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Diary of a Dying Girl: Adapted from Salt in My Soul
By Mallory Smith. 2024
This collection of one girl's real, unflinching diary entries about slowly dying of a terminal illness is an unparalleled exploration…
of the human spirit and what it means to truly live.Many of the feelings I write about are too difficult to share while I'm alive, so I'm keeping everything in my journal password-protected until the end.Mallory Smith was no ordinary girl, and this is no ordinary story. At age three, Mallory was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis--a disease that attacks the internal organs and would eventually kill her. Despite living on borrowed time, Mallory pursued her passions: volleyball; writing; the environment; her boyfriend, family, and friends. Most importantly, every day she chose to embody the mantra "live happy." Mallory also had her struggles--everything from love and sex to living with illness and just being a human on this planet. And she chronicled every bit of it, writing thousands of diary entries before her death in her twenties. This is the poignant, true story of a young woman who refused to be defined by chronic illness. Her light and her life are shared here in her own words to encourage everyone to live life to the fullest, as she did, even as she was dying.All You Need is Rhythm & Grit: How to Run Now—for Health, Joy, and a Body That Loves You Back
By Cory Wharton-Malcolm. 2024
An infectiously positive and inclusive guide to running, from everyone's favourite Apple Fitness+ and Nike trainer, Coach Cory Wharton-Malcolm."Everything Wharton-Malcolm…
does has the aim of helping people achieve the best version of themselves."—Evening Standard Think running isn't for you? Cory Wharton-Malcolm challenges this idea head-on with this joyful love letter to running and motivational guide for everyone. Advocating running as an inclusive and community-focused activity, Cory shows us how to celebrate the incredible mind-body connection by getting your sneakers on and starting your running journey from the couch to the end of the road and beyond. Sharing stories of his own mental and physical health challenges and the way running—both alone and with track buddies—lifted him up, All You Need is Rhythm and Grit includes advice on gear, running routes, pacing, good beats, and the will to start . . . and keep going. Cory believes you don't have to be a tall and slim superhuman to run and feel good doing it! For anyone who thinks running isn't for them, here is a vibrant and inclusive guide to one of the most egalitarian sports for people of all genders, all bodies, all identities and every class and color.A Black Girl in the Middle: Essays on (Allegedly) Figuring It All Out
By Shenequa Golding. 2024
A blazingly honest essay collection from a refreshing new voice exploring the in-between moments for Black women and girls, and…
what it means to simply exist&“At thirty-seven years old I can say Shenequa is a big name and I&’m a big, bold woman.&”Shenequa Golding doesn&’t aim to speak for all Black women. We&’re too vast, too vibrant, and too complicated. As an adult, Golding begins to own her boldness, but growing up, she found herself &“kind of in the middle,&” fluctuating between not being the fly kid or the overachiever. Her debut collection of essays, A Black Girl in the Middle taps into life&’s wins and losses, representing the middle ground for Black girls and women.Golding packs humor, curiosity, honesty, anger, and ultimately acceptance in 12 essays spanning her life in Queens, NY, as a first generation Jamaican American. She breaks down the 10 levels of Black Girl Math, from the hard glare to responses reserved for unfaithful boyfriends. She comes to terms with and heals from fraught relationships with her father, friends, and romantic partners. She takes the devastating news that she&’s a Black girl with a &“flat ass&” in stride, and adds squats to her routine, eventually. From a harrowing encounter in a hotel room leading her to explore celibacy (for now) to embracing rather than fearing the &“Milli Vanilli&” of emotions in hurt and anger, Golding embraces everything she&’s learned with wit, heart, and humility. A Black Girl in the Middle is both an acknowledgment of the complexity and pride of not always fitting in and validation of what Black girlhood and womanhood can be.Big Red's Mercy: The Shooting of Deborah Cotton and a Story of Race in America
By Mark Hertsgaard. 2024
The moving story of a New Orleans woman who fought for justice and her community even amidst one of the…
