This first essay collection by the founder of the South Seattle Emerald—the Pacific Northwest’s most diverse & activist-oriented community newspaper—is sure to challenge & inspire readers to work towards a better future; to engage with the various structural impediments, social and racial, preventing a more just and equitable America. Social justice is an ideal. It’s not a reality. And while there are moments that make it feel tantalizingly close, the moment that follows often punts it right back to the far distance. Growing up black in south Seattle, journalist and essayist Marcus Harrison Green has a keen sense of exactly where and how things break down. From his own experience in the classroom and at the hands of police to his fierce dissection of the racism baked into media and journalism, Green makes poetry of the clarity that comes after long reflection. In this collection, Green bears sharp witness to the Black Lives Matter movement, his own journey into and out of religious faith, his grandmother’s lessons, his battle with bipolar disorder, human mortality, blatant hypocrisy, and much more. He shines a light on what hurts the most deeply in us: not only the brutal injustice of a world built by the powerful for the powerful, but the close proximity of that brutality to a persistent kernel of hope. Yet because there is hope, there is conviction. Green never falters in the knowledge that the struggle itself is something to tie ourselves to and define ourselves by. With astute analyses, evocative imagery, profound empathy, and the ability to laugh at it all, these essays, even with their collective weight, leave us much lighter than they found us. Long before America’s reckoning on racism and historical injustice, Marcus Harrison Green was busy peering into the nation’s psyche—and examining his own. These incisive essays, some outward looking and others tenderly personal, show why his vision of journalism as a force for social good is so suited for our times. Marcus wears his heart on his sleeve, as everyone in his beloved South Seattle knows, but as a Black man in a nation that’s only beginning to see the dignity of those who’ve been rendered powerless, he’s under no illusions about the hard work that will be required for this country face its sins and at last, make us all feel at home. These are of the chronicles of a nation wrestling with whether to reach for the best of itself, a man bearing his soul and a journalist coming to terms with his calling. ~Tyrone Beason, Journalist, Los Angeles Times Marcus Harrison Green’s incisive, big-hearted writing always stands out. He nails a high-difficulty landing every time, displaying the rare patience and empathy necessary to understand how someone can come to any point of view, while wielding the moral clarity and sociological insight that forces us to confront our own failures in facing the truth about poverty and racism. Along the way, he writes about himself with deep vulnerability in a way that illuminates not himself but the subjects of his writing, whom he clearly loves. More writers should emulate the way Green makes humanity and hope burst forth from the dispiriting statistics we see everyday. He never stops at “Why is this happening?”, instead persuading us to ask ourselves, “What are we doing about it?” ~Lawrence Lanahan, The Lines Between Us Writing is a tool of exploration, and readers of Marcus’ work get the benefit of his deep dives into family relationships, mental health, racial dynamics and many other parts of life that people leave largely unexamined because looking too closely feels perilous. Readers who go along with Marcus on his fearless journey in Readying to Rise may be inspired to look more closely at themselves and the world. ~Jerry Large, former Seattle Times columnist

Social justice is an ideal. It's not a reality. And while there are moments that make it feel tantalizingly close, the moment that follows often punts it right back to the far distance. Growing up black in south Seattle, journalist and essayist Marcus Harrison Green has a keen sense of exactly where and how things break down. From his own experience in the classroom and at the hands of police to his fierce dissection of the racism baked into media and journalism, Green makes poetry of the clarity that comes after long reflection. In this collection, Green bears sharp witness to the Black Lives Matter movement, his own journey into and out of religious faith, his grandmother's lessons, his battle with bipolar disorder, human mortality, blatant hypocrisy, and much more. He shines a light on what hurts the most deeply in us: not only the brutal injustice of a world built by the powerful for the powerful, but the close proximity of that brutality to a persistent kernel of hope. Yet because there is hope, there is conviction. Green never falters in the knowledge that the struggle itself is something to tie ourselves to and define ourselves by. With astute analyses, evocative imagery, profound empathy, and the ability to laugh at it all, these essays, even with their collective weight, leave us much lighter than they found us.

Originally published by Bradbury Press in 1973.

The former U.S. Poet Laureate contemplates life, death, and the view from his window in these “alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny” essays (The New York Times). From an early age, Donald Hall dedicated his life to the written word. In his long and celebrated career, he was an accomplished poet, essayist, memoirist, dramatist, and children’s author. Now, in the “unknown, unanticipated galaxy” of very old age, his essays continue to startle, move, and delight. In Essays After Eighty, Hall ruminates on his past: “thirty was terrifying, forty I never noticed because I was drunk, fifty was best with a total change of life, sixty extended the bliss of fifty . . .” He also addresses his present: “When I turned eighty and rubbed testosterone on my chest, my beard roared like a lion and gained four inches.” Most memorably, Hall writes about his enduring love affair with his ancestral Eagle Pond Farm and with the writing life that sustains him every day: “Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 a.m., but when I awoke I wrote again.” “Deliciously readable…Donald Hall, if abandoned by the muse of poetry, has wrought his prose to a keen autumnal edge.” —The Wall Street Journal

This antiquarian volume contains a comprehensive guide to speaking and writing correctly, with information on grammar, sentence structure, writing letters, common pitfalls, comments on famous pieces of literature and their authors, and much more. Written in simple, clear language and full of helpful tips and hints, this text will be of considerable utility to those with a keen interest in linguistics, and it would make for a worthy addition to any personal library. The chapters of this book include: Essentials of English Grammar, The Sentence, Figurative Language, Punctuation, Letter Writing, Errors, Pitfalls to Avoid, Style, Suggestions, Slang, Writing for Newspapers, Choice of Words, English Language, and Masters and Masterpieces of Literature. We are republishing this vintage book now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a new prefatory biography of the author.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “From The New Yorker’s beloved cultural critic comes a bold, unflinching collection of essays about self-deception, examining everything from scammer culture to reality television.”—Esquire Book Club Pick for Now Read This, from PBS NewsHour and The New York Times • “A whip-smart, challenging book.”—Zadie Smith • “Jia Tolentino could be the Joan Didion of our time.”—Vulture FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE’S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AND HARVARD CRIMSON AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Chicago Tribune • The Washington Post • NPR • Variety • Esquire • Vox • Elle • Glamour • GQ • Good Housekeeping • The Paris Review • Paste • Town & Country • BookPage • Kirkus Reviews • BookRiot • Shelf Awareness Jia Tolentino is a peerless voice of her generation, tackling the conflicts, contradictions, and sea changes that define us and our time. Now, in this dazzling collection of nine entirely original essays, written with a rare combination of give and sharpness, wit and fearlessness, she delves into the forces that warp our vision, demonstrating an unparalleled stylistic potency and critical dexterity. Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Tolentino writes about a cultural prism: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the advent of scamming as the definitive millennial ethos; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the punitive dream of optimization, which insists that everything, including our bodies, should become more efficient and beautiful until we die. Gleaming with Tolentino’s sense of humor and capacity to elucidate the impossibly complex in an instant, and marked by her desire to treat the reader with profound honesty, Trick Mirror is an instant classic of the worst decade yet. FINALIST FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY