Non­fic­tion

Expe­ri­ence is the Angled Road: Mem­oir of an Academic

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2021

Expe­ri­ence is the Angled Road: Mem­oir of an Aca­d­e­m­ic is about lead­er­ship. R. Bar­bara Giten­stein’s nar­ra­tive cap­tures the shock and the humor she faced as a leader when con­fronting the obsta­cles of being the only what­ev­er” in the room (woman, Jew, south­ern­er, liberal).

Her par­ents moved from New York City to a small town in Alaba­ma, where Giten­stein was born and raised. While South­ern eti­quette pre­vent­ed most cit­i­zens from overt­ly anti­se­mit­ic slurs, she knew from a young age that she just did not fit. When she left for board­ing school in the 8th grade, she dis­cov­ered that it was more than being Jew­ish and a Yan­kee that made her an odd­i­ty. She was an intel­lec­tu­al; she loved clas­si­cal music and imag­ined singing at the Met­ro­pol­i­tan. She sur­vived painful loss and life-chang­ing challenges.

Before enter­ing acad­eme, Giten­stein learned to lead from the periph­ery, ben­e­fit­ting from excep­tion­al and sur­pris­ing mentors.

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