June 2023 MBR The Biography Shelf

The Biography Shelf

Rear Admiral Schley
Robert A. Jones
Texas A&M University Press
www.tamupress.com
9781648431234, $80.00, HC, 344pp

https://www.amazon.com/Rear-Admiral-Schley-Extraordinary-Williams-Ford/dp/1648431232

Synopsis: The career of Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley (9 October 1839 - 2 October 1911), as it unfolded on land and sea, offers a compelling account of a pivotal time in the history of the US Navy and maritime warfare. Remembered chiefly for his role in the in Spanish-American War, Schley led the US Navy to victory at the Battle of Santiago, was promoted to rear admiral, then found himself accused of timidity and cowardliness in battle and subject to a controversial Court of Inquiry. The dispute and its resolution, known as the Sampson-Schley Controversy, continue to impact the navy to this day.

Schley graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1860 and advanced quickly through the ranks. After fighting in the Civil War, sailing the seven seas, and visiting many foreign countries, he played a vital part in the formation of the "New Steel Navy" as the fleet converted from the era of sail to steam.

With the publication of "Rear Admiral Schley: An Extraordinary Life at Sea and on Shore", biographer Robert A. Jones tells a stirring tale of a remarkable commander whose cool-headed courage under fire and in hand-to-hand combat made him a highly respected leader whom men would follow willingly. His skills and proven leadership led to his being asked to conduct diplomatic missions in several countries, to supervise ship construction, to direct two lighthouse districts, to intervene in a civil war in Chile, and to lead the famous mission to rescue the Greely Arctic expedition.

Critique: Serving as the ideal template for similar studies of previously lesser-known military leaders who helped to shape the US Navy into what it is today, "Rear Admiral Schley: An Extraordinary Life at Sea and on Shore" is a seminal, meticulously researched, comprehensive, and impressively presented biography that rescues from an undeserved obscurity a significant figure in the 19th Century history of the US Navy. Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of four Appendices, sixteen pages of Notes, a ten page Bibliography, and a fifteen page Index, "Rear Admiral Schley: An Extraordinary Life at Sea and on Shore" is unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library American Military History/Biography collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Robert A. Jones (1941-2022) retired as a lead software engineer from the US Naval Sea Systems Command. He is also the author of "Confederate Corsair, The Life of Lt. Charles W. "Savez" Read".

Charlotte Cushman: A Biography and Performance History
Arthur W. Bloom
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476690872, $49.95, PB, 309pp

https://www.amazon.com/Charlotte-Cushman-Biography-Performance-History/dp/1476690871

Synopsis: Charlotte Cushman (July 23, 1816 - February 18, 1876) was one of the great actors of 19th century American theatre. She was a lesbian who kept her identity hidden by focusing her career on male characters (Romeo, Claude Melnotte, Wolsey), and also on strong and passionate women (Lady Macbeth, Bianca in Fazio, and Queen Katherine in Henry VIII).

With the publication of "Charlotte Cushman: A Biography and Performance History", Professor Arthur W. Bloom provides an authoritative record of Cushman's life and performances, showing how her complex gender identity illuminates and is illuminated by 19th century theatre critical views.

With respect to the organization and presentation of "Charlotte Cushman: A Biography and Performance History", Part One is a biography; Part Two is a performance history listing all of Cushman's known performances, often with a description of her role and critical commentary.

Critique: Of particular appeal to readers with an interest in 19th Century American Theatre and the life/accomplishments of a 19th Century lesbian actress and theatrical performer, "Charlotte Cushman: A Biography and Performance History" is informatively enhanced with the inclusion of a six page Bibliography, sixteen pages of Notes, and a twelve page Index. An exceptional example of biographical and meticulous research, "Charlotte Cushman: A Biography and Performance History" is a welcome and unreservedly recommended contribution to personal, professional, academic, college, and university library LBTGQ Biography and 19th Century American Theatrical History collections, as well as supplemental Women's Studies curriculum lists.

Editorial Note: The late Arthur W. Bloom was a retired professor of theatre and administrator at several public and private American universities. He is the author of biographies of Joseph Jefferson, Edwin Booth, and Edwin Forrest. There is a collection of his papers on the Dartmouth Library website at https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/984

A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn
Todd E. Harburn
University of Oklahoma Press
www.oupress.com
9780806191584, $34.95, HC, 260pp

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Cut-Short-Little-Horn/dp/0806191589

Synopsis: Of the three physicians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Doctor George Edwin Lord (1846-76) was the lone commissioned medical officer, an assistant surgeon with the United States Army's 7th Cavalry -- one more soldier caught up in the U.S. government's efforts to fulfill what many people believed was the young country's "Manifest Destiny".

