Unbuttoned

When Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King died in 1950, the public knew little about his eccentric private life. In his final will King ordered the destruction of his private diaries, seemingly securing his privacy for good. Yet twenty-five years after King's death, the public was bombarded with stories about "Weird Willie," the prime minister who communed with ghosts and cavorted with prostitutes. Unbuttoned traces the transformation of the public’s knowledge and opinion of King's character, offering a compelling look at the changing way Canadians saw themselves and measured the importance of their leaders’ personal lives. Christopher Dummitt relates the strange posthumous tale of King's diary and details the specific decisions of King's literary executors. Along the way we learn about a thief in the public archives, stolen copies of King's diaries being sold on the black market, and an RCMP hunt for a missing diary linked to the search for Russian spies at the highest levels of the Canadian government. Analyzing writing and reporting about King, Dummitt concludes that the increasingly irreverent views of King can be explained by a fundamental historical transformation that occurred in the era in which King's diaries were released, when the rights revolution, Freud, 1960s activism, and investigative journalism were making self-revelation a cultural preoccupation. Presenting extensive archival research in a captivating narrative, Unbuttoned traces the rise of a political culture that privileged the individual as the ultimate source of truth, and made Canadians rethink what they wanted to know about politicians.

Nursing a baby - it's the most simple, natural thing in the world, right? Then why is it so fraught and freighted for so many women? In Unbuttoned, a collection of essays edited by Dana Sullivan and Maureen Connolly, 25 women share their thoughts and feelings about breastfeeding, all from the standpoint of personal experience. By turns enlightening, entertaining, moving, and thought provoking, their stories are sure to get readers talking. The essays are as varied as women themselves. Best - selling author Julia Glass describes nursing her two sons after being treated for breast cancer. Rebecca Walker remembers breastfeeding her seriously ill baby in the neonatal intensive care unit. And humorist Suzanne Schlosberg milks the logistics of nursing twins for laughs, while columnist Patricia Berry defends her decision to bottle - feed her three daughters. Linda Murray, editor - in - chief ofBabyCenter.com, contributes a thoughtful foreword. The essays are organized in a way that echoes the chronology of the nursing experience itself. In Part One, Latching On, women share their stories about starting breastfeeding; by Part Four, Letting Go, they've moved on to the sometimes - wistful, sometimes - welcome process of weaning. In these pages are laughter and tears, love and longing, tenderness and temper tantrums - and above all, a multifaceted portrait of what it means to nurture a baby. Unbuttoned makes a wonderful gift for new or expectant mothers, not to mention their partners. It's also an intriguing selection for book groups or moms' groups, who will surely find much to discuss among the essays. Even women whose nursing days are well behind (or ahead) of them will find food for thought in this insightful collection.

When crisis shatters the author's buttoned-up life, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery, tranforming from a person with an obsessive mind to an accessible heart--in other words, a complete man.

A nuanced history of prostitution in Victoria told through newly uncovered stories of women who lived it. From the establishment of Fort Victoria, BC’s capital city has had a long history of prostitution. But little has been written on the lives of the women themselves—some of the most enterprising women in Victoria’s past. Instead, these women’s stories have been relegated to judgmental newspaper headlines. Now historian Linda J. Eversole takes a deeper look at their lives, from the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War and the Moral Reform movement. Story by story, from the fur trade, through confederation, waves of immigration, and attempts at reform and legislation, Eversole uncovers the histories of the women who made a living, and in some cases a fortune, from the world’s oldest profession. With accompanying maps and historical photos, new research, and the support of the descendants of some of her subjects, Eversole presents a nuanced, human series of portraits that enhances our understanding of this important strand of the city’s history.

We all have childhood dreams in life. Grace wanted to be a writer. Her partner, who she refers to as My Hero, had another dream. Unbeknownst to her his dream was to own and run his own farm. As it often happens, love had her plunge into his dream. Opportunity knocked and they jumped in with both feet and blinders on. Farming is the most frustrating and rewarding experience a person can do. Eventually, after never ending unpredictable highs and lows, mixed with lots of tears tightly woven with laughter, Grace did what she needed to do to get through. She started writing short stories on a blog named Buttons Thoughts. Sharing them with others with her quirky sense of humour became her coping mechanism. The simple things in her life became hugely important. She gravitated to writing with a mix of whimsy in very real situations. The pain and frustration finally overtaken by the brighter sides of once crippling events. She embraced the beauty of every season. Nature became her best friend. That was her saving grace. Those stories have been shared over and over, believing that people should not hide their fears or their joys. This book is a compilation of some of those stories. Their dreams happened to come true with hard work and the love and support of each other. What could be better than that?

Unbuttoned: The Art and Artists of Theatrical Costume Design documents the creative journey of costume creation from concept to performance. Each chapter provides an overview of the process, including designing and shopping; draping, cutting, dyeing, and painting; and beading, sewing, and creating embellishments and accessories. This book features interviews with practitioners from Broadway and regional theatres to opera and ballet companies, offering valuable insights into the costume design profession. Exceptional behind-the-scenes photography illustrates top costume designers and craftspeople at work, along with gorgeous costumes in progress.

Gathers drawings and photographs of Victorian era women's underwear, shirts, collars, blouses, hats, dresses, men's coats and suits, hosiery, gloves, cravats, shoes, and sportswear

This witty and impudent confession is the work of a pioneer independent filmmaker whose adventures among the famous and the infamous extend from New York circles of the '30s to the avant-garde antics of San Francisco in the '60s and '70s. Born a gleeful poet in a solemn family, James Broughton survived military school, Stanford University, the merchant marine and journalism before his passion for cinema and his dedication to poetry crystallized in 1948 with his first book and the first of his many films. In the '50s he worked in London and Paris; and for many years he occupied a special place in the San Francisco Bay Area as a performer, playwrite and professor. In the course of his lively odyssey Broughton shares intimate memories of Anais Nin, Alan Watts, Robert Duncan, Maya Deren, Jean Cocteau, W.H. Auden, Pauline Kael, Kenneth Rexroth, Robinson Jeffers, and the poets of the Beat Generation. Broughton has turned eighty but his writing is as sassy and agile as a young Pan's.