Biography: general Books

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating full biography of Reies Lopez Tijerina offers a fresh and unvarnished look at one of the most controversial, criticized, and misunderstood activists of the civil rights era. Lorena Oropeza's narrative captures the life of a man who changed our understanding of the place of Latinos in the fabric of American struggles for equality.

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Book SynopsisIn this fascinating work, K. Stephen Prince sheds fresh light on both the history of the Robert Charles riots and the practice of history-writing itself. He reveals evidence of intentional erasures, both in the ways the riot and its aftermath were chronicled and in the ways stories were silenced or purposefully obscured.

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Book SynopsisAn intimate portrayal of one of the most famous men in music, Sir Paul McCartney.

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Book SynopsisWith fascinating lives on every page, the Dictionary offers concise entries that illustrate the lives of Scottish women from the distant past to the early twenty-first century, as well as the worldwide Scottish diaspora.

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Book Synopsis''You cannot find peace by avoiding life'' Virginia WoolfAn intimate portrait of Virginia, the best-known and most influential Bloomsbury author of them all - ''All you need to know about the modernist, feminist icon'' TIME OUT''A gem'' SUNDAY TIMES''As a short introduction to Virginia Woolf this deceptively brief book could hardly be bettered and achieves high status instantly as a significant work of reference in its own right'' THE TIMESVirginia Woolf was undoubtedly one of the literary giants of the twentieth century. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, and her writings were works of astonishing originality. Nigel Nicolson is the son of Vita Sackville-West, who was Virginia Woolf''s most intimate friend, and for a short time her lover. He spent many days in her company and he has threaded his recollections of her throughout this unique narrative of her life.Trade ReviewAll you need to know about the modernist, feminist icon ... If only all literary lives were as succinct * TIME OUT *From his unique position, Nigel Nicolson is able to combine intimacy with scholarship ... an excellent introduction to her life and work * MAIL ON SUNDAY *This lucid portrait is a gem * SUNDAY TIMES *As a short introduction to Virginia Woolf this deceptively brief book could hardly be bettered and achieves high status instantly as a significant work of reference in its own right * THE TIMES *This little book is not only a delight to read but also of lasting importance * SPECTATOR *Nothing beats the excitement of feeling that you're in the presence of someone who once walked with giants ... Nigel Nicolson's recollections of the woman whom he regarded "like a favourite aunt" are to be recommended * DAILY TELEGRAPH *This is an unusual (and unusually charming) biography ... It is a quality of wide-eyed observation that gives this book its charm. Woolf comes alive in it ... vivid vignettes are the essence of Nicolson's book ... Nicolson's personal recollections run like a silver thread through this biography. But he tells the whole story of Woolf's life with authority - affectionately but not uncritically. He is especially good at describing the trance-like states which went to the writing of Woolf's best novels * SCOTSMAN *Nicolson writes with authority on the Bloomsbury Group ... [he] gives a thorough and illuminating account of the Woolfs' publishing business, the Hogarth Press, and makes a persuasive case for Woolf's "excellence as a traveller" ... Broadly appreciative and admirably concise * FINANCIAL TIMES *

