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Barbara Wright

Barbara Wright

About

I have published two novels.  PLAIN LANGUAGE (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) is a love story about two strangers who meet and start a ranch on the Colorado Plains during the Dust Bowl.  EASY MONEY (Algonquin Books) is about a woman whose father gambles away her college money and goes to New York City to make her way.

Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness

Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness

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Description

<p><b>The absorbing, definitive account of CrossFit's origins, its explosive grassroots growth, and its emergence as a global phenomenon.</b><br /> <br />One of the most illuminating books ever on a sports subculture, <i>Learning to Breathe Fire </i>combines vivid sports writing with a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human. In the book, veteran journalist J.C. Herz explains the science of maximum effort, why the modern gym fails an obese society, and the psychic rewards of ending up on the floor feeling as though you're about to die. <br /> <br />The story traces CrossFit’s rise, from a single underground gym in Santa Cruz to its adoption as the workout of choice for elite special forces, firefighters and cops, to its popularity as the go-to fitness routine for regular Joes and Janes. Especially riveting is Herz’s description of The CrossFit Games, which begin as an informal throw-down on a California ranch and evolve into a televised global proving ground for the fittest men and women on Earth, as well as hundreds of thousands of lesser mortals. <br /> <br />In her portrayal of the sport's star athletes, its passionate coaches and its “chief armorer,” Rogue Fitness, Herz powerfully evokes the uniqueness of a fitness culture that  cultivates primal fierceness in average people. And in the shared ordeal of an all-consuming workout, she unearths the ritual intensity that's been with us since humans invented sports, showing us how, on a deep level, we're all tribal hunters and first responders, waiting for the signal to go all-out. </p>

Story Behind The Book

Elizabeth Jensen, a Quaker rancher who started a ranch on the Colorado Plains during the Dust Bowl, was the inspiration for my novel Plain Language. When I started interviewing her, she was in her mid-90s and I was half a century younger. I went to her study to fetch a large box of memorabilia, and she tried to wrest it from me, saying, &quot;Let me get that. You'll hurt your back.&quot;

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Reviews

<span style="font-family:Times;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;"></span><div style="padding:7px;background-color:#ffffff;font-family:arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:1.22;"><div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"><span style="margin-left:-5px;"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-5-0._V47081849_.gif" alt="5.0 out of 5 stars" style="border-style:none;" border="0" height="12" width="64" /> </span><strong>beautifully written</strong>,</div><div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;" valign="top">By </td><td style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2K6KHX85UEHCG/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp" style="color:#004b91;text-decoration:underline;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Deb <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Sanders<img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/carrot._V47081519_.gif" class="custPopRight" alt="" style="border-style:none;vertical-align:-1px;margin-left:3px;" /></span></span></a> (Jackson, Wyoming United States) -</td></tr></tbody></table></div>I couldn't wait to pass this book on to everyone I know--it's beautifully written and very moving. This author gives a very convincing story of 2 people who get to know each other thru hardship and hard work. Also very moving is the story between Viginia and her brother and also his relationship with another woman--portrayed very well and lovingly. The Quaker ideals are nicely woven throughout and add to the beauty of this story. Read this and feel peaceful.............<br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;line-height:normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;line-height:normal;"></span></span><div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"><span style="margin-left:-5px;"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-5-0._V47081849_.gif" alt="5.0 out of 5 stars" style="border-style:none;" border="0" height="12" width="64" /> </span><strong>Beautiful Language</strong>,</div><div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;" valign="top">By </td><td style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3DLV6NH7MYVJK/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp" style="color:#004b91;text-decoration:underline;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="white-space:nowrap;">&quot;disheveledprofessor&quot;<img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/carrot._V47081519_.gif" class="custPopRight" alt="" style="border-style:none;vertical-align:-1px;margin-left:3px;" /></span></span></a> (the home of the Blue Angels) -</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Barbara Wright's novel of life on the Colorado prairie during the Depression is a beautiful book, well-crafted and sensitive. The title, Plain Language, is a play on words: the heroine, Virginia, is a Quaker and so we have the idea of &quot;plain speaking&quot;; Virginia and her husband <br />Alfred are simple people, hardworking and not given to flights of fancy, communicating indeed in plain language. Wright's skill is apparent in the fact that Virginia and Alfred meet one disaster after another and yet the reader feels sustained, not drained. Many readers may be startled at how &quot;plain&quot; and filled with drudgery life was in the still-living past -- and yet how spirit-sustaining. <br /><br />The themes of this book include: the importance of communicating in developing relationships; the love we deprive ourselves of by making judgments; the value of hard work in developing self-esteem. Toward the end of the novel, Alfred reflects to himself &quot;... somewhere along the way you realize the achievement is not the goal itself -- the achievement is the person you've become in trying to reach the goal.&quot; <br /><br />I highly recommend this novel.</div><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;line-height:normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;line-height:normal;"></span></span><div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"><span style="margin-left:-5px;"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-5-0._V47081849_.gif" alt="5.0 out of 5 stars" style="border-style:none;" border="0" height="12" width="64" /> </span><strong>Wonderful book,</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;" valign="top">By </td><td style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/ANPF2YO93WZ79/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp" style="color:#004b91;text-decoration:underline;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sunshine <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Girl</span></span></a> (California) - </td></tr></tbody></table></div>I read this book a few years ago and have just stared to read it again. A touching story about the west and the relationship between newlyweds that struggle to run a ranch during the dust bowl. The characters have difficult lives, but learn to find peace with their place in the world. <br /><br />Plain Language won an award from the Western Writer's of America in 2004. I gave the book to a few friends and they all loved it.</div></div>