Book picks similar to
The Pastures of Beyond: An Old Cowboy Looks Back at the Old West by Dayton O. Hyde
non-fiction
geography-usa
general-biography
not-in-rr-library
The Saga of Billy the Kid
Walter Noble Burns - 1925
Saga focuses on the Kid's life and experiences in the bloody war between the Murphy-Dolan and Tunstall-McSween gangs in and around Lincoln, New Mexico, between 1878 and 1881. Burns paints the Kid as a boyish Robin Hood or romantic knight galvanized into a life of crime and killing by the war's violence and bloodshed. Billy represented the romantic and anarchic Old West that the march of civilization was rapidly displacing. His destroyer was Pat Garrett, the courageous sheriff of Lincoln County. Garrett's shooting of Billy in 1881 hastened the closing of the American frontier. Walter Noble Burns's Saga of Billy the Kid kindled a fascination in Billy the Kid that survives to this day. Richard W. Etulain's foreword discusses the singular importance of Saga in the historical literature on Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War.
James Gandolfini: The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano
Dan Bischoff - 2014
The book is informed by fresh interviews with Sopranos actors, HBO executives, the star’s acting teachers and coaches, his childhood friends, buddies from his days as a nightclub bouncer, and Hollywood figures including the directors of his posthumously released films. Bischoff decodes Gandolfini’s portrayal of mobsters and bad guys from his breakout role in True Romance with Patricia Arquette to the series role that made his career, including his portrayals of real people like Leon Panetta in Zero Dark Thirty. Gandolfini’s personal life--from his marriages and family interactions to his deep friendships with his fellow cast members—enriches and enlivens this book, and deepens our understanding of the star.James Gandolfini: The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano is a fascinating look at Gandolfini’s complicated relationship to his roots, to the role that made him wealthy beyond his imagination, and to American notions of masculinity, power and fame. Even as he scaled the heights of his profession, creating a character as vivid as Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker and as volcanic as Marlon Brando’s Stanley Kowalski, Gandolfini remained a reluctant celebrity dedicated more to his craft than to his career. James Gandolfini: The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano delivers a textured, multilayered portrait of the on- and off-screen life of a complex, talented man who rose from an Italian immigrant family in northern New Jersey to join the ranks of America’s most iconic actors.
The Distance Between: A Travel Memoir
Mike McIntyre - 2014
Luckily, something remarkable happens wherever he roams. With his keen eye and original voice, he portrays evocative travel moments both big and small. In Sarajevo, he skis with soldiers at the height of the Bosnian War. Outside a Mexican bullring, two boys mistake him for their idol, a professional wrestler. And returning to a tropical paradise, he’s assigned the same hotel room where an older woman broke his heart five years earlier.Along the way, he challenges a rival to a goat race in Saudi Arabia, searches for his missing shoes with barefooted villagers in Honduras, plunges through the Himalayas in aviation’s most terrifying final approach, and joins the U.S. Navy—for one week, anyway. To top it off, he reveals his favorite travel tip gleaned from forty years of globetrotting.By turns hilarious, wistful, and dramatic, The Distance Between draws a captivating self-portrait of a lifelong vagabond and a writer critics call “a reader’s dream” (San Diego Union-Tribune).
I'll Give You Something to Cry About: A memoir of a daughter's struggle to survive a mother with paranoia, schizophrenia, and manic depression
Elizabeth Acker - 2016
Elizabeth is forced to become estranged from her father and struggles alone to create hope and meaning for her life while serving her mother like a slave. This book is a true account of a daughter's struggle to survive a mother with paranoia, schizophrenia, and manic depression.
Tending Critters in the Ridges
Clyde Brooks - 2005
Clyde Brooks gives us a first hand view of the life and times of a country veterinarian and insight into the miracle of medicine and compassion. the formula for the healing art. Tending Critters in the Ridges carries the reader from muck and manure of the pig pen to the sterility of a surgical room and all the places in between. It is a timeless story that lifts the spirits and let's you know why the people of this rural town consider the veterinarian as their family's other doctor.
Jackasses of History: Bathroom Reader and Handy Manual of Unpleasant Trivia
Seann McAnally - 2018
Norman Baker said that about his autobiography. Why? He was a jackass. In the pages of this book meet 20 losers, killers, confidence tricksters, and incompetents - the Jackasses of History. For adult readers.
My War in the Jungle: The Long-Delayed Memoir of a Marine Lieutenant in Vietnam 1968–69
G.M. Davis - 2021
The Laughing Policeman: My Brilliant Career in the New Zealand Police
Glenn Wood - 1998
It has been edited by the author as an ebook and some new content has been added.
