Autobiography: adventurers and explorers Books

Book Synopsis''Breathtaking untold story . . . riotously colourful'' Mail on Sunday''I read most of it in one exciting sitting. It is brilliant, gripping and sad'' Harry MountRestoration Heart is a story of love, double divorce and redemption. It is a biography of the heart, and of a house. When William Cash suffers a post-divorce, mid-life breakdown, aged 43, life seemed bleak - but things were about to change. Like William himself, his old Shropshire family house Upton Cressett was in as much in need of being rescued and ''fixed up'' as its owner. As William embarks on re-building his life and ruin of a country house, he starts looking again for love. But money, patience and the likelihood of ever finding family happiness soon start to run out.Drawing on his haul of letters written to various wives, fiancées and girlfriends - all potential third wives - the book follows Cash''s search for a chatelaine for Upton Cressett. Restoration Heart<Trade ReviewBreathtaking untold story . . . riotously colourful * Mail on Sunday *A touching, entertaining memoir which traces the twin track restoration of a broken heart and dilapidated Shropshire Manor * The Tablet *Immensely readable . . . Laugh-out-loud funny, Restoration Heart is a delightful true story of love, hope and redemption by one of the foremost society writers of our day * Tatler *An excellent memoir * Nicholas Coleridge *This entertaining, often poignant, book is straight out of Waugh or Wodehouse * Catholic Herald *An endearing story of rebuilding and restoring * You magazine *A funny and unexpectedly touching book * Country Life *I read most of it in one exciting sitting. It's brilliant, gripping and sad. The personal romantic memoir is terrificHilarious . . . Restoration Heart conveys the transformative power of good architecture . . . this book is one to be treasured * The New Criterion *Recommended . . . unexpected poignancy * New Statesman *A very amusing and candid memoir * Jeremy Musson, architectural historian and broadcaster *I'm very much enjoying Restoration Heart * John Challis, aka Boyce in Only Fools and Horses and restore-a-wreck author *Cash emerges as a flamboyant character . . . a classically English romantic . . . Cash's transition is genuinely endearing * The Art Newspaper *Recommended * Historic House *Intriguing . . . wittily recounted and moving . . . This book will surely give heart to anyone embarking on a seemingly Sisyphean restoration job, be it of the house or of the soul * The Lady *Cash, who has often written of society and scandal, is adept at setting dramatic scenes throughout his memoir. Yet there's another layer to Restoration Heart-an acute literary sense . . . Restoration Heart is buoyed by Cash's self-effacing humor. He's a romantic when it comes to love, and also writing * The Millions *

