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  A Writer Writes - A Memoir

  Stephen Birmingham

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  A memoir by the New York Times–bestselling author and longtime chronicler of America’s wealthy elite. Born in Connecticut in 1929 and educated at Williams College, Stephen Birmingham went on to create a literary niche with his numerous nonfiction works about New York’s—and the nation’s—upper class, particularly focusing on Jewish, African American, and Irish communities, as well as old-money WASPs. He also drew on his “intimate knowledge of the private lives of the rich and famous” to write bestselling works of fiction such as The Auerbach Will (The New York Times Book Review). In this book, Birmingham’s attention is turned to his own life, both personal and professional, allowing us to learn about the man who created such compelling portraits of glittering parties, exclusive addresses, and, in some cases, rags-to-riches sagas that epitomize the American dream—and the American struggle. In the end, his story is as fascinating as those of the aristocrats he documented. “When it comes to the folkways of the rich, the powerful, and the privileged, Stephen Birmingham knows what he’s talking about.” —Los Angeles Times

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  I Will Find You - A Reporter...

  Joanna Connors

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  The journalist’s “brutally affecting [and] powerful” memoir of her quest to uncover the life of the man who raped her twenty-one years earlier (Guardian, UK).   Joanna Connors was thirty years old and on assignment for the Cleveland Plain Dealer to review a college theater production when she was held at knifepoint and raped by a stranger who had grown up five miles away from her. Once her assailant was caught and sentenced, Joanna never spoke of the trauma again . . . until her daughter was about to go to college.   Resolving to tell her children about her rape, Connors began to realize that the man who assaulted her was one of the most formative people in her life. She embarked on a journey to find out who he was, who his friends were, and what his life was like. What she discovers stretches beyond one violent man’s story and back into her own, interweaving a narrative about strength and survival with one about rape culture and violence in America.  I Will Find You is a “deeply humane and harrowing” memoir, as well as a brave and timely consideration of race, class, education, and the families that shape who we become (Boston Globe).

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  Ougat - From a hoe into a...

  Shana Fife

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  There's an entire generation of South African women who ought to read this book.' – Sara-Jayne King, author of Killing Karoline
  'Ougat is masterfully written – raw, unpretentious, unsettling. Shana Fife captures all the darkness from her body, psyche and life with fearless honesty and transparency.' – Frazer Barry, award-winning theatre practitioner, writer and musician
  By the time Shana Fife is 25 she has two kids from different fathers. To the Coloured people she grew up around, she is a jintoe, a jezebel, jas, a woman with mileage on the pussy. She is alone, she has no job and, as she is constantly reminded by her community, she is pretty much worthless and unloveable. How did she become this woman, the epitome of everything she was conditioned to strive not to be?
  Unsettlingly honest and brutally blunt, Ougat is Shana Fife's story of survival: of surviving the social conditioning of her Cape Flats upbringing, of surviving sexual violence and depression and of ultimately escaping a cycle of abuse.
  A powerful, fresh and disarming new voice – Shana's writing is like nothing you've read before.

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  Oswald Boelcke - Germany's First...

  R.G. Head

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  This biography of the pioneering WWI flying ace who mentored the Red Baron is “fascinating . . . [it] captures combat aviation at its inception” (MiG Sweep: The Magazine of Aviation Warriors).   With a total of forty victories, Oswald Boelcke was Germany’s first ace in World War I—and a century later he remains a towering figure in the history of air warfare, renowned for his character, inspirational leadership, organizational genius, development of air-to-air tactics, and impact on aerial doctrine.   Paving the way for modern air forces across the world with his pioneering strategies, Boelcke had a dramatic effect on his contemporaries. The famed Red Baron’s mentor, instructor, squadron commander, and friend, he exerted a tremendous influence upon the German air force. He was one of the first pilots to be awarded the famous Pour le Mérite, commonly recognized as the “Blue Max.” All of this was achieved after overcoming medical obstacles in childhood and later life with willpower and determination.   Boelcke even gained the admiration of his enemies: After his tragic death in a midair collision, Britain’s Royal Flying Corps dropped a wreath on his funeral, and several of his captured foes sent another wreath from their German prison camp. His name and legacy live on, as seen in the Luftwaffe’s designation of the Tactical Air Force Wing 31 “Boelcke.” This definitive biography reveals his importance as a fighter pilot who set the standard in military aviation.  

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  The Diary of a Drug Fiend

  Aleister Crowley

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  Diary of a Drug Fiend was Aleister Crowley's first published novel, and is also reportedly the earliest known reference to the Abbey of Thelema in Sicily. The story is widely thought to be based upon Crowley's own drug experiences, despite being written as a fiction. This seems almost conclusively confirmed by Crowley's statement in the novel's preface: "This is a true story. It has been rewritten only so far as was necessary to conceal personalities."

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