Biography: general Books

Book Synopsis“What did you have? A boy or a girl?” Kyl and Brent imagined it would be years before their child would identify with a gender. Until then… As a first-time parent, Kyl Myers had one aspect dialed in from the start: not being beholden to the boy-girl binary, disparities, or stereotypes from the day a child is born. With no wish to eliminate gender but rather gender discrimination, Kyl and her husband, Brent, ventured off on a parenting path less traveled. Raising a confident, compassionate, and self-aware person was all that mattered. In this illuminating memoir, Kyl delivers a liberating portrait of a family’s choice to dismantle the long-accepted and often-harmful social construct of what it means to be assigned a gender from birth. As a sociologist, Kyl explores the science of gender and sex and the adulthood gender inequities that start in childhood. As a loving parent, Kyl shares the joy of watching an amazing child named Zoomer develop their own agency to grow happily and healthily toward their own gender identity and expression. Candid and surprising, Raising Them is an inspiration to parents and to anyone open to understanding the limitless possibilities of being yourself.Trade Review“Frank and compassionate…An enlightening, much-needed resource for parents hoping to raise their children without limitations.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “This book helps against prejudice…detailed insights…you just have to like the Courtney-Myers family…offers the chance for an informed discussion.” —Tages-Anzeiger (Switzerland)

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Book SynopsisThe true story of two women who found meaning, strength, and friendship in one of the most punishing and magnificent landscapes on earth.Amy Butcher was an accomplished college professor, mentor, and writer, but in her own home, she was embarrassed and emotionally burdened by an increasingly abusive relationship. Exhausted and terrified of the ways her partner’s behavior could escalate, Amy reached out to Instagram celebrity Joy “Mothertrucker” Wiebe. Joy was a fifty-year-old wife and mother and the nation’s only female ice road trucker, a woman who maneuvered big rigs through the Alaskan wilderness along the deadliest road in America. Joy was everything Amy wanted to be: independent, fearless, and in charge of her life in a landscape dominated by men. Invited by Joy to ride shotgun, Amy found her escape on a road that was treacherous, beautiful, and exhilarating—an adventurous ride through the Alaskan wilderness that was profoundly life changing.Mothertrucker is the story of that bracing four-hundred-mile journey navigating snow-glazed overpasses, ice-blue curves, and near plummets. It’s also the stories that led them both to Alaska—an interrogation of the reality of female fear, domestic violence, and how to overcome—and an exploration into just how galvanizing friendships between women can be.

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Book SynopsisA moving memoir of an inexplicable crime, a family’s loss, and a legacy preserved. Kim Wall was a thirty-year-old Swedish freelance journalist with a rising career. Then, in the summer of 2017, she followed a story that led to an eccentric inventor in Copenhagen. Instead of writing the next day’s headline, she’d become one. As the bizarre events of Kim’s murder unfolded, the world watched in shocked disbelief. For Kim’s distraught parents, Ingrid and Joachim, it was a devastating personal struggle. In the ensuing months, day by grueling day, they had to come to terms with their loss, process the global media attention, and endure the investigation and trial. In the end, they’d make certain that Kim would be seen not only as a victim but as a bright, funny, complicated, ethical, and selfless young woman—a loved and loving daughter, sister, fiancée, colleague, and friend. Kim Wall’s life and promise may have been cut short, but everything she stood for lives on in this emotional memoir of braving the worst of days, moving forward, and never forgetting.Trade Review“[Kim] packed a lifetime’s worth of experience into her 30 years…A tragically short life that will hopefully serve as inspiration.” —Kirkus Reviews “In this tender memoir, the parents of Swedish journalist Kim Wall recount their daughter’s exceptional life and her murder…The authors recall their anguish and pain during the year following their daughter’s death, but also celebrate her life and share their mission to develop a memorial fund to provide young female reporters with support for their work. This is a passionate portrait of a woman’s meaningful life and her contributions to journalism.” —Publishers Weekly “A Silenced Voice is a tapestry of past and present, at once a joyful chronicling of a life well lived and a family’s reckoning with that life being extinguished.” —Marie Claire “In a powerful memoir, Wall’s parents share how they navigated their grief in the aftermath of their daughter’s horrific death and the investigation and trial that followed. Though their subject matter is unthinkably sad, Ingrid and Joachim Wall focus on Kim and the life she led, sharing stories of her passions and ambitions as a journalist, partner and friend.” —TIME “Journalism grants a kind of license to curiosity, legitimizes it, gives it a professional guise…Kim used it to get herself around the world, to report from Cuba, Uganda, and North Korea. But her story also shows how tenuous, how fragile that feeling of permission can be…A Silenced Voice, translated from Swedish by Kathy Saranpa, is about everything else Kim was…If the law represents one form of justice, one of the promises of journalism is to enact another: doing justice to the people you write about, justice to the things they care about, justice to the person behind the story. A Silenced Voice is an exercise in that pained, loving, generous justice. It insists that the story of Kim’s murder include the details only parents remember: childhood ceramics projects, her favorite type of pen, the kinds of presents she brought her family home from travels around the world…The Walls are working to make sure that Kim Wall’s name will not be a warning, but a tag under ambitious investigative pieces, a line on resumes, a ticket, a calling card. Through it all you can see how desperately important it is for them, like it was for her, to get the story right.” —NPR.org “In their jointly written and heart-breaking memoir, Ingrid and Joachim Wall, the parents of murdered Swedish journalist Kim Wall, remember the trauma of their loss and honor the memory of their daughter. A delicate, brave, and beautiful rendering of unimaginable grief.” —CrimeReads

