will become mothers, and many do follow that path. But for those women who are willingly or unwillingly without children, childlessness is a way of life that many of them must constantly defend. Without Child explores the facts and fallacies behind childlessness,what it means for women and society, and reminds us of how women can and do embrace this choice.In the shadow of a culture that claims to adore the child, Without Child bring a long forbidden topic into the light. Wide-ranging, yet intimate, philosophical, yet clear~sighted, this important book will reassure millions of women that they are not alone, not unusual, and, in fact, are part of a long and honorable tradition.Laurie Lisle is the author of four other books besidesWithout Child: two biographies of women artists, a history of a girls'school, and a memoir from the point-of-view as a gardener. Raised in Rhode Island, she lives with her husband in Litchfield County,Connecticut and in Westchester County, New York. For more information, please see her website at www.laurielisle.com.God and the Indian
By Drew Hayden Taylor. 2014
While panhandling outside a coffee shop, Johnny, a Cree woman, is shocked to recognize a face from her childhood, which…
was spent in a Native American boarding school. Desperate to hear him acknowledge the terrible abuse inflicted on her and other children at the school, Johnny follows Anglican assistant bishop George King to his office to confront him.Ojibway writer Drew Hayden Taylor is the author of twenty-one publications. Hailed by the Montreal Gazette as one of Canada's leading Native dramatists, he writes for the screen and the stage, and contributes regularly to national newspapers.Phillis Sings Out Freedom
By Ann Malaspina, Susan Keeler. 2010
In the fall of 1775, General George Washington was struggling to find a way to fight the British so that…
the colonies could be free from England. Phillis Wheatley, an African American poet who herself had struggled to gain freedom, decided to write Washington a poem of encouragement. Ann Malaspina's inspiring story shows the life and times of these two brave people who did so much to lay the foundation of our country.Lydia Cassat Reading the Morning Paper
By Harriet Scott Chessman. 2001
Harriet Scott Chessman takes us into the world of Mary Cassatt's early Impressionist paintings through Mary's sister Lydia, whom the…
author sees as Cassatt's most inspiring muse. Chessman hauntingly brings to life Paris in 1880, with its thriving art world. The novel's subtle power rises out of a sustained inquiry into art's relation to the ragged world of desire and mortality. Ill with Bright's disease and conscious of her approaching death, Lydia contemplates her world narrowing. With the rising emotional tension between the loving sisters, between one who sees and one who is seen, Lydia asks moving questions about love and art's capacity to remember. Chessman illuminates Cassatt's brilliant paintings and creates a compelling portrait of the brave and memorable model who inhabits them with such grace. Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper includes five full-color plates, the entire group of paintings Mary Cassatt made of her sister.Meet Coco Chanel - An eStory
By Charles Margerison. 2011
Meet Coco Chanel! She was one of the most influential style icons of all time. Everyone knows the Chanel brand,…
but far fewer know the amazing rags-to-riches story behind it. Take a journey from a poor house in Saumur to a convent to the glitz and glamour of Paris, where Chanel opened her first shop. Be inspired by her amazing story, as it comes alive through BioViews®.A BioView® is a short biographical story, similar to an interview. These unique stories provide an easy way of learning about amazing people who made major contributions to our world.Amazing Mistresses - A short eBook
By Charles Margerison. 2011
Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution
By Alma Guillermoprieto. 2004
In 1970 a young dancer named Alma Guillermoprieto left New York to take a job teaching at Cuba's National School…
of Dance. For six months, she worked in mirrorless studios (it was considered more revolutionary); her poorly trained but ardent students worked without them but dreamt of greatness. Yet in the midst of chronic shortages and revolutionary upheaval, Guillermoprieto found in Cuba a people whose sense of purpose touched her forever. In this electrifying memoir, Guillermoprieto-now an award-winning journalist and arguably one of our finest writers on Latin America- resurrects a time when dancers and revolutionaries seemed to occupy the same historical stage and even a floor exercise could be a profoundly political act. Exuberant and elegiac, tender and unsparing, Dancing with Cuba is a triumph of memory and feeling.Wisdom Keeper: One Man's Journey to Honor the Untold History of the Unangan People
By Nina Simons, Ilarion Merculieff. 2016
Ilarion Merculieff weaves the remarkable strands of his life and culture into a fascinating account that begins with his traditional…
