Showing titles in Cultural & Regional

Charles M. Blow’s mother was a fiercely driven woman with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, and a job plucking poultry at a factory near their segregated Louisiana town, where slavery's legacy felt close. When her philandering husband finally pushed her over the edge, she fired a pistol at his fleeing back, missing every shot, thanks to “love that blurred her vision and bent the barrel.” Charles was the baby of the family, fiercely attached to his “do-right” mother. Until one day that divided his life into Before and After—the day an older cousin took advantage of the young boy.

Zwei Rentner aus Sachsen-Anhalt verreisen mit ihrem Sohn. Was soll schon schiefgehen...?! «Urlaub mit den Eltern. Wir sitzen 5 (!) Stunden vor Abflug am Flughafen, und Mutter verzweifelt, weil sie die Bordkarten auf DIN A3 ausgedruckt hat und denkt, dass wir deshalb nicht mitfliegen dürfen.» So begann André Herrmann, 36, Comedian aus Berlin, die Dokumentation seiner Reise mit seinen Eltern, die binnen kürzester Zeit viral ging. Unter dem Hashtag #UmdE berichtet er acht Tage lang von den Unwegsamkeiten der gemeinsamen Reise und begeisterte damit schnell eine riesige Followerschaft.

Chez les Rebanks, on est berger depuis dix générations. Très jeune, James reprend la ferme familiale. Quelques années plus tard, il décide de recommencer des études : il entrera même à Oxford ; mais l'appel de la ferme est trop fort, c'est avec ses moutons qu'il est vraiment "l'homme le plus heureux du monde". En mai débute la "lambing season", littéralement la "saison de l'agnelage". En mai, le livre de James paraîtra en France.

Hunger of Memory is the story of Mexican-American Richard Rodriguez, who begins his schooling in Sacramento, California, knowing just 50 words of English, and concludes his university studies in the stately quiet of the reading room of the British Museum. Here is the poignant journey of a "minority student" who pays the cost of his social assimilation and academic success with a painful alienation - from his past, his parents, his culture - and so describes the high price of "making it" in middle-class America.

As a bored, moody teenager, Emma Beddington came across a copy of French ELLE in the library of her austere Yorkshire school. As she turned the pages, full of philosophy, sex and lipstick, she realized that her life had one purpose and one purpose only: she needed to be French. Instead of skulking in her bedroom listening to The Smiths or trudging to Betty's Tea Room to buy fondant fancies, she would be free and solitary, sitting outside the Cafe de Flore with a Scottie dog at her feet....

The story of Garabed Kiremidjian whose parents escaped the Armenian Genocide only to be caught up in further conflict in Cyprus. His story is a glimpse into the life of an Armenian family working their way out of the poverty of 1920’s Cyprus, living through the fight for independence from the British and suffering further during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Habiburahman was born in 1979 and raised in a small village in western Burma. When he was three years old, the country’s military leader declared that his people, the Rohingya, were not a recognized ethnic group. Since 1982, millions of Rohingya have had to flee their homes as a result of extreme prejudice and persecution. Here, for the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the truth behind this global humanitarian crisis. Through the eyes of a child, we learn about the historic persecution of the Rohingya people and witness the violence Habiburahman endured.

As a young Latina and Native American lawyer and former wife of California’s attorney general and treasurer, Nadia Davis has long been subjected to public scrutiny. In this powerful homage to finding one’s worth in the face of mental health struggles, addiction, and public shaming, Davis shares her remarkable story. She reveals the depths of the darkness she went through, while gracefully offering transformational healing and an end to the choking grasp of shame.

When acclaimed Washington Post writer Wil Haygood had an early hunch that Obama would win the 2008 election, he thought he'd highlight the singular moment by exploring the life of someone who had come of age when segregation was so embedded in the culture as to make the very thought of a black president inconceivable. He struck gold when he tracked down Eugene Allen, a butler who had served eight presidents, from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan. Forest Whitaker narrates the story of this remarkable man who, while serving tea and supervising buffets, was also a witness to history.