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Book Synopsis‘Of all the variously talented women SOE sent to France, Nancy Wake was perhaps the most formidable’ —Sebastian Faulks This is the incredible true story of the greatest spy you’ve never heard of—as told to the author by the woman herself. At the outbreak of World War Two, Nancy Wake’s glamorous life in the South of France seemed far removed from the fighting. But when her husband was called up for military service, Nancy felt she had just as much of a duty to fight for freedom. By 1943, her fearless undercover work even in the face of personal tragedy had earned her a place on the Gestapo’s ‘most wanted’ list. Mixing armed combat with a taste for high living, Nancy frustrated the Nazis at every turn’whether she was smuggling food and messages as part of the underground Resistance or being parachuted into the heart of the war to lead a 7,000-strong band of Resistance fighters. The extraordinary courage of this unequalled woman changed the course of the war, and Russell Braddon’s vividly realised biography brings her incredible story to life. Revised edition: This edition of Nancy Wake includes editorial revisions.

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Book SynopsisAn enthralling biography about one of the most intriguing women of the Victorian age: the first self-invented international social celebrity. Lola Montez was one of the most celebrated and notorious women of the nineteenth century. A raven-haired Andalusian who performed her scandalous “Spider Dance” in the greatest performance halls across Europe, she dazzled and beguiled all who met her with her astonishing beauty, sexuality, and shocking disregard for propriety. But Lola was an impostor, a self-invention. Born Eliza Gilbert, the beautiful Irish wild child escaped a stifling marriage and reimagined herself as Lola the Sevillian flamenco dancer and noblewoman, choosing a life of adventure, fame, sex, and scandal rather than submitting to the strictures of her era. Lola cast her spell on the European aristocracy and the most famous intellectuals and artists of the time, including Alexandre Dumas, Franz Liszt, and George Sand, and became the obsession of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She then set out for the New World, arriving in San Francisco at the height of the gold rush, where she lived like a pioneer and performed for rowdy miners before making her way to New York. There, her inevitable downfall was every bit as dramatic as her rise. Yet there was one final reinvention to come for the most defiant woman of the Victorian age—a woman known as a “savage beauty” who was idolized, romanticized, vilified, truly known by no one, and a century ahead of her time.Trade Review“Breezy, emphatic…This twisty chronicle of one woman’s quest for independence is mesmerizing.” —Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisAn award-winning biography of one of the first undercover journalists—a pioneering Swedish woman who lived a fascinating life of adventure and forbidden love and who changed journalism forever. Born in 1891 in Stockholm, Ester Blenda Nordström defied stereotypes from an early age. She wore trousers, smoked a pipe, and rode motorbikes, much to the chagrin of her esteemed family. As a young woman, she captivated the public as Sweden’s first investigative journalist. Ester’s real passion was uncovering the truth, which she did by inhabiting the lives of others. Under an assumed identity, she toiled as a Swedish milkmaid on a farm, lived for six months with the Indigenous Scandinavian Sami people, and journeyed to America alongside poor emigrants aspiring to a better life. She saved villages from starvation during the Finnish Civil War and joined an expedition to study volcanoes in Siberia. Her groundbreaking reports were received by a spellbound audience and would change journalism forever. But just as Ester’s star was rising, her forbidden love affair with a woman ended in heartbreak, nearly destroying her. Her spectacular adventures and untamed heart concealed an inner turmoil that threatened to silence her powerful voice, but Ester’s life and spirit were ultimately irrepressible. Life in Every Breath brings Ester’s story back to the fore—and showcases one of the most fascinating women of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewPraise for Life in Every Breath “Journalist Bremmer debuts with a tantalizing biography of Sweden’s first investigative reporter, Ester Blenda Nordström…Richly textured and vividly told, this is an intriguing portrait of a pioneering woman and her era.” —Publishers Weekly “Despite her fame, time has made Nordström fade into obscurity, but Bremmer does her justice with a story that remains relevant and captivating today.” —Shondaland International Praise for Life in Every Breath “The strongest biography I have read in a long time, not only because I fell for Ester Blenda’s life-embracing charm early on but more so that Bremmer handles sensitive material in the best way…A book like this, if there is any justice in the literary world, will be richly hailed and rewarded.” —Svenska Dagbladet “Rich, fun, educational…the best title of the year.” —Dagens Nyheter “Life in Every Breath is such a wonderfully straightforward portrait…Fatima Bremmer’s biography is a triumph, both because of her prose and because Blenda Nordström’s life resembles a fantastic melodrama.” —Aftonbladet

