Biography: general Books

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Book SynopsisFrom 1983 to 1987, author Mark Dunn worked as a court clerk for a justice of the peace in Travis County, Texas, where, he says, “I learned more about human nature . . . than I could have learned in any other job I might have taken up as a bushy-tailed kid from Tennessee.” Based on interviews with 200 justices of the peace from all parts of Texas, Texas People’s Court promises to take readers on a tour of what it means to be a Texas justice of the peace: an experience that is by turns hilarious, sobering, heart-wrenching, and, from one end to the other, fascinating.Here in the Texas justice court, wrongs can be righted and lives changed in profound ways. A priceless family necklace might finally be restored to the rightful owner; an occupational driver’s license fortuitously granted. A death inquest may become an opportunity for family reflection and valediction, with the attending judge as sympathetic witness.In each of its chapters, Texas People’s Court takes up a different aspect, duty, or area of thought related to the profession of justice of the peace taken from conversations with JPs throughout the state of Texas—from those who serve in its most populous municipalities to rural county JPs—putting a human face on the responsibilities, attitudes, and perspectives that motivate their judgments. The result is a thoroughly entertaining, sympathetic view of what Dunn calls “the day-to-day observation of human conflict in microcosm.”

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Book SynopsisThe first openly transgender judge to be appointed in the United States, the first attorney to obtain corrected birth certificates for transgender people who had not undergone gender confirmation surgery, a survivor of conversion therapy, and author of a law review article that helped thousands of employers adopt supportive policies for their workers, Phyllis Frye is truly a pioneer in the fight for transgender rights.Among her many accomplishments, Frye founded the first national organization devoted to shaping transgender law—the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy, which has since created a body of work that includes the International Bill of Gender Rights—trained a cadre of future trans activists, and built the first national movement for transgender legal and political rights.Based on interviews with Frye, Phyllis Frye and the Fight for Transgender Rights covers her early life, the discrimination she faced while struggling with her identity—including being discharged from the army and fired from a subsequent job at her alma mater, Texas A&M—her transition in 1976, her many years of activism, and her current position as an associate judge for the municipal courts of Houston.This gripping account of Frye’s efforts to establish and protect the constitutional rights of transgender individuals not only fills a gap in existing histories of LGBTQ+ activism but will also inform and instruct contemporary trans activists.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing over 50 writers and their getaways--get a glimpse into the creative habits of some of the greatest writers of the last two centuries. From Henry David Thoreau''s famous cabin at Walden Pond and James Baldwin''s ''Welcome Table'' in Provence, to Roald Dahl''s garden hut and Toni Morrison''s sunrise-lit couch at dawn, Writers'' Retreats reveals the quirky, private, and sometimes curious places where literary magic has happened. Each location is brought to life through illustration and the writer''s own words on what made that place so perfect for creating.An exploration of famous literary writers of past and present, from Emily Dickinson and Marcel Proust to Margaret Atwood, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Alice Munro, this is the perfect bookish gift for both writers and booklovers to feed their fascination with what ignited the creativity behind their favorite works of literature.

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Book SynopsisIn January of 1979, the great soul artist Donny Hathaway fell fifteen stories from a window of Manhattan’s Essex House Hotel in an alleged suicide. He was 33 years old and everyone he worked with called him a genius. Best known for “A Song for You,” “This Christmas,” and classic duets with Roberta Flack, Hathaway was a composer, pianist, and singer committed to exploring “music in its totality.” His velvet melisma and vibrant sincerity set him apart from other soul men of his era while influencing generations of singers and fans whose love affair with him continues to this day. The first nonfiction book about Hathaway, Donny Hathaway Live uses original interviews, archival material, musical analysis, cultural history, and poetry to tell the story of Hathaway’s life, from his beginnings as a gospel wonder child to his final years. But its focus is the brutally honest, daringly gorgeous music he created as he raced the clock of mental illness—especially in the performances captured on his 1972 album Donny Hathaway Live. That album testifies to Hathaway’s uncanny ability to amplify the power and beauty of his songs in the moment of live performance. By exploring that album, we see how he generated a spiritual experience for those present at his shows, and for those with the privilege to listen in now.Trade ReviewA more than welcome addition to the Hathaway legend. * Echoes Magazine *A brilliant and revealing new book on one of my faves of all time: the inimitable Donny Hathaway. -- Michael Eric Dyson, academic, author, and radio hostTable of ContentsTrack Listing Acknowledgments II. Overture: Endings III. Prelude: “A Song for You” IV. First Movement: Beginnings V. Second Movement: Donny Hathaway Live VI. Third Movement: More Live VII. Last Movement: Afterlives Notes

