In the Country of Women : : a Memoir
Book - 2019 921 Straight, Susan, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Straight, Susan 3 On Shelf No requests on this item

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Call Number: 921 Straight, Susan, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Straight, Susan
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch
Location | Call Number | Branch | Item Status |
---|---|---|---|
Downtown 2nd Floor | 921 Straight, Susan | Downtown Library | On Shelf |
Pittsfield Adult Books | Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Straight, Susan | Pittsfield Branch | On Shelf |
Traverwood Adult Books | Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Straight, Susan | Traverwood Branch | On Shelf |
Acknowledgements The Work of Women - Evaporation and Memory, white House #3 --
"In inland Southern California, near the desert and the Mexican border, Susan Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college, they married and drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write. Once back in Riverside, at driveway barbecues and fish fries with the large, close-knit Sims family, Straight--and eventually her three daughters--heard for decades the stories of Dwayne's female ancestors. Some women escaped violence in post-slavery Tennessee, some escaped murder in Jim Crow Mississippi, and some fled abusive men. Straight's mother-in-law, Alberta Sims, is the descendant at the heart of this memoir. Susan's family, too, reflects the hardship and resilience of women pushing onward--from Switzerland, Canada, and the Colorado Rockies to California. A Pakistani word, biraderi, is one Straight uses to define a complex system of kinship and clan--those who become your family. An entire community helped raise her daughters. Of her three girls, now grown and working in museums and the entertainment industry, Straight writes, "The daughters of our ancestors carry in their blood at least three continents. We are not about borders. We are about love and survival." In the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women." -- from Jacket.
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PUBLISHED
New York : Catapult, [2019]
Year Published: 2019
Description: 363 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781948226226
1948226227
SUBJECTS
Straight, Susan.
Straight, Susan -- Family.
Authors, American -- Biography.
Women authors -- Biography.