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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > From 1900
An Argentinian epic about dance "This is the story of a man who
took part in a dance contest." It is thus that Argentine journalist
and author Leila Guerriero opens her book. It tells the most
difficult of all epic stories: that of the common man. This is an
electrifying work that spans the genres of journalism and fiction.
It tells a moving and strangely intimate story about malambo, a
traditional dance of the Argentine gauchos, and about the Malambo
Festival of Laborde in the southeast of the Argentinian province of
Cordoba. It is also about Rodolfo Gonzalez Alcantara, who won the
dance competition in 2012. Leila Guerriero is a gifted chronicler.
Her internationally acclaimed work A Simple Story was published in
Spanish in 2013 and in English in 2017, and now appears in German
for the first time, in a translation by Angelica Ammar. First
German translation of the impressive chronicle "A foray through
life, suffering, sacrifice, silent despair, the dread of loss,
solidarity, and glory." (El Pais) "[a] level of excellence: [...]
rigorous work, exhaustive research" (Mario Vargas Llosa)
'This powerful study looks behind the statistics and political slogans to reveal the human face of the refugee crisis.' Guardian
A mother who puts her children into a refrigerated lorry and asks ‘what else could I do?’ A runaway teenager who comes of age on the streets and in abandoned buildings. A student who leaves his war-ravaged country behind because he doesn’t want to kill. Each of the thousands of people who come to Europe in search of asylum every year brings a unique story with them. But their stories don’t end there.
In Lights in the Distance, acclaimed journalist Daniel Trilling draws on years of reporting to build a portrait of the refugee crisis, seen through the eyes of the people who experienced it first-hand. As the European Union has grown, so has a tangled and often violent system designed to filter out unwanted migrants – one that extends from the border into cities. Most of us became aware of the crisis when it apparently reached its peak in 2015, but the roots go much deeper. Visiting camps and hostels, sneaking into detention centres and delving into his own family’s history of displacement, Trilling weaves together the stories of people he met and followed from country to country. In doing so, he shows that the terms commonly used to define them – refugee or economic migrant, legal or illegal, deserving or undeserving – fall woefully short of capturing the complex realities.
The founding myth of the EU is that it exists to ensure the horrors of the twentieth century are never repeated. Now, as it comes to terms with its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, the 'European values' of freedom, tolerance and respect for human rights are being put to the test. Lights in the Distance is a uniquely powerful and illuminating exploration of the nature and human dimensions of the crisis.
The interwar period is often described as the 'Golden Age' of
detective fiction, but many other kinds of crime writing, both
factual and fictional, were also widely read during these years.
Crime Writing in Interwar Britain: Fact and Fiction in the Golden
Age considers some of this neglected material in order to provide a
richer and more complex view of how crime and criminality were
understood between the wars. A number of the authors discussed,
including Dorothy L. Sayers, Marie Belloc Lowndes and F. Tennyson
Jesse, wrote about crime in essays, book reviews, newspaper
articles and works of popular criminology, as well as in novels and
short stories. Placing debates about detective fiction in the
context of this largely forgotten but rich and diverse culture of
writing about crime will give a unique new picture of how
criminality and the legal process were considered at this time.
With syndication in more than 200 newspapers and a faithful
readership nationwide, Bill Maxwell's status as one of the
country's preeminent black journalists is unquestionable. This
collection of his columns, primarily from the St. Petersburg Times,
forms a body of commentary on humanity (and lack of same) that will
capture the hearts and minds of Americans. Maxwell covers a
sweeping range of subjects, including race-a central but not
exclusive theme. He asks hard questions that courageously attempt
to understand hatred and injustice in America; and he takes on
controversial issues many columnists avoid and a wide spectrum of
national figures-from Jeb, George W. and Clarence Thomas to the
Pope and Jesse Jackson. Maxwell writes movingly about his childhood
as the son of migrant farm workers in rural Florida, his love of
books-beginning with those plucked from garbage cans-and his
everyday encounters with the white world and the black one. With a
voice that is provocative and insights that are deep and
passionate, he tackles the plight of migrant workers, the
devastation of the environment, religious intolerance, homophobia,
affirmative action, illiteracy, public education, civic
responsibility, politics-and racism. He criticizes blacks and
whites alike in his search for truth and right, especially in his
exploration of what he calls 'resurgent bigotry and Republicanism'
and 'the black writer's most agonizing task-and duty-being
dispassionate about the foibles and self-destructive behavior of
African-Americans. Setting a standard for the newspaper column as
social criticism, Maximum Insight illuminates the role of the black
writer as an interpreter of the forces that define a diverse
America.
After 1850, Americans swarmed to take in a raft of new illustrated
journals and papers. Engravings and drawings of "buckskinned
braves" and "Indian princesses" proved an immensely popular
attraction for consumers of publications like Frank Leslie's
Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly . In Indians Illustrated
, John M. Coward charts a social and cultural history of Native
American illustrations--romantic, violent, racist, peaceful, and
otherwise--in the heyday of the American pictorial press. These
woodblock engravings and ink drawings placed Native Americans into
categories that drew from venerable "good" Indian and "bad" Indian
stereotypes already threaded through the culture. Coward's examples
show how the genre cemented white ideas about how Indians should
look and behave--ideas that diminished Native Americans' cultural
values and political influence. His powerful analysis of themes and
visual tropes unlocks the racial codes and visual cues that whites
used to represent--and marginalize--native cultures already engaged
in a twilight struggle against inexorable westward expansion.
This anthology collects the ten winners of the 2016 Best American
Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at the Mayborn Literary
Nonfiction Conference, an event hosted by the Frank W. Mayborn
Graduate Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas.
First place winner: Terrence McCoy, "It Was an Accident, Baby" (The
Washington Post), relates how a family in Alabama coped after the
family's four-year-old accidentally killed his nine-year-old
sister. Second place: Hannah Dreier, "A Child's Scraped Knee"
(Associated Press), which depicts how medical supply shortages in
Venezuela turned a simple injury into a life-threatening condition
for a three-year-old. Third place: Billy Baker, "The Power of Will"
(The Boston Globe), focuses on a family's search for a cure for
their son's rare form of cancer, which led them to a maverick
doctor. Runners-up include John Woodrow Cox, "A Marine's
Conviction" (The Washington Post); Christopher Goffard, "Framed"
(The Los Angeles Times); Steve Thompson, "The Long Way Home" (The
Dallas Morning-News); N. R. Kleinfield, "Fraying at the Edges" (The
New York Times); Anna Kuchment and Steve Thompson, "Seismic Denial"
(The Dallas Morning-News); Lauren Caruba, "55 Minutes" (The Houston
Chronicle); and Lisa Wangsness, "In Search of Sanctuary" (The
Boston Globe).
The sixth and final instalment in our series of small, inspirational books from the editors of O, the Oprah Magazine, O's Little Guide to the Big Questions is a collection of thought-provoking stories and essays on the wisdom to be gleaned from asking (and answering) life’s biggest questions.
What matters most?
What is my purpose?
When is the right time to make a change?
Who is most important to me?
Asking (and answering) the big questions can be terrifying – but it is the only way to put yourself on the path towards living your best life. Big questions can be forces of empowerment, motivation and clarification. The editors at O, The Oprah Magazine have combed through the magazine’s extensive archives to assemble O’s Little Guide to the Big Questions, a collection of stirring, motivating, thought-provoking pieces from great writers and celebrated thinkers, that offers wise guidance and inspiration to anyone feeling lost or in need of a reset.
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