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Book SynopsisIn December 1774, Benjamin Franklin met Caroline Howe, the sister of British Admiral Richard and General William Howe, in a London drawing room for “half a dozen Games of Chess”. As Julie Flavell reveals, the games concealed a matter of the utmost diplomatic urgency, a last-ditch attempt to forestall the outbreak of war. Aware that the Howes, both the men and the women, have seemed impenetrable to historians, Flavell investigated the letters of Caroline Howe, which have been overlooked for centuries. Using these revelatory documents, Flavell provides a compelling reinterpretation of England’s famous family across four wars, centring on their enigmatic roles in the American Revolution. The Howe Dynasty interweaves action-packed stories of North American military campaigns—including the Battles of Bunker Hill and Long Island—with parlour-room intrigues back in England, creating a riveting narrative that brings alive the influence of these extraordinary women in both peacetime and war.Trade Review"Spanning almost a century of the Georgian era, The Howe Dynasty presents a richly detailed and lively saga of one of its most distinguished families. Challenging and insightful, it reflects impressive scholarship, grounded in exhaustive archival research on both sides of the Atlantic... The Howe Dynasty shows how women whose supreme function in life was to produce male heirs could nonetheless find a voice through informal ‘networking,’ establishing crucial contacts in the drawing room or on the hunting field that could be mobilized to secure favors and control opinion." -- Stephen Brumwell, What to Read this Week - The Wall Street Journal"[A] vibrant biography of the accomplished, beguiling family… Flavell’s scholarship and deft storytelling add nuance, sympathy and granularity to the family portrait." -- Rick Atkinson - The New York Times Book Review"Flavell, an independent scholar, meticulously combs manuscripts held in numerous archives on both sides of the Atlantic… Melding family, political and military history, Flavell’s sympathetic account… shows the historical value of Caroline’s intriguing vantage point on the American Revolution." -- Mark G. Spencer - Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisBorn into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905–1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood’s most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—“Orientally yours”. Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong’s tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai capturing American television in its infancy. As Huang shows, Wong’s rendezvous with history features a remarkable parade of characters, including a smitten Walter Benjamin and (an equally smitten) Marlene Dietrich. Challenging the parodically racist perceptions of Wong as a “Dragon Lady”, “Madame Butterfly” or “China Doll”, Huang’s biography becomes a truly resonant work of history that reflects the raging anti-Chinese xenophobia, unabashed sexism and ageism towards women that defined both Hollywood and America in Wong’s all-too-brief fifty-six years on earth.Trade Review"[A]n incisive guide to the tangle of race, politics, and business that Anna May Wong encountered during her rise to fame... Daughter of the Dragon offers a lively tour through Wong's world and filmography, and the film stills and portraits included throughout are a particular pleasure. Mr. Huang turns the spotlight back onto an important but largely forgotten film icon—one who shone brightly despite the bitter racial bias she faced throughout her long career. " -- Julia Flynn Siler - The Wall Street Journal"With Daughter of the Dragon, Huang is offering something different... a form of reclamation and subversion. Huang is a wry and generous storyteller; the Anna May he evokes stepped out from the limited roles she was relegated to and turned to writing as a way of showcasing her curiosity and wit." -- Jennifer Szalai - The New York Times"Yunte Huang's superb biography of Hollywood's first Chinese American movie star, Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History, doubles as a reckoning with the country's attitudes about Asian people in Wong's day... tremendously elucidating and moving." -- Nell Beram - Shelf Awareness"Daughter of the Dragon gives us a sense of how difficult it was for Wong to operate amid the legal, cultural, political and social constraints that restricted the roles she could play in the movies and the choices she could make in her life. Yet Huang also lets us watch Anna May transcend those limits, sending witty letters to friends, welcoming reporters, posing for photographers and campaigning for war in relief in China, all the while creating the character that still demands our attention. " -- Ann Fabian - National Book Review"Daughter of the Dragon soars when Huang resists treating Wong as a hapless victim of American history and digs deeper to reveal the shrewd, resilient soul beneath. During her lifetime, Wong's stardom was, for reasons beyond her control, eclipsed by that of her white peers. Thanks in part to scholars like Huang, her legacy won't suffer the same fate. " -- Mayukh Sen - The New Yorker

