167 results for "Literature"

Hitch-22: a memoir

Hitchens, Christopher
Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide. In other words, Christopher Hitchens contains multitudes. He sees all sides of an argument. And he believes the personal is political. This is the story of his life, lived large.
Twelve 2010-06-02 435 pages

Child of the Warsaw ghetto

Adler, David A.
Intended for children, relates the Holocaust experiences of Froim Baum, born in Warsaw in April 1926. After his father died in 1932, his mother was left with seven children. Froim, the youngest, was placed in Janusz Korczak's orphanage. While in the ghetto, he was active in crossing to the Aryan side and smuggling food into the ghetto for his family and friends. When the orphanage was liquidated, Baum happened to be visiting his mother and was not taken away with the other children. The Baum family then escaped from the ghetto to Plonsk, but were arrested there and deported to Auschwitz and other camps. Froim was liberated in Dachau; only two of his brothers survived.
Holiday House 1995 32 pages

Finding Gobi: the true story of one little dog's big journey

Leonard, Dion,Rosenberg, Aaron
"Bring home the incredible true story of a friendship so strong that it crosses the globe! You will love the inspiring tale of Gobi, a lost dog who kept pace with an ultramarathon runner, Dion Leonard, across a vast desert. Follow their unlikely friendship through the challenges of an 80-mile race and Dion's struggle to bring Gobi home for good. Finding Gobi : The True Story of One Little Dog's Big Journey is the incredible true story of Dion Leonard, an athlete who was befriended by a stray dog while running an ultramarathon through the Gobi Desert. Named for the desert in which he found her, Gobi became Dion's closest companion throughout the 80-mile race across China. The scrappy little pup ran mile after mile alongside Dion, through treacherous conditions and across raging rivers. He let her sleep in his tent and share his food, and eventually, his focus shifted from winning to the newfound friendship he and Gobi shared. They crossed the finish line together--not first, but together--and Dion decided to bring Gobi home to Scotland. Just before they were about to leave, however, Gobi disappeared, setting off a worldwide search for the stray. In a town of more than 3 million people, the search seemed hopeless, but this tale of friendship will surprise and delight you as you find out what happens! Join the almost too-good-to-be-true story of hope, friendship, and beating incredible odds in Finding Gobi : The True Story of One Little Dog's Big Journey by Dion Leonard"--
Tommy Nelson, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers 2017 190 pages

Sarah: the life of Sarah Bernhardt

Gottlieb, Robert
Everything about Sarah Bernhardt is fascinating, from her obscure birth to her glorious career--redefining the very nature of her art--to her amazing (and highly public) romantic life, to her indomitable spirit. Well into her seventies, after the amputation of her leg, she was performing under bombardment for soldiers during World War I and toured America for the ninth time. Though the Bernhardt literature is vast, this is the first English-language biography to appear in decades, tracking the trajectory through which an illegitimate--and scandalous--daughter of a Jewish courtesan transformed herself into the most famous actress who ever lived, and into a national icon, a symbol of France.--From publisher description.
Yale University Press 2010 233 pages

The future of science is female: the brilliant minds shaping the 21st century

Stone, Zara
The Future of science is female, by award-winning journalist Zara Stone, shares the fascinating stories of how diverse and powerful women have (and continue to) shape science and humanity. Filled with real-life inspiration for today's amazing girls, these stories show how women can break gender norms and succeed in the "traditionally masculine" fields of coding, science, robotics, and beyond! Learn about the challenges and adventures everyday heroes face as they race to fix everything the world has messed up.--
Mango Publishing Group 2020 145 pages

Looking at Lincoln

Kalman, Maira
A brief look at the life of United States president Abraham Lincoln. Celebrate Lincoln's remarkable life in a fresh and exciting way. In this picture book Lincoln's legacy is everywhere. But who was he, really? Among the many other things, we discover our sixteenth president was a man who believed in freedom for all, had a dog named Fido, loved Mozart, apples, and his wife's vanilla cake, and kept his notes in his hat.
Puffin Books 2017-01-03 48 pages

Where memory leads: my life

Friedländer, Saul
"A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian's return to memoir, a tale of intellectual coming-of-age on three continents, published in tandem with his classic work of Holocaust literature, When Memory Comes Forty years after his acclaimed, poignant first memoir, Friedlander returns with WHEN MEMORY COMES: THE LATER YEARS, bridging the gap between the ordeals of his childhood and his present-day towering reputation in the field of Holocaust studies. After abandoning his youthful conversion to Catholicism, he rediscovers his Jewish roots as a teenager and builds a new life in Israeli politics. Friedlander's initial loyalty to Israel turns into a lifelong fascination with Jewish life and history. He struggles to process the ubiquitous effects of European anti-Semitism while searching for a more measured approach to the Zionism that surrounds him. Friedlander goes on to spend his adulthood shuttling between Israel, Europe, and the United States, armed with his talent for language and an expansive intellect. His prestige inevitably throws him up against other intellectual heavyweights. In his early years in Israel, he rubs shoulders with the architects of the fledgling state and brilliant minds such as Gershom Scholem and Carlo Ginzburg, among others. Most importantly, this memoir led Friedlander to reflect on the wrenching events that induced him to devote sixteen years of his life to writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945"--
Other Press 2016-11-08 283 pages

