Search results for ""Author William Maxwell""

Howard "Stretch" Johnson, a charismatic Harlemite who graduated from Cotton Club dancer to Communist Party youth leader, once claimed that in late 1930s New York "75% of black cultural figures had Party membership or maintained regular meaningful contact with the Party." He stretched the truth, but barely. In a broad-ranging, revisionary account of the extensive relationship between African-American literary culture and Communism in the 1920s and 1930s, William J. Maxwell uncovers both black literature's debt to Communism and Communism's debt to black literature-reciprocal obligations first incurred during the Harlem Renaissance. Juxtaposing well-known and newly rediscovered works by Claude McKay, Andy Razaf, Mike Gold, Langston Hughes, Louise Thompson, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nelson Algren, Maxwell maintains that the "Old," Soviet-allied Left promoted a spectrum of exchanges between black and white authors, genres, theories, and cultural institutions. Channels opened between radical Harlem and Bolshevik Moscow, between the New Negro renaissance and proletarian literature. Claude McKay's 1922-23 pilgrimage to the Soviet Union, for example, usually recalled as a lighthearted adventure in radical tourism, actually jumpstarted the Comintern's controversial nation-centered program for Afro America. Breaking from studies governed by Cold War investments and pivoting on the Great Depression, Maxwell argues that Communism's rare sustenance for African-American initiative-not a seduction of Depression-scarred innocents-brought scores of literary "New Negroes" to the Old Left.

Read more less

The decision to invite his Southern relatives to stay proves a fateful one for Austin King. By the time they leave, his reputation and his marriage have suffered irreparable damage. Against the perfectly-drawn background of small-town Illinois at the turn of the 20th century, Maxwell once again uncovers the seeds of potential tragedy at the heart of a happily-established family.

Read more less

In settings that range from small town Illinois to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, these stories are distinguished by Maxwell's inimitable wisdom and kindness, his sense of the small details that make up a life, the nuances of joy and sadness that change its direction. Whether describing the reunion of two brothers who will never agree, the furniture of the apartment that becomes everything to a childless couple, the search for the perfect French meal or the life of a ne'er-do-well uncle, Maxwell's stories capture responses that are recognisable in us all.

Read more less

The path to adulthood is littered with broken relationships.In the suburbs of 1920s Chicago two boys form an unlikely friendship. Spud Latham is slow at school but quick to fight and a natural athlete - Lymie Peters, thin, pigeon-chested and terrible at games, is devoted to him. As they graduate from school to college, tensions start to surface. It is Lymie who first meets Sally Forbes, but it is Spud she falls in love with. This signals the end of their friendship and the rift is almost more than Lymie can bear.

Read more less

“Midnights is both a comedy of errors and an affectionate portrait of small-town police, those beleaguered souls charged with the task of keeping their neighbors in line....A reminder that those assigned to protect are often vulnerable and quietly heroic.”—Time Funny, touching, revealing, here is the view from a rookie cop’s patrol car, during midnight shifts, in a (mostly) peaceful town. With a rich cast of characters, this is a classic memoir of the fear, surprises, excitement, embarrassment that comes with a protecting and serving a small community. “When I was twenty-three years old, five months out of college, with a degree in music, and without any idea of what to do with myself, I took a job as a policeman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts,” so writes Alec Wilkinson. “Music, huh?” the police chief said during the job interview. “That'll be a big help.” Wilkinson’s main qualification was familiarity with the town of 2,000 people from summers there growing up. Committing himself to a year wearing a uniform and carrying a gun, and with no training, Wilkinson was sent out to keep the peace, hoping nothing would happen. There are high-speed chases and stopping drunk drivers, one of whom tries to set Wilkinson's hair on fire. There are domestic squabbles. “The first six months were murder for me,” Wilkinson’s partner confides on his first night. “After that, when I found out the people I thought were my friends weren't really my friends, I felt better off.” There is an attempted bank robbery. The teller convinces the robber that his haul ($300) is too much to carry around in cash. The robber is still listening to investment options when the police arrive. Throughout there are conversations with his eight fellow officers who Wilkinson comes to respect and admire. “Nobody ever calls you when they're behaving themselves,” one admits. “As a rule, you always get called when people are at their worst. It's sad. It depresses me.” The job is often thankless. “Right now I work on the police force,” another officer says, “my wife stamps cans in the supermarket, and she makes more money than I do.” This is experiential journalism at its most poignant and entertaining—and it launched the career of Alec Wilkinson: writer, interviewer, essayist, and author. This is for any reader looking for insight into the real lives of police officers, outside of large cities, across America. It is also for anyone looking for a marvelously engaging read.Midnights is part of Godine’s Nonpareil series: celebrating the joy of discovery with books bound to be classics.

