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Ella A Novel [electronic resource] : by Richards, Diane.aut; cloudLibrary;
In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut novel, a magnificent work of “biographical fiction” that reimagines the turbulent and triumphant early years of Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century. When fifteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald’s mother dies at the height of the Depression in 1932, the teenager goes to work for the mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the “ungovernable” adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls in upstate New York—a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of inmates, especially Black ones. Determined to be free, Ella escapes and makes her way back to Harlem, where she is forced to dance for pennies on the street. Looking for a break into show business, Ella draws straws to appear at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night on November 21, 1934. Rather than perform a dance routine directly after “The World Famous Edwards Sisters” number, the homeless Ella, wearing men’s galoshes a size too big, risks everything when she decides to sing Judy instead. Four years later, at barely twenty-one, Ella Fitzgerald has become the bestselling female vocalist in America. Diane Richards’ Ella Fitzgerald is inspiring and intriguing—an emotionally rich, psychologically complex character, a flawed mother and wife who struggles with deep emotional scars and trauma and battles racism, sexism, and colorism as she learns to find her voice on the stage. Ella takes us from the brothels, speakeasys, and streets of Depression-era New York City to the grand hotel suites where Ella, now older and wiser, looks back on her life and finally confronts the demons from childhood that torment her. Compelling and rich in historical detail, Ella is a remarkable debut novel about an extraordinary woman.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Contemporary Women; Biographical; Historical; Contemporary Women;
© 2024., HarperCollins,

Songs in Ursa Major / by Brodie, Emma,author.;
"A scintillating debut from a major new voice in fiction, alive with music, sex, and fame, Songs in Ursa Major is a love story set in 1969 at the crossroads of rock and folk, for fans of Daisy Jones & The Six"--The year is 1969, and the Bayleen Island Folk Fest is abuzz with one name: Jesse Reid. Tall and soft-spoken, with eyes blue as stone-washed denim, Jesse Reid's intricate guitar riffs and supple baritone are poised to tip from fame to legend with this one headlining performance. That is, until his motorcycle crashes on the way to the show. Jane Quinn is a Bayleen Island local whose music flows as naturally as her long blond hair. When she and her bandmates are asked to play in Jesse Reid's place at the festival, it almost doesn't seem real. But Jane plants her bare feet on the Main Stage and delivers the performance of a lifetime, stopping Jesse's disappointed fans in their tracks: A star is born. Jesse stays on the island to recover from his near-fatal accident and he strikes up a friendship with Jane, coaching her through the production of her first record. As Jane contends with the music industry's sexism, Jesse becomes her advocate, and what starts as a shared calling soon becomes a passionate love affair. On tour with Jesse, Jane is so captivated by the giant stadiums, the late nights, the wild parties, and the media attention, that she is blind-sided when she stumbles on the dark secret beneath Jesse's music. With nowhere to turn, Jane must reckon with the shadows of her own past; what follows is the birth of one of most iconic albums of all time. Shot through with the lyrics, the icons, the lore, the adrenaline of the early 70s music scene, Songs in Ursa Major pulses with romantic longing and asks the question so many female artists must face: What are we willing to sacrifice for our dreams?
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Musicians; Singers; Motorcycling accidents; Man-woman relationships;

Bitch : on the female of the species / by Cooke, Lucy,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."It's a tale as old as time: the philandering man wants to chase sex with whomever, wherever, and at all costs-and to avoid supporting his offspring at all costs, too-while leaving a long-suffering wife to clean up his mess. You can find the idea in comedians' routines, inane self-help books, and any number of movies, novels, and television shows. It almost all comes from evolutionary biology and psychology, and the tale boils down to this: Females are naturally submissive, passive, and maternal, while males are necessarily dominant, competitive, and promiscuous. And as Lucy Cooke shows in Bitch, it's almost completely wrong. In its place, Cooke offers a new vision of the female sex: depending on which one you choose, you can find females that are inherently as promiscuous, competitive, strategically cooperative, ardent, aggressive, dominant, dynamic, complex and variable as evolutionary psychology's stereotypical male. So how did the idea of the passive female get so entrenched? Tracing biology from Darwin to today, Cooke shows how the men behind breakthrough theories in evolution have infused their ideas with a massive dose of societal sexism. Cooke surfs the work of two generations of feminist evolutionary biologists, showing how they've pushed back against the blinkered views of evolution's founding fathers to reveal the true diversity of nature. She meets with pioneering scientists--Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Jeanne Altmann, Mary-Jane West-Eberhard, Patricia Gowaty and more--following their work around the globe. From the dominant female lemurs of Madagascar to same-sex female albatross couples in Hawaii to female killer whale elders in the Salish sea, Cooke takes us on a journey through a side of nature that's much less binary, less heterosexual, and less sexist than we have been led to expect. Fierce, funny, and revolutionary, Bitch is a scientific manifesto that shows us an entirely new perspective on what it means to be a female animal, with serious implications for all of us today"--
Subjects: Females; Psychology, Comparative.; Sexual behavior in animals.; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Social behavior in animals.; Women.; Women;

