African-American History : Books

"When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live." - Stuart Scott The fearless, intimate, and inspiring story behind ESPN anchor Stuart Scott's unrelenting fight against cancer, with a foreword by Robin Roberts. Shortly before he passed away, on January 4, 2015, Stuart Scott completed work on this memoir. It was both a labor of love and a love letter to life itself. Not only did Stuart relate his personal story-his childhood in North Carolina, his supportive family, his athletic escapades, his on-the-job training as a fledgling sportscaster, his being hired and eventual triumphs at ESPN-he shared his intimate struggles to keep his story going. Struck by appendiceal cancer in 2007, Stuart battled this rare disease with an unimaginable tenacity and vigor. Countless surgeries, enervating chemotherapies, endless shuttling from home to hospital to office and back-Stuart continued defying fate, pushing himself through exercises and workout routines that kept him strong. He wanted to be there for his teenage daughters, Sydni and Taelor, not simply as their dad, but as an immutable example of determination and courage. Every Day I Fight is a saga of love, an inspiration to us all.

Charlamagne Tha God, New York Times bestselling author of Black Privilege and always provocative cohost of Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club, reveals his blueprint for breaking free from your fears and anxieties. Fear is holding you back. It's time to turn the tables and channel your fears to actually fuel your success. Being "shook" is more than a rap lyric for Charlamagne, it's his mission to overcome. While it may seem like he's ahead of the game, he is actually plagued by anxieties, such as the fear of losing his roots, the fear of being a bad dad, and the fear of being a terrible husband. Shook One chronicles his journey to beat those fears and shows a path that you too can take to overcome the anxieties that may be holding you back. Ironically, Charlamagne's fear of failure--of falling into the life of stagnation or crime that caught up so many of his friends and family in his hometown of Moncks Corner--has been the fuel that has propelled him to success. However, even after achieving national prominence as a radio personality, Charlamagne still found himself paralyzed by anxiety and distrust. Now, in Shook One, he is working through these problems--many of which he traces back to cultural PTSD--with help from mentors, friends, and therapy. Being anxious doesn't serve the same purpose anymore. Through therapy, he's figuring out how to get over the irrational fears that won't take him anywhere positive. Charlamange hopes Shook One can be a call to action: Getting help is your right. Therapy and showing weakness are not always easy subjects, but if you go to the gym three or four times a week, why can't you put that same effort and energy into getting mentally strong? "I know bad things are still going to happen to me. Struggles that I can't even conceive of today are still going to trip me up from time to time down the road. Cops are still going to pull me over for no reason. I'm still going to worry about my kids. The anxieties are never fully going to go away. In the past, my focus was always on the things that cause stress. Moving forward, its' going to be on the things that bless."

A candid memoir of fame, strength, family, and friendship from the lead singer of TLC As the lead singer of Grammy-winning supergroup TLC, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins has seen phenomenal fame, success, and critical acclaim. But backstage, she has lived a dual life. In addition to the balancing act of juggling an all-consuming music career and her family, Tionne has struggled her whole life with sickle-cell disease--a debilitating and incurable condition that can render her unable to perform, walk, or even breathe. A Sick Life chronicles Tionne's journey from a sickly young girl in Des Moines who was told she wouldn't live to see 30 through her teen years in Atlanta to how she broke into the music scene and became the superstar musician and sickle-cell disease advocate she is today. Through Tionne's tough, funny, tell-it-like-it-is voice, she shares how she found the inner strength, grit, and determination to live her dream, despite her often unpredictable and debilitating health issues. She dives deep into never-before-told TLC stories, including accounts of her friendship with Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes and her tragic death. Tionne's unvarnished discussion of her remarkable life, disease, unending strength, and ability to power through the odds offers a story like no other.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A heartfelt and inspiring memoir and celebration of Deaf culture by Nyle DiMarco, actor, producer, two-time reality show winner, and cultural icon of the international Deaf community Before becoming the actor, producer, advocate, and model that people know today, Nyle DiMarco was half of a pair of Deaf twins born to a multi-generational Deaf family in Queens, New York. At the hospital one day after he was born, Nyle "failed" his first test--a hearing test--to the joy and excitement of his parents. In this engrossing memoir, Nyle shares stories, both heartbreaking and humorous, of what it means to navigate a world built for hearing people. From growing up in a rough-and-tumble childhood in Queens with his big and loving Italian-American family to where he is now, Nyle has always been driven to explore beyond the boundaries given him. A college math major and athlete at Gallaudet--the famed university for the Deaf in Washington, DC--Nyle was drawn as a young man to acting, and dove headfirst into the reality show competitions America's Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars--ultimately winning both competitions. Deaf Utopia is more than a memoir, it is a cultural anthem--a proud and defiant song of Deaf culture and a love letter to American Sign Language, Nyle's primary language. Through his stories and those of his Deaf brothers, parents, and grandparents, Nyle opens many windows into the Deaf experience. Deaf Utopia is intimate, suspenseful, hilarious, eye-opening, and smart--both a memoir and a celebration of what makes Deaf culture unique and beautiful.