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Book SynopsisIncluded in The Times and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year round-ups''Friends and Enemies is an extraordinary read showing unflinching candour from a truly remarkable woman'' Elton John ''Blistering . . . shockingly candid . . . stiletto-sharp memoir of the year'' Daily Mail''Magnetic and magnificent . . . Amiel is superb, furious and, best of all, funny. Say what you like about her - and many have - but the Black Lady can write'' The TimesBarbara Amiel''s long-awaited memoir is shockingly honest, richly detailed and pulls few punches. An instinctive feminist and now a foe of feminism''s political correctness, her own memoirs cover a formidable array of experiences - political, sexual, marital and material. Born in London during the Blitz, the only consistent strain in her early life was a fierce belief in her identity as a Jew even as the Jewish community disowned her and an unquestioned Trade ReviewFriends and Enemies is an extraordinary read showing unflinching candour from a truly remarkable woman * Elton John *Magnetic and magnificent . . . Amiel is superb, furious and, best of all, funny. Say what you like about her - and many have - but the Black Lady can write -- Quentin Letts * The Times *Blistering . . . shockingly candid . . . stiletto-sharp memoir of the year * Daily Mail *Extraordinary -- Camilla Long * Sunday Times *Utterly gripping . . . [Amiel] has raised the bar stratospherically for the celebrity memoir -- Carol Midgley * The Times *Frighteningly, hilariously, gob-smackingly honest book . . . whatever you do, read this brilliant book -- Anna van Praagh * Evening Standard *I could go on reading about her life for ever . . . frank and funny -- Jan Moir * Daily Mail *A fabulous tale of sex and high society . . . 608 gloriously indiscreet pages of elegant vitriol -- Hilary Rose * The Times *A scorching memoir exposing the cut-throat world of the one per cent -- Chantal Clarendon * Daily Telegraph *Amiel is capable of taking one's breath away with her searing frankness, and, from the evidence so far presented, her book is grisly and gripping in almost equal measure . . . an absorbing historical document . . . a salacious read -- Simon Kelner * i news *Full of passion and fury . . . What a woman -- Sarah Sands * Mail on Sunday *An observant and unforgiving account of a life that "has always been a precarious mix of gutter and ballroom, of intense work and absolutely unhealthy play". Packed with enough memorable characters, household moves, dinner parties, and jewelry shopping excursions to fill at least three typical memoirs. A celebrity memoir with an uncompromising kick * Kirkus Reviews *Extraordinary . . . jaw-dropping candour . . . a terrific writer * Jewish Chronicle *Neither holds a candle to Barbara Amiel's sizzling sexpot-and-shopping extravaganza . . . entirely riveting -- Judith Woods * Mail on Sunday *Fabulously furious, frequently jaw-dropping book . . . This raging, splendid, defiant, crazy tigress of a book said it all -- Allison Pearson * Sunday Telegraph *I don't think I've enjoyed a book as much as Barbara Amiel's autobiography in years . . . Pure, wicked joy -- Anna van Praagh * Evening Standard *A beautifully written memoir that I could not put down . . . her memoir sets a new standard as an unreserved, self-deprecating narrative . . . Deploying her uncommon talent as a wordsmith, she has written a memoir that is a testament to her fearlessness in facing and admitting her own demons as well as in exposing the foibles, cruelty and failings of others -- Diane Francis * Financial Post *This is undoubtedly the autobiography of the decade. Barbara Amiel's searing - and sometimes brutal - honesty, both about herself and others, leaves the reader staggered. The fact that she has for decades been the most sexually attractive female public intellectual on either side of the Atlantic, and certainly knew it, got her into extraordinary scrapes which she describes with a political incorrectness that is as refreshing as it will be highly controversial. How one person could have lived so many starkly different lives - bikini model, gangster's moll, first female editor, TV provocateur, multi-married sexual adventuress, proud Zionist, poet's muse, Cold War warrior, titled society hostess, assiduous prison visitor, and more - is truly extraordinary. There is not a hint of self-pity despite endless opportunities for it - including a rape, an abortion, depression, and three divorces - but instead we get many abandoned, laugh-out-loud scenes and witticisms that will live with the reader for a long time. No-one expected a discreet memoir from Barbara Amiel, but few could possibly have imagined that it would be quite this powerfully, dangerously, profoundly self-revelatory * Andrew Roberts *Fabulously gutsy and revealing memoir (Daily Mail memoir of the year) -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail *An operatic reckoning -- Sarah Sands * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisTHE LETTERS FROM THE SUITCASE by Rosheen and Cal Finnigan reveals the detailed and poignant wartime romance between David and Mary Francis. For readers of Sheila Hancock''s MISS CARTER''S WAR or Helen Simonson''s MAJOR PETTIGREW''S LAST STAND ''I still have that recurring fear of something happening to me before I see you again, and before I can tell you myself just how much and how often I''ve realised during the last few months that I love you completely and to the exclusion of all others. Remember that, because if there wasn''t you, my darling Mary, the world would seem very empty and meaningless.''Mary and David Francis were only twenty-one and nineteen when they met in 1938. They fell in love instantly, and against the wishes of David''s parents, they lived together and married, in secret. These poignant letters reveal their intelligence and thoughtfulness, their passion, the everyday details of their lives working as a secretary at Bletchley Park and as Trade Review'An incredible story' -- Judy FinniganAn enthralling love story, which splices vintage detail with David and Mary's surprisingly frank and modern attitudes on everything from sex to politics * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisFor nine years, Carwyn Jones was at the helm of Welsh politics. As First Minister from 2009 to 2018, he led the governance of an increasingly devolving Wales through turmoil and success.Not Just Politics follows Carwyn from his roots in a small corner of Wales and childhood brought up as a Welsh speaker in Bridgend, to the 1980s miners'' strike which inspired a career in politics. After graduating with a degree in law from Aberyswyth, Carwyn juggled being a barrister and local councillor while also caring for his wife Lisa, who was diagnosed with leukaemia shortly after their marriage. As part of the first cohort of Welsh Government Ministers, Carwyn has been at the heart of the growing shift from Westminster to Cardiff, and as First Minister he oversaw landmark moments that put Wales firmly on the world stage.Trade ReviewThe must read life story of Carwyn Jones and his nine years as Wales' First Minister when he brilliantly led Welsh Labour to election victories and presided over major social reforms. * Gordon Brown *Candid and timely * Penarth Nub News *Few political autobiographies contain actual revelations...Which is why the one which comes in the memoirs of Carwyn Jones comes as almost a lightning bolt * The New European *

