Mary McCarthy conveys the vitality of Florence while Willa Cather's essay on Lavandou foreshadows her descriptions of the French countryside in later novels. Others are more active participants in the culture they are visiting, such as Leila Philip, as she harvests rice with chiding Japanese women, or Emily Carr, as she wins the respect and trust of the female chieftain of an Indian village in Northern Canada. Whether it is curiosity about the world, a thirst for adventure or escape from personal tragedy, all of these women are united in that they approached their journeys with wit, intelligence, compassion and empathy for the lives of those they encountered along the way. Features writing from Gertrude Bell, Edith Wharton, Isabella Bird, Kate O'Brien, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and many others.

    She quit music in college but never stopped fantasizing about what her life might be like if she had never put down her bow. Years later, a freelance writer in New York, she again finds herself struggling with her fantasy of an artist's life versus its much more complicated reality. In search of answers, she decides to track down her childhood friends from Interlochen, a prestigious arts camp she attended, full of aspiring actors, artists, dancers, and musicians, to find out how their early creative ambitions have translated into adult careers, relationships, and identities.Rachel's conversations with these men and women spark nuanced revelations about creativity and being an artist: that it doesn't have to be all or nothing, that success isn't always linear, that sometimes it's okay to quit. And Then We Grew Up is for anyone who has given up a childhood dream and wondered "what-if?", for those who have aspired to do what they love and had doubts along the way, and for all whose careers fall somewhere between emerging and established. Warm, whip-smart, and insightful, it offers inspiration for finding creative fulfillment wherever we end up in life.

    Today it details Appalachia's difficult past, and at the same time, presents an accurate historical backdrop for a contemporary understanding of the Appalachian region.

    Miss Dickens was the only woman reporter on the staff of a weekly newspaper and of course she was sent to various 'women's' functions.She sees much to interest - and amuse - her.

    As the nation faced yet another Sandy Hook story of tragedy, one woman rewrote the ending. Yet the story doesn't start with those first steps Michael Hill took into that Atlanta elementary school. It starts with Antoinette Tuff, a woman who faced her own pain, hurt, and rejection, yet held onto grace, faith, and hope. A hope that anchored her in the most high stakes of moments, a grace that allowed her to empathize with a hurting young man, and a faith that gave her the courage to love him back from the brink. This is more than just the amazing account of tragedy averted. It's the evidence of what we can do when we allow ourselves to be used by God. And it's a story of how God uses "all "of our life experiences--the good and the bad--to prepare us for our own moment of divine purpose.

    For the steamer Portland bore two tons of pure Klondike gold. And immediately, the stampede north to Alaska began. Easily as many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world struck out for the remote, isolated gold fields in the Klondike Valley, most of them in total ignorance of the long, harsh Alaskan winters and the territory's indomitable terrain. Less than a third of that number would complete the enormously arduous mountain journey to their destination. Some would strike gold. Berton's story belongs less to the few who would make their fortunes than to the many swept up in the gold mania, to often unfortunate effects and tragic ends. It is a story of cold skies and avalanches, of con men and gamblers and dance hall girls, of sunken ships, of suicides, of dead horses and desperate men, of grizzly old miners and millionaires, of the land — its exploitation and revenge. It is a story of the human capacity to dream, and to endure.

    Over the past century it has been known by many names -- the Bone War, the Fossil Feud -- but the tragic story of the competition for fame and natural treasure between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two leading paleontologists of the Gilded Age, remains prophetic of the conquest of the West as well as a watershed event in science. With a historian's eye and a novelist's skill, David Rains Wallace charts in fascinating detail the unrestrained rivalry between Cope and Marsh and their obsession to become the first to make available to the world the abundant, unknown fossils of the western badlands. This story will surely fascinate anyone who has had to confront the myriad facets of professional jealousy, its sterile brooding, and how it leads to an emotional abyss.

