Ann S. Epstein writes novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and poems. Please use the links or site menu to go to the HOME PAGE; learn about her NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, MEMOIR, ESSAYS, and POEMS; find interesting facts in BEHIND THE STORY; read REFLECTIONS on writing; check NEWS for updates on publications and related events; see REVIEWS; learn about her END-OF-LIFE DOULA credentials and services; and CONTACT US to send webmail.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that declared separate public schools for black and white students to be unequal and hence unconstitutional. The unanimous decision paved the way for subsequent civil rights legislation. Read more about race relations in Topeka and elsewhere 50-100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
In 1910, there were only two Chinese Americans listed in the Las Vegas census. One immigrated in 1878, the other in 1880. Both owned laundries and lived on the same street. A somewhat larger Chinese community lived in outlying Clark County, mainly single males or men with wives left behind in China due to racist immigration restrictions in the U.S. Read more about the life of a lonely Chinese American during this period in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
My Amazon and Goodreads review of Hillcrest-Oakden: The Diary of a Psychiatric Nurse (Rating 3): And Then It Wasn’t So Funny – Unlike typical exposes of mental hospitals, Christine Hillingdon’s account of her years as a psychiatric nurse in Australia begins with amusing descriptions of the quirky patients and staff. Her affection for those in her care is evident, as is the need for a good sense of humor in the “loony bin.” As the story progresses, however, humor disappears in tandem with the deterioration of the government’s mental health system. Management changes, slashed budgets, and nonsensical and cruel policies become the norm, endangering patients and over burdening staff. The situation makes for a gripping story. Hillingdon is a good reporter, although, since the book is a memoir, I would have appreciated more of her own insights and analysis.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Topeka’s “Smoky Row,” set among the commercial buildings of lower Kansas Avenue, was the site of pool halls, liquor joints, and brothels. This disreputable area was a colorful part of Topeka’s turn-of-the-century prohibition history. Read more Topeka and Kansas history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle, detailing the horrors of the Chicago meat-packing industry, was first published in serial form in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason. Sinclair spent seven weeks as an undercover worker at a plant to research the story. What he revealed was so repulsive that U.S. meat consumption fell by half. Read more Chicago and labor history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
On July 4th, read these novels to discover what America has historically meant to immigrants. In A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve., Meinhardt Raabe flees Nazi persecution in search of a dignified life https://amzn.to/2LqpAu7. In On the Shore, Shmuel Levinson is willing to fight the Great War for the country that welcomed his family www.vineleavespress.com/on-the-shore-by-ann-s-epstein.html. In Tazia and Gemma, Tazia Gatti seeks a life of greater opportunity for her daughter www.vineleavespress.com/tazia-and-gemma-by-ann-s-epstein.html. Meinhardt’s LIFE, Shmuel’s LIBERTY, and Tazia’s PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Celebrate their unique lives and our shared ideals. Read more in NOVELS.
My counter-argument to “Write what you know” has always been “Get to know what you want to write about.” The inspiration for my fiction often comes from something I learn by chance. Then I research the topic with intention and shape what I’ve learned into a work of fiction, prioritizing the story over the facts. In an e-doc compilation of author’s views on the role of research in writing (Glimmer Train, Close-Up: Research, 2nd edition), I came across the following: “Some people say that you should write what you know, but I am driven to write what I learn” (Abbi Geni, p. 7). Read more comments on this topic by Colum McCann, Duri Justvedt, and Ha Jin in REFLECTIONS.
My Amazon and Goodreads review of The Female Persuasion (Rating 4): Sympathy for Slowy the Turtle – Having come of age in the women’s movement (I entered college the same year Betty Friedman’s The Feminine Mystique was published), I was eager to read Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion. Alas, my enthusiasm was dampened by the first part of the book. The main character begins as a cipher and never develops. Her progression from a student with an inside voice to a young woman with an outside voice is unconvincing. However, the depth and sensitivity with which Wolitzer portrays the other characters — from the Gloria Steinem stand-in to the less-than-upstanding rich boy supporter of her feminist foundation — makes the book worth reading. Even Slowy the turtle evokes sympathy. Rather than painting a successful big-picture of an evolving social movement, Wolitzer shines in the small enduring portraits of friendship and family.
In the 19th century, inventors mechanized the laundry process with hand-operated washing machines. Most involved turning a handle to move paddles inside a tub that sat on legs with a hand-operated mangle on top. Some used an electrically powered agitator to replace hand rubbing against a washboard. Later, mangles were also electrically powered. Laundry drying, like washing, also became mechanized with spinning perforated tubs that blew heated air rather than water. Read more about toiling in a Chinese laundry 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
Las Vegas officially became a city in 1905. For a time there were two towns named Las Vegas. The east side (which now includes Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard) was owned by U.S. Senator Williams Andrew Clark while the west (north of modern day Bonanza Road) was owned by J. T. McWilliams. The city of Las Vegas incorporated in 1911 as a part of Clark County. Read more Las Vegas history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
