The true story of an anarchist colony on a remote Puget Sound peninsula, Trying Home traces the history of Home, Washington, from its founding in 1896 to its dissolution amid bitter infighting in 1921. As a practical experiment in anarchism, Home offered its participants a rare degree of freedom and tolerance in the Gilded Age, but the community also became notorious to the outside world for its open rejection of contemporary values. Using a series of linked narratives, Trying Home reveals the stories of the iconoclastic individuals who lived in Home, among them Lois Waisbrooker, an advocate of women's rights and free love, who was arrested for her writings after the assassination of President McKinley; Jay Fox, editor of The Agitator, who defended his right to free speech all the way to the Supreme Court; and Donald Vose, a young man who grew up in Home and turned spy for a detective agency. Justin Wadland weaves his own discovery of Home--and his own reflections on the concept of home--into the story, setting the book apart from a conventional history. After discovering the newspapers published in the colony, Wadland ventures beyond the documents to explore the landscape, travelling by boat along the steamer route most visitors once took to the settlement. He visits Home to talk with people who live there now. Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Trying Home will fascinate scholars and general readers alike, especially those interested in the history of the Pacific Northwest, utopian communities, and anarchism.

"New York's Chelsea Hotel may no longer be home to its most famous denizens--Andy Warhol, Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, to name a few--but the eccentric spirit of the Chelsea is alive and well. Meet the family Rips: father Michael, a lawyer turned writer with a penchant for fine tailoring; mother Sheila, a former model and renowned artist who matches her welding outfits with couture; and daughter Nicolaia, a precocious high school junior at work on a record of her peculiar seventeen years. Nicolaia is a perpetual outsider who has struggled to find her place in public schools populated by cliquish girls and loudmouthed boys. But at the Chelsea, Nicolaia need not look far to find her tribe"--

“A groundbreaking work about race and the American landscape, and a deep meditation on nature…wise and beautiful.”—Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk A Foreword Reviews Best Book of the Year and Nautilus Silver Award Winner In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina—a place “easy to pass by on the way somewhere else”—has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity.” By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a meditation on nature and belonging by an ornithologist and professor of ecology, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South—and in America today. “When you’re done with The Home Place, it won’t be done with you. Its wonders will linger like everything luminous.”—Star Tribune “A lyrical story about the power of the wild…synthesizes his own family history, geography, nature, and race into a compelling argument for conservation and resilience.”—National Geographic

Ten years of infertility issues culminate in the destruction of music therapist Zoe Baxter's marriage, after which she falls in love with another woman and wants to start a family, but her ex-husband, Max, stands in the way.

What if you could change your life--without changing your life? Gretchen had a good marriage, two healthy daughters, and work she loved--but one day, stuck on a city bus, she realized that time was flashing by, and she wasn’t thinking enough about the things that really mattered. “I should have a happiness project,” she decided. She spent the next year test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Each month, she pursued a different set of resolutions: go to sleep earlier, quit nagging, forget about results, or take time to be silly. Bit by bit, she began to appreciate and amplify the happiness that already existed in her life. Written with humour and insight, Gretchen’s story will inspire you to start your own happiness project. Now in a beautiful, expanded edition, Gretchen offers a wealth of new material including happiness paradoxes and practical tips on many daily matters: being a more light-hearted parent, sticking to a fitness routine, getting your sweetheart to do chores without nagging, coping when you forget someone’s name and more.

From Gabrielle Hamilton on hiring a blind line cook to Michel Richard on rescuing a wrecked cake to Eric Ripert on being the clumsiest waiter in the room, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. With a great, new piece by Jamie Oliver, Don't Try This at Home is a delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect-and a hilarious musthave for anyone who's ever burned dinner.

See website: http://originlasbyweber.com AOF 8/27/03 ANCHORS OF FAITH IS A BOOK THAT TELLS YOU HOW TO HAVE MORE FUN IN YOUR LIFE! One time, when I was on the road as a salesman, just for fun, I took a survey of the people I met every day for a whole week. I asked each person to describe his or her life to me in a few short words. I wrote down their comments and later arranged them into two groups of responses. From the first group (#1) I heard comments like: life is boring, a sad saga, annoying, many struggles, very challenging, filled with emotional ups and downs, very bland, like a roller coaster, always dull, difficult, unpredictable, strained, disgusting. But, there was a second group (#2) who replied with enthusiasm. They said things like: my life is good! Great! Expectant! A blast! Pregnant! Peaceful! Quiet! Blessed! Happy and - lots of fun! If were to ask you to describe your life to me, would you respond like those in negative group #1 or as those in positive group #2? Well if you find yourself in negative group #1, Ive got good news for you. You can learn how to put all of that behind you. You can acquire a positive, optimistic outlook and at the same time put more fun in your life! How? READ THIS BOOK! You see, in my book I explain, with many examples and true stories how God demonstrated again and again to me that his greatest desire is to be our best friend. Our buddy. Our guide. But, best of all, he wants us to see him as our own personal loving father who wants nothing less than the best of everything for us - as his son or daughter because he loves us so very much. As I prayerfully wrote this book (Anchors Of Faith) about events in my life, I realized that there was something "mysterious" happening in each story. I dont mean this is a "mystery" book, but, instead, as you read it, I believe you will be aware of what I call the "mysterious" spiritual message God has put in this book especially for you. That message seems to be written "between the lines" of what I wrote. My words and thoughts are simply my honest attempt to explain to you, by way of many examples and stories about my life, the hundreds of ways God wants to help us have interesting and enjoyable lives. In addition, he does his best to help us find answers to lifes constant questions about: faith, children, the Bible, fellowship, missions, money, prayer and self worth. So, if you want to find ways to change your attitude about your life, find ways to have more fun and what I call a blast or a party for the rest of your life, you need to read this book soon! Sincerely, Terrance L. Weber