Bøger udgivet af VAL DE GRACE BOOKS

Compelling portraits of men and women -- from writers and chefs to environmentalists and impresarios -- who have made a profound impact on American life and culture. Five stars!

Winemaker Steven Kent Mirassou has brought forth a jewel of a book, one that will have a unique place in the literature of American wine.With his decades of winemaking expertise, and with his extraordinary gift for evocative writing, Steven takes us straight into the heart of his calling: how it looks and feels to be in a vineyard heavy with grapes, awaiting the dawn and the throbbing pulse of a harvest about to begin. It¿s a magical moment, and it¿s the beginning of a journey deep into the art, the craft, the passion, and the 8,000 years of history that lie inside the finest of wines.This is not glossy PR copy. This is raw truth, dirty jeans, arms deep in crushed grapes, heart pounding, dust in your nose, spirit in your mouth writing, flowing from a winemaker who sees crafting beautiful wines and combining them with healthy food as a way to serve others, to bring people together in joy and common cause, a noble calling that Steven Mirassou aptly terms ¿the true north¿ of our civilization. And every step of the way, Steven helps us feel his connection to the six generations that the Mirassou family has been growing grapes and crafting wines in California, the last thirty years in the Livermore Valley. It¿s a region that struggles, image-wise, in the shadow of the Napa Valley but holds fast to its belief in the virtues of its hills and valleys and fertile soils, and to its unshakable faith that crafting beautiful wines and sharing them with others is, at its core, good for the heart and pure tonic for the soul.There is high drama too. Like all family-owned wineries, Steven¿s faces a mountain of challenges: rough growing seasons, business mistakes, the loss of cherished vineyards and more. And Steven loses something larger too: his beloved wife, from a terrible illness. But as Steven shows us, with the proper attitude every loss can be a new beginning, an opportunity to live more deeply, and, with luck, to improve the character of the wines you craft and the enduring wisdom you can pass along to the next generation.In the literature of American wine, there is nothing quite like what Steven Kent Mirassou has brought us. Come feel the spirit, come share the wine.

Where were you on 9/11? And these pages will have you asking: where were you on 10/10, that fateful October morning when a simple commute into Manhattan becomes a nightmare, shattering lives and washing away our bedrock belief that, even in the darkest times, the good in us will always triumph over evil.

Monroe Katz cuts right to the heart of it: ¿The artist must find his own way to say what he has to say in paint, pencil or clay, but he has to be in a proper frame of mind, as a passionate artist, playing, experimenting, agonizing over subject matter, daring, failing, cutting free, trusting his or her inner voice, being in the ring rather than in the grandstand.¿ Yes, the artist must ¿dare to create.¿ From there, Dr. Katz takes us deep inside the high arts of painting and sculpting, showing us how to convey feeling with color, composition, texture, and, above all, the eye and heart of the artist at work. Whether he is depicting a rural landscape, a bridge in the Napa Valley, or the essence of his own daughter, Dr. Katz¿s top priority is transmitting through paint or clay what the artist is feeling inside. And when you get that feeling right, he says, it¿s like ¿music to your brush.¿ As he urges, ¿Be daring; don¿t sacrifice feeling for accuracy, and draw every day.¿ And through these pages, this gifted artist and storyteller helps guide and inspire you every step of the way.Using sketches and paintings from his beloved Rembrandt and other great masters, plus his own work, the author explains composition, color, the use of light and shadow, plus the joys of painting to music, and the creative anguish that every artist faces on his journey of exploration and growth.

What makes Californiäs Marin County such an enjoyable place to live and such a unique part of the American landscape?In this carefully documented history, author Jim Holden brings us the answers. With Jim we learn about the difficult birth of the Golden Gate Bridge. We explore the history and the enchanted wilds of Mt. Tamalpais. We hike the trails of a secret wildlife preserve that Jim calls ¿The Big Empty,¿ and we get an insider's look into the controversies surrounding the county¿s oyster beds, its tule elk, and even Marin¿s esteemed Buck Trust.In these pages, we meet renowned national figures like Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir and Kit Carson, and we meet a whole series of colorful local men and women who were essential to the birth and growth of Marin County.There is high drama here too: we see up close the now-infamous shootout and hostage-taking at the Marin County courthouse by a group of inmates from San Quentin, with the alleged involvement of activist Angela Davis.With magnificent photography and historic maps, this is a book to savor, a must read for history buffs and for anyone who calls the Bay Area home.

Louis Stanislaw has brought us an extraordinary gift: a collection of deeply moving essays from men and women sharing their personal experiences with epilepsy, one of mankind¿s least understood and most daunting of challenges.In these pages, Jonathan Magaziner shares his feelings of pain and powerlessness as he sits on an airplane and watches a man a few rows away suffer a seizure¿and then be carried off to an unknown destination. Lord Charles Guthrie, the distinguished British military commander, tells us about the strength and pride of a young soldier who refuses to let his secret battle with epilepsy halt his dreams of a sterling military career. And Bill Maier tells us of his personal angels: the doctors and nurses who were finally able to halt his seizures and put an end to the chaos that was destroying his life. Crowning the collection, a young woman named Amanda Rich tells of her personal heartache and triumph, as she comes to embrace her epilepsy not as an affliction but as a gift, an opportunity to learn and grow and share with others the need for greater understanding and social acceptance for everyone with such challenges.