Outlasting the Trail: The Story of a Woman's Journey West


Mary Barmeyer O'Brien - 2005
    Trading in her home for canvas roof and wheels, Mary, her husband, and their three children set out on the arduous trek westward to California.Shortly into their travels west, it became painfully obvious that Doctor Powers was simply not up to the task of making sure his family "outlasted the trail." Mary had to step in and become the head of the household with its canvas roof and wheels--leaving behind her ideals of femininity along with her beloved possessions.In Outlasting the Trail author Mary Barymeyer O'Brien uses the letters Mary Rockwood Powers wrote to her mother and sister back home as a stepping off point to further illuminate this remarkable woman's story. Based on the dramatic struggle a real family, this novel brings to life a fascinating slice of American history.

Growing Up Fast


Joanna Lipper - 2003
    Less than a decade older than these teen parents, she was able to blend into the fabric of their lives and make a short documentary film about them. Over the course of the next four years she continued to earn their trust as they shared with her the daily reality of their lives and their experiences growing up in the economically depressed post-industrial landscape of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The Brass Notebook: A Memoir


Devaki Jain - 2020
    But there were restrictions too, that come with growing up in an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, as well as the rarely spoken about dangers of predatory male relatives. Ruskin College, Oxford, gave her her first taste of freedom in 1955, at the age of 22. Oxford brought her a degree in philosophy and economics—as well as hardship, as she washed dishes in a cafe to pay her fees. It was here, too, that she had her early encounters with the sensual life. With rare candour, she writes of her romantic liaisons in Oxford and Harvard, and falling in love with her ‘unsuitable boy’—her husband, Lakshmi Jain, whom she married against her beloved father’s wishes.Devaki’s professional life saw her becoming deeply involved with the cause of ‘poor’ women—workers in the informal economy, for whom she strove to get a better deal. In the international arena, she joined cause with the concerns of the colonized nations of the south, as they fought to make their voices heard against the rich and powerful nations of the former colonizers. Her work brought her into contact with world leaders and thinkers, amongst them, Vinoba Bhave, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Henry Kissinger, Amartya Sen, Doris Lessing and Iris Murdoch, her tutor at St Anne’s College, Oxford, who became a lifelong friend.In all these encounters and anecdotes, what shines through is Devaki Jain’s honesty in telling it like it was—with a message for women across generations, that one can experience the good, the bad and the ugly, and remain standing to tell the story.

Elise: A small town in Cornwall. A well hidden secret. But the past is never far behind. An uplifting, intriguing new page-turner from the author of the ... to Cornwall series. (Connections Book 1)


Katharine E. Smith - 2021
    

The New Commander: The great saga of England continues (The Company of Archers)


Martin Archer - 2018
    The Christians have broken the truce and the Fifth Crusade has begun, the irate Saracens are expelling Christians and Jews from their lands, and desperate refugees are pouring into Jerusalem's port city of Acre which is expected to fall. There are coins to be earned carrying those most favoured by God to safety, meaning those with the most coins to pay for a place on one of the company's galleys. And the French governor of Acre wants to leave his young wife behind and flee with the chests of coins he collected from the city's Saracen merchants before he expelled them despite the bribes they paid him. It is a rollicking good story and a very good read.

Sikhs: The Untold Agony Of 1984


Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay - 2015
    She claimed the police had inserted a stick inside her… Swaranpreet realised that she had been cruelly violated; He spoke a single sentence but repeated it twice in chaste Punjabi: ‘Please give me a turban? I want nothing else…’ These are voices begging for deliverance in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in October-November 1984 in which 2,733 Sikhs were killed, burnt and exterminated by lumpens in the country. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay walks us through one of the most shameful episodes of sectarian violence in post Independent India and highlights the apathy of subsequent governments towards Sikhs who paid a price for what was clearly a state-sponsored riot. Poignant, raw and most importantly, macabre, the personal histories in the book reveal how even after three decades, a community continues to battle for its identity in its own country.

Dive Beneath the Sun


R. Cameron Cooke - 2016
     A secret cargo is headed for Japan. The Japanese High Command has entrusted it to a veteran destroyer captain - the best in the Imperial Navy - and he will stop at nothing to see that it reaches its final destination... Carrier-based dive bombers could not stop it, nor could the guerilla-commandos of the Philippine Islands. Now, the submarine Wolffish is the last ditch hope of the Allied Command. Still shaken by a recent tragedy, and desperately low on fuel, torpedoes, and morale, the war-weary submarine and her eighty-man crew must pull together to track down and destroy the cargo before it reaches Japan, and changes the course of the war...

The Last Thing He Said


Laura Davey - 2021
    

The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image


Leonard Shlain - 1998
    Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values. Writing drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking and this shift upset the balance between men and women, initiating the decline of the feminine and ushering in patriarchal rule. Examining the cultures of the Israelites, Greeks, Christians, and Muslims, Shlain reinterprets ancient myths and parables in light of his theory. Provocative and inspiring, this book is a paradigm-shattering work that will transform your view of history and the mind.