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Book Synopsis''I was torn. My best friend needed me. But little did I know then what the consequences of helping her would be...''In 2015, Gail O''Rorke stood trial on three counts of assisting in the suicide of her friend Bernadette Forde, who had taken her life in 2011 in the late stages of Multiple Sclerosis. Facing the possibility of fourteen years in prison for a crime she didn''t commit, Gail was also grieving for the friend she''d lost.Here in Crime or Compassion? she takes us on the journey behind the events that led to her arrest: from her remarkable early years - growing up with an abusive father and her escape to a better life - to her enduring friendship with Bernadette and the highs and lows of caring for someone you love, to the moment she was arrested by Garda officers, signalling three of the worst years of her life.This is a story of friendship and selflessness, of the rules of a society sometimes at odds with the nature of personal suffering, and a

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Book SynopsisDrawing on memoirs, testimonies, autobiographical novels, poetic autobiography, journals, and diaries, Nasser examines solitude and national struggles in contemporary Arab autobiography.

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Book SynopsisIn September 2014, Azad Cudi became one of seventeen snipers deployed when ISIS, trying to shatter the Kurds in a decisive battle, besieged the northern city of Kobani. In LONG SHOT, he tells the inside story of how a group of activists and idealists withstood a ferocious assault and, street by street, house by house, took back their land in a victory that was to prove the turning point in the war against ISIS. By turns devastating, inspiring and lyrical, this is a unique account of modern war and of the incalculable price of victory as a few thousand men and women achieved the impossible and kept their dream of freedom alive.Trade ReviewA book to marvel at, learn from, and return to again and again -- John le CarréSimply outstanding . . . powerful * BOOKLIST *Profoundly affecting . . . There are horrors but also humanity - inspiration, even, alongside the tragedy. A surprisingly lyrical tribute to a much-put-upon people and to fallen comrades in arms that deserves a wide audience -- Fergal Hallahan * IRISH NEWS *Vivid * DAILY MIRROR *Striking and memorable * WALL STREET JOURNAL *A propulsive memoir that captures the grim reality of small-scale conflict and reveals the fragmented politics of the Middle East today * KIRKUS *Gripping . . . His story, elegantly told, will resonate long after the final ISIS fighter falls * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *

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Book SynopsisIn 2021, the world of cooking lost a legendary figure. Albert Roux, together with his brother Michel, transformed the way we eat, cook and appreciate food in this country. It is no exaggeration to say that most of what makes our current culinary landscape so vibrant began with these two brothers and their ground-breaking restaurant, Le Gavroche.Albert first arrived in England in the fifties, at a time of grey and brown food, with a nation still reeling from the effects of war and rationing. Cooking in the grand private houses of the aristocracy, he was to fall in love with the country and, after his military service, which he spent fighting in the Algerian Civil War, he would eventually make it his home for life. He and his brother set up Le Gavroche in 1967. It was to become the first restaurant in the UK to gain first one, and eventually three, Michelin stars. Together with their other restaurants, including the renowned Waterside Inn in Bray, it would go on to revolutioniTrade ReviewThe man who installed gastronomy in Britain. Thank you, chef -- Gordon RamsayWorking for the Roux family was the best training I did -- Monica GalettiProbably the greatest chef our country has ever seen -- Marcus Wareing