city's darkest moments.Mark Hertsgaard and Deborah Cotton were strangers to one another, united only by a love of jazz and New Orlean&’s distinctive Second Line tradition. And then, during a Mother&’s Day parade, they were thrown together when two gunmen fired into the crowd… Deborah Cotton—known to all as Big Red—was among the most grievously injured. She is the driving force of this deeply reported parable of two of America&’s most deeply rooted issues. A racial justice activist in her forties who was born to a Black father and a white mother, Cotton was one of twenty people—including the author—shot in the biggest mass shooting in the modern history of New Orleans. Once one of the largest slave ports, the city has long been a vortex of violence and racism. From her apparent deathbed, Big Red shocked observers by urging mercy for two young Black men accused of the attack. &“Racism can kill Black people even when a Black finger pulls the trigger,&” she tells Hertsgaard, who, she later said, is &“called&” to investigate what actually happened, and why. Charismatic, complicated, and struck down in her prime, Big Red and her heroic life will captivate readers. In the wake of the shooting, she never stopped fighting as she sought to get to the core of this uniquely American maelstrom. Big Red's Mercy is an illuminating narrative that provides a human and unflinching look at modern America.Fallen: George Mallory and the Tragic 1924 Everest Expedition
By Mick Conefrey. 2024
An authoritative, myth-piercing study of the world-famous explorer George Mallory, who disappeared on Mount Everest in 1924.In the years following…
his disappearance near the summit of Mount Everest in June 1924 at the age of thirty-seven, George Mallory was elevated into a legendary international hero. Dubbed "the Galahad of Everest,&” he was lionized by the media as the greatest mountaineer of his generation—a man who had died while taking the ultimate challenge. His body was only recovered in 1999 and there is still speculation about whether he made it to the summit. Handsome, charismatic, and daring, Mallory was a skilled public speaker, athlete, technically-gifted climber, a committed Socialist, and a supremely attractive figure to both men and women. His friends ranged from the gay artists and writers of the Bloomsbury group to the best mountaineers of his era. But that was only one side to him. Mallory was also a risk-taker who, according to his friend and first biographer David Pye, could never get behind the wheel of a car without trying to overtake the vehicle in front; a climber who pushed himself and those around him to the limits; a chaotic technophobe who was forever losing or mishandling equipment; a man who led his porters to their deaths in 1922, as well as his young climbing partner Andrew Irvine only two years later. So who was the real Mallory? What were the forces that made him and ultimately destroyed him? Why did the man who, in 1922, denounced oxygen sets as "damnable heresy&” himself perish on an oxygen-powered summit attempt two years later? And perhaps most importantly, what made him return to Everest for his third and final attempt? Using diaries, letters, memoirs, and thousands of contemporary documents, Fallen is a gripping forensic investigation of Mallory&’s last expedition that, at long last, separates the man from the myth.Too Close to the Flame: With the Condemned inside the Southern Killing Machine
By Joseph B. Ingle. 2024
Joe Ingle&’s Too Close to the Flame is a heartbreakingly beautiful account of over four decades serving as a spiritual…
counselor, guide, and friend to the men and women on Death Row. &“I had been working with the condemned since 1975—but never before had an execution affected me with this much power and confusion.&” Throughout his forty-five years visiting death rows across the American South, Joe Ingle has learned, loved, and suffered intensely. In Too Close to the Flame, Ingle describes how the events of 2018–2020 finally exposed the deep wounds inflicted on his psyche by nearly half a century of enduring the state-sanctioned murder of friend after friend. As an advocate for the men and women condemned to death by an unjust legal system that routinely victimizes the marginalized, Ingle has often found himself waiting through the darkest hours as the spiritual advisor and sole companion of those on deathwatch—the brief period of isolation that precedes an execution. In vivid detail and startling candor, Ingle describes every moment with the expertise of a scholar and the affection of a brother. Through Ingle&’s eyes, we are invited into the inner sanctum during desperate attempts at clemency, intimate final hours, and the mourning that follows a night on deathwatch. Part psychological memoir, part history of Southern state killing since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, Too Close to the Flame is above all a catalogue of love—a gallery of relationships that could only be forged between people staring death in the face together. It is an account of the price of radical Christian love, a record of service to the least among us, and a testament to the full humanity of those whom the powers that be would seek to dehumanize and exterminate.The inspiring story of a Black doctor who was deeply affected by the violence that plagued his Brooklyn childhood and…
