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Find out moreDavid Gilbert is the author of the short-story collection 'Remote Feed' and the novel 'The Normals'. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, GQ and Bomb. He lives in New York City with his wife and three children.
Who is A. N. Dyer? For fans of 'The Art of Fielding' and 'Wonder Boys' - this is the panoramic, deeply affecting story of an iconic novelist and the heartbreaking truths that fiction can hide. The Manhattan funeral of Charles Henry Topping would have been a minor affair but for the identity of the eulogist: reclusive author A. N. Dyer, whose novel 'Ampersand' stands as a classic of teenage angst. Now Andrew Newbold Dyer takes stock of his own life, the people he's hurt and the novel that will endure as his legacy. He realises he must reunite with his three sons before it's too late. Eldest son Richard is a screenwriter in Californian exile. In the middle is Jamie, who has spent his life capturing the sorrow that surrounds him. And last is Andy, now a pupil at the boarding school that inspired 'Ampersand'. It is only when the hidden purpose of the reunion comes to light do the sons realise what's at stake - for their father, themselves and three generations of Dyers. Daring, entertaining and insightful, '& Sons' establishes David Gilbert as a writer to be treasured.
The NHS is in crisis - it's in record demand, and care services are at breaking point - but what if the solution to rescuing the NHS is in the hands of the patients themselves? In this refreshingly positive and remarkable book, David Gilbert shares the powerful real-life stories of 'patient leaders' - ordinary people affected by life-changing illnesses, disabilities, or conditions, who have all gone back into the fray to help change the healthcare system in necessary and inspiring ways. Charting their diverse journeys - from managing to live with their condition, and their motivation to change the status quo, right through to their successes in improving approaches to health and social care - these moving and courageous stories aim to motivate others to take back control and showcase the pivotal importance of patients as genuine decision-making leaders. Filled with hard-won wisdom and everyday heroism, The Patient Revolution challenges current discourse and sets out an empowering vision of how patient leaders can change the future of healthcare.
In 1912 James Reese Europe made history by conducting his 125-member Clef Club Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The first concert by an African American ensemble at the esteemed venue was more than just a concert--it was a political act of desegregation, a defiant challenge to the status quo in American music. In this book, David Gilbert explores how Europe and other African American performers, at the height of Jim Crow, transformed their racial difference into the mass-market commodity known as black music. Gilbert shows how Europe and others used the rhythmic sounds of ragtime, blues, and jazz to construct new representations of black identity, challenging many of the nation's preconceived ideas about race, culture, and modernity and setting off a musical craze in the process. Gilbert sheds new light on the little-known era of African American music and culture between the heyday of minstrelsy and the Harlem Renaissance. He demonstrates how black performers played a pioneering role in establishing New York City as the center of American popular music, from Tin Pan Alley to Broadway, and shows how African Americans shaped American mass culture in their own image.
Who is A. N. Dyer? For fans of `The Art of Fielding' and `Wonder Boys' - this is the panoramic, deeply affecting story of an iconic novelist and the heartbreaking truths that fiction can hide. A.N. Dyer is America's most mysterious literary recluse, his cult book `Ampersand' treasured by angst-ridden adolescents everywhere. But seventeen years ago, the unexpected arrival of a new baby Dyer wrecked the writer's relationship with his wife and their own teenage sons. David Gilbert's astonishing novel is an ingenious, death-defying leap into the life of a giant of literature and a father with one final revelation for his boys - or is it actually just one last fiction?
