When Rosamond Halsey Carr first arrived in Africa, she didn't realize that she would spend the rest of her life there. As a young fashion illustrator living in New York City in the 1940s, she seemed the least likely candidate for such a life of adventure. But marriage to a hunter-explorer took her to what was then the Belgian Congo, and divorce left her determined to stay on in neighboring Rwanda as the manager of a flower plantation. In the ensuing half century she witnessed the fall of colonialism, the wars for independence, the loss of her friend, Dian Fossey, the relentless clashes of the Hutus and Tutsis, and finally, 1994's horrific genocide, of which she provides an unparalleled first-hand account. This is the epic story of a woman alone in an exotic land, struggling to survive untold hardships only to emerge with an extraordinary love for her adopted country and its people.
A CLASSIC FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF UNDER MAGNOLIA
Frances Mayes—widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer—opens the door to a wondrous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. In evocative language, she brings the reader along as she discovers the beauty and simplicity of life in Italy. Mayes also creates dozens of delicious seasonal recipes from her traditional kitchen and simple garden, all of which she includes in the book. Doing for Tuscany what M.F.K. Fisher and Peter Mayle did for Provence, Mayes writes about the tastes and pleasures of a foreign country with gusto and passion.
This is the story of a woman and a marriage, both so famous the world over, we think we know everything there is to know. But Hillary's Choice renders America's First Lady fully human for the first time.
Gail Sheehy uncovers the lifelong imprint of Hillary's drillmaster father and the frustrated mother who taught her to bottle up her emotions and who took subversive pleasure in teaching her only daughter how to fight like a man. We listen in as Hillary describes, in letters to a college pen pal, her dreams of becoming a star and her depression when trying to choose an identity. And we meet her first love, the handsome Georgetown man who melted her midwestern puritanism but lost her to the more ambitious Bill Clinton.
We see the arc of Hillary's life through her headstrong choices: as a Yale Law School graduate who chooses to marry an Arkansas boy, thinking she will get him elected to Con-gress and take him back to Washington; as a professional wife who chooses to abandon her own career dream so she can raise a "boy" to be a president; as a woman betrayed once too often who finally confronts her husband and makes the deal that will determine their future.
Sheehy has been observing Hillary Clinton for seven years, talking to her informally and writing about her in Vanity Fair. The biographical portrait that emerges is a tour de force of hard reporting shaped by the intimate contour of the author's unique insights.
The story of the Clinton presidency has always been the story of the Clinton marriage. Delving deep into a relationship that is both supportive and destructive, Sheehy answers the constantly asked question "Why does she stay with him?" How has Hillary preserved her spirit through repeated cycles of Clinton's seduction, betrayal, and repentance? Sheehy peels back the layers of public masks and private denials, showing through one vivid scene after another how Hillary became addicted to Bill, and how desperately Bill depended on Hillary to teach him how to fight and to bring him back again and again from the political dead. Power and shame shift violently from Hillary to Bill and back again as Sheehy deconstructs their embattled co-presidency.
Hillary's Choice reveals much more: the one serious threat to the Clinton marriage, when Bill fell in love with a woman unlike any of his others; Hillary's symbiotic relationship with political guru Dick Morris; the real reason Clinton couldn't help Hillary pass health care reform; the source of Hillary's crippling hostility toward the press; how Hillary escaped the snare of Ken Starr; how she endured, and capitalized on, the miseries of the Monica year; why she polarizes women; and why she chose to seek her own political voice.
Hillary's Choice brings this tempestuous tale up to date, following Hillary's rebirth as a newly confident woman in her "Flaming Fifties" who is ready to take control of her life. The Clintons' startling role reversal in middle life maintains the suspense: Will Hillary succeed as a retail politician with Bill in the wings as her strategist? Will their marriage survive his postpresidential blues and her possible rejection by her new neighbors in New York?
Gail Sheehy's saturation reporting and candid interviews with hundreds of people--many of them fresh sources with intimate knowledge of Hillary--flesh out the complexities and contradictions that drive one of the most extraordinary political figures of our time.
At an early age, Ruth Reichl discovered that "food could be a way of making sense of the world. . . . If you watched people as they ate, you could find out who they were." Her deliciously crafted memoir, Tender at the Bone, is the story of a life determined, enhanced, and defined in equal measure by a passion for food, unforgettable people, and the love of tales well told. Beginning with Reichl's mother, the notorious food-poisoner known as the Queen of Mold, Reichl introduces us to the fascinating characters who shaped her world and her tastes, from the gourmand Monsieur du Croix, who served Reichl her first soufflé, to those at her politically correct table in Berkeley who championed the organic food revolution in the 1970s. Spiced with Reichl's infectious humor and sprinkled with her favorite recipes, Tender at the Bone is a witty and compelling chronicle of a culinary sensualist's coming-of-age. From the Trade Paperback edition.
