“Knowledge is what’s important, you know? Not the erasure, but the confrontation of it.” — TONI MORRISON In this wide-ranging collection of thought-provoking interviews — including her first and last — Toni Morrison (whom President Barrack Obama called a “national treasure”) details not only her writing life, but also her other careers as a teacher, and as a publisher, as well as the gripping story of her family. In fact, Morrison reveals here that her Nobel Prize-winning novels, such as Beloved and Song of Solomon, were born out of her family’s stories — such as those of her great-grandmother, born a slave, or her father, escaping the lynch mobs of the South. With an introduction by her close friend, poet Nikki Giovani, Morrison hereby weaves yet another fascinating and inspiring narrative — that of herself.
Gun violence is a problem with many faces, but seemingly no solution. From mass shootings to deadly domestic abuse to police officers opening fire, it permeates American life. And yet it feels impossible to address. That''s why it''s time to look at the issue differently. In this revelatory collection, gun violence in America is addressed from three angles: how gun violence affects us today, how we have gotten to this juncture legally and socially, and finally, what we can do to reduce and end gun violence in America.
"I''m so many people. They shock me sometimes. I wish I was just me!" --Marilyn MonroeNearly sixty years after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains an icon whom everyone loves but no one really knows. The conversations gathered here--spanning her emergence on the Hollywood scene to just days before her death at age 36--show Monroe at her sharpest and most insightful on the thorny topics of ambition, fame, femininity, desire, and more. Together with an introduction by Sady Doyle, these pieces reveal yet another Marilyn: not the tragic heroine she''s become in the popular imagination, but a righteously and justifiably angry figure breaking free of the limitations the world forced on her.
A Booklist "Top 10 History Book of 2022" The first true people''s history of modern India, told through a seven-year, 9,000-mile journey along its many contested borders Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the world''s largest democracy and second most populous country. It is also the site of the world''s biggest crisis of statelessness, as it strips citizenship from hundreds of thousands of its people--especially those living in disputed border regions.Suchitra Vijayan traveled India''s vast land border to explore how these populations live, and document how even places just few miles apart can feel like entirely different countries. In this stunning work of narrative reportage--featuring over 40 original photographs--we hear from those whose stories are never told: from children playing a cricket match in no-man''s-land, to an elderly man living in complete darkness after sealing off his home from the floodlit border; from a woman who fought to keep a military bunker off of her land, to those living abroad who can no longer find their family history in India.With profound empathy and a novelistic eye for detail, Vijayan brings us face to face with the brutal legacy of colonialism, state violence, and government corruption. The result is a gripping, urgent dispatch from a modern India in crisis, and the full and vivid portrait of the country we''ve long been missing.
"A searching memoir . . . A subtle, expertly written repudiation of the American dream in favor of something more inclusive and more realistic."—Kirkus, starred review There are many Pedros living in many Americas . . . One Pedro goes to a school where they take away his language. Another disappears in the desert, leaving behind only a backpack. A cousin Pedro comes to visit, awakening feelings that others are afraid to make plain. A rumored Pedro goes missing so completely it''s as if he were never there. In Pedro''s Theory Marcos Gonsalez explores the lives of these many Pedros, real and imagined. Several are the author himself, while others are strangers, lovers, archetypes, and the men he might have been in other circumstances. All are journeying to some sort of Promised Land, or hoping to discover an America of their own. With sparkling prose and cutting insights, this brilliant literary debut closes the gap between who the world sees in us and who we see in ourselves. Deeply personal yet inspiringly political, it also brings to life those selves that never get the chance to be seen at all.
“All I can say is that I’m a shaker-upper. That’s exactly what I am.” —Shirley ChisholmWhen Shirley Chisholm announced her candidacy for the democratic presidential nomination in 1972, she became the first Black candidate for a major party''s nomination—just four years after she had become the first ever Black woman in Congress. In this collection of interviews stretching from her first major profile to her final interview, this icon of iron will and unshakeable political principle reveals how her disciplined and demanding childhood and the expectations placed on her by the public shaped her into a force of nature and the ultimate people’s politician—tirelessly advocating in the halls of government for the poorest and most disadvantaged of the nation.