    He also happens to be my husband.”While most thirty-somethings are climbing the corporate ladder or popping out babies, Janna Cawrse and her boyfriend Graeme take a different tack: they quit their jobs, tie the knot, and embark on a most unusual honeymoon cruise—813 days across the Pacific Ocean on a beat-up old sailboat. Their goal? Relaxation and relationship therapy. But the passage from First Date to First Mate is anything but smooth sailing. From the craggy Pacific Northwest coast to the tropical isles of Polynesia to the bustling ports of Asia, Janna and Graeme must share everything: rations of Top Ramen, sailboat sewage duty, a boat the size of a bedroom, and every minute of every day. They realize: If their marriage can survive this, it can survive anything! Like all great love stories, Janna and Graeme encounter storms and disasters along the way—and plenty of reasons for make-up sex. And they discover intimate secrets about each other, difficult truths about love, and skills they’ll need to keep their boat—and their relationship—afloat.Written in the style of popular travelogues by J. Maarten Troost (The Sex Lives of Cannibals) and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love), Janna Cawrse Esarey gives readers a satisfying mix of soul-searching and romantic comedy while she seeks to answer this crucial question: When the waters get rough, will she—a novice sailor and spouse—abandon ship? Or will she learn to navigate the world—and the one relationship that will teach her about sex, love, and the meaning of “wife”?

    But what happened to the hostage-takers, the suicidal holy warriors, the martyrs, and the mullahs responsible for the now moribund revolution? Is modern Iran a society at peace with itself and the world, or truly a dangerous spoke in the "Axis of Evil"?Christopher de Bellaigue, a Western journalist married to an Iranian woman and a longtime resident of a prosperous suburb of Tehran, offers a stunning insider's view of a culture hitherto hidden from American eyes, and reveals the true hearts and minds of an extraordinary people.

    "Kroeger's biography of Nellie Bly moves at almost as fast a pace as did Bly's remarkable life".--Mindy Spatt, San Francisco Chronicle. Photos & illustrations.

    It is a delightful journey backward - in the grandest of company - into a voluptuous, genteel world that has vanished forever.

    In 1960, however, she had reached the limits of that provincial--and irredeemably sexist--society and set off for America. True North--the testament of an extraordinary woman living in an extraordinary time--te lls the profound story of the challenges that confronted Conway, as she sought to establish her public self.

    A detainee in the end cell shouted, "Allah Al-Akbar" - God is great - the common cry when the shit was hitting the fan. Then loud, synchronized stomping as five soldiers entered the block in helmets, over-the-knee shin pads, chest protectors, and thick black-leather gloves. The first soldier in line carried a shield. They walked in step, each hanging on to the waist of the soldier in front of him. It was like a scene from some storm-trooper action film. They were in no rush; the psychological effect of their march down the corridor, boots echoing off the metal floor with frightening, deafening thuds, was powerful. One NCO was following the group with a video camera. I was told the tapes were used for training.The detainee very slowly kissed his Koran, closed it, placed it in its white covering, and set it on his cell ledge. Then he stood up and took off his orange shirt. He was thin but had a wiry build with sharp muscle definition. We later learned that he was a kickboxer at home. The guard commander offered him one last chance. He said nothing and simply indicated with a wave of his hand that he was ready for the IRF team.The air on the block seemed to vibrate as everyone anticipated the onset of orchestrated violence. Some of the detainees were genuinely frightened, moving to the backs of their cells. The others started shouting "American dogs!" "Kafer!," "Allah Al-Akbar!" I had never witnessed such mayhem.

    Jack Kennedy, the American hero, and Marilyn Monroe, the love goddess: Their affair has been whispered about for 30 years. Now, at last, the story we have only been able to imagine is brought to vibrant, stunning life--a passionate, tragic romance lived out against a background of deadly intrigue.

    Or is it that seventy is the new fifty? Yet fashionable clothes shops cater for little but elfin twenty-year-olds; magazines carry little but articles about appearing younger. Heaven forbid you try to apply for a job…Older women are permitted to be either part of the slippers and cardigans brigade, or to cling desperately to their youth and insist on being ‘young at heart’. Can’t there be a third way? A way to age with grace, security, beauty and adventure, and a way to keep your identity against a growing tide of voices telling you how you’d be happier if only you looked ten years younger.Covering topics from family, finances and work to cosmetics, fashion and sex, The Invisible Woman – which is also Helen’s Guardian column nom de plume – is a new sort of book about ageing; one that teaches us not how to avoid it, but how to enjoy it, grow with it, and thrive.