Read more less

Per al nen de vuit anys Bunny Morison, la seva mare és una presència angelical sense la qual tot li sembla mancat de vida; per al seu germà gran, Robert, la mare és algú a qui cal protegir, sobretot ara que la grip ha començat a arrasar la petita ciutat de l'oest mitjà dels Estats Units on viuen; per al pare, James Morison, la seva dona Elizabeth és el centre d'una vida que s'enfonsaria en cas que ella no hi fos.A través dels ulls d'aquests tres personatges, Maxwell retrata una família i la dona que n'és el pilar fonamental. Van venir com orenetes recrea amb mestratge l'ambient de la classe mitjana nord-americana de principis dels anys vint i mostra les necessitats latents d'amor i comprensió que ens acompanyen al llarg de tota la vida.William Maxwell, un dels autors nord-americans més exquisits del segle XX i editor a les pàgines de la mítica The New Yorker d'escriptors de la talla de Salinger, Updike i Cheever, va enfrontar-se per primera vegada al record de la mort de la seva

Read more less

Discover William Maxwell’s classic, heart-breaking portrait of an ordinary American family struck by the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic'A story of such engaging warmth that it would thaw the heart of any critic… Will melt many a reader to tears’ TIMEElizabeth Morison is an ordinary woman. Yet, to eight-year-old Bunny, his mother is the centre of his universe. To Robert, her elder son, she is someone he must protect against the dangers of the outside world. And to her husband, James, she is the foundation on which his family rests and life without her is unimaginable. As the dark winter of 1918 dawns and the shadow of Spanish flu starts to disturb day-to-day life, a moving portrait of Elizabeth takes shape, set against the lives and fate of the Morison family. ‘As you read They Came Like Swallows, you catch yourself from time to time being astonished at how tightly you're gripping the pages… There isn't a word that has dated. It could have been written yesterday, or tomorrow’ Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

Read more less

It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday, full of anticipation and enthusiasm. But the countryside and people are war-battered, and their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for.

Read more less

Public companies acquire most of their outside capital from debt fi nancing and, more specifi cally, leveraged finance--an asset class that falls somewhere between traditional fixed income and stocks. While this type ofdebt fi nancing carries significant risk to both investorsand companies, the potential returns make leveraged finance a cornerstone of the modern financial markets.Leveraged Financial Markets is a gathering of the most astute and informed minds in the business.The powerhouse editorial team of William F. Maxwell and Mark R. Shenkman have handselected contributions from the top practitioners and thinkers working in leveraged finance today.The result is an authoritative guidebook that providesyou with what you need to navigate the highyield market in the integrated global economy. Packed with a wealth of analytical models illustrating the realities of distress probabilities and losses in default, Leveraged Financial Markets gives you all the insight and strategies you need to: Use the Sharpe ratio to measure the return versus risk for high-yield debt Develop and oversee a portfolio of high-yield bonds Value individual high-yield issuances It also updates you on changes in the high-yield bond market and features in-depth coverage of numerous debt vehicles leveraged in the market today, including collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), credit derivative swaps (CDSs), collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), andleveraged loans.Leveraged Financial Markets is your blueprint tobecoming a virtuoso of this resilient and popular asset class.

Read more less

Delivering unrivaled insight into the latest trends and issues, Jones/Maxwell/Crain/Davis/Wlezien/Flores' TEXAS POLITICS TODAY, 19th edition, combines a comparative approach with tightly integrated learning objectives and questions addressing the Texas GOVT2306 Core Objectives. Equipping you to think critically, it offers expanded coverage of ideology and social issues, Texas demographic changes, the importance of Latinos in Texas politics, political polarization, legislative rules changes, districting, voting obstacles, criminal justice reforms and more. First person essays illustrate how Texas politics works in real-world practice. Closing the gap between political theory and reality, the text gives you a clear understanding of how Texas compares with other states. In addition, MindTap for Texas Politics equips you with 'anywhere, anytime' digital learning tools.

Read more less