Scribe Publications: New Releases Section

Occupying Wall Street: the inside story of an action that changed America

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

For two months this fall, Zuccotti Park, squeezed deep in a canyon between bankers’ skyscrapers in lower Manhattan, was the site of an extraordinary political action. Home to the hundreds of anti-capitalist protestors who camped there overnight, and the thousands who visited to join the protest, the park became a magical place: a communion of sharing and consensus in the heart of a citadel defined by greed and oligarchy.

In the early hours of Tuesday November the 15th the occupiers’ camp was destroyed when police swept suddenly into the square, tearing down the tents, library, kitchen and medical centre, and arresting hundreds. For the multitude supporting the action it was a heart-rending moment. But if the occupation at Zuccotti was destroyed that night, the movement it spawned across America has only just begun. Issues of equality and democracy, absent from mainstream political discussion in the United States for decades, are today springing up everywhere.

Now, in a new book assembled by a group of writers active in support of the occupation, the story of Occupy Wall Street is being told. Occupying Wall Street draws on extensive interviews with those who took part in the action to bring an authentic, inside-the-square history to life. In these pages you will discover in rich detail how the protest was devised and planned, how its daily needs were met, and how it won overwhelming support across the nation.

In a vivid, fast-paced narrative, the key events of the occupation are described: the pepper spraying of young women corralled between plastic fences by the NYPD; the mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge; the victory on October 14th when an announced 'clean up' of the square was abandoned by a mayor’s office fearful of a PR disaster; and the eventual storming of the occupation that brought it to an abrupt end. Woven throughout are stories of daily life in the square focusing on how the kitchen, library, media centre, clean-up, hospital, and decision-making at the General Assembly functioned, all in the words of the people who were there.

The future course of Occupy Wall Street remains unclear. But one thing is starkly evident: Under the banner 'We are the 99%' the protest has given birth to America’s most important progressive movement since the civil rights marches half a century ago. This is the story of that beginning.

There Stands My House: a memoir

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

The first English-language translation of the memoirs of Hans Keilson, one of Europe’s most masterful and remarkable writers

In this unique work, which was composed in the 1990s and only recently rediscovered, Keilson brings back a bygone era in snapshots from a life spanning one hundred years. The external stations of this life — his youth in Brandenburg, his student years and the fast life in Berlin, his exile in Holland, his survival in hiding, and the loss of his parents — are framed by economic crisis, anti-Semitism, and war, but also by friendship, music, and hope. Hans Keilson reveals these themes in gentle, quizzical reflections and fragments, producing an unforgettable portrait of his time.

The memoir is followed by a beguiling conversation about Keilson’s one hundred years of living and writing. It provides an incomparable insight into the man whom The New York Times recently hailed as ‘one of the world’s very greatest writers’.

Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: a neuroscientist examines his former life on drugs

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

A gripping, triumphant memoir about the power of addiction and its effect on the brain

Marc Lewis knows addiction: that desperate ambition to get high accompanied him around the world for many years. In the 1960s, Lewis was a teenager in boarding school, experimenting with cough syrup and alcohol to assuage his depression. When he moved to Berkeley, California, the pulsing heart of the counter-cultural movement, he began using LSD and heroin. His spiralling journey of addiction eventually led him to Asia, where he sniffed nitrous oxide in the Malay jungle, took speed in Kuala Lumpur, and lost himself in the opium dens of Calcutta. This was the beginning of his descent into a moonlit world of crime, poverty, and desperation. Returning to Toronto, Lewis lived a double life: by day, he was a psychology student; and by night, he stole from homes and laboratories to get high.

Thirty-four years on, Lewis is a neuroscientist, and he studies the brains of troubled children. But he never forgets that he was once one of those kids — and that, no matter how many scientific conferences he attends, he always will be.

In this mesmerising memoir, Lewis recounts his relationship with drugs from the inside out, giving a revelatory analysis of the chemical changes in his brain that sustained his addiction. This is not just the story of a man who found his calling while fighting a habit that crossed continents and brought him in contact with the wilder edges of life. It is also a penetrating, powerful analysis of addiction, offering a fascinating insight into the human brain, and what drives it to self-destruction.

Seize the Day: how the dying teach us to live: new foreword by the author

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

Marie de Hennezel is a gifted psychologist who works as part of a remarkable team of doctors and nurses in a hospital for the terminally ill. In this eloquent book, she shares her unique perspective on what life and death really mean — and explores how talking about death, and facing up to it, can actually help us to lead more abundant lives.

The men and women who come to the palliative-care unit do not always know that they are dying. It is de Hennezel’s aim to bring them and their loved ones to this knowledge, and then to encourage them to live each day as fully and serenely as possible. Through her insight and humanity, and the unforgettable people she helps, we learn how precious the final days of a person’s life can be and how deeply moving it is to share these moments with someone else.

In an age where people hesitate to talk about dying, Seize the Day lends us the strength to confront the mysteries of death, gives us hope, and celebrates the courage of the human spirit.

The Power of Seven Frameworks: the key to business success

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

Truly great businesspeople become leaders in their industry because of the quality of their ideas. In The Power of Seven Frameworks, bestselling business writer Kazuyo Katsuma synthesises the strategies of the world’s top business thinkers, distilling them into techniques to help you to hone your problem-solving ability and consistently produce exceptional ideas. Katsuma shows how learning to use the power of frameworks will release your creative potential and turn it into successful business practice.

The seven frameworks will help you to:

• interpret information quickly and make fast, effective decisions

• make accurate forecasts about a new business or venture

• communicate effectively with words, diagrams, and images

• understand statistics and use them to your advantage

• turn chance and coincidence into opportunities

As Katsuma demonstrates, the seven frameworks are the keys to achieving success, acquiring inspiration, and finding a healthy balance between work and life.