True stories / true accounts of events Books

Book SynopsisThe latest volume of creative writing from the biography and creative non-fiction strand of UEA's world-renowned Creative Writing MA, from the 2020/21 student cohort.

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Book SynopsisIn April 2021, Colette set off from Lizard Point in Cornwall with the aim of running to Scotland's most north-westerly corner, Cape Wrath Lighthouse. A distance of one-thousand miles. This book tracks her progress gives personal insights into the challenges she faced.

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Book SynopsisCapital DJ Roman Kemp has achieved much success but he hasn’t had an easy ride. He’s battled depression since the age of 15, once contemplated suicide, and has bravely fought to smash the stigma still surrounding medication and mental health. The lifelong Arsenal supporter grafted his way to Capital’s highly coveted Breakfast slot - and pulled in record-beating listeners with his cheeky sense of humour. Who else could convince Ed Sheeran to tattoo Roman’s leg on air, drive around London playing cab-roulette with James Corden, get Craig David to freestyle rap, or rope Lewis Capaldi into a life-drawing class? Then, in 2019, Roman won over yet more fans coming third in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, with his uncanny impressions of everyone from Ant and Dec to his mate Harry Styles. Here, for the first time, Roman’s ready to reveal the things that weren't captured on camera, and how his time in the jungle changed his whole outlook on life. During the pandemic Roman’s life changed when his best friend - the producer who’d nurtured his career every step of the way - tragically took his own life. Amidst the shock, loss and confusion, Roman bravely made a moving BBC3 documentary about the alarming rates of suicide amongst young males. He’s well aware he too, could have been a statistic. In this page-turning book - peppered with hilarious and surprising anecdotes from his youth - Roman also unflinchingly tackles the taboo of suicide, in the hope that by talking about his own struggles and sharing advice, he can help others. Roman shares all the experiences that have shaped him, and why love, marriage and having his own family one day are so important to his future dreams.

