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eBook
Create dangerously : the immigrant artist at work
Danticat, Edwidge
Princeton University Press
, 2025
; English
; 182 Pages
“Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously. This is what I’ve always thought it meant to be a writer. Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.”—Create Dangerously
In this deeply personal book, the celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat reflects on art and exile, examining what it means to be an immigrant artist from a country in crisis. Inspired by Albert Camus’ lecture, “Create Dangerously,” and combining memoir and essay, Danticat tells the stories of artists, including herself, who create despite—or because of—the horrors that drove them from their homelands.
She writes about the Haitian novelists she first read as a girl at the Brooklyn Public Library, Jean-Michel Basquiat and other artists of Haitian descent, and a renowned Haitian radio journalist whose political assassination shocked the world. She also eulogizes an aunt who guarded her family’s homestead in the Haitian countryside, a cousin who died of AIDS while living in Miami as an undocumented immigrant, and a Haitian woman mutilated in a machete attack who became a public witness against torture.
Create Dangerously is an eloquent and moving expression of Danticat’s belief that immigrant artists are obliged to bear witness when their countries of origin are suffering from violence, oppression, poverty, and tragedy.
Danticat, Edwidge
Princeton University Press
, 2025
; English
; 182 Pages
“Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously. This is what I’ve always thought it meant to be a writer. Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.”—Create Dangerously
In this deeply personal book, the celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat reflects on art and exile, examining what it means to be an immigrant artist from a country in crisis. Inspired by Albert Camus’ lecture, “Create Dangerously,” and combining memoir and essay, Danticat tells the stories of artists, including herself, who create despite—or because of—the horrors that drove them from their homelands.
She writes about the Haitian novelists she first read as a girl at the Brooklyn Public Library, Jean-Michel Basquiat and other artists of Haitian descent, and a renowned Haitian radio journalist whose political assassination shocked the world. She also eulogizes an aunt who guarded her family’s homestead in the Haitian countryside, a cousin who died of AIDS while living in Miami as an undocumented immigrant, and a Haitian woman mutilated in a machete attack who became a public witness against torture.
Create Dangerously is an eloquent and moving expression of Danticat’s belief that immigrant artists are obliged to bear witness when their countries of origin are suffering from violence, oppression, poverty, and tragedy.
eBook
Crossing the line : an Israeli-Palestinian love story
Guarnieri, Mya
Red Lightning Books
, 2025
; English
; 292 Pages
In Crossing the Line, journalist and writer Mya Guarnieri recounts the story of a real-life Romeo and Juliet: herself, a Jewish American immigrant to Israel lecturing at a Palestinian university, and Mohamed, a fellow journalist and the son of a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
This timely memoir chronicles how, despite the Israeli-built separation barrier that stood between them, Mya and Mohamed managed to meet, fall in love, and overcome the external and internal obstacles that threatened to keep them apart. With a reporter's eye for detail and a storyteller's knack for nuance, she shares the political, cultural, and family problems the star-crossed lovers faced throughout their courtship. Crossing the Line is not only a reflection on her own story, however; this compelling memoir also offers an intimate look at daily life in Palestinian areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; it explores the complexity of loving one's "enemy"; and it serves as a tortured love letter to the land and the people who call the place home.
In a dark moment in the long history of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Crossing the Line is a spot of light that imagines a different future for the two peoples. It is also a universal story about the challenges of overcoming our innermost emotional barriers and making ourselves vulnerable to love.
Guarnieri, Mya
Red Lightning Books
, 2025
; English
; 292 Pages
In Crossing the Line, journalist and writer Mya Guarnieri recounts the story of a real-life Romeo and Juliet: herself, a Jewish American immigrant to Israel lecturing at a Palestinian university, and Mohamed, a fellow journalist and the son of a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
This timely memoir chronicles how, despite the Israeli-built separation barrier that stood between them, Mya and Mohamed managed to meet, fall in love, and overcome the external and internal obstacles that threatened to keep them apart. With a reporter's eye for detail and a storyteller's knack for nuance, she shares the political, cultural, and family problems the star-crossed lovers faced throughout their courtship. Crossing the Line is not only a reflection on her own story, however; this compelling memoir also offers an intimate look at daily life in Palestinian areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; it explores the complexity of loving one's "enemy"; and it serves as a tortured love letter to the land and the people who call the place home.
