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Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body
By Rebekah Taussig. 2020
A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to…
paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life. Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.“A famous account of abduction and escape from hostile Indians in the old West.In July, 1864 hostile Oglala Sioux Indians…
attacked the wagon train of the pioneering Kelly and Larimer families approximately 80 miles west of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Several people were killed or wounded but Sarah Larimer and Fanny Kelly, together with some of their children, were taken into captivity by the Indians. On the second night of their captivity Sarah Larimer and her son managed to escape from the Indian camp and after many difficulties and privations they reached the Deer Creek telegraph station and safety. This book is Sarah Larimer’s story of her ordeal. Fanny Kelly’s captivity with the Sioux lasted longer and on her release she also wrote a book about her experiences. She also sued Sarah Larimer over her memoir and several trials took place over ten years before the matter was settled. [This Book] provides fascinating insights into the westward passage of pioneer families in North America, and those interested in the Indian tribes of the Great Plains during their struggle to maintain their traditional way of life will also find much to interest them in the pages of these books.”-Print ed.“With Crook in pursuit of Geronimo and his band.The author of this book was a U.S. soldier in addition to…
being a well known and highly regarded author on the Apache Wars of the later nineteenth century-in which he was an active participant. He maintained an interest, respect for and in some measure an affection for the Apaches and he also made a serious study of and wrote notable works on their customs and culture. He is perhaps best known for his classic account of the Apache Wars, 'On the Border with Crook.' This small account was written prior to his larger and more expansive work. It originally appeared as a series of articles in the Boston published 'Outing Magazine.' Bourke decided to bring his earlier writings back into print in book form, at a time when the Apaches had once again taken the war trail, to provide the American public with context to then current events. This fascinating account, which centres on the events of the Spring of 1883, concerns Crook's pursuit of the Chiricahua Apaches who broke out of San Carlos reservation to raid through Arizona and Mexico before vanishing into the fastness of the Sierra Madre. Those with any interest or knowledge in this subject will find themselves familiarly introduced to the corps of Apache Scouts, Al Sieber (Zieber), the scout and interpreter, Crook, Gatewood, Chato and of course the renowned Geronimo, as well as other names long associated with this remarkable time in the history of the Apaches and Arizona.”-Print ed.“A great river and those who sailed it.This well known and highly regarded classic of the opening up of the…
American West concentrates on the great rivers of North America and the Missouri in particular. Focus is, of course, placed to the iconic paddle-steamers, their captains and crews, that plied its waters and that have become emblematic of river navigation in 19th century America. The scope of the narrative is significant. Events are described from the mid-1850s and through the American Civil War. However, the book principally deals with the post Civil war period of westward expansion and the role of the vessels and the river itself in the wars against the plains Indians. The transportation of troops and materials played a significant part in these campaigns and this is, of course, is recounted here in some detail. Readers will learn about the exploits of boats including the 'Far West, ' 'Key West, ' Rosebud, ' 'Luella' and 'North Alabama' in this fascinating account of the American frontier afloat.”-Print ed.Following the Drum: A U. S. Infantry Officer's Wife on the Texas Frontier in the Early 1850's
By Teresa Griffin Viele. 2024
“A view of the early Texan frontier from a female view pointTeresa Viele was a strong minded woman with clear…
cut views. Fate would dictate that her life would not be defined by her experiences as an army wife, but in this book she has left us a significant insight into the activities of the officers, soldiers and families of a United States Infantry regiment on the Texas frontier in the pre-Civil War period. Her account encompasses everything that came under her eye and into her active mind-from travel, landscape, flora, fauna and food. Less domestically, she turned her thoughts and pen to the subject of Mexicans and United States political relations with Mexico, the omnipresent threat of Comanche raiders and the ability and capacity of the army to fulfil its border protection duties. Viele also provides an interesting perspective on Jose Maria Jesus Carbajal and the Merchants War. This is an unusual female viewpoint on life on the early South Western American frontier and is an important chronicle of a woman in Texas during the pioneer period.”-Print ed.Red Eagle and the Wars with the Creek Indians of Alabama 1812-1814