Frida Kahlo's legacy continues to grow in the public imagination in the nearly fifty years since her "discovery" in the 1970s. This collection of conversations over the course of her brief career allows a peek at the woman behind the hype. And allows us to see the image of herself she carefully crafted for the public.Frida Kahlo is now an icon. In the decades since her death, Kahlo has been celebrated as a proto-feminist, a misunderstood genius, and a leftist hero, but during her lifetime most knew her as ... Diego Rivera's wife. Featuring conversations with American scholar and Marxist, Bertram D. Wolfe, and art critic Raquel Tibol, this collection shows an artist undervalued, but also a woman in control of her image. From her timid beginnings after her first solo show, to a woman who confidently states that she is her only influence, the many faces of Kahlo presented here clearly show us the woman behind the "Fridamania" we know today.
Michael Bible's tragic and sublime third novel tells the story of a massacre in a small Southern town and expands into a heart-breaking meditation on guilt, trauma and redemption.In Harmony, North Carolina, the earth is soaked in blood. Lynchings and hangings; mobs and vigilante justice. But all of that is just whispers of history, lost to time. The summer of 2000 was different. Iggy in the Baptist church. Twenty-five people dead. This, Harmony couldn't forget.Told in a kaleidescope of timelines and voices, Michael Bible takes the reader through all of the dimensions of one tragedy. The victims and witnesses, perpetrators and condemned comingle and evolve as the passage of time works its way through their lives. A fable of the American South that calls to mind William Faulkner and Carson McCullers, this is Bible's finest and most complex work yet. His broken and striving characters call out to the reader from the page and the moral stakes have never been higher or more finely wrought.
From the story of being a "miracle baby" of undocumented immigrants to a NICU nurse who gave birth to two preemies, this anthology represents the diversity of experience with preemies and will be a welcome resource for many who need these words.Every year, 400,000 families in the United States have a premature baby. Ten percent of babies in the US are preemies. There are textbooks, medical-ish guidebooks, and the occasional memoir to turn to ... but no personal essay collections from the many types of people who have parented, cared for, or been preemies themselves. In What We Didn't Expect, Melody Schreiber brings together acclaimed writers and thinkers to share their diverse stories of having or being premature babies, including Representative Pramila Jayapal, Tyrese Coleman, Anne Thériault, Sarah DiGregorio, Dan Koboldt, and many more.
"Poignant and exquisite"--The Los Angeles Review of Books"An inspiring and powerful book"--Booklist"A genuinely absorbing read"--Kirkus"Revelatory, honest, and wondrous."--Chanel Miller, author of Know My NameA lyrical and meditative memoir on the damage we inflict in the pursuit of perfection, the pain of losing our dreams, and the power of letting go of both.With a promising career in classical ballet ahead of her, Ellen O'Connell Whittet was devastated when a misstep in rehearsal caused a career-ending injury. Ballet was the love of her life. She lived for her moments under the glare of the stage-lights--gliding through the air, pretending however fleetingly to effortlessly defy gravity.Yet with a debilitating injury forcing her to reconsider her future, she also began to reconsider what she had taken for granted in her past. Beneath every perfect arabesque was a foot, disfigured by pointe shoes, stuffed--taped and bleeding--into a pink, silk slipper. Behind her ballerina's body was a young girl starving herself into a fragile collection of limbs. Within her love of ballet was a hatred of herself for struggling to achieve the perfection it demanded of her. In this raw and redemptive debut memoir, Ellen O'Connell Whittet explores the silent suffering of the ballerina--and finds it emblematic of the violence that women quietly shoulder every day. For O'Connell Whittet, letting go of one meant confronting the other--only then was it possible to truly take flight.
This crystal ball look into the future of American politics shows how the brewing generational shift to the Left is only the beginning of transformations to come.A demographic apocalypse is coming for the Republican Party. Its most reliable voters are dying, and Republican elites have been unable to convince young people to vote for them in significant numbers for nearly 30 years. And yet, we find ourselves locked in a political stalement, and have twice this century sent the loser of the popular vote to the White House.In The Kids Are All Left, political scientist David Faris examines how young voters are poised to end this partisan gridlock. He explores the policy transformations that young Americans will pursue, what this new society will look like, and how the remnants of the GOP could be changed into a more public spirited, reality-based organization of the center-right. Faris offers progressives a hopeful vision of the future, but he is realistic about the institutional obstacles that stand between voters and true majority rule. The result is a first look at America after Donald Trump.