In a dark moment in the long history of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Crossing the Line is a spot of light that imagines a different future for the two peoples. It is also a universal story about the challenges of overcoming our innermost emotional barriers and making ourselves vulnerable to love.
eBook
An education : how I changed my mind about schools and almost everything else
Ravitch, Diane
Columbia University Press
, 2025
; English
; 243 Pages
"From her early advocacy for voluntary national standards in the 1980s to her tenure as Assistant Secretary of Education under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Diane Ravitch was an advocate the policies in the style of No Child Left Behind-high-stakes testing, school choice, privatization, and charter schools. Then, as she writes in this memoir, "I looked at what happened when they were put into practice, and I realized how wrong I was." By 2010, with the publication of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, she had repudiated her earlier beliefs, arguing instead for holistic education, stronger social welfare for pregnant women, and rebuking the wave of charter schools, privatization, and union busting that had hollowed out the public school system. "To use current parlance," she writes, "I went from being a staunch conservative to being woke." In this memoir of her life's work as a historian and policy advocate, Ravitch traces her ideological evolution. From championing evidence-based curriculum and instruction, notably the Core Knowledge movement and the Common Core initiative, to her leftward turn, arguing for stronger collective bargaining for teachers and more investment in public schools. In this book, she explains her journey-from her childhood in Houston to her education at Columbia to her stints in government in the Department of Education and the National Assessment Governing Board. Through candid reflections on decades of research on education outcomes, Ravitch makes the case for becoming, as she calls herself, "an activist on behalf of public schools.""-- Provided by publisher
Ravitch, Diane
Columbia University Press
, 2025
; English
; 243 Pages
"From her early advocacy for voluntary national standards in the 1980s to her tenure as Assistant Secretary of Education under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Diane Ravitch was an advocate the policies in the style of No Child Left Behind-high-stakes testing, school choice, privatization, and charter schools. Then, as she writes in this memoir, "I looked at what happened when they were put into practice, and I realized how wrong I was." By 2010, with the publication of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, she had repudiated her earlier beliefs, arguing instead for holistic education, stronger social welfare for pregnant women, and rebuking the wave of charter schools, privatization, and union busting that had hollowed out the public school system. "To use current parlance," she writes, "I went from being a staunch conservative to being woke." In this memoir of her life's work as a historian and policy advocate, Ravitch traces her ideological evolution. From championing evidence-based curriculum and instruction, notably the Core Knowledge movement and the Common Core initiative, to her leftward turn, arguing for stronger collective bargaining for teachers and more investment in public schools. In this book, she explains her journey-from her childhood in Houston to her education at Columbia to her stints in government in the Department of Education and the National Assessment Governing Board. Through candid reflections on decades of research on education outcomes, Ravitch makes the case for becoming, as she calls herself, "an activist on behalf of public schools.""-- Provided by publisher
eBook
Into being: the radical craft of memoir and its power to transform
Dunn, Lily
Manchester University Press
, 2025
; English
; 241 Pages
Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father, presents an essential guide to memoir writing. Demystifying the memoirist's art, she explores why our memories privilege some events over others and offers advice for navigating the challenge of writing truthfully without intruding on the lives of our loved ones.
Dunn, Lily
Manchester University Press
, 2025
; English
; 241 Pages
Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father, presents an essential guide to memoir writing. Demystifying the memoirist's art, she explores why our memories privilege some events over others and offers advice for navigating the challenge of writing truthfully without intruding on the lives of our loved ones.
eBook
Urban republican mayor : my story
Ballard, Greg
Indiana University Press
, 2025
; English
; 327 Pages
A midwestern urban Republican mayor reveals the success of his moderate approach to governing.
