Biography: general Books

Book SynopsisWhy did Desmond Howard spurn Nick Saban to play in Ann Arbor? How did Michigan really find All-American offensive lineman Reggie McKenzie? What did Bo Schembechler do that surprised Mark Messner and his family? And why was Tom Brady recruited so late in the process? The Road to Ann Arbor reveals how many Wolverines greats became just that. ESPN's Tom VanHaaren takes fans back to the start and behind the scenes of the college recruiting process, showing that the path to The Big House is not always straight and narrow.

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Book SynopsisWhen the game is on the line, some coaches tense up. They scream, they yell. But Mike Brey remains calm, having instilled confidence in his players and having built a system in which they have great freedom. Fueled with a competitive streak that belies his fun and easygoing demeanor, Brey has turned Notre Dame into a national contender. When he took over Notre Dame, the school had not reached the NCAA Tournament in a decade. Under Brey the Fighting Irish have qualified for the Big Dance 12 times in 17 seasons, reaching the Elite Eight in 2015 and 2016. And in 2018 he passed the legendary Digger Phelps to become the winningest coach in program history. In this autobiography Brey, the son of educators and athletes, depicts the culture he has created at Notre Dame while profiling his amazing basketball path, having learned from coaching legends Morgan Wootten and Mike Krzyzewski. From the whirlwind turn of events during Matt Doherty’s departure that led to his hiring, to recruiting battles, to changing conference affiliations, to epic NCAA Tournament games against Kentucky and Wisconsin, to defeating Tobacco Road powers en route to winning in the ACC, Brey reflects on his remarkable life and career in Keeping It Loose. That includes growing up in the Beltway, teaching at DeMatha Catholic High School, coaching under Krzyzewski, and guiding Delaware into the NCAA Tournament. Brey shares insider stories and memories of Fighting Irish stars Troy Murphy, Luke Harangody, Jerian Grant, Bonzie Colson, and many more. You’ll learn why the man described as the “loosest coach in America” is also one of its finest.

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Book SynopsisWhen Dabo Swinney officially took over Clemson football for the 2009 season, it was considered a good program that couldn't quite recapture the greatness of the Danny Ford era. Dabo had spent his entire life as an underdog, but his defiant grit pushed him past personal hardships and professional adversity. His simple formula—faith, family, forgiveness, fortitude, and fun—pushed the Clemson football program past its potential and to the next level, taking the Tigers to 10 bowl games and four ACC championships, earning three College Football Playoff appearances, and most importantly, capturing the 2016 national championship. In Top of the Hill: Dabo Swinney and Clemson's Rise to College Football Greatness, Greenville News sports columnist and Clemson insider Manie Robinson traces Dabo's coaching ascension along Clemson football's return to glory, going behind the scenes of one of the powerhouse programs in the country.

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Book SynopsisBill Belichick is a different man on Fridays. With preparations for Sunday's game essentially complete, and the media presence reduced to those regulars Belichick calls the "Friday Warriors," the normally terse coach is known to open up in provocative, entertaining, and expansive fashion. Fridays With Bill provides a rare glimpse inside one of history's greatest football minds, featuring insights and musings from the man who has won five Super Bowl championships and who is destined for the Hall of Fame. This is Belichick at his most relaxed, profoundly philosophic and often puckish, with topics ranging from his preference for left-footed punters to his struggles with technology to his favorite Halloween candy. Covering themes of communication, decision making, technology, and more, this curated collection of wit and wisdom is an indispensable read for Patriots fans and all those who love the game.

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Book SynopsisDavey Johnson is best known for managing the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, and Baltimore Orioles—and taking all three clubs to their respective league championship series during his time at the helm. When teams needed to improve, they hired Johnson, and he delivered, memorably leading the Mets to the 1986 World Series title. Yet even as he raised the bar of their success, all three clubs parted ways with Johnson, a pattern that puzzles him to this day. A self-termed "army brat," Johnson kept moving, managing the Los Angeles Dodgers then the Washington Nationals before announcing his retirement in 2013. But managing baseball has been just one part of Johnson's fascinating life. A true Renaissance man, Johnson has also found incredible success as a land investor, pilot, scratch golfer, scuba diving teacher, and mathematician, pioneering the use of sabermetrics in the big leagues. Now, Johnson finally takes the time to meditate on his wild and remarkable journey, with reflections on not only his All-Star playing days and years of managerial success in New York, Cincinnati, and Baltimore, but on his entire career.

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Book SynopsisWhen Dabo Swinney took over Clemson football during the 2008 season, the program was considered a good one that couldn’t quite recapture the greatness of the Danny Ford era. But Swinney’s simple formula—faith, family, forgiveness, fortitude, and fun—pushed the Clemson football program to the next level, taking the Tigers to 10 bowl games while capturing four ACC championships, three College Football Playoff appearances, and most importantly, two national championships. Sports columnist Manie Robinson traces Swinney’s coaching ascension along the football team’s return to glory, going behind the scenes of one of the country’s powerhouse programs. Featuring the incredible stories of Clemson stars such as C.J. Spiller, Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, and Deshaun Watson, Top of the Hill is the definitive account of the Tigers’ return to the top of the college football landscape.

