Dead End Gene Pool

Dead End Gene Pool PDF Author: Wendy Burden
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781592405268
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
A descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt presents an insider's tour of America's old-money wealthy class, profiling the members of her dysfunctional family while identifying toxic factors and behaviors that have influenced their downfall.

Dead End Gene Pool

Dead End Gene Pool PDF Author: Wendy Burden
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101186186
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
In the tradition of Sean Wilsey's Oh The Glory of It All and Augusten Burrough's Running With Scissors, the great-great-great granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt gives readers a grand tour of the world of wealth and WASPish peculiarity, in her irreverent and darkly humorous memoir. For generations the Burdens were one of the wealthiest families in New York, thanks to the inherited fortune of Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt. By 1955, the year of Wendy's birth, the Burden's had become a clan of overfunded, quirky and brainy, steadfastly chauvinistic, and ultimately doomed bluebloods on the verge of financial and moral decline-and were rarely seen not holding a drink. In Dead End Gene Pool, Wendy invites readers to meet her tragically flawed family, including an uncle with a fondness for Hitler, a grandfather who believes you can never have enough household staff, and a remarkably flatulent grandmother. At the heart of the story is Wendy's glamorous and aloof mother who, after her husband's suicide, travels the world in search of the perfect sea and ski tan, leaving her three children in the care of a chain- smoking Scottish nanny, Fifth Avenue grandparents, and an assorted cast of long-suffering household servants (who Wendy and her brothers love to terrorize). Rife with humor, heartbreak, family intrigue, and booze, Dead End Gene Pool offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of old money and gives truth to an old maxim: The rich are different.

Full Body Burden

Full Body Burden PDF Author: Kristen Iversen
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307955656
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
“An intimate and deeply human memoir that shows why we should all be concerned about nuclear safety, and the dangers of ignoring science in the name of national security.”—Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks A shocking account of the government’s attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic waste released by a secret nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and a community’s vain search for justice—soon to be a feature documentary Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America." Full Body Burden is the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and--unknown to those who lived there--tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets--both family and government. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats--best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book is both captivating and unnerving.

The Vanderbilts in My Life

The Vanderbilts in My Life PDF Author: Shirley Burden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description


Zombies of the Gene Pool

Zombies of the Gene Pool PDF Author: Sharyn McCrumb
Publisher: Arrow
ISBN: 9780099356417
Category : Detective and mystery stories
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description


Fiction Ruined My Family

Fiction Ruined My Family PDF Author: Jeanne Darst
Publisher: Riverhead Books
ISBN: 1594486174
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Jeanne Darst grew up in a family where their life was driven by a father who was a failed writer, and an alcoholic mother. As an adult she has pursued writing as well and examines the question of whether it is possibe to be a successful writer, sober, creative and ambititious while also having happy family life.

Oh the Glory of It All

Oh the Glory of It All PDF Author: Sean Wilsey
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101201134
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 505

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Book Description
“In the beginning we were happy. And we were always excessive. So in the beginning we were happy to excess.” With these opening lines Sean Wilsey takes us on an exhilarating tour of life in the strangest, wealthiest, and most grandiose of families. Sean's mother is a 1980s society-page staple, regularly entertaining Black Panthers and movie stars in her marble and glass penthouse. His enigmatic father uses a jet helicopter to drop Sean off at the video arcade and lectures his son on proper hygiene in public restrooms. When Sean, "the kind of child who sings songs to sick flowers," turns nine years old, his father divorces his mother and marries her best friend. Sean's life blows apart. His mother has a "vision" of salvation that requires packing her Louis Vuitton luggage and traveling the globe, a retinue of multiracial children in tow. Follow Sean as he candidly recounts his life growing up in a wealthy family all while discovering who he is amongst San Francisco's social elite.

Dead End Gene Pool

Dead End Gene Pool PDF Author: Wendy Burden
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781592405268
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
A descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt presents an insider's tour of America's old-money wealthy class, profiling the members of her dysfunctional family while identifying toxic factors and behaviors that have influenced their downfall.

Dead End Gene Pool

Dead End Gene Pool PDF Author: Wendy Burden
Publisher: Tantor Media Incorporated
ISBN: 9781400195695
Category : REFERENCE
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In the tradition of Sean Wilsey's "Oh the Glory of It All" and Augusten Burroughs's "Running with Scissors," the great-great-great-granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt gives audiences a grand tour of the world of wealth and WASPish peculiarity, in her irreverent and darkly humorous memoir.

The DNA Mystique

The DNA Mystique PDF Author: Dorothy Nelkin
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472025074
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
"The DNA Mystique is a wake-up call to all who would dismiss America's love affair with 'the gene' as a merely eccentric obsession." --In These Times "Nelkin and Lindee are to be warmly congratulated for opening up this intriguing field [of genetics in popular culture] to further study." --Nature The DNA Mystique suggests that the gene in popular culture draws on scientific ideas but is not constrained by the technical definition of the gene as a section of DNA that codes for a protein. In highlighting DNA as it appears in soap operas, comic books, advertising, and other expressions of mass culture, the authors propose that these domains provide critical insights into science itself. With a new introduction and conclusion, this edition will continue to be an engaging, accessible, and provocative text for the sociology, anthropology, and bioethics classroom, as well as stimulating reading for those generally interested in science and culture.

The Darwin Awards Countdown to Extinction

The Darwin Awards Countdown to Extinction PDF Author: Wendy Northcutt
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101444657
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
The hilarious New York Times bestselling phenomenon and the perfect funny gift! The Darwin Awards are more than just a brand. They're a pop culture phenomenon. With six books and a website that draws in more than a million unique visitors every month, the Darwin Awards rivals The Onion and The Simpsons as one of the biggest humor franchises in the world. Fully illustrated and featuring all-new tales of the marvelously macabre, The Darwin Awards Countdown to Extinction chronicles the astonishing acts of individuals who have taken a swan dive into the shallow end of the gene pool. From attaching a five-horsepower engine to a barstool, to hammering a metal hook into an explosive device, to using a taser to treat a snake bite, these gloriously gruesome incidents prove that the countdown (to human extinction) is well under way. And we won't exit this mortal coil without one last laugh.