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Book SynopsisFollowing the acclaimed No Visible Bruises, a piercing account of the author’s childhood in an evangelical Christian community, her teenage escape, and her career as a reporter at the frontline of the global epidemic of violence against women. Award-winning journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has spent her career reporting on abuse that happens under the cover of ‘private life’. And yet the story of her own troubled family is one she has always kept locked away. Snyder was eight when her mother died, and her distraught father thrust the family into an evangelical, cult-like existence halfway across the country. Furiously rebellious against this life, she was expelled from school, and then from home. Living out of her car and relying on strangers, she soon found herself masquerading as an adult, talking her way into college, and eventually travelling the globe. In places like India, Tibet, and Niger, she interviewed those who had been through the unimaginable. In Cambodia, where she lived for six years, she watched a country reckon with the horrors of its own recent history. Written with a storyteller’s gift for immediacy, and weaving the personal with the universal, Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a necessary story of family struggle, female survival, and the passionate drive to bear witness.Trade Review‘With the same virtuosity and eye for detail she brought to No Visible Bruises, Rachel Louise Snyder uses her own story to illuminate the many divides that plague America, from class and culture wars to toxic religiosity and frayed family ties. Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a gorgeous memoir that parses the patriarchy with an endearing frankness as fierce as it is, astonishingly, forgiving.’ -- Beth Macy, New York Times bestselling author of Raising Lazarus and Dopesick‘Bravery and honesty are the cornerstone of the memoir, but Snyder adds to this — generosity. This is a compassionate telling of a sometimes brutal story. Women We Buried, Women We Burned reminds me of opera, with its beautiful sadness and artistic triumph. The hope contained on these pages is hard won, and all the more precious due to the struggles from which it emerges.’ -- Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage‘With a journalist’s keen eye and a novelist’s elegant prose, Rachel Louise Snyder delivers an unsentimental and bone-deep observational memoir of death and family, class and history, East and West, and politics and travel; at the centre of each story is a reaffirmation of human survival as an art of triumph.’ -- Suki Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Without You, There Is No Us: undercover among the sons of North Korea's elite‘Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a profoundly moving and layered memoir that is nuanced in all the spaces where life gets complicated. A writer with wit as sharp as her prose, Rachel Louise Snyder’s story connects on so many levels because she writes honestly about traumas, forgiveness, and the hard work it takes to build a life. A truly stunning book that will broaden hearts and minds, and also educate and inspire.’ -- Loung Ung, bestselling author of First They Killed My Father‘A bold and searing memoir about family and violence, illness and independence, pain and fear and beauty. With wry humour and enormous humanity, Rachel Louise Snyder shows us how to summon the courage to imagine in a cruel and dangerous world. A beautiful book.’ -- Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Rogues, Empire of Pain, and Say Nothing‘A harrowing story of survival that also brims with warmth, wit and insight, this memoir has the propulsive force of a novel, driven by a spirit of compassion and curiosity that will not be broken.’ -- Chelsea Bieker, author of Heartbroke and Godshot‘Rachel Louise Snyder’s story begins with a series of profound losses but becomes, in her careful and compassionate telling, a story about what we might gain by looking directly at the most difficult parts of our pasts. This is a gorgeous and radiantly honest book, brilliant in its ability to capture the way grief reverberates across a lifetime. Rather than force trauma into a false closure, Snyder transforms it into a radical openness and ability to connect.’ -- Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections‘As stunning as it is powerful, Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a tour-de-force memoir of family, faith, love, loss, resilience, and, ultimately, redemption. With deftness and grace, Snyder navigates the complicated terrain of childhood trauma and presents a model for how to reconcile with the ghosts of your past.’ -- Monica West, author of Revival Season‘The tenacity and bravery of a young woman determined to survive and make her own mark on the world move the narrative with unstoppable force as the sentences build in intensity and poignancy … Anyone moved by No Visible Bruises should put this at the top of their to-read list. Exceptional writing, a harrowing coming-of-age story, and critical awareness combine to make a must-read memoir.’ -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review‘Snyder’s most recent book, No Visible Bruises, explored the psychological entanglements of domestic violence. This offering once again considers complex relationships, but at a personal level … searingly honest and moving.’ * Booklist *‘How do you write a book about overcoming extreme hardship, about the singular people who convince you to take a chance on yourself, about finding the big world after a childhood that prepared you for a tiny one, about discovering that you love the people who failed to love you — and manage not to strike a single trite note? How do you remember every detail and make the reader feel like they saw, heard, and felt each moment? I have no idea, actually, but Rachel Louise Snyder has done it.’ -- Masha Gessen, National Book Award–winning author of The Future Is History and Surviving Autocracy‘With wonderfully evocative prose, Rachel Louise Snyder captures here the stark horror of a child losing her mother and half her roots as she’s then swept into her evangelical father’s second family and has to either flee or be erased. As nakedly honest as it is fair, what is so remarkable about Women We Buried, Women We Burned is that Ms. Snyder does flee, and her lone voyage to her very self is the voyage of so many girls and women around the world who have been uprooted and cast aside and must find their own way back. This is an important and profoundly moving memoir, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.’ -- Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of Townie and Such Kindness‘An affecting memoir … Excellent writing and a clear perspective enhance this primer on how to hope.’ * Los Angeles Times *‘[A] gripping memoir … Snyder’s curiosity is matched by her own resilience; writing stories about survivors parallels her own story of overcoming trauma and finding grace.’ * Washington Post *‘A penetrating memoir on grief and redemption … Snyder delivers her inspiring story with lyrical prose and sharp insights, particularly about the fraught father-daughter relationship at its centre. It’s an eloquent portrayal of the power of forgiveness.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Inspirational … Snyder observes the world with both an unsparing eye and a generous spirit … Instead of getting trapped in the familiar impasse of either/or, Snyder thinks in terms of ands. This expansiveness is of a piece with her writing on domestic violence … Snyder’s memoir shows how one might — must — live amid multiple truths.’ -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *‘Women We Burned is written with precision and intention. It is affecting but, crucially, never sentimental — and full of hard-won hope.’ -- Pippa Bailey * The New Statesman *‘The author of No Visible Bruises writes a searing memoir telling the story of her triumph over impossible odds, from her mother’s early death, expulsion from school and homelessness to her global reporting on domestic violence.’ * USA Today *‘Snyder’s memoir is as heartbreaking, wrenching and compelling as the stories of the victims in her eye-opening book on domestic violence … In explaining her own history, Snyder shows why she was drawn to the darkest stories and how she is able to retell them with such detail and compassion … The violence and neglect of her adolescence sounds nearly unsurvivable. And yet she is here, proof that there can be healing, reconciliation and professional triumph.’ * Minneapolis Star-Tribune *‘Rachel Louise Snyder’s two most recent books are like pendant portraits, each complementing and illuminating the other, a literary matched set. In No Visible Bruises, Snyder probed the pathology and sociology of intimate partner violence … Women We Buried, Women We Burned, an engrossing memoir of her own troubled, motherless early life, helps explain both her attraction to that dark subject and her appreciation of its complexity. [Snyder’s] difficult past, with all its emotional complexities, becomes an asset. It renders her unafraid to explore the grittier aspects of human nature … moving.’ * The Boston Globe *‘Compelling, propulsive, gripping and disturbing in equal measure.’ -- BookPage, starred review‘For fans of Tara Westover’s Educated, Snyder provides a triumphant story of beating the odds and of radical self-definition — with a punk rock backdrop to boot.’ * Oprah Daily *‘[Snyder’s] background as a journalist shines through as she describes her experiences honestly but without added drama or artifice, instead letting the people and events speak for themselves. This results in a narrative whose style belies its depth, for even as Rachel recounts her own maturation as a woman and a writer, she’s also commenting obliquely on how trauma is recapitulated and the countless ways in which male authority warps and erases women’s stories and lived realities. How she undertakes this work is subtle, even crafty.’ * Bookreporter *

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Book Synopsis'The Flight of The Arctic Fox' tells the riveting story of the lives of thirty-one passengers and crew on board a BEA Vickers Viscount flying from London to Naples in October 1958. Following a mid-air collision with a jet fighter over Nettuno in Italy, everyone on board died, including the author's brother, who was a member of the crew.Table of ContentsList of Plates 9 Maps 14 1958 Timeline 15 Preface 19 1. FATALITÀ 25 2. THE CREW 38 Captain Frank Foster First Officer Geoffrey Wright Radio Officer James Bannon Flight Attendants Rosemary Bevan Terence O’Grady 3. THE PASSENGERS 90 The Group 90 Eugenie Kawaja Patricia Watson Brian Fogaty Leslie King Couples 132 Charles and Diana Cubitt William and Margaret Buchan Mary Mathieson and Robert Allan Friends 166 Lady Jenny Weir and Frances Miller Colston Luxton and Robert Bruce Colleagues 196 John Prince and Reuben Silburn Singles 221 John Booth Robert Chalmers Arnold Davies Richard Golden George Kimble Sheila Lane Mary La Rosa Garth Marshallsay John Vella Eveline Yuille 4. AFTERMATH 308 5. THE INQUIRY 314 6. CLOSURE 327 Acknowledgements 334 Bibliography 347 Index 350 About the author 362

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Book Synopsis‘I’ve a body out the back for you...’ Imagine having that sentence said to you. And then imagine it actually being pertinent. Welcome to Evie King’s world. What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral. Evie is a local council worker charged with carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. Or to put it in less cold, legislative language; funerals for those with nobody around, willing or able to bury or cremate them. Ashes to Admin lifts the coffin lid on some moving and unexpected personal life stories. Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious. Ultimately, Evie discovers that her job is more about life than it is about death, funerals being for the living and death being merely a trigger to rediscover a life and celebrate it against the odds.