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Book SynopsisThe harrowing true story of Robbie Tolan, a young black man who was shot in the chest by a white police officer . . . in his own driveway.NO JUSTICE is the harrowing story of Robbie Tolan, who early on one New Year''s Eve morning, found himself being rushed to the hospital. A white police officer had shot him in the chest after mistakenly accusing him of stealing his own car...while in his own driveway. In a journey that took nearly a decade, Tolan and his family saw his case go before the United States Supreme Court in a groundbreaking decision, while Tolan struggled with how to put his life back together. Holding him together through this journey was the strength of his mother and father, his faith in God, and an impenetrable belief that he deserved justice like any other American who''d been wronged. NO JUSTICE is the story about what happened after the cameras and social media protests went away. Robbie Tolan was left with the physical and me

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary memoir of one woman's experiences in China. ******************************** Tessa Keswick first travelled to China in 1982 and immediately fell in love with its history, culture and landscape. Over the next thirty years, she travelled extensively in China, visiting its temples and landmarks, the sites of its most famous battles, and the birthplaces of its best-known poets and philosophers. She also witnessed China's transformation, as hundreds of millions were lifted out of poverty and the country emerged as an economic superpower in waiting. Keswick's observations of life in China are perceptive and full of insight. Her narrative is rich in microhistories of people encountered and places visited. By presenting a colourfully woven tapestry of contrasting experiences and localities, she allows the reader to glimpse the sheer diversity of China and its vast population. A multi-textured and revealing survey of the world's largest country, as seen through one woman's eyes, The Colour of the Sky After Rain offers a compelling portrait of China in an age of radical change, and charts the key staging posts in its recent, remarkable history. ******************************** 'Tessa Keswick provides joyous insights into her life with husband Sir Henry Keswick' Sunday Times. 'Keswick is an engaging, lively guide and she is at her best when writing about the Chinese landscape' Daily Mail. 'At precisely the time that we need to understand China more than ever, along comes a book that is incisive, honest, witty, and beautifully written which explains the Chinese people and society to a Western audience superbly. Impossible to categorize, The Colour of the Sky After Rain is part-memoir, part-travelogue, part-history, part-thoughtful musing, and packed with insights into the Chinese state and soul that forces us to look afresh at the world’s thrusting new superpower' Professor Andrew Roberts. 'If you want an enthralling read about China and to learn a lot about that extraordinary country at the same time, read Tessa Keswick's The Colour of the Sky After Rain. I derived so much pleasure and excitement from the story that I hardly noticed all the history I was imbibing. The Colour of the Sky aAter Rain is both serious and seriously entertaining. It is strongly recommended' Lady Antonia Fraser. 'The Colour of the Sky After Rain made me want at once to leap on to a plane and travel to Zhongdian, to Jiayuguan, to Suzhou, to Xinjiang (and on and on)... I learnt a great deal from this book about the history of China over the millennia and especially over the last fifty years' Neil MacGregor.Trade ReviewTessa Keswick provides joyous insights into her life with husband Sir Henry Keswick * Sunday Times *Keswick is an engaging, lively guide and she is at her best when writing about the Chinese landscape * Daily Mail *At precisely the time that we need to understand China more than ever, along comes a book that is incisive, honest, witty, and beautifully written which explains the Chinese people and society to a Western audience superbly. Impossible to categorize, The Colour of the Sky After Rain is part-memoir, part-travelogue, part-history, part-thoughtful musing, and packed with insights into the Chinese state and soul that forces us to look afresh at the world's thrusting new superpower -- Professor Andrew RobertsIf you want an enthralling read about China and to learn a lot about that extraordinary country at the same time, read Tessa Keswick's The Colour of the Sky after Rain. I derived so much pleasure and excitement from the story that I hardly noticed all the history I was imbibing. The Colour of the Sky after Rain is both serious and seriously entertaining. It is strongly recommended -- Lady Antonia FraserA gorgeous book... A must if you've been to China, if you're going to China, or if you know of somebody who's done that or who is going to do that... It's a factual book, but it's fascinating, it'll get you a direct 'in' into the culture' * BBC Radio Guernsey *The best parts of this beguiling but unusual book – part memoir, part travelogue and part paean to a people she admires – are those describing how Jardines overcame its opium war stigma and rehabilitated itself with Beijing. The story she tells is both evocative and emblematic of its time * Financial Times *Made me want at once to leap on to a plane and travel to Zhongdian, to Jiayuguan, to Suzhou, to Xinjiang (and on and on)... I learnt a great deal from this book about the history of China over the millennia and especially over the last fifty years' -- Neil MacGregorPart history, part social history, part gossip and part travelogue, her book is in the mode of the late Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor. It sheds more light on the cultural and social history that animates the Chinese mindset, give them their self-reliance, their sense of determination and ability to outwit the obstacles placed in their paths, than a reader could reasonably have hoped for * Catholic Herald *