A classic, smart comedy from a modern-day Evelyn Waugh, about a meek college professor who achieves one of mankind''s most fervent wishes: the ability to fly.College professor George Entmen has been granted what he calls a "useless miracle" -- he can fly, but only three inches off the ground and very, very, very slowly. Plus, he has to put his arms out in front of him like Superman. But when word leaks out that he''s acheived one of mankind''s greatest desires, meek George finds himself in a Kafka-esque world of exploitive friends, angry magicians, and non-stop media attention.
The incredible true story of the dissident journalist who went from being a 13 year-old resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied Greece, to a Washington insider who -- according to Christopher Hitchens -- uncovered the secret behind Watergate.Elias Demetracopolous (1928-2016) is perhaps one of the most overlooked figures in 20th century political history. As a 13 year-old in occupied Greece he was imprisoned for his daring resistance efforts against the Nazis. When his life was miraculously spared he became a journalist, covering the American Embassy in Greece and gaining access to poweful figures in both governments.After the military junta seized control of Greece in 1967, he escaped the country and for seven years was the leading advocate in Washington for restoring democracy in Greece. Over the years, his scoops and pursuit of uncomfortable truths put him at odds with the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. He became the object of CIA, FBI, and State Department surveillance and smear campaigns. There were Greek plots to kidnap and eliminate him. Demetracopolous''s lifetime of standing up for democracy and a free press against powerful special interests has much to teach us about our own era of journalist intimidation, dark money, and international intrigue.
A gripping and subversive novel about the slippery nature of truth and the tragic consequences of American idealism … Leonora Gelb came to Peru to make a difference. A passionate and idealistic Stanford grad, she left a life of privilege to fight poverty and oppression, but her beliefs are tested when she falls in with violent revolutionaries. While death squads and informants roam the streets and suspicion festers among the comrades, Leonora plans a decisive act of protest-until her capture in a bloody government raid, and a sham trial that sends her to prison for life. Ten years later, Andres-a failed novelist turned expat-is asked to write a magazine profile of "La Leo." As his personal life unravels, he struggles to understand Leonora, to reconstruct her involvement with the militants, and to chronicle Peru's tragic history. At every turn he's confronted by violence and suffering, and by the consequences of his American privilege. Is the real Leonora an activist or a terrorist? Cold-eyed conspirator or naïve puppet? And who is he to decide? In this powerful and timely new novel, Andrew Altschul maps the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, author and text, resistance and extremism. Part coming-of-age story and part political thriller, The Gringa asks what one person can do in the face of the world's injustice.
From the acclaimed author of Kids These Days, this collection of new and selected essays traces how inequality, student debt, and over-work have come to define our culture and our lives.Our economic situation, political discourse, and future prospects have gotten much worse since a guy brought a sign that said SHIT IS FUCKED UP AND BULLSHIT to the Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park. We all knew what he meant . . . but where are we now? And how did we get here? Malcolm Harris, one of our most exciting young cultural critics, takes on these questions, examnining everything from how we''ve become complicit in lowering the bar for what counts as prosperity; to how we sacrificed privacy so casually we didn''t even notice; to the higher education financial bubble that is about to burst. But these funny, voice-driven essays remind us to laugh at the absurdity of all: he cops to being the guy who tricked protestors into thinking Radiohead was playing Occupy Wall Street; he demonstrates how uncannily the Ikea catalog now reflects our worldview; and he assures us Marx saw the necessity of a crisis moment just like the one we''re in. This wide-ranging look at the mess we''re in shows a versitile cultural critic at the height of his powers.
A celebration of the revolutionary potential of women working with other women, and a powerful statement about myths like the "cool girl" or the "catty workplace"Covens. Girl Bands. Ballet troupes. Convents. In all times and places, girls and women have come together in communities of vocation, of necessity, of support. In Witches, Sam George-Allen explores how wherever women gather, magic happens. Female farmers change the way we grow our food. Online beauty communities democratize skin-care rituals. And more than any other demographic, it's teen girls that shape our culture. Patriarchal societies have long been content to champion boys' clubs, while viewing groups that exclude men as sites of rivalry and suspicion. This deeply personal investigation takes us from our workplaces to our social circles, surveying our heroes, our outcasts, and ourselves, in order to dismantle the persistent and pernicious cultural myth of female isolation and competition . . . once and for all.
