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The Immaculate Invasion
Bob Shacochis
1999
Bob Shacochis brings to his first major work of reportage the worldview and political vision that have earned him comparisons with Graham Greene and V. S. Naipaul. The Immaculate Invasion is his eyewitness account of the 1994 invasion and occupation of Haiti - an invasion in which the classic military rules of engagement were rewritten to reflect the shifting political philosophies of the late twentieth century. Based on eighteen months in the field in Haiti - where he bunked, ate, and dodged bullets as a noncombatant with a team of Special Forces commandos - Shacochis's book brings us the stories of the "new military." Here are the most highly trained and sophisticated warriors in history, deployed in a surreal war zone, "where there are no friends and no enemies, no front or rear, no victories and, likewise, no defeats, and no true endings." With the eye of a novelist, Shacochis captures the exploits and frustrations, the inner lives, and the heroic deeds of young Americans as they struggle to bring democracy to a country ravaged by tyranny. This is what it is like to be a soldier in a military environment in which "acceptable losses" has evolved to mean "no losses whatsoever." Above all, The Immaculate Invasion is a song of freedom dedicated to not just the Haitian people and their country, but to any culture staggering through the aftershock of twentieth-century imperialism.
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Domesticity: A Gastronomic Interpretation of Love
Bob Shacochis
1994
Domesticity is an irreverent exploration of the sweet and sour evolution of the enduring romance between author and lover. In this relationship, Shacochis stays at home and cooks, all the while reflecting on the ups and downs of a romantic partnership, the connection between heart and stomach, and how the crazed lust of youth evolves into inevitably settling down and, well, simply making dinner.
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Swimming in the Volcano
Bob Shacochis
1993
Set on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Catherine, an American expatriate becomes unwittingly embroiled in an internecine war between rival factions of the government. Into this potentially explosive scene enters a woman once loved and lost, but who remains a powerful temptation-one that proves impossible to resist.
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The Next New World: Stories
Bob Shacochis
1989
A collection of short stories by Shacochis in which he explores the possibilities of variation in the art of story writing.
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Easy in the Islands: Stories
Bob Shacochis
1985
A calypso singer named Lord Short Shoe consorts with a vampish black singer to bilk an American out of his pride and his only companion-a monkey. An entire island bureaucracy casually confounds the attempts of Tillman, a hotel owner, in his attempt to get his dead mother out of the freezer and into a real grave; stymied, he resorts to a highly unusual form of burial. Two poor islanders stumble into a high-class dance party one night and find themselves caught up in a violent encounter that just might escalate into revolution. And a young woman sails off into the romantic tropics with the man of her dreams, only to learn the hard way - as Eve did - that paradise is just another place to leave behind.
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A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery
E. Benjamin Skinner
2008
There are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. In this account of contemporary slavery, journalist Skinner travels around the globe to personally tell stories that need to be told--and heard. With years of reporting in such places as Haiti, Sudan, India, Eastern Europe, The Netherlands, and, yes, even suburban America, Skinner has produced a moving reportage on one of the great evils of our time. After spending four years infiltrating trafficking networks and slave sales on five continents, he tells the story of individuals who live in slavery, those who have escaped from bondage, those who own or traffic in slaves, and the mixed political motives of those who seek to combat the crime. Their stories are heartbreaking but, in the midst of tragedy, readers discover a quiet dignity that leads some slaves to resist and aspire to freedom.
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New Family Values
Andrew Solomon
2018
Drawing on dozens of intimate audio interviews with families from all across the country, award-winning psychologist and writer Andrew Solomon redefines what it means to be an "ideal family" in America today. Solomon observes that America, led in large part by the women's, civil rights, and gay rights movements, has undergone a radical social shift in the last few decades.
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Far and Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change
Andrew Solomon
2016
Far and Away collects Andrew Solomon’s writings about places undergoing seismic shifts—political, cultural, and spiritual. Chronicling his stint on the barricades in Moscow in 1991, when he joined artists in resisting the coup whose failure ended the Soviet Union, his 2002 account of the rebirth of culture in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, his insightful appraisal of a Myanmar seeped in contradictions as it slowly, fitfully pushes toward freedom, and many other stories of profound upheaval, this book provides a unique window onto the very idea of social change. With his signature brilliance and compassion, Solomon demonstrates both how history is altered by individuals, and how personal identities are altered when governments alter.