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Book SynopsisAn unflinching insight into the role of a government minister; sharing with searing honesty the personal and political cost when ambition and idealism clash with reality.As Ireland's Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy took on one of the toughest briefs in government, one that continues to be a challenge today. Looking back at his life in the build-up to parliamentary office and at his time in the cabinet, Eoghan brings a self-lacerating and deeply personal view of the life of a modern politician trying - and often failing - to make the positive change he hoped to deliver. Brutal and sometimes harrowing, Eoghan's tale is also surprisingly funny, though the humour is only ever at the author's expense. If, in the end, all political careers end in failure, why didn't anyone tell the author that? There are no heroes or villains here, just a person facing their own limitations as they navigate the unfamiliar world of campaigns, elected office and go

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Book SynopsisKeith Partridge is probably the world’s most experienced and famous practitioner of a rare trade. His filming has recorded expeditions all over the world in some of its most beautiful and hostile environments. The Adventure Game is the story of his life told through several expeditions ranging from the deep caves of Papua New Guinea to the summit of Mount Everest – Keith’s photography speaks for itself! His story is equally exciting though, with characters we all recognise from film and television. His activities are not restricted to any one field such as mountaineering but include caving, polar travel and, with film and television references which will be familiar to many people. All this he has expressed in a great story. The Adventure Game is a brilliant read as well as a beautiful object.Trade Review'Exciting and inspirational. A superb cameraman and stills photographer Keith has travelled a long way from the dusty confines of BBC House. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say and Keith has ventured it all.' Joe Simpson, author of Touching the Void 'Keith Partridge is to my mind the greatest adventure cameraman in the world.' Steve Backshouse, television presenter and naturalist 'Whether you are filming sunrise on the summit of Everest, Gallician fishermen dancing with death in the Atlantic surf or historical reconstructions on the Matterhorn, Keith is your man.' Stephen Venables

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Book SynopsisJulian was brought up in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, educated in Britain and trained at King's College London for a vocation as an Anglican priest before taking up a career as an international investment banker. He is a compulsive volunteer and enthusiastic dabbler, nibbling away at every type of experience. On reaching retirement age, he and his wife have created a thriving business to serve the cultural and social needs of people in later life. They were both awarded BEMs in 2022. This memoir balances a need to belong with the typical desire of a polymoth to go everywhere and to see, taste and do everything possible.

