The story of a disintegrating love affair between a Portuguese woman and an American man, collage-like and fragmentary, perfectly capturing the workings of desire and grief. Micheline Marcom describes her newest novel, A Brief History of Yes—her first since 2008’s scathing and erotic The Mirror in the Well—as a “literary fado,” referring to a style of Portuguese music that, akin to the American blues, is often melancholic and soulful, and encapsulates the feeling of what the Portuguese call saudade—meaning, loosely, yearning and nostalgia for something or someone irrepreably lost. A Brief History of Yes tells the story of the break-up between a Portuguese woman named Maria and an unnamed American man: it is a collage-like, fragmentary novel whose form captures the workings of attraction and grief, proving once again that American letters has no better poet of love and loss than Micheline Aharonian Marcom.
An account of the origins of hip-hop music as presented by its founders and stars traces the work of such performers as DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and DMC.
The creator of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal" details the one-year experiment with saying "yes" that transformed her life, revealing how accepting unexpected invitations she would have otherwise declined enabled powerful benefits.
This groundbreaking feminist classic dismantles the way we view rape in our culture and replaces it with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure. In the original edition, feminist, political, and activist writers alike presented their ideas for a paradigm shift from the "No Means No" model--and the result was the groundbreaking shift to today's affirmative consent model ("Yes Means Yes," as coined by this book). With a timely new introduction, refreshed cover, and the timeless contributions of authors from Kate Harding to Jill Filipovic, Yes Means Yes brings to the table a dazzling variety of perspectives and experiences focused on the theory that educating all people to value female sexuality and pleasure leads to viewing women differently, and ending rape. Yes Means Yes has radical and far-reaching effects: from teaching men to treat women as collaborators and not conquests, encouraging men and women that women can enjoy sex instead of being shamed for it, and ultimately, that our children can inherit a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished.
The story of Barack Obama's historic journey from the Senator of Illinois to President of the USA. Scout Tufankjian is the only independent photographer to have documented Obama's entire campaign all the way to the election night celebration in Chicago's Grant Park. Obama's grassroots journey has touched something profound in America and electrified record-breaking crowds. The historic results have been nothing short of a revolution in political strategy, communication and activism. This is the deepest, most personal portrait, captured in diverse, intimate imagery.
JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “One of the great culinary stories of our time.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Yes, Chef chronicles Samuelsson’s journey, from his grandmother’s kitchen to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four. But Samuelsson’s career of chasing flavors had only just begun—in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs, and, most important, the opening of Red Rooster in Harlem. At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fulfilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room—a place where presidents rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, and bus drivers. It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home. Praise for Yes, Chef “Such an interesting life, told with touching modesty and remarkable candor.”—Ruth Reichl “Marcus Samuelsson has an incomparable story, a quiet bravery, and a lyrical and discreetly glittering style—in the kitchen and on the page. I liked this book so very, very much.”—Gabrielle Hamilton “Plenty of celebrity chefs have a compelling story to tell, but none of them can top [this] one.”—The Wall Street Journal “Elegantly written . . . Samuelsson has the flavors of many countries in his blood.”—The Boston Globe “Red Rooster’s arrival in Harlem brought with it a chef who has reinvigorated and reimagined what it means to be American. In his famed dishes, and now in this memoir, Marcus Samuelsson tells a story that reaches past racial and national divides to the foundations of family, hope, and downright good food.”—President Bill Clinton
The nationally syndicated columnist and Reason magazine editor presents a damning portrait of how politicized government agencies, antidrug activists, and a naïve national media have exaggerated the public's fears of the harmful effects of recreational drugs. Jacob Sullum goes beyond the debate on legalization or the proper way to win the "war on drugs," to the heart of a social and individual defense of using drugs. Saying Yes argues that the all-or-nothing thinking that has long dominated discussions of illegal drug use should give way to a wiser, subtler approach exemplified by the tradition of moderate drinking. Saying Yes further contends that the conventional understanding of addiction, portraying it as a kind of chemical slavery in which the user's values and wishes do not matter, is also fundamentally misleading.
Learn how small changes can make a big difference in your powers of persuasion with this New York Times bestselling introduction to fifty scientifically proven techniques for increasing your persuasive powers in business and life. Every day we face the challenge of persuading others to do what we want. But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too. Cowritten by the world’s most quoted expert on influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, Yes! presents dozens of surprising discoveries from the science of persuasion in short, enjoyable, and insightful chapters that you can apply immediately to become a more effective persuader. Often counterintuitive, the findings presented in Yes! will steer you away from common pitfalls while empowering you with little known but proven wisdom. Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, on sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.
Executives from The Second City—the world’s premier comedy theater and school of improvisation—reveal improvisational techniques that can help any organization develop innovators, encourage adaptable leaders, and build transformational businesses. For more than fifty years, The Second City comedy theater in Chicago has been a training ground for some of the best comic minds in the industry—including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. But it also provides one-of-a-kind leadership training to cutting-edge companies, nonprofits, and public sector organizations—all aimed at increasing creativity, collaboration, and teamwork. The rules for leadership and teamwork have changed, and the skills that got professionals ahead a generation ago don’t work anymore. Now The Second City provides a new toolkit individuals and organizations can use to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by speed, social communication, and decentralization. Based on eight principles of improvisation, Yes, And helps to develop these skills and foster them in high-potential leaders and their teams, including: Mastering the ability to co-create in an ensemble Fostering a “yes, and” approach to work Embracing failure to accelerate high performance Leading by listening and by learning to follow Innovating by making something out of nothing Yes, And is a must-read for professionals and organizations, helping to develop the invaluable leadership skills needed to succeed today.
Whether he's leading a company or leading the call for a better nation, storied New York businessman and philanthropist Bernard Schwartz believes in the power of optimism. Bernard Schwartz has dined with world leaders, cut a multi billion-dollar deal on the back of a napkin, and led a Fortune 200 corporation. From humble beginnings that saw his family moving regularly from apartment to apartment to take advantage of new lease discounts to his dramatic rise to CEO of a major aerospace innovator, the author's story is a narrative on the importance of character, intelligence, and a lot of good luck. In a time when stories about corrupt CEOs and unethical banking practices flood the news, Schwartz offers the notion that doing the right thing is a more rewarding road to accomplishment, and that when applied for immoral purposes even the sharpest skills will likely lead to a fall. As Americans today await the return of economic stability and politicians wage battle over the future of government programs, opportunity seems out of reach. But Schwartz, who grew up in Depression-era Brooklyn, believes that there are steps we can take as a nation to bring about a recovery and even growth. As a child, he watched men dress for work each day whether they held a job or not. He remembers the widespread deprivation that filled everyday scenes and the streets with breadlines. But he also recalls a hopeful people; a citizenry united in the pursuit of education, homeownership, proprietorship, and community improvement. Today, he champions investments in job creation, infrastructure, technology, and innovation as the means to get us back on track. With measured insight on the role the federal government can play in creating pathways to prosperity, the author discusses how the United States can again be a land of opportunity for all. In this inspiring example of a life well lived, Bernard Schwartz invites readers to look at their own opportunities, their own ideas, and even their fellow Americans and Just Say Yes.