Hotshot A Life on Fire [electronic resource] : by Selby, River.aut; CloudLibrary;
The fierce debut memoir of a female firefighter, Hotshot navigates the personal and environmental dangers of wildland firefighting From 2000 to 2010, River Selby was a wildland firefighter whose given name was Anastasia. This is a memoir of that time in their life—of Ana, the struggles she encountered, and the contours of what it meant to be female-bodied in a male-dominated profession.  By the time they were 19, Selby had been homeless, addicted to drugs, and sexually assaulted more than once. In a last-ditch effort to find direction, they applied to be a wildland firefighter. Soon immersed in the world of firefighting and its arcana—from specialized tools named for the fire pioneers who invented them, to the back-breaking labor of racing against time to create firebreaks—Selby began to find an internal balance. Then, after two years of ragtag contract firefighting, Selby joined an elite class of specially trained wildland firefighters known as hotshots.  Over the course of five fire seasons, Selby delves into the world of the people—almost entirely men—who risk their lives to fight and sometimes prevent wildfires. Marked out in a sea of machismo, Selby was simultaneously hyper visible and invisible, and Hotshot deftly parses the odd mix of camaraderie and rampant sexism they experienced on their fire crews, and how, when challenged, it resulted in a violent closing of ranks that excluded them from the work they’d come to love. Drawing on years of firsthand experience on the frontlines of fire, followed by years of research into the science and history of fire, Hotshot also reckons with our fraught stewardship of the land—how federal fire policy is maladapted to the realities of fire-prone landscapes and how it has led to ever more severe fire seasons. Hotshot is a work of intimacy and authority, nimbly merging a personal journey of reinvention and self-acceptance with expert insight into the textured history of ecological systems and Indigenous land tending, the modern practices that have led to their imbalance, and the people who fight fire.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Environmentalists & Naturalists; LGBT; Personal Memoirs; Women;
© 2025., Grove Atlantic,

This woman's work : essays on music / by Gleeson, Sinéad,editor.; Gordon, Kim,editor.;
"THIS WOMAN'S WORK is a collection of essays by 18 female writers, writing about exclusively female experiences in music, co-edited by Sonic Youth co-founder Kim Gordon and Irish author Sinead Gleeson. This book celebrates the instrument makers, the experimentalists, the harmonizers, the avant-garde, the genre-breakers, the pop queens, and all those on the margins who expose the lack of intersectionality in this industry. For a long time, the narrative of music has been male-centered and hyper-masculine. The purpose of the women within it was to orbit these men: swooning to Elvis, screaming en-masse at Beatles gigs, or trying to get backstage to sleep with the rock bad boys. When women gained visibility in the music of the 1960s, they were-again-allocated specific tropes: backing singer, lone woman in the band, Motown trios singing innocuous love songs. In the 1970s, at the time Kate Bush became the first woman (at just 17) to have a number one with song she'd written herself, the women of punk began to make their voices heard. But many didn't like these acts of assertion; the femaleness, the raging against gender stereotypes, the Amazonian loudness of it all. Joan Jett recalls being knocked over on stage by flying bottles; The Slits were chased and threatened after gigs and their singer Ari Up was stabbed twice. Even as late as the 1980s, as hip hop gained prominence, it made room for only a handful of women, while trading in misogynist rhymes, where women could only be hoes, bitches or gold diggers. How were young female rappers of color to participate when they didn't see themselves represented in that culture? Trapped within an entertainment industry relentlessly catering to men, these rappers, and many other budding female musicians across a variety of genres in modern music, were often othered and exoticized-until the moment when they dared to own it. To speak up. To shout louder. Digging into the depths of an industry hard-coded for sexism, THIS WOMAN'S WORK is an ode to the thousands of women in music whose stories we don't know. Pioneers whose achievements are undervalued, often by virtue of their gender, or because someone else (many times, a man) took credit for it. Featuring brand new essays from notable feminist writers like Ottessa Moshfegh, Juliana Huxtable, Maggie Nelson, Rachel Kushner, Leslie Jamison, and more, THIS WOMAN'S WORK reminds us to pay our respects to the women who shattered ceilings and kicked in doors, vastly expanding the spectrum of women's influence in the world of modern music"--
Subjects: Essays.; Misogyny.; Music.; Women musicians.;

