"One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the ever looming absence of her incarcerated father and the path we must take to both honor and overcome our origins. For as long as she could remember, Ashley has put her father on a pedestal. Despite having only vague memories of seeing him face-to-face, she believes he's the only person in the entire world who...

It was the 1950s, a time of calm, a time when all things were new and everything seemed possible. A few years before, a noble war had been won, and now life had returned to normal.

For one little boy, however, life had become anything but "normal."

To all appearances, he and his family lived an almost idyllic life. The father was a respected professor, the mother a witty and elegant lady, someone everyone loved. They were parents

...

Shares the story of the author's family and upbringing, describing how they moved from poverty to an upwardly mobile clan that included the author, a Yale Law School graduate, while navigating the demands of middle class life and the collective demons of the past.

"Seen by the media in 2015 as a white woman who had knowingly been passing as black, the author shares her nuanced and complex story, from being a child of white evangelical parents to an NAACP chapter president and respected educator and activist who identified as black, forcing readers to reconsider race and identity,"--NoveList.

"When three children head overseas with their parents to smuggle Bibles into communist countries, they see it as a great adventure. When Heidi, Eric, and Shaun return to an unfamiliar America, they struggle as third-culture kids to find their place amidst situations of sexual and physical abuse. In American Leftovers, they reconcile their own spiritual fervor with the lies and dysfunction of their childhood. In doing so, they serve as a voice to millions...

Drawing on exclusive interviews with the survivors of her husband's unit, research into the military leadership and accountability and her own unique vantage point as a gold star widow, the author sets out to find the truth behind her Green Beret husband's death.