Throughout his eight years as mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard did what he thought was right, looking out for the long-term health of his city with political implications being the last of considerations. This included a pointed critique of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by then governor Mike Pence. Relying on his well-trained and efficient staff, he ensured that the city moved aggressively forward with little political interference. Never taking a poll to see which way the winds were blowing, Ballard was not a normal politician. He was a Marine who had traveled the world, been to war, and had returned to his hometown to serve again. Ballard was that rarity in American politics, an urban Republican, moderate in views and practical in governing, and always completely dedicated to his city.
Thoughtful and brimming with insights, Greg Ballard's inspirational story offers a compelling blueprint for American politics going forward.
Ballard, Greg
Indiana University Press
, 2025
; English
; 327 Pages
A midwestern urban Republican mayor reveals the success of his moderate approach to governing.
Throughout his eight years as mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard did what he thought was right, looking out for the long-term health of his city with political implications being the last of considerations. This included a pointed critique of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by then governor Mike Pence. Relying on his well-trained and efficient staff, he ensured that the city moved aggressively forward with little political interference. Never taking a poll to see which way the winds were blowing, Ballard was not a normal politician. He was a Marine who had traveled the world, been to war, and had returned to his hometown to serve again. Ballard was that rarity in American politics, an urban Republican, moderate in views and practical in governing, and always completely dedicated to his city.
Thoughtful and brimming with insights, Greg Ballard's inspirational story offers a compelling blueprint for American politics going forward.
eBook
The Firkin Saga : brewing up entrepreneurial adventures and pioneering tales with the Prince of Ales
David Bruce OBE
Right Book Press
, 2025
; English
; 249 Pages
Ready to raise a glass to an entrepreneurial adventure like no other?
Step into the wildly entertaining world of David Bruce OBE, an unconventional entrepreneur, and legendary founder of Bruce’s Brewery and the Firkin pubs brand, who took the brewing industry by storm. In The Firkin Saga, he shares nearly 60 years of beer, business and bold decisions.
In 1979, David defied the odds, opening London’s first pub in a century to brew its own beer – The Goose & Firkin – and proving his doubters wrong. What followed was a whirlwind of international ventures, charitable endeavours and a fair share of triumphs and setbacks.
From pub brawls to boardroom battles, this memoir is packed with incredible stories that shine a light onto the brewing industry and the remarkable career of a highly successful entrepreneur. Along the way, David shares invaluable business lessons, many learned the hard way, from trusting your instincts to mastering the art of delegation. And it’s all told with the same wit, irreverence and generous splash of humour that made his pubs and beers unforgettable.
If you love a great business adventure – or a good pint – this book is a real eye-opener. So, grab a drink, settle in and say “cheers!” to a story that proves how success is best served with a small side of fun and mischief.
eBook
David Bruce OBE
Right Book Press
, 2025
; English
; 249 Pages
Ready to raise a glass to an entrepreneurial adventure like no other?
Step into the wildly entertaining world of David Bruce OBE, an unconventional entrepreneur, and legendary founder of Bruce’s Brewery and the Firkin pubs brand, who took the brewing industry by storm. In The Firkin Saga, he shares nearly 60 years of beer, business and bold decisions.
In 1979, David defied the odds, opening London’s first pub in a century to brew its own beer – The Goose & Firkin – and proving his doubters wrong. What followed was a whirlwind of international ventures, charitable endeavours and a fair share of triumphs and setbacks.
From pub brawls to boardroom battles, this memoir is packed with incredible stories that shine a light onto the brewing industry and the remarkable career of a highly successful entrepreneur. Along the way, David shares invaluable business lessons, many learned the hard way, from trusting your instincts to mastering the art of delegation. And it’s all told with the same wit, irreverence and generous splash of humour that made his pubs and beers unforgettable.
If you love a great business adventure – or a good pint – this book is a real eye-opener. So, grab a drink, settle in and say “cheers!” to a story that proves how success is best served with a small side of fun and mischief.
eBook
Eastward, Westward : a life in law
Cohen, Jerome A.
Columbia University Press
, 2025
; English
; 385 Pages
Few Americans have done more than Jerome A. Cohen to advance the rule of law in East Asia. The founder of the study of Chinese law in the United States and a tireless advocate for human rights, Cohen has been a scholar, teacher, lawyer, and activist for more than sixty years. Moving among the United States, China, and Taiwan, he has encouraged legal reforms, promoted economic cooperation, mentored law students—including a future president of Taiwan—and brokered international crises.
