Books with author Howard Schwartz

With this collection, Howard Schwartz retells 36 Jewish fairy tales that are at once otherworldly and earthy, pious and playful. Drawn from sources as diverse as Morocco and India, Spain and Eastern Europe, Babylon and Egypt, the stories are characterized by their infusion of traditional Jewish characters with the archetypal forms found in all fairy tales, or by their treatment of Jewish religious themes. The book combines the playfulness of fairy tales with the author's depth of knowledge of the historical origins of the tales. Throughout one can find the quests and riddles of the traditional fairy tale along with the divine intervention that characterizes the Jewish fairy tale.

Title: In Search of a Wider Audience Subtitle: Stories, Essays, Poems and the Psychoanalysis of Dreaming. While awaiting the final editing of a book in production “Women: Biology, Culture and Literature”, I read essays by several accomplished authors, including Michel de Montaigne, who coined the word essays from the French essai (trials). While not in the category of acknowledged masters of the form (Philip Roth, Janet Malcom and Zadie Smith, I have published a chapter book of children’s stories “All Aboard” and a hybrid/compilation book, “Hide and Seek/Hidden and Found- In Search of a Balanced Life”- Psychoanalytic Memoirs, Stories and Essays”. With time to read essays it occurred to me to write “ Essays in Search of a Wider Audience” with the subtitled topics as a road map of what to expect or perhaps, a better analogy, a chef’s favorite dishes prepared for a surprise price- fixed sampling to be digested at leisure with a sampling of wines for each course, presented as Part I,II, and III. Part I is best introduced with amuse-bouches often accompanied by a complementary wine, are served both to prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse of the chef's style (see Wikipedia). So perhaps to start, “A dog named Duppy (ghost in Jamaican culture) that introduces the first course “ Nanny: The Ashanti Warrior” that is laugh-out-loud hilarious (no spoiler alert). Followed by more substantial fare about two fraternal twins raised in foster care telling each other in a Writer’s Workshop about their need to separate, each feeling concerned because they don’t want to hurt the other who is their best friend in the world. But forced to choose from Part I, I pick “Arnold’s Story: Halvah Moments” Arnold is me and it’s about how at age sixteen I dumped my girlfriend because of a new girl in town, more urban and with attitude, who attracted me more. “ Ace Powers Foils Plot to Attack New York” is as timely as today. Part II has so many favorites, including my granddaughter taking me by surprise asking me, “Grandpa, Am I Your Favorite?”, prompting a wide ranging essay on the philosophy of the tension between fairness and favoritism , various religious precepts and “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Who was Atticus Finch’s favorite, his ten-year old daughter Scout, who was a tomboy and didn’t want to go to school where she was told what to read, or her brother Jem who aimed to be a lawyer like his father and risked his life to save his sister?) . My granddaughter’s poems on mortality and courage will leave you in awe . My only political essay, after Dickens’ “The Pickwick Club” satirically identifies (for me) , our Pickwickian President. It will amuse or appall you depending on your political views. A long essay, perhaps ordering a la carte to take and read at home is worth the price of the book alone: Richard Cohen’s “How to Write like Tolstoy: A Journey into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers” ( Hint: write, read out loud to get the rhythm of the words, rewrite, have plenty of paper and a large wastebasket and perhaps a wife willing to copy by hand multiple rewrites- 2000 pages- of “War and Peace”.) Think, of Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” who after dutifully doing his job for years one day simply said, “ I choose not to.” The last essay in Part II, “Dreaming Naming and Remembering- Reflections on Mortality” introduces: Part III. A Psychoanalytic Paper I wrote in 1979 “A Note on Fire in Myth, Religious Ritual and a Dream at Easter-Time” and Philip Roth: A Eulogy and "Why Write and Patrimony".

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the longtime CEO and chairman of Starbucks, a bold, dramatic work about the new responsibilities that leaders, businesses, and citizens share in American society today—as viewed through the intimate lens of one man’s life and work. What do we owe one another? How do we channel our drive, ingenuity, even our pain, into something more meaningful than individual success? And what is our duty in the places where we live, work, and play? These questions are at the heart of the American journey. They are also ones that Howard Schultz has grappled with personally since growing up in the Brooklyn housing projects and while building Starbucks from eleven stores into one of the world’s most iconic brands. In From the Ground Up, Schultz looks for answers in two interwoven narratives. One story shows how his conflicted boyhood—including experiences he has never before revealed—motivated Schultz to become the first in his family to graduate from college, then to build the kind of company his father, a working-class laborer, never had a chance to work for: a business that tries to balance profit and human dignity. A parallel story offers a behind-the-scenes look at Schultz’s unconventional efforts to challenge old notions about the role of business in society. From health insurance and free college tuition for part-time baristas to controversial initiatives about race and refugees, Schultz and his team tackled societal issues with the same creativity and rigor they applied to changing how the world consumes coffee. Throughout the book, Schultz introduces a cross-section of Americans transforming common struggles into shared successes. In these pages, lost youth find first jobs, aspiring college students overcome the yoke of debt, post-9/11 warriors replace lost limbs with indomitable spirit, former coal miners and opioid addicts pave fresh paths, entrepreneurs jump-start dreams, and better angels emerge from all corners of the country. From the Ground Up is part candid memoir, part uplifting blueprint of mutual responsibility, and part proof that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. At its heart, it’s an optimistic, inspiring account of what happens when we stand up, speak out, and come together for purposes bigger than ourselves. Here is a new vision of what can be when we try our best to lead lives through the lens of humanity. “Howard Schultz’s story is a clear reminder that success is not achieved through individual determination alone, but through partnership and community. Howard’s commitment to both have helped him build one of the world’s most recognized brands. It will be exciting to see what he accomplishes next.”—Bill Gates