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Book SynopsisCapital DJ Roman Kemp has achieved much success but he hasn't had an easy ride. He's battled depression since the age of 15, once contemplated suicide, and has bravely fought to smash the stigma still surrounding medication and mental health. The lifelong Arsenal supporter grafted his way to Capital's highly coveted Breakfast slot - and pulled in record-beating listeners with his cheeky sense of humour. Who else could convince Ed Sheeran to tattoo Roman's leg on air, drive around London playing cab-roulette with James Corden, get Craig David to freestyle rap, or rope Lewis Capaldi into a life-drawing class? Then, in 2019, Roman won over yet more fans coming third in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, with his uncanny impressions of everyone from Ant and Dec to his mate Harry Styles. Here, for the first time, Roman's ready to reveal the things that weren't captured on camera, and how his time in the jungle changed his whole outlook on life. During the pandemic Roman's life changed when his best friend - the producer who'd nurtured his career every step of the way - tragically took his own life. Amidst the shock, loss and confusion, Roman bravely made a moving BBC3 documentary about the alarming rates of suicide amongst young males. He's well aware he too, could have been a statistic. In this page-turning book - peppered with hilarious and surprising anecdotes from his youth - Roman also unflinchingly tackles the taboo of suicide, in the hope that by talking about his own struggles and sharing advice, he can help others. Roman shares all the experiences that have shaped him, and why love, marriage and having his own family one day are so important to his future dreams.

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Book SynopsisLouise gets a frantic call to take in a damaged and destructive young girl. Separated from her siblings, Sparkle is hostile and angry. A short while after settling in, Sparkle begins to identify as pansexual. A revolution is underway in the Allen household, with Sparkle’s transition motivating all of the young people to explore what becoming an adult means for them. But it’s Sparkle’s escalating behaviour that causes concern. Discovering a dark fact about Sparkle’s birth and the shocking events that the children in her house were part of, Louise is desperate for more help – and not just for the child in her care. As Sparkle’s erratic and violent behaviour increases, Louise finds herself and her homelife under serious threat.

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Book Synopsis'A modern classic . . . Absolutely riveting and frequently moving' – The Telegraph 'Among the best books ever written on Irish sport' – Sunday Tribune 'Brilliant . . . Stand Up and Fight is the definitive account. It captures the essence of what makes Munster rugby and its provincial team so unique' – Tony Ward, Irish Independent 'A terrific combination of intelligent reportage and open-eyed mythmaking' – Sunday Times 'A seminal account' – New Zealand Herald 'Irresistible' – Guardian 31/10/1978, Thomond Park. On one of the greatest days in rugby history, Munster beat the All Blacks. More than 100,000 people claimed to have watched the game, even though the ground could only hold 12,000. Now, fully updated for the 45th anniversary of the match, Alan English tells the true story.

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Book SynopsisGo behind the scenes with Maggie Alphonsi - the iconic face of women's rugby and member of the England side that won the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup.This is her extraordinary against-all-the-odds story of how she became the best player in the world despite having to battle against racism, sexism, and prejudice.

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Book SynopsisTrip Hazard tells the story of how a working-class boy, turned successful businessman, has become the world''s most prolific extreme location adventurer.

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Book SynopsisThe Great Post Office Scandal is the extraordinary story behind the recent ITV drama series Mr Bates vs The Post Office. This gripping page-turner recounts how thousands of subpostmasters were accused of theft and false accounting on the back of evidence from Horizon, the flawed computer system designed by Fujitsu, and how a group of them, led by Alan Bates, took their fight to the High Court. Their eventual victory in court vindicated their claims about the defects of the software and exposed the heavy handed attempts by the Post Office to suppress them. The book also chronicles how successive senior managers, business leaders, lawyers, civil servants and Government ministers, at best failed to expose the injustice or, even worse, sought to cover it up, resulting in one of the largest miscarriages of justice in UK history. The author, Nick Wallis, is a journalist and broadcaster who has been reporting on the scandal for over ten years and who acted as script consultant on Mr Bates vs The Post Office, the ITV drama that brought the affair into the national consciousness. As the public inquiry reaches its climax, and senior figures such as Paula Vennells come to be questioned, The Great Post Office Scandal reveals the full scale of what happened and will leave you enraged at how so many of our trusted institutions allowed the saga to go on for nearly a quarter of a century, shattering the lives of thousands of innocent people.

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Book SynopsisA history of the 1960s rock band Cream (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker) told through 500 previously unpublished eyewitness accounts

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Book SynopsisAn epic journey from New Zealand to Spain, celebrating the enduring romance of travel by train.The journey of The Antipodean Express takes in 89 days of travel, on 33 trains, through 19 countries. It begins in New Zealand''s North Island, weaves past the volcanoes of Java, through East Asia and on into Europe. From hilarious miscommunications in China to cultural immersion at the Bolshoi Ballet, there are stop-offs with half a world's worth of impressions, people, history, food, music and culture. Hill also describes most of the great trains of the Eurasian hemisphere, from New Zealand's Northern Explorer to the Eurostar, and everything in between.The culmination is a day spent in the obscure Spanish village of Alaejos, locating the exact antipode of the author's living room. The perfect end to a vast adventure.

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Book SynopsisThere is a war on truth. And the liars are winning. There is an increasingly large number of weapons in the arsenal of the rich, the powerful and the elected to prevent the truth from coming out - to bury it, warp it, twist it to suit their purposes. Truthteller reveals how governments and corporations have covered-up mass murder, corruption and catastrophe. In a world where Putin and Trump have successfully branded journalists as traffickers in fake news, while promoting the actual creators of fake news, an investigative reporter shows the tools that are used to deceive us and explains why they work. Using exclusive documents and interviews drawn from three decades as an award-winning reporter, editor, foreign correspondent, television producer, documentary filmmaker, and journalism educator, Stephen Davis reveals shocking details of deception in the United States, the UK, Russia, Sweden, the Baltic republics, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the Arctic and Antarctic. Truthteller is an essential guide for understanding the modern media world - for teachers, students and concerned citizens who want to know the facts, not fake news and conspiracy theories. It takes you inside the world of investigative reporting in an intimate history of a reporter''s battles, won and lost, the personal and professional costs and the lives damaged along the way.

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Book SynopsisExhilarating, introspective and inspiring, this collection of true travel stories proves that the world is best seen with courage, open-mindedness, and relentless curiosity. From a nervous flier anxiously taking to the skies for the first time to a female traveler braving the Middle East; from a death-defying hike on an Indonesian volcano to the anxious freedom of finding yourself alone on the other side of the world, these stories are certain to send you looking for your passport.

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Book SynopsisA dark secret lurked aboard HMASAustralia, the flagship ofthe Royal Australian Navy. In 1942, with a Japanese invasion looming, those aboard the ship were shocked and completely unprepared to deal withthe brutal murder of a young sailorby twoshipmates who were allegedlypartof a homosexual grouponthe flagship.A swift military investigation and court martial were conducted.The officers faced a difficult, almost impossibletask.Howwere theyto provetheguiltofsailors accused of murdering a shipmatewithout exposing the motive for the crime, which wouldunleash embarrassing propagandaonto the worldfor the enemytoexploit? This would prove to be one of the most controversial events in the history of the Royal Australian Navy and trigger unprecedented legal and political events.But the real victim in this tragic story was the young sailor who was stabbed to death on the deck of Australia. He was a faceless victim, lost to the pages of history after he was buried at sea. However, family photographs now put a face to his name, and telegrams and letters reveal the full extent of this tragedy for his family. The full details of the murder, the names of the sailors involved in an alleged homosexual group on the flagship and the dark motive for his murder have been buried for more than two generations in the National Archives. The ultimate fate of the sailors convicted of his murder has also been hidden for far too long. It is well past time that the full story of the three sailors and what happened on board Australia that dark night on the Coral Sea in 1942 and afterwards is finally told.

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Book SynopsisThe release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) findings and recommendations in the spring of 2015 was an immensely important day for the people of Canada. It marked the hopeful beginning of change-a change of thinking, a change of opinion, a change in understanding. But how do we begin? Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC, says that the most common statement the commission heard from the public was: "I didn't know any of this, and I acknowledge that things are not where they should be, and that we can do better. But what can we do? What should we do?" This collection of fifteen true stories of real reconciliation by both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadians is in response to that question. Written by journalists, writers, academics, visual artists, filmmakers, a city planner, and a lawyer, each of these writers expound on their 'light bulb moments' regarding Canada's colonial past and present. They look at their own experiences and assumptions about race and racial divides in Canada under a microscope in hopes that the rest of the population will do the same. With an afterword that is essentially a candid conversation by renowned CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers and Chief Justice Sinclair about their time working with the TRC, this collection is one of the many ways to begin the work of reconciliation in Canada. Metcalfe-Chenail hopes that these voices will inspire other Canadians who want an open dialogue and to maintain the conversation long after the buzz of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report has faded.Trade ReviewA National Post bestselling book. "In This Together... Deserves to be bought and read." --Walrus "A poignant anthology ... An exceptional and important read." --Broken Pencil "In This Together demonstrates that colonization is not a thing of Canada's past, and suggests that real reconciliation is only possible through an honest appraisal of our present." --Quill & Quire "Why do some wounds take so long to heal? The answer, as it relates to Canada's indigenous people, becomes clear in this slim but worthy anthology ..." --Winnipeg Free Press "In This Together ... reflects the new way of thinking, and the new concept of being Canadian. The stories in this book deal with harsh realities, and give a better understanding of the meaning of race, and the problems caused by racial divides." --Times Colonist "In This Together is an extremely timely and thought-provoking collection of essays ... a powerful volume." --I Heart Edmonton blog

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Book SynopsisWe all have our favorite aphorisms, our family myths, our wise words that help us get through tough times. Stories to Live By is a collection of inspiring stories meant to offer solace, provide guidance, and illuminate pathways to change. These short tales explore the human condition and illustrate through anecdotes how people have found joy in life. They look at human foibles and help us understand how to accept and avoid them, and point us toward a greater sense of tranquility and happiness.