later dedicated himself to addressing trauma and violence as public health issuesRob Gore first encountered violence when he was beaten and robbed as a 10-year old; it was treated as an inevitable fact of life, but after another brush with violence as a teen, he began to reject that prevalent attitude. As he matured and became a doctor, he grew in his determination to find treatments for what he saw not as an unavoidable fact for most people living in vulnerable, underserved neighborhoods especially, but as a public health issue that could be addressed by early intervention and solid support, beginning in the medical community. He also became deeply involved in efforts to diversify the entire field of medicine, starting with the &“front lines&” in the Emergency Department.Seeing his brother Angel and close friend Willis fall prey to the epidemic of violence with profound—and in Willis&’s case—deadly consequences, Rob began seriously researching the issue and went on to found an organization which is one of the models for successful approaches to reducing violence and protecting victims, who are disproportionately BIPOC, living in impoverished neighborhoods, or members of the LGBTQ+ community. Here he provides not only statistics, but stories of what he witnessed in NYC neighborhoods, in Atlanta, Chicago, Buffalo and even in medical work in Haiti and Kenya. His work with the Kings Against Violence Initiate (KAVI) and allied organizations is a blueprint for treating violence not as a police matter, but as a public health crisis, which can and should be addressed and substantially reduced. The people he introduces us to in these pages are not merely victims, but often advocates, paving the way for eliminating the epidemic of violence in our country.Incansable: Mi historia de la fuerza latina que está transformando a los Estados Unidos
By Luis A. Miranda Jr.. 2024
Lectura esencial de una voz experta que necesita nuestro país: las memorias personales y políticas de Luis Miranda revelan un…
profundo conocimiento de la cultura latina y el desarrollo de una comunidad que puede cambiar nuestro mundo para bien. Siendo un veterano de Nueva York y de la política nacional, Luis Miranda encarna el espíritu progresista e incansable de los inmigrantes estadounidenses. No existe persona alguna en la escena política latina, neoyorquina y nacional con la amplia experiencia, pasión y encanto narrativo de Luis Miranda. En Incansable, nos comparte la conmovedora historia de su vida y carrera, desde sus inicios como activista puertorriqueño con mentalidad radical hasta sus décadas de asesoramiento político y resolución de problemas. Experimentamos la emoción con la exposición de Hamilton, creada por su hijo Lin-Manuel. Además, vivimos el sufrimiento tras la devastación de Puerto Rico por el huracán María. En medio de los triunfos, los desafíos y el arduo trabajo continuo, Miranda examina lo que su experiencia le ha revelado acerca de nuestra política, demografía y sociedad en constante cambio.Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms
By Shaunie Henderson. 2024
Shaunie Henderson—wife, mother, entrepreneur, producer, and creator of the hit TV show Basketball Wives—opens up about finding love, offers advice…
for raising strong, smart, grounded Black children in today&’s world, and reveals how to define your career and personal life by your own terms in this inspirational memoir.Today, Shaunie Henderson is a force to be reckoned with—a TV personality, producer of multiple hit reality shows, entrepreneur, philanthropist, mother of five children, First Lady of her husband&’s church, and role model. But before she found her voice and her purpose, she was one more young woman trying to find her way as a partner, a parent, and a person. In Undefeated, Henderson opens up about the struggles, heartbreaks, losses, and triumphs that have made her who she is today—stories that will inspire you to rise up, discover your strength and self-love, and be who you are meant to be. Featuring her relatable voice and filled with candor, Undefeated is so much more than a memoir—it is a stirring guidebook that will change your life for the better.But What Will People Say?: Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love, and Family Between Cultures
By Sahaj Kaur Kohli. 2024
&“This wonderful book is a compass, a blueprint, a mirror, and a friend. Kohli gives language to what many of…
us feel but can&’t yet articulate.&”—Erika L. Sánchez, New York Times bestselling author of I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter &“Loving, culturally informed, and holistic... [Kohli] compassionately shares her own story, and guides readers through the nuances and pain of assimilation, individuation, and mental health. How I wish I had this book back when I was trying to figure it all out for myself!