By George Cary Eggleston. 2024
“Red Sticks, White Sticks and the war in AlabamaThe Creek Indian War, also known as the Red Stick War, took…
place between 1813-1814 and has been considered by many historians as part of the War of 1812. The Creek—or Muscogee—Indians of Alabama were effectively waging a civil war among themselves. One militant faction, the so called Red Sticks, proposed an aggressive return to the traditional life of their forebears and an end to treaties with and concessions to pioneer settlers represented by the United States government. The White Sticks, opting for peace, inevitably took the opposing view. Although the conflict began as one between the indigenous Indians, American forces, under the soon to be famous Andrew Jackson among others, were drawn into the conflict because much of the animosity was focussed on pioneer settlements. The conflict started in the usual manner of American Indian Wars—with the murder of settler families. The inevitable revenge and retribution that followed—and an escalation of the kind of merciless savagery the Americans had come to expect—culminated in the massacre of 500 settlers, friendly Indians, mixed blood Creeks and soldiers at Fort Mims in an attack led by the Red Stick war leader, Red Eagle. Other forts were also attacked. Panic spread through the region exacerbated by the inability of the Federal government to provide ready aid since it was engaged against the British and their Indian allies to the east. As a consequence much of the fighting was undertaken by militias from Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi supported by White Stick allies. National hero, Davy Crockett, also served in this conflict. The war ended in a victory for the Americans and put Andrew Jackson on a path to the presidency and the White House. It was a disaster for the entire Creek Indian tribe—irrespective of their allegiances—who paid for the conflict through the confiscation of vast tracts of their traditional lands.”-Print ed.Thrilling Days in Army Life: Experiences of the Beecher's Island Battle 1868, the Apache Campaign of 1882, and the American Civil War
By George Alexander Forsyth. 2024
“A highly regarded memoir of the Indian and Civil Wars.The author of this book, George A. (Sandy) Forsyth was a…
career soldier who served with distinction in the American Civil War and subsequently upon the western frontier against the Plains Indian tribes as they fought a losing battle to stem the inexorable advance of 'Manifest Destiny'—essentially 'the survival of the fittest'—'the law' as Forsyth writes, 'that has obtained since the dawn of creation.' Forsyth's career was varied and full of incident, though in his biography he has elected to concentrate on just four outstanding episodes in which he took part. The first, and certainly the one for which has remained famous to this day concerns the Battle of Beecher's Island. In 1868 in command of just 50 'scouts' Forsyth pursued a thousand Indian warriors of the Northern Cheyenne and other tribes under the war chief, Roman Nose, and found himself besieged on a small island in a creek of the Republican River. This incredible story of endurance has become one of the iconic episodes of the Plains Indian Wars. Here Forsyth tells his experiences in his own words before recounting a lesser known incident from his time on the Mexican border in conflict with and pursuit of Chiricahua Apaches. The final two accounts concern Forsyth's experiences as an aide to Sheridan during the Civil War, first during the Shenandoah campaign and finally at Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House after the last shots of the war were fired. Forsyth intends to grip his reader from first page to last by the exclusion of the routine of drudgery of military life and by focusing on its moments of high action. He succeeds and has created a highly entertaining account of military adventure of the United States Army of the nineteenth century which will satisfy every reader.”-Print ed.Sam and Chester: How a Mischievous Pig Transformed the Life of My Autistic Son
By Jo Bailey-Merritt. 2016
When Sam Bailey-Merritt was just two years old, almost overnight he lost the ability to communicate or function. His mother,…
Jo, was at a loss as to what to do as she saw her son grow increasingly isolated and begin to suffer from uncontrollable meltdowns. Eventually, Sam was diagnosed with autism.Sam's condition continued to worsen and, just when Jo had all but given up hope of being able to help him, the family went on a day trip to a nearby miniature pig farm. Sam immediately bonded with a tiny ginger piglet called Chester, who stood sad and alone, apart from the rest of the litter. The connection between the boy and the animal was immediate and their unusual friendship blossomed from the moment the family brought Chester home. The tiny pig refused to leave Sam's side - it was as if he knew that Sam needed a friend. And, for the first time in five years, Jo saw her son really laugh.While Sam's confidence grew, Chester grew in a different way: the micro pig that was supposed to become the size of a Cocker Spaniel in fact ballooned to three times that size - with hilarious consequences for the family! Chester has turned Sam's life around. He now has the ability to communicate his feelings, make friends and is caring and kind towards others.Sam and Chester is the heart-warming story of how a teacup-sized ginger pig helped to transform the life of a boy with autism. It is the emotional story of a mother's fight to win back her son.From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays…
exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America. Keah Brown loves herself, but that hadn&’t always been the case. Born with cerebral palsy, her greatest desire used to be normalcy and refuge from the steady stream of self-hate society strengthened inside her. But after years of introspection and reaching out to others in her community, she has reclaimed herself and changed her perspective.In The Pretty One, Brown gives a contemporary and relatable voice to the disabled—so often portrayed as mute, weak, or isolated. With clear, fresh, and light-hearted prose, these essays explore everything from her relationship with her able-bodied identical twin (called &“the pretty one&” by friends) to navigating romance; her deep affinity for all things pop culture—and her disappointment with the media&’s distorted view of disability; and her declaration of self-love with the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute.By &“smashing stigmas, empowering her community, and celebrating herself&” (Teen Vogue), Brown and The Pretty One aims to expand the conversation about disability and inspire self-love for people of all backgrounds.Beryl: The Making of a Disability Activist
By Dustin Galer. 2023
Beryl Potter was a reserved working-class mother of three living a decent life, or so it seemed, when a harmless…
slip and fall marked the unravelling of everything that she had known about herself and the world around her. Over the course of six years, she endured unimaginable pain. As doctors raced to save her life, her limbs and eyesight were taken from her one by one. In the span of a few years, she lost nearly half her body, her financial security, her home, her husband, and any semblance of a recognizable future. A survivor of more than one hundred surgeries, a dangerous opioid addiction, and multiple suicide attempts, Beryl Potter devoted herself to bettering the lives of other people with disabilities and made a tremendous contribution to disability awareness from the 1970s to 1990s. In this unparalleled biography, Dustin Galer demonstrates how Beryl Potter seemed to crack the code of the social system that oppressed her. By wading into the weeds of her complicated life before and after her accident, Galer leaves readers with a complex portrait of a woman who defied and challenged gender and disability norms of her time, paving the way for disability justice.Quiet Hero: The Ira Hayes Story
By S. D. Nelson. 2006
A biography of Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian who was one of the six soldiers to raise the United States…
flag on Iwo Jima during World War II, an event immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph.Growing up on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, Ira Hayes was a quiet, shy boy. He never wanted to be the center of attention, and at school, he felt lonely and out of place. By the time Ira was in his late teens, World War II was raging. When the United States called its men to arms, Ira answered by joining the Marine Corps. He believed it was his duty to fight honorably for his country, and with his Marine buddies by his side, Ira finally felt as if he belonged. Eventually they were sent to the tiny Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where a chance event and an extraordinary photograph catapulted Ira to national awareness and transformed his life forever. Filled with all the patriotism and tragedy of wartime and its afteraffects, Quiet Hero is the story of one person's courage in the face of both military and personal battles. It is a poignant tribute to Ira Hayes.Help your child power up their reading skills and learn all about bears with this fun-filled nonfiction reader – carefully…
leveled to help children progress.A Bear’s Tale is a beautifully designed reader retelling some traditional stories about bears in America’s Pacific Northwest. The engaging text has been carefully leveled using Lexile so that children are set up to succeed. A motivating introduction to using essential nonfiction reading skills. Children will love to find out about bears and the stories that have long been told about them.Indigenous Archival Activism: Mohican Interventions in Public History and Memory
By Rose Miron. 2024
Who has the right to represent Native history? The past several decades have seen a massive shift in debates…