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Book SynopsisAn updated and abridged edition of Bono’s bestselling memoir, including a new introduction by the author, Bono: Stories of Surrender is an unforgettable love story, a tribute to fatherhood, friendship, faith, and music. Honest, irreverent, and intimate, the book is a backstage pass to a frontman’s remarkable life, from Bono’s childhood in Dublin to the rise of U2. A companion to the Apple Original Film of his critically acclaimed solo theater show, Stories of Surrender is a luminous autobiography of one of the great voices of our time.Bono: Stories of Surrender, An Apple Original Film is streaming on Apple TV+ this MayOriginally published as Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story“Bono—the guy that wants to save the world. One of the Dubliners. Rock star poet. Lovable rogue. You have to appreciate his commitment to social causes—always pushing for change, always trying to fix things. Good for him. Most people don’t even bother. Trying to change the world and maybe transcend it. Singing for a world too obsessed with noise to listen. Searching for redemption like all of us are—and he seems to be aware of the depths of that search. He knows the distance between the soul and the public square. He’s got guts that guy. Bravo Bono.”—Bob Dylan“Bono tells us who he is as a friend and a family member, an artist and a true believer. The result is both electrifying and intimate, a spectacular read.”—Ann Patchett “Surrender is a rich and honest book, rich because of its honesty. If you want to know the man behind the shades, read this book. He’s worth getting to know.”—Salman Rushdie

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Book SynopsisSandy Shaw, whose life experiences provide the information for this story, became the youngest female ever incarcerated in an adult Nevada prison. After earning two college degrees in prison, the former honors student launched her valiant battle to win her freedom.Dan Gleason is a prolific magazine writer of award-winning fiction and non-fiction. He earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Iowa University's celebrated Writers Workshop.

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Book SynopsisThe story of a successful professional woman and a reflection on the meaning of existentialism, this autobiography is an account of a woman's psychological liberation and the development of a personal philosophy. A translator of Sartre, Barnes recounts her battles with publishers and critics.

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Book SynopsisIn this study, Diane Bjorklund explores the historical nature of self-narrative. Examining over 100 American autobiographies, she discusses not only well-known ones such as Mark Twain, but obscure ones such as a minstrel and a hoopskirt wire manufacturer.

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Book SynopsisIn these autobiographical essays by pioneers in the field of animal behavior, the authors discuss childhood, education, moments of discovery, and the attractions of the research that each pursued. The field of animal behavior has been interdisciplinary throughout its history, and the two psychologists and seventeen biologists in Donald Dewsbury's collection provide a fascinating assortment of backgrounds and interests. Chosen by a panel of seven distinguished animal behaviorists, the men whose essays are collected here include two Nobel Prize winners and one Pulitzer Prize winner. All provide unique accounts of the development of the field written by its original leading practitioners.

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Book SynopsisA personal account of one man's struggle with homelessness and alcoholism, this is a book which seeks to challenge perceptions about those on the margins of American contemporary life. It outlines the author's amazing optimism and endurance in the face of hunger, dead-end jobs and abusive drinking.

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Book SynopsisCecelia Ferrazzi's inquisitorial autobiography and the transcripts of her preceding testimony are here transcribed and translated into English, allowing the reader an insight into an unfamiliar sector of the past.

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Book SynopsisThis is the autobiography of Anna Michener, who suffered physical and emotional abuse behind closed doors at the hands of her parents and grandmother. The account is of growing up under unspeakable conditions, not of mature reflection but an immediate account of unhealed wounds.

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Book SynopsisThese original essays comprise a fascinating investigation into women's strategies for writing the selfconstructing the female subject through autobiography, memoirs, letters, and diaries. The collection contains theoretical essays by Donna Stanton, Sandra Gilbert, and Susan Gilbert, and Susan Gubar; chapters on specific issues raised by women's autographs, such as Richard Bowring's study of tenth-century Japanese diaries or Janel Mueller's on The Book of Margery Kempe; and annotated autobiographical fragments, including texts by Julia Kristeva, by a woman who became a czarist cavalry officer, and by a contemporary Palestinian poet. There are also chapters on the seventeenth-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi; Mme de. Sévigné; Mendelssohn's sister, Fanny Hensel; the black minister Jarena Lee; Virginia Woolf; and Eva Peron. The result is a conversation between writers and critics across cultural and temporal boundaries. Stanton's essay plays off Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.