"I need help." Those three words saved Grammy Award-winning singer Michelle Williams's life. After decades of sweeping her anxiety and depression under the rug--even during her years in the spotlight with Destiny's Child--Michelle found herself planning her own funeral. Realizing that she needed immediate help and could no longer battle her anxiety and depression alone, she checked herself into a treatment facility. When she came home, she was energized and determined to check in on a regular basis with herself, God, and others.  Practical, engaging, and full of wisdom, Checking In helps us understand that building walls around our vulnerability can hinder our healing;  we need to reject the lies of anxiety and depression and replace them with the truth of God's Word; joy can be found when we release toxic thought patterns; childhood wounds need to be healed; freedom can be found when we forgive ourselves and others; and a beautiful life comes from living honestly. An uplifting, behind-the-scenes look at one woman's path to healing, Checking In reminds you that you are not alone, and that God is not yet finished writing your story.

The New York Times Bestseller National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Lambda Literary Award winner From Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist, a memoir in weight about eating healthier, finding a tolerable form of exercise, and exploring what it means to learn, in the middle of your life, how to take care of yourself and how to feed your hunger. New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and bodies, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as "wildly undisciplined," Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she casts an insightful and critical eye on her childhood, teens, and twenties--including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life--and brings readers into the present and the realities, pains, and joys of her daily life. With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and authority that have made her one of the most admired voices of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to be overweight in a time when the bigger you are, the less you are seen. Hunger is a deeply personal memoir from one of our finest writers, and tells a story that hasn't yet been told but needs to be.  

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review * People * NPR * The Washington Post * Slate * Harper's Bazaar * Time Out New York * Publishers Weekly * BookPage Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

2008 Retailer's Choice Award winner!The wife of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, Deanna was inadvertently thrust into the spotlight when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Now cancer-free, Deanna is one of breast cancer's leading activists, speaking and raising financial support for women who are "medically underserved" (uninsured or under-insured). Deanna's story shares the role her faith has played in her life-from her years as a single mom and her high profile marriage to Brett, to her battle with breast cancer and the work she is currently doing through the HOPE Foundation. Includes 24 pages of color photos, a foreword by Brett Favre, and an afterword by Brittany and Breleigh Favre.

"Regardless of how much money you have, your race, where you live, what religion you follow, you are going through something. Or you already have or you will. As momma always said, "Everybody's got something." So begins beloved Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts's new memoir in which she recounts the incredible journey that's been her life so far, and the lessons she's learned along the way. With grace, heart, and humor, she writes about overcoming breast cancer only to learn five years later that she will need a bone marrow transplant to combat a rare blood disorder, the grief and heartbreak she suffered when her mother passed away, her triumphant return to GMA after her medical leave, and the tremendous support and love of her family and friends that saw her through her difficult times. Following her mother's advice to "make your mess your message," Robin taught a nation of viewers that while it is true that we've all got something -- a medical crisis to face, aging parents to care for, heartbreak in all its many forms --- we've also all got something to give: hope, encouragement, a life-saving transplant or a spirit-saving embrace. As Robin has learned, and what readers of her remarkable story will come to believe as well, it's all about faith, family and friends. And finding out that you are stronger, much stronger, than you think.