Unangan (Aleut) upbringing on a remote island in the Bering Sea, through his immersion in both the Russian Orthodox Church and his tribe's holistic spiritual beliefs. He recounts his developing consciousness and call to leadership, and describes his work of the past thirty years bringing together Western science and Indigenous peoples' traditional knowledge and wisdom to address the most pressing issues of our time. Tracing the extraordinary history of his ancestors--who mummified their dead in a way very similar to the Egyptians, constructed one of the most sophisticated high seas kayaks in the world, and densely populated shorelines in North America for ten thousand years--Merculieff describes the rich traditions of spirituality, art, dance, music, storytelling, science, and technology that enabled them to survive their harsh conditions. The Unangan people of the Aleutian Islands endured slavery at the hands of the U.S. government and were placed in an internment camp during WWII, where they suffered malnutrition and disease that decimated 10 percent of their population. Merculieff movingly describes how the compassion of Indigenous Elders has guided him in his work and life, which has been rife with struggle and hardship. He explains that environmental degradation, the extinction of species, pollution, war, and failing public institutions are all reflections of our relationships with ourselves. In order to deal with these critical challenges, he argues, we must reenter the chaos of the natural world, rediscover our balance of the masculine and the sacred feminine, and heal ourselves. Then, perhaps, we can heal the world.Release Me: My Life, My Words
By Olivia Longott. 2014
This is not a game . . . this is life!From the day she discovered she had a voice that…
could touch millions, Olivia Longott put in long, hard hours in the studio, trying to achieve her dreams of R and B superstardom. With such royal talents, she fully deserved the title she was given as First Lady of J, the legendary Clive Davis's label, and then First Lady of G-Unit, when she landed a second deal with G Unit/Interscope Records. Olivia quickly made it clear that she is nobody's number two. With dual recording deals in hand, Olivia thought her dream had manifested--until she left both labels in what felt like a nightmare. Being the fighter her daddy taught her to be, Olivia would not let these challenges hold her back from the industry. Instead, she used the experiences as a setup for something new. The world saw her jump back into the ring swinging on the Love & Hip Hop reality show. Sometimes, though, reality isn't always what it seems. That's why Olivia has taken the time to sit down and pen what it truly is. During her unfolding journey in the music industry, Olivia has seen, heard, and experienced a lot. Now it's time to bring you into her world.Jean Paton and the Struggle to Reform American Adoption
By E. Wayne Carp. 2014
Jean Paton (1908-2002) fought tirelessly to reform American adoption and to overcome prejudice against adult adoptees and women who give…
birth out of wedlock. Paton wrote widely and passionately about the adoption experience, corresponded with policymakers as well as individual adoptees, promoted the psychological well-being of adoptees, and facilitated reunions between adoptees and their birth parents. This masterful biography brings to light the accomplishments of this neglected civil-rights pioneer, who paved the way for the explosive emergence of the adoption reform movement in the 1970s. Her unflagging efforts over five decades helped reverse harmful policies, practices, and laws concerning adoption and closed records, struggles that continue to this day.Growing Up in Italy in a Time of War
By Gioietta Vitale. 2012
The wonderful reality is that there is no escape. It is our maturity which keeps us linked to our past…
like prisoners. Sometimes we tend not to remember, and we lock up our memories in the most remote place in our brain cells. Memories fill up our minds, together with our sensations, images, and impulses. I am determined to dedicate my time to recalling the years of my childhood before and during World War II. It seems ages since my childhood in Italy. In my memory, however, it feels like yesterday. Good and bad memories are as vivid as ever, imprinted on my mind. It is amazing how quickly they come back. All it takes to make them click into focus is a smell, a sound, a snapshot, a sensation . . . feelings, smells, colors, words of the past are all recorded in our memory and will never leave us. They are part of us, who we are, even if we do not realize it. The past as well as the present will mold the future.I will try to capture those images of everyday life that are kept locked in my memory, not only for my personal satisfaction, but for my children and grandchildren, so that they may learn how life used to be. Everything changes in the span of one lifetime, some for the better, some for the worse. However, memories, like knowledge, cannot be taken away from you.So here are my memories, recaptured for those who are curious to know how life was in Italy before, during, and after the Second World War.Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams
By Margery M. Heffron, David L. Michelmore. 2014
Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, wife and political partner of John Quincy Adams, became one of the most widely known women…
in America when her husband assumed office as sixth president in 1825. Shrewd, intellectual, and articulate, she was close to the center of American power over many decades, and extensive archives reveal her as an unparalleled observer of the politics, personalities, and issues of her day. Louisa left behind a trove of journals, essays, letters, and other writings, yet no biographer has mined these riches until now. Margery Heffron brings Louisa out of the shadows at last to offer the first full and nuanced portrait of an extraordinary first lady. The book begins with Louisa’s early life in London and Nantes, France, then details her excruciatingly awkward courtship and engagement to John Quincy, her famous diplomatic success in tsarist Russia, her life as a mother, years abroad as the wife of a distinguished diplomat, and finally the Washington, D. C. , era when, as a legendary hostess, she made no small contribution to her husband’s successful bid for the White House. Louisa’s sharp insights as a tireless recorder provide a fresh view of early American democratic society, presidential politics and elections, and indeed every important political and social issue of her time.¿Muerta?... ¡Pero de la risa!