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Book SynopsisThe most prolific photographer of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), Russell Lee has never been canonised for his iconic images of mid-century America. With this insightful biography, historian and archivist Mary Jane Appel uncovers Lee’s rebellious life, tracing his journey from blue-blood beginnings to self-taught photographer through the body of work he left behind. Lee crisscrossed America’s back roads more than any photographer of his era, living out of his car from 1936 to 1942. Under the guidance of FSA director Roy Stryker, he captured arresting images of dust storms and punishing floods, and chronicled the Second World War home front and the heyday of small-town America—all the while focusing prophetically on themes like segregation and climate change. With more than 100 images spread throughout, Russell Lee speaks not only to the complexity of a pioneering documentary photographer’s work but to a seminal American moment captured viscerally like never before.

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Book SynopsisFor fans of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Meg-John Barker’s Queer, Fine is an essential graphic memoir about the intricacies of gender identity and expression. As Rhea Ewing neared university graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in their quiet Midwest town, where they anxiously approached both friends and strangers for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, their project has exploded into a fantastical and informative portrait of a surprisingly vast community spread across the America. Questions such as How do you identify? invited deep and honest accounts of adolescence, taking hormones, changing pronouns—and how these experiences can differ depending on culture, race and religion. Amidst beautifully rendered scenes emerges Ewing’s own visceral story growing up in rural Kentucky, grappling with their identity as a teenager and ultimately finding themself through art—and by creating something this very fine.

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Book SynopsisJust as The Color of Law provided a vital understanding of redlining and racial segregation, Marcia Chatelain’s Franchise investigates the complex interrelationship between black communities and America’s largest, most popular fast food chain. Taking us from the first McDonald’s drive-in in San Bernardino to the franchise on Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri, in the summer of 2014, Chatelain shows how fast food is a source of both power—economic and political—and despair for African Americans. As she contends, fast food is, more than ever before, a key battlefield in the fight for racial justice.Trade Review"[A] smart and capacious history. . . . Throughout this impressively judicious book, [Chatelain] is attuned to the circumstances that encouraged increasingly intricate ties between McDonald’s and black communities across the country. This isn’t just a story of exploitation or, conversely, empowerment; it’s a cautionary tale about relying on the private sector to provide what the public needs, and how promises of real economic development invariably come up short. . . . Franchise is a serious work of history. . . . [Chatelain's] sense of perspective gives this important book an empathetic core as well as analytical breadth, as she draws a crucial distinction between individuals actors, who often get subjected to so much scrutiny and second-guessing, and larger systems, which rarely get subjected to enough." -- Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, "Times Critics Best Books of 2020""An impeccably researched examination of McDonald’s and how the franchise was once intended as a path to economic freedom in Black communities. A fascinating, overlooked perspective on a US institution." -- Karla Strand, Ms. Magazine"Well-written... Emphasizes how today’s conversations around fast food in America were shaped by government policies, and examines how the fast-food industry is connected to Black Lives Matter and other social change movements.... Invaluable for those studying the intersections of race, economics, and business in the United States." -- Sarah Schroeder, Library Journal"Chatelain makes a convincing case that racial tension, the civil rights movement, and fast food all combined to change the dynamic of mostly black communities ignored by white power structures. Chatelain’s impressive research and her insertion of editorial commentary will prove educational and enlightening for readers of all backgrounds. An eye-opening and unique history lesson." -- Kirkus Reviews"Franchise is a stunning story of post-1960s urban black America, a tale of triumph and good intentions, but also of tragic consequences for race relations, poverty, and dietary health. Marcia Chatelain has done superb research and writes as a great storyteller. This is an important book, showing that civil rights successes led to burgers under black ownership as much as ballots for social change. Chatelain makes us see black capitalism in all its mixed blessings." -- David W. Blight, Yale University, and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"Thanks to Marcia Chatelain, I’ll never look at fast food the same way. She pairs burgers and fries with civil rights and black wealth, showing readers exactly what ‘opportunity’ in America really looks like." -- Alexis Coe, author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington"Marcia Chatelain uses the complex interrelationship of black communities with McDonald’s to explore the history of American racism and the struggle for civil rights. Franchise is an eye-opener for anyone who cares about why diet-related chronic disease is more prevalent in these communities and what it is really like to be black in America." -- Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, emerita, and author of Food Politics

