Download or read book Come of Age written by Stephen Jenkinson and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2018-07-03 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his landmark provocative style, Stephen Jenkinson makes the case that we must birth a new generation of elders, one poised and willing to be true stewards of the planet and its species. Come of Age does not offer tips on how to be a better senior citizen or how to be kinder to our elders. Rather, with lyrical prose and incisive insight, Stephen Jenkinson explores the great paradox of elderhood in North America: how we are awash in the aged and yet somehow lacking in wisdom; how we relegate senior citizens to the corner of the house while simultaneously heralding them as sage elders simply by virtue of their age. Our own unreconciled relationship with what it means to be an elder has yielded a culture nearly bereft of them. Meanwhile, the planet boils, and the younger generation boils with anger over being left an environment and sociopolitical landscape deeply scarred and broken. Taking on the sacred cow of the family, Jenkinson argues that elderhood is a function rather than an identity—it is not a position earned simply by the number of years on the planet or the title “parent” or “grandparent.” As with his seminal book Die Wise, Jenkinson interweaves rich personal stories with iconoclastic observations that will leave readers radically rethinking their concept of what it takes to be an elder and the risks of doing otherwise. Part critique, part call to action, Come of Age is a love song inviting us—imploring us—to elderhood in this time of trouble. That time is now. We’re an hour before dawn, and first light will show the carnage, or the courage, we bequeath to the generations to come.

Download or read book True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness written by Christine Lahti and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This collection captures, in writing, the same array of emotions that Christine brings to the stage and screen with her acting. Funny with heart. Tears with a hint of hope. A fantastic mosaic that, when cobbled together, offers a stirring range of humanity.” — Alan Zweibel, original SNL writer and Thurber Prize winning author of The Other Shulman “Christine Lahti’s autobiographical essays are a beautiful, painful, funny, fiercely honest walk through the streets of her life. Gorgeous landscape, dangerous potholes and all. The whole unedited she-bang. It’s Oz with the curtain pulled back. At once soul-baring, hilarious, moving and smart. I’m a fan.” — Kathy Najimy, actress and comedienne “Lahti launches into the literary world with the same dynamism that has enlivened her acting roles. With brazen honesty, she recounts the many surprising, heartbreaking, and identity-building events that have punctuated her life. True Stories of an Unreliable Eyewitness oozes modesty, humor, and complete levelheadedness.” — Kirkus Reviews “Christine Lahti has lived a full, ferocious life and her stories will break, beat and blister your heart.” — Amber Tamblyn, author, actress, and director “Engrossing, hilarious, tragic—this amazing book of essays by a wonderful actor whom we now know is also a great American storyteller, takes us from the Midwest to Hollywood to the moment of women’s rebellion we are currently in. Couldn’t put it down!” — Michael Moore, Academy Award winning filmmaker and bestselling author “An intimate, conversational collection. Lahti writes with ease and authenticity... her timely chronicle of aging wisely, gracefully, and with self-respect will resonate with many readers” — Publishers Weekly “Lahti’s style is irreverent, bawdy, and laugh-out-loud funny, but she doesn’t shirk from painful subjects, including family mental illness. Lahti is one of those rare celebrities who not only has a fascinating life but who can also tell a relatable story with humility and humor.” — Booklist

Download or read book Just Like Us written by Helen Thorpe and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cloth bag containing eight paperback copies of the title, that may also include a folder with sign out sheets.

Download or read book Noggin written by John Corey Whaley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2014 National Book Award Finalist A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Travis Coates has a good head…on someone else’s shoulders. A touching, hilarious “tour de force of imagination and empathy” (Booklist, starred review) from John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris Award–winning Where Things Come Back. Listen—Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t. Now he’s alive again. Simple as that. The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but Travis can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still sixteen, but everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too. Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, there are going to be a few more scars. Oh well, you only live twice.

Download or read book Coming of Age in Second Life written by Tom Boellstorff and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of people around the world today spend portions of their lives in online virtual worlds. Second Life is one of the largest of these virtual worlds. The residents of Second Life create communities, buy property and build homes, go to concerts, meet in bars, attend weddings and religious services, buy and sell virtual goods and services, find friendship, fall in love--the possibilities are endless, and all encountered through a computer screen. At the time of its initial publication in 2008, Coming of Age in Second Life was the first book of anthropology to examine this thriving alternate universe. Tom Boellstorff conducted more than two years of fieldwork in Second Life, living among and observing its residents in exactly the same way anthropologists traditionally have done to learn about cultures and social groups in the so-called real world. He conducted his research as the avatar "Tom Bukowski," and applied the rigorous methods of anthropology to study many facets of this new frontier of human life, including issues of gender, race, sex, money, conflict and antisocial behavior, the construction of place and time, and the interplay of self and group. Coming of Age in Second Life shows how virtual worlds can change ideas about identity and society. Bringing anthropology into territory never before studied, this book demonstrates that in some ways humans have always been virtual, and that virtual worlds in all their rich complexity build upon a human capacity for culture that is as old as humanity itself. Now with a new preface in which the author places his book in light of the most recent transformations in online culture, Coming of Age in Second Life remains the classic ethnography of virtual worlds.