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Book SynopsisThis is the penultimate volume in the continuation of Ralph L. Rusk's 1939 edition of Emerson's letters. Vol 9 covers the years 1860-1869, when Emerson switched from using small, local publishers to the prestigious firm of Ticknor and Fields.

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Book SynopsisThis final volume marks the twilight years of this American writer's life. These letters, including many to Henry David Thoreau, William Henry Furness, Margaret Fuller, and Thomas Carlyle among others offer an intimate portrait of Emerson.

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Book SynopsisThis is an oral history of a second-generation, urban-born woman who struggles to survive in the poor, Andean city of La Paz. It shows how her identity shifts over time, shaped by the major events in her life. Topics range fron social networks to magical interventions and clairvoyant dreaming.

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Book SynopsisHiratsuka Raicho (1886-1971) was the most influential figure in the early women's movement in Japan. This autobiography describes her childhood, early youth, and subsequent rebellion against the strict social codes of the time.Trade ReviewThis autobiography of Japan's foremost feminist presents a vivid portrait, rich in detail, of the education and everyday life for the daughter of a government bureaucrat growing up in Tokyo during the 1890s. Raicho Hiratsuka's transformation into an activist intellectual who, as the founding editor of the landmark journal Seito, recast the boundaries of feminist discourse deserves the widest possible readership in Japanese studies. Teruko Craig's admirably smooth and fluid translation is a pleasure to read and a major contribution to our field. -- Joan E. Ericson, associate professor of Japanese, Colorado College, and author of Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and Modern Japanese Women's Literature Everyone interested in Japanese feminism owes Craig an immense debt of gratitude for choosing to undertake this translation, and for doing it so well... Essential. Choice A tour de force of meticulous scholarship and exquisitely rendered English. Monumenta Nipponica A significant contribution to Japanese Studies and to the study of feminist thought as a transnational phenomenon. -- Jan Bardsley Pacific Affairs An absorbing read for Asian specialists and for general readers. -- Kathleen S. Uno The Journa of Asian Studies

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Book SynopsisNancy Cunard abandoned the world of a celebrated socialite and Jazz Age icon to pursue a lifelong battle against social injustice as a wartime journalist, humanitarian aid worker, and civil rights champion. This biography tells the story of a writer, activist, and cultural icon who embodied the dazzling energy and tumultuous spirit of her age.Trade ReviewThis able, diligently researched biography... revives the memory of a remarkable woman against the backdrop of major 20th-century events. Publishers Weekly Gordon brings a literary sensibility, a historian's insight, and psychological fluency to her groundbreaking and alternately mesmerizing and shattering biography. Booklist Here is a fascinating life story, delivered in absorbing detail. New York Daily News A worthy biography of the Jazz Age beauty who mesmerized Pound and Elliot. -- Megan O'Grady Vogue This extraordinary life has been well served by Gordon. The Australian Gordon provides a perfect illustration of Cunard's fascinating, moving life...your perfect summertime read. -- Jen Ortiz Social Life Magazine [Lois Gordon] vividly reconstructs the Cunard legend and brings her back to life. -- Carla Kaplan The Nation [A] fine biography-extremely well researched and felicitously written. -- Mary V. Dearborn American Book Review Lois Gordon's biography of Nancy Cunard arrives at a time when we sorely need exemplars for art and activism. Rain Taxi A fascinating and ultimately poignant story. Modernism/Modernity [An] immensely detailed biography. -- Sarah Mower The Daily Telegraph (UK)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments 1. Golden Girl 2. Coming of Age During a Revolution in the Arts 3. Counterpoint of War in London 4. Postwar Breakdown 5. Return to the World in Paris 6. Reluctant Icon 7. Nancy as Publisher 8. Prelude to Negro 9. Negro 10. Nancy as Journalist: Scottsboro, Ethiopia, Spain 11. On the Front Lines in the Spanish Civil War 12. Exposing the Concentration Camps After Franco's Victory 13. Exile and Resistance in World War II 14. Surviving Reanville 15. Escaping La Mothe 16. The Last Great Glare Epilogue Notes Index