From a woman who's made her living researching breast cancer--and who lived through it herself--a personal yet practical guide to the medical and emotional facets of this life-changing diagnosis A leading oncologist at the University of California San Francisco, Dr. Pamela Munster has advised thousands of women on how to cope with the realities of breast cancer, from diagnosis through treatment and recovery. But her world turned upside down when, at forty-eight years old and in otherwise perfect health, she got a call saying that her own mammogram showed "irregularities." That single word thrust her into a wholly new role--as patient, and not only that of cancer but of the feared BRCA gene mutation as well. Suddenly, she realized that being a true "expert" in a disease was far beyond the scope of her medical training, and that she had a lot to learn if she wanted to hold onto her precious life. Weaving together her personal story with groundbreaking research on BRCA--responsible for breast cancer and many other inherited cancers affecting both women and men--Twisting Fate is an inspiring guide to living with the uncertainties of cancer. With authority, insight, and compassion, Dr. Munster uses her voice to create a safe space for genuine healing and honesty in a world otherwise too-often dominated by fear--and she is living proof of how important it is to embrace all the twists and turns of fate.

One day, I woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to my bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. My medical records-from a month-long hospital stay of which I have no memory-showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier I had been a healthy twenty-four year old, six months into my first serious relationship and beginning a career as a cub reporter at the New York Post. My memoir Brain on Fire chronicles the swift path of my illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving my life. As weeks ticked by and I moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit me to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning me to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar-nicknamed Dr. House-joined my team. He asked me to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing me with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which my body was attacking my brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of "demonic possessions" throughout history.

A powerful, poetic memoir of an Indigenous woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Band in the Pacific Northwest--this New York Times bestseller and Emma Watson Book Club pick is "an illuminating account of grief, abuse and the complex nature of the Native experience . . . at once raw and achingly beautiful (NPR). Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father―an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist―who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame. Mailhot trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept. Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.

"Raw and unflinching . . . A must-read!" --Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends"[It] cuts to the heart of our bogus ideas of beauty." -Scott Westerfeld, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Uglies I am ugly. There's a mathematical equation to prove it.At only eight months old, identical twin sisters Ariel and Zan were diagnosed with Crouzon syndrome -- a rare condition where the bones in the head fuse prematurely. They were the first twins known to survive it.Growing up, Ariel and her sister endured numerous appearance-altering procedures. Surgeons would break the bones in their heads and faces to make room for their growing organs. While the physical aspect of their condition was painful, it was nothing compared to the emotional toll of navigating life with a facial disfigurement.Ariel explores beauty and identity in her young-adult memoir about resilience, sisterhood, and the strength it takes to put your life, and yourself, back together time and time again.

"A heartwarming and inspiring story that will change the way you look at life." --Vikas Swarup, New York Times bestselling author of Slumdog Millionaire "An Eat Pray Love-like memoir." --Pam Grout, #1 New York Times bestselling author of E-Squared When doctors have all but given up, when a diagnosis eludes you, and when every test result raises more questions than answers, how do you save yourself? By the time Amy B. Scher was twenty-eight-years-old, she had lived through almost a decade of misdiagnoses, excruciating pain, brain lesions, bone marrow biopsies, blood transfusions, and multiple hospital stays to treat her late-stage, chronic Lyme disease. Taking forty-four pills a day and deteriorating rapidly, she consulted with more than sixty doctors, including the top experts in Los Angeles, the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis, and a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. When the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal, it was up to Amy to blaze her own path forward. Then, in a stroke of serendipity, she heard about an experimental treatment only available in India--human embryonic stem cell therapy--which had as much probability of killing her as it did of curing her. She boarded a plane with no idea of what awaited her: culture shock, radical medical treatment, and most surprising of all, life-affirming love. With warmth and humor, Amy's powerful and uplifting story of sheer determination is for anyone who believes in--or doubts--the existence of miracles. It is for anyone who wants desperately to believe in the power of the human spirit when it seems that all hope is lost. For everyone who has suffered from chronic pain, grappled with an autoimmune condition, fought for a diagnosis, or trusted their gut and their body when no one else did, Amy is a living example of how our instinct to survive can propel us onward.