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Book SynopsisAn incredible journey of life lessons, grief and unexpected friendship changes the life of a young Midwestern boy who accidentally kills his beloved dog during a backyard baseball game in the summer of 1963. In his grief, he reaches out to the most powerful family in the world, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy who give Mark a gift that changes his life. This true story not only gave this boy a dog to fill the void of his loss, but an unexpected friendship with the most iconic woman of the 20th century: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In a series of unlikely divine interventions, Mark shares the journey and fulfillment of his love for dogs, brought back to life by a remarkable little dog, Streaker. Just as amazing is the long-term friendship Mark develops with Jacqueline, and how God used that friendship to mentor him. That sense of divine calling led Mark to opportunities of great service for the Kingdom of God, while at times dangerous, incredibly rewarding and important. Streaker may have been a mutt, but his simple bloodline showed Mark that anyone puts their giftedness in God’s hands, and allows God to use them, amazing things happen.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for Lesbian Memoir/Biography Lammy Award Rendered in bronze, covered in white lacquer, two women sit together on a park bench in Greenwich Village. One of the women touches the thigh of her partner as they gaze into each other’s eyes. The two women are part of George Segal’s iconic sculpture “Gay Liberation,” but these powerful symbols were modeled on real people: Leslie Cohen and her partner (now wife) Beth Suskin. In this evocative memoir, Cohen tells the story of a love that has lasted for over fifty years. Transporting the reader to the pivotal time when brave gay women and men carved out spaces where they could live and love freely, she recounts both her personal struggles and the accomplishments she achieved as part of New York’s gay and feminist communities. Foremost among these was her 1976 cofounding of the groundbreaking women’s nightclub Sahara, which played host to such luminaries as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Pat Benatar, Ntozake Shange, Rita Mae Brown, Adrienne Rich, Patti Smith, Bella Abzug, and Jane Fonda. The Audacity of a Kiss is a moving and inspiring tale of how love, art, and solidarity can overcome oppression.Trade Review"I remember Sahara as a spring in the desert of the time!" -- Gloria Steinem"I love Leslie’s book. It is beautifully written. The detail she gives is remarkable both about her relationship with Beth, the beginning of Sahara where I spent many an amazing evening, and even her days in Siena. Leslie brings it all back to life. Reading this book, I was brought back to the Upper East Side in the ‘70s. Leslie had a magnetic power, and it suffuses the pages of this book." -- Brenda Feigen * feminist activist, film producer, attorney, cofounder of Ms. Magazine *"Leslie’s tribute to Sahara is testimony to the sanctuary we found in being together, feeling safe and enthralled by a sense of freedom. Whether you found that in The Duchess, Bonnie and Clyde’s or The Cubbyhole,this is your invitation to revisit. Little compared with the sense of anticipation you felt walking through the door and into the glances, stares or smiles of women and that the next few hours held countless possibilities." -- Ginny Apuzzo * gay rights and AIDS activist; former executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force *"I am thrilled to share a story of one of the greatest loves ever known, a story of bravery to dream of and then create a safe haven for like-minded individuals who wanted a place of their own. I can remember the panic that set in the first time I went to Sahara. On tour, I was new to the excitement of riding in a limo, seeing the reaction of people dancing to my music, then suddenly being told, 'This club is different.' I was unaware of what I was about to experience. 'This is a woman’s club! Wink. Wink.' There was fear, anxiety, and laughter. I didn’t know what to think, but in I went! Warmth, joy, happiness, and excitement greeted me at the door. My Dear Friends, still all these years later, that same warmth, joy, happiness, and excitement greets me each time we see each other. I cherish the times I spent, the lifelong friends, the celebrations, and the memories I will always hold so dear. Thank you, Leslie, for sharing your incredible story!" -- Linda Clifford * R&B and disco singer *" Sahara was the only female place that I felt comfortable as I identified with the atmosphere and the women who patronized it—fashionable, glamorous, and happy. I thank Leslie Cohen for her imagination and design for her creation. The only woman’s club that I continue to hold in my memory." -- Patricia Field * Emmy Award-winning costume designer, stylist and fashion designer *"Leslie Cohen’s writing is bold, beautiful and brutally honest. She writes as she has lived, without fear or hesitation. I find my own story woven (like so many others...) through the fabric of late nights at Sahara and the blinding sunlight of 6:00 am on the upper East side. Somehow we all survived. I am honored to be part of this history." -- Brooke Kennedy * Emmy Award nominated television producer and director *"In The Audacity of a Kiss, Leslie Cohen is telling a neglected story that we all need to hear. Her club Sahara was a touchstone of feminist and LGBT history, and we're long overdue for a (re-)visit." -- Michael Schiavi * Professor of English, New York Institute of Technology, and author of Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo *"Seeing Beth and Leslie’s love at a young age had a profound influence on me. I remember going to their beautiful house with my mom and feeling their love in their home. It definitely shaped me at a young age as to what I could have for myself as an adult." -- Rachel Robinson * former MTV star of Road Rules and The Challenge and founder of @rachelfitness *"I promise you will not put down this book. Leslie Cohen has the gift of being a wonderful writer with the added blessing of having a profoundly significant personal story to tell. It's one of those books whose time has come." -- Caroline Myss * author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine and Anatomy of the Spirit *"Equality Pioneer to Publish Memoir" by Brian Kantz * SUNY Buffalo State *"Anger, Love, and Memory," and Leslie Cohen * Gay & Lesbian Review *"The Audacity of a Kiss is interesting and relatable. Well worth the time spent." * Out In Print Blog *"Sealed with a kiss: Leslie Cohen discusses lesbian bars and becoming 'art'" by Gregg Shapiro * Bay Area Reporter *"Cohen’s prose is honest and beautiful and many of us will find ourselves in her words. I love that past histories are finally being published and that these wonderful stories are being recorded forever. We can never allow our past to be forgotten and it is because of people like Leslie Cohen that we are able to live as we do today. The strongest message for me here is to once again see that liberation comes from both within and without. Cohen’s prose is honest and beautiful and many of us will find ourselves in her words. I love that past histories are finally being published and that these wonderful stories are being recorded forever. We can never allow our past to be forgotten and it is because of people like Leslie Cohen that we are able to live as we do today. The strongest message for me here is to once again see that liberation comes from both within and without." * Reviews by Amos Lassen *Leslie Cohen Talks Memoir “The Audacity Of A Kiss” (AUDIO) * Outtake Voices podcast *Excerpt from The Audacity of a Kiss: Love, Art & Liberation by Leslie Cohen * Lesbian.com *"The Audacity of a Kiss is very much a love story, but it is also a tale of a woman who was not by nature an activist as she found her way in the world of political and social change of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Cohen’s memoir is about how few choices there were for women like her when she was coming of age as a young lesbian in the ‘50s." * Philadelphia Gay News *Addresses Project interview with Leslie Cohan * Addresses Project *Lesbian News cover story with Leslie Cohen * Lesbian News *"Sealed with a Kiss: An Interview with Leslie Cohen" * South Florida Gay News *The Audacity of a Kiss excerpt in San Francisco Bay Times * San Francisco Bay Times *Interview with Leslie Cohen * Epochalips *"Pandemic Pivot: Major museum digital exhibit for LGBT History Month," by J.W. Arnold * Out In New Jersey *"Out East End: Leslie Cohen, Author of ‘The Audacity of a Kiss: Love, Art & Liberation’" by Angela LaGreca * Dan's Papers *"Where the 'L' are the Women?" podcast interview with Leslie Cohen * "Where the 'L' are the Women?" podcast *"This fast-moving memoir touches on many themes, including the proverbial trio of 'sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.'" * The Gay & Lesbian Review *"Indeed, The Audacity of a Kiss is an easy tale. It’s comfortable, like a crackling fireplace and a glass of wine on a cushy sofa. There are accomplishments here, told so that you really share the pride in them. Readers are shown the struggle that Cohen had, too, but experiences are well-framed by explanations of the times in which they occurred, with nothing overly dramatic – just the unabashed truth, and more warmth. Opening this book, in a way, then, is like accepting an invitation to own the recliner for an evening, and you won’t want anything else." * Washington Blade *"?The Brave Life of Lesbian Trailblazer Leslie Cohen," by Ashley-Anna A. * Gay City News *"I remember Sahara as a spring in the desert of the time!" -- Gloria Steinem"I love Leslie’s book. It is beautifully written. The detail she gives is remarkable both about her relationship with Beth, the beginning of Sahara where I spent many an amazing evening, and even her days in Siena. Leslie brings it all back to life. Reading this book, I was brought back to the Upper East Side in the ‘70s. Leslie had a magnetic power, and it suffuses the pages of this book." -- Brenda Feigen * feminist activist, film producer, attorney, cofounder of Ms. Magazine *"Leslie’s tribute to Sahara is testimony to the sanctuary we found in being together, feeling safe and enthralled by a sense of freedom. Whether you found that in The Duchess, Bonnie and Clyde’s or The Cubbyhole,this is your invitation to revisit. Little compared with the sense of anticipation you felt walking through the door and into the glances, stares or smiles of women and that the next few hours held countless possibilities." -- Ginny Apuzzo * gay rights and AIDS activist; former executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force *"I am thrilled to share a story of one of the greatest loves ever known, a story of bravery to dream of and then create a safe haven for like-minded individuals who wanted a place of their own. I can remember the panic that set in the first time I went to Sahara. On tour, I was new to the excitement of riding in a limo, seeing the reaction of people dancing to my music, then suddenly being told, 'This club is different.' I was unaware of what I was about to experience. 'This is a woman’s club! Wink. Wink.' There was fear, anxiety, and laughter. I didn’t know what to think, but in I went! Warmth, joy, happiness, and excitement greeted me at the door. My Dear Friends, still all these years later, that same warmth, joy, happiness, and excitement greets me each time we see each other. I cherish the times I spent, the lifelong friends, the celebrations, and the memories I will always hold so dear. Thank you, Leslie, for sharing your incredible story!" -- Linda Clifford * R&B and disco singer *" Sahara was the only female place that I felt comfortable as I identified with the atmosphere and the women who patronized it—fashionable, glamorous, and happy. I thank Leslie Cohen for her imagination and design for her creation. The only woman’s club that I continue to hold in my memory." -- Patricia Field * Emmy Award-winning costume designer, stylist and fashion designer *"Leslie Cohen’s writing is bold, beautiful and brutally honest. She writes as she has lived, without fear or hesitation. I find my own story woven (like so many others...) through the fabric of late nights at Sahara and the blinding sunlight of 6:00 am on the upper East side. Somehow we all survived. I am honored to be part of this history." -- Brooke Kennedy * Emmy Award nominated television producer and director *"In The Audacity of a Kiss, Leslie Cohen is telling a neglected story that we all need to hear. Her club Sahara was a touchstone of feminist and LGBT history, and we're long overdue for a (re-)visit." -- Michael Schiavi * Professor of English, New York Institute of Technology, and author of Celluloid Activist: The Life a *"Seeing Beth and Leslie’s love at a young age had a profound influence on me. I remember going to their beautiful house with my mom and feeling their love in their home. It definitely shaped me at a young age as to what I could have for myself as an adult." -- Rachel Robinson * former MTV star of Road Rules and The Challenge and founder of @rachelfitness *"I promise you will not put down this book. Leslie Cohen has the gift of being a wonderful writer with the added blessing of having a profoundly significant personal story to tell. It's one of those books whose time has come." -- Caroline Myss * author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine and Anatomy of the Spirit *"Equality Pioneer to Publish Memoir" by Brian Kantz * SUNY Buffalo State *"Anger, Love, and Memory," and Leslie Cohen * Gay & Lesbian Review *"The Audacity of a Kiss is interesting and relatable. Well worth the time spent." * Out In Print Blog *"Sealed with a kiss: Leslie Cohen discusses lesbian bars and becoming 'art'" by Gregg Shapiro * Bay Area Reporter *"Cohen’s prose is honest and beautiful and many of us will find ourselves in her words. I love that past histories are finally being published and that these wonderful stories are being recorded forever. We can never allow our past to be forgotten and it is because of people like Leslie Cohen that we are able to live as we do today. The strongest message for me here is to once again see that liberation comes from both within and without. Cohen’s prose is honest and beautiful and many of us will find ourselves in her words. I love that past histories are finally being published and that these wonderful stories are being recorded forever. We can never allow our past to be forgotten and it is because of people like Leslie Cohen that we are able to live as we do today. The strongest message for me here is to once again see that liberation comes from both within and without." * Reviews by Amos Lassen *Leslie Cohen Talks Memoir “The Audacity Of A Kiss” (AUDIO) * Outtake Voices podcast *Excerpt from The Audacity of a Kiss: Love, Art Liberation by Leslie Cohen * Lesbian.com *"The Audacity of a Kiss is very much a love story, but it is also a tale of a woman who was not by nature an activist as she found her way in the world of political and social change of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Cohen’s memoir is about how few choices there were for women like her when she was coming of age as a young lesbian in the ‘50s." * Philadelphia Gay News *Addresses Project interview with Leslie Cohan * Addresses Project *Lesbian News cover story with Leslie Cohen * Lesbian News *"Sealed with a Kiss: An Interview with Leslie Cohen" * South Florida Gay News *The Audacity of a Kiss excerpt in San Francisco Bay Times * San Francisco Bay Times *Interview with Leslie Cohen * Epochalips *"Pandemic Pivot: Major museum digital exhibit for LGBT History Month," by J.W. Arnold * Out In New Jersey *"Out East End: Leslie Cohen, Author of ‘The Audacity of a Kiss: Love, Art Liberation’" by Angela LaGreca * Dan's Papers *"Where the 'L' are the Women?" podcast interview with Leslie Cohen * "Where the 'L' are the Women?" podcast *"This fast-moving memoir touches on many themes, including the proverbial trio of 'sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.'" * The Gay & Lesbian Review *"Indeed, The Audacity of a Kiss is an easy tale. It’s comfortable, like a crackling fireplace and a glass of wine on a cushy sofa. There are accomplishments here, told so that you really share the pride in them. Readers are shown the struggle that Cohen had, too, but experiences are well-framed by explanations of the times in which they occurred, with nothing overly dramatic – just the unabashed truth, and more warmth. Opening this book, in a way, then, is like accepting an invitation to own the recliner for an evening, and you won’t want anything else." * Washington Blade *"The Brave Life of Lesbian Trailblazer Leslie Cohen," by Ashley-Anna A. * Gay City News *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Author’s Note Prologue Part I: Youth 1. Secrets and Dreams 2. Confetti on New Year’s Eve 3. Touching God 4. Awakening 5. Crawling out of Darkness 6. Acceptance Part II: Freedom Calling 7. Les Femmes 8. Water in the Desert 9. Jagged, Dirty Thoughts 10. An Antidote to Boredom 11. Permission 12. Virginia Slims Part III: A Posse of Outsiders 13. Lone Riders 14. Style Gets Used Up 15. Bashert: Fate, Meant to Be 16. After the Desert Postscript Gay Liberation Timeline Acknowledgments Notes

