In the Country of Women : : a Memoir

Locations
Call Number: 921 Straight, Susan, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Straight, Susan
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

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	Due 10-23-2021
Traverwood Adult Books	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Straight, Susan	Traverwood Branch	Due 11-07-2021

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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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Discovered a new favorite author submitted by clessure on August 8, 2021, 12:22pm This book is a memoir – so it’s personal – but it is also a great journey that touches on many different topics: US migration, race, family dynamics, relationships, parenting and more. The different chapters explore the incredible that brought the author and her daughters to where they grew up – Riverside, California. It is the first book by Susan Straight that I've read, but it will not be my last. Wonderful writing along with significant historical research – it is book to savor as she takes you on a journey across the US and beyond.