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Book SynopsisShe was everything everyone else wanted her to be. Until she followed her own path. Helena Rho was six years old when her family left Seoul, Korea, for America and its opportunities. Years later, her Korean-ness behind her, Helena had everything a model minority was supposed to want: she was married to a white American doctor and had a beautiful home, two children, and a career as an assistant professor of pediatrics. For decades she fulfilled the expectations of others. All the while Helena kept silent about the traumas—both professional and personal—that left her anxious yet determined to escape. It would take a catastrophic event for Helena to abandon her career at the age of forty, recover her Korean identity, and set in motion a journey of self-discovery. In her powerful and moving memoir, Helena Rho reveals the courage it took to break away from the path that was laid out for her, to assert her presence, and to discover the freedom and joy of finally being herself.Trade ReviewAn Amazon Best Book of the Month: Nonfiction “A poignant, personal, sometimes painful chronicle of self-awareness and understanding.” —Kirkus Reviews “As she takes us across three continents, from childhood to middle age, Helena Rho shares the raw truth of what it’s meant to strive for decades to be a good daughter, sister, mother, wife, and physician, all the while navigating the contradictory demands of Eastern and Western cultures. This is a powerfully heartfelt story about seeking the gravity of a place to belong while overcoming regrets and losses along the way. Her honesty is searing and, in the end, inspiring.” —Julia Glass, author of Vigil Harbor and the National Book Award–winning Three Junes “In her devastating memoir, American Seoul, Helena Rho underscores the central truth of being alive: that while we are often helpless to prevent our suffering at the hands of others, we are not helpless to reimagine ourselves, to invent ourselves anew. There are second acts in American lives, and Rho beautifully teaches us what living means after the anguish. She is among the rarest of memoirists who can alchemize experience into art.” —William Giraldi, author of The Hero’s Body “A compelling coming-of-age story of women confronting clashing cultures and helpless alienation written with passion and heroic honesty.” —Lee Gutkind, editor and founder of Creative Nonfiction magazine “In her riveting debut memoir, American Seoul, Helena Rho writes, ‘Perhaps everyone has a flaming wreckage of a life. We can choose to watch it burn. Or we can take the jagged pieces and make a new life with the repaired seams evident, stark and startling and beautiful.’ Here in my margin, I wrote, ‘Ars memoria,’ by which I meant, This is what a memoirist does—what the best memoirists do: they cauterize their words in those flames. Here in this passage, Rho foreshadows herself, for she has written her life as a book that is stark and startling and beautiful.” —Julie Marie Wade, author of Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures and Just an Ordinary Woman Breathing “American Seoul is a redemptive, often harrowing, and irresistible memoir. Helena Rho handles the complexities of deceit, betrayal, and dire family secrets with intelligence, grace, and courage. Just when you think things can’t get worse, they get worse. But Helena clears the wreckage and moves on to become the person, the writer, she dreamed of being. This is a story so good, so exquisitely told, you’ll want to stand up and cheer when you’ve finished.” —John Dufresne, author of No Regrets, Coyote “A heart-filled, hard-won, and transcendent story of immigration and the generations after by a woman raised in a culture of high expectations. Exhausted, emotionally drained, and suffering from personal and intergenerational trauma, the author must also navigate rivers of the many personal, cultural, and professional ideals of what it means to be strong and confident, humble and self-sacrificing. Successful. Rho became a doctor—for others—and then a writer—for herself—and in making that choice created a way to remake her life. She wrote her way back to her Korean-ness, to wholeness, to becoming Heeseon again, and in doing so brings us all back to wholeness, compassion, and kindness.” —Jenny Forrester, author of Narrow River, Wide Sky “Helena Rho’s American Seoul is the triumphant story of one woman’s fight to reclaim herself, her body, her Korean identity, and her right to tell her story. Rho shows us the cost of being a daughter in a family that prefers sons, a Korean immigrant in an America that celebrates whiteness, and a doctor when her heart longed for a life in the arts. Thankfully, Rho bravely challenged and ultimately discarded the toxic ideas that almost broke her body and her spirit. American Seoul is a gift to the world and a light for anyone still searching for a way out of a life that chafes the spirit.” —Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group “Helena Rho’s strength is unmistakable from the first pages of her ferocious memoir. Weaving threads of love, trauma, family, and the sometimes long, long journey toward home, Rho shows us how we can be made and unmade and made again. American Seoul is an unflinching chronicle of womanhood, motherhood, and selfhood, told with stark honesty and grace. This book is aria, howl, and lullaby—an unforgettable song.” —Chelsea Biondolillo, author of The Skinned Bird “In her moving memoir, American Seoul, Helena Rho writes unflinchingly about misogyny, racism, and abuse. Her beautiful prose fuels a clear-eyed exploration of her life and its joys and challenges. A memorable debut.” —Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day “American Seoul is a memoir that uncovers the in-between moments of a life—the shock of a car accident and the fluidity of a mind on the move in the milliseconds of the collision; the speculative spaces of the past in Korea to understand the frailties of parents; the abuse one endures and the trauma that shadows. Helena Rho shares her multiple lives: daughter, mother, wife, doctor, woman. It is a breathtaking tango that circles cultural identity, self-doubt and worth, and the vulnerabilities of living in a country that gives little and takes a lot.” —Ira Sukrungruang, author of This Jade World “Helena Rho’s American Seoul is as breathtaking as it is wise. This is the story of one brave woman’s journey through family, culture, and identity. In the journey from discipline and intellect to compassion and creativity, Helena generously maps out for us how much can be taken as well as how much can be given when one must escape cultural and familial inscription in order to live fully, love fully, and thrive. Sometimes stepping off the path takes more than a leap of faith. Sometimes the leap takes your whole heart.” —Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water

