‘The Wounds That Bind Us’ is magnificent memoir | Book Talk

Akron native Kelley Shinn gained national attention in 2019 with a commentary in the New York Times.

After Hurricane Dorian ravaged Okracoke Island off North Carolina, she sent an impassioned plea for state and federal aid. The aid took too long to arrive. This isn’t part of her magnificent memoir “The Wounds That Bind Us.”

What is part of her story is a childhood with an abusive adopted mother, prompting her to take up cross-country running as a literal and figurative escape; a college offered her a running scholarship. A sudden illness, initially misdiagnosed, turned out to be bacterial meningitis and resulted in the amputation of both legs. The college stood by its offer.

The book is written in a nonlinear format, taking the reader from Shinn’s job in England teaching the techniques of off-roading to a time of drug abuse and homelessness. It is framing for the main story: Shinn’s decision to take her delightful toddler daughter on an international tour to promote the mission of Landmine Survivors Network; she intends to visit amputees in Bosnia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Vietnam and El Salvador, and to do it in a gargantuan Land Rover designed for military use.

Shinn narrates the riotous and harrowing aspects of her life with extraordinary perception, salting a side-splitting anecdote with a corresponding shock. Many of the people she meets — a German brothel keeper, a suicidal English shepherd in Greece — show her great kindness.

“The Wounds That Bind Us” (296 pages, softcover) costs $21.99 from West Virginia University Press. She will sign copies from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Fireside Book Shop, 29 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls, and from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Coventry branch of Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, 1925 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights.

Her tour also includes a stop at the Perkins Stone Mansion on Monday, Sept. 11 at 5:30 p.m. The book-signing is hosted by the Summit County Historical Society.

‘A Chance to Breathe’

The term “glamping” may have been around for only a couple of decades, but it could have been coined for a remarkable journey taken in 1918 by four giants of American culture: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and naturalist John Burroughs. An account of that trip — and an avalanche of accompanying information — is in “A Chance to Breathe: Stories from a 1918 Road Trip” by Akron attorney James Gardner.

The group, also including Firestone’s son Harvey Jr. and, for a time, future chairman of the Federal Trade Commission Edward N. Hurley and Georgia academic R.J. DeLoach, set off from Pittsburgh in August intending to rough it, if roughing it includes a pantry truck fully fitted with icebox and stove, as well as a chef and photographer. The “vagabonds,” as they called themselves, had made the trip before and would again; this time they spent about a month driving through West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Gardner’s research started with archives managed by the University of Akron and then to a dizzying amount of other sources. About a quarter of the book is about the trip itself, with concise but thorough biographical sketches of the four main vagabonds. The rest is gleaned from memoirs, newspaper articles and websites, leading to wide detours into topics like World War I, the flu epidemic, the Hatfield-McCoy feud and the evolution of country music.

The vagabonds did rough it to a degree, starting out the journey sleeping outside and holding firewood chopping contests. They made use of their personal strengths, with Ford making repairs to their own vehicles and those of strangers on the route. The roads were dusty and gas was often difficult to acquire. By the end of the trip, they were choosing to stay in inns.

“A Chance to Breathe” (385 pages, softcover) costs $18.95 from online retailers.

Events

Rodman Library (215 E. Broadway St., Alliance): James Renner joins the Fogle Author Series with his true crime book “Little, Crazy Children,” 6:30 p.m. Monday. Register at rodmanlibrary.com.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (Tallmadge branch, 90 Community Road): Tallmadge poet Barbara Minney (“If There’s No Heaven”) reads from her work, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday.

Stark County Public Library (715 Market Ave. N., Canton): Irv Korman discusses "I Was Jerry Lewis' Bodyguard for 10 Minutes and Other Celebrity Encounters" and "I Was Jackie Mason's Chauffeur for Five Minutes and More Celebrity Encounters," 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday. Register at starklibrary.org.

Wadsworth Public Library (132 Broad St.): Dolores Schaffer signs the biography “Don Drumm: The Sculptor Designer Craftsman,” 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Made Cleveland (1807 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights): Contributors to “Cleveland Noir” read from and sign their stories, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Powers branch, 6996 Powers Blvd.): Paulette Jiles (“News of the World” was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award) talks about her Civil War-era “Chenneville: A Novel of Murder, Loss, and Vengeance,” 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Hudson Library & Historical Society: James B. Conroy appears in a virtual event to discuss “The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan that Won the War,” 7 p.m. Tuesday. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Barbara Butcher talks about “What the Dead Know: Learning About Life As a New York City Death Investigator.” Register at hudsonlibrary.org.

Mentor Public Library (8215 Mentor Ave.): Alan Dutka presents “Historic Theaters of Cleveland,” 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Register at mentorpl.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Olmsted Falls branch, 8100 Mapleway Drive): Kathleen Kerestman of Perry, author of “Creepy Cat’s Macabre Travels: Prowling Around Haunted Towers, Crumbling Castles, and Ghoulish Graveyards,” talks about “Salem Past and Present” and the Salem Witch Trials, 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (Fairlawn-Bath branch, 3101 Smith Road): Irv Korman discusses "I Was Jerry Lewis' Bodyguard" and "I Was Jackie Mason's Chauffeur for Five Minutes,” 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Bay Village branch, 27400 Wolf Road): David Lee Morgan talks about “Breaking Through the Lines: The Marion Motley Story,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Mac’s Backs (1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights): Poets David Adams and Larry Smith read from their works, with a tribute to late poet Timothy Russell, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Visible Voice Books (2258 Professor Ave., Cleveland): Ghassan Zeineddine and Leila Ben-Nasr talk about Zeineddine’s story collection “Dearborn,” 7 p.m. Friday.

Cleveland Public Library (South branch, 3096 Scranton Road): Vince Guerrieri talks about “Weird Moments in Cleveland Sports: Bottlegate, Bedbugs, and Burying the Pennant and More!,” 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Egyptian American poet Nardine Taleb reads from her work, 1 p.m. Saturday.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (Green branch, 4046 Massillon Road): As part of the Akron Eats series, Judy Orr James signs “Akron Family Recipes: History and Traditions from Sauerkraut Balls to Sweet Potato Pie,” 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Warren-Trumbull County Public Library (Warren branch, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW): David Lee Morgan talks about “Breaking Through the Lines: The Marion Motley Story,” 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘The Wounds That Bind Us’ is magnificent memoir by Kelley Shinn