American lives

"Rate your pain on a scale of one to ten. What about on a scale of spicy to citrus? Is it more like a lava lamp or a mosaic? Pain, though a universal element of human experience, is dimly understood and sometimes barely managed. Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System is a collection of literary and experimental essays about living with chronic pain. Sonya Huber moves away from a linear narrative to step through the doorway into pain itself, into that strange, unbounded reality. Although the essays are personal in nature, this collection is not a record of the author's specific condition but an exploration that transcends pain's airless and constraining world and focuses on its edges from wild and widely ranging angles."--.

Provides information about Molly Pitcher, a young wife during the Revolutionary War who followed her husband William into battle and took his place firing the cannon at British troops during the Battle of Monmouth after he collapsed from heat exhaustion.

Examines the life of seventeenth-century Quaker, William Penn, discussing his clash with the English government over his religious beliefs, his request for land in the New World, and his establishment of the colony of Pennsylvania.

Profiles the life and work of Roger Williams, the seventeenth-century minister who left England under threat of jail, and went on to found the colony of Rhode Island based on his belief in religious freedom and respect for Native Americans.

"Meditations on loss, poverty, and becoming a woman in late 1980s America, and what it means to be human"--.

Memoir of Sonja Livingston about her life as a woman growing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s in America, discussing what she thought it meant to be a woman in those days, as well as presenting stories of what she learned from women she studied throughout her life--including Susan B. Anthony, the Virgin Mary in her Roman Catholic tradition, and Ally McBeal.

Presents a first-hand, narrative, account of the author's experiences as a mental health professional at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, recounting his own struggles with childhood phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder, and describing feelings of loss associated with the suicide of his best friend, Henry.

Tells the life story of African-American civil rights leader Medgar Evers, describing his childhood in Mississippi, his work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for equality and justice in the South, and his assassination.

Offers a brief introduction to the life of Thomas Jefferson, focusing on his contributions to the founding of the United States.

Offers a brief look into the life of Theodore Roosevelt, discussing his childhood illness, his role in the creation of teddy bears, his presidency, and other related topics.