over who owns and has the right to tell Native American history and stories. For centuries, non-Native actors have collected, stolen, sequestered, and gained value from Native stories and documents, human remains, and sacred objects. However, thanks to the work of Native activists, Native history is now increasingly being repatriated back to the control of tribes and communities. Indigenous Archival Activism takes readers into the heart of these debates by tracing one tribe&’s fifty-year fight to recover and rewrite their history. Rose Miron tells the story of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation and their Historical Committee, a group of mostly Mohican women who have been collecting and reorganizing historical materials since 1968. She shows how their work is exemplary of how tribal archives can be used strategically to shift how Native history is accessed, represented, written and, most importantly, controlled. Based on a more than decade-long reciprocal relationship with the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation, Miron&’s research and writing is shaped primarily by materials found in the tribal archive and ongoing conversations and input from the Stockbridge-Munsee Historical Committee. As a non-Mohican, Miron is careful to consider her own positionality and reflects on what it means for non-Native researchers and institutions to build reciprocal relationships with Indigenous nations in the context of academia and public history, offering a model both for tribes undertaking their own reclamation projects and for scholars looking to work with tribes in ethical ways.Beryl: The Making of a Disability Activist
By Dustin Galer. 2023
The story of a mid-century working-class housewife whose extraordinary physical transformation empowered her to become a dynamic social activist who…
fueled a movement to create a more inclusive future for people with disabilities.Normal: A Mother and Her Beautiful Son
By Magdalena Newman. 2019
A moving and “inspiring” memoir from the mother of a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, with a foreword by R.J.…
Palacio, author of Wonder (Publishers Weekly, starred review).For Magda Newman, normal was a goal—she wanted her son Nathaniel to be able to play on the playground, swim at the beach, enjoy the moments of childhood that are often taken for granted. But Nathaniel’s severe Treacher Collins syndrome—a craniofacial condition—meant that other concerns came first. Could he eat without the aid of a gastrointestinal tube? Could he hear? Would he ever be able to breathe effortlessly? In this moving memoir, Newman, with the help of her son, tells the story of raising Nathaniel, from the shock she and her husband faced when he was born, to the inspiration of Nathaniel’s own strength and quirky humor. All this while also facing both non-Hodgkins and Hodgkins lymphoma diagnoses of her own. This uplifting story of a family tackling complex and terrifying circumstances with love and resilience is a true testament to Magda and her family, and to families everywhere who quietly but courageously persist.Go the Way Your Blood Beats
By Emmett De Monterey. 2023
AN EXTRAORDINARILY MOVING AND ORIGINAL MEMOIR OF GROWING UP GAY AND DISABLED IN 1980s LONDONSHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST…
BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2023 When Emmett de Monterey is eighteen months old, a doctor diagnoses him with cerebral palsy. Words too heavy for his twenty-five-year-old artist parents and their happy, smiling baby.Growing up in south-east London in the 1980s, Emmett is spat at on the street and prayed over at church. At his mainstream school, teachers refuse to schedule his classes on the ground floor, and he loses a stone from the effort of getting up the stairs. At his sixth form college for disabled students, he's told he will be expelled if the rumours are true, if he's gay.And then Emmett is chosen for a first-of-its-kind surgery in America which he hopes will 'cure' him, enable him to walk unaided. He hopes for a miracle: to walk, to dance, to be able to leave the house when it rains. To have a body that's everyday beautiful, to hold hands in the street. To not be gay, which feels like another word for loneliness. But the 'miracle' doesn't occur, and Emmett must reckon with a world which views disabled people as invisible, unworthy of desire. He must fight to be seen.'Vivid, engaging... this insightful memoir sheds light on the author's life as a disabled gay man who is often rendered invisible' Andrew McMillan, Guardian Book of the Day'A frank and intimate memoir written with an incredible clear-eyed intensity' Claire FullerEvery Cripple a Superhero
By Christoph Keller. 2019
'Fascinating ... compelling ... very funny' Sunday Times'A defiant call to arms ... affecting ... lingers long in the memory…