Download or read book Coming of Age in the 21st Century written by Mary Frosch and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following in the footsteps of the highly successful Coming of Age in America and Coming of Age Around the World, this new anthology of fiction and memoir explores coming of age in the new millennium. Twenty-one stories by noted authors including Sherman Alexie, Mary F. Chen, Junot Diaz, Louise Erdrich, Seth Kantner, and ZZ Packer explore the trials and tribulations of growing up in our increasingly fragmented world. Issues of identity, sexuality, solitude, and conflict are beautifully presented through the voices of writers of all ages and ethnicities, from Lan Samantha Chang tackling absent or dead parents in “The Eve of the Spirit Festival” to Emily Rabateau addressing race in “Mrs. Turner’s Lawn Jockeys.” With a preface and introductions to each piece by Mary Frosch providing cultural context, this collection is a stunning literary tribute to a new generation of global citizens that provides a distinctively American sense of hope.

Download or read book Coming of Age written by Ivan King and published by Coming of Age. This book was released on 2017-01-04 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hear What the Critics are Saying "Wow, what an Amazing Book for young adults; truly inspirational, very entertaining and highly thought provoking. The Path is by far one of the best Fiction books to have come out in a long time." -Mary Jones -Valley Daily News "The Path is a book that will really challenge the way you view the world. A Must Read." -Judy B. Cohen – Elite Media Group "Deliciously Entertaining and a very thought inducing book; I bought it for a friend as a gift and she loved it as well. It's by far one of the finest Fiction books to have come out in the last decade." -Dave Baker -Book Bloggers of America "The Path is an extremely fascinating book; it really made me think. If you're looking for a book that will not only make you emotional, but will also exercise your mind, then look no further than this book. Amazing; Five Stars All The Way." -Debra Eisner -Literary Times Inc. "My favorite Fiction book this year; so far we have read more than eight. Highly Recommend." -Emma Righter -Writers United Group "This book reminded me why I fell in love with reading in the first place; thank you Mr. King for making such an amazing and inspiring book. Keep up with the great story telling. Ten Thumbs Up." -Lee Ratner –Daily Media Trends, Inc. Editorial Review The Path in itself is a journey. By the end of the book, you will feel like you have gone through an emotional and cerebral roller-coaster. This book will really make you think; but more than that, it will make you feel. The Path is a call to action for all generations, young and old. Not since Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, has a book come out as thought provoking and inspiring. Mr. King does it again. Excellent Book! Jim S. Stein Book Description A little Boy gets lost on a path; along the way, he meets three versions of his future self and discovers the meaning of life. What lessons will he learn; what secrets are going to be revealed? Jump into the path and you will find out..... If you had the power to go back and change one decision in your life, what would it be? Favorite Quote "Life is a comedy to those who think; a tragedy to those who feel." Join me on an adventure and together we will discover the true purpose of life. (coming of age, free coming of age, coming of age books, coming of age fiction, coming of age novels) [coming of age]

Download or read book Coming of Age written by Deborah Blum and published by Thomas Dunne Books. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Coming of Age focuses on five years in Mead's young life when she began to question the traditional attitudes toward sex, courtship and marriage that dominated the early 20th century. The story begins in 1921, when Mead is a young woman of twenty and a student at Barnard College in New York City. Conventional enough to accept the role society has handed to her, and defiant enough to rise up against it, she struggles to find her own path. Life begins to change as she experiences new friendships and many firsts, including marriage and an affair. In 1925, following her interest in anthropology, Mead takes a step that shocks both family and colleagues. She decides to go alone to Samoa to study how girls in this very different culture mature into women. There on a tiny island in the South Pacific, with an ocean between her and the people she loves, she begins to understand how the invisible chains of society can imprison one's body and mind. Mead's voyage of self-discovery is both painful, exciting and enlightening. She returns from her fieldwork ready to do something no woman before her has dared to do: write with frankness and clarity about the sexual awakening of young girls. And America, it turns out, is ready to hear what she has to say. Drawing on letters, diaries and memoirs, Blum reconstructs the colorful and dramatic life of one of the most provocative thinkers of the 20th century"--