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Book SynopsisFrom prominent outdoorsman and nature writer Mark Kenyon comes an engrossing reflection on the past and future battles over our most revered landscapes—America’s public lands. Every American is a public-land owner, inheritor to the largest public-land trust in the world. These vast expanses provide a home to wildlife populations, a vital source of clean air and water, and a haven for recreation. Since its inception, however, America’s public land system has been embroiled in controversy—caught in the push and pull between the desire to develop the valuable resources the land holds or conserve them. Alarmed by rising tensions over the use of these lands, hunter, angler, and outdoor enthusiast Mark Kenyon set out to explore the spaces involved in this heated debate, and learn firsthand how they came to be and what their future might hold. Part travelogue and part historical examination, That Wild Country invites readers on an intimate tour of the wondrous wild and public places that are a uniquely profound and endangered part of the American landscape.

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Book SynopsisFrom prominent outdoorsman and nature writer Mark Kenyon comes an engrossing reflection on the past and future battles over our most revered landscapes—America’s public lands. Every American is a public-land owner, inheritor to the largest public-land trust in the world. These vast expanses provide a home to wildlife populations, a vital source of clean air and water, and a haven for recreation. Since its inception, however, America’s public land system has been embroiled in controversy—caught in the push and pull between the desire to develop the valuable resources the land holds or conserve them. Alarmed by rising tensions over the use of these lands, hunter, angler, and outdoor enthusiast Mark Kenyon set out to explore the spaces involved in this heated debate, and learn firsthand how they came to be and what their future might hold. Part travelogue and part historical examination, That Wild Country invites readers on an intimate tour of the wondrous wild and public places that are a uniquely profound and endangered part of the American landscape.Trade ReviewA 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards Semifinalist: Best Science & Technology “Kenyon’s writing and traveling style are equally companionable…he evokes in his prose an appealing sense of shared experience…a strong argument for why two often politically opposed factions, hunters and environmentalists, should come together under the #KeepItPublic banner…succeeds in making the political simultaneously personal and universal.” —Publishers Weekly “An intimate escape for adventure seekers.” —Seattle PI “When friends complain to me about the ideological divisions ripping America in two, I cheer them up with stories about our public lands. Right now, groups and individuals as diverse as the nation itself are coalescing around the rallying cry of ‘Keep It Public’ as we fight to defend the environmental integrity and accessibility of our public lands. Let Mark Kenyon’s That Wild Country be our guiding text. Not only does Kenyon tell you why and how we have public lands, but he also tells you why and how we’ll keep them. Read this book and join the movement.” —Steven Rinella, bestselling author of The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook and American Buffalo “This is a must-read for all public-land owners. Mark weaves his own adventures and connections to public land into the history on how we were gifted this great legacy. Read this book, be inspired, and become engaged.” —Land Tawney, president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers “More than a century ago John Muir warned that ‘Wilderness is a necessity…They will see what I meant in time.’ For better or worse we have arrived in the cultural moment that the wandering Scotsman foresaw, when the landscapes that are most vital to the survival of America’s soul are also the most jeopardized. Thoroughly immersed in said moment, with pure heart and true aim, Mark Kenyon has written an engrossing walkabout of his own that pairs an impassioned, unquenchable desire for wild country with a rare, marksman-cool ability to articulate the complex issues and stakes in our fight for public lands. A wonderful debut.” —Chris Dombrowski, author of Body of Water “America’s public lands are under assault, from chronic underfunding, development interests, invasive species, and climate change, among other threats. Against this backdrop, Mark Kenyon eloquently explores how many of these public lands came to be, and why they are more important today than ever. That Wild Country is more than a lesson; it is a personal journey of discovery to which all public-lands users, from hikers and boaters to hunters and anglers, can relate.” —Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

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Book SynopsisMeet the unsung sheroes of history: the diverse, defiant and daring (wo)men who changed the rules, and their identities, to get sh*t done. You’ll encounter Kit Cavanagh, the swaggering Irish dragoon who was the first woman to be buried in London with full military honours; marauding eighteenth-century pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, who collided on the high seas after swapping their petticoats for pantaloons; Ellen Craft, an escaped slave who masqueraded as a white master to spirit her husband-to-be to freedom; and Billy Tipton, the swinging jazz musician, who led a double life as an adult, taking five wives along the way. Then there are the women who still have to dress like men to live their best lives, like the inspirational football-lovers in Iran, who risk everything to take their place in the stands. A call to action for the modern world, this book celebrates the #GenderRebels who paved the way for women everywhere to be soldiers and spies; kings and queens; firefighters, doctors, pilots; and a Swiss Army knife’s-worth more. These superbly spirited (wo)men all had one thing in common: they defied the rules to progress in a man’s world.Trade Review“Essential reading…a funny, beautiful, powerful guide to the unsung heroes…People of the earth: read this book, you will never look at gender the same again.” —Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies “Brilliant! Anneka Harry has achieved something special and I feel inspired and galvanized after reading it.” —Gemma Cairney, broadcaster

