Showing results for "memoir" in Sociology

In his first book, author Jason Smith explores the depravity and desperation required to maintain an opiate addiction so fierce, he finds himself jumping continents to avoid jail time and learns the hard way that some demons cannot be outrun. While teaching in Europe, he meets a prostitute who secures drugs for him at the dangerous price of helping out the Russian Mafia; in China he gets his Percocet and Xanax fixes but terrifies a crowd of children and parents at his job in the process.

Taking on the thorny ethics of owning and selling property as a white woman in a majority Black city and a majority Bangladeshi neighborhood with both intelligence and humor, this memoir brings a new perspective to a Detroit that finds itself perpetually on the brink of revitalization. In 2016, a Detroit arts organization grants writer and artist Anne Elizabeth Moore a free house—a room of her own, à la Virginia Woolf—in Detroit’s majority-Bangladeshi “Banglatown.”

Brought to you by Penguin. 'We love a rags-to-riches story, and we love to see someone triumph through sheer determination. But the story is rarely that simple. My story isn't, anyway.' As the middle of five kids growing up in dire poverty, the odds were low on Katriona O'Sullivan making...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Included in "The Nonfiction Books Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer" by The New York Times A novelist once wrote, “There are stories one must tell, and years when one must tell them.” Jill Biden’s time to discuss her four years in the White House is now...

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER / OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD THE AMERICAN VICE PRESIDENT'S ORIGIN STORY ‘Essential reading for this moment in history’ New York Times 'You will not read a more important book about America this year' Economist ‘Brilliant … offers an acute insight into the...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE NEW YORK TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient...

Whether it is pastoral care for the bereaved, discussions about the afterlife, or being called out to perform the last rites, death is part of the Reverend Richard Coles's life and work. But when his partner, the Reverend David Coles, died, shortly before Christmas in 2019, much about death took Coles by surprise. For one thing, David's death at the early age of 43 was unexpected. The man that so often assists others to examine life's moral questions now found himself in need of help. He began to look to others for guidance to steer him through his grief.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Good Morning America Book Club Pick A New York Times Most Anticipated Books of Fall From the New York Times bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a struggling mother barely making ends meet as a housecleaner, a “raw and inspiring” (People) memoir...

Bloomsbury presents Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward, read by January LaVoy. _______________ 'A brutal, moving memoir … Anyone who emerges from America’s black working-class youth with words as fine as Ward’s deserves a hearing' – Guardian 'Raw, beautiful and dangerous' – New York Times...

Brought to you by Penguin. For everyone who dreams of escape to a cabin by a stream, for those moments of tranquility while the natural world does its thing around you ... Some moments in childhood are frozen in time, vivid and vital, an anchor. When James Aldred tracked down an old horse-drawn...

This “perfect balance of bold honesty and riotous wit” (Shelf Awareness) from the author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay explores Stefanie Wilder-Taylor’s journey to breaking up with alcohol for good. For Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, alcohol was the seasoning that could give almost any...

Brought to you by Penguin. The instant New York Times bestselling memoir that everyone is talking about Molly Roden Winter was a mother of small children with a husband, Stewart, who often worked late. One night when Stewart missed the kids’ bedtime—again—she stormed out of the house to...

What happens when a man of today's overconnected world sets off alone across the Pacific at the age of 71? Christian Williams, a veteran sailor and writer, planned a 6,000-mile voyage as a test of his own seamanship and endurance, and to fulfill a lifelong goal. But he found his focus quickly turning from the surrounding sea to all of us. Is anyone the same person when no one else is there? Do we dare to find out?

After serving as a nurse in WW2, Molly Corbally joined the brand-new NHS and became one of the first official District Health Visitors, attending to mothers and babies from all walks of life in the picturesque village near Coventry she came to call home. Social work was uncharted territory at the time, and Britain was very much worse for wear - TB, polio, measles and whooping cough were just some of the hazards new babies faced. Social conditions could also add to the problems, when poverty and alcoholism were rife. 

Growing up gifted and working-class in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. The girls bonded over a shared love of learning as they navigated the challenges of their declining town and tumultuous family lives - broken marriages, shuttered stores and factories. They pored over the giant map in their classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape. In the end, Monica left Clinton for university and fulfilled her dreams. Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not.

For fans of Educated and Invisible Child, David Sussillo combines memoir and cutting-edge neuroscience to tell the story of his unlikely journey from group homes and drug-addicted parents to the scientific elite—exploring why, and how, he managed to succeed against all odds. David Sussillo has...

A funny and touching story about how to deal with the struggles of adulthood, how to live a good life, and how money can complicate it all. Money Sucks is the culmination of those discussions, rumination on the haves and the have-nots and a frank, thought-provoking look at some of the toughest questions life throws our way: What makes us happy? How much is enough? Funny and inspiring in equal measures, it’s a must-listen for anyone who cares about the future of their children, grandchildren, and the friends and family they love.

In this thought-provoking memoir, an award-winning journalist explores the chaos, doubt, and search for meaning that come with staying one step ahead of cancer for decades. “An Exercise in Uncertainty has a powerful and restorative story to tell us. Jonathan Gluck’s life of illness and...

A poetic, darkly funny memoir of one woman’s trip across the national parks straight into life-threatening illness and the joy that still holds us, no matter how much life hurts. “Unapologetically raw, defiantly humorous, this book is the bravest of journeys. . . . A memoir that makes no...

When we practise love in the face of fear or rage, it has the ability to transform an encounter, a relationship, a community, a culture, even a country. Love becomes revolutionary. Revolutionary love is the call of our time. A radical, joyful practice that extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents and to ourselves. It invites you to see no stranger but instead look at others and say: you are part of me I do not yet know.