"A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. Lord" by Todd E. Harburn tells Lord's life story for the first time. Notable for its unique angle on what become known as 'Custer's Last Stand' and for its depiction of frontier-era medicine, this historical biography is above all a compelling portrait of the making of an army medical professional in mid-nineteenth-century America.

Drawing on newly discovered documents, biographer Harburn describes Lord's education and training at Bowdoin College in Maine and the Chicago Medical College, detailing what the study of medicine entailed at the time for "a young man of promise... held in universal esteem." Lord's time as a contract physician with the army took him in 1874 to the U.S. Northern Boundary Survey. From there Harburn recounts how, after a failed romance and the rigors of the U.S. Army Medical Board examination, the young doctor proceeded to his first (and only) appointment as a post surgeon, at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory.

What followed, of course, was Lord's service, and his death, in the Little Big Horn campaign, which this biography shows us for the first time from the unique perspective of the surgeon.

A portrait of a singular figure in the milieu of the American military's nineteenth-century medical elite, "A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn" offers a unique perspective on a familiar incident in 19th Century U.S. military history, and a reminder of the humanity lost in a battle that resonates to this day.

Critique: Informative enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of numerous illustrations, sixty pages of Notes, a sixteen page Bibliography, and a nine page Index, "A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. Lord" is a seminal and original work of meticulous and detailed scholarship. An inherently interesting, well organized/presented, and a unique contribution to personal, professional, community, college, and university library 19th Century military/medical biography collections, it should also be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, historians, and those with an interest in the Battle of Little Big Horn, that "A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. Lord" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $21.95).

Looking Backward, Going Forward: Reflections on a Writer's Life
Jan Yager
Hannacroix Creek Books
www.hannacroixcreekbooks.com
9781938998942, $19.95, PB, 353pp

https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Backward-Going-Forward-Reflections/dp/1938998944

Synopsis: From the first novel she wrote at the age of ten to her most recent books published by commercial houses "When Friendship Hurts", (Simon & Schuster); "Essentials of Victimology" (a textbook published in 2022 by Aspen Publishing), "How to Promote Your Book" (Square One Publishers, February 15, 2023), or through her own small press, Hannacroix Creek Books, Inc ("Friendgevity"; "Work Less, Do More"; "On the Run"; and "Friendshifts") Jan Yager is a prolific and award-winning writer has done it all.

Starting off by working full time in such amazing publishing companies as Macmillan (2 years) followed by learning everything about trade book publishing as she worked alongside Barney Rosset (the legendary founder of Grove Press) for a year, Jan has a lot to share about writing, getting published, and some of the adventures she has had going on cross country and even international author tours.

With the publication of her memoir, "Looking Backward, Going Forward: Reflections on a Writer's Life", Jan shares her insights and experiences about interviewing everyone from puppeteer Jim Henson to playwright Harold Pinter. Her memoir covers working with and in a range of genres that include nonfiction, fiction, and illustrated children's books. She's been on several 5 to 18-city cross-country author tours in the U.S. as well as international author tours throughout the UK, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.

Critique: A fascinating, informative, and articulate memoir that will have a very special interest to aspiring authors, publishers, booksellers, literary publicists, amateur and professional book reviewers, students of the publishing industry, and dedicated bibliophiles. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Writing/Publishing and American Biography/Memoir collections, it should be noted that "Looking Backward, Going Forward: Reflections on a Writer's Life" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.95).

Editorial Note #1: Jan Yager (https://www.drjanyager.com) has published 50+ books in several genres including nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and children's books, with one or more titles translated into 35 languages. She worked in publishing, first at Macmillan, then at Grove Press; she went on to publish her own books with major houses including Scribner, Simon & Schuster, Doubleday, Wiley, Grove Press, and Penguin Random House. In 1996, she founded Hannacroix Creek Books, Inc. Jan holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Since August 2014, she has taught in the Sociology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she is an Adjunct Associate Professor.

WanderLOST
Jacob Daniel Sims
https://www.jdanielsims.com
Circle Books
c/o John Hunt Publishing
www.johnhuntpublishing.com
9781785359774, $21.95, PB, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/WanderLOST-stories-winding-toward-significance/dp/1785359770

Synopsis: Deftly blending a global travel adventure with an exuberant coming of age story, "WanderLOST: Stories from the Winding Road Toward Significance" by Jacob Sims charts one millennial's decades-long globetrotting adventure in pursuit of meaning, significance, and belonging.