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Book SynopsisA history of mystic resistance and liberation and of five women who transcended the expected to transform America. For centuries, women who emerge as mystic leaders have played vital roles in American culture. For just as long, they’ve been subjugated and ridiculed. Today, women and others across the nation are once again turning to their mystic powers to #HexThePatriarchy and help fight the forces that seem bent on relegating them to second-class citizenry. Amid this tumult, Lucile Scott looks to the past and the stories of five women over three centuries to form an ancestral spiritual coven: Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans; Cora L. V. Scott, nineteenth-century Spiritualist superstar; Helena Blavatsky, mother of Theosophy; Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist witch and founder of Dianic Wicca; and Marianne Williamson, presidential candidate and preacher of the New Age Gospel of Love. Each, in their own ways, defied masculine preconceptions about power. A scathing queer feminist history and a personal quest for transcendence, An American Covenant opens our eyes to the paths forged by women who inspired the nation in their own times—and who will no longer be forgotten or silenced in ours.Trade ReviewAn Autostraddle fall book to look out for A Lambda Literary most anticipated LGBTQ book of October “Journalist Scott delivers an in-depth look at five ‘feminist mystics’ from American history in her provocative debut…[and] reveals how the female leaders of these movements have risen to prominence and been repressed by the powers that be…In addition to biographical sketches of each woman, Scott provides the historical context for their movements, and details her own search for identity and spiritual solace amid personal turmoil…Scott writes with blunt honesty, a sharp eye for detail, and a strong sense of purpose. The result is an impassioned tribute to the perseverance and radicalism of female spiritual leaders in America.” —Publishers Weekly “In a moment when witches are going mainstream and stepping up to hex corrupt and powerful men, Lucile Scott’s An American Covenant, which centers on five witchy women who influenced American spirituality and culture, couldn’t be more timely to read.” —Bustle “[An American Covenant]’s narrative is focused, its prose is sharp, and the timing of its release—on the eve of an election that has millions worrying over the nation’s soul—is impeccable.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “This book is about another kind of sisterhood: the witchy kind. A reporter on human rights and international health, writer Scott brings her journalist skills to rendering the lives of five ‘mystic’ women who each shaped American culture in some way. Marie Laveau, Cora L. V. Scott, Helena Blavatsky, Zsuzsanna Budapest, and Marianne Williamson all spoke—and hexed—truth to power. Even though they lived over the span of 300 years and weren’t actually in a coven together, Scott argues that these five women all powerfully defied the patriarchy, and makes a compelling case for knowing their fascinating stories.” —Shondaland “Poetic and vulnerable…With An American Covenant, Lucile Scott has unearthed and cohered tales of a particular feminine and queer counterculture across centuries, deftly navigating historical storytelling in which many details have moldered with the years.” —Guernica Magazine “An American Covenant is potent, important, invigorating and even a little spooky. In this delicious blend of memoir and ethnography, Scott has taken us down a rabbit hole that old, crusty, colonial history books should’ve given us should they only have been so honest. I devoured this book, learned a great deal about little known people who shaped the world fiercely, and even discovered a good bit about myself. This is one hell of a book!” —Mira Ptacin, award-winning author of Poor Your Soul and The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna “As someone who’s long tried to resist the ‘woo,’ An American Covenant was an eye opening and delightful read. It beautifully strikes a balance between modern day feminism and ancient mysticism that gives all of us permission to embrace the unknown to better shape today’s world.” —Franchesca Ramsey, host of MTV Decoded and author of Well, That Escalated Quickly “Journalist Lucile Scott writes the way Van Gough painted; with swirling use of vivid, colorful prose lavished onto a canvas of dreamy sequences, An American Covenant culminates into a gorgeous work of art worthy of its own exhibition. Scott escorts us along her time-traveling journey, breathing new life into pathways long since forgotten, while showcasing five spectacular women—all mystics, whose influence on our history and inroads into dismantling the patriarchal power structure have never been fully honored. Until now. An absolutely enchanting and enlightening read.” —Victoria Laurie, New York Times bestselling author of Ghoul Interrupted and Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls “[Lucile] is the Anthony Bourdain of mysticism.” —Brian Vines, BRIC Media “Lucile Scott has her finger on an important pulse point, a hidden history that flows like a through line in American history. Women mystics have been a transformative underground from our earliest beginnings…and it continues.” —Marianne Williason, author of A Return to Love and A Politics of Love

