This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a celebrated filmmaker and activist and his conservative Mormon mother built bridges across today’s great divides—and how our stories hold the power to heal. • Adapted as an HBO documentary now streaming on HBO Max. “A beautifully written, utterly compelling account of growing up poor and gay with a thrice married, physically disabled, deeply religious Mormon mother, and the imprint this irrepressible woman made on the character of Dustin Lance Black.” —Jon Krakauer, bestselling author of Missoula and Under the Banner of Heaven Dustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California’s anti–gay marriage Proposition 8, but as an LGBTQ activist he has unlikely origins—a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. There he was raised by a single mother who, as a survivor of childhood polio, endured brutal surgeries as well as braces and crutches for life. Despite the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages, she imbued Lance with her inner strength and irrepressible optimism. When Lance came out to his mother at age twenty-one, she initially derided his sexuality as a sinful choice. It may seem like theirs was a house destined to be divided—and at times it was. But in the end, they did not let their differences define them or the relationship that had inspired two remarkable lives. This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a mother and son built bridges across great cultural divides—and how our stories hold the power to heal.
In 2012, Lance Svendsen, a 27 year old youth pastor, finds himself on an amazing running journey. Originally motivated by the death of his uncle, it begins when the NYC Marathon is cancelled and a group of friends decide they are going to finish what they had trained to do. They complete the marathon without water stations, medals, fanfare, or even a designated course. Lance's journey continues when he is entered into the Boston Marathon just a few months later, which ended with him witnessing the terrorist bombing at the finish line. What follows is a 50 mile ultra-marathon, and then a most rewarding trip into the mountains of Guatemala, where Lance finds himself carrying out sick children from a place where there was only one way to reach them - on foot. Run Anyway tells the refreshingly funny and inspirational story of a group of friends who knew they had to finish what they started.
Lance Sijan was always a special kind of person: as a kid growing up in the Midwest; as a cadet who made his mark in the Air Force Academy. But it took Vietnam to show how special he wasin an epic of jungle survival and prison-camp defiance.
A colourful character from the golden age of motorsport, Lance Macklin was living a life of speed, adventure and tragedy, Macklin did things his own way.
The old adage that 'behind every strong man there is a stronger woman' has never been more true than in the case of Lance Armstrong, six-time Tour de France winner, cancer survivor and bestselling author. Anyone who knows Lance is in no doubt about where he found his inspiration. A force of nature, his mother Linda's determination and sheer joie de vivre not only nurtured one of our era's greatest athletes, but fuelled her transformation from poverty-stricken teen to powerful role model. Kicked out of home at 17 after refusing to get an abortion, dismissed from high school for being pregnant, and trapped in an abusive relationship as an unmarried mother, Linda was a candidate for disaster. But, armed with a fierce belief in herself as a work in progress and buoyed by a tidal wave of love for her little boy, she beat the odds as a struggling single parent and, despite her lack of education, went on to become a highly successful telecommunications executive and a no-nonsense, empowering mother whose desire to excel was contagious. Her resolve to make every setback an opportunity set an extraordinary example for Lance and her remarkable story is a testament to dreaming big - and making a difference.Upbeat, determined, hard-working, loving, forgiving, funny and unsinkable, this is a woman who managed to not only overcome the odds but embrace life and enjoy it, whatever it threw at her. And the readership for this inspirational tale of triumph over adversity will extend well beyond those merely curious about Lance Armstrong. The philosophy that shines through these pages will appeal to many women, and most certainly mothers everywhere. Linda was at Lance's side throughout his treatment for cancer and they remain extremely close. His first book, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE, was dedicated to her, and he has written a moving Foreword to this remarkable book.
A wildly entertaining biography of the British fashion designer who set the trends for rock royalty from the Beatles to Mick Jagger to Elton John. Tommy Nutter was a visionary tailor in the bespoke tradition who dressed everybody from Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to Twiggy, who outfitteds three of the Beatles for the cover of Abbey Road (George Harrison preferred jeans), who put Mick Jagger in a white suit for his wedding to Bianca and who dressed Elton John for years, using the singer as his muse for his signature outrageous style. Nutter was alluring for his ambiguity -- a chameleon who could rub shoulders with Princess Margaret and then dance with the drag queens at Last Resort -- and his clothes were the physical expression of a sharp, audacious wit. House of Nutter charts Tommy Nutter’s dramatic career that spanned barely 23 years, ending in 1992 with his untimely death. It is a history of London during an era of economic and cultural upheaval, a celebration of the methods and traditions of Savile Row; and an elegy for what was lost during the worst days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With archival access to photos, letters and interviews from Tommy Nutter's sole living relative, his brother, David, Lance Richardson takes us behind the '70s glamour to explore the public face and private life of one of Britain's most respected yet rule-breaking bespoke clothiers and the celebrities he dressed.
Marley meets...Cujo?A dog down the block is being forced to live outside, at the mercy of abusers, wild animals and brutal weather. The author does nothing-at first. Then, an accidental meeting with Lance, a Border Collie, sets the wheels in motion for a life-saving rescue and a disappointing discovery: Lance turns out to be a semi-feral dog. During the first twenty-four hours of his liberation, he attacks both the author and his wife, and soon proves to be a threat to anyone he can get his teeth on. His rescuers ask themselves: Do we euthanize the dog we rescued? Making their soul-searching even more difficult is Lance's alter ego; when not threatening, he's getting into all kinds of highly entertaining mischief. Among the many "victims" of his hilarious quirkiness are a State Trooper, the local school bus driver, and a neighborhood drug dealer. This rollicking and-at times-heart-wrenching, true-life account of the unorthodox rescue of an unorthodox dog has been called "riveting," "spellbinding," and "jaw-dropping." Lance's compelling story reveals as much about the rescuers as it does the rescued. Lance: A Spirit Unbroken is a book for any reader looking to have her or his faith in the human race restored.
The champion cyclist recounts his diagnosis with cancer, the grueling treatments during which he was given a less than twenty percent chance for survival, his surprising victory in the 1999 Tour de France, and the birth of his son.