With each intriguing anecdote, harrowing encounter, and entertaining mishap Jacob Sims challenges his readers to reckon with accepted notions of freedom and identity as he expertly melds his personal memoir with observations of moral philosophy as he weighs the costs of a life in pursuit of liberty and happiness. In the void left from this path, "WanderLOST" offers readers glimpses of wholeness in the deeper journey of learning to love.

Critique; Absorbing, thought-provoking, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "WanderLOST: Stories from the Winding Road Toward Significance" will be of immense interest to readers of contemporary memoirs, true-life travel adventures, and Christian social issues dealing with globalization and politics. Also available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), "WanderLOST" will prove an immediately welcome and enduringly popular addition to community and academic library Contemporary History/Memoir collections.

Editorial Note: Jacob Sims (https://www.jdanielsims.com) currently serves as Country Director of International Justice Mission (IJM) Cambodia where he leads a team of investigators, lawyers, social workers, programmatic and operational staff in the fight against violent labor exploitation. Concurrently with his role at IJM, he serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at Duke University's Center for Reconciliation, a leading institute bridging the worlds of research and practice in the global peace-building and justice space. Sims is frequently drawn upon for expert commentary on various human rights and global development challenges. His analysis has featured recently in The Economist, The Guardian, Forbes, The LA Times, Al Jazeera, VICE World News, Sydney Morning Herald, ProPublica, The American Interest, Plough, The Hill, and World News Group amongst many others.

One Long Listening
Chenxing Han
North Atlantic Books
www.northatlanticbooks.com
9781623177850, $17.95, PB, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/one-long-listening-friendship-spiritual/dp/1623177855

Synopsis: Immigrant daughter, novice chaplain, bereaved friend, with the publication of "One Long Listening: A Memoir of Grief, Friendship, and Spiritual Care", author Chenxing Han takes us on a pilgrimage through the wilds of grief and laughter, pain and impermanence, reconnecting us to both the heartache and inexplicable brightness of being human.

Eddying around three autumns of Han's life, "One Long Listening" journeys from a mountaintop monastery in Taiwan to West Coast oncology wards, from oceanside Ireland to riverfront Phnom Penh. Through letters to a dying friend, bedside chaplaincy visits, and memories of a migratory childhood, Han's startling, searching memoir cuts a singular portrait of a spiritual caregiver in training.

Just as we touch the depths, bracing for resolution, Han's swift, multilingual prose sweeps us back to unknowingness: not knowing is most intimate. Chinese mothers, hillside graves. A dreamed olive tree, a lost Siberian crane. The music of scripts and silence. These shards (bright, broken, giddy, aching) are mirrors to our own lives in joy and sorrow.

A testament to enduring connection by a fresh and urgent new literary voice, "One Long Listening" asks fearlessly into the stories we inhabit, the hopes we relinquish, and what it means simply to be, to and for the ones we love.

Critique: Articulate, eloquent, absorbing, thought-provoking, memorable, "One Long Listening: A Memoir of Grief, Friendship, and Spiritual Care" raises this real life memoir and autobiography to a literary excellence that is typically only associated with with internationally acclaimed fiction. Of special appeal to readers with an interest in Asian American Studies, Grief and Bereavement, "One Long Listening" is a strong and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Biography/Memoir and Buddhist Philosophy collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "One Long Listening" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Editorial Note: Chenxing Han (https://www.chenxinghan.com) is the author of "Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists" (North Atlantic Books, 2021). She is a regular contributor to Lion's Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and other publications, and a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation. She has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation, the Lenz Foundation, and the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union. Her chaplaincy training began in Cambodia and continued in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she completed a year long residency on an oncology ward. She is a co-teacher of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard at Phillips Academy Andover and a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors.

Troubles and Triumphs: The Robert Young Story
Dan McGuire
BearManor Media
www.bearmanormedia.com
9798887710778, $35.00, HC, 230pp

https://www.amazon.com/Troubles-Triumphs-hardback-Robert-Young/dp/B0C19GQD7C

Synopsis: An introvert by nature, Robert Young found that he could overcome his shyness by taking on other personalities when he performed with his high school's drama group.