In a work of blistering dark hilarity, a young Nietzsche experiences life in a metal band & the tribulations of finals season in a modern secondary schoolWhen a new student transfers in from a posh private school, he falls in with a group of like-minded suburban stoners, artists, and outcasts—too smart and creative for their own good. His classmates nickname their new friend Nietzsche (for his braininess and bleak outlook on life), and decide he must be the front man of their metal band, now christened Nietzsche and the Burbs. With the abyss of graduation—not to mention their first gig—looming ahead, the group ramps up their experimentations with sex, drugs, and...nihilist philosophy. Are they as doomed as their intellectual heroes? And why does the end of youth feel like such a universal tragedy? And as they ponder life''s biggies, this sly, elegant, and often laugh-out-loud funny story of would-be rebels becomes something special: an absorbing and stirring reminder of a particular, exciting yet bittersweet moment in life...and a reminder that all adolescents are philosophers, and all philosophers are adolescents at heart.
“This is a book about counterculture, and that’s a problem . . . “ So begins Curtis White’s thrilling call for the revitalization of counterculture today. The problem, White argues, is twofold: first, most of us think of counterculture as a phenomenon stuck in the 1960s, and, second, what passes as counterculture today . . . simply isn’t. Nevertheless, a reimagined counterculture is our best hope to save the planet, bypass social antagonisms, and create the world we actually want to live in. Now. White—“the most inspiringly wicked social critic of the moment" (Will Blythe, Elle)—shows how the products of our so-called resistance, from Ken Burns to Black Panther, rarely offer a meaningful challenge to power, and how our loyalty to the “American Lifestyle” is self-defeating and keeps us from making any real social change. The result is an inspiring case for practicing civil disobedience as a way of life, and a clear vision for a better world—full of play, caring, and human connection.
By a powerful new voice in American fiction comes the story of a young black man coming to terms with his own race Jonah Winters has it all. An Ivy Leaguer born to expatriate parents, he is never in want for money and calls both New York City and Paris his home. Aware that his fortunes are rare for a black man like himself, he attempts to give back by teaching English at a New York City public school only to be profoundly disillusioned by his apathetic students. When a friend offers Jonah a chance to escape down to South America, he accepts, ready to leave the struggling African-American community to solve their own problems. But before he can make a clean break, a chance encounter with a former globetrotting basketball coach alters his journey from one of self-discovery to one of maturation. In his exciting and singular debut, McCarthy confronts difficult questions of race, identity and class with daring, and breathtaking storytelling.
"The most extensive review of U.S. intelligence-gathering tactics in generations." -Los Angeles TimesThis is the Executive Summary of the "Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program," a U.S. Senate investigation -- a.k.a., The Torture Report.Based on more than six million pages of classified CIA documents, this report details the establishment of a covert CIA program to secretly detain and interrogate suspected terrorists. Among other matters, the report describes the evolution of the CIA program, the use of the CIA's so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," and how the CIA misrepresented the program to the White House, the Department of Justice, Congress, and the American people.Over five years in the making, it is presented here exactly as redacted and released by the United States government on December 9, 2014, with an introduction by Daniel J. Jones, who led the Senate investigation. ---NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREThe Report is a riveting thriller based on actual events. Idealistic staffer Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) is tasked by his boss Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening) to lead an investigation of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program, which was created in the aftermath of 9/11. Jones' relentless pursuit of the truth leads to explosive findings that uncover the lengths to which the nation's top intelligence agency went to destroy evidence, subvert the law, and hide a brutal secret from the American public.The Report is written and directed by Scott Z. Burns and features outstanding performances by a powerful cast led by Adam Driver, Annette Bening, and Jon Hamm.Sarah Goldberg, Michael C. Hall, Douglas Hodge, Fajer Kaisi, Ted Levine, Jennifer Morrison, Tim Blake Nelson, Linda Powell, Matthew Rhys, T. Ryder Smith, Corey Stoll, and Maura Tierney complete the powerful ensemble that brings this essential story to life.THIS EDITION OF THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REPORT ON TORTURE IS THE OFFICIAL TIE-IN TO THE MOTION PICTURE
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