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYThe Washington Post *; The New Yorker *; Esquire *; The Austin Chronicle *; Kansas City Star *; The Guardian (UK) *; BookPage *; Flavorwire *; Bookish';[A] big, brilliant novel.'The New York Times Book ReviewWho is A. N. Dyer? & Sons is a literary masterwork for readers of The Art of Fielding, The Emperor's Children, and Wonder Boysthe panoramic, deeply affecting story of an iconic novelist, two interconnected families, and the heartbreaking truths that fiction can hide. The funeral of Charles Henry Topping on Manhattan's Upper East Side would have been a minor affair (his two-hundred-word obit in The New York Times notwithstanding) but for the presence of one particular mourner: the notoriously reclusive author A. N. Dyer, whose novel Ampersand stands as a classic of American teenage angst. But as Andrew Newbold Dyer delivers the eulogy for his oldest friend, he suffers a breakdown over the life he's led and the people he's hurt and the novel that will forever endure as his legacy. He must gather his three sons for the first time in many yearsbefore it's too late. So begins a wild, transformative, heartbreaking week, as witnessed by Philip Topping, who, like his late father, finds himself caught up in the swirl of the Dyer family. First there's son Richard, a struggling screenwriter and father, returning from self-imposed exile in California. In the middle lingers Jamie, settled in Brooklyn after his twenty-year mission of making documentaries about human suffering. And last is Andy, the half brother whose mysterious birth tore the Dyers apart seventeen years ago, now in New York on spring break, determined to lose his virginity before returning to the prestigious New England boarding school that inspired Ampersand. But only when the real purpose of this reunion comes to light do these sons realize just how much is at stake, not only for their father but for themselves and three generations of their family. In this daring feat of fiction, David Gilbert establishes himself as one of our most original, entertaining, and insightful authors. & Sons is that rarest of treasures: a startlingly imaginative novel about families and how they define us, and the choices we make when faced with our own mortality.NATIONAL BESTSELLER *;A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE';Big, brilliant, and terrifically funny.'Jess Walter, author ofBeautiful Ruins';Extraordinary.'Time ';Smart and savage . . . Seductive and ripe with both comedy and heartbreak, [& Sons] made me reconsider my stance on . . . the term ';instant classic.''NPR ';A big, ambitious book about fathers and sons, Oedipal envy and sibling rivalry, and the dynamics between art and life . . . [& Sons] does a wonderful job of conjuring up its characters' memories . . . in layered, almost Proustian detail.'Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ';[A] smart, engrossing saga . . . Perfect for fans of Jonathan Franzen or Claire Messud.'Entertainment Weekly ';This great big novel is . . . infused with warmth and wisdom about what it means to be a family.'The Boston Globe ';Audacious . . . [one of the year's] most dazzlingly smart, fully realized works of fiction.'The Washington PostFrom the Hardcover edition.
This volume brings together leading scholars in the geography and history of twentieth--century Britain to illustrate the contribution that geographical thinking can make to understanding modern Britain. * The first collection to explore the contribution that geographical thinking can make to our understanding of modern Britain. * Contains thirteen essays by leading scholars in the geography and history of twentieth--century Britain. * Focuses on how and why geographies of Britain have formed and changed over the past century. * Combines economic, political, social and cultural geographies. * Demonstrates the vitality of work in this field and its relevance to everyday life.
This book presents an introduction to the study of relationships among per- sonality, social skills, and psychopathology. Although research findings dur- ing the last decade have made it clear that the relationships among these variables are almost always complex and mUltiply determined, many clini- cians and theoreticians have not incorporated such complexities into their models of human behavior and therapeutic intervention. This discrepancy between clinical theory and research-based findings has been of special con- cern to us because we have been both empirically oriented academic re- searchers and practicing clinicians. It is our belief that clinical theory relat- ed to personality, social skills, and psychopathology can be enriched by re- search findings from a wide range of fields-from human genetics, tempera- ment, and personality to family systems, affect, psychophysiology, and learning. This book is divided into an introductory chapter and three sections. The introductory chapter provides an overview of the issues in the field, compares models, and provides suggestions for further integration and ar- ticulation of concepts related to personality, social skills, and psycho- pathology. The book's first section presents state-of-the-art general models of interactions among personality, social skills, and psychopathology. Con- nolly opens this section with a chapter that reviews longitudinal findings in- dicating that personality traits predict the onset of psychopathology and marital distress. The etiology of these and related findings is the subject of other chapters in this section.
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