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Book SynopsisA history of mystic resistance and liberation and of five women who transcended the expected to transform America. For centuries, women who emerge as mystic leaders have played vital roles in American culture. For just as long, they’ve been subjugated and ridiculed. Today, women and others across the nation are once again turning to their mystic powers to #HexThePatriarchy and help fight the forces that seem bent on relegating them to second-class citizenry. Amid this tumult, Lucile Scott looks to the past and the stories of five women over three centuries to form an ancestral spiritual coven: Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans; Cora L. V. Scott, nineteenth-century Spiritualist superstar; Helena Blavatsky, mother of Theosophy; Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist witch and founder of Dianic Wicca; and Marianne Williamson, presidential candidate and preacher of the New Age Gospel of Love. Each, in their own ways, defied masculine preconceptions about power. A scathing queer feminist history and a personal quest for transcendence, An American Covenant opens our eyes to the paths forged by women who inspired the nation in their own times—and who will no longer be forgotten or silenced in ours.Trade ReviewAn Autostraddle fall book to look out for A Lambda Literary most anticipated LGBTQ book of October “Journalist Scott delivers an in-depth look at five ‘feminist mystics’ from American history in her provocative debut…[and] reveals how the female leaders of these movements have risen to prominence and been repressed by the powers that be…In addition to biographical sketches of each woman, Scott provides the historical context for their movements, and details her own search for identity and spiritual solace amid personal turmoil…Scott writes with blunt honesty, a sharp eye for detail, and a strong sense of purpose. The result is an impassioned tribute to the perseverance and radicalism of female spiritual leaders in America.” —Publishers Weekly “In a moment when witches are going mainstream and stepping up to hex corrupt and powerful men, Lucile Scott’s An American Covenant, which centers on five witchy women who influenced American spirituality and culture, couldn’t be more timely to read.” —Bustle “[An American Covenant]’s narrative is focused, its prose is sharp, and the timing of its release—on the eve of an election that has millions worrying over the nation’s soul—is impeccable.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “This book is about another kind of sisterhood: the witchy kind. A reporter on human rights and international health, writer Scott brings her journalist skills to rendering the lives of five ‘mystic’ women who each shaped American culture in some way. Marie Laveau, Cora L. V. Scott, Helena Blavatsky, Zsuzsanna Budapest, and Marianne Williamson all spoke—and hexed—truth to power. Even though they lived over the span of 300 years and weren’t actually in a coven together, Scott argues that these five women all powerfully defied the patriarchy, and makes a compelling case for knowing their fascinating stories.” —Shondaland “Poetic and vulnerable…With An American Covenant, Lucile Scott has unearthed and cohered tales of a particular feminine and queer counterculture across centuries, deftly navigating historical storytelling in which many details have moldered with the years.” —Guernica Magazine “An American Covenant is potent, important, invigorating and even a little spooky. In this delicious blend of memoir and ethnography, Scott has taken us down a rabbit hole that old, crusty, colonial history books should’ve given us should they only have been so honest. I devoured this book, learned a great deal about little known people who shaped the world fiercely, and even discovered a good bit about myself. This is one hell of a book!” —Mira Ptacin, award-winning author of Poor Your Soul and The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna “As someone who’s long tried to resist the ‘woo,’ An American Covenant was an eye opening and delightful read. It beautifully strikes a balance between modern day feminism and ancient mysticism that gives all of us permission to embrace the unknown to better shape today’s world.” —Franchesca Ramsey, host of MTV Decoded and author of Well, That Escalated Quickly “Journalist Lucile Scott writes the way Van Gough painted; with swirling use of vivid, colorful prose lavished onto a canvas of dreamy sequences, An American Covenant culminates into a gorgeous work of art worthy of its own exhibition. Scott escorts us along her time-traveling journey, breathing new life into pathways long since forgotten, while showcasing five spectacular women—all mystics, whose influence on our history and inroads into dismantling the patriarchal power structure have never been fully honored. Until now. An absolutely enchanting and enlightening read.” —Victoria Laurie, New York Times bestselling author of Ghoul Interrupted and Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls “[Lucile] is the Anthony Bourdain of mysticism.” —Brian Vines, BRIC Media “Lucile Scott has her finger on an important pulse point, a hidden history that flows like a through line in American history. Women mystics have been a transformative underground from our earliest beginnings…and it continues.” —Marianne Williason, author of A Return to Love and A Politics of Love

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisYou may know Anjelah Johnson-Reyes for her viral sketch "Nail Salon" (over 100 million views globally) or her beloved MadTV character Bon Qui Qui, but it's her clean humor and hilarious storytelling that make her one of the most successful stand-up comedians and actresses today. With her razor-sharp wit, Anjelah recounts funny stories from her journey-from growing up caught between two worlds (do chips and salsa go with potato salad?) to unexpectedly embracing faith ("I love Jesus, but I will punch a 'ho") to her many adventures in dating (she may or may not have accepted dates simply for the food). Through it all, Anjelah transforms from a suburban-adjacent kid with Aquanet-drenched hair into a devoted Christian who abstains from drinking and premarital sex, into a mall-famous Oakland Raiders cheerleader, and then an actually famous comedian traveling the world and meeting people from all-walks of life, including Oprah. No biggie. (Huge biggie.) As she travels the world, Anjelah has eye-opening experiences, and she morphs from square, rigid Anjelah into "Funjelah," and learns that she can still ride with Jesus without squashing the other parts of her personality.Anjelah's stories explore subjects such as navigating your racial identity, finding your place in the world, chasing your crazy dreams, embracing the messiness of an evolving faith, and searching for belonging and meaning. Through her journey, Anjelah gets closer to discovering her true identity and encourages readers to have the audacity to dream big.