In this compelling, conversational memoir, Cohen recounts a dramatic life of striving for a better world from Washington, DC, to Beijing, offering vital first-hand insights from the study and practice of Sino-American relations. In the early 1960s, when Americans were not permitted to enter China, he met with émigrés in Hong Kong and interviewed them on Chinese criminal procedure. After economic reform under Deng Xiaoping, Cohen’s knowledge of Chinese law took on a new importance as foreign companies began to pursue business opportunities. Helping China develop and reconstruct its legal system, he made an influential case for the roles of Western law and lawyers. Cohen helped break political barriers in both China and Taiwan, and he was instrumental in securing the release of political prisoners in several countries. Sharing these experiences and many others, this book tells the full story of an unparalleled career bridging East and West.
Cohen, Jerome A.
Columbia University Press
, 2025
; English
; 385 Pages
Few Americans have done more than Jerome A. Cohen to advance the rule of law in East Asia. The founder of the study of Chinese law in the United States and a tireless advocate for human rights, Cohen has been a scholar, teacher, lawyer, and activist for more than sixty years. Moving among the United States, China, and Taiwan, he has encouraged legal reforms, promoted economic cooperation, mentored law students—including a future president of Taiwan—and brokered international crises.
In this compelling, conversational memoir, Cohen recounts a dramatic life of striving for a better world from Washington, DC, to Beijing, offering vital first-hand insights from the study and practice of Sino-American relations. In the early 1960s, when Americans were not permitted to enter China, he met with émigrés in Hong Kong and interviewed them on Chinese criminal procedure. After economic reform under Deng Xiaoping, Cohen’s knowledge of Chinese law took on a new importance as foreign companies began to pursue business opportunities. Helping China develop and reconstruct its legal system, he made an influential case for the roles of Western law and lawyers. Cohen helped break political barriers in both China and Taiwan, and he was instrumental in securing the release of political prisoners in several countries. Sharing these experiences and many others, this book tells the full story of an unparalleled career bridging East and West.
eBook
Lockdown life: the pandemic experience for older diarists
Madge, Nicola
Policy Press
, 2025
; English
; 259 Pages
The COVID-19 pandemic took many by surprise when it arrived in Britain in early 2020. Daily lives changed dramatically from March with the introduction of unprecedented restrictions and lockdowns. How did people react?
This book draws on the diaries of 68 men and women aged 70 and above, capturing their thoughts and experiences over the following months. Although these older diarists considered themselves among the more fortunate at the time, their entries reveal both highs and lows. There were anxieties and frustrations but also much positivity and, often, a reluctance for an over-hasty return to pre-pandemic times.
Through these personal and contemporaneous accounts, the book offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the pandemic and its significance in modern social history.
Madge, Nicola
Policy Press
, 2025
; English
; 259 Pages
The COVID-19 pandemic took many by surprise when it arrived in Britain in early 2020. Daily lives changed dramatically from March with the introduction of unprecedented restrictions and lockdowns. How did people react?
This book draws on the diaries of 68 men and women aged 70 and above, capturing their thoughts and experiences over the following months. Although these older diarists considered themselves among the more fortunate at the time, their entries reveal both highs and lows. There were anxieties and frustrations but also much positivity and, often, a reluctance for an over-hasty return to pre-pandemic times.
Through these personal and contemporaneous accounts, the book offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the pandemic and its significance in modern social history.
eBook
Between the salt and the ash : a journey into the soul of Northumbria
Morris-Campbell, Jake
Manchester University Press
, 2025
; English
; 309 Pages
A writer's quest to understand the deep past and uncertain future of his homeland.
After inheriting the miner's safety lamp that belonged to his great-grandfather, Jake Morris-Campbell sets out on a pilgrimage across his homeland. Travelling from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral, he asks what new ways might be made through the old north.