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Book SynopsisBernie Sanders is one of the most influential figures of our time, a politician who inspires fervent love and, even among his enemies, a measure of grudging respect—yet we know comparatively little about this famously private left-wing firebrand. Now, Ari Rabin-Havt, a trusted Sanders aide, is able to take us where no press features or televised interviews have been able to go. The Fighting Soul is a behind-the-scenes chronicle of Sanders’s meteoric 2020 campaign for president—from the first campaign meeting in Rabin-Havt’s living room, to Sanders’s heart attack and the end of the campaign as the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world—that deepens into an unforgettable portrait of Sanders. Rabin-Havt unfolds the history that drives his deep ideological commitments to the working class, his views of his young supporters, his sense of humour, which few outside his immediate circle ever witness, and the role his wife, Jane, plays in his success. In the tradition of What It Takes and other exuberant works of American political writing, The Fighting Soul shows the making of the rare politician motivated by principle, not power.

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Book SynopsisInterweaving American history, dramatic family chronicle and searing episodes of memoir, On Juneteenth recounts the origins of the holiday that celebrates the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. A descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas in the 1850s, Annette Gordon-Reed, explores the legacies of the holiday. From the earliest presence of black people in Texas—in the 1500s, well before enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown—to the day in Galveston on 19 June 1865, when General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery, Gordon-Reed’s insightful and inspiring essays present the saga of a “frontier” peopled by Native Americans, Anglos, Tejanos and Blacks that became a slaveholder’s republic. Reworking the “Alamo” framework, Gordon-Reed shows that the slave-and race-based economy not only defined this fractious era of Texas independence, but precipitated the Mexican-American War and the resulting Civil War. A commemoration of Juneteenth and the fraught legacies of slavery that still persist, On Juneteenth is a stark reminder that the fight for equality is on-going.Trade Review"If this book is a departure for [Gordon-Reed], it’s still guided by the humane skepticism that has animated her previous work. In a series of short, moving essays, she explores ‘the long road’ to June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger announced the end of legalized slavery in Texas, the state where Gordon-Reed was born and raised… No matter what she’s looking at, Gordon-Reed pries open this space between the abstract and particular… Gordon-Reed acknowledges that origin stories matter, even if they often have more to say about “our current needs and desires” than with the facts of history, which are often stranger and less assimilable than any self-serving mythology will allow… One of the things that makes this slender book stand out is Gordon-Reed’s ability to combine clarity with subtlety, elegantly carving a path between competing positions, instead of doing as too many of us do in this age of hepped-up social-media provocations by simply reacting to them. In ‘On Juneteenth’ she leads by example, revisiting her own experiences, questioning her own assumptions — and showing that historical understanding is a process, not an end point." -- Jennifer Szalai - The New York Times"'The Education of Henry Adams’ is the second most influential memoir in American letters, after Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. Annette Gordon-Reed’s insightful, often touching reflection on the Black experience in Texas, starting with her own, lands between these two." -- H.W. Brands - The New York Times Book Review"Juneteenth was a day long-celebrated by many Black communities in Texas and across America, but only in the past year or two has it become a more widely recognized holiday. In her slim but potent book, Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning historian and Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed explores the story of that day and all the ways that Black and Native people’s lives have been obscured in culture. As a Texas native, Gordon-Reed offers a book that is both profound and personal in its exploration of the ways history shapes our lives and becomes distorted and reinvigorated over time. " -- The Best Books of 2021 So Far - TIME Magazine"... Gordon-Reed offers a timely history lesson. She does so with beautiful prose, breathtaking stories and painful memories. Like the story of Juneteenth itself, the history she tells is one of yarns woven, dark truths glossed over and freedom delayed." -- Daina Ramey Berry - The Washington Post"... Gordon-Reed is the textbook definition of public intellectual; and yet she gets personal in this slender, evocative memoir, blending gorgeous details from her small-town Texas girlhood with the unofficial celebration of slavery’s demise and the broader canvas of race in America..." -- 20 of the Best Books to Pick Up This May - Oprah Daily"In a book that is part memoir, part history, Gordon-Reed (who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for “The Hemingses of Monticello”) recounts her continuing affection for her home state of Texas, despite its reputation for violence and racism, writing that ‘the things that happened there couldn’t have happened in other places." -- 100 Notable Books of 2021 - The New York Times