Beaten and Left for Dead: The Story of Teri Jendusa-Nicolai
Dave Alfvin - 2017
The Crime of the Decade in Wisconsin. WITH PHOTOS Teri Jendusa never dreamed she would marry a violent, malignant narcissist like David Larsen. But she did. Why? Simple. Larsen cleverly concealed his true nature until the marriage vows were final. David, an eventual church council president and model citizen, rapidly began to morph into a monster and sociopath, telling Teri on their wedding day, “Now, I own you.” Beaten and Left For Dead is a book about extreme marital violence, dominant control and psychological torment through the mind of the out-of-control David Larsen. It's also about survival, faith and a mother’s will to live for her children’s sake...as she faces death, face to face. This is an ideal book for women’s studies and book clubs as it looks inside a large women’s shelter, giving the reader a glimpse of a support network. The author also interviews a counselor who works with violent men with surprising results. Teri Jendusa-Nicolai continues to crusade for women’s issues to this day and currently works with a Wisconsin commission on domestic violence. EDITORIAL PRAISE "Teri Jendusa-Nicolai's story is a powerful example of the horrific lengths of barbarism a man can go to when he considers a woman his personal property. And it is, equally, an inspiring, riveting story of a woman's courage and clear thinking under the absolute worst of conditions, and of her tenacious hold to life...I am so grateful to Teri Jendusa-Nicolai and to Dave Alfvin for getting this story out to us. Don't miss it." --Lundy Bancroft, best-selling author on domestic violence, trainer, and activist on male violence against women "This book is important because it gets our message out as to what we do to help abusers change their value systems." --Maureen Manning-Rosenfeld, Clinical Professional Counselor
A Girl Raised by Wolves: An inspiring memoir of one woman's journey through sex trafficking, cancer, murder and more.
Lockey Maisonneuve - 2018
town, an adolescent girl is unwittingly handed a one-way ticket by her mother to allegedly "visit" her estranged father in Florida. Young and vulnerable, Lockey Maisonnueve has no idea she is being abandoned and sent to live with a vile and dangerous pedophile who would spend the next several years violently raping, abusing and mercilessly selling his daughter's body into childhood prostitution to other adult men. After being rescued by her naive, but well-intentioned, grandparents, her troubled life is further devastated by cancer and ravaged by the subsequent brutal murder of her mother, in which Lockey is briefly considered a suspect. "A Girl Raised by Wolves' is the inspirational memoir of a survivor of the darkest circumstances one can endure in a single lifetime and still emerge with a sense of humor and to defiantly proclaim "they didn't break me!"
Long Black Stockings: A turn-of-the-century memoir
Ethel Benson Soper - 2014
The details are exquisite and take one back to beloved books of childhood such as Little House on the Prairie while at the same time providing full grown-up fare for history buffs. Wry humor and insights are deftly woven throughout, making the reader smile precisely because the author is not trying to do anything but authentically tell her story. And a wonderful story it is.” Kate Turpin
The Khalistan Conspiracy: A Former R&AW Officer Unravels the Path to 1984
GBS Sidhu - 2020
With a timeline that moves from seven years before to a decade after 1984, the book strives to answer critical questions that continue to linger till today.The narrative moves from Punjab to Canada, the US, Europe and Delhi, looking to sift the truth from the political obfuscation and opportunism, examining the role that the ruling party allegedly played, and the heart-rending violence that devoured thousands of innocent lives in its aftermath.
Blind Curves: A Woman, a Motorcycle, and a Journey to Reinvent Herself
Linda Crill - 2013
The problem—she doesn’t know how to ride and has only thirty days to learn.Four short weeks later, Linda joins two men and a woman for a white-knuckled, exhilarating road trip along the west coast from Vancouver, Canada, to the wine country of Mendocino, California. Along the way she encounters washed-out mountain roads, small town hospitality, humming redwoods, and acceptance from gentle souls who happen to have tattoos and piercings.By heading into the unknown—the blind curve—she faces her fears, tests old beliefs, and discovers not only a broader horizon of possibilities to use in building the next phase of her life, but also the fuel to make it happen.Funny, irreverent, and extraordinarily honest, it’s the perfect read for people looking for ways to reinvent themselves, and anyone asking: “What now?”
The Hypocrisy of Disco
Clane Hayward - 2007
Her poignantly funny, sometimes melancholy, and always riveting memoir recounts her extraordinary life up until her thirteenth birthday. School was a particularly happy eventit meant a hot lunch and clothes that matched! But Clane's mother warned her that schools are just zoos run by the government. From a world of complex relationships, uncertain rules and constant surprises, Clane forged a childhood, sometimes with, sometimes without her bong-puffing, Buddha-quoting, macrobiotic mother and her wild-haired, redneck father. The Hypocrisy of Disco is an honest, direct, and truly unforgettable tale, and a tribute to the resilience of youth.