Cultural Memoir

It'd been a long time since I claimed some solitude in this blessed landscape; since I've done without life's little props. Here I have no friend, no dog, no radio, no clock, no phone, no roof, no body pollutants.

Carlyn Montes De Oca grew up surrounded by secrets. She never knew her dad was a Marine during World War II or that her grandmother hired kidnappers to bring her mother back home after her parents eloped. Her mom and dad took an even bigger secret to their graves… Carlyn’s identity. In 2019, at age 57, a DNA test taken for fun revealed that Carlyn’s mom and dad, immigrants from Mexico, were not her biological parents and that most of her extended family, including 63 first cousins, knew the truth but never told her. In that instant, the reality Carlyn had lived with her entire life shattered.

One of crime's most colourful and idiosyncratic leaders is examined in crime writer Nate Hendley's fast-paced book. A treat for fans of true-crime and bizarre mob stories. Nate Hendley brings to the lexicon of gangster profiles a meticulously researched, very human examination of this legendary figure.

Not Without Hope is the true story of the headline-making tragedy that took the lives of three football players: NFL stars Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and Will Bleakley from the University of South Florida. Told by the sole survivor of the ill-fated fishing trip, Nick Schuyler, with New York...

The acclaimed actress and dedicated activist shares her personal journey of discovery, and destroys outdated ideas about partnership, love and family that will resonate with anyone in an unconventional life situation. Actress and activist Maria Bello made waves with her essay, “Coming Out as a...

The mixed population is the fastest-growing group in the UK today, but the mainstream conversation around mixedness is stilted, repetitive and often problematic. At a time when ethnically ambiguous models fill our Instagram feeds and our high street shop windows, and when children of interracial relationships are lauded as heralding in the dawn of a post-racial utopia, journalist Natalie Morris takes a deep dive into what it really means to be mixed in Britain today.

In honest, confessional prose, Born on the Bayou - a roller-coaster rags-to-riches story - transports us to a pocket of the South where Lourd learns how to be a man from the two people he looks up to the most: his larger-than-life father, "Puffer", a prominent figure in the oil business; and his successful older brother, Bryan.

BLACK MAN CAN’T DO is a bold, unfiltered journey into the life of a Black man navigating the raw, demanding world of heavy equipment operations—an industry built on muscle, precision, and an unspoken racial divide. James A Rietz exposes the truth behind the construction fences, where bulldozers, cranes, and excavators roar—and so do centuries-old stereotypes. As the only Black face on many job sites, James didn’t just learn how to move earth—he learned how to move mountains of doubt, prejudice, and exclusion.

Humans of Brooklyn: True Unfiltered Stories from the Heart of New York City pulls back the curtain on the lives of ordinary people with extraordinary tales. This collection of gripping narratives captures the soul of one of the world's most iconic boroughs, revealing the struggles, dreams, and resilience of its residents in their own unfiltered words.

Flipping My Script is my journey—a memoir that chronicles my struggle with assimilation, the hardships of poverty, and the battle against stereotypes. It’s a story of finding my identity in two contrasting worlds, one offering opportunities and the other rich with culture and love. Throughout this memoir, I invite you to walk with me through the most pivotal moments of my life, from the early days of family struggles to the dreams of Hollywood. This journey is not just about the origins of my career, but about the profound losses, the triumphs, and the unwavering spirit that kept me going.

From a celebrated figure of the food world comes a poignant, provocative memoir about being young and gay during the 1970s punk revolution in America Long before James Oseland was a judge on Top Chef Masters, he was a teenage rebel growing up in the pre–Silicon Valley, California, suburbs...

Here is a memoir about the seafaring culture of the West Coast of Scotland and the significance of the Gaelic language. The practice of architecture in Edinburgh and work in foreign fields, some up-roaring poetry and intriguing artistic collaborations follow. It will tell you tales, make you laugh, and also help you to understand what Scotland is now, and how we got here. It reads well, it looks beautiful, and it will last.

Many tales of horror about German occupation have been told through the ages. Some stories are well-known, the history books and television programs documenting them in wretched detail; others are more obscure: the painful separation of families as they attempted to escape an inevitable future, children snatched at a tender age and hidden, everyone wary and vigilant - and afraid. Those years were heavy and their victims mostly silent.

This collection of short essays, written over a period of years, pictures the true Ozarks and its people as Ellen Gray Massey has experienced them. While it captures the scene it also shows how the area has influenced her personal and professional life. From her childhood attending school in Washington, DC, and living all her adult years in the Ozarks, came the material and background to become a writer, her life-long ambition.

大学卒業と同時にＮＰＯに就職しウガンダに駐在した筆者は、深刻な飢えに苦しむ住民たちの命の危機に直面。絶望的な状況を前に、住民たちがこの荒野で農業を営めば、胃袋を満たすことができるのではないかと思い立つ。

Some children still spent summer hopping in Kent. Our class went camping in Ashdown Forest, a change from the bomb sites. We had the cubs and brownies where we earned proficiency badges in a number of skills. On Sundays, the Lido was a short bus ride away. More of our relations now came from Ireland and our Christmas parties were exciting. Passing the scholarship meant losing friends but gaining new ones. Among my friends in the streets of Paddington, this meant I was an outsider once more — a mixed blessed.

This is the story of Veronica Walker. A second generation white African. This is the story of how one woman learnt to accept loss and rebuild her life time and again and how she learnt to fight for herself against a society where women were deemed as second class citizens and the possession of their husbands or fathers. Fighting for her children's safety, Veronica learns to demand her voice be heard and she be accepted for the independent woman she was.

Christine Quinn's improbable journeybegan long before she becameNew York City's second-most-powerfulelected official. The granddaughter of Irishimmigrants—including a grandmother whoescaped the sinking Titanic when most teenagegirls in steerage perished—Christinelearned early in life that...

Alexandra Aldrich, a direct descendant of the famous Astor dynasty, grew up in the servants' quarters of Rokeby, the forty-three-room Hudson Valley mansion built by her ancestors. Her childhood was one of bohemian neglect and real privation. But it was fairly stable until the summer of her tenth...

There’s no college diploma hanging on Donald Thompson’s office wall. He didn’t have a prestigious internship at a Fortune 500 company. And yet, before the age of forty, Donald Thompson was a millionaire CEO and tech entrepreneur. Underestimated follows Don’s unique path, stopping along the way to uncover the business and life lessons he learned, inspirations, and habits that can help anyone realize their dreams.