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Book SynopsisIn this powerful memoir, the creator of the viral videos "Before You Call the Cops" and "Walking While Black", Tyler Merritt, shares his experiences as a Black man in America with truth, humour, and poignancy.Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed millions of times. He's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and Sports Illustrated and has been profiled in the New York Times. The viral video's main point-the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person-is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world in order to help bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day.In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross black mamas. He teaches readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today.By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains-ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis"We live, as we dream - alone." Sometimes our inner isolation is alleviated; in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event, rescuer and rescued meet, and loneliness is bridged. This book of true stories shows ordinary people in extraordinary events - a ski accident, a missing child, thrilling sea rescues - that take place from snow-bound Labrador to the coast of California. It is about the lives of rescuers who search for life''s meaning while engaging in deeds of heroism and compassion. It is about the aftermath of rescue. There are stories from each Canadian provinces and from the United States. Each is a story of action and inspiration. "We live, as we dream - alone?" Sometimes our inner isolation is alleviated; in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event, rescuer and rescued meet, and loneliness is bridged. This book of true stories shows ordinary people in extraordinary events - a ski accident, a missing child, thrilling sea rescues - that take place from snow-bound Labrador to the coast of California. It is about the lives of rescuers who search for life?s meaning while engaging in deeds of heroism and compassion. It is about the aftermath of rescue. There are stories from each Canadian provinces and from the United States. Each is a story of action and inspiration.

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Book SynopsisThis book picks up where The Desperate Ones: Canada?s Forgotten Outlaws left off. Here are more remarkable true stories about Canadian crimes and criminals ? most of them tales that have been buried for years. The stories begin in colonial Newfoundland, with robbery and murder committed by the notorious Power Gang. As readers travel across the country and through time, they will meet the last two men to be hanged in Prince Edward Island, smugglers who made lake Champlain a battleground, a counterfeiter whose bills were so good they fooled even bank managers, and teenage girls who committed murder in their escape from jail. They will meet the bandits who plundered banks and trains in Eastern Canada and the West, and even the United States. Among them were Same Behan, a robber whose harrowing testimony about the brutal conditions in the Kingston Penitentiary may have brought about his untimely death in "The Hole"; and John "Red" Hamilton, the Canadian-born member of the legendary Dillinger gang. This book picks up where The Desperate Ones: Canada''s Forgotten Outlaws left off. Here are more remarkable true stories about Canadian crimes and criminals -- most of them tales that have been buried for years. The stories begin in colonial Newfoundland, with robbery and murder committed by the notorious Power Gang. As readers travel across the country and through time, they will meet the last two men to be hanged in Prince Edward Island, smugglers who made lake Champlain a battleground, a counterfeiter whose bills were so good they fooled even bank managers, and teenage girls who committed murder in their escape from jail. They will meet the bandits who plundered banks and trains in Eastern Canada and the West, and even the United States. Among them were Same Behan, a robber whose harrowing testimony about the brutal conditions in the Kingston Penittentiary may have brought about his untimely death in "The Hole"; and John "Red" Hamilton, the Canadian-born member of the legendary Dillinger gang.

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Book SynopsisOf the settlers, prospectors, trappers, mountaineers and loggers who came to British Columbia's remote Bute Inlet between the1890s and the1940s, few remained long. August Schnarr, however, trapped far up the Homathko and Southgate Rivers and logged the inlet shores from1910until the1960s. An adventurous photographer, August strapped his Kodak camera to his suspenders and captured his mountain climbing, upriver treks and family homestead. His photo collection is a diary of fifty years of an upcoastlife.In this twenty-fourth issue of Raincoast Chronicles, Judith Williams traces the Schnarrs' family story through August's photographs. Included are classic portraits of the pioneering Bute residents posed on wooden boats and floathouses and with giant fish catches and hunting trophies as well as rare1930s pictures documenting August's daughters with their pet cougars. They were nice pets, we could pet them and they'd purr just like a cat, and they kept pawing you, don't quit, don't quit, said August's daughter Pansy in an interview with Maud Emery. They didn't like anybody but us three; they didn't like my dad at all. They were just like cats to us, we didn't think of them as anything special, nothing but a bunchofwork.Richly illustrated, impeccably researched and featuring diaries, interviews and oral history,Raincoast Chronicles24illuminates the experience of homesteading on the remoteBCcoast.

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Book SynopsisA captivating biography of a fugitive with intriguing connections to a top-secret US military program, the infamous Bre-X mining scandal and moreIn the summer of 2002, the discovery of a cave on Shuswap Lake in British Columbia by a group of houseboaters made headlines across the country. It had been the hideout of a fugitive known as the Bushmanreal name John Bjornstromwho had been arrested the previous winter after raiding cabins in the area for supplies.Shortly after the cave was discovered, and before it was imploded by local authorities, author Paul McKendrick was able to explore the nine-hundred-square-foot bachelor pad. Its elaborate construction left the impression that the occupant was more than just a common thief with a preference for uncommon living arrangements.Nearly two decades later, McKendrick set out to better understand what led the Bushman to the cave. The Bushman's Lair is the culmination of numerous interviews, reviews of RCMP and court transcripts, declassified us government files and McKendrick's own adventures in the Shuswap. The resulting book follows Bjornstrom's circuitous path: a child of Romani refugees raised by nature lovers from Norway; a bizarre, top-secret us government program that recruited individuals with supposed psychic abilities; an investigation into the infamous Bre-X mining scandal that led to an alleged hit list; and an ardent mission to safeguard vulnerable youth from abuse.While some mysteries remain unsolved, McKendrick's exploration of Bjornstrom's story is an unexpectedly moving and unforgettable account of a man who decided to pursue a quest with boundless commitment.Reminiscent of JohnVaillant''sThe Golden Spruce and Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, this fascinating portrait of a far-from-ordinary fugitive makes for a page-turning read.

