Selvbiografier

A fun and fascinating social history of the famed Katharine Gibbs School, which from the 1910s to the 1960s, trained women for executive secretary positions but surreptitiously was instilling the self-confidence and strategic know-how necessary for them to claim equality, power, and authority in the wider world.    It’s a safe bet that most of the secretaries on the TV series Mad Men would have attended the Katharine Gibbs School in New York City. The iconic institution was in its heyday in the 1950 and '60s synonymous with supplying secretaries—always properly attired in heels, ladylike hats, and white gloves—to male executives. In Expect Great Things! Vanda Krefft turns the notion of a “Gibbs girl” on its head, showing us that while the school was getting women who could type 90 words per minute into the C-suite, its more subversive mission was to get them out of the secretarial pool to assume positions of power on the other side of the desk. And Gibbs graduates did just that, tackling the sexism of the era and paving the way for 21st-century women to succeed in any profession. Katharine Gibbs was one her own success stories. She started her school when, as a 46-year-old widow, she was left near-broke with two young sons. The school taught typing and stenography but Gibbs also hired accomplished professors from elite colleges to teach academic subjects—it was a well-rounded education that produced early feminists ready to tackle the sexism of their era. "Expect great things!" was her motto and her philosophy. Within a decade she’d opened schools in three elegant locations. With nostalgic period photographs throughout, Expect Great Things! takes us back to Katie Gibbs’s life and tells the stories of the women she influenced. We meet Gibbs graduates who worked for the Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, and Robert F. Kennedy. Others forged pathfinding roles as an Emmy-winning television star, a women’s rights advisor to four U.S. presidents, a writer of Wonder Woman comic books, the head of the Women’s Marines, a best-selling young adult author, and a U.S. Ambassador. For readers of The Barbizon and Come Fly the World, Expect Great Things! reveals the seismic impact the Katharine Gibbs school had on the American workplace—and on women’s opportunities today.

Book of Mutter is a tender and disquieting meditation on the ability of writing, photography, and memory to embrace shadows while in the throes-and dead calm-of grief. Neither memoir, essay, nor poetry, it is an uncategorisable text that draws upon a repertoire of genres to write into and against silence.

Lisa Cheek loved editing TV commercials - almost as much as she loved her dog, Ron Howard. Then, she 'aged out' of advertising, at 45. After being let go, Lisa got a call - at 2:45 AM - from a director who, like everyone in Hollywood, had a film he wanted to make: the original Cinderella story. Now, his dream could come true - if Lisa granted his wish. In Sit, Cinderella, Sit, Lisa Cheek shares her adventures in editing a film made on location in China - along the Tibetan border - where Mandarin was the only language spoken by everyone but her. Stuck in a house with fourteen men she couldn't understand, literally, she yearned for conversation and coffee. But there were moments of wonder and laughter. Lisa forged a bond with her translator and a woman named Sunny. She rescued one dog, and then another. 'Everyone speaks Cinderella,' the director had assured her. Maybe he was right. Told with humor and heart through a fairy tale lens, with flashbacks into the author's not-always-happy childhood, Sit, Cinderella, Sit is a story about what can happen when you take a leap of faith, look and hear beyond people's differences, and dare to believe in yourself.

"New Orleans artist George Valentine Dureau (1930-2014) has always been an enigma. His status as an important artist gained momentum beginning with his first exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art, then the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, in the mid-1960s. Not only did his career undergo a meteoric rise, but his work proved at once controversial and provocative, nuanced and groundbreaking. Critics and collectors embraced his bold images, describing them as sexual, sensual, exploitative, erotic, iconoclastic, and innovative. Beneath the surface, Dureau was even more complex as a person and persona, as he crafted a sensational character out of his artistic acumen. His reputation dimmed after his death, but in recent years his importance, and that of the New Orleans art scene he occupied, has once again been recognized. George Valentine Dureau: Life and Art in New Orleans reassembles the pieces of Dureau's puzzle-work life. The complexity of his life came together in the studio, where he created some of the most important artworks of the latter twentieth century. This lush publication features 100 large-format photographic plates, most of which have never been seen or published and surprisingly some in color. There are more than 200 illustrations and two essays to accompany the plates, along with a special section devoted to the artists and artwork of 1980s New Orleans, featuring hundreds of additional photographs, and several appendices of supplementary materials, such as interview transcripts, a timeline of Dureau's life and career, a map of important locations, and a section on relevant art publications, invitations, and posters"--

Currently, George Ohr is celebrated as a solitary genius who foreshadowed modern art movements. While an intriguing narrative, this view offers a narrow understanding of the man and his work that has hindered serious consideration. Ellen J. Lippert, in her expansive study of Ohr and his Gilded Age context, counters this fable.