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The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost
Andrew Solomon
2013
Sotheby's auction of avant-garde Soviet art, held in Moscow in 1988, introduced to the West a generation of painters and sculptors who for years had been unable to exhibit their works in public. Solomon, who covered the auction for a British magazine, offers an intimate, thoughtful glimpse of Moscow's and Leningrad's artistic vanguards, walking on ice in the unpredictable thaw of glasnost . Works range from Ilya Kabakov's obsessive re-creation of a Moscow communal apartment, citadel of misery, to painter Larissa Zvezdochetova's witty, kitschy demolition of communist propaganda.
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Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
Andrew Solomon
2012
Solomon’s startling proposition in Far from the Tree is that being exceptional is at the core of the human condition—that difference is what unites us. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, or multiple severe disabilities; with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, and Solomon documents triumphs of love over prejudice in every chapter.
All parenting turns on a crucial question: to what extent should parents accept their children for who they are, and to what extent they should help them become their best selves. Drawing on ten years of research and interviews with more than three hundred families, Solomon mines the eloquence of ordinary people facing extreme challenges. -
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Andrew Solomon
2001
The author offers a look at depression in which he draws on his own battle with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, researchers, doctors, and others to assess the complexities of the disease, its causes and symptoms, and available therapies. This book examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations, around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. He takes readers on a journey into the most pervasive of family secrets and contributes to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition.
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A Stone Boat
Andrew Solomon
1994
The dignified sunset of a woman dying from cancer, told by her adoring son. The woman uses her illness to pressure him to abandon his homosexuality and become involved with a girl.
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Nagasaki: Life after Nuclear War
Susan Southard
2016
This book is an account of the enduring impact of nuclear war, told through the stories of those who survived. On August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a small port city on Japan's southernmost island. An estimated 74,000 people died within the first five months, and another 75,000 were injured. Published on the seventieth anniversary of the bombing, Nagasaki takes readers from the morning of the bombing to the city today, telling the first-hand experiences of five survivors, all of whom were teenagers at the time of the devastation. Susan Southard has spent years interviewing hibakusha ("bomb-affected people") and researching the physical, emotional, and social challenges of post-atomic life. She weaves together eyewitness accounts with analysis of the policies of censorship and denial that colored much of what was reported about the bombing both in the United States and Japan.
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We Germans
Alexander Starritt
9-1-2020
We Germans takes the form of a letter written by the now 90-year-old soldier to his grandson, telling him of his experiences in the war, and his grappling with the extent to which he feels guilt and shame about his own behaviour, and the behaviour of Germany. The novel is interrupted at various points by the grandson, who offers his own perspective on his grandfather. Starritt delicately and deftly explores the moral considerations of a young soldier in that position, what he or anyone else would/should do, and whether a life of loving and sacrificing for your family post-war could make up for inhumane acts. The storytelling is excellent, and totally gripping. It's also very human; there are horrors, generally unseen but occasionally seen, and the events take place against this backdrop, but it's more about the everyday experiences of soldiers, and among the horror and confusion there are moments of humour and life, as well as acts of great bravery and selflessness.
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The Beast
Alexander Starritt
9-7-2017
Jeremy Underwood is a long-suffering subeditor on The Daily Beast, Britain's mightiest tabloid. Returning from holiday, he notices two burqa-clad figures lurking outside the paper's Kensington offices. Two male terrorism suspects have escaped from a mosque disguised as women; recently suspicion and fear have made everyone alert. Jeremy's casual observation sets off a chain of events that spins out of control, as the great Beast feels that it is the next target of terrorism. Alexander Starritt's darkly funny novel is a vivid anatomy of that most uncontrollable of large creatures, the British tabloid newspaper. The ferocious professionalism and manic rivalries of a newsroom have rarely been so well described. And at the heart of the newsroom is the brooding, dictatorial figure of its editor, Charles Brython, the booming voice of Middle England. His world is under threat, and he will do whatever it takes to defend it. This is a story in which comedy teeters on the edge of horror.
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The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Rebellion
Gloria Steinem
10-29-2019
For decades -- and especially now in these times of crisis -- people around the world have found guidance, humor, and unity in Gloria Steinem's gift for creating quotes that inspire action and create hope. From her early days as a journalist and feminist activist, up to today, Steinem's words have helped generations to empower themselves and work together. Gloria sees quotes as 'the poetry of everyday life,' so she also has included a few favorites from friends, including bell hooks, Flo Kennedy, Michelle Obama, and more, in this anthology of quotes that will make you want to laugh, march, and create some of your own. At the end of the book, there is a special space for each reader to add their own quotes and others they've found. Covering topics from relationships ('Many are looking for the right person. Too few are looking to be the right person.') to patriarchy ('Men are liked better when they win. Women are liked better when they lose. This is how patriarchy is enforced every day.') and activism ('Change, like a tree, grows from the bottom up.'), plus an introduction and essays by Steinem, this is the definitive collection of her words on many of the topics that matter most today. The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! is both timeless and timely. It is a gift of hope from Gloria to readers, that they will want to share with friends.