&” —Ramani Durvasula, PhD, author of It&’s Not YouA deeply personal, paradigm-shifting book rethinking traditional therapy and self-care, creating much-needed space for those left out of the narrativeWriter and therapist Sahaj Kaur Kohli grew up knowing exactly what it means to straddle multiple cultures at once. Like many children of immigrants, she has often found herself plagued by questions: Can I establish my own values and embrace where I come from? Is prioritizing my mental health really rejecting my culture? How do I set boundaries and care for myself when family and community mean everything? Even after becoming a therapist herself, she saw those same gaps in the mental health world, leading her to wonder, like so many children of immigrants: what about us?While conversations around mental health are becoming increasingly open, our models remain largely Eurocentric and focused on individuality. Sahaj has sought to challenge these long-held models, using deep personal reflection, therapy, community building, and a whole lot of trial and error, eventually navigating her own way to understanding and acceptance. Here, she shows us how to get there, all the while reminding us that personal healing is inextricably connected to collective healing.But What Will People Say? elegantly weaves together personal narrative, anecdotal analysis, and comprehensive research. Sahaj offers advice and tools for everything from navigating generational trauma, guilt, and boundaries, to breaking down stigmas around therapy and celebrating cultural duality. Democratizing and decolonizing the way we think about mental health and self-help, Sahaj&’s incredible work is nothing short of a revolution.Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food
By Michelle T. King. 2024
A spirited new history of Chinese food told through an account of the remarkable life of Fu Pei-mei, the woman…
who brought Chinese cooking to the world. In 1949, a young Chinese housewife arrived in Taiwan and transformed herself from a novice to a natural in the kitchen. She launched a career as a cookbook author and television cooking instructor that would last four decades. Years later, in America, flipping through her mother’s copies of Fu Pei-mei’s Chinese cookbooks, historian Michelle T. King discovered more than the recipes to meals of her childhood. She found, in Fu’s story and in her food, a vivid portal to another time, when a generation of middle-class, female home cooks navigated the tremendous postwar transformations taking place across the world. In Chop Fry Watch Learn, King weaves together stories from her own family and contemporary oral history to present a remarkable argument for how understanding the story of Fu’s life enables us to see Chinese food as both an inheritance of tradition and a truly modern creation, influenced by the historical phenomena of the postwar era. These include a dramatic increase in the number of women working outside the home, a new proliferation of mass media, the arrival of innovative kitchen tools, and the shifting diplomatic fortunes of China and Taiwan. King reveals how and why, for audiences in Taiwan and around the world, Fu became the ultimate culinary touchstone: the figure against whom all other cooking authorities were measured. And Fu’s legacy continues. Her cookbooks have become beloved emblems of cultural memory, passed from parent to child, wherever diasporic Chinese have landed. Informed by the voices of fans across generations, King illuminates the story of Chinese food from the inside: at home, around the family dinner table. The result is a revelatory work, a rich banquet of past and present tastes that will resonate deeply for all of us looking for our histories in the kitchen.Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World
By Eric Jay Dolin. 2024
The true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812—a tale of treachery, shipwreck,…
isolation, and the desperate struggle for survival. In Left for Dead, Eric Jay Dolin—“one of today’s finest writers about ships and the sea” (American Heritage)—tells the true story of a wild and fateful encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland archipelago during the War of 1812. Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans, including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard, abandoned in the barren, windswept, and inhospitable Falklands for a year and a half. With deft narrative skill and unequaled knowledge of the very pith of the seafaring life, Dolin describes in vivid and harrowing detail the increasingly desperate existence of the castaways during their eighteen-month ordeal—an all-too-common fate in the Great Age of Sail. A tale of intriguing complexity, with surprising twists and turns throughout—involving greed, lying, bullying, a hostile takeover, stellar leadership, ingenuity, severe privation, endurance, banishment, the great value of a dog, the birth of a baby, a perilous thousand-mile open-ocean journey in a seventeen-foot boat, an improbable rescue mission, and legal battles over a dubious and disgraceful wartime prize—Left for Dead shows individuals in wartime under great duress acting both nobly and atrociously, and offers a unique perspective on a pivotal era in American maritime history.Kid olympians: Summer: true tales of childhood from champions and game changers (Kid Legends #9)
By Robin Stevenson. 2024
Athletes throughout history have dreamed of competing in the Olympics—and some were kids themselves when those dreams and plans began!…