A biography of Horace, one of the most popular poets from antiquity, revealing the little-known man behind his famous lines

From an award-winning biographer, a riveting and deeply researched portrait of Mormonism’s charismatic founder

That is what Dr. Angeline Dean firmly believes. Akkkademia tried to stop her from tellingher story, but she prevailed, and this is part one of her story. "We have been keeping everythingin the house and in our housed bodies for far too long and it is killing us, literally. It ispast time to pull the band-aid off and get healed. In fact, let's not only talk about it but alsodissect it" she asserts. The "it" she is referring to is white injected oppression- a term coinedby Baba Wekesa Madzimoyo as his work seeks to heal African Americans of enslavement'spsychosis. Most know this term as internalized racism, yet when using the term internalizedracism, she learned that we are re-victimizing the victim.This book served as Dr. Dean's autoethnographic account (like that of a biography) of whatshe experienced by those who profess(ed) to be so access, success, inclusion, justice, progressive,and power -to -the people focused...Yet served as straight up plantation overseersand accomplices. In it, she shares how she is "tired of discussing and hearing about directencounters from 'whiteness,' 'white delusional supremacy,' whiteness as property,' alongsideother pro-Black and critical theories while remaining silent, repressed actually, whendiscussing the social reproduction of whiteness's sickness and infection upon African American,Black, and Brown people wholistically. "If a white snake bites me, it's okay for me toexpose that, but if a Black, Brown, Bi-racial or International Black snake bites me, then Iam supposed to remain silent while feasting on the poison? No Ma'am! No Sir! In fact- likemy uncle used to say, "Ah Hell to the Nawh! I've witnessed the afterlife of enslavementsabuse toward too many melanated students, African American students in particular. Melanatedto be exact-NOT colored in my opinion, because I do not subscribe to BIPOC.""I will NOT remain silent and play a game that relegates me to game-prey...I AM NOTyour animal! I AM a Human who is proud to be HUEman and a human BEing. I will notonly be free, but I seek to be whole. AND, I will not JUST be free but I. Will. BE. FreeinDeed!" This is Dr. Dean' daily declaration!In this book, you will read the intersections and interconnections of her theories, flow withher poetic methods, and witness her 'I was Never down with OPP model (Oppression PlantationParadigm). Hear what she not only endured but also how she had to fight back usingsome of the Master's tools and proud hood strategies...#Reparations

This book traces notable people in Western history who tried to decipher the mysteries of illness and health. I have chosen specific women and men for their unique perspectives in healing-some "traditional" physicians, shamans from Indigenous peoples, some focused on the body, some on the spirit. As a rule, they were individuals of compassionate character who felt for the miseries of humankind. But each one revealed to us a lesson. Each one illuminated the extreme complexity of humanness but also the extreme delicacy: human beings of organs and tissues and blood but also of worry and fear and sorrow. Suffering affects both. And each healer was human themselves. The story will span antiquity to the present. Ancient Greece produced the earliest concepts of disease and illness, that one may affect the other. The cult of Asclepius, the man-god of healing, addressed spirits damaged by pernicious gods and worked to insert the supernatural in their healing schemes. Hippocrates, the great physician, instructed proper respect for the human constitution and urged compassion - qualities for healers as important today as then. The charismatic Jesus of Nazareth revolutionized healing practices by demonstrating a compassion for all infirmed people, particularly the impoverished, a behavior taken up by his followers and which formed the basis for modern healthcare. Galen, the Greek physician, provided a method of understanding - however imprecise - that allowed interaction of flesh and spirit through the maintenance of internal harmony.The medievalists, on the brink of scientific thought, stressed knowledge of the body as the first exercise in treating disease. Skill with their hands - the newfound art of surgery - largely replaced the ineffectual remedies of the day. The Lakota shaman Black Elk (1863-1950) showed a different comprehension of illness and healing, not scientific nor contemporary but filled with invisible spirits and forces that only the chosen few could manipulate. We will also examine numerous women healers, including psychiatrist Sabina Spielrein (1885-1942), both victim and healer, tormented by childhood traumas lodged deep in her subconscious that stimulated an interest in understanding and healing others afflicted with disorders of the mind, often as severe and disabling as those of physical natures. This history of healers is not comprehensive; it is illustrative. It is not exhaustive; it is instructional. Everyone faces existential threats to health and wellness at some point in their lives. The frightful prospect of suffering and death, in the moment, is terrifying. Is science enough? Very often the answer is no. Advances in medicine and surgery have no doubt substantially contributed to the process of recovery, in fact painful and debilitating treatments may be necessary to achieve healing. Yet, there must be more. History has provided some insight to the arduous, metaphysical, and religious journey of reconciliation and resignation. This book will illuminate pivotal figures who provided not only the physical but also the metaphysical elements of therapy for those sufferers facing tormented and abbreviated futures. There is wisdom in this history, as spiritual equanimity is timeless and science remains imperfect. It is an inner, spiritual peace that humankind truly pursues. Reconciliation with illness and disease can only come by finding and embracing that peace. The Healers illustrates those variegated and multicultural attempts to seek holistic health.