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Book SynopsisESPN's Sal Paolantonio takes readers inside the Eagles' improbable 2017 season, one which culminated in the franchise's long-awaited first Super Bowl victory—from their hot start in the fall with nine straight wins, to the unfathomable loss of star quarterback Carson Wentz, to the sweetest victory over the New England Patriots in Minnesota featuring the unforgettable "Philly Special," and finally to the raucous celebrations on Broad Street. Through exclusive interviews, fans will learn how Philadelphia overcame Wentz's season-ending injury which instantly branded them underdogs, gaining inside perspective into the dynamic between head coach Doug Pederson, back-up quarterback and eventual Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles, and the many individuals who stepped up and answered the call at the right times. Paolantonio captures the mood of the team week by week, every step of the way, profiling numerous key players, coaches, and more.Trade Review"This book is truly special ... I loved it!" -- Doug Pederson, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles"This book is the story of redemption and resilience, of taking chances and beating the odds. It's what we love about football and teamwork and sports in America. You will not be able to put it down. Philly Special is truly special." -- Dan Patrick, host of The Dan Patrick Show"Philly Special is special because of Sal Paolantonio. Sal takes you behind the curtain for an indepth look at why the Eagles had a one of the greatest runs in NFL history. The unprecedented access Sal received from the Eagles organization gives readers information that you flat out don't get anywhere else. A must-read for any football fan!" -- Ron Jaworski, NFL analyst and former Eagles quarterback"No matter how passionate and informed a fan you are of football or the Eagles, you do not know the whole story of one of the most consequential and improbable championships in NFL history until you hear it from Sal. Details and insight you will not get anywhere else make this book a must for anyone who has ever sung 'Fly Eagles Fly'!" -- Mike Greenberg, host of ESPN's Get Up!

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Book SynopsisHe's heating up. Winning the NFL is never easy. But since Baker Mayfield came along, he has certainly made life easier for the Cleveland Browns. It was never the Browns' plan to start Mayfield in Week 4 of his rookie season in 2018. But when he stepped in to replace veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor the weeks prior, his excellent play made the choice to award him the starting job an easy one. Mayfield makes life easier on his teammates with his high-level play and preparation. And Mayfield has made it easy for new and old Brown Backers alike to fall in love with him. Baker Mayfield: Feeling Dangerous is the ultimate tribute to the Browns' promising young quarterback, whose undeniable talent on the field and whose authenticity off it have made him one of the NFL's most compelling young stars. Including dozens of full-color photographs and interviews with those who know him best, this is a complete look at everything that makes No. 6 special. This keepsake also expires Mayfield's early life and success at Oklahoma, making it an essential addition to any Browns fan's collection.

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Book SynopsisA profound remembrance of an extraordinary life cut short, celebrating Chadwick Boseman’s brilliance on screen as well as his rich existence as a generous friend, family member, and activist. Chadwick Boseman will forever be remembered as a sublime acting talent, infusing films such as Black Panther, 42, and Get on Up with his trademark blend of charisma, vitality, and vulnerability. His path to iconic status started quietly, a late bloomer by Hollywood standards. But Boseman rose to stardom with memorable roles including Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and, of course, King T’Challa, despite facing a private battle against colon cancer. Including dozens of full-color photographs, this commemorative book traces the actor’s early days growing up in South Carolina, his string of impactful and historic movie roles, and the widespread impact of his artistry and unfathomable strength. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Fight Colorectal Cancer.