A fascinating life story intertwined with the history of the Navajo tribe. This is the story of a woman born in an earthen floored hogan on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, educated in government-run boarding schools, denied marriage to the man she loved in favor of tradition and denied her birthright by family. Despite these roadblocks, she continued her education in the medical field. At times, she was sought out by the rich and famous people to provide care for their loved ones.

The Blue-Collar Bible is a humorous collection of stories about pranks, mishaps and inside jokes that bring laughter to the ‘smoko’ breaks and much-needed comic relief to the tough workdays. It offers a captivating journey through the heart and soul of the building trade, providing readers with an intimate insight into the lives, antics, challenges, and diverse personalities that define this gritty and essential industry. Walk alongside the men and women who shape the skylines and construct the foundations of our modern world.

The Jackfruit Chronicles is a heartfelt memoir that delves into the stunning flavours and captivating history of Bengali food while giving a voice to those individuals who introduced this cuisine to the United Kingdom. Beginning with the arrival of Shahnaz’s grandfather, Habib, in Manchester in the 1950s, this book not only focuses on the author's family story but also the broader narrative of the Bangladeshi diaspora, their struggles and their quest for a better life in Britain.

An insightful exploration that unveils the lesser-known dimensions of this legendary writer and her legacy, revealing the cultural icon’s profound impact as a visionary editor who helped define an important period in American publishing and literature.

How do you survive when everything you hold dear has been ripped away? This is the question Radha Manickam asks himself during the three years and nine months he spends under the merciless rule of the Khmer Rouge. When Khmer Rouge forces take the city of Phnom Penh in 1975, Radha is a new Christian, passionate about living out his faith. Over the next years of his life, 1.7 million of his fellow Cambodians--including most of his own family--will perish due to starvation, disease, and unthinkable violence.

At the Arab Spring's hopeful start, Alia Malek returned to Damascus to reclaim her grandmother's apartment, which had been lost to her family since Hafez al-Assad came to power in 1970. Its loss was central to her parents' decision to make their lives in America. In chronicling the people who lived in the Tahaan building, past and present, Alia portrays the Syrians—the Muslims, Christians, Jews, Armenians, and Kurds—who worked, loved, and suffered in close quarters, mirroring the political shifts in their country

Matthieu Ricard nació en 1967, a los veintiún años, cuando conoció a su padre espiritual en Darjeeling (India). Cinco años después dejaría su brillante carrera científica, a la que parecía estar destinado, para trasladarse a una pequeña cabaña en el Himalaya.

Quando, nel 1972, Tiziano Terzani arrivò in Vietnam, era – come scrive lui stesso – il giovane corrispondente «ottimista, sorridente e speranzoso raffigurato coi sandali di gomma dei vietcong in copertina». Consegnò la propria esperienza di testimone della guerra al diario che l’anno dopo apparve col titolo Pelle di leopardo, con riferimento alla carta del Vietnam a chiazze, a seconda che una zona fosse occupata dall’una o dall’altra delle parti in lotta. Si ritrovò di nuovo in Vietnam nel 1975, e fu uno dei pochissimi giornalisti occidentali testimoni della liberazione di Saigon.

Part memoir and part manifesto, Unreconciled is a stirring call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous peoples.

A deeply personal memoir of the private Ray Charles - the man behind the legend - by his eldest son. Ray Charles is an American music legend. A multiple Grammy Award-winning composer, pianist, and singer with an inimitable vocal style and catalog. Now his eldest son, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., shares an intimate glimpse of the man behind the music, with never-before-told stories. Going beyond the fame, the concerts, and the tours, Ray Jr. opens the doors of his family home and reveals their private lives with fondness and frankness.

Published during a literary era marked by the ascendance of Black writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley, this thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown’s childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s.