Our Own Special Country


Book Description

Honoring each one of the fifty states in America, this splendid collection is rooted in history and celebrates the proud people, way of life, and unrivaled natural beauty of our beloved land of opportunity. From Alabama to Wyoming, these hearty poems showcase the diverse locales and many moods, quirks, and charms that make every state unique and glorious. With amusement, wonder, and admiration, poet and traveler Dorothy Gray pays tribute to sports teams and music legends, historical figures and cultures, animals and plants, weather and seasons, and foods and festivities across the country. In Idaho, "Dramatic landscapes overwhelm with alpine lakes in snowcapped mountains, deep river canyons and water falls, hot springs and dunes of desert sand." In Maine, "Where glacial mountains and valleys lie with inlets hidden by sheer peaks, America's northeastern point has rugged rocks that touch the sea." Whether it's the swaying ukulele tunes of the Polynesian paradise of Hawaii, the miles of spinning wooden windmills in Indiana, the cranberry bogs of New Jersey ("residents don't call it Joisey."), or a pin dropping in the tabernacle in Utah, the imagery of these crystal-clear poems appeals to our senses and captures the essence and spirit of the majestic United States of America.




I Need My Own Country!


Book Description

When in the course of childhood events, it becomes necessary for one (small) person to create a separate and equal hiding spot to which the laws of growing up entitle them, the truth will be self-evident: they should declare their very own country! Full of tongue-in-cheek instructions— Make your own flag.Your own currency.Your own laws. —this picture book offers a hilarious lesson in junior civics that shows every budding future-president exactly how he or she can create a very special place all their own.




A Country of Our Own


Book Description

The most fascinating episode in American history, the Civil War has also inspired some of its greatest fiction, from The Red Badge of Courage to Cold Mountain.




Stranger in My Own Country


Book Description

A moving and unsettling exploration of a young man's formative years in a country still struggling with its past As a Jew in postwar Germany, Yascha Mounk felt like a foreigner in his own country. When he mentioned that he is Jewish, some made anti-Semitic jokes or talked about the superiority of the Aryan race. Others, sincerely hoping to atone for the country's past, fawned over him with a forced friendliness he found just as alienating. Vivid and fascinating, Stranger in My Own Country traces the contours of Jewish life in a country still struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich and portrays those who, inevitably, continue to live in its shadow. Marshaling an extraordinary range of material into a lively narrative, Mounk surveys his countrymen's responses to "the Jewish question." Examining history, the story of his family, and his own childhood, he shows that anti-Semitism and far-right extremism have long coexisted with self-conscious philo-Semitism in postwar Germany. But of late a new kind of resentment against Jews has come out in the open. Unnoticed by much of the outside world, the desire for a "finish line" that would spell a definitive end to the country's obsession with the past is feeding an emphasis on German victimhood. Mounk shows how, from the government's pursuit of a less "apologetic" foreign policy to the way the country's idea of the Volk makes life difficult for its immigrant communities, a troubled nationalism is shaping Germany's future.




Our Own Country


Book Description

A love affair tests a new nation's revolutionary ideals. In 1770s Boston, a prosperous merchant's daughter, Eliza Boylston, lives a charmed life--until war breaches the walls of the family estate and forces her to live in a world in which wealth can no longer protect her. As the chaos of the Revolutionary War tears her family apart, Eliza finds herself drawn to her uncle's slave, John Watkins. Their love leads to her exile in Braintree, Massachusetts, home to radicals John and Abigail Adams and Eliza's midwife sister-in-law, Lizzie Boylston. But even as the uprising takes hold, Eliza can't help but wonder whether a rebel victory will grant her and John the most basic of American rights.




Home Is Not a Country


Book Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD “Nothing short of magic.” —Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa’s “30 Under 30” list, this powerful novel-in-verse captures one girl, caught between cultures, on an unexpected journey to face the ephemeral girl she might have been. Woven through with moments of lyrical beauty, this is a tender meditation on family, belonging, and home. my mother meant to name me for her favorite flower its sweetness garlands made for pretty girls i imagine her yasmeen bright & alive & i ache to have been born her instead Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn’t feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn’t feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn't different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can't, and suddenly her only refuge is gone. As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen—the name her parents meant to give her at birth—Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows. And the life Nima wishes were someone else's. . . is one she will need to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she possessed.




To Be Equals in Our Own Country


Book Description

“When the history of suffrage is written, the role played by our politicians will cut a sad figure beside that of the women they insulted.” Speaking in 1935, feminist Idola Saint-Jean captured the bitter nature of Quebec women’s fight for enfranchisement, as religious authorities weighed what they stood to gain or lose and politicians showed open disdain during Legislative Assembly debates. Quebec women had to wait until 1940 or longer to cast a ballot. This passionate yet even-handed account is filled with vivid characters and pivotal events on the road to suffrage in the province. It examines Quebec women’s participation in provincial and municipal politics since winning the vote and compares women’s struggle to that in other countries. An astute exploration of suffrage, To Be Equals in Our Own Country treats enfranchisement – and the legal, social, and economic rights that stem from it – as a fundamental question of human rights.




This Country I Call My Own


Book Description

Seeking peace in Idaho after a brutal war, ex SEAL, Commander Ross McCallister, is asked by his former Special Ops Agency to do one last job, to derail a Democrat politician who is running for the Governorship of Idaho on an anti-nuclear waste ticket. McCallister finds that sometimes it's dangerous to do the right thing. This is a story of betrayal, heroism and redemption - an environmental adventure and a love story. This Country I Call My Own features an American officer who has served with distinction in the Middle East and then worked for various agencies in the region. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he leaves the military and settles in the mountain country of the Idaho Panhandle, just below the Canadian border, to live off-grid in search of Eden and a nature cure. He builds a horse packing and hunting operation to sustain himself, but finds the ongoing interactions with members of the public troubling to his peace of mind. He wins the love of two very unconventional women who share his love of horses and are prepared to join his fight to rid the state of toxic nuclear waste and the poisoning of the land and the water table. The seemingly pristine Panhandle turns out to be an environmental disaster area and McCallister fights for his sanity, his community and his ranch. The book explores the desire of many people to opt out of our society to live a more secluded, off-grid life in nature. And it considers the power of nature and horses to cure mental illness. It looks at the dynamics of loving relationships when there are no barriers or rules. And it unpacks what it means to be a good man.







A Stranger in My Own Country


Book Description

“I lived the same life as everyone else, the life of ordinary people, the masses.” Sitting in a prison cell in the autumn of 1944, the German author Hans Fallada sums up his life under the National Socialist dictatorship, the time of “inward emigration”. Under conditions of close confinement, in constant fear of discovery, he writes himself free from the nightmare of the Nazi years. He records his thoughts about spying and denunciation, about the threat to his livelihood and his literary work and about the fate of many friends and contemporaries. The confessional mode did not come naturally to Fallada, but in the mental and emotional distress of 1944, self-reflection became a survival strategy. Fallada’s frank and sometimes provocative memoirs were thought for many years to have been lost. They are published here for the first time.