In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress, had no idea she was changing history when, fed up and tired, she refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a bus in segregated Alabama. Today, she is immortalized for the defiance that sent her to jail and triggered a bus boycott that catapulted Martin Luther King, Jr. into the national spotlight. Who was she, before and after her historic act, and how did that act sound the death knell for Jim Crow? Historian Douglas Brinkley brings mid-20th century America alive in this brilliant examination of a celebrated heroine in the context of her life and tumultuous times. Here is the quiet dignity, hope, courage, and humor that have made this every-woman a living legend.
Mary Gordon is the author of six previous novels, two memoirs, a short-story collection, and Reading Jesus, a work of nonfiction. She has received many honors, among them a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an O. Henry Award, an Academy Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Story Prize. She is the State Writer of New York. Gordon teaches at Barnard College and lives in New York City.
When funny man Dave Barry asked readers about their least favorite tunes, he though he was penning just another installment of his weekly syndicated humor column. But the witty writer was flabbergasted by the response. "I have never written a column that got a bigger response than the one announcing the Bad song survey," Barry wrote. "More than ten thousand readers voted, and the cards are still coming in."
Dave Barry fans and music buffs alike will appreciate this hilarious stroll through the world's worst lyrics in such special categories as Teen Death songs, songs That People Always Get Wrong, songs women Hate, and, of course, Weenie Music.
Considered one of the greatest, and most influential, writers of the 20th century, Marcel Proust was also one of its most fascinating figures. A strange, reclusive genius who often lay in bed for days at a time obsessively rewriting his masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past, Proust was at other times a tireless socialite, attending the grandest parties and dazzling guests with his vivacity and wit. But as a boy Proust was yearning and lonely, an ambitious grasper after honors, and a miserably closeted homosexual, an aspect of his life that this book explores frankly and perceptively.
The story begins in a dusty village lost in the Argentine pampas, where a girl, born out of wedlock, scrambles her way to the capital city by the time she is fifteen. It ends with the embalmed corpse of Eva Perõn being hidden away by nervous politicians for fear that if the working people of Argentina knew where it was buried, it would inspire them to revolution. In between, she became first the actress Eva Duarte, then the mistress of colonel Perõn, then, in October 1945 after the "shirtless ones" had swept Perõn into office, the president's wife. In the colorful, tumultuous setting of postwar Argentina, she wielded a power, spiritual and practical, that has few parallels outside of hereditary monarchy. She was literally idolized by millions but was hated and feared by many as well. She became Evita the legend.
A great American voice narrates a poignant tribute to our most outstanding monument. One of Charles Kuralt's last projects, Our Lady of the Freedoms is a full-scale production of writer-director Norman Corwin's account of how the Statue of Liberty came to New York harbor.
Charles Kuralt's brilliant narration accompanies dramatizations of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that brought the Statue of Liberty to America's shore. Rich with historical detail and Americana, Norman Corwin's treatment shows us the struggles faced by the designers, as well as the political battles that almost prevented the statue from ever being built.
A wonderful saga of patriotism, Our Lady of the Freedoms proves once again that no voice captures the spirit of America like Charles Kuralt's.
William Bennett and Michael Hague, the team that brought us the national bestseller The Children's Book of Virtues, have once again collaborated to create The Children's Book of Heroes, a beautifully illustrated celebration of heroic deeds, both real and fictional, that will delight and inspire millions of young children and their parents.
We all need a hero or two to help us stand fast and think right,"" says William J. Bennett, author of The Book of Virtues, the #1 bestseller that millions of American families turn to for moral inspiration. With excerpts chosen for young children, this new treasury presents splendid tales of the valor and indomitable spirit that are a lasting testament to our cherished values.
Jackie Robinson stands fast on the playing field -- and his strength of character inspires a nation. David slays Goliath -- and his faith and bravery give hope to underdogs everywhere. A little boy goes in search of an angel -- and finds one who guards him day and night: his own mother. From Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa to warriors on the battlefield, real moms and dads, and even young girls and boys, here are worthy and heroic figures all kids can look up to and emulate.
The Children's Book of Heroes is a celebration of the endurance, sacrifice, courage, and compassion that characterize truly heroic deeds.
With humor and honesty, award-winning author Lee Reilly explores the joys and trials of the "ever-single" woman in a world defined by the married. In Women Living Single, she tells the refreshing stories of 30 unmarried women of all ages, struggling alone to live life to its fullest, and succeeding. Caitlin never decided to remain unmarried-her singleness just happened when she made choices to pursue her art career. Lindsay broke her engagement to travel and become a teacher. Like countless others, they don't fit the role their family and friends have defined for them. Instead, they each write their own script building vibrant lives-setting their own goals, creating their own sense of family, and planning their own success. Her own fulfilled single life enables Lee Reilly to write about women's choices and difficulties with wisdom and sensitivity. All women, both married and single, will enjoy Barbara Caruso's stirring narration of this encouraging and exciting book of achievements in the face of astonishing odds.