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Book SynopsisLiving in pre-Civil War Philadelphia, young Black activist Mifflin Gibbs was feeling disheartened from fighting the overwhelming tide of White America's legalized racism when abolitionist Julia Griffith encouraged him to go do some great thing. These words helped inspire him to become a successful merchant in San Francisco, and then to seek a more just society in the new colony of Vancouver Island, where he was to become a prominent citizen and elected official.Gibbs joined a movement of Black American emigrants fleeing the increasingly oppressive and anti-Black Californian legal system in 1858. They hoped to establish themselves in a new country where they would have full access to the rights of citizenship and would be free to seek success and stability. Some six hundred Black Californians made the trip to Victoria in the midst of the Fraser River Gold Rush, but their hopes of finding a welcoming new home were ultimately disappointed. They were to encounter social segregation, disenfranchisement, limited employment opportunities and rampant discrimination. But in spite of the opposition and racism they faced, these pioneers played a pivotal role in the emerging province, establishing an all-Black militia unit to protect against American invasion, casting deciding votes in the 1860 election and helping to build the province as teachers, miners, artisans, entrepreneurs and merchants.Crawford Kilian brings this vibrant period of British Columbia's history to life, evoking the chaos and opportunity of Victoria's gold rush boom and describing the fascinating lives of prominent Black pioneers and trailblazers, from Sylvia Stark and Saltspring Island's notable Stark family to lifeguard and special constable Joe Fortes, who taught a generation of Vancouverites to swim. Since its original publication in 1978, Go Do Some Great Thing has remained foundational reading on the history of Black pioneers in BC. Updated and with a new foreword by Adam Rudder, the third edition of this under-told story describes the hardships and triumphs of BC's first Black citizens and their legacy in the province today.Partial proceeds from each copy sold will be donated to the Hogan''s Alley Society.

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Book SynopsisThis haunting memoir of Li Qunying, a Chinese Communist doctor, traces all of the major events of brutal twentieth-century China, interweaving eyewitness history, folklore, superstition and Li Qunying's own first-hand accounts.

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Book SynopsisThe story of one woman's struggle to overcome anorexia.

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Book SynopsisPoet George Ellenbogen’s memoir is more than a collection of anecdotes of his immigrant family and their journey from Franz Joseph’s Austro-Hungarian empire to Montreal in the 1920s. A Stone in My Shoe charts his discovery of how an immigrant Jewish neighborhood—a tight-knit shtetl with extended families that had its own shops, institutions, and daily Yiddish newspapers—sustained him and his family as well as thousands of others. The revelations ripple outward and what surfaces—the markers of his parents’ navigation in a new world and his own youth in the 1940s and 1950s Montreal—extend to all. They become part of the universal map in which readers will recognize their own quirky courses into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

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Book SynopsisThrough a combination of amiable anecdotes, sharp-eyed historical reporting, and intense tangled memories of family life, this autobiography captures the legendary personality of television host Larry Zolf. Zolf could not be cajoled or cozened, and as this account demonstrates, he had a healthy distrust of those who didn’t drink, laugh, or lust. He regretted little and only ever wanted to keep on talking, and the sound of his voice runs through this book, telling a simple tale of great depth and subtlety. Revealing the phenom often known as “the Schnozz” to be the most personal of journalists and wittiest of astute observers, this history explores the “dialectical dancer” who played backroom crony to Robert Kennedy and taught Pierre Elliott Trudeau to be a stand-up comedian. Additional yarns include how Zolf befriended a KKK sheriff in Mississippi, the time he was beaten about the head with a cane by a one-legged cabinet minister, and how the memorable character sometimes wore a false nose and glasses to press conferences, only so he could take them off and declare, “Here is the nose who knows!”

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Book SynopsisIn this frank and moving memoir, the author recalls growing up in a poor and alcohol-ridden neighborhood of a small city before and during World War II. Following his experiences after the war, the narrative relates the shattering of his mother’s dreams and his own inability to bridge the gulf between himself and his alcoholic father, casting a dark shadow over his childhood. The account reveals how the protagonist never permitted his rocky beginnings to affect his hope for the future, portraying his survival in a bleak environment and of the early road traveled in becoming a man of honor, reputation, and respect as a judge of the Superior Court of Ontario. Also featuring a diverse selection of the author’s poetry, this anthology reflects not only the author’s experiences on the bench but the empathy and compassion for the underdog that he learned while growing up on Simcoe Street.Trade Review“It is every writer's dream: you give a workshop, someone hands you a manuscript, you read it right away, you can't put it down. It's raw. Driven. There's a fresh voice. A perspective you never considered. You laugh. Weep. It's so good you know you can recommend it to your publisher.” —Susan Musgrave, Vancouver Sun“[The author] is a careful and precise recorder of the dramas and tragedies . . . [He] reminds the reader of Alden Nowlan at his finest.” —George Fetherling, Vancouver Sun“Sensitive, humane . . . written in a spare, graceful style where only what's necessary makes it to the page.” —Toronto Star

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