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Book SynopsisIn a feat of remarkable research and timely reclamation, Eric K. Washington uncovers the nearly forgotten life of James H. Williams (1878–1948), the chief porter of Grand Central Terminal’s Red Caps—a multitude of Harlem-based black men whom he organized into the essential labor force of America’s most august railroad station. Washington reveals that despite the highly racialized and often exploitative nature of the work, the Red Cap was a highly coveted job for college-bound black men determined to join New York’s bourgeoning middle class. Examining the deeply intertwined subjects of class, labor, and African American history, Washington chronicles Williams’s life, showing how the enterprising son of freed slaves successfully navigated the segregated world of the northern metropolis, and in so doing ultimately achieved financial and social influence. With this biography, Williams must now be considered, along with Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jacqueline Onassis, one of the great heroes of Grand Central’s storied past.Trade Review"An at once inspiring and cautionary new social history of Harlem and beyond in the first half of the 20th century. Mr. Washington, an independent historian, reanimates a lost world of strivers who created a protean civic, artistic and commercial society to subvert the Jim Crow bias still resilient in the most liberal city in America.... An illuminating chronicle of success against the odds... It’s poignant to read all the stories of dogged advancement through deft maneuvering within a rigged system." -- Edward Kosner, Wall Street Journal"A thoroughly researched and illuminating biography.... Washington gives a palpable sense of the myriad obstacles blacks faced.... An absorbing, fresh perspective on black history." -- Kirkus Reviews [starred review]"In this illuminating debut biography, historian Washington celebrates a black New Yorker who won authority and influence in a segregated economy.... He paints a vivid portrait of the bustling golden age of train travel, and makes Williams a fitting exemplar of Harlem’s ambitious black middle class... The result is a rich, stirring social history of African-Americans’ struggle to succeed in an unfair system." -- Publishers Weekly"Washington’s illustrated and well-researched work will have some appeal for rail fans, but its true value is for readers interested in the social condition of African Americans in New York during this period." -- Library Journal"Written with a curator's eye for compelling detail.... Washington does a masterful job detailing the struggles and triumphs of a family determined to make America live up to its promise of democracy." -- Ginger Adams Otis, author of Firefight: The Century-Long Battle to Integrate New York’s Bravest"If you are nostalgic for the grand days of rail travel, you need to read this book. If you have been pondering the prevalence of systemic racism in American society, you also need to read this book." -- Janet Wells Greene, New York Labor History Association"[Washington] connects the dots with a deep and nuanced understanding of the people, the politics and the times. Boss of the Grips really is a reclamation of the historical record with a respect and a reverence for James Williams and the people he knew in the community that he was a part of." -- A’Lelia Bundles, author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker"Few of us will have known anything about James Williams, and in this sense Washington’s book is similar to the overlooked lives featured these days in the New York Times obituary section. But as these fascinating obits tell us, these overlooked lives provide a fabulous insight into our shared history." -- Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography"Eric K. Washington’s Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal is a deeply informed and personal story of the Harlem-based black men who worked at New York City’s major train station. The book is a remarkable telling of a story about race, class, labor, and social and economic history. This highly personal story speaks to much larger and universally significant issues." -- Jonathan Haworth, Chair of the Gill Prize Jury"The subject of this tremendously involving book, James Williams, the chief porter for the “Red Caps” of Grand Central Station, is less well-known than virtually any figure on this list [of favorite biographies], but. . . Washington does a masterful job of showing how important - and fascinating - his life and times were."" -- Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review, "Ten Best Biographies of 2019""[T]he strength of Boss of the Grips is Washington’s absolute command of the broader story surrounding Williams, the lives of urban African-Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is an indispensable story of the black experience and one that seldom gets noticed in other New York City history books on this period."" -- The Bowery Boys, "Ten Favorite Books of 2019""A sensitive and detailed life of James Williams, in the context of the city’s emerging African-American middle class." -- Tom Lewis, Chair of the judging panel for the New York Academy of History

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Book SynopsisIn Too Afraid to Cry, Ali Cobby Eckermann—who was recently awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world—describes with searing detail the devastating effects of racist policies that tore apart Indigenous Australian communities and created the Stolen Generations of “adoptees,” Aboriginal children forcibly taken from their birth families. Told at first through the frank eyes of a child whose life was irretrievably changed after being “adopted” into a German Lutheran family, Too Afraid to Cry braids piercingly lyrical verse with spare prose to tell an intensely personal story of abuse and trauma. After years of suffering as a dark-skinned “outsider,” Eckermann reveals her courageous efforts to reconcile with her birth family and find acceptance within their Indigenous community. Too Afraid to Cry offers a mirror to America and Canada’s own dark history of coerced adoption of Native American children, and the violence inflicted on our continent’s Indigenous peoples.Trade Review"The memory blanket surrounding each of us is woven by the ancestors, begun before the child is a curled dream within the mother. When a baby is taken by force from its mother, the blanket is damaged. Pieces lost. The child will then be a wanderer until s/he finds the pieces and puts them back together. Ali Cobby Eckermann’s memoir is a memory blanket, put back together after many treacherous journeys. The weaving material is lyrical poetry, that deftly winds the story pieces together. This is an essential story, one everyone needs to hear." -- Joy Harjo, Mvskoke poet, musician and performer, and author of Crazy Brave"Simple prose belies a heavy heart in this straightforward but subtly heartbreaking chronicle of trauma and tragedy by poet Eckermann (Ruby Moonlight, 2015, etc.), a winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize. . . . A subdued memoir about shouldering pain, owning decisions, and finding a voice." -- Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisWilliam Monroe Trotter (1872– 1934), though still virtually unknown to the wider public, was an unlikely American hero. With the stylistic verve of a newspaperman and the unwavering fearlessness of an emancipator, he galvanized black working- class citizens to wield their political power despite the violent racism of post- Reconstruction America. For more than thirty years, the Harvard-educated Trotter edited and published the Guardian, a weekly Boston newspaper that was read across the nation. Defining himself against the gradualist politics of Booker T. Washington and the elitism of W. E. B. Du Bois, Trotter advocated for a radical vision of black liberation that prefigured leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Synthesizing years of archival research, historian Kerri Greenidge renders the drama of turn- of- the- century America and reclaims Trotter as a seminal figure, whose prophetic, yet ultimately tragic, life offers a link between the vision of Frederick Douglass and black radicalism in the modern era.Trade Review"Kerri K. Greenidge’s spirited biography [is] an ardent and mostly approving account of Trotter’s life that nevertheless conveys the more vexing elements of his personality…. Black Radical opens up a rich seam of inquiry that persists to this day, about the tug-of-war between reformers and radicals, and whether victories that seem purely symbolic at first can ripple out into real-world effects later on." -- Jennifer Szalai, New York Times ("Times Critics Top Books of 2019")"[Trotter's] legacy presents a challenge to those who seek change today: is compromise a necessary evil of any social movement, or is it the original sin of collective action? Greenidge argues that [his] protests, dismissed by many people at the time as publicity-seeking stunts, are Trotter’s real legacy.... One of the most satisfying accomplishments of Black Radical is the way that Greenidge situates Trotter’s biography in the broader story of liberal New England. Boston, Greenidge reminds her readers, incubated the politics of Malcolm X and of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., not to mention the writers Pauline Hopkins and Dorothy West." -- Casey Cep, The New Yorker"In this engagingly written biography, historian Kerri Greenidge has penned a volume that provides a penetrating view of William Monroe Trotter’s radical thought and remarkable life. Black Radical incisively explores Trotter’s thirty years of editing and publishing the Guardian and brilliantly traces his influence on the emergence of “radical black consciousness at the turn of the twentieth century.” Moreover, this volume provides a detailed and compelling portrait of African American life in Boston; accessible to all readers, Greenidge’s new book is a valuable addition to the literature." -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University"This engaging account of the life of William Monroe Trotter reclaims the vital work of an unsung activist and the complex reality of the long civil rights movement. Black Radical reminds us that the historic fight against racial violence and injustice was as Northern as it was Southern, as renegade as it was reformist. An important book and a rich chronicle of the past with urgent lessons for today." -- Alondra Nelson, author of Body and Soul"William Monroe Trotter was not only present at the creation of the modern civil rights movement, Kerri Greenidge's welcome biography establishes that by his visionary militancy and selfless financial support Trotter merits reconsideration as progenitor of the movement. A major addition to the literature." -- David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer prize-winning author of W. E. B. DuBois, Volumes 1 and 2"Kerri Greenidge has created the rare book where the actual writing is as exquisite as the stunning research. Black Radical offers a lush layered story and a blueprint for liberation." -- Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir

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Book SynopsisA seminal work that combines ground-breaking philosophy with searing flights of memoir, Afropessimism presents the tenets of an increasingly influential intellectual movement that theorises blackness through the lens of perpetual slavery. Rather than interpreting slavery through a Marxist framework of class oppression, Frank B. Wilderson III, demonstrates that the social construct of slavery is hardly a relic of the past but an almost necessary force in our civilisation that flourishes today, and that Black struggles cannot be conflated with the experiences of any other oppressed group. In mellifluous prose, he juxtaposes his seemingly idyllic Minneapolis upbringing with the harshness later encountered, whether in Berkeley or Soweto. Afropessimism reverberates with wisdom and painful clarity in the fractured world we inhabit.Trade Review"Wilderson’s ambitious book offers its readers two great gifts. First, it strives mightily to make its pessimistic vision plausible. Anyone unconvinced by the vision may find this a dubious contribution, but enough people have been convinced by the view to make an accessible introduction to it a valuable resource just for understanding contemporary intellectual life. Second, the book depicts a remarkable life, lived with daring and sincerity. Afropessimismshares unvarnished glimpses of Wilderson’s childhood, his undergraduate years, his life as a worker and activist between stints in the academy, his graduate studies and their toll on his mental health, his personal relationships, and his experiences as an increasingly well-regarded academic." -- Paul C. Taylor - The Washington Post"There are crucial books that you don’t agree with, but one still comes to understand the importance of the thought experiment. Afropessimism is one of those books." -- Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen: An American Lyric