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Book SynopsisTaking a fresh look at a landmark Texas writer who hasn’t been the subject of a biography since Lon Tinkle’s 1978 An American Original, this book reveals J. Frank Dobie as a “free-range thinker” who fought for liberal political causes.Table of Contents Acknowledgments A Liberated Mind Part 1: Rebel of the Lost Cause Chapter 1: Along the Ramirenia Chapter 2: The Education of a Brush Countryman, 1904-1912 Chapter 3: From Texas to New York, 1913-1914 Chapter 4: Fighting Conformity, Courting Bertha, 1914-1916 Chapter 5: The Great War, 1915-1919 Part 2: The Rising Star Chapter 6: A Rangeland Epiphany, 1920-1921 Chapter 7: The Making of a Folklorist, 1921-1923 Chapter 8: The Rising Star, 1923-1926 Chapter 9: Voices of the Southwest, 1926-1930 Chapter 10: Regionalism Goes National, 1929-1930 Part 3: Mr. Texas Chapter 11: Dobie in Bloom, 1930-1934 Chapter 12: Into Mexico, 1933-1935 Chapter 13: The Flavor of Texas, 1936 Chapter 14: The Austin Liberals, 1936-1938 Chapter 15: Apache Gold vs. Pale Horse, 1937-1939 Part 4: Texas Needs Brains Chapter 16: The Longhorns, 1939-1941 Chapter 17: True Patriotism and the Singing Governor, 1940-1941 Chapter 18: The Liberal Hero, 1941-1943 Chapter 19: A Contemporary of Himself, 1943-1946 Chapter 20: A Texan in England, 1943-1946 Chapter 21: Texas Needs Brains, 1946-1947 Part 5: Elder Statesman Chapter 22: Coyote Wisdom, 1948-1953 Chapter 23: Elder Statesman, 1951-1958 Chapter 24: Literary Dictator, 1952-1960 Chapter 25: End of an Era, 1955-1959 Part 6: Twilight Chapter 26: One Touch of Nature, Plus, 1960-1962 Chapter 27: Sunset, 1962-1964 Chapter 28: Dobie's Legacy Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA collection of stirring speeches by former U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan that speaks to issues—ethics in government, civil liberties, and democratic values—still under intense debate in the twenty-first century.Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Biography of Barbara Jordan, with Student Comments My Personal Introduction of Barbara Jordan Erosion of Civil Liberties: Commencement Speech, Howard University, May 11, 1974 The National Political Stage Rising to the Occasion: The Constitutional Basis for Impeachment, U.S. House Judiciary Committee Impeachment Hearings, July 25, 1974 Center Stage: Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, July 12, 1976 The Spotlight after Congress: Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, July 13, 1992 Barbara Jordan's Take on Three Twenty-First-Century Political Issues Confirmation of Supreme Court Justices: Testimony in Opposition to the Nomination of Robert Bork, September 17, 1987 Immigration Reform: Congressional Testimony as Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, March 29, 1995 Religious Faith and Politics: Prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast, February 2, 1978; Address at the National Prayer Breakfast, February 2, 1984 The Sylvanus Thayer Award Unswerving Dedication to Principle: 1995 Sylvanus Thayer Award Citation, West Point, October 5; Barbara Jordan's Thayer Award Acceptance Epilogue: Remarks of Bill Moyers at the Memorial Service for Barbara Jordan, University of Texas at Austin, January 28, 1996 Notes

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Book Synopsis Winifred Sanford is generally regarded by critics as one of the best and most important early twentieth-century Texas women writers, despite publishing only a handful of short stories before slipping into relative obscurity. First championed by her mentor, H. L. Mencken, and published in his magazine, The American Mercury, many of Sanford’s stories were set during the Texas oil boom of the 1920s and 1930s and offer a unique perspective on life in the boomtowns during that period. Four of her stories were included in The Best American Short Stories of 1926. Questioning the sudden end to Sanford’s writing career, Wiesepape, a leading literary historian of Texas women writers, delved into the author’s previously unexamined private papers and emerged with an insightful and revealing study that sheds light on both Sanford’s abbreviated career and the domestic lives of women at the time. The first in-depth account of Sanford’s life and Trade ReviewWinifred Sanford: The Life and Times of a Texas Writer is a well-researched and thorough account of Sanford’s life…If you are part of the ever-growing community of scholars who can’t help but puzzle over the shortage of women writers, especially Texas women writers, then this biography may be for you. * Texas Books in Review *Wiesepape’s methodology in bridging Sanford’s private and public life proves to be highly effective, as she leaves few gaps in Sanford’s life unaccounted for. * Great Plains Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter One: The Story BeginsChapter Two: A Wonderful TimeChapter Three: Keeping HouseChapter Four: Difficult AdjustmentsChapter Five: The American Mercury AdventureChapter Six: Plans, Pressures, and ExpectationsChapter Seven: Unexpected InterruptionsChapter Eight: Pieces of the PuzzleChapter Nine: One Story Ends and Another BeginsConclusionA List of Winifred Sanford’s PublicationsA List of Stories and Novels That Winifred Sanford Wrote but Never PublishedAppendix A: Letters Exchanged Between Winifred Sanford and the Editors of The American MercuryAppendix B: Lagniappe: Two Unpublished Stories by Winifred SanfordAppendix C: Two Nonfiction Articles for WritersBibliography