Rez life: an Indian's journey through reservation life

Treuer, David
Overview: Celebrated novelist David Treuer has gained a reputation for writing fiction that expands the horizons of Native American literature. In Rez Life, his first full-length work of nonfiction, Treuer brings a novelist's storytelling skill and an eye for detail to a complex and subtle examination of Native American reservation life, past and present. With authoritative research and reportage, Treuer illuminates misunderstood contemporary issues like sovereignty, treaty rights, and natural-resource conservation. He traces the convoluted waves of public policy that have deracinated, disenfranchised, and exploited Native Americans, exposing the tension and conflict that has marked the historical relationship between the United States government and the Native American population. Through the eyes of students, teachers, government administrators, lawyers, and tribal court judges, he shows how casinos, tribal government, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have transformed the landscape of Native American life. A member of the Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, Treuer grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation, but was educated in "mainstream" America. Treuer traverses the boundaries of American and Indian identity as he explores crime and poverty, casinos and wealth, and the preservation of his native language and culture. Rez Life is a strikingly original work of history and reportage, a must read for anyone interested in the Native American story.
Grove Press 2012 330 pages

Wallace Stegner and the American West

Fradkin, Philip L.
Wallace Stegner was the premier chronicler of the twentieth-century western American experience, and his novels, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Angle of Repose and the National Book Award–winning The Spectator Bird, brought the life and landscapes of the West to national and international attention. Now, in this illuminating biography, Philip L. Fradkin goes beyond Stegner’s iconic literary status to give us, as well, the influential teacher and visionary conservationist, the man for whom the preservation and integrity of place was as important as his ability to render its qualities and character in his brilliantly crafted fiction and nonfiction. From his birth in 1909 until his death in 1993, Stegner witnessed nearly a century of change in the land that he loved and fought so hard to preserve. We learn of his hardscrabble youth on the Canadian frontier and in Utah, and of his painful relationship with his father, a bootlegger and gambler. We follow his intellectual awakening as a young man and his years as a Depression-era graduate student at the University of Iowa, during its earliest days as a literary center. We watch as he finds his home, with his wife, Mary, in the foothills above Palo Alto, which provided him with a long-awaited sense of belonging and a refuge in which he would write his most treasured works. And here are his years as the legendary founder of the Stanford Creative Writing Program, where his students included Ken Kesey, Edward Abbey, Robert Stone, and Wendell Berry. But the changes wrought by developers and industrialists were too much for Stegner, and he tirelessly fought the transformation of his Garden of Eden into Silicon Valley. His writings on the importance of establishing national parks and wilderness areas—not only for the preservation of untouched landscape but also for the enrichment of the human spirit—played a key role in the passage of historic legislation and comprise some of the most beautiful words ever written about the natural world. Here, too, is the story—told in full for the first time—of the accusations of plagiarism that followed the publication of Angle of Repose, and of the shadow they have cast on his greatest work. Rich in personal and literary detail, and in the sensual description of the country that shaped his work and his life—this is the definitive account of one of the most acclaimed and admired writers, teachers, and conservationists of our time.
Alfred A. Knopf 2008-02-12 369 pages

Small room, big dreams: the journey of Julián and Joaquin Castro

Brown, Monica
An informative, inspirational picture book biography about twins Julián and Joaquin Castro, who rose from poverty to become leaders for positive change in America. The story of political powerhouse twins Julián and Joaquin Castro began in the small room that they shared with their grandmother Victoriana in San Antonio, Texas. Victoriana crossed the border from Mexico into Texas as a six-year-old orphan, marking the start of the family's American journey. Her daughter Rosie, Julián and Joaquin's mom, was an activist who helped the barrio through local government. The strong women in their family inspired the twins to get involved in politics. Julián and Joaquin have been working at the local, state, and national level--as a former presidential candidate, mayor, and member of President Obama's Cabinet, and a U.S. Congressman, respectively--to make the country a better place for everyone. Acclaimed author Monica Brown and illustrator Mirelle Ortega depict the Castros' political and personal accomplishments in this must-read picture book biography. Also available in a Spanish edition: Pequeña habitación, grandes sueños. * A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year *
Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2021 40 pages

Frozen in time: Clarence Birdseye's outrageous idea about frozen food

Kurlansky, Mark
"This biography--perfect for middle-grade readers--tells the life story of Clarence Birdseye, the man who revolutionized the frozen food industry, and is adapted from Mark Kurlansky's adult work Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man. Adventurer and inventor Clarence Birdseye had a fascination with food preservation that led him to develop and patent the Birdseye freezing process and start the company that still bears his name today. His limitless curiosity spurred his other inventions, including the electric sunlamp, an improved incandescent lightbulb, and a harpoon gun to tag finback whales. This true story of an early entrepreneur is as thrilling as the story of Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. Includes an 8-page black-and-white photo insert"--
Delacorte Press 2014 165 pages