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Book SynopsisYears before Charles Lindbergh’s flight from New York to Paris electrified the nation, a group of daredevil pilots, most of them veterans of the World War I, brought aviation to the masses by competing in the sensational transcontinental air race of 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight, yet despite its significance, it has until now been all but forgotten. In The Great Air Race, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America. His thrilling chronicle opens with the race’s impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation’s future was in the skies. Mitchell’s contest—critics called it a stunt—was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel: engines caught fire in flight; crude flight instruments were of little help in clouds and fog; and the brakeless planes were prone to nosing over on landing. Yet the aviators possessed an almost inhuman disregard for their own safety, braving blizzards and mechanical failure as they landed in remote cornfields or at the edges of cliffs. Among the most talented were Belvin “The Flying Parson” Maynard, whose dog, Trixie, shared the rear cockpit with his mechanic, and John Donaldson, a war hero who twice escaped German imprisonment. Jockeying reporters made much of their rivalries, and the crowds along the race’s route exploded, with everyday Americans eager to catch their first glimpse of airplanes and the mythic “birdmen” who flew them. The race was a test of endurance that many pilots didn’t finish: some dropped out from sheer exhaustion, while others, betrayed by their engines or their instincts, perished. For all its tragedy, Lancaster argues, the race galvanized the nation to embrace the technology of flight. A thrilling tale of men and their machines, The Great Air Race offers a new origin point for commercial aviation in the United States, even as it greatly expands our pantheon of aviation heroes.Trade Review"Among the many virtues of John Lancaster’s delightful The Great Air Race is how vividly it conveys the entirely different world of aviation at the dawn of the industry, a century ago . . . My favorite book about Antarctic exploration is The Worst Journey in the World, by the British writer Apsley Cherry-Garrard, a survivor of a doomed expedition in 1910. The Great Air Race has the same horrific but heroic fascination. Page by page you think, What else can go wrong? Page by page, you want to learn more . . . This is Lancaster’s first book. But he deftly pulls off some tricks that are harder than they seem. He embeds social, economic and political history as he writes—for instance, how coast-to-coast air travel fits into the history of wagon trails, railroads and highways connecting the continent . . . I have read a lot about aviation and the aircraft industry over the years, but almost everything in this tale was new to me. You might take it on your next airline flight, pause to look out the window and spare a thought for those who helped make it all possible." -- James Fallows - New York Times Book Review"Although the race took place during peacetime, Lancaster is in solid military-history territory… The race itself was fraught with peril, and the author recounts in great detail the inherent struggles of trying to fly cross-country when there were no navigational aids, and the weather could prove deadly. In the end, there were numerous crashes, injuries, and fatalities, and Lancaster covers all of it, making for thrilling reading. The book also includes outstanding photographs. An excellent read for those interested in aviation, the military, and American history." -- Colleen Mondor - Booklist"A dramatic account of the massive 1919 cross-country air race, ‘the likes of which the world had never seen.’… In this well-researched text, Lancaster delivers an expert description of the planes (mostly ex-WWI fighters) and biographies of the volunteers… Entertaining fireworks during the early days of flight." -- Kirkus Reviews"[An] energetic and entertaining history of ‘the greatest airplane race ever flown,’ a 1919 round-trip race between San Francisco and Long Island. . . . Lancaster brings to vivid life the eccentric cast of racers. . . The result is a high-flying history of aviation’s white-knuckle early days." -- Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisHailed as a “grand theory of the American appetite” (Rien Fertel, Wall Street Journal), food historian Paul Freedman’s American Cuisine demonstrates that there is an exuberant, diverse, if not always coherent, American cuisine that reflects the history of the nation itself. Combining historical rigor and culinary passion, Freedman underscores three recurrent themes—regionality, standardization, and variety—that shape a “captivating history” (Drew Tewksbury, Los Angeles Times) of American culinary habits from post-colonial days to the present. The book is also filled with anecdotes that will delight food lovers: · how dry cereal was created by William Kellogg for people with digestive problems; · that Chicken Parmesan is actually an American invention; · and that Florida Key-Lime Pie, based on a recipe developed by Borden’s condensed milk, goes back only to the 1940s. A new standard in culinary history, American Cuisine is an “an essential book” (Jacques Pepin) that sheds fascinating light on a past most of us thought we never had.Trade Review"Contrary to what sniffy foreign gourmets may believe, the United States does have its own cuisine, Freedman argues in this sprawling history. But it’s defined less by ingredients and recipes than by regionalism, modernity, and variety. Relying on sources that range from menus and cookbooks to the odd detective novel, he tracks the interaction among these forces from the colonial period to the present. . . . Gender and ethnicity figure intriguingly in the process." -- Lisa Abend - New York Times Book Review"In American Cuisine: And How It Got This Way, the Yale University history professor and culinary scholar eschews the banal, dish-centric narrative of countless similar titles to propose a grand theory of the American appetite." -- Rien Fertel - Wall Street Journal"In American Cuisine: And How It Got This Way, food historian Paul Freedman embarks on an ambitious exploration of a seemingly impossible question: What is American food? Combing through 200 years of cookbooks and archives, Freedman charts a captivating history of our country told through the meals we make." -- Drew Tewksbury - Los Angeles Times"A sweeping, thoroughly researched social and cultural history of America through its changing food habits and practices. . . . . Freedman also offers entertaining profiles of many notable chefs, including Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, and René Redzepi, whose influences have reformed how many Americans eat. A spirited, abundantly illustrated food history." -- Kirkus Reviews"[A] significant, thoroughly researched survey of food and cooking in the U.S. . . . Both serious researchers and armchair readers will find education and amusement here." -- Booklist"Well-researched. . . . History buffs will dig into this astute culinary narrative." -- Publishers Weekly"[An] astute, well-researched exploration of American cuisine. . . . Purchase for medium and large collections where books about food history are in demand." -- Emily Patti - Library Journal"Although it is not easy to define, Yes! there is a genuine American Cuisine. In this essential book, Paul Freedman leads us from the food of colonial times to processed industrial food, to ethnic food, to the farm-to-table revolution of the 70s. American Cuisine is a brilliant synthesis which organizes the vast, eclectic, mixed American cooking into a comprehensive, coherent, credible and unified entity." -- Jacques Pepin"Drawing on copious research—and encouraged, clearly, by an excellent appetite—Paul Freedman has untangled the messy strands of nostalgia and speculation that spill across culinary history like a vast helping of spaghetti and come up with a wonderfully engaging study of Americans at table. Anyone who wants to make sense of our edible past should start right here." -- Laura Shapiro, author of What She Ate"In American Cuisine, Paul Freedman embarks on an epic quest to locate the roots of American foodways and follow changing tastes through the decades, a search that takes him straight to the heart of American identity. It is an enormous, endlessly fascinating subject, and Freedman makes a wonderful tour guide, scholarly and wry." -- William Grimes, former New York Times restaurant critic"Given the old adage “you are what you eat,” American Cuisine, with thoughtful assessments combined with marvelous illustrations, is a mirror reflecting back, helping explain the current abundant yet problematic landscape of American food." -- Amy Bentley, Professor of Food Studies at NYU"Through my fifty years as an Italian chef in America I have followed the evolution of American cuisine and have always wanted to know ever more about its origin, flavors and recipes. Paul Freedman has fulfilled my quest to know more. This is a brilliant book—extensive and detailed—with in-depth research about the chronological journey of American cuisine from the pioneers to the present." -- Lidia Bastianich, author of My American Dream: A Life of Love, Family, and Food"Shattering holy ideas about our national fare, Paul Freedman’s American Cuisine shows that we have not yet fully emerged from the unhealthy weight of food industrialization, brutal marketing lies, and fake “traditions” meant to divide us. Hearty food for thought." -- Allen Salkin, author of From Scratch: Inside the Food Network54