Download or read book Everywhere You Don t Belong written by Gabriel Bump and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2020 Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence “A comically dark coming-of-age story about growing up on the South Side of Chicago, but it’s also social commentary at its finest, woven seamlessly into the work . . . Bump’s meditation on belonging and not belonging, where or with whom, how love is a way home no matter where you are, is handled so beautifully that you don’t know he’s hypnotized you until he’s done.” —Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review In this alternately witty and heartbreaking debut novel, Gabriel Bump gives us an unforgettable protagonist, Claude McKay Love. Claude isn’t dangerous or brilliant—he’s an average kid coping with abandonment, violence, riots, failed love, and societal pressures as he steers his way past the signposts of youth: childhood friendships, basketball tryouts, first love, first heartbreak, picking a college, moving away from home. Claude just wants a place where he can fit. As a young black man born on the South Side of Chicago, he is raised by his civil rights–era grandmother, who tries to shape him into a principled actor for change; yet when riots consume his neighborhood, he hesitates to take sides, unwilling to let race define his life. He decides to escape Chicago for another place, to go to college, to find a new identity, to leave the pressure cooker of his hometown behind. But as he discovers, he cannot; there is no safe haven for a young black man in this time and place called America. Percolating with fierceness and originality, attuned to the ironies inherent in our twenty-first-century landscape, Everywhere You Don’t Belong marks the arrival of a brilliant young talent.

Download or read book True Letters from a Fictional Life written by Kenneth Logan and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A funny and realistic coming-out tale... The rounded characters deal with betrayal and honesty and love and near tragedy in ways teen readers, gay or straight, will recognize. Just the right touch of humor, mystery, drama, and romance should earn this a place on every teen bookshelf.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “We need stories that give courage to kids struggling to be honest with themselves and others about who they are. Logan tells one that will give you hope and make you laugh.” — Robbie Rogers, LA Galaxy midfielder, former midfielder for the US National Soccer Team “James and his friends have deep, meaningful, complex bonds... Logan’s look at a boy reconciling his private and public selves is well written and affecting.” — School Library Journal “Logan handles his material exceptionally well, building suspense as he dramatizes both the downside of being in the closet and the realistic complications of coming out, while creating, in James, an unusually thoughtful and sympathetic character... [a] satisfying debut.” — Booklist “A wonderful book that will encourage young readers to seek authenticity and stand up for their true selves... LGBT teens, as well as straight, will recognize much of their lives in this story. Highly recommended.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) “Logan tackles the complexities of coming out thoughtfully, presenting realistic (and not always fully supportive) responses to James’s revelation.” — Publishers Weekly “[James’] painful, funny experiences with family, love, and friends will resonate with many teens.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Download or read book Coming of Age in Mississippi written by Anne Moody and published by Dell. This book was released on 2011-09-07 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unforgettable memoir of a woman at the front lines of the civil rights movement—a harrowing account of black life in the rural South and a powerful affirmation of one person’s ability to affect change. “Anne Moody’s autobiography is an eloquent, moving testimonial to her courage.”—Chicago Tribune Born to a poor couple who were tenant farmers on a plantation in Mississippi, Anne Moody lived through some of the most dangerous days of the pre-civil rights era in the South. The week before she began high school came the news of Emmet Till’s lynching. Before then, she had “known the fear of hunger, hell, and the Devil. But now there was . . . the fear of being killed just because I was black.” In that moment was born the passion for freedom and justice that would change her life. A straight-A student who realized her dream of going to college when she won a basketball scholarship, she finally dared to join the NAACP in her junior year. Through the NAACP and later through CORE and SNCC, she experienced firsthand the demonstrations and sit-ins that were the mainstay of the civil rights movement—and the arrests and jailings, the shotguns, fire hoses, police dogs, billy clubs, and deadly force that were used to destroy it. A deeply personal story but also a portrait of a turning point in our nation’s destiny, this autobiography lets us see history in the making, through the eyes of one of the footsoldiers in the civil rights movement. Praise for Coming of Age in Mississippi “A history of our time, seen from the bottom up, through the eyes of someone who decided for herself that things had to be changed . . . a timely reminder that we cannot now relax.”—Senator Edward Kennedy, The New York Times Book Review “Something is new here . . . rural southern black life begins to speak. It hits the page like a natural force, crude and undeniable and, against all principles of beauty, beautiful.”—The Nation “Engrossing, sensitive, beautiful . . . so candid, so honest, and so touching, as to make it virtually impossible to put down.”—San Francisco Sun-Reporter

Download or read book What I Thought Was True written by Huntley Fitzpatrick and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eagerly anticipated follow-up to My Life Next Door is a magnetic, push-me-pull-me summer romance for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han. Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her idyllic Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past--or the island--Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true--about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself--with what really is. Huntley Fitzpatrick delivers another enticing summer read full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions, and a romance that will make every reader swoon.