A dynamic history of life in turn-of-the-century Warsaw through the eyes of a young woman and her Jewish family who converted to Catholicism

"Cole Porter (1891-1964) remains one of America's most popular composer-songwriters, known for the many urbane, witty, romantic songs he wrote for stage musicals and Hollywood films. Porter was unique among his contemporaries for writing both the music and lyrics for his compositions. To this day, several of his numbers-"Night and Day," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "You're the Top," and "I Get a Kick Out of You," to name a few-endure as standards. In The Musicals of Cole Porter: Broadway, Hollywood, Television, Bernard F. Dick presents a critical study of Porter's Broadway and movie musicals, and his one foray into live television, Aladdin-covering the period from his first failure, See America First (1916), to the moderately successful Silk Stockings (1955), which ended his Broadway career. Taking a chronological approach, interspersed with chapters on Porter's "list songs" that owe much to such operas as Mozart's Don Giovanni and Rossini's The Barber of Seville; his love songs, often bittersweet and bleakly poignant; and, above all, his love of figurative language, Dick discusses in detail the various literary sources and cultural reference points that inspired the lyrics to Porter's numbers. The first volume of its kind exclusively dedicated to exploring the extensive body of work by this influential twentieth-century songwriter, The Musicals of Cole Porter is a compelling resource for students and scholars interested in the craft of a great composer-lyricist"--

Dorothy L. Sayers: the name conjures images of Lord Peter Wimsey's sleuthing adventures, and masterful translations of Dante. Yet, she was more than a literary luminary of the interwar Golden Age of crime fiction; she was a trailblazer, a feminist, and a scholar, whose influence resonates to this day. In this new biography, delve into the complexities of Sayers' life and legacy. From her iconic status as one of the 'Queens of Crime' alongside Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh, to her thought-provoking explorations of feminism and Christian philosophy. Through thematic analysis of Sayers' writings and beliefs, the author illuminates the depth and breadth of her influence. From her incisive fiction and scholarly interests to her contributions as an advertising copywriter where she penned the line, 'Guinness is good for you', Sayers left an indelible mark on literature and beyond. As a crime writer, historian, and poet, Wade brings his own passion and expertise to this rich investigation. Join him on a journey through the life and works of Dorothy L. Sayers, and discover the enduring legacy of a true literary icon whose influence is rich and productive, mainly in her fiction, but also in many other areas of life.

Believe it or not Adventures and Misadventures is a true story.Born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Richard Landreville has been an airline pilot, musician, actor, and CEO of three international companies.He has broken his back twice and has cheated death more times than a proverbial cat.You will find yourself holding your breath as you take the roller coaster ride from one adventure to the next.From the province of Quebec in Canada to the African deserts Richard has seen many diverse living conditions and come face to face with danger.On one hand, Richard has lived a life of near poverty while playing music and acting in his theatre group, while on the other hand he has tasted the finest food and rubbed shoulders with the who's who as a Chief pilot for an international airline company.Richard has finished his second book The Four Muskateers and is working on a screen play of his children's theatre piece The Enchanted Saxaphone.So, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero isthe true story of the interplay between the two all-consuming passions of this unheralded civicchampion: his love of beauty in the public realm that would forever change New York City, andhis love for a younger man that would forever change Bard.