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Book SynopsisThe heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the American Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime histories of the country’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels, from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war, that truly revealed the new nation’s character—above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission and contends that privateers, though often seen as profiteers at best and pirates at worst, were in fact critical to the American Revolution’s outcome. Armed with cannons, swivel guns, muskets and pikes—as well as government documents granting them the right to seize enemy ships—thousands of privateers tormented the British on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbours on both sides of the ocean. Abounding with tales of daring manoeuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents the American Revolution as we have rarely seen it before.

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Book SynopsisMost of us spend our lives talking ourselves out of things. But what could you accomplish if you never held yourself back? What if, despite your fears, you went for broke every time? You might live a life as extraordinary as the one Stanley Weiss has lived for nearly a century. A skinny Jewish kid from Philadelphia training to fight and likely die in the U.S. invasion of Japan in 1945, Stanley Weiss came home to the death of his loving but weak father, who left his mother penniless. Vowing on the spot not to let his insecurities limit him as they had his father, Weiss pledged that his mother would never have to worry. Later, a humiliation suffered at the hands of his wealthy girlfriend's famous father ignited in him a determination to better himself in every way and live life to the fullest. Inspired by a Humphrey Bogart movie, Weiss moved to a foreign country to hunt for treasure -- where Rule Number One was "Don't Die". Along the way, his zest for living has taken him from the company of legendary artists and poets in Mexico, to writers and beatniks in 1960s San Francisco and Hollywood; from drunken nights with a notorious spy to friendships with three of the men who played James Bond; from glamorous parties in Gstaad and Phuket to power politics in London and Washington, DC. A story of growth, tenacious focus, and good humour, it stretches from the days of "Don't Die" to Weiss's response when asked why business executives were interested in preventing nuclear war: "Being dead is bad for business". For those who believe the world is shaped by ordinary people who push themselves to do extraordinary things, Stanley Weiss's story will inspire and surprise while reminding us all that being dead is bad for business -- and being boring is bad for life.Trade Review"Rumbustious, warm and disarmingly candid This is an astonishing life, recounted with humor and wit." -- Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisEvery day, young Charles White’s mother takes him the Chicago Public Library, where the librarians look after him until she picks him up again after work, at six o’clock. At the library Charles looks carefully at the picture books the librarians give him and also at the people around him, later drawing what he sees on scraps of paper at home. He learns to be patient and observant—and, by watching art students painting in the park, how to mix and use oil paints. As he grows into an artist, he paints the people he sees and admires. Ultimately, Charles becomes a great artist whose works now hang in museums throughout the United States. Written and illustrated by White’s son, C. Ian White, and featuring full-color reproductions of Charles White’s artworks, this deeply personal story traces the childhood influences that inspired young Charles to become an artist and a teacher.

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Book SynopsisAfghanistan was an American crusade to win the war against the “Evil Soviet Empire” and remake the world in its own image.This goes right to the heart of understanding the destiny of the Western Dream. Instead of a dream the US is caught in a nightmare. Now Americans long for a spiritual regeneration away from the vision of war as an honorable sacrifice to a vision of peace that serves all. No one seems able to make the process move in the right direction. We assimilated a profound understanding over four decades of how to envision moving from war to peace that is now in our novelized memoir, The Valediction: Three Nights of Desmond at the Kabul Hotel.

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Book SynopsisA prize-winning Belgian poet explores the nature of creative endeavor—the godlike ambition, the crushing defeat of failure—through the stories of thirteen tragic architects. In thirteen fascinating chapters, Charlotte Van den Broeck goes in search of buildings that were fatal to their architects—architects who either killed themselves or are rumored to have done so. They range across time and space from a church with a twisted spire in seventeenth-century France to a theater that collapsed mid-performance in 1920s Washington, DC, and an eerily sinking swimming pool in the author’s hometown. Drawing on a vast range of material, from Hegel and Darwin to art history, stories from her own life, and popular culture, Van den Broeck brings patterns into focus as she asks, What is that strange, life-or-death connection between a creation and its creator?    Threaded through each story is the author’s meditation on the question of suicide—what Albert Camus called the “one truly serious philosophical problem”—in relation to creativity and public disgrace. The result is a profoundly idiosyncratic book, breaking ground in literary nonfiction, as well as providing solace and consolation to anyone who has ever attempted a creative act.

