Steve Fiffer

The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest, Most Fought over T-Rex Ever Found

Tyrannosaurus Sue

Sharon Sloan Fiffer

In this superb companion to the acclaimed anthologies Home and Family, Jane Smiley, Mona Simpson, and 16 more of today's most arresting and inventive literary voices offer a sumptuous array of prose pieces on the human anatomy.

Body

Adar Cohen

In the early months of 1965, the killings of two civil rights activists inspired the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, which became the driving force behind the passage of the Voting Rights Act. This is their story. “Bloody Sunday”—March 7, 1965—was a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle. The national outrage generated by scenes of Alabama state troopers attacking peaceful demonstrators fueled the drive toward the passage of the Voting Rights Acts later that year. But why were hundreds of activists marching from Selma to Montgomery that afternoon? Days earlier, during the crackdown on another protest in nearby Marion, a state trooper, claiming self-defense, shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old unarmed deacon and civil rights protester. Jackson’s subsequent death spurred local civil rights leaders to make the march to Montgomery; when that day also ended in violence, the call went out to activists across the nation to join in the next attempt. One of the many who came down was a minister from Boston named James Reeb. Shortly after his arrival, he was attacked in the street by racist vigilantes, eventually dying of his injuries. Lyndon Johnson evoked Reeb’s memory when he brought his voting rights legislation to Congress, and the national outcry over the brutal killings ensured its passage. Most histories of the civil rights movement note these two deaths briefly, before moving on to the more famous moments. Jimmie Lee and James is the first book to give readers a deeper understanding of the events that galvanized an already-strong civil rights movement to one of its greatest successes, along with the herculean efforts to bring the killers of these two men to justice—a quest that would last more than four decades.

Two Lives, Two Deaths, and the Movement that Changed America

Jimmie Lee & James

Chronicles Steve Fiffer struggle to learn to walk again after a devastating back injury sustained while wrestling, exploring the emotional difficulties he encountered and detailing the grueling rehabilitation he underwent

A Memoir of Becoming Whole

Three Quarters, Two Dimes, and a Nickel

Morris Dees

The grandson of a Klansman, who engineered the landmark civil suit that bankrupted the Ku Klux Klan, recounts the story of his battles against racism in the New South

The Life and Times of Civil Rights Lawyer Morris Dees

A Season for Justice

Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice

The Moment

Sharon Fiffer

Meet the eccentric, eclectic family members of seventeen of America's finest writers in this dazzling, deeply moving collection of memories. Take advice from Alice Hoffman's wise grandmother, Lillie Lulkin. Keep watch over lone children with Brent Staples. Share with Bob Shacochis and his wife the heartbreaking sadness of two people longing to have a child. You can also listen in as Chang-rae Lee and his mother speak their own language; carefully contemplate life through the eyes of Whitney Otto's beloved, irascible cat; discover if Marion Winik is really, truly related to either Charlie Chaplin or Jann Wenner; and barhop with a five-year-old Stuart Dybeck and his Polish Grandfather. In joining this literary reunion, be prepared to discover your own sense of family history. Whether considering relations by blood, by marriage, by choice, or by chance, each writer here has something to share: secrets, desires, sorrows, and joys. And in this Family, you will find that the pleasure of reading is much more than relative. Contributors include: Edwidge Danticat, Beverly Donofrio, Stuart Dybeck, Edward Hoagland, Alice Hoffman, bell hooks, Chang-rae Lee, Elizabeth McCracken, Whitney Otto, Jayne Anne Phillips, Bob Shacochis, Brent Staples, Deborah Tannen, Geoffrey Wolff, and Marion Winik. The editors of Family are donating a portion of their royalties to two organizations: The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum, a values-based literacy program for sixth graders in the Boston Public School system; and Chicago Youth Centers, which works with young people in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, assisting them in becoming responsible and productive individuals..

A Family

In Home, eighteen of our finest writers evoke different rooms--from their pasts, their present, or simply their imaginations--in order to investigate the ways in which homes contain our lives. The results are touching, provocative, and sometimes hilarious. And since a portion of the editors' proceeds will go to organizations that help the homeless, Home is really where the heart is. Contributors include: Lynda Barry, Richard Bausch, Tony Earley, James Finn Garner, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Allan Gurganus, Colin Harrison, Kathryn Harrison, Gish Jen, Karen Karbo, Alex Kotlowitz, Clint McCown, Susan Power, Esmeralda Santiago, Mona Simpson, Jane Smiley, Sallie Tisdale, and Bailey White. "Unforgettable...These pages are filled with the kind of details that etch a childhood place into the deep recesses of memory, that distinguish the sensual life of one family from another."--Los Angeles Times Book Review "From the Trade Paperback edition.