Blossom: What Scotland Needs to Flourish


Lesley Riddoch - 2013
    A term given to flowers of stone fruit trees and some other plants that flower profusely in Spring. Blossoms provide pollen to bees, and initiate cross-pollination necessary for trees to reproduce by producing fruit. 2. A peak period or stage of development. Covering topics including housing, health, language and culture, Riddoch looks at the way in which Scots identify themselves and how this needs to change in order for the country to blossom u as an independent nation or a strongly devolved one. Arguing that limited access to security and wealth has left Scots feeling like outsiders in their own country, this book tackles fundamental and personal issues of identity that matter to ordinary Scots. Designed to incite discussion and debate, this book will appeal to those who believe larger issues of self esteem and power lurk beneath the complexities of the independence debate and want to delve deeperBACK COVERWhat will it take for Scotland to blossom? "Imagine Scotland as a beautifully-knitted, warmth-providing sweater caught on a snag. Its wearer tries to move forward u but cannot. A pause is needed to lift the garment clear. Scotland is thus snagged. And no amount of tugging will free it from the stubborn, progress-inhibiting three-headed hook of inequality, distant control and top-down governance." Weeding out vital components of Scottish identity from decades of political and social tangle is no mean task, but itOCOs one journalist Lesley Riddoch has undertaken. Dispensing with the tired, yo-yoing jousts over fiscal commissions, Devo Something and EU in-or-out, "Blossom" pinpoints both the buds of growth and the blight thatOCOs holding Scotland back. Drawing from its people, history, and the authorOCOs own passionate and outspoken perspective this is a plain-speaking but incisive call to restore control to local communities and let Scotland flourish.

On Photography


Susan Sontag - 1973
    Sontag develops further the concept of 'transparency'. When anything can be photographed and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, the most famous being "In Plato's Cave", make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.

Feeding Desire: Fatness, Beauty and Sexuality Among a Saharan People: Fatness and Beauty in the Sahara


Rebecca Popenoe - 2003
    Feeding Desire analyses this beauty ideal in the context of Islam, conceptions of health, and notions of desire Full description

Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem


Carolyn G. Heilbrun - 1995
    Here, Heilbrun illuminates the life and explores the many facets of Steinem's complex life, from her difficult childhood to the awakening that changed her into the most famous feminist in the world. Intimate and insightful, here is a biography that is as provocative as the woman who inspired it. Photos.

L.A. Secret Police. Inside the LAPD Elite Spy Network


Mike Rothmiller - 1992
    Secret Police. Inside the LAPD Elite Spy Network is a New York Times and Los Angeles Times Bestseller. This incredible non-fiction book rips the lid off the LAPD and exposes the reader to its dark underbelly of corruption during the reign of Chief Daryl Gates. L.A. cops ruined lives and reputations, inflicted mindless brutality, committed murder and engaged in massive cover-ups. In Los Angeles, police corruption was much more than unmarked envelopes stuffed with cash. It was a total corruption of power. For decades LAPD engaged in massive illegal spying and lied about it. Its spying targets included politicians, movie stars, professional athletes, news reporters and anyone wielding power or those of interest to Daryl Gates. Incredibly, the spying targets included a Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a Secretary of Defense, a current Governor and the President of the United States. It all happened in Los Angeles. Detective Rothmiller is the modern-day Frank Serpico; he exposed the tentacles of corruption which reached to the highest levels within the LAPD and Washington D.C. It wasn’t long after that an assassin attempted to take his life. It was apparent to many that powerful forces wanted him silenced. Incredibly, in this book Detective Rothmiller names names! See why this book changed the LAPD and is required reading at many universities. As former Assistant United States Attorney Marvin Rudnick said, “Rothmiller was in a position to know. He did very sensitive work.” Every book has an ending. However, the ending of this book will shock you. Within the new epilogue is a multi-page essay written especially for this updated book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston. In it he describes his personal experience as a target of Daryl Gates illegal intelligence operations while he served as a Los Angeles Times reporter. You’ll also read the challenge posed by detective Rothmiller to the LAPD. A challenge LAPD has refused to answer. Since releasing this updated eBook, Detective Rothmiller has been interviewed dozens of times by the national media regarding current NSA domestic spying and the 2013 murderous rampage of former LAPD cop Christopher Dorner. In late 2013 Detective Rothmiller was interviewed for a major television documentary which will expose corruption and major crimes committed at the highest levels. The documentary is scheduled for release in 2016.

The Politics of Glory: How the Baseball's Hall of Fame Really Works


Bill James - 1994
    In The Politics of Glory, bestselling author Bill James takes a hard look at the Hall - not only at the traditional questions of who is in and who is out and why, but at how the Hall of Fame operates, who operates it, how they make decisions, and why those decisions sometimes go awry. Using the endless battle over onetime Yankee shortstop - and new Hall of Famer - Phil Rizzuto as a recurring theme, James analyzes the perennial debate over Hall of Fame qualifications: players who should be in, and aren't, as well as players who shouldn't be, and are. Who is more deserving of induction, Catfish Hunter or Luis Tiant? Whatever happened to Vern Stephens, the St. Louis Browns shortstop who began in the majors the same year as Stan Musial . . . and during his first eight years had more home runs and RBIs than Musial? Can you name the shortstop who is the very best player in baseball history who is not in the Hall of Fame? (Hint: It wasn't Rizzuto.). Was Don Drysdale a qualified Hall of Famer? From Ron Santo to Joe Tinker, from Joe Gordon to Richie Ashburn, and (of course) from Shoeless Joe Jackson to Pete Rose, here are the fascinating stories, the profound dilemmas, and the raucous controversies that make up the history of baseball's Hall of Fame.