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Book SynopsisThe short, obscure, and prolific life of the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907), a significant figure in modernism.First published in France in 2016, Being Here Is So Much traces the short, obscure, and prolific life of the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907). In a brief career, cut short by her death from an embolism at the age of thirty-one, shortly after she gave birth to a child, Modersohn-Becker trained in Germany, traveled often to Paris, developed close friendships with the sculptor Clara Westhoff and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and became one of her generation's preeminent artists, helping introduce modernity to the twentieth century alongside such other painters as Picasso and Matisse.Marie Darrieussecq's triumphant and illuminating biography at once revives Modersohn-Becker's reputation as a significant figure in modernism and sheds light on the extreme difficulty women have faced in attaining recognition and establishing artistic careers.

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Book SynopsisA meditation on the trauma and possibility of searching for connection in a world that enforces bland norms of gender, sexual, and social conformity.When you turn the music off, and suddenly you feel an unbearable sadness, that means turn the music back on, right? When you still feel the sadness, even with the music, that means there''s something wrong with this music. Sometimes I feel like sex without context isn''t sex at all. And sometimes I feel like sex without context is what sex should always be.—The Freezer DoorThe Freezer Door records the ebb and flow of desire in daily life. Crossing through loneliness in search of communal pleasure in Seattle, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore exposes the failure and persistence of queer dreams, the hypocritical allure of gay male sexual culture, and the stranglehold of the suburban imagination over city life. Ferocious and tender, The Freezer Door offers a complex meditation on the trauma and possibility of searching for connection in a world that relentlessly enforces bland norms of gender, sexual, and social conformity while claiming to celebrate diversity.

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Book SynopsisThe conclusion of a radically philosophical and personal series of Fanny Howe novels animated by questions of race, spirituality, childhood, transience, resistance, and poverty.First published by Semiotexte in 2001, Indivisible concludes a radically philosophical and personal series of Fanny Howe novels animated by questions of race, spirituality, childhood, transience, wonder, resistance, and poverty. Depicting the tempestuous multiracial world of artists and activists who lived in working-class Boston during the 1960s, Indivisible begins when its narrator, Henny, locks her husband in a closet so that she might better discuss things with God. On the verge of a religious conversion, Henny attempts to make peace with the dead by telling their stories.

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Book SynopsisA privileged look into the life and artistic practice of the experimental filmmaker, music anthologist, and enigmatic polymath Harry Smith.Best known during his lifetime as an experimental filmmaker and Folkways Records music anthologist, Harry Smith (1923–1991) was a spiritual outsider and one of the most original, influential artists of the mid-century American avant-garde. An avid, inspired collector of old blues and hillbilly recordings during his youth, he became a fan of such bebop jazz as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and began making avant-garde film animations featuring patterns painted directly onto the negatives as visual accompaniments to jazz performances. Smith crossed paths with nearly everyone central to the cultural avant-garde; he lived for art and gnosis with little thought for practical consequences. In 1991, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards in New York.Five years after Smith’s death, the poet Paola Igliori began conducting intimate interviews with the filmmakers, musicians, poets, and artists who knew him best. The result, American Magus Harry Smith, offers a privileged look not only into Smith’s life and artistic practice, but also into his era and the informal economy of influence that operated during that time. It provides invaluable insight into the mind of one of the twentieth century’s most enigmatic polymaths. This expanded edition includes photos of Smith and many other color images.

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Book SynopsisThe early writings of renowned poet and critical theorist Jackie Wang, drawn from her early zines, indie-lit crit, and prolific early 2000s blog.Compiled as a field guide, travelogue, essay collection, and weather report, Alien Daughters Walk into the Sun traces Jackie Wang?s trajectory from hard femme to Harvard, from dumpster dives and highway bike rides to dropping out of an MFA program, becoming a National Book Award finalist, and writing her trenchant book Carceral Capitalism. Alien Daughters charts the dream-seeking misadventures of an ?odd girl? from Florida who emerged from punk houses and early Tumblr to become the powerful writer she is today. Anarchic and beautifully personal, Alien Daughters is a strange intellectual autobiography that demonstrates Wang?s singular self-education: an early life lived where every day and every written word began like the Tarot?s Fool, with a leap of faith.

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Book SynopsisSasha Frere-Jones?s evolution as a writer and musician with the deceptively casual intelligence that marks all of his work.Shuttling between his first year of life (1967) and the year he wrote the book (2020), Earlier is a glorious sequence of moments, a record of the experiences that set the shape of a life. Frere-Jones?s prose floats between clinically precise fragments and emotional impressions of revelations, pleasures, and accidents. It?s a book about how lives happen and sensibilities form.As fellow music critic Alex Ross observes, ?It is weird to write a book about yourself, as this book is well aware. Gazing in the mirror is not mass entertainment. Sasha Frere-Jones, a writer of nonchalant, rope-a-dope power, drops the illusion of self-knowledge and instead offers up a kaleidoscope of memory shards, faithful to the chaos of inner and outer worlds. Earlier is funny, cool, raw, wise, and secretly sublime.?Begun in 2010, Earlier was completed at the request of Deborah Holmes, to whom the book is dedicated. Holmes is the mother of Frere-Jones?s two boys, Sam and Jonah. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July of 2020, Holmes died in January of 2021. Earlier is the last book she read. Frere-Jones says, ?Deborah was the most enthusiastic reader I?ve ever met. She read when she wasn?t doing something else, and that never changed. She asked me to write this when we met, in 1990. I am sorry I made her wait so long.?

