The Rapids

9-12 yrs.

The Rapids is an exploration of manic depression (also known as bipolar disorder). With reflections on artists such as Carrie Fisher, Kanye West, Saul Bellow, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Spalding Gray, Sam Twyford-Moore takes readers on a literary and cultural tour of mania and what it means to live with a diagnosis of "bipolarity" in contemporary society. He also looks at the condition in our digital world, where someone’s manic episode can unfold live in real time, watched by millions. His own story, told unflinchingly, is shocking and sometimes darkly comic. It gives the book an edge that is not always comfortable but full of insight and empathy. Smart, lively, and well-researched, The Rapids manages to be both a wild ride and introspective at once, exploring a condition that touches thousands of people, directly or indirectly.

The Rapids is a cultural history of manic depression twinned with a personal narrative told through an innovative approach to writing memoir.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Rapids" by Alan Sullivan. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

A memoir of a dysfunctional, grieving family reuniting for a turbulent rafting trip, from an author with a “captivating talent for wonder and marvel.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love After the sudden death of Irene O’Garden’s older brother, she and her family decide to seek closure together by taking a journey through the remotest spot in Montana. The story of their harrowing trip on the river is intertwined here with the author’s account of growing up with her six siblings in a clashing Catholic family under the shadow of alcoholism. O’Garden’s father, a local TV personality in Minnesota, leaves his cheery public persona behind when he comes home and starts drinking martinis with his undemonstrative, icy-hearted wife. The children vary in their responses to profound anxiety sown in an atmosphere of neglect, psychological abuse, and rigid religiosity: One brother bites his fingers to gangrene. One relentlessly bullies the author, who begins overeating compulsively. One severs all ties with the family. Meanwhile, in the present, danger mounts as well on the raft trip, when unusual river conditions swell and speed the waters. Both stories build with escalating intensity to excruciating climaxes. Some memoirs shock. Some entertain. Some take us places we’re afraid to go. A rare few move us. Once in a blue moon, a book does it all. This is Risking the Rapids. “Enthralling.” —Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming “A deep and powerful memoir.” —Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star “Breathtaking . . . O’Garden adds a thoroughly welcome voice to the rich vein of American literature on the singular healing powers of wilderness.” —Florence Williams, award-winning author of The Nature Fix

This illustrated history, rich in detail, provides an account of the impact of the Anglican Church on the nineteenth century Red River parish of St. Andrew's, as well as an examination of the origins and development of the Metis community settled near the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Robert Coutts focuses his historical eye upon the character of the Church's evangelical approach within the settlement, its attitudes towards the indigenous peoples there, and the relationship between the Church Missionary Society and the Hudson's Bay Company. Within these broader themes, The Road to the Rapids also traces the development of St. Andrew's from frontier mission to rural Anglican outpost, as well as the changing nature of economic and social life within the parish as the century progressed. Accessible and well-researched, this book contributes a fresh interpretation of a historically important subject.

Poet, travel writer, teacher, quiz-show presenter, broadcaster, adventurer - Kildare Dobbs has played many parts, met many people, and been many places. His life journey, marked by frequent diversions and detours, reflects the exuberant eclecticism of the man himself. In Kildare Dobbs: A Writer’s Life, Dobbs takes us from a gas-lit big-house childhood in 1930s Tipperary, to college days at Cambridge, to commando training and naval service in the Second World War. After a stint as a colonial administrator in Tanganyika, he moved to Canada in 1952, where he became variously an editor at Macmillan, managing editor of Saturday Night magazine, and literary editor of the Toronto Star. This is a self-portrait of a fascinating man of letters driven by a hunger for adventure.