In Kid Olympians: Summer, discover the childhood stories of legends such as -Usain Bolt, who used to skip practices to go to the arcade and play video games. -Serena Williams, who sometimes hit her tennis ball over the fence on purpose! -Tatyana McFadden, who had to fight to be allowed on her school's track team Featuring kid-friendly text, this book will inspire you to dream bigger, faster, and higher than ever before! The diverse and inspiring group also includes Dick Fosbury, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Gertrude Ederle, Nadia Comaneci, Ellie Simmonds, Tommie Smith, Wilma Rudolph, and Megan RapinoeBut you don't look arab: And other tales of unbelonging
By Hala Gorani. 2024
Emmy Award-winning international journalist Hala Gorani weaves stories from her time as a globe-trotting anchor and correspondent with her own…
lifelong search for identity as the daughter of Syrian immigrants. What is it like to have no clear identity in a world full of labels? How can people find a sense of belonging when they have never felt part of a "tribe?" And how does a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who's never lived in the Middle East honor her Arab Muslim ancestry and displaced family—a family forced to scatter when their home country was torn apart by war? Hala Gorani's path to self-discovery started the moment she could understand that she was "other" wherever she found herself to be. Born of Syrian parents in America and raised mainly in France, she didn't feel at home in Aleppo, Seattle, Paris, or London. She is a citizen of everywhere and nowhere. And like many journalists who've covered wars and conflicts, she felt most at home on the ground reporting and in front of the camera. As a journalist, Gorani has traveled to some of the most dangerous places in the world, covering the Arab Spring in Cairo and the Syrian civil war, reporting on suicide bombers in Beirut and the chemical attacks in Damascus, watching the growth of ISIS and the war in Iraq—sometimes escaping with her life by a hair. But through it all, she came to understand that finding herself meant not only looking inward, but tracing a long family history of uprooted ancestors. From the courts of Ottoman Empire sultans through the stories of the citizens from her home country and other places torn apart by unrest, But You Don't Look Arab combines Gorani's family history with rigorous reporting, explaining—and most importantly, humanizing—the constant upheavals in the Middle East over the last centuryVision: My Story Of Strength (I, Witness #0)
By Precious Perez. 2023
A young activist opens a window into her journey to become a professional musician and leader for the disabled community.…
Ever since Precious Perez was a child, she has loved to sing. Born and raised outside Boston, her family joked that she’d eventually study at Berklee College of Music. But when a high school music teacher advocated for Precious’s talent, her dream became a reality. Precious was born two-and-a-half months premature and weighed just one pound. Her eyes did not develop fully, and she is blind. Growing up, most people focused on what Precious could not do because of her disability. With her teacher’s support, Precious realized all the things she could do with her disability—starting with attending Berklee. With a voice that is both accessible and engaging, Vision brings forward an empowering first-person account of a woman finding strength and purpose in her disability. The I, Witness series delivers compelling narrative nonfiction by young people, for young people.Subjected to 22 hours of interrogation, torture and beating by South African police on September 6, 1977, Steve Biko died…
six days later. Donald Woods, Biko's close friend and a leading white South African newspaper editor, exposed the murder helping to ignite the black revolution.Not Even My Name: A True Story
By Thea Halo. 2001
A riveting account of exile from Turkish genocide, brought to light for the first time ever in Sano Halo's personal…
story Not Even My Name exposes the genocide carried out during and after WW I in Turkey, which brought to a tragic end the 3000-year history of the Pontic Greeks (named for the Pontic Mountain range below the Black Sea). During this time, almost 2 million Pontic Greeks and Armenians were slaughtered and millions of others were exiled. Not Even My Name is the unforgettable story of Sano Halo's survival, as told to her daughter, Thea, and of their trip to Turkey in search of Sano's home 70 years after her exile. Sano Halo was a 10-year-old girl when she was torn from her ancient, pastoral way of life in the mountains and sent on a death march that annihilated her family. Stripped of everything she had ever held dear, even her name, Sano was sold by her surrogate family into marriage when still a child to a man three times her age. Not Even My Name follows Sano's marriage, the raising of her ten children in New York City, and her transformation as an innocent girl who was forced to move from a bucolic life to the 20th century in one bold stride. Written in haunting and eloquent prose, Not Even My Name weaves a seamless texture of individual and group memory, evoking all the suspense and drama of the best told tales.24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
By Willie Mays, John Shea. 1951
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ANDSAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BESTSELLERThe legendary Willie Mays shares the inspirations and influences responsible for…