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Book SynopsisH.W. Wilson's Current Biography Yearbook combines a full year of the monthly magazine Current Biography into a single, permanent record. It has been delivering up-to-date biographies of men and women of contemporary importance since 1940. Current Biography is renowned for its unfailing accuracy, insightful selection and the wide scope of influence of its subjects.

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Book Synopsis"Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson goes a long way to showing what investigative journalism could be in the right hands . . . this book is undeniably buzzworthy." —Portland Book Review"An absorbing and unnerving read . . . this book demands to be finished in one sitting." —Booklist Two teens. Two diaries. Two social panics. One incredible fraud.In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD's fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book's mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous. But Alice was only the beginning. In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay's Journal merged with a frightening new crisis—adolescent suicide—to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and poisoning whole communities. In reality, Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal came from the same dark place: Beatrice Sparks, a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy's memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards. Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It's the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire. Unmask Alice . . . where truth is stranger than nonfiction.

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Book SynopsisHuman history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies - the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. The story of our medical triumphs reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, but the journey was far from smooth. It is a tale replete with dramatic episodes as spellbinding as any blockbuster Hollywood movie. In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam, an award-winning author and retinal surgeon, distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world’s greatest medical miracles. He brings to life heroic tales of embattled mavericks who endured ridicule and sometimes risked their own lives to conceive the incredible, life-saving cures we depend on, and often take for granted, today. Readers will discover fascinating true stories throughout history, including: Rival surgeons who killed patient after patient in their race to operate on beating hearts - and put us on the path toward the life-saving heart transplant, A quartet of Canadians who miraculously discovered insulin in a saga marred by jealousy and resentment, The discovery of penicillin, and the long-suffering doctors who gave it to the world but were robbed of the credit, The feud between two Americans in the quest for the polio vaccine, a contest that persisted long after both died and continues today, The discredited New York surgeon whose “heretical” idea to cure patients by deliberately infecting them has now inspired our next best hope to defeat cancer, The Hungarian doctor who solved the greatest mystery of maternal deaths in childbirth, only to be ostracized for his discovery. The Masters of Medicine is a fascinating chronicle of human courage, audacity, error, and luck. This riveting ode to mankind expertly highlights the battle against deaths from heart attacks, diabetes, infection, cancer, trauma, and childbirth, revealing why the past is prelude to the game-changing breakthroughs of tomorrow.

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Book SynopsisLike many Pacific Northwest sheep herders, Sebastian Etulain emigrated from Europe's Basque country. He arrived in Yakima in May of 1921, convinced that hard work could overcome a lack of formal education and other shortcomings. It became his doctrine, and he advanced to ranch owner before marrying Mary Gillard Foster.The Etulain sheep ranch lay among rock ridges, carved out coulees, rounded hills, and rich grasslands twenty miles east of Ritzville and almost seventy miles south of Spokane. Isolated and sprawling across nearly ten thousand acres, it included a sturdy ranch house surrounded by hay barns, a water pump house, corrals, and pens for sheep, goats, dogs, and pigs. The spread also had a milking parlor and creamery, as well as a blacksmith shop.The Etulains adopted seasonal rhythms. For about one third of the year, their own abundant pasture grasses provided sufficient fodder. In the summer they moved most of their animals up to mountains around St. Maries, Idaho, to feast on rich grasses there. But from November to March the sheep and cattle needed purchased feed, and plenty of it.Growing up on a sheep ranch afforded Sebastian's boys a magical upbringing with magnificent memories--despite the demanding work. In Boyhood Among the Woolies, his youngest son, Richard, reveals the family's story, a rare look at life on an early eastern Washington sheep ranch. He recounts endless chores related to supplying feed and water, lambing season, sheep shearing, keeping animals safe, and fighting one of the largest dangers--grass fires. He also describes family activities, relationships with hired staff, favorite dogs, brotherly pranks and shenanigans, schooling and church in Ritzville, Basque history, and more.Table of ContentsPrefacePrologue1. The Lay of the Land and the Ranch Layout2. A Faraway Basque Dad and A Saintly Mom3. Dicky Comes on Scene4. Older Brother Kenny and Big Brother Danny5. Off to School6. Magic in Ritzville7. Going to Church8. Herders and Hired Men9. Lambing Season10. The Sheepshearers Are Coming11. Trailing--On the Road to Idaho12. Summers in St. Maries13. A Passel of Sheepdogs14. Other Animals15. Games and Pranks16. The End Is Coming17. And Then . . . 18. Back to the RanchSourcesBibliography

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