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Book SynopsisEsther Newtona pioneer figure in gay and lesbian studiestells the compelling and disarming story of her struggle to write, teach, and find love, all while coming to terms with her lesbian identity during one of the worst periods of homophobic persecution in the twentieth century.Trade Review"Newton is not afraid to get personal and offer her mistakes, personality development, and failed relationships for contemplation. After decades of personal and professional struggle, Newton finds a scholarly community in an evolved culture and helps to create the academic study of gender and sexuality. This book is simultaneously a memoir and an exemplar of this important field." -- Emily Dziuban * Booklist *"In the tradition of the best memoirs, it is chattily engaging, historically illuminating, and deeply, provocatively ruminative. . . . My Butch Career feels intoxicatingly, palpably real: It’s a story we can reach out and touch and one we can also situate ourselves in, even if we’re decades younger than the 78-year-old Newton. What makes My Butch Career so compelling is that while writing about herself, Newton is also examining her milieu with the eye of the cultural anthropologist she became. The story she tells is as much our story as it is hers." -- Victoria A. Brownworth * Curve *"The most captivating part of the book sees Newton circulating through second-wave feminist and lesbian circles in New York and Paris, where the debates, social hierarchies, and tangled affairs she encounters bring her to a late coming of age. In the eighties, her scholarship, once ignored, achieves recognition with the rise of gender and sexuality studies. The book is a thoughtful examination of how personal experiences spur intellectual progress." * The New Yorker *"Throughout My Butch Career, Newton is remarkably candid about the ways that class has influenced her work and perspective on the historical events unfolding around her. . . . It’s a testament to just how great an anthropologist and chronicler of queer life she is that Newton makes sure to include the kinds of details that paint a more complete and complex picture of the world as she’s experienced it." -- Alexis Clements * Los Angeles Review of Books *"Disarming and compelling. . . . My Butch Career is the humorous and graceful story of a gender outlaw in the making, blazing the trail in queer academia." * The Advocate *"My Butch Career joins a distinguished list of lesbian herstories. . .. It is for readers interested in the psychological and cultural challenges for an individual who identifies as a butch lesbian, as well as readers who are interested in lesbian herstory within the greater context of thegay rights movement." -- Cassandra Langer * Gay & Lesbian Review *"My Butch Career is an important narrative of liberation that contributes singularly to the growing body of collective LGBTQ history. It covers the first forty-one years of the writer’s life, a time frame that calls out for a sequel. Newton concludes her memoir with a tribute to the queer writers who have preceded her. With this work, she has secured her place in that pantheon." -- Anne Charles * Lambda Literary Review *“My Butch Career is an arrival story.... All anthropologists, students as well as educators, should read this because it calls attention to what has changed and shows the importance of LGBT/queer social movements and networks of non-normative communities.” -- Anika Keinz * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. A Hard Left Fist 18 2. A Writer's Inheritance 33 3. Manhattan Tomboy 56 4. California Trauma 72 5. Baby Butch 81 6. Anthropology of the Closet 102 7. Lesbian Feminist New York 119 8. The Island of Women 160 9. In-Between Dyke 183 10. Paris France 198 11. Butch Revisited 237 Notes 249 Bibliography 261 Index 265

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Book SynopsisMegan Sweeney tells an intimate story about family, selfhood, and love and loss, showing how her lifetime practice of sewing and mending clothes becomes a way of living.Table of ContentsA Note on Ornaments ix Piecing. A Prologue 1 1. Selvedge 10 2. Salvage 75 3. Redress 113 4. Threads 137 5. Mending 177 Hem. Acknowledgments 209 Notes 213 Bibliography 223 Index 231

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Book SynopsisMegan Sweeney tells an intimate story about family, selfhood, and love and loss, showing how her lifetime practice of sewing and mending clothes becomes a way of living.Table of ContentsA Note on Ornaments ix Piecing. A Prologue 1 1. Selvedge 10 2. Salvage 75 3. Redress 113 4. Threads 137 5. Mending 177 Hem. Acknowledgments 209 Notes 213 Bibliography 223 Index 231

