American Depression

What if the last hope to save your family is the person who broke it up to begin with? Michelle and her little siblings Cass and Denny are African-American and living on the poverty line in urban Baltimore, struggling to keep it together with their mom in jail and only Michelle’s part-time job at the Taco Bell to sustain them. Leah and her stepbrother Tim are White and middle class from suburban Maryland, with few worries beyond winning lacrosse games and getting college applications in on time.

A new novel in verse from the author of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls comes this pensive piece about the dangers of growing up an orphaned young adult on an Indian reservation just outside a big city. Using a hodgepodge of prompts, the author challenged herself to write a novel in verse about the travesties seventeen-year-old Esme battles as she waits to age out of the foster care system. Once the fun-loving foster daughter in a vibrant, loving family where her precocious foster sister, Cambria, only a year her senior, led the family in melodious campfires after hiking, ...

Henrietta was born on January 6, 1920 into a poor post World War I Southern American family. Her story is not unique or unusual for someone born during that period. It is a story of innocence and awakening that was typical of American life as it unfolded throughout the 20th Century. In her journal she shares stories of her family while growing up; of joy and sadness during good and bad times; of humor and life’s lessons; of getting married and raising her family; of her philosophy, and of other thoughts that go through a person’s young and adult mind. She wrote it in a way that ...

This is testimonial poetry at its best. The author tells the story of her mental health struggles, cries for help, and transition from depression to destiny. She reveals her battle with stigma, social discrimination, and relationship issues due to her condition. Yet, it is not her story alone but ours as well. Each utterance of every poem is a deep cry of a mother, father, sister, brother, child, friend—you. This poetic brew is therapeutic and educational. While revealing the bitter truth, the author uses her personal experiences and education to give hope, insight, and inspiration. ...

At the height of the Dust Bowl came a heat wave in 1936. Ironically, the weather early that year did not exactly suggest that heat would be a problem. In fact, February 1936 was the coldest month in the nation's history. As a result, when the weather began to warm up in March and April, people breathed a sigh of relief, but it kept getting warmer, and rain ceased to fall in some areas. In June, normally warm southern states grew unbearably hot, setting record high temperatures in excess of 110 degrees.

Harold Cross appears to have it all--a beautiful wife, two lovely children, tons of money, bridled passion, power, and success. The CEO of Cross Technologies, a major technology company, Harold is thrown into a tailspin of life-altering problems. Faced with his young four year old son's battle with an invasive fast moving cancer, and his wife's growing bouts of depression, Harold must learn how to cope with some devastating and traumatic events that occur in his family structure. Will he be able to pick up his cross and move forward when life deals him some life altering, mind-boggling blows?