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Book SynopsisTwelve years after his death, the family of Andrew (Drew) I. Batavia discovered his unfinished memoirs, with instructions for his wife or brother to complete them. In these memoirs, Drew shares the wisdom he acquired while living with a high-level spinal cord injury in a wheelchair, describing a person transformed from a quiet, conforming teenager to a Don Quixote of the disability community. But this is not just the story of a remarkable person who fought for the civil rights of people with disabilities. His memoirs hold a universal message about our human capacity to achieve the extraordinary, the enormous capability to survive, flourish, and succeed in the world, if we can fully exploit what we already possess within ourselves. Conceivably, each one of us can emerge as a Don Quixote. Drew’s memoirs are published during the twenty-fifth anniversary year of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Book SynopsisFollowing The Streets Are Blue, this book, More Than Heroic, marks the second installment in a series of true tales of service from the front lines of the Los Angeles Police Department. In this book, the realities of police work are captured through the spoken words of thirty former officers with the Los Angeles Police Department. The most powerful aspect of their words is that they reveal the individuals behind the badge, the individuals you call when in need. The officers, like others who serve in law enforcement, willingly answered the call to put themselves in harm’s way to protect and serve. As you read their stories, hopefully you will appreciate the sacrifices these extraordinary individuals made and, through their stories, the sacrifices others have made during their careers with the Los Angeles Police Department.

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Book SynopsisA landmark biography of the most famous Italian journalist of the twentieth century.

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Book Synopsis“Giovanni Ruscitti has written a wonderful book of special relevance for all North and South Americans whose ancestors have migrated from Asia, Europe, and Africa. His journey to the land of his forefathers is so meaningful not only because of the discovery of what connects us ‘Americanos’ to the rest of the world but also the journey within. A trip in which we all feel recognized. Bravo maestro!”—Hernando de Soto, finalist for Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and author of Mystery of CapitalAmazon #1 Bestseller Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks is a passionate and deeply moving story about a father-son relationship; a culture rooted in family, food and wine; and an ancestral small town in Central Italy that was left behind after World War II. On November 11, 1943, the Nazis invaded Cansano, forcing its two thousand inhabitants to make a tough decision—fight and be killed or sent to a POW camp, stay behind as servants to the Nazis, or move into the unforgiving mountains of Abruzzo while the Nazis used their village as a home base. Giovanni Ruscitti’s family chose the latter and spent the next few months living in horrendous winter conditions in the rugged mountains. When the war ended, they returned to a village so ravaged by the Nazis that, today, the town has less than two hundred citizens and remains in a dilapidated state. In this memoir, Ruscitti visits Cansano for the first time with his family, including parents Emiliano and Maria. As he walks Cansano’s cobblestones, his father’s stories and life are illuminated by the town piazza, the steep valley, and the surrounding mountains. He relives the tales of his parents’ struggles during World War II, their extreme post-war misery and poverty, their budding romance after, and their decision to immigrate to the US in search of the American Dream.Ruscitti’s adventure is not just an exploration of his homeland but reveals what family, culture, wisdom, and love really means. And what our heritage really tells us about who we are.Trade Review“Moving memoir…The author lucidly combines the personal and the political…A thoughtful consideration of the meaning of a person’s sense of self and the nuanced ways in which it is constituted by elements that preceded the individual and elude full comprehension. As a result, the author’s recollection transcends the particulars of his own life and should resonate with readers similarly gripped by the struggle to understand their origins. A captivating, candid, and insightful account about a man’s Italian heritage.” —Kirkus Reviews“A deftly scripted, inherently engaging, and ultimately inspiring account of the impact of war upon a community and a family…A story of survival and immigration—especially timely in today's denigration of the value and causes of immigrants to America by families seeking asylum from the horrors and aftermath of war, and for a better life for themselves and their children…A compelling read from cover to cover.” —Midwest Book ReviewAt the end of the day, Ruscitti proves that not only can you go home again, you can also go home for the first time. 4.5 out of 5 stars. —Manhattan Book Review “Giovanni Ruscitti’s father Emilio urged his son to ‘tell our story.’ This remarkable memoir fulfills not only that promise but describes the hopes and dreams of immigrants who brought to this country their traditions, their love of family, and a unity that survived the melting pot of the American experience. This first-generation Italian-American author has created a beautiful, intimate, and touching portrait of not only a father’s love but a family’s commitment to each other and what we all hope to know—where we came from and who we are. It is a story that preaches the art of living life in full, with joy and compassion.” —Dan Luzadder, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author and journalist “This touching and inspirational book is a must-read for all walks of life. The United States was built from immigrant families with these shared experiences.” —Bobby Stuckey, James Beard Award winner, and author of Friuli Food and Wine: Frasca Cooking from Northern Italy's Mountains, Vineyards, and Seaside “Giovanni Ruscitti has written a wonderful book of special relevance for all North and South Americans whose ancestors have migrated from Asia, Europe, and Africa. His journey to the land of his forefathers is so meaningful not only because of the discovery of what connects us ‘Americanos’ to the rest of the world but also the journey within. A trip in which we all feel recognized. Bravo maestro!” —Hernando de Soto, finalist for Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and author of Mystery of Capital “After reading Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks, I was filled with immense pride. Giovanni Ruscitti’s book is an eloquent and poetic tribute to his father and his family. It’s a work of art that made me laugh and cry.” —Vic Lombardi, thirty-three-time Emmy-winning sportscaster “I’m in the middle of the NFL playoffs and couldn’t put the book down. I had to finish it. Readers will love Ruscitti’s book!" —Mike Shanahan, two-time Super Bowl champion head coach