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Book SynopsisIn this volume, based on the series of Alexander Lectures she delivered at the University of Toronto, Julia Kristeva explores the philosophical aspects of Hannah Arendt''s work: her understanding of such concepts as language, self, body, political space, and life. Kristeva''s aim is to clarify contradictions in Arendt''s thought as well as correct misapprehensions about her political and philosophical views.The first two chapters describe how Arendt followed an original conception of human narrative, such that life, action, and even thought, are only human when they can be narrated and thus shared with other persons who, through the evocation of memory, complete the story and make history into a condensed sign, into a revelation of the ''who.'' The third chapter concentrates on Arendt''s work in relation to her twentieth-century contemporaries, especially Isak Dinesen, Brecht, Kafka, and Nathalie Sarraute. In the last two chapters, on the body and the Kantian concept of judgm

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Book SynopsisUnder glittering lights in the Louvre palace, the French court ballets danced by Queen Marie de Médicis prior to Henri IV’s assassination in 1610 attracted thousands of spectators ranging from pickpockets to ambassadors from across Europe. Drawing on newly discovered primary sources as well as theories and methodologies derived from literary studies, political history, musicology, dance studies, and women’s and gender studies, Dancing Queen traces how Marie’s ballets authorized her incipient political authority through innovative verbal and visual imagery, avant-garde musical developments, and ceremonial arrangements of objects and bodies in space. Making use of women’s semi-official status as political agents, Marie’s ballets also manipulated the subtle social and cultural codes of international courtly society in order to more deftly navigate rivalries and alliances both at home and abroad. At times the queen’s productions cTrade Review"The book can be read by historians more generally as well as scholars who specialize in dance history. They will all find an interest in the way Marie de Médicis contributed to dance history, on the one hand, and to French history, on the other. Gough succeeds in reconsidering the queen not simply as a patron of the arts but also as a cunning performer, whose intentions were at once artistic and political. Furthermore, this monograph opens the way to the reconsideration of the role and place of women’s court entertainments, as Gough suggests, in order to ‘encourage future works on the topic.’" -- Samuel Cuisinier-Delorme, Université Clermont Auvergne * Renaissance Quarterly, Summer 2020 *"Dancing Queen offers a new reading of the history of France at a time of enormous change. Thanks to the close reading and analysis of details that, at first, may seem to be not very significant, and thanks to a brilliant ability to connect details that may not, at first, seem linked together, Dancing Queen offers a much richer understanding of Marie’s role as queen, the difficulties she had to face, and the results she obtained through her creation of an ‘alternative center’ of power at court. Thanks to this volume, scholars will now be able to understand more clearly the social and political significance of the court ballets Marie sponsored, which will provide an additional and important source for our understanding of France in the early seventeenth century." -- Elena Brizio, Georgetown University * Renaissance and Reformation *"Dancing Queen's fascinating account of how ambiguity was deliberately exploited to convey different messages to different audiences raises a question that deserves a bit more attention: how intelligible were these often subtle messages to each ballet's intended audience? There is no doubt, however, that Gough has made them substantially more intelligible to her intended audience in this scholarly, informed and illuminating book." -- Julia Prest * Times Literary Supplement *"Through meticulous, wide-ranging interdisciplinary research, Melinda Gough builds a compelling case in the five chapters of this book that Marie de Médicis used to advance both her own status as queen consort of France, and the interests of the French monarchy in the fraught political period of the early 1600s." -- Sarah R. Cohen, University at Albany, State University of New York * English Historical Review *"As a detailed study of a genre of performance that had a bearing on elite entertainments at the Caroline court, this book should be of contextual interest to Milton