{"title":"Books by Emerson Whitney","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"heaven","title":"Heaven","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor more information, visit McSweeneys.net\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNamed a best book by The AV Club, PAPER Magazine, LitHub, Ms. Magazine, Chicago Review of Books, Refinery29, the Observer, and the Seattle Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmerson Whitney writes, \"Really, I can't explain myself without making a mess.\" What follows is that mess-electrifying, gorgeous, defiant.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeaven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e's center, Whitney seeks to understand their relationship to their mother and grandmother, those first windows into womanhood and all its consequences. Whitney retraces a roving youth in deeply observant, psychedelic prose-all the while folding in the work of thinkers like Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, and C. Riley Snorton-to engage transness and the breathing, morphing nature of selfhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn expansive examination of what makes us up, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeaven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e wonders what role our childhood plays in who we are. Can we escape the discussion of causality? Is the story of our body just ours? With extraordinary emotional force, Whitney sways between theory and memory in order to explore these brazen questions and write this unforgettable book.\u003cbr clear=\"all\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A forceful act of writing.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Eileen Myles, author of \u003ci\u003eChelsea Girls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A poetic, candid, probing reckoning with childhood, the maternal, gender, and the possibilities of theory which will both speak to its time and outlast it.\" \u003cbr\u003e-Maggie Nelson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Argonauts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An incisive, nuanced inquiry into gender and body.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McSweeney's","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":53391595962641,"sku":"9781944211769","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0928\/6890\/3185\/files\/cover_f776bc37-135c-4e2b-ae9d-3c3138ad8e69.jpeg?v=1776866950"},{"product_id":"daddy-boy","title":"Daddy Boy","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2017, Emerson Whitney was divorcing the woman they’d been with for ten years—a dominatrix they called Daddy. Living in a tent in the backyard of their marital home, Emerson was startled to realize they didn’t know what it meant to be an adult. “We often look to our gender roles as a sort of map for aging,” they write. “I wanted to know what the process looked like without that: not man-ness, not-woman-ness.” Dizzied by this realization, they turned to an activity steeped in stereotypical masculinity: storm chasing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaddy Boy \u003c\/i\u003efollows Emerson as they pack into a van with a rag-tag group of storm chasers and drive up and down tornado ally—from Texas to North Dakota—staying in motels and eating at gas stations and hunting down storms like so many white whales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn heading with them to Texas, we return, too, to the only site of adulthood Emerson has ever known: their childhood. Interspersed throughout this trip are memories of dad—both Emerson’s stepdad, Hank, present and unflinching and extremely Texan; and their biological dad, who they hardly knew. With his cowboy hats and random girlfriends, he always seemed so sweet and lost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough these childhood vignettes, coupled with queer theory and weeks spent reading the clouds like oracles, wanting nothing more than to drive straight into the eye of a storm, Emerson frames these probing questions of manhood against the dusty, loaded background of the American West.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McSweeney's","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":53391601271057,"sku":"9781952119521","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0928\/6890\/3185\/files\/cover_c7c39b59-b862-49e0-b972-bffb4accc0d0.jpeg?v=1776867036"},{"product_id":"heaven-1","title":"Heaven","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA finalist for the Believer Book Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmerson Whitney writes, \"Really, I can't explain myself without making a mess.\" What follows is that mess-electrifying, gorgeous, defiant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeaven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e's center, Whitney seeks to understand their relationship to their mother and grandmother, those first windows into womanhood and all its consequences. Whitney retraces a roving youth in deeply observant, psychedelic prose-all the while folding in the work of thinkers like Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, and C. Riley Snorton-to engage transness and the breathing, morphing nature of selfhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn expansive examination of what makes us up, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeaven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e wonders what role our childhood plays in who we are. Can we escape the discussion of causality? Is the story of our body just ours? With extraordinary emotional force, Whitney sways between theory and memory in order to explore these brazen questions and write this unforgettable book.\u003cbr clear=\"all\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A forceful act of writing.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Eileen Myles, author of \u003ci\u003eChelsea Girls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A poetic, candid, probing reckoning with childhood, the maternal, gender, and the possibilities of theory which will both speak to its time and outlast it.\" \u003cbr\u003e-Maggie Nelson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Argonauts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An incisive, nuanced inquiry into gender and body.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McSweeney's","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":53391601434897,"sku":"9781952119545","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0928\/6890\/3185\/files\/cover_2959aa77-ddc7-4217-bfbd-c8946d260100.jpeg?v=1776867039"},{"product_id":"o-mother","title":"O Mother","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eHeaven\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDaddy Boy.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eEmerson Whitney didn’t plan to go home. After a childhood shaped by their mother’s addiction and heartbreaks, keeping their distance felt safer. They built a life far away, working constantly and ignoring the searing pain of a chronic disorder. But their body had other plans. When exhaustion finally forced them to stop, Emerson turned east at last, toward home, toward their mom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eO Mother \u003c\/i\u003ebrings us back into Emerson Whitney’s generous, searching mind as they return to the rural Maine island of their childhood, of sea spray and lobster pots and ship-themed home decor. Visions of a different future begin to flood in, of them and their mom living side by side, peaceful at last, tending to chickens and watching reality TV.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Emerson's return does not go as planned. Despite being just a few miles away, their mother is distant, hard to pin down, and they struggle to connect. Emerson can tell something is off, but old patterns are hard to break. When Emerson receives the devastating news of their mother’s suicide, they begin to trace her story back, unraveling the hidden forces that conspired to make her life unlivable. What follows is an exploration into disability, diagnosis, and self-acceptance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a sensitive eye to the world, Emerson seeks to understand their mom’s complicated fate, and wonders what, if anything, it might teach them about their own future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McSweeney's","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":53545434251537,"sku":"9781963270488","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0928\/6890\/3185\/files\/cover_925154fd-ca0e-410c-888c-9378ef91ec54.jpeg?v=1778585499"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.stablebookgroup.com\/collections\/books-by-emerson-whitney.oembed","provider":"Stable Book Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}