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Book SynopsisPeter Clark's year in Vietnam began in July 1966, when he was shipped out with hundreds of other young recruits, as a replacement in the 1st Infantry Division. Clark was assigned to the Alpha Company. Clark gives a visceral, vivid and immediate account of life in the platoon, as he progresses from green recruit to seasoned soldier over the course of a year in the complexities of the Vietnamese conflict.Clark gradually learns the techniques developed by US troops to cope with the daily horrors they encountered, the technical skills needed to fight and survive, and how to deal with the awful reality of civilian casualties. Fighting aside, it rained almost every day and insect bites constantly plagued the soldiers as they moved through dense jungle, muddy rice paddy and sandy roads. From the food they ate (largely canned meatballs, beans and potatoes) to the inventive ways they managed to shower, every aspect of the platoon's lives is explored in this revealing book. The troops even managed to fit in some R&Rwhilst off-duty in the bars of Tokyo.Alpha One Sixteen follows Clark as he discovers how to cope with the vagaries of the enemy and the daily confusion the troops faced in distinguishing combatants from civilians. The Viet Cong were a largely unseen enemy who fought a guerrilla war, setting traps and landmines everywhere. Clark's vigilance develops as he gets used to 'living in mortal terror,' which a brush with death in a particularly terrifying fire fight does nothing to dispel. As he continues his journey, he chronicles those less fortunate; the heavy toll being taken all round him is powerfully described at the end of each chapter.

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Book SynopsisWhat choices would you make to reunite your family?“You know, Haidi, we’re going on a trip. A really big trip to find our way to Mama.”In exile and far from his homeland, Hakim finds a bit of hope in the birth of his son. But between unstable jobs and selling what he can in the streets, it’s hard to survive—and impossible for the family to stay together. Reluctantly separated from the woman he loves and alone with his child, Hakim will have to overcome incredible odds and seemingly impossible obstacles to reunite his family, which leads him to make the most difficult decision of his life.Captivating and deeply moving, this second book of the critically acclaimed Hakim’s Odyssey follows the true story of a Syrian refugee as he tries to find his way in Turkey and then makes the perilous trek to what he hopes will be a more settled life in Europe.Trade Review“An incredible story about maintaining hope despite facing overwhelming odds.”—starred review Foreword Reviews“This work powerfully brings home for readers the horrors of this global crisis and the impossible choices migrants must make.”—starred review Publishers Weekly“Despite multiplying examples of inhumanity, the kindness of strangers proves lifesaving—and is restorative to readers, as well. With text deftly translated again by Chute, Toulmé once more portrays Hakim’s journey with resonating empathy.”—starred review Booklist

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