The Rise Of The Memoir

A study of the rise of the memoir through an exploration of works by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Gosse, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov, Primo Levi, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

Risé was born into a family of chaos and abuse. Her alcoholic mother raged and beat her and her siblings, knocking their heads against the living room walls while telling them how worthless they were. Then layer on a father and brother who molested a teenage Risé, add a cockroach-infested house filled with drinking, drugs, and sex'and imagine how it felt to be a young girl trying to survive. Yet even as a young child, Risé felt like there was a life beyond what she experienced with her family. And on some level, her mother also knew that Risé was not meant to be written into the family's tragedies'she named her after the opera star Risë Stevens. As it turned out, Risé?s very salvation was embedded in this name.Risé was able to rise above all the things happening around and to her. Because of this ability to rise, she was able to escape the weight of her family, and learned to love and believe in herself.

The little-known story of the sophisticated and vibrant Arabic book culture that flourished during the Middle Ages. During the thirteenth century, Europe’s largest library owned fewer than 2,000 volumes. Libraries in the Arab world at the time had exponentially larger collections. Five libraries in Baghdad alone held between 200,000 and 1,000,000 books each, including multiple copies of standard works so that their many patrons could enjoy simultaneous access. How did the Arabic codex become so popular during the Middle Ages, even as the well-established form languished in Europe? Beatrice Gruendler’s The Rise of the Arabic Book answers this question through in-depth stories of bookmakers and book collectors, stationers and librarians, scholars and poets of the ninth century. The history of the book has been written with an outsize focus on Europe. The role books played in shaping the great literary cultures of the world beyond the West has been less known—until now. An internationally renowned expert in classical Arabic literature, Gruendler corrects this oversight and takes us into the rich literary milieu of early Arabic letters.

The first ever memoir from the most decorated female skier of all time, revealing never-before-told stories of her life in the fast lane, her struggle with depression, and the bold decisions that helped her break down barriers on and off the slopes. 82 World Cup wins. 20 World Cup titles. 3 Olympic medals. 7 World Championship Medals. A fixture in the American sports landscape for almost twenty years, Lindsey Vonn is a legend. With a career that spanned a transformation in how America recognizes and celebrates female athletes, Vonn—who retired in 2019 as the most decorated American skier of all time—was in the vanguard of that change, helping blaze a trail for other world-class female athletes and reimagining what it meant to pursue speed at all costs. In Rise, Vonn shares her incredible journey for the first time, going behind the scenes of a badass life built around resilience and risk-taking. One of the most aggressive skiers ever, Vonn offers a fascinating glimpse into the relentless pursuit of her limits, a pursuit so focused on one-upping herself that she pushed her body past its breaking point as she achieved greatness. While this iconic grit and perseverance helped her battle a catalog of injuries, these injuries came with a cost—physical, of course, but also mental. Vonn opens up about her decades-long depression and struggles with self-confidence, discussing candidly how her mental health challenges influenced her career without defining her. Through it all, she dissects the moments that sidelined her and how, each time, she clawed her way back using an iconoclastic approach rooted in hard work—pushing boundaries, challenging expectations, and speaking her mind, even when it got her into trouble. At once empowering and raw, Rise is an inspirational look at her hard-fought success as well as an honest appraisal of the sacrifices she made along the way—an emotional journey of winning that understands all too well that every victory comes with a price.

The glamour of Jackie Collins meets the grit of Martina Cole in the dark heart of a sun-bleached Los Angeles. 1993 In front of a galaxy of stars, three young film makers accept their Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Davie Johnston, Zander Leith and Mirren McLean, childhood friends from a rough housing estate in Glasgow, have taken Hollywood by storm. Only they know what they did to get there. . . 2013 Twenty years later Davie is the top host and reality show producer in town. Mirren is a respected writer and movie director and Zander is box office gold. But they haven't spoken to each other in twenty years, their relationships devastated by one horrific secret. Thousands of miles away, in a town where nothing is as it seems, a young ambitious journalist discovers a tantalizing story from the past. Tinsel Town beckons. She is determined to expose the kind of scandalous drama that usually only happens in the movies. Jointly written by presenter Ross King and bestselling author Shari Low, Jackie Collins calls Taking Hollywood 'a fun romp behind the Hollywood curtain'. Lorraine Kelly calls it 'a thriller that's gritty, sexy and a sensational page turner'. If you read ONE book this summer, make it this one.

My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell is a simple and outspoken account of the sexual and psychological abuse that Arthur Bear Chief suffered during his time at Old Sun Residential school in Gleichen on the Siksika Nation. In a series of chronological vignettes, Bear Chief depicts the punishment, cruelty, abuse, and injustice that he endured at Old Sun and then later relived in the traumatic process of retelling his story at an examination for discovery in connection with a lawsuit brought against the federal government. He returned to Gleichen late in life—to the home left to him by his mother—and it was there that he began to reconnect with Blackfoot language and culture and to write his story. Although the terrific adversity Bear Chief faced in his childhood made an indelible mark on his life, his unyielding spirit is evident throughout his story.

The author shares the story of her survival during the Gatumba massacre, despite losing her mother and sister, and how after moving to America she found healing through art and activism.

A Time to Rise is an intimate look into the workings of the KDP, the only revolutionary organization that emerged in the Filipino American community during the politically turbulent 1970s and ’80s. Overcoming cultural and class differences, members of the KDP banded together in a single national organization to mobilize their community into civil rights and antiwar movements in the United States and in the fight for democracy and national liberation in the Philippines and elsewhere. These personal accounts document recruitment, organizing, and training in the KDP. More than two-thirds of the stories are by women, reflecting the powerful role they played in the organization and its leadership. Also included are chapters on the struggle for justice for murdered KDP and union leaders Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes. These memoirs offer political insights and inspiring examples of personal courage that will resonate today. A Time to Rise was made possible in part by a grant from 4Culture's Heritage Program.