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Book Synopsis“This startling, vital book deserves our attention.” —San Francisco Chronicle For fans of War Dogs and Bad Blood, an explosive look inside the rush to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic, from the award-winning ProPublica reporter who saw it firsthand.The United States federal government spent over $10 billion on medical protective wear and emergency supplies, yet as COVID-19 swept the nation, life-saving equipment such as masks, gloves, and ventilators was nearly impossible to find. In this brilliant nonfiction thriller, called “revelatory” by The Washington Post, award-winning investigative reporter J. David McSwane takes us behind the scenes to reveal how traders, contractors, and healthcare companies used one of the darkest moments in American history to fill their pockets. Determined to uncover how this was possible, he spent over a year on private jets and in secret warehouses, traveling from California to Chicago to Washington, DC, to interview both the most treacherous of profiteers and the victims of their crimes. Pandemic, Inc. is the story of the fraudster who signed a multi-million-dollar contract with the government to provide lifesaving PPE, and yet never came up with a single mask. The Navy admiral at the helm of the national hunt for additional medical resources. The Department of Health whistleblower who championed masks early on and was silenced by the government and conservative media. And the politician who callously slashed federal emergency funding and gutted the federal PPE stockpile. Winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, McSwane connects the dots between backdoor deals and the spoils systems to provide the definitive account of how this pandemic was so catastrophically mishandled. Shocking and monumental, Pandemic, Inc. exposes a system that is both deeply rigged, and singularly American.Trade Review"Revelatory... Laugh-out-loud funny. If the whole story weren’t so tragically and disgustingly real, “Pandemic Inc.” could be mistaken as the script for a “Saturday Night Live” skit. But embedded in the mirth is a wholesale indictment of this toxic brew of unfettered capitalism and greed." —The Washington Post"A distressing and important book" —Stephanie Ruhle, MSNBC"[Pandemic Inc.] isn’t so much a story about a virus as a tale about America" —The Philadelphia Inquirer "A deep dive...there are lessons to learn from this." —The Daily Beast"A justifiably indignant investigation into the financial malfeasance and outright swindling that accompanied the Trump administration’s botched handing of the Covid-19 pandemic... Revealing one outrage after another, McSwane's book should prompt congressional review and systemic reform." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"McSwane's unravelling of corporate, government, and private shenanigans during the COVID-19 crisis packs a tremendous wallop because the pandemic has impacted everyone to various degrees." —Booklist (starred review)"[An] eye-opening investigation...Lucid analysis and dogged reporting make this a startling exposé of how unfettered capitalism, startup culture, and government corruption exacerbated the worst effects of the pandemic." —Publishers Weekly"Pandemic, Inc. is a triumph of investigative reporting and a rollercoaster of a story. With blunt prose and a novelist's eye, McSwane takes readers inside private jets and dirty warehouses to expose all manner of crazy and criminal enterprise— and the result is stranger than fiction." —Ken Armstrong, Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter and coauthor of Unbelievable"Pandemic, Inc. is a witty, angry propulsive narrative, and a profound exercise in accountability. Its lessons—how and why fraud invaded so many corners of America's crisis response—are critical to understanding why the richest nation on earth suffered so grievously in this plague. I couldn't put it down." —Diana B. Henriques, New York Times bestselling author of The Wizard of Lies“McSwane’s book is two vital stories of the global pandemic, masterfully woven together: An infuriating account of how ill-prepared the Trump Administration was and the often-hilarious romp into the strange world of grifters and opportunists who tried to seize advantage.” —Jesse Eisinger, Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter and author of The Chickenshit Club"J. David McSwane's relentless reporting could have produced a jaw-dropping work of history. Instead, the merciless fraud he exposes ensured continuing losses. Corruption spread as swiftly as the virus, and we're in McSwane's debt for exposing a horrific waste of money—and lives." —Charlotte Bismuth, author of Bad Medicine and former prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney's office