NOW A NATIONAL BESTSELLERWITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR"This man is a gift from God to the world. This book is a gift from Al Sharpton to us. Let's appreciate them both."-Michael Eric DysonBeginning with a foreword by Michael Eric Dyson, Rise Up is a rousing call to action for our nation, drawing on lessons learned from Reverend Al Sharpton's unique experience as a politician, television and radio host, and civil rights leader.Rise Up offers timeless lessons for anyone who's stood at the crossroads of their personal or political life, weighing their choices of how to proceed.When the young Alfred Charles Sharpton told his mother he wanted to be a preacher, little did he know that his journey would also lead him to prominence as a politician, founder of the National Action Network, civil rights activist, and television and radio talk show host. His enduring ability and willingness to take on the political power structure makes him the preeminent voice for the modern era, a time unprecedented in its challenges.In Rise Up, Reverend Sharpton revisits the highlights of the Obama administration, the 2016 election and Trump's subsequent hold on the GOP, and draws on his decades-long experience with other key players in politics and activism, including Shirley Chisholm, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and more.The time has come to take a hard look at our collective failures and shortcomings and reclaim our core values in order to build a clear and just path forward for America. Our nation today stands at a crossroads-and change can't wait."Full of history, honesty, and valuable suggestions, Rise Up should be a staple in every home, school and library as an essential primer on civil and political rights in America."-Martin Luther King, III"If you want to learn how to use your voice to change a nation, you should study closely this man-and this book." -Van Jones"My Bed-Stuy (do or die) brother has been at the forefront of our battles again and again. From way back in da way back to this present revolution the world is in now, Rev. has been about Black Lives Matter from the jump, also at a time when it was not the most popular or hip thing to be about. I look forward, standing next to him, to see, to witness this new energy, this new day that is about to be in these United States of America."-Spike LeeDon't miss Rev. Sharpton's new book, Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in America.

At the start of 1967, Jim Wagner shipped out to Vietnam. As a UH-1D Huey crew chief and door gunner, Wagner was part of the 9th Aviation Battalion that would ferry infantry of the 9th Infantry Division into and out of combat in III Corps Tactical Zone in the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. Interdicting the movements of Viet Cong kept Wagner and his unit in near constant combat with the author accumulating over 1800 air hours on combat operations. Day to day, Wagner flew direct support, combat assault, medical Evac, or low level aerial recon missions for platoon or company sized elements of the 9th Division. Wagner experienced it all, from the surreal of flying over Nancy Sinatra at a USO concert to secret missions flying special forces across the border into Cambodia to the Tet Offensive.

THE DEFINITIVE, UNTOLD, RECORDING HISTORY OF BEYONCÉ, TOLD ALBUM-BY-ALBUM AND SONG-BY-SONG.Explore the extraordinary artistry and vision of Beyoncé in this comprehensive guide, chronicled song-by-song throughout her groundbreaking career. From her early days with Destiny's Child to her trailblazing solo albums, record-breaking visual projects, and cultural moments that have redefined the music industry, this book leaves no stone unturned.Delve into the chart-topping anthems like Crazy in Love and Single Ladies, the deeply personal and politically charged works of Lemonade and Renaissance, as well as more her recent album, Cowboy Carter.Expertly crafted with behind-the-scenes stories, lyrical analyses, and detailed accounts of her creative process, this book uncovers the inspiration, production, and collaborators behind Beyoncé's genre-defying sound.Spanning over 500 pages and featuring hundreds of photographs - rare studio shots, breathtaking concert images, and exclusive behind-the-scenes stills - Beyoncé: All the Songs offers an intimate portrait of her evolution as an artist, performer, and cultural icon. Lavishly illustrated, this is the ultimate keepsake for the Beyoncé fan in your life.

This Awareness of Beauty is the first book to consider the orchestral and wind band music of Canadian composer Healey Willan, who was known primarily for his choral work. A succinct biography accompanies historical, analytical, and critical investigations of Willan's instrumental music, asserting Willan's seminal place in Canadian music and the significance of his orchestral and wind band music both nationally and internationally. Each composition is investigated in chronological order to illustrate the composer's evolution as a creator of instrumental music from his early years in England to his later, and more notable, accomplishments in Canada. Willan's orchestral music may be seen as both a reaction to and a stimulus for the significant improvement in Canadian orchestral performance during the 1930s and 40s, a factor in the creation of his large-scale compositions, including two symphonies and a piano concerto. Although much has been written about Willan, most of it has centred on his choral work, with biography and/or musicology as the frame of reference; this project considers his instrumental music in terms of performance, provides historical context for many of the works included, and corrects errors that have crept into the literature.