Further schooling in theatre arts at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he appeared in many productions, led to a screen test and a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Louis B. Mayer, the top man at MGM, said, "Young has no sex appeal." Yet during his years with the studio Robert starred in dozens of films and had prime supporting roles in many others.

After leaving MGM to freelance for several years, he branched out into radio and starred on the popular series Father Knows Best. He then repeated his parental role in its television adaptation, followed by Marcus Welby, M.D., both highly acclaimed series for which he won several awards. But for most of his adult years, unknown to all but his family and some close friends, Robert suffered from a chronic illness-one that almost killed him.

Supported by his beloved wife Elizabeth, he persevered, entertaining millions of moviegoers, radio listeners, and television viewers well into his senior years. "Troubles and Triumphs: The Robert Young Story" by author and biographer Dan McGuire is his story.

Critique: Enhanced with the inclusion of numerous black/white historical photos, "Troubles and Triumphs (hardback): The Robert Young Story" is an inherently interest read and will have a very special appeal for readers with an interest in the life and achievements of Robert Young (February 22, 1907 - July 21, 1998). Meticulously researched and exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Troubles and Triumphs: The Robert Young Story" is an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to community and academic library American Actor/Entertainer and Television Performer Biography collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of Robert Young fans that this impressively informative life story of Robert Young is also readily available in a paperback edition (9798887710761, $25.00) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.95).

I Hate You, Mary Sullivan: A Memoir of Inherited Trauma
Barbara J. Williams
Cape House Books
https://capehousepublishing.com
9781939129154, $18.95, PB, 204pp

https://www.amazon.com/Hate-You-Mary-Sullivan-Inherited/dp/193912915X

Synopsis: Only in Ireland can Barbara Williams unlock the secrets of her late grandmother's troubled personality -- and of her own anxiety. Their Kenny ancestors were farm laborers who had endured famines, violent uprisings, and forced eviction threats. Her Nana, Mary Sullivan, had never breathed a word of it. As Williams uncovers this painful past, she calls forth a love that heals her relationship with Nana fifty years after her death. Their intertwined stories, infused with Celtic spirituality and scientific insight, help unravel the mysteries that bind us all to our ancestors.

Critique: A deftly written, compelling, and inherently fascinating memoir, "I Hate You, Mary Sullivan: A Memoir of Inherited Trauma" by Barbara J. Williams will have a particular interest for readers of culturally reflective biographies. One of those intensely personal life stories that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf, "I Hate You, Mary Sullivan: A Memoir of Inherited Trauma" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Contemporary Biography/Memoir collections.

Light Come Out of the Closet
Roger Leslie
Paradise Publishing
https://paradise-pubs.com
9781941680087, $19.95, PB, 350pp

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Come-Closet-Roger-Leslie/dp/B0BSKF5HML

Synopsis: "How do we live with a God, or ourselves, if who we are dooms us to Hell? In the dark night of our soul, we find our own light!"

"Light Come Out of the Closet: A Memoir for a Gay Soul" by Dr. Roger Leslie is a memoir of a gay man's struggle to reconcile his sexuality with his faith. In an impressively candid account, Dr. Leslie explores his journey of rediscovering the God of love he learned about as a child and how being gay became a gift that helped him find his soul.

Critique: A powerful testament to hope, healing, and self-discovery in the face of prejudice and adversity, biographies and memoirs of LGBTQ men and women like "Light Come Out of the Closet: A Memoir for a Gay Soul" is a timely and much appreciated contribution to helping the broader community understand that being gay or lesbian or trans is how we are fashioned by God in the womb of our mothers. An inherently interesting, exceptionally well written, impressively presented and contemporary life story of a religious gay man, "Light Come Out of the Closet:" is a memorable and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, college, and university library Contemporary American Biography and LGBTQ Memoir collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists of (to quote Dr. Leslie) anyone seeking to 'live the life they dream and soar toward their own ideal of success' that "Light Come Out of the Closet" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $0.99).

Editorial Note: Dr. Roger Leslie (www.RogerLeslie.com) is a scholar in the fields of success and education. Through major literary houses, medium and small presses, and his own publishing house, Leslie has published fiction and nonfiction books in multiple genres: historical fiction, inspirational self-help, spirituality, writing and publishing, movie reference, teaching and librarianship, biography, history, and memoir. Leslie has won numerous national awards including ForeWord Book of the Year, The Ben Franklin Award, and Writer's Digest's #1 Inspirational Book of the Year. At its inaugural event, Leslie received the Houston Literary Award for his body of work.

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