American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own

Home

Family

What would you do if you were seventeen years old and broke your neck? It's tough enough to stand on the verge of adulthood without the extra burden of not being able to stand at all. Steve Fiffer had his whole life ahead of him in December 1967 when he fractured his fifth cervical vertebra in a wrestling accident at school, shattering his dreams. The diagnosis was quadriplegia, and his parents were told that he would never walk again. Steve, however, was not content to accept such a fate. He had always been taught that he was a leader, not a follower, and he was not going to take this news lying down. Within five months he was out of the hospital, within seven he was on crutches, and within nine he was beginning his freshman year at Yale University. And most remarkable of all, he never lost his wisecracking sense of humor or his hunger for all that life has to offer. Three Quarters, Two Dimes, and a Nickel is Steve Fiffer's story of his coming of age, and of how he created a normal life for himself despite his injury. Steve refused to be consumed or defined by his physical condition; he may not be a dollar bill, he explains, but he's still "three quarters, two dimes, and a nickel." His battle to come back from his injury casts into sharp relief the drama of becoming an adult and wrestling with issues of identity, relationships, and ambition. We join him around the dinner table as he rebuilds his once-distant relationship with his father and gains a new appreciation of their bond; we agonize with him as he tries to find true love (or at least lose his virginity) despite his self-consciousness about his physical awkwardness, and we join him at the Lawson YMCA in downtown Chicago, where he rebuilds his body under the watchful eye of the manic physical-fitness coach Dick Woit, a retired football star who puts Steve through a sort of boot camp to raise his sights even higher and propel him off his crutches for good. Part guru, part drill instructor, Woit helps Steve to develop the mental toughness to put the injury behind him and to embrace adulthood and all its responsibilities. By turns poignant, darkly comic, and ultimately triumphant, Three Quarters, Two Dimes, and a Nickel is an affirmation of how the ordinary joys of life can win out even in extraordinary circumstances.

Three Quarters, Two Dimes and a Nickel

This Family, you will find that the pleasure of reading is much more than relative.

American Writers Remember Their Own

In the spirit of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth comes an inspirational primer for making a difference in the 1990s. Provides profiles of innovative volunteer programs from all over the country started by people who saw a problem in their community and took action. Includes resource guide.

A Handbook for Change

50 Ways to Help Your Community

Sharon S. Fiffer

Portions of the proceeds from Body will be donated to Charity

James A. Baker

A revelatory memoir by the former secretary of state and White House chief of staff describes his behind-the-scenes witness to numerous political machinations, in an account in which he discusses the Iran-Contra scandal, the Reagan assassination attempt, and the 2000 election in Florida, with an epilogue on the author's vision for U.S. foreign policy. Reprint.

"Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics!"

In 1990 South Dakota, the most complete fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered. Following the discovery of "Sue", commercial dinosaur hunters, law officers, a Native American tribe, and many others battled over ownership of the fossil. The author explains the issues surrounding the aftermath of the discovery.

The Extraordinary Saga of Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found

C. T. Vivian

The wisdom acquired during C. T. Vivian's lifetime is generously shared in It's In the Action, the civil rights legend's memoir of his early life and time in the civil rights movement. Vivian worked hand-in-hand with the movement's most famous figures, including Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, and his contributions were no less vital to the successes of nonviolent resistance. Bearing a foreword from Andrew Young, It's In the Action is an important addition to civil rights history from Vivian and co-author Steve Fiffer. C. T. Vivian’s life was never defined by the discrimination and hardship he faced, although there were many instances of both throughout his lifetime. The late civil rights leader instead focused on his faith in God and his steadfast belief in nonviolence, extending these principles nationwide as a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It's In the Action contains Vivian’s recollections, ranging from finding religion at the young age of five to his imprisonment as part of the Freedom Rides. The late civil rights leader’s heart wrenching and inspiring stories from a lifetime of nonviolent activism come just in time for a new generation of activists, similarly responding to systems of injustice, violence, and oppression. It's In the Action is a record of a life dedicated to selflessness and morality, qualities achieved by Vivian that we can all aspire to.

Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior

It's in the Action

This book dramatically chronicles the significant events that led Morris Dees to the front lines of the civil rights struggle and his ongoing crusade against hate groups.This is the story of the courageous and often lonely journey of a skilled and controversial trail lawyer whose career has paralelled a nation's struggle to ensure freedom and equality for all its citizens.

The Morris Dees Story

A Lawyer's Journey

The wisdom acquired during C. T. Vivian's lifetime is generously shared in It's in the Action, the civil rights legend's memoir of his early life and time in the civil rights movement. Vivian worked hand-in-hand with the movement's most famous figures, including Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, and his contributions were no less vital to the successes of nonviolent resistance. Bearing a foreword from Andrew Young, It's in the Action is an important addition to civil rights history from Vivian and co-author Steve Fiffer.

Robert W. Jordan

In the spring of 2001, George W. Bush selected Dallas attorney Robert W. Jordan as the ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Jordan’s nomination sped through Congress in the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and he was at his post by early October, though with no prior diplomatic experience, as Saudi Arabia mandates that the U.S. Ambassador be a political appointee with the ear of the president. Hence Jordan had to learn on the job how to run an embassy, deal with a foreign culture, and protect U.S. interests, all following the most significant terrorist attacks on the United States in history. From 2001 through 2003, Jordan worked closely with Crown Prince Abdullah and other Saudi leaders on sensitive issues of terrorism and human rights, all the while trying to maintain a positive relationship to ensure their cooperation with the war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. At the same time he worked with top officials in Washington, including President Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, and Tommy Franks. Desert Diplomat discusses these relationships as well as the historic decisions of Jordan’s tenure and provides a candid and thoughtful assessment of the sometimes distressing dysfunction in the conduct of American foreign policy, warfare, and intelligence gathering. Still involved in the Middle East, Jordan also offers important insights into the political, economic, and social changes occurring in this critical region, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Steve Fiffer

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