Truth be told : my journey through life and the law / by McLachlin, Beverley,1943-author.;
"Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, offers an intimate and revealing look at her life and shares her insights into the most pressing legal and social questions we face today. As a young girl, Beverley McLachlin's world was often full of wonder--at the expansive Prairie vistas around her, at the stories she discovered in the books at her local library, and at the diverse people who passed through her parents' door. While her family was poor, their lives were rich in the ways that mattered most. Even at a young age, she had an innate sense of justice, which was reinforced by the lessons her parents taught her: Everyone deserves dignity. All people are equal. Those who work hard reap the rewards. Willful, spirited, and unusually intelligent, she discovered in Pincher Creek an extraordinary tapestry of people and perspectives that informed her worldview going forward. Still, life in the rural Prairies was lonely, and gaining access to education--especially for girls--wasn't always easy. As a young woman, McLachlin moved to Edmonton to pursue a degree in philosophy. There, she discovered her passion lay not in the ivory towers of academia, but in the real world, solving problems directly related to the lives of the people around her. And in the law, she found the tools to do exactly that. She soon realized, though, that the world was not always willing to accept her. In her early years as an articling student and lawyer, she encountered sexism, exclusion, and old boys' clubs at every turn. And outside the courtroom, personal loss and tragedies struck close to home. Nonetheless, McLachlin was determined to prove her worth, and her love of the law and the pursuit of justice pulled her through the darkest moments. McLachlin's meteoric rise through the courts soon found her serving on the highest court in the country, becoming the first woman to be named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She rapidly distinguished herself as a judge of renown, one who was never afraid to take on morally complex or charged debates. Over the next eighteen years, McLachlin presided over the most prominent cases in the country--involving Charter challenges, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia. One judgment at a time, she laid down a legal legacy that proved that fairness and justice were not luxuries of the powerful but rather obligations owed to each and every one of us. With warmth, honesty, and deep wisdom, McLachlin invites us into her legal and personal life--into the hopes and doubts, the triumphs and losses on and off the bench. Through it all, her constant faith in justice remained her true north. In an age of division and uncertainty, McLachlin's memoir is a reminder that justice and the rule of law remain our best hope for a progressive and bright future."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; McLachlin, Beverley, 1943-; Canada. Supreme Court.; Judges;

Act & Punishment. by Mitta, Yevgeni,film director.; MVD Entertainment Group (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by MVD Entertainment Group in 2015.Russian activists Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich left Viona, an established activist collective, in order to form their own feminist punk rock group dubbed Pussy Riot. A public performance of an original song accusing Russian authorities of sexism quickly drew international media attention; undeterred by the arrest of several members, Pussy Riot then decided to conduct a punk rock church service in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Three of the girls were again arrested and threatened with seven years in prison. Initially offered liberty if they agreed to confess and repent for their "crimes," the women refused to budge and were sentenced to two years in prison. This defeat in court becomes their moral victory, as Pussy Riot is cheered on by thousands of new-found fans and worldwide supporters."… A busy and interesting documentary that will provide international audiences with a much richer appreciation of the Pussy Riot phenomenon." - Jennie Kermode, Eye for FilmMode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Political science.; Social sciences.; Arts.; Music.; Balts (Indo-European people).; Foreign study.; Human rights.; Gender identity.; Documentary films.; Women's studies.; Current affairs.; Russia (Federation).; Political participation.; Social problems.; Businesswomen.; Sex role.; Women's rights.; Women social reformers.; Political activists.; Current events.; Performing arts.;

Act & Punishment. by Mitta, Yevgeni,film director.; MVD Entertainment Group (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by MVD Entertainment Group in 2015.Russian activists Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich left Viona, an established activist collective, in order to form their own feminist punk rock group dubbed Pussy Riot. A public performance of an original song accusing Russian authorities of sexism quickly drew international media attention; undeterred by the arrest of several members, Pussy Riot then decided to conduct a punk rock church service in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Three of the girls were again arrested and threatened with seven years in prison. Initially offered liberty if they agreed to confess and repent for their "crimes," the women refused to budge and were sentenced to two years in prison. This defeat in court becomes their moral victory, as Pussy Riot is cheered on by thousands of new-found fans and worldwide supporters."… A busy and interesting documentary that will provide international audiences with a much richer appreciation of the Pussy Riot phenomenon." - Jennie Kermode, Eye for FilmMode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Political science.; Social sciences.; Arts.; Music.; Balts (Indo-European people).; Foreign study.; Human rights.; Gender identity.; Documentary films.; Women's studies.; Current affairs.; Russia (Federation).; Political participation.; Social problems.; Businesswomen.; Sex role.; Women's rights.; Women social reformers.; Political activists.; Current events.; Performing arts.;

Results 71 to 78 of 78 | « previous