'An affectionate and insightful account of 20th-century history that also amounts to a manifesto for the power of words - and belonging.' Helen Davies, a Sunday Times Book of the Year In July 1961, just before David Aaronovitch's seventh birthday, Yuri Gagarin came to London. The Russian cosmonaut was everything the Aaronovitch family wished for - a popular and handsome embodiment of modern communism. But who were they, these ever hopeful, defiant and (had they but known it) historically doomed people? Like a non-magical version of the wizards of J. K. Rowling's world, they lived secretly with and parallel to the non-communist majority, sometimes persecuted, sometimes ignored, but carrying on their own ways and traditions. Where others went to church they went to Socialist Sunday School, society's up was their down and its heroes were their villains. Who wanted American TV when you could have Russian movies? A memoir of early life among communists, Party Animals first took David Aaronovitch back through his own memories of belief and action. But there was much more to it. He found himself studying the old secret service files, uncovering the unspoken shame and fears that provided the unconscious background to his own existence as a party animal. Only then did he begin to understand what had come before - both the obstinate heroism and the monstrous cowardice. And the elements that shape our fondest beliefs.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World). “Quite extraordinary.”—Toni Morrison In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Praise for Dreams from My Father “Beautifully crafted . . . moving and candid . . . This book belongs on the shelf beside works like James McBride’s The Color of Water and Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line as a tale of living astride America’s racial categories.”—Scott Turow “Provocative . . . Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither.”—The New York Times Book Review “Obama’s writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here “One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I’ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel.”—Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place “Dreams from My Father is an exquisite, sensitive study of this wonderful young author’s journey into adulthood, his search for community and his place in it, his quest for an understanding of his roots, and his discovery of the poetry of human life. Perceptive and wise, this book will tell you something about yourself whether you are black or white.”—Marian Wright Edelman

Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and an Anglo mother, Urrea moved to San Diego at age three. In this memoir of his childhood, Urrea describes his experiences growing up in the barrio and his search for cultural identity.

Winner of the Pen Center West Award A stunning tapestry of everyday life. A young man, having failed his college entrance exams, becomes obsessed with a family card game. A businessman stays overnight at an inn and drinks with the innkeeper. A family parakeet seems to be dead but then climbs back on its perch. This delicate collection of thirteen linked tales reveals the flow of daily life in the modern Japanese family. Junzo Shono's artful layering of commonplace events, images, and conversations has been compared to haiku poetry crossed with an Ozu film.

A life lesson story book.

I guess, in truth, “Reno by the/in the Lake” is my “Autobiography Light.” The material is indeed autobiographical in that little has been gleaned from any outside source and it is definitely light both in serious content and the serious nature often portrayed by an autobiography. So read on just for fun. Reno Beach was a magical place in the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, a resort town that never really quite reached its prime. It had, however attained great stature in the hearts and minds of all it entertained, especially in the imagination of a young boy who could see adventure, even in the smallest buttonhole or banal blemish. In his mind a vegetable garden became a wilderness plantation. An overturned rowboat became a fortress, a pirate’s treasure cave or a magician’s maudlin mansion. A willow tree only recently uprooted by the wind and waves of an angry possessive lake trying desperately to reclaim its own; this became the perfect home for “Tarzan (Jimmie) of the Apes.” The fact that I’m even writing this book belies the fact that the place and that little boy still live, if only in my imagination. The stories you’re about to read are about that small waterfront community just east of Toledo Ohio on the western end of Lake Erie and how it’s life; death and frequent revitalizations affected the life of one small boy, namely me. The stories are absolutely true except as altered by an aging memory, wishful thinking and delusions of grandeur, not necessarily in that order, and they represent some of the very best days of my life. I’ve been told that it’s good to share your very best. I hope you enjoy reading my stories nearly as much as I enjoyed living them. The writing’s been fun too. Some names and places may have been altered to protect the innocent and/or the guilty, but not many. Some may also be changed just because I’ve forgotten or don’t really know what I’m talking about. Please forgive me. Many may recognize themselves, a friend or family member in some of these stories and each one probably deserves whatever treatment or attention they received, either good or bad. This book is intended to be a “Bathroom Book.” This is not a negative. For those unable to grasp this creative terminology I provide the following explanation in the form of a prescription: Take in small doses. Continuous exposure could be hazardous to your health and could lead to an abrasive situation requiring an immediate application of Preparation “H.” This does not imply that either you the reader or the writer is full of . . . Anything. Should you disapprove of any of the material in this book please feel free to remove the offending pages and put them to better use right there in the “Reading Room” solving the problems of the moment. I’m sure you understand. Enjoy. Life is short. Don’t waste it on seriousness.