Download or read book True Age written by Morgan Levine, PhD and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-05-02 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cutting-edge research shows how to determine and decrease your true biological age. What if there was a way to measure our biological age? And what if there were strategies to slow down—or even reverse—the aging process? The answers to these questions lie at the heart of the groundbreaking work Dr. Morgan Levine is doing in her lab at Yale. True Age introduces readers to the latest developments in the science of aging and longevity. It provides an in-depth understanding of biological age and the methods now available to estimate our own. It helps us target an individualized plan to eat, exercise, and sleep, as well as pointing to other lifestyle practices like intermittent fasting and caloric restriction that have been shown to slow or reverse the aging process. The goal is to guide every reader toward a personal regimen to keep them as youthful as possible—both inside and out—with low risk, data-driven biohacking. The book gives readers and their doctors unprecedented ways to identify their personalized aging process and increase not only their lifespan but also then their healthspan.

Download or read book Coming of Age at the End of Nature written by Julie Dunlap and published by Trinity University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-19 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coming of Age at the End of Nature explores a new kind of environmental writing. This powerful anthology gathers the passionate voices of young writers who have grown up in an environmentally damaged and compromised world. Each contributor has come of age since Bill McKibben foretold the doom of humanity’s ancient relationship with a pristine earth in his prescient 1988 warning of climate change, The End of Nature. What happens to individuals and societies when their most fundamental cultural, historical, and ecological bonds weaken—or snap? In Coming of Age at the End of Nature, insightful millennials express their anger and love, dreams and fears, and sources of resilience for living and thriving on our shifting planet. Twenty-two essays explore wide-ranging themes that are paramount to young generations but that resonate with everyone, including redefining materialism and environmental justice, assessing the risk and promise of technology, and celebrating place anywhere from a wild Atlantic island to the Arizona desert, to Baltimore and Bangkok. The contributors speak with authority on problems facing us all, whether railing against the errors of past generations, reveling in their own adaptability, or insisting on a collective responsibility to do better. Contributors include Blair Braverman, Jason Brown, Cameron Conaway, Elizabeth Cooke, Amy Coplen, Ben Cromwell, Sierra Dickey, Ben Goldfarb, CJ Goulding, Bonnie Frye Hemphill, Lisa Hupp, Amaris Ketcham, Megan Kimble, Craig Maier, Abby McBride, Lauren McCrady, James Orbesen, Alycia Parnell, Emily Schosid, Danna Staaf, William Thomas, and Amelia Urry.

Download or read book The Girl with Dreams written by Allison Zellers and published by Aperture Press. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirteen-year-old Allison Zellers loved to sleep in on Sunday mornings. But one Sunday, she awoke with a twinge of pain in the back of her neck. The initial theory of a pulled muscle called for rest and medication, but when the pain continued for weeks, Allison's parents suspected that her discomfort might be something more serious. A twelve-hour surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia revealed a startling diagnosis: Allison had a rare type of cancer called Chordoma. Paralyzed with fear when confronted with this news, she bravely resolved to fight the disease and take back her life. The Girl With Dreams chronicles Allison's journey through many difficult treatments and the unexpected consequences of her life-altering experience. Now recovered, she has written her story so that she will always remember the people who helped her along the way, and so that her experience might help others.

Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.

Download or read book Coming of Age in a Hardscrabble World written by Nancy C. Atwood and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nonfiction storytelling is at its best in this anthology of excerpts from memoirs by thirty authors--some eminent, some less well known--who grew up tough and talented in working-class America. Their stories, selected from literary memoirs published between 1982 and 2014, cover episodes from childhood to young adulthood within a spectrum of life-changing experiences. Although diverse ethnically, racially, geographically, and in sexual orientation, these writers share a youthful precocity and determination to find opportunity where little appeared to exist. All of these perspectives are explored within the larger context of economic insecurity--a needed perspective in this time of growing inequality. These memoirists grew up in families that led "hardscrabble" lives in which struggle and strenuous effort were the norm. Their stories offer insight on the realities of class in America, as well as inspiration and hope.