By Maria Antonieta Collins. 2014
Con el candor de siempre y la honestidad y el humor que la definen, María Antonieta Collins relata cómo su…
carrera periodística se esfumó de repente pero regresó mejor que nunca. Escribe sobre el camino espiritual que la ayudo a superar una época oscura y como su fe la ayudó recuperar y mejorar su vida. Tanto los éxitos como los obstáculos en la vida tienen varias facetas - María Antonieta delinea paso a paso lo que debes hacer para maniobrar los retos tanto de tu vida personal como profesional, y vas descubriendo que los dos giran uno alrededor del otro.Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation
By Sheila Weller. 2008
A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly…
Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs. Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information. Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.A Plague of Sheep
By Elinor G. K. Melville. 1997
This is a book about the biological conquest of the New World. Taking as a case study the sixteenth-century history…
of a region of highland central Mexico, it shows how the environmental and social changes brought about by the introduction of Old World species aided European expansion. The book spells out in detail the environmental changes associated with the introduction of Old World grazing animals into New World ecosystems, demonstrates how these changes enabled the Spanish takeover of land, and explains how environmental changes shaped the colonial societies.Cheap Cabernet
By Cathie Beck. 2010
I didn't know that people come into our lives, and sometimes, if we're terribly lucky, we get the chance to…
love them, that sometimes they stay, that sometimes you can, truly, depend on them.Cathie Beck was in her late thirties and finally able to exhale after a lifetime of just trying to get by. A teenage mother harboring vivid memories of her own hardscrabble childhood, Cathie had spent years doing whatever it took to give her children the stability--or at least the illusion of it--that she'd never had. More than that, through sheer will and determination, she had educated them and herself too. With her kids in college, Cathie was at last ready to have some fun. The only problem was that she had no idea how to do it and no friends to do it with. So she put an ad in the paper for a made-up women's group: WOW . . . Women on the Way. Eight women showed up that first night, and out of that group a friendship formed, one of those meteoric, passionate, stand-by-you friendships that come around once in a lifetime and change you forever . . . if you're lucky.Coming Out Swiss
By Anne Herrmann. 2014
Anne Herrmann, a dual citizen born in New York to Swiss parents, offers in Coming Out Swiss a witty, profound,…
and ultimately universal exploration of identity and community. #147;Swissness”#151;even on its native soil a loose confederacy, divided by multiple languages, nationalities, religion, and alpen geography#151;becomes in the diaspora both nowhere (except in the minds of immigrants and their children) and everywhere, reflected in pervasive clichés. In a work that is part memoir, part history and travelogue, Herrmann explores all our Swiss clichés (chocolate, secret bank accounts, Heidi, Nazi gold, neutrality, mountains, Swiss Family Robinson) and also scrutinizes topics that may surprise (the #147;invention” of the Alps, the English Colony in Davos, Switzerland’s role during World War II, women students at the University of Zurich in the 1870s). She ponders, as well, marks of Swissness that have lost their identity in the diaspora (Sutter Home, Helvetica, Dadaism) and the enduring Swiss American community of New Glarus, Wisconsin. Coming Out Swiss will appeal not just to the Swiss diaspora but also to those drawn to multi-genre writing that blurs boundaries between the personal and the historical.