after its final page' Morning Star'A skilful act of literary witness, sharp, moving and funny' Joanne Limburg 'Christoph Keller ... ranks among the great Swiss writers' Neue Zürcher ZeitungMost stories of disability follow a familiar pattern: Life Before Accident. Life After Accident. For Christoph Keller, it was different: his childhood diagnosis with a form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy only revealed what had been with him since birth. SMA III, the 'kindest one', allows those who have it to live a long life, and it progresses slowly. There is no cure. By the age of 25, he had to use a wheelchair some of the time. 'There were two of me: Walking Me. Rolling Me.' By 32, he could still walk into a restaurant with a cane or on somebody's arm. At 45, 'Rolling Me' took over altogether.Intimate, absurdist and winningly frank, Every Cripple a Superhero is at once a memoir of life with a progressive disorder, and a profound exploration of the challenges of loving, being loved, and living a public life - navigating restaurants, aeroplanes, museums and artists' retreats - in a world not designed for you. Threaded throughout are Keller's own photographs of the unexpected beauty found in puddle-filled 'curb cuts', the pavement ramps that, left to disintegrate, form part of the urban obstacle course. Those puddles become portals into a different, truer city; and, as they do, so this book - told with humour and immense grace - begins to uncover a truer world: one where the 'normal' is not normal, where disability is far more widespread than we might think, and where there always exist, just alongside our own, the lives of everyday superheroes.Christy Brown: The Life That Inspired My Left Foot
By Georgina Louise Hambleton. 2007
Christy Brown was severely disabled with cerebral palsy, unable to use any part of his body other than his left…
foot. Doctors said he was a 'mental defective' and that he would never be able to lead any kind of normal life; Christy proved them wrong.His mother taught him to write using chalk on the worn floor of their small home, and Christy grew into a talented artist and writer. His 1954 memoir My Left Foot was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, while his bestselling novel Down All the Days was described by the Irish Times as 'the most important novel since Ulysses'.Using previously unpublished letters and poems, this first authorised biography marks Christy Brown's importance as a writer and celebrates his indomitable spirit. His story proves that, with hope and determination, almost impossible odds can be overcome.Blade Runner
By Oscar Pistorius. 2012
Blade Runner is the inspirational memoir of Oscar Pistorius. Discover his incredible, emotional journey from disabled toddler to international sports…
phenomenon.At eleven months old, Oscar Pistorius had both his legs amputated below the knee. His mother wrote a letter to be read by Oscar when he was grown up: 'A loser is not one who runs last in the race. It is the one who sits and watches, and has never tried to run.' On discovering that their son had been born with no fibulae, Oscar's parents made the difficult decision to have both his legs amputated, giving him the best possible chance of a normal life. Oscar received his first pair of prosthetic legs at just seventeen months, made specifically for him. From then on he became invincible: running, climbing and, with the encouragement of his older brother, getting into any mischief he could. Throughout the course of his life, Oscar has battled to overcome extraordinary difficulties to prove that, with the right attitude, anything is possible. Blade Runner charts the extraordinary development of one of the most gifted sportsmen and inspirational figures on the planet - from immobilised child to world-class sprinter.Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
By Kathleen DuVal. 2024
A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story…
from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today&“A feat of both scholarship and storytelling.&”—Claudio Saunt, author of Unworthy RepublicLong before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. Then, following a period of climate change and instability, numerous smaller nations emerged, moving away from rather than toward urbanization. From this urban past, egalitarian government structures, diplomacy, and complex economies spread across North America. So, when Europeans showed up in the sixteenth century, they encountered societies they did not understand—those having developed differently from their own—and whose power they often underestimated.For centuries afterward, Indigenous people maintained an upper hand and used Europeans in pursuit of their own interests. In Native Nations, we see how Mohawks closely controlled trade with the Dutch—and influenced global markets—and how Quapaws manipulated French colonists. Power dynamics shifted after the American Revolution, but Indigenous people continued to command much of the continent&’s land and resources. Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa forged new alliances and encouraged a controversial new definition of Native identity to attempt to wall off U.S. ambitions. The Cherokees created institutions to assert their sovereignty on the global stage, and the Kiowas used their power in the west to regulate the passage of white settlers across their territory.In this important addition to the growing tradition of North American history centered on Indigenous nations, Kathleen DuVal shows how the definitions of power and means of exerting it shifted over time, but the sovereignty and influence of Native peoples remained a constant—and will continue far into the future.