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  A Father is Born - A Memoir

  Tumiso Mashaba

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  ‘A gripping, poetic, vivid and deeply entertaining memoir.’ – Niq Mhlongo, author 
    
  ‘The courage of conviction Mashaba displays is something to behold.’ – Vuyo Mvoko, journalist 
    
  They say a mirror never lies. If that’s the truth, then my reflection was of a broken man. 
    
  When Tumiso Mashaba’s father, Neo ‘Snowy’ Mashaba, dies at 55, it provokes in him an intense emotional reaction. Tumiso is stunned by his response, as his father was a distant and often hard man. In the aftermath, he reflects on what this means to him now as a husband and father to his own children. Will he repeat the sins of his father? Recounting his childhood, the author digs deep into his psychology, providing a deeply satisfying read with moments of intense anguish and catharsis. 
    
  A Father is Born is about intangible scars – inflicted by those closest to us – that we carry from childhood into the rest of our lives and the relationships we form along the way. Covering themes of fatherhood, masculinity, generational trauma, abuse and mental health, A Father is Born unveils a heartrending portrait of a family trying to survive against the backdrop of a gritty, modern South Africa.

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  Stephen Decatur and Oliver...

  Charles River Editors

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  Americans had few things to celebrate during the Barbary Wars or the War of 1812, but one of them was the growing prestige of the U.S. Navy, and among those who were instrumental in its development, few were as influential as Stephen Decatur Jr. Decatur had an impact on nearly every war America fought in between the 1780s until his death in 1820, and his stardom ensured that he was a fixture among Washington, D.C.’s elite in his own lifetime. As with John Paul Jones during the American Revolution, Decatur’s activities helped instantly associate his name with the fledgling country’s success at sea. 
  	One of the only major victories the Americans won throughout the War of 1812 came at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813, and that action made Oliver Hazard Perry, a veteran of the Barbary Wars and commander of the USS Lawrence, a legend whose name has endured for over 200 years. Perry was so instrumental in the victory that British historian C.S. Forester noted “it was as fortunate for the Americans that the Lawrence still possessed a boat that would float, as it was that Perry was not hit." As one of the biggest naval battles of the war, the results meant that America maintained control of Lake Erie, an important location from which they could recover Detroit and be better positioned to confront the British and Shawnee leader Tecumseh’s confederacy. For his part, Perry would forever be remembered as the “Hero of Lake Erie,” even as he and compatriot Captain Jesse Elliot would feud over their respective actions during the battle for the rest of Perry’s life. 
  	Perry received a Congressional Gold Medal and the Thanks of Congress for compelling the surrender of the entire British squadron, the first time that had ever happened, but he wouldn’t have much time to enjoy it. He fought in the Second Barbary War in 1815 but died of yellow fever while on a mission in Venezuela in 1819.

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  Friendly Fire - A Fractured Memoir

  Paul Rousseau

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  “A powerful, gut-wrenching tale of pain, suffering, and recovery.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS“Unique and haunting…. A mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEWOne month before his college graduation, Paul Rousseau is accidentally shot in the head by his roommate and best friend.At some point in the course of Paul and Mark’s friendship, Mark acquired—legally and with required permits—five firearms. Those weapons lived with them in their college apartment. It was a non-issue for the two best friends. They were inseparable. They were twenty-two-year-old boys at the height of their college experience, unaware that everything was about to change forever.The bullet ripped through two walls before it struck Paul’s skull. Mark had accidentally pulled the trigger while in the other room and—frightened for his own future—delayed getting treatment for Paul, who miraculously remained conscious the entire time. In vivid detail, and balanced with refreshing moments of humor, Friendly Fire brings us into the world of both the shooting itself and its surgical counterpoint—the dark spaces of survival in the face of a traumatic brain injury and into the paranoid, isolating, dehumanizing maw of personal injury cases.Friendly Fire is the story of a friendship—both its formation and its destruction. Through phenomenal writing and gripping detail, Paul reveals a compelling and inspirational story that speaks to much of contemporary American life.

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  Dumpster Doll

  Michelle Mays, Michelle Moone

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  Michelle Mays was born into an abusive family in the Midwest. As she and her siblings cling to survival, the balance of family ties is weighed against alcoholism, drug abuse, abandonment, and despair. Hope dawns in the form of foster care, only to be deferred by multiple placements and a system not equipped to support the children it's meant to protect.Through powerful vignettes of a life disjointed, Mays's story is a journey of hope that is echoed in the experiences of thousands of children in the court and foster care systems today.Dumpster Doll is brave not because it is unique, but because it unflinchingly shines a light on family turmoil, flaws in judicial systems, and ultimately, the grit and tenacity that thousands of children exhibit each day just to make it through.

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  About My Life and the Kept Woman...

  John Rechy

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  The long-awaited memoir by “one of the few original American writers of the last century” is a testament to the power of self-acceptance (Gore Vidal).   John Rechy, author of City of Night and The Sexual Outlaw, has always known discrimination. Raised Mexican-American in El Paso, Texas, at a time when Latino children were routinely segregated, Rechy was often assumed to be Anglo because of his light skin, and had his name “changed” for him by a teacher, from Juan to John. As he grew older—and as his fascination with the memory of a notorious kept woman in his childhood deepened—Rechy became aware that his differences lay not just in his heritage, but in his sexuality. While he performed the roles expected of him by others—the authoritarians in the US Army during the Korean War, the bigoted relatives of his Anglo college classmates, or the men and women who wanted him to be something he was not—he never allowed them to define him.   The “riveting” story of a life that bears witness to some of the most riotous changes of the past century, About My Life and the Kept Woman is as much a portrait of intolerance as of an individual who defied it to forge his own path (The Advocate).   “Rechy might be called the first bard of West Hollywood.” —The New York Times   “A skillfully paced story . . . As a memoirist, Rechy is both participant and observer, and he segues as easily between narrative and exegesis as his younger self did between the lure of the wild streets and the embrace of his traditional family.” —Los Angeles Magazine

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  Kiss and Tell

  Shannon Tweed, Julie McCarron,...

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  One of the most popular and best-known Playboy pin-ups ever, Shannon Tweed burst on the scene in the 1980s as Playmate of the Year and Hugh Hefner's love interest. She soon became a successful actress, appearing in countless movies and television series. She met Gene Simmons at a party at the Playboy Mansion, and they lived happily ever after with their two children. In this autobiography, one of the most beautiful women in the world tells her story, from growing up on a mink ranch in Newfoundland with six brothers and sisters to raising two children with a rock star in Beverly Hills. Read by Tweed in her own straightforward, no-holds-barred style, Kiss and Tell is a backstage pass to life at the Playboy Mansion, a behind-the-scenes view of one of the biggest rock stars in the world, and the experience of raising two kids in front of the camera.

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