"A powerful portrait of Alzheimer's...marked by strong emotions and often bleak honesty." --The Washington Post "The vulnerability, courage, and honesty in Before I Forget are heart-opening. Fear can be paralyzing...yet B. and Dan beautifully demonstrate that there is a different way to approach this stealthy invader. Alzheimer's needs to come out of the shadows, and this book is an important step."  --Maria Shriver Restaurateur, magazine publisher, celebrity chef, and nationally known lifestyle maven, B. Smith is struggling at 66 with a tag she never expected to add to that string: Alzheimer's patient. She's not alone. Every 67 seconds someone newly develops it, and millions of lives are affected by its aftershocks.   B. and her husband, Dan, working with Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson, unstintingly share their unfolding story. Crafted in short chapters that interweave their narrative with practical and helpful advice, readers learn about dealing with Alzheimer's day-to-day challenges: the family realities and tensions, ways of coping, coming research that may tip the scale, as well as lessons learned along the way.   At its heart, Before I Forget is a love story: illuminating a love of family, life, and hope.

With candor and humor, a manic-depressive Iranian-American Muslim woman chronicles her experiences with both clinical and cultural bipolarity.   Born to Persian parents at the height of the Islamic Revolution and raised amid a vibrant, loving, and gossipy Iranian diaspora in the American heartland, Melody Moezzi was bound for a bipolar life. At 18, she began battling a severe physical illness, and her community stepped up, filling her hospital rooms with roses, lilies and hyacinths.   But when she attempted suicide and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, there were no flowers. Despite several stays in psychiatric hospitals, bombarded with tranquilizers, mood-stabilizers, and anti-psychotics, she was encouraged to keep her illness a secret--by both her family and an increasingly callous and indifferent medical establishment. Refusing to be ashamed or silenced, Moezzi became an outspoken advocate, determined to fight the stigma surrounding mental illness and reclaim her life along the way.   Both an irreverent memoir and a rousing call to action, Haldol and Hyacinths is the moving story of a woman who refused to become a victim. Moezzi reports from the frontlines of an invisible world, as seen through a unique and fascinating cultural lens. A powerful, funny, and moving narrative, Haldol and Hyacinths is a tribute to the healing power of hope and humor.