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Book SynopsisArchpriest Avvakum’s autobiography is a record of his life, ecclesiastical career, painful exile, religious persecution, and imprisonment, written in the 1660s and ’70s from a cell in an Arctic village where the archpriest had been imprisoned by the tsar.Trade ReviewBrostrom does a good job of representing this stern, intransigent yet oddly vulnerable writer to an anglophone reader, and of conveying his stylistic innovations. Part travelogue, part invective, part autobiography, part auto-hagiography (complete with miracles of healing), The Life Written by Himself fits no generic convention. -- Simon Franklin * Times Literary Supplement *[Brostrom’s] translation is exceptionally well done, re-creating . . . the rhythms, stylistic alternations, and vernacular intonations of the original. -- Priscilla Hunt, Slavic ReviewAvvakum's combination of ecclesiastical and colloquial language transposed into writing the pathos of his oral rhetoric, and has remained a source of inspiration to modern Russian literature ever since the Life was published. -- Jostein Børtnes, The Cambridge History of Russian LiteratureThe daring originality of Avvakum's venture cannot be overestimated, and the use he made of his Russian places him in the very first rank of Russian writers: no one has since excelled him in vigor and raciness and in the skillful command of all the expressive means of everyday language for the most striking literary effects. -- Prince Dmitry Svyatopolk Mirsky, A History of Russian LiteratureReading The Life Written by Himself is like meeting a Dostoyevsky or Chekhov character come to life – but Avvakum was alive and kicking long before Russian literature could invent him. -- Robert Blaisdell * Russian Life *While even Russians struggle to read this story, written in an archaic language, English readers are lucky to be able to read it more easily in the beautiful translation by Kenneth N. Brostrom. -- Alexandra Guzeva * Russia Beyond *Avvakum’s text [has] authorial individuality and originality in buckets. In other words, the unyieldingly conservative priest was an innovator in his writing. -- Irina Zhorov * Literary Hub *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction by Kenneth N. BrostromThe Life Written by HimselfNotesReferences

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Book SynopsisAn insight into the life and world of Civil War-time Washington from the woman's perspective, this collection of letters is a perspective on life in the nation's capital during an important period in American history.Trade Review"No other woman who lived through the Civil War in Washington could have seen it with the perspective of Elizabeth Blair Lee, and it is rare good fortune that her account of daily life in the nation's capital--social, political and mundane--is now available in Wartime Washington. . . . Certain to remain a valuable source of insight into Washington at war."-- Nat Brandt, Washington Post Book World "An unprecedented picture of life in Washington's inner circle." -- Kirkus Reviews "The letters of Elizabeth Blair Lee are an exceptional jewel in the treasury of published Civil War documents. . . . Her letters provide an unusual perspective beyond the intimate, even gossipy, view of those who served in high places. She came from a Southern slave-owning family, with relatives and friends on the Southern side. Her letters reveal better than any woman's published account the anguish of a nation and of families torn asunder." -- Elizabeth Hayes Turner, Civil War History "This intelligently edited collection of almost 400 letters by a well-connected, intelligent, and alert woman is a treasure trove for period specialists and scholars of the American family." -- Library Journal "An illuminating and historically significant volume. . . . The editor's thoughtful commentary, well-chosen annotations, and succinct yet information-packed introduction combine with the letters to make this fascinating volume a `living' historical record of great value to researchers and of lasting interest to the general public." -- Booklist"Certainly one of the richest letter collections of its kind in existence, and this volume will make it much more accessible both to scholars and to the general public."-- Lawrence Frederick Kohl, Journal of American History"Laas's editing of Lee's letters is superb."-- Janet L. Coryell, Journal of Southern History "This is a very handsome volume, illustrated with well-chosen photographs; the introduction is trenchant and well written. Both for the scholar and the general reader, Wartime Washington is filled with a wealth of valuable details and moments of unexpected pleasure."-- Patricia Brady, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

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