selby mcphee (5 Ergebnisse)

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Zustand: Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Zustand: New. In.

Trade paperback. Zustand: Very good. Presumed First Edition, First printing. 353, [3] pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Inscribed by the author on the title page. The inscription reads "To Linda with thanks and best wishes-Selby Fleming McPhee". Selby McPhee was a staff writer and editor at schools, universities, and other educational institutions including Tufts University and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), where she was marketing vice president. She was the editor of numerous institutional newsletters, magazines, and e-publications, and she served as chapter author of an NAIS book on school marketing. She continues to write e-newsletters for nonprofit institutions on a freelance basis. McPhee has published articles in a variety of magazines and newspapers, including Vermont Life, HighFidelity/Musical America, Independent School, Burlington (VT) Free Press, and IB World (the International Baccalaureate magazine). While living in Vermont from 1970 to 1980, McPhee was producing director at the Stowe (VT) Playhouse. Love Crazy, McPhee's first book, began to germinate in 1984, when she found a box of letters, marked with the admonition "to be destroyed unopened," in a closet at her parents' house. McPhee, a graduate of Vassar College, grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the biggest challenges she faced was being objective and "controlling some of her emotional reactions" by not allowing them to color her writing. McPhee tried to give a realistic portrayal of her parents and the period in which they lived in. Besides reading their letters, she gathered background information on each of the time periods covered in the book. The discovery of a forbidden box of letters sends author Selby McPhee on a fascinating and painful journey through her family's history in the first half of the American twentieth century. On the box's lid is a provocative warning: "Personal letters of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Fleming, Jr. - to be destroyed unopened." Born late in the family story, the author opened the box, and now sets the letters in the context of contemporary cultural history of their era, exploring with readers her own questions about Jack and Peggy's struggle to succeed in the context of economic hardship and an intense, often troubled marriage. What tripped them up in their pursuit of the promise America offered in the early 20th century? And what was all the intensity about? Was it love? Were they crazy? Or is that what love is? One day while helping her parents move their belongings into a retirement community, Potomac resident Selby McPhee stumbled upon a box of letters with the words "Personal letters of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Fleming, Jr. to be destroyed unopened" written on the lid in 1983. I couldn't resist reading them," she said. Based on these letters between her parents (Jack and Peggy Fleming), McPhee wrote the memoir "Love Crazy." The book documents her parents' intense and often chaotic courtship and marriage. The author also addresses how "we are formed by our families" and "how we carry some of our parents with us" in relation to her family. "It was a sort of treasure trove of the history of my family. Including their secret elopement and their families trying to break them up. As I read the letters, I wanted to write the story because it really told the story of the 1920s," she said. McPhee was thrilled to discover hundreds of letters her mother and father sent to each other. Since both of her parents were in their 40s when she was born, these letters also gave her a rare glimpse into the early years of their relationship and marriage. During the first year of their marriage, her father's parents send him back to Cornell University to finish out his last year without his wife, Peggy. So the early letters captured her parents' dreams and hopes for the future of their marriage and family. One of her favorite letters captures her parents' life in 1920's Chicago during the height of the jazz scene and speakeasy era. "It was wonderful to read about this young couple who were having fun, drinking bathtub gin and going to speakeasies . and doing all those things you read about in Fitzgerald novels," she said. Moreover, she was also able to learn about her father's journey overseas during World War II. "I really loved reading my father's war letters. I was fascinated to read what it was like for the Navy in the Pacific, on ships heading for unknown places, being on Guam, building a base, interacting with the Chamorro children who went to school nearby," she said. Like many "war babies," she did not meet her father until she was older. When her father returned home, she and her mother took a train ride to meet him when she was two years old.