Recollections of Full Years


Book Description

Welcome to the insightful world of Helen Herron Taft's Recollections of Full Years, a captivating memoir that offers a unique perspective on a transformative era in American history. Step into the life of Helen Herron Taft, wife of President William Howard Taft, as she shares her personal recollections of the years spent in the White House and beyond. Through her vivid storytelling, Taft provides a glimpse into the political, social, and cultural landscape of the early 20th century. Experience the challenges and triumphs of Mrs. Taft's years as First Lady, from her advocacy for the arts to her contributions to diplomacy and her role as a supporter of women's rights. Follow her journey alongside President Taft as they navigate the complexities of leadership and public service. Since its publication, Recollections of Full Years has fascinated readers with its intimate portraits of historical figures, insightful commentary on the events of the time, and reflections on the personal joys and sorrows of a remarkable life. As you delve into Mrs. Taft's recollections, you'll be transported to a world of grand receptions, diplomatic travels, and the inner workings of the White House. Gain new perspectives on the achievements and challenges faced by one of America's influential First Ladies. In conclusion, Recollections of Full Years is more than just a memoir—it's a testament to the power of perseverance, the importance of public service, and the enduring legacy of the Taft administration. Whether you're a history enthusiast, a lover of memoirs, or simply curious about the lives of America's First Ladies, prepare to be captivated by Mrs. Taft's engaging narrative. Don't miss your chance to explore the remarkable life of Helen Herron Taft. Let her memoir Recollections of Full Years take you on a journey through history, politics, and personal triumph. Grab your copy now and discover the untold stories of one of America's most influential women.




Recollections of Full Years (Abridged, Annotated)


Book Description

As ambitious as her husband, William Howard Taft, Helen Herron may be the most underrated of all our First Ladies. She encouraged Taft in all his political accomplishments and he may not have become president without her. He preferred the judiciary and eventually became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.Helen (Nellie) Taft was the first wife of a president to ride down Pennsylvania Avenue with her husband on inauguration day and the only woman who was wife of both a president and a chief justice. She is best known for working with the wife of the Japanese Ambassador to import and plant more than 3,000 cherry trees around the Washington Tidal Basin.Witty, intelligent, open-minded, and curious about the world, she is even today beloved in the Philippines, where her husband served as head of the civil government in 1900. She and her husband courted criticism for including Filipinos in social affairs.







Recollections of My Life as a Woman


Book Description

In Recollections of My Life as a Woman, Diane di Prima explores the first three decades of her extraordinary life. Born into a conservative Italian American family, di Prima grew up in Brooklyn but broke away from her roots to follow through on a lifelong commitment to become a poet, first made when she was in high school. Immersing herself in Manhattan's early 1950s Bohemia, di Prima quickly emerged as a renowned poet, an influential editor, and a single mother at a time when this was unheard of. Vividly chronicling the intense, creative cauldron of those years, she recounts her revolutionary relationships and sexuality, and how her experimentation led her to define herself as a woman. What emerges is a fascinating narrative about the courage and triumph of the imagination, and how one woman discovered her role in the world.




Before I Say Goodbye


Book Description

A collection of essays, letters, and personal recollections in which Ruth Picardie records her feelings in the year before she died of breast cancer.




Recollections of My Nonexistence


Book Description

An electric portrait of the artist as a young woman that asks how a writer finds her voice in a society that prefers women to be silent In Recollections of My Nonexistence, Rebecca Solnit describes her formation as a writer and as a feminist in 1980s San Francisco, in an atmosphere of gender violence on the street and throughout society and the exclusion of women from cultural arenas. She tells of being poor, hopeful, and adrift in the city that became her great teacher; of the small apartment that, when she was nineteen, became the home in which she transformed herself; of how punk rock gave form and voice to her own fury and explosive energy. Solnit recounts how she came to recognize the epidemic of violence against women around her, the street harassment that unsettled her, the trauma that changed her, and the authority figures who routinely disdained and disbelieved girls and women, including her. Looking back, she sees all these as consequences of the voicelessness that was and still is the ordinary condition of women, and how she contended with that while becoming a writer and a public voice for women's rights. She explores the forces that liberated her as a person and as a writer--books themselves, the gay men around her who offered other visions of what gender, family, and joy could be, and her eventual arrival in the spacious landscapes and overlooked conflicts of the American West. These influences taught her how to write in the way she has ever since, and gave her a voice that has resonated with and empowered many others.




Recollections of a Southern Daughter


Book Description

The first unabridged publication of the memoirs of Cornelia Jones Pond, a privileged child of a slaveholding family in Georgia, follws her life from her birth into the antebellum world of 1834, through the apocalyptic Civil War, and beyond. UP.




Recollections


Book Description

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Souvenirs was his extraordinarily lucid and trenchant analysis of the 1848 revolution in France. Despite its bravura passages and stylistic flourishes, however, it was not intended for publication. Written just before Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s 1851 coup prompted the great theorist of democracy to retire from political life, it was initially conceived simply as an exercise in candid personal reflection. In Recollections: The French Revolution of 1848 and Its Aftermath, renowned historian Olivier Zunz and award-winning translator Arthur Goldhammer offer an entirely new translation of Tocqueville’s compelling book. The book has an interesting publishing history. Yielding to pressure from friends, Tocqueville finally approved its publication, although only after those portrayed in the work—most, unflatteringly—had died. After Tocqueville’s death, his grandnephew published a redacted version, but it was not until 1942 that French editors restored the potentially offensive passages. Goldhammer’s is the first English translation to do justice to Tocqueville’s original uncensored masterpiece of analytical description, stylistic subtlety, vivid social panorama, and incisive critique of political blundering and cowardice. Zunz’s introduction—and his addition of several of Tocqueville’s ancillary speeches, occasional texts, and letters—round out a unique volume that significantly enhances our understanding of the revolutionary period and Tocqueville’s role in it. In this new edition, Zunz highlights the persistent influence of the United States on the life and work of a man who tirelessly, albeit futilely, promoted the American model of government for the New French Republic.




Alcott in Her Own Time


Book Description

By 1888, twenty years after the publication of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was one of the most popular and successful authors America had yet produced. In her pre-Little Women days, she concocted blood-and-thunder tales for low wages; post-Little Women, she specialized in domestic novels and short stories for children. Collected here for the first time are the reminiscences of people who knew her, the majority of which have not been published since their original appearance in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the printed recollections in this book appeared after Alcott became famous and showcase her as a literary lion, but others focus on her teen years, when she was living the life of Jo March; these intimate glimpses into the life of the Alcott family lead the reader to one conclusion: the family was happy, fun, and entertaining, very much like the fictional Marches. The recollections about an older and wealthier Alcott show a kind and generous, albeit outspoken, woman little changed by her money and status. From Annie Sawyer Downs’s description of life in Concord to Anna Alcott Pratt’s recollections of the Alcott sisters’ acting days to Julian Hawthorne’s neighborly portrait of the Alcotts, the thirty-six recollections in this copiously illustrated volume tell the private and public story of a remarkable life.