Dead End Gene Pool
Dead End Gene Pool

Author: Wendy Burden

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1101186186

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In the tradition of Sean Wilsey's Oh The Glory of It All and Augusten Burrough's Running With Scissors, the great-great-great granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt gives readers a grand tour of the world of wealth and WASPish peculiarity, in her irreverent and darkly humorous memoir. For generations the Burdens were one of the wealthiest families in New York, thanks to the inherited fortune of Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt. By 1955, the year of Wendy's birth, the Burden's had become a clan of overfunded, quirky and brainy, steadfastly chauvinistic, and ultimately doomed bluebloods on the verge of financial and moral decline-and were rarely seen not holding a drink. In Dead End Gene Pool, Wendy invites readers to meet her tragically flawed family, including an uncle with a fondness for Hitler, a grandfather who believes you can never have enough household staff, and a remarkably flatulent grandmother. At the heart of the story is Wendy's glamorous and aloof mother who, after her husband's suicide, travels the world in search of the perfect sea and ski tan, leaving her three children in the care of a chain- smoking Scottish nanny, Fifth Avenue grandparents, and an assorted cast of long-suffering household servants (who Wendy and her brothers love to terrorize). Rife with humor, heartbreak, family intrigue, and booze, Dead End Gene Pool offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of old money and gives truth to an old maxim: The rich are different.

Full Body Burden
Full Body Burden

Author: Kristen Iversen

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2013-06-04

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0307955656

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“An intimate and deeply human memoir that shows why we should all be concerned about nuclear safety, and the dangers of ignoring science in the name of national security.”—Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks A shocking account of the government’s attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic waste released by a secret nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and a community’s vain search for justice—soon to be a feature documentary Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America." Full Body Burden is the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and--unknown to those who lived there--tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets--both family and government. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats--best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book is both captivating and unnerving.

Fiction Ruined My Family
Fiction Ruined My Family

Author: Jeanne Darst

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2012-11-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1594486174

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"Beautifully paced . . . heartbreaking and hilarious."—USA Today Augusten Burroughs meets Mary Karr: a deeply funny and wickedly entertaining family memoir. The youngest of four daughters in an old, celebrated St. Louis family-- of prominent journalists and politicians on one side, debutantes and equestrians on the other-- Jeanne Darst grew up hearing stories of past grandeur. And the message she internalized as a young girl was clear: While things might be a bit tight for us right now, it’s only temporary. Soon her father would sell the Great American Novel and reclaim the family’s former glory. The Darsts move from St. Louis to New York, and Jeanne’s father writes one novel, then another, which don’t find publishers. This, combined with her mother’s burgeoning alcoholism, lead to financial disaster and divorce. And as Jeanne becomes an adult, she is horrified to discover that she is not only a drinker like her mother, but a writer like her father. At first, and for years, she embraces both activities— and until she can stop putting drinking and writing ahead of everything else, it’s a questionable choice. Ultimately, Darst sets out to discover whether a person can have the writing without the ruin, whether it’s possible to be both sober and creative, ambitious and happy, a professional author and a parent. Filled with brilliantly flawed, idiosyncratic characters and punctuated by Darst’s irreverent eye for absurdity, Fiction Ruined My Family is a lovingly told, wickedly funny portrait of an unconventional life.

Dead End Gene Pool
Dead End Gene Pool

Author: Wendy Burden

Publisher: Tantor Media Incorporated

Published: 2014-05-10

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781400195695

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In the tradition of Sean Wilsey's "Oh the Glory of It All" and Augusten Burroughs's "Running with Scissors," the great-great-great-granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt gives audiences a grand tour of the world of wealth and WASPish peculiarity, in her irreverent and darkly humorous memoir.

Dead End Gene Pool
Dead End Gene Pool

Author: Wendy Burden

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 9781592405268

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A descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt presents an insider's tour of America's old-money wealthy class, profiling the members of her dysfunctional family while identifying toxic factors and behaviors that have influenced their downfall.

Bonded to the Abuser
Bonded to the Abuser

Author: Amy J.L. Baker, PhD

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2015-05-07

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1442236884

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Tens of thousands of children are removed from home each year due to some form of child maltreatment, usually physical neglect, physical abuse, or sexual abuse, although sometimes for emotional abuse as well. An additional significant number of children are victims of child maltreatment but remain in their home. Extensive research reveals the far reaching and long lasting negative impact of maltreatment on child victims, including on their physical, social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. One particularly troubling and complicated aspect is how the child victim forms (and maintains) a “traumatic bond” with his abuser, even becoming protective and defensive of that person despite the pain and suffering they have caused. This book will provide the reader with the essential experience of understanding how children make meaning of being maltreated by a parent, and how these traumatic bonds form and last. Through an examination of published memoirs of abuse, the authors analyze and reveal the commonalities in the stories to uncover the ways in which adult victims of childhood abuse understand and digest the traumatic experiences of their childhoods. This understanding can inform interventions and treatments designed for this vulnerable population and can help family and friends of victims understand more fully the maltreatment experience “from the inside out.”

The Gene Pool
The Gene Pool

Author: E. C. Hiatt

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2012-11

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1475953569

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Growing up as the son of a professed Methodist in a town where 90 percent of the population belongs to a cult-like religious community called the Alfeta, young Casey White has had his fill of organized religion and the tight grip it maintains on his small mountain town. In his freshman year, he begins dating Naomi Stryker, an exhilarating young woman from the Alfeta community, and they dream of the future they'll build together. But Naomi does her best to keep the trouble she's facing at home a secret; she is considered a sinner for dating outside of her faith community and for entering the church of another religion. Before they can consummate their love, however, they are caught by Naomi's outraged mother. The next night, a hysterical Naomi calls and shares a horrifying story: to "save" her, she is being forced to marry a lawyer chosen by her church-and her future husband has already violently and physically claimed her against her will. Devastated, Casey and Naomi make one last, desperate bid at happiness-and then, Naomi disappears. In the wake of her absence, Casey tries to build a new life. He fathers a child with his boss's daughter before being inducted into the navy. Soon, he's on his way to Cuba for a daring rescue mission of a foreign national with family ties to the president. Casey's new life is a whirlwind of adventure and danger-but he can't outrun his heartbreak. When he is confronted with his past, will he have the strength to make the right choice?

Fiction Ruined My Family
Fiction Ruined My Family

Author: Jeanne Darst

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Published: 2012-11-06

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1594486174

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Jeanne Darst grew up in a family where their life was driven by a father who was a failed writer, and an alcoholic mother. As an adult she has pursued writing as well and examines the question of whether it is possibe to be a successful writer, sober, creative and ambititious while also having happy family life.