A riveting memoir and a fascinating investigation of the history, uses, and controversies behind lithium, an essential medication for millions of people struggling with bipolar disorder.   It began in Los Angeles in 1993, when Jaime Lowe was just sixteen. She stopped sleeping and eating, and began to hallucinate--demonically cackling Muppets, faces lurking in windows, Michael Jackson delivering messages from the Neverland Underground. Lowe wrote manifestos and math equations in her diary, and drew infographics on her bedroom wall. Eventu­ally, hospitalized and diagnosed as bipolar, she was prescribed a medication that came in the form of three pink pills--lithium. In Mental, Lowe shares and investigates her story of episodic madness, as well as the stabil­ity she found while on lithium. She interviews scientists, psychiatrists, and patients to examine how effective lithium really is and how its side effects can be dangerous for long-term users--including Lowe, who after twenty years on the medication suffers from severe kidney damage. Mental is eye-opening and powerful, tackling an illness and drug that has touched millions of lives and yet remains shrouded in social stigma. Now, while she adjusts to a new drug, her pur­suit of a stable life continues as does her curiosity about the history and science of the mysterious element that shaped the way she sees the world and allowed her decades of sanity. Lowe travels to the Bolivian salt flats that hold more than half of the world's lithium reserves, rural America where lithium is mined for batteries, and tolithium spas that are still touted as a tonic to cure all ills. With unflinching honesty and humor, Lowe allows a clear-eyed view into her life, and an arresting inquiry into one of mankind's oldest medical mysteries.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. Her memoir of the next two years is a "poignant, honest ... triumphantly funny ... and heartbreaking story" (The New York Times Book Review). The ward for teenage girls in the McLean psychiatric hospital was as renowned for its famous clientele--Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles--as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties. Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The former middle distance Olympic runner and high-end escort speaks out for the first time about her battle with mental illness, and how mania controlled and compelled her in competition, but also in life. This is a heartbreakingly honest yet hopeful memoir reminiscent of Manic, Electroboy, and An Unquiet Mind. During the 1990s, three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton was the darling of American track and field. An outstanding runner, a major sports apparel spokesperson, and a happily married wife, she was the model for an active, healthy, and wholesome life. But her perfect facade masked a dark truth: manic depression and bipolar disorder that drove her obsession to perform and win. For years after leaving the track, Suzy wrestled with her condition, as well as the loss of a close friend, conflicted feelings about motherhood and her marriage, and lingering shame about her athletic career. After a misdiagnosis and a recommendation for medication that only exacerbated her mania and made her hypersexual, Suzy embarked on a new path, and assumed a new identity. Fueled by a newfound confidence, a feeling of strength and independence and a desire she couldn't tamp down, she became a high-priced escort in Las Vegas, working as "Kelly." But Suzy could not keep her double life a secret forever. When it was eventually exposed, it sent her into a reckless suicidal period where the only option seemed out. Finally, with the help of her devoted husband, Suzy finally got the proper medical help she needed. In this startling frank memoir, she recounts the journey to outrun her demons, revealing how a woman used to physically controlling her body learned to come to terms with her unstable mind. It is the story of a how a supreme competitor scored her most important victory of all--reclaiming her life from the ravages of an untreated mental illness. Today, thanks to diagnosis, therapy, Kelly has stepped into the shadows, but Suzy is building a better life, one day at a time. Sharing her story, Suzy is determined to raise awareness, provide understanding, and offer inspiration to others coping with their own challenges.

From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America. Keah Brown loves herself, but that hadn't always been the case. Born with cerebral palsy, her greatest desire used to be normalcy and refuge from the steady stream of self-hate society strengthened inside her. But after years of introspection and reaching out to others in her community, she has reclaimed herself and changed her perspective. In The Pretty One, Brown gives a contemporary and relatable voice to the disabled--so often portrayed as mute, weak, or isolated. With clear, fresh, and light-hearted prose, these essays explore everything from her relationship with her able-bodied identical twin (called "the pretty one" by friends) to navigating romance; her deep affinity for all things pop culture--and her disappointment with the media's distorted view of disability; and her declaration of self-love with the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute. By "smashing stigmas, empowering her community, and celebrating herself" (Teen Vogue), Brown and The Pretty One aims to expand the conversation about disability and inspire self-love for people of all backgrounds.

Helen Keller's triumph over her blindness and deafness has become one of the most inspiring stories of our time. Here, in a book first published when she was young woman, is Helen Keller's own story--complex, poignant, and filled with love. With unforgettable immediacy, Helen's own words reveal the heart of an exceptional woman, her struggles and joys, including that memorable moment when she finally understands that Anne's finger-spelled letters w-a-t-e-r mean the fluid rushing over her hand. Helen Keller was always a compassionate and witty advocate for the handicapped, and her sincere and eloquent memoir is deeply moving for the sighted and the blind, the deaf and the hearing. "Her spirit will endure," said Senator Lister Hill at her funeral, "as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith." Through movies and plays, most notably The Miracle Worker, which portrayed her relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, Keller's life has become an emblem of hope for people everywhere.   With an Introduction by Jim Knipfel and an Afterword by Marlee Matlin This Signet Classic edition includes a facsimile of the Braille alphabet, a sign-language alphabet, and a full selection of Helen Keller's letters.