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My Life on the Road
Gloria Steinem
2015
Gloria Steinem had an itinerant childhood. When she was a young girl, her father would pack the family in the car every fall and drive across country searching for adventure and trying to make a living. The seeds were planted: Gloria realized that growing up didn’t have to mean settling down. And so began a lifetime of travel, of activism and leadership, of listening to people whose voices and ideas would inspire change and revolution.
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Doing Sixty and Seventy
Gloria Steinem
2006
Gloria Steinem has been an eloquent and outspoken voice for women’s rights and equality for more than four decades. In Doing Sixty & Seventy she addresses an essential concern of people everywhere—and especially of women: the issue of aging. Whereas turning fifty, in her experience, is “leaving a much-loved and familiar country,” turning sixty means “arriving at the border of a new one.” With insight, intelligence, wit, and heartfelt honesty, she explores the landscapes of this new country and celebrates what she has called “the greatest adventure of our lives.” While appreciating everybody’s experiences as different, Steinem sees these years as charged with possibilities. Dealing with stereotypes and the “invisibility” that often accompany a woman’s senior years can be as liberating as it is frustrating. It frees women as well as men to embrace that “full, glorious, alive-in-the-moment, don’t-give-a-damn yet caring-for-everything sense of the right now.”
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Moving Beyond Words: Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender
Gloria Steinem
1994
The six pieces, three of which have never been published before, explode common assumptions and propose radical new ways of looking at human possibilities.
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Revolution from Within: A Book of Self Esteem
Gloria Steinem
1992
The author investigates the most vital component of a healthy personality--self-esteem--drawing on her own experience with low self-esteem and that of such luminaries as Mahatma Gandhi.
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Marilyn: Norma Jeane
Gloria Steinem
1986
The book delves into a topic many other writers have ignored—that of Norma Jeane, the young girl who grew up with an unstable mother, constant shuffling between foster homes, and abuse. Steinem evocatively recreates that world, connecting it to the fragile adult persona of Marilyn Monroe. Her compelling text draws on a long, private interview Monroe gave to photographer George Barris, part of an intended joint project begun during Monroe’s last summer. Steinem’s Marilyn also includes Barris’s extraordinary portraits of Monroe, taken just weeks before the star’s death.
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Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions
Gloria Steinem
1983
These essays from Gloria Steinem’s first three decades of work offer a portrait of a woman who was not only one of the savviest leaders of the women’s liberation movement, but also a profoundly humane thinker with a wide-ranging intellect and irresistible wit. In “If Men Could Menstruate,” Steinem engages readers in a flight of imagination as incisive as it is hilarious. She offers first-person journalism in her underground exposé “I Was a Playboy Bunny,” provides heartbreaking memoir in the story of her mother’s struggles in “Ruth’s Song,” and stakes important positions in feminist theory in “Erotica vs. Pornography.” This is Steinem at her most provocative—and most compassionate.
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The Beach Book
Gloria Steinem
1963
Gloria Steinem's 1963 book celebrating beach culture dedicated "To Ocean Beach Pier that was and to Paradise Island".
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Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson
2014
The founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama recounts his experiences as a lawyer working to assist those desperately in need, reflecting on his pursuit of the ideal of compassion in American justice.
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Studs Terkel's Chicago
Studs Terkel
2012
Chicago was home to the country’s first skyscraper (a ten-story building built in 1884) and marks the start of the famed "Route 66." It is also the birthplace of the remote control (Zenith), the car radio (Motorola) and the first major American city to elect a woman (Jane Byrne) and then an African American man (Harold Washington) as mayor. Its literary and journalistic history is just as dazzling, and includes Nelson Algren, Mike Royko and Sara Paretsky. From Al Capone to the street riots during the Democratic National Convention in 1968, Chicago, in the words of Terkel himself, “has—as they used to whisper of the town’s fast woman—a reputation.”
Chicago was of course also home to the Pulitzer Prize–winning oral historian Studs Terkel, who moved to Chicago in 1922 as an eight-year-old and who would make it his home until his death in 2008 at the age of 96. This book is a splendid evocation of Studs’ hometown in all its glory—and all its imperfection.
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