scholars, especially in its welcome understanding of the complex socio-political interactions between the various European powers." -- Karen Britland, University of Wisconsin-Madison * Milton Quarterly Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Principles of Transcription and Translation Introduction 1 Magnificence, Mistresses, and Marie’s Dance of Maternity 2 Royal Women’s Ballet and/as Royal Ceremonial 3 Alliances and Others 4 Eros and “Absolutism” 5 Dances of Diplomacy: London, Valladolid, Paris Conclusion Appendices Appendix 1: Verse Texts for the Ballet of the Sixteen Virtues (1602) Appendix 2: Verse Texts for the Ballet of Diana and her Nymphs (1609) Appendix 3: Verse Texts for the Ballet de Madame (1609) Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis important book offers new insights into Indigenous lives and actions during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, an era of major change along the Atlantic seaboard.Table of ContentsForeword Preface Introduction Part One: Kespukwitk – Southwestern Nova Scotia 1. Charles Alexis and the Bartlett and Charles Families Janet E. Chute and Travis Pinn 2. Jehan Grand Claude: Patriarch of the Claude/Glode/Gloade Family of Southwestern Nova Scotia Janet E. Chute and Carrie Gloade 3. Paul Guédry dit Labrador and the Mi’kmaw Labrador Family of Nova Scotia Janet E. Chute and Doris Labrador 4. Marguerite Guedry Anne Marie Lane Jonah 5. Pierre Momcharret, Chief of Minas Janet E. Chute and Doris Labrador 6. François Mius: Forest Aristocrat Janet E. Chute 7. The Panuke Lake–St. Margaret’s Bay Connection: The Thoma/Thomas and Phillips Families of Southwestern Nova Scotia Nik Phillips and Janet E. Chute, with the assistance of Carrie Gloade 8. Bernard Argomartin and the Pennel Family of Southwestern Nova Scotia Janet E. Chute and Brittany Pennel 9. Stephen Knockwood Jr. of Kings County, Nova Scotia Janet E. Chute and Doris Labrador Part Two: Wagobagitk, Sipekne’katik aqq Eskikewa’kik – Cobequid, the Shubenacadie District, and Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore 10. Paul Peminout and the Peminout Pauls of the Sipekne'katik District Janet E. Chute, Courtney Brooks-Monteith, Brittany Pennel, and Mary Wells 11. John W. Johnson Mora Dianne O’Neill 12. The Man at the Centre: Chief Joseph Julien and the “Eastward Tribe,” the “Halifax County Band,” and the Rise of the Millbrook Community Janet E. Chute, assisted by Vernon Cope, James Howe Sr., Donald M. Julien, and Heather Sutherland Part Three: Siknikt, Ulustuk, Piktuk Aqq Epexiwitk – Chignecto District, Northern Maine, the Northumberland Strait Area, and Prince Edward Island 13. The Times, Policies, and Legacy of Joseph Argimault (1707–c.1763), Chief of Siknikt (Chignecto) Janet Chute, assisted by Greg Solomon and Sherise Williams 14. Jean-Battist Bouta: Founder of the Paq’tnket Community of Antigonish County Janet Chute, assisted by Natalie McConnell 15. Donald Sanipass Bunny McBride, with photographic portrait by Harald Prins Part Four: Kespek (Gespe'g) – Northeastern New Brunswick and Southern Quebec 16. Nicholas Prisk II Ouiouche: Community Rebuilder Janet E. Chute and Carrie Gloade, assisted by Joseph-Nicholas Prisk Part Five: Unama’ki aqq K’Taqmkuk – Cape Breton and Newfoundland 17. Capisto Berton A. Balcom 18. Isidore Berton A. Balcom 19. Francois N’8gin’tok Berton A. Balcom 20. Jacques Padanuques Berton A. Balcom 21. Jean Michau Berton A. Balcom 22. Michel Michau Berton A. Balcom 23. Denis Michau Berton A. Balcom 24. Marie Joseph Borgne de Belisle Anne Marie Lane Jonah 25. Marguerite, servant at Louisbourg Anne Marie Lane Jonah 26. The Diplomatic, Trade, and Emigration Policies of Unama’ki District Chief, Jeannot Pequidalouet Janet E. Chute, Richard Denny, Vernon Cope, Marjorie Gould, Natalie McConnell, and Mary Wells, with professional assistance from Berton A. Balcom and Charles A. Martijn 27. Thoma Denny Janet E. Chute 28. Michel Thoma Denny Sr. Janet E. Chute 29. Michel Thoma Denny Jr. Janet E. Chute 30. Francis Thoma Denny Janet E. Chute, assisted by Alison Lloy and Lillian Marshall 31. John Denny Sr. Janet E. Chute 32. John Denny Jr. Janet E. Chute, assisted by Richard Denny, Marjorie Gould, Alison Lloy, and Natalie McConnell 33. Beloni Thoma Janet E. Chute 34. Peter Googoo, Chief of Whycocomaugh Janet E. Chute 35. Andrew Alex, Record Keeper Janet E. Chute, assisted by Victor Alex and Marjorie Gould 36. Gabriel Sylliboy Janet E. Chute, assisted by Mary-Ellen Googoo and AlisonLloy Part Six 37. Mi’kmaw Worldview Diane Chisholm Afterword Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index Notes on Authors

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