Description
Book SynopsisConcerns about power, its use and abuse, have been at the centre of Margaret Randall's work for more than fifty years. And over time Randall has acquired a power all her own, as her unique ability to observe, consider, and distil experience has drawn read
Trade Review“[
First Laugh] is a great contribution to the field of ‘new journalism’ and literary nonfiction. The essays are grounded in concrete experience as well as a lifetime of research. The style is exquisite, the prose of a skilled poet: spare, concise, and clear.”—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of
Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960–1975 “These essays come to us from the American Southwest, a terrain of rock, sand, and here and there a tree whose roots have found water. Margaret Randall is herself a weather-beaten survivor of revolutionary upsurge in Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. She looks out across the American desert from a place that is close to the heart of reality.”—Staughton Lynd, coauthor of
Stepping Stones: Memoir of a Life Together"Randall is a sincere, poetic, and compelling narrator, and her latest collection offers something for everyone."—
Publishers WeeklyTable of ContentsA Few Words about These EssaysThe American PeoplePumping GasFlying BackwardsBigger, Better, BestRace and Racism: The 2008 ElectionThe Cell RemembersRolling EyesRemembering MotherFirst LaughPircing the WallsOñate's Right FootCan Poetry Matter?Words for El Corno EmplumadoThe Living Silence of a Place like Kiet SeelBetrayalCrystal's GiftThe Place Where Color SoundsMy Losses