This region, a hub of early Christian Britain and later strongly defined by industry and class, now faces an uncertain future. But it remains a unique and starkly beautiful part of the country, with a deep history that is intimately entwined with the idea of Englishness. Jake’s journey along the ‘Camino of the North’ sees him explore the shifting nature of individual and regional identity across thirteen-hundred years of social change. At the same time, it challenges him to reconsider his own calling as a writer and how it relates to the lives of the people he meets along the way.
Between the salt and the ash asks what stories the North East can tell about itself in the wake of Christianity and coal. Rejecting the damaging trope of ‘left behind’ communities, Jake uncovers neglected seams of culture and history, while offering a heartfelt celebration of the place he calls hyem.
Morris-Campbell, Jake
Manchester University Press
, 2025
; English
; 309 Pages
A writer's quest to understand the deep past and uncertain future of his homeland.
After inheriting the miner's safety lamp that belonged to his great-grandfather, Jake Morris-Campbell sets out on a pilgrimage across his homeland. Travelling from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral, he asks what new ways might be made through the old north.
This region, a hub of early Christian Britain and later strongly defined by industry and class, now faces an uncertain future. But it remains a unique and starkly beautiful part of the country, with a deep history that is intimately entwined with the idea of Englishness. Jake’s journey along the ‘Camino of the North’ sees him explore the shifting nature of individual and regional identity across thirteen-hundred years of social change. At the same time, it challenges him to reconsider his own calling as a writer and how it relates to the lives of the people he meets along the way.
Between the salt and the ash asks what stories the North East can tell about itself in the wake of Christianity and coal. Rejecting the damaging trope of ‘left behind’ communities, Jake uncovers neglected seams of culture and history, while offering a heartfelt celebration of the place he calls hyem.
eBook
Creating life story theatre : a guide for applied theatre practitioners
Diamond, Karin; O’Connor, Alison; Baim, Clark
Methuen Drama
, 2025
; English
; 297 Pages
Balancing practical exercises and case studies, this book equips practitioners, students and academics with guidance for exploring the process of making theatre from personal stories.
Inviting you to consider the ethical challenges and rewards of this specialized area of theatre making, this book contextualizes the authors' original approaches within the range of existing applied theatre practice. It draws on the authors' practice and research in prisons, with military veterans and families, older adults, people living with dementia, intergenerational community groups, and end-of-life care settings. Offering guiding principles for practitioners undertaking work in this field and sharing techniques and exercises to help develop your style and approach, it also features handy hints and pitfalls to consider while working with someone's most precious commodity: their life story.
Featuring both the authors' and participants' perspectives, the book explores concepts such as collaborative editing and co-creation, ownership and accountability, ethics and boundaries, and rolling consent. Alongside a growing interest in using personal stories in applied theatre, it argues that there is increasing evidence for the role of the arts in the promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and management and treatment of illness. In light of the steady increase in a diverse range of arts practitioners embracing narrative practice, this book is an accessible, practitioner-level text on the subject.
Diamond, Karin; O’Connor, Alison; Baim, Clark
Methuen Drama
, 2025
; English
; 297 Pages
Balancing practical exercises and case studies, this book equips practitioners, students and academics with guidance for exploring the process of making theatre from personal stories.
Inviting you to consider the ethical challenges and rewards of this specialized area of theatre making, this book contextualizes the authors' original approaches within the range of existing applied theatre practice. It draws on the authors' practice and research in prisons, with military veterans and families, older adults, people living with dementia, intergenerational community groups, and end-of-life care settings. Offering guiding principles for practitioners undertaking work in this field and sharing techniques and exercises to help develop your style and approach, it also features handy hints and pitfalls to consider while working with someone's most precious commodity: their life story.
Featuring both the authors' and participants' perspectives, the book explores concepts such as collaborative editing and co-creation, ownership and accountability, ethics and boundaries, and rolling consent. Alongside a growing interest in using personal stories in applied theatre, it argues that there is increasing evidence for the role of the arts in the promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and management and treatment of illness. In light of the steady increase in a diverse range of arts practitioners embracing narrative practice, this book is an accessible, practitioner-level text on the subject.
