True Tales of American Life

Author: Paul Auster
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571266789
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 495

Book Description
Chosen by Paul Auster out of the four thousand stories submitted to his radio programme on National Public Radio, these 180 stories provide a wonderful portrait of America in the twentieth century. The requirement for selection was that each of the stories should be true, and each of the writers should not have been previously published. The collection that has emerged provides a richly varied and authentic voice for the American people, whose lives, loves, griefs, regrets, joys and sense of humour are vividly and honestly recounted throughout, and adeptly organised by Auster into themed sections. The section composed of war stories stretches as far back as the Civil War, still the defining moment in American history; while the sequence of 'Meditations' conclude the volume with a true and abiding sense of transcendence. The resultant anthology is both an enduring hymn to the strange everyday of contemporary American life and a masterclass in the art of storytelling.

America

Author: Fred Setterberg
Publisher: Travelers' Tales
ISBN: 9781885211286
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 560

Book Description
A portrait of the nation through tales of travelers who have traversed the breadth and depth of America the beautiful.

I Thought My Father Was God

Author: Paul Auster
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312421007
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 418

Book Description
A collection of 180 personal, true-life accounts from NPR's National Story Project reflects the work of men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life and is accompanied by a look at the role of storytelling in our lives.

The Least of Us

Author: Sam Quinones
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1635574374
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
Apple Best Books of 2021 Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal * Shortlisted for the Zocalo Book Prize From the New York Times bestselling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair. Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the U.S. to create Dreamland, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic that awakened the nation. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead: synthetic drugs and a new generation of kingpins whose product could be made in Magic Bullet blenders. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine. They laced it into cocaine, meth, and counterfeit pills to cause tens of thousands of deaths-at the same time as Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating, Sam argues, swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations. “In a time when drug traffickers act like corporations and corporations like traffickers,” he writes, “our best defense, perhaps our only defense, lies in bolstering community.” Amid a landscape of despair, Quinones found hope in those embracing the forgotten and ignored, illuminating the striking truth that we are only as strong as our most vulnerable. Weaving analysis of the drug trade into stories of humble communities, The Least of Us delivers an unexpected and awe-inspiring response to the call that shocked the nation in Sam Quinones's award-winning Dreamland.

Expat

Author: Christina Henry de Tessan
Publisher: Seal Press
ISBN: 1580055206
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
It's one thing to travel abroad—to stay in charming hotels and deliberate over whether to visit this museum or relax at that café even to head off the beaten track for a glimpse of "real" life—and another thing altogether to move to another country. Expat chronicles the experiences of twenty-two ordinary women living extraordinary lives in outposts as far flung as Borneo, Ukraine, India, Greece, Brazil, China and the Czech Republic. In vivid detail, these writers share how the realities of life abroad match up to the expat fantasy. One woman negotiates the rough courtesies of Serbia, finding lives limned by harshness and an insurmountable spirit. Another is tutored on English manners by an eclectic bunch from Liverpool: "The cardinal sin in America is to be insincere, whereas the cardinal sin in England is to be boring." For some, their new home prompts them to reconnect or confront lost parts of themselves: One woman rediscovers her Judaism—in Japan; another writer's Western outlook is challenged by Javanese mysticism. Many share their own naíve blunders and private confessions: a Thanksgiving dinner that doesn't translate in Paris, a sudden yearning for bad Hollywood films. And all discover that what it means to be "American" is redefined, again and again. taps into the bewilderment, the joys and surprises of life overseas, where the challenges often take unexpected forms and the obstacles overcome are all the more triumphant. Featuring an astonishing range of perspectives, destinations and circumstances, this collection offers a beautiful portrait of expatriate life.

True Tales from Another Mexico

Author: Sam Quinones
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826322968
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Book Description
Merges keen observation with astute interviews and storytelling in the search for an authentic modern Mexico, finding it in part with emigrants.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)

Author: Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316219304
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Book Description
A New York Times bestseller—over one million copies sold! A National Book Award winner A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live. With a forward by Markus Zusak, interviews with Sherman Alexie and Ellen Forney, and black-and-white interior art throughout, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.

Eat Now; Talk Later

Author: James Vescovi
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1491831499
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Book Description
Prepare yourself for a feast consumed in delicious bites. This collection of stories can be read before bed, on a lunch hour, or waiting in line. They can even be shared with friends who complain they have enough to read. Together they ask the question, "How do you make modern life run smoothly for parents or grandparents who grew up in an era when oxen were used for plowing, children left school after third grade to tend chickens, and meat was eaten only twice a year? When Tony and Desolina Vescovi arrived in America, they collided with the 20th century. Born around 1900, they were stumped by telephones, banks, fast food, TV wrestling, and supermarkets. It was up to their only child, a son, to serve as their shepherd, and it wasn’t easy For example, how to explain that his job was taking him and his family 700 miles away when, in their day, sons stayed put to work the family farm? Or that it wasn’t wise to hide $10,000 in the bedroom? Or that the ice cream they just tried and enjoyed is called ‘Chubby Hubby’? This collection of 52 bite-size stories offers a twist on the American immigrant tale and is a testament to love, loyalty, and frequent half-truths.

Men My Mother Dated and Other Mostly True Tales

Author: Brett Leveridge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : New York (N.Y.)
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Book Description
As heard on NPR's "All Things Considered" and "This American Life, " Leveridge spins the mostly true tales of small-town Lotharios and big-city dreams in a voice that is simultaneously hip and homespun--and utterly his own. National Public Radio sponsorship.

The Job

Author: Steve Osborne
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 1101872144
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
“A nice quiet night.” During his two decades on the force, if you asked NYPD officer Steve Osborne how things were going, that’s what he’d tell you. On a stakeout? Nice quiet night. Drive by shooting? Nice quiet night. Now, with The Job he’s ready to talk, and does he have some stories to tell. Most civilians get their information about police work from television shows, which are pure fantasy. Here, Osborne takes us into his world, the gritty and not so glamorous life of real street cops. And along the way he finds humor and soul searching humanity in the most unlikely places. For anyone interested in knowing what a cop’s life is all about, this is a must read.