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Book SynopsisThe definitive account of the disastrous siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews, from former investigative reporter and bestselling author Jeff Guinn.Waco breaks new ground that will change the perception of the dramatic events that happened in Waco, Texas, in 1993. Among other revelations, the book shows how David Koresh directly based his famous End Time prophecies on the writings of a previous “prophet” laying claim to the name Koresh—Cyrus Teed, in Fort Myers, Florida, in the late 1890s. More than a dozen former AFT agents who participated in the initial February 28, 1993 raid on Mount Carmel speak for the first time on the record about the poor decisions of their raid commanders that led to this deadly confrontation. They also provided Guinn with documents and photographs that have never been published. An FBI agent/analyst who was involved in the fifty-one-day siege offers fresh information about why the FBI agent in charge chose to end the siege with the use of CS gas and about a failed FBI cover-up afterward. There is also documentation of the direct links between the Branch Davidian tragedy and the modern militia movement in America—notorious conspiracist Alex Jones is a part of the Waco story. Jeff Guinn puts you right alongside the ATF agents as they embarked on the disastrous initial assault, unaware that the Davidians knew they were coming and were armed and prepared to resist—which the agents had been told would not happen. Drawing on new eyewitness accounts, Jeff Guinn again does what he did with his bestselling books about Charles Manson and Jim Jones, shedding new light on a story that everyone thinks they know.Trade Review"Gripping. . . . [Guinn] tells stories we thought we knew and makes us realize we really didn’t. He takes devils of the popular imagination and carefully explains that they’re actually human — a fact that makes them even more terrifying." -- Chris Vognar * Houston Chronicle *“Impressively researched and written with storytelling verve.” -- Barton Swaim * Wall Street Journal *"Thoroughly researched, the many lingering debates explored with the most rigor. [Guinn] He begins with what may be the best account of the ATF raid on Mount Carmel yet written, stocked with new details from interviews with veteran agents and written with clarity and drama." -- Eric Benson * Texas Monthly *"Guinn, whose reporting draws heavily on interviews with ATF agents present at Waco, is sympathetic to the agency’s rank-and-file. . . . But overall, [Waco] sketch[es] a portrait of an operation mishandled at almost every level of government." -- Quinta Jurecic * Washington Post *“Riveting. . . . As the author did in previous reports on Charles Manson and Jonestown, Guinn dives deeply into his subject to present a vivid combination of well-researched facts, personal testimonials, and controversial perspectives. A convincing and chilling coda to this investigation is the correlations Guinn draws among the Davidian compound raid, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.” * Kirkus Reviews *“Guinn focuses on the standoff and the myriad bad decisions by the ATF and the FBI, capably tracing a throughline to the increase in anti-government hate groups. . . . Extremely well done and thought-provoking.” * Booklist *"[A] comprehensive and judicious account. . . . Scrupulous and frequently enthralling, this is a sobering account of a tragedy woven into the fabric of modern America." * Publishers Weekly *

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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 SynopsisThese 21 stories, collected from diverse regions of Ukraine during the full-scale invasion, speak of courage, resilience, pain, death, love, and hope.

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