guiding him on and off the field in this reflective and inspirational memoir."Even if, like me, you thought you had pretty much read and heard all there was to read and hear about Willie Mays, this warmhearted book will inform and reward you. And besides, what true baseball fan can ever get enough of Willie Mays? Say Hey! Read on and enjoy." —From the Foreword by Bob Costas “It’s because of giants like Willie that someone like me could even think about running for President.” —President Barack ObamaWidely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid.Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime. This is the story of a man who values family and community, engages in charitable causes especially involving children and follows a philosophy that encourages hope, hard work and the fulfillment of dreams.“I was very lucky when I was a child. My family took care of me and made sure I was in early at night. I didn’t get in trouble. My father made sure that I didn’t do the wrong thing. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for children and their well-being, and John Shea and I got the idea that we should do something for the kids and the fathers and the mothers, and that’s why this book is being published. We want to reach out to all generations and backgrounds. Hopefully, these stories and lessons will inspire people in a positive way.” —Willie MaysIndia Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking
By Anand Giridharadas. 2012
Reversing his parents' immigrant path, a young American-born writer returns to India and discovers an old country making itself newAnand…
Giridharadas sensed something was afoot as his plane from America prepared to land in Bombay. An elderly passenger looked at him and said, "We're all trying to go that way," pointing to the rear. "You, you're going this way?"Giridharadas was returning to the land of his ancestors, amid an unlikely economic boom. But he was interested less in its gold rush than in its cultural upheaval, as a new generation has sought to reconcile old traditions and customs with new ambitions and dreams.In India Calling, Giridharadas brings to life the people and the dilemmas of India today, through the prism of his émigré family history and his childhood memories of India. He introduces us to entrepreneurs, radicals, industrialists, and religious seekers, but, most of all, to Indian families. He shows how parents and children, husbands and wives, cousins and siblings are reinventing relationships, bending the meaning of Indianness, and enduring the pangs of the old birthing the new. Through their stories, and his own, he paints an intimate portrait of a country becoming modern while striving to remain itself.The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke
By Sallie Bingham. 2020
"Men who inherit great wealth are respected, but women who do the same are ridiculed. In The Silver Swan, Sallie…
Bingham rescues Doris Duke from this gendered prison and shows us just how brave, rebellious, and creative this unique woman really was, and how her generosity benefits us to this day.” —Gloria Steinem A bold portrait of Doris Duke, the defiant and notorious tobacco heiress who was perhaps the greatest modern woman philanthropistIn The Silver Swan, Sallie Bingham chronicles one of the great underexplored lives of the twentieth century and the very archetype of the modern woman. “Don’t touch that girl, she’ll burn your fingers,” FBI director J. Edgar Hoover once said about Doris Duke, the inheritor of James Buchanan Duke’s billion-dollar tobacco fortune. During her lifetime, she would be blamed for scorching many, including her mother and various ex-lovers. She established her first foundation when she was twenty-one; cultivated friendships with the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Imelda Marcos, and Michael Jackson; flaunted interracial relationships; and adopted a thirty-two year-old woman she believed to be the reincarnation of her deceased daughter. This is also the story of the great houses she inhabited, including the classically proportioned limestone mansion on Fifth Avenue, the sprawling Duke Farms in New Jersey, the Gilded Age mansion Rough Point in Newport, Shangri La in Honolulu, and Falcon’s Lair overlooking Beverly Hills. Even though Duke was the subject of constant scrutiny, little beyond the tabloid accounts of her behavior has been publicly known. In 2012, when eight hundred linear feet of her personal papers were made available, Sallie Bingham set out to probe her identity. She found an alluring woman whose life was forged in the Jazz Age, who was not only an early war correspondent but also an environmentalist, a surfer, a collector of Islamic art, a savvy businesswoman who tripled her father’s fortune, and a major philanthropist with wide-ranging passions from dance to historic preservation to human rights. In The Silver Swan, Bingham is especially interested in dissecting the stereotypes that have defined Duke’s story while also confronting the disturbing questions that cleave to her legacy.