Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-linedboulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking fa?ades around everycorner--in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured theAmerican imagination for as long as there have beenAmericans. In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left thefamiliar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbaneglamour of the City of Light. Gopnik is a longtime New Yorkerwriter, and the magazine has sent its writers to Paris fordecades--but his was above all a personal pilgrimage to the placethat had for so long been the undisputed capital of everythingcultural and beautiful. It was also the opportunity to raise achild who would know what it was to romp in the Luxembourg Gardens,to enjoy a croque monsieur in a Left Bank café--a child (andperhaps a father, too) who would have a grasp of that Parisiansense of style we Americans find so elusive. So, in the grand tradition of the American abroad, Gopnik walkedthe paths of the Tuileries, enjoy
With his signature style and grace, Willie Morris, arguably oneof this country's finest Southern writers, presents us with anunparalleled memoir of a country in transition and a boy coming ofage in a period of tumultuous cultural, social, and politicalchange. In North Toward Home , Morris vividly recalls the South ofhis childhood with all of its cruelty, grace, and foibles intact.He chronicles desegregation and the rise of Lyndon Johnson in Texasin the 50s and 60s, and New York in the 1960s, where he became thecontroversial editor of Harper's magazine. North TowardHome is the perceptive story of the education of an observantand intelligent young man, and a gifted writer's keen observationsof a country in transition. It is, as Walker Percy wrote, "atouching, deeply felt and memorable account of one man'spilgrimage."
“I cannot go anywhere in America without people wanting to sharetheir wartime experiences....The stories and the lessons haveemerged from long-forgotten letters home, from reunions of oldbuddies and outfits, from unpublished diaries and home-publishedmemoirs....As the stories in this album of memories remind us, ittruly was an American experience, from the centers of power to themost humble corners of the land.” —Tom Brokaw In this beautiful American family album of stories from theGreatest Generation, the history of life as it was lived during theDepression and World War II comes alive and is preserved inpeople’s own words. Photographs and time lines also commemorateimportant dates and events. An Army Air Corps veteran who enlistedin 1941 at age seventeen writes to describe the Bataan Death March.A black nurse tells of her encounter with wartime segregation.Other members of the Greatest Generation describe their war—in suchhistoric episodes as Guadalcanal, the D-Day invasion, the Battle ofthe Bul
After Out on a Limb , MacLaine now offers more of her familybackground, with reproductions of parental game-playingconversations which must evoke poignant recognitions in children ofconflicting adults. Aided by spirit-guided acupuncture, she hasbeen recovering past-life experiences enabling her to deal withthis pain. Most moving is her meeting with her Higher Self, whichcontinues to guide her. Another colorful love affair in Paris andHollywood provides food for the gossip-column fans. More seriousare her ruminations on creative artistry, first as a dancer, thenas a movie star. Even readers put off by MacLaine's uncritical andwholehearted embrace of reincarnation will have to applaud hercandor and zest for discovering the meaning of her life. Jeanne S.Bagby, Tucson P.L., Ariz. Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information,Inc.
Emily Dickinson, probably the most loved and certainly the greatest of American poets, continues to be seen as the most elusive. One reason she has become a timeless icon of mystery for many readers is that her developmental phases have not been clarified. In this exhaustively researched biography, Alfred Habegger presents the first thorough account of Dickinson s growth a richly contextualized story of genius in the process of formation and then in the act of overwhelming production.
