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"Wagner’s writing is lively and emotive, no matter the genre—her passion and frustration are always apparent on the page. Perhaps the book’s most interesting aspect is how evergreen many of her concerns are. "
"What a wonderful reminder that we can spend our lives working for the common good — and that that work will enrich our lives and our communities immeasurably!"
Part of the Launch Plan for Rear-View Reflections on Radical Change includes an invite-only team that is fully committed to helping during launch week.
Members of my advance team will receive a complimentary digital copy of the book, along with other members-only benefits.
Linda Mary Wagner’s new memoir offers a distinctive perspective on 50 years of social movements that have shaped our world. This collection of essays, nonfiction stories, and poems written between 1972 and 2022 calls for unity around the goal of climate action for the sake of all the world’s children today and tomorrow. The book will interest everyone from young adults, working moms, grandparents, essay lovers and political thinkers to progressive activists and those of all ages concerned about climate change.
Structured into five sections of consecutive decades from 1970 – 2020-plus, the memoir can be seen as a sequel to her first book, Unearthing the Ghosts: A Mystery Memoir. Beginning with a summary of traumas covered fully in that memoir, Rear-View Reflections describes Ms. Wagner’s subsequent contact with social and political movements once considered by many as revolutionary, including feminism, labor organizing for writers, consumer advocacy, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, democracy, and climate activism.
Each section opens with a 10–15-page personal narrative set within the social, political, and economic context of that decade. Introductory stories are followed by essays, poems, journal entries, and stories that were written during that period. Spanning 50-plus years, the collection reflects the development of a distinctive voice from young adulthood to maturity. These decades of writing illuminate how one woman’s life challenges and connections to social movements helped her to mature, overcome obstacles, and work toward a better world.
Structured into five sections of consecutive decades from 1970 – 2020-plus, the memoir can be seen as a sequel to her first book, Unearthing the Ghosts: A Mystery Memoir. Beginning with a summary of traumas covered fully in that memoir, Rear-View Reflections describes Ms. Wagner’s subsequent contact with social and political movements once considered by many as revolutionary, including feminism, labor organizing for writers, consumer advocacy, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, democracy, and climate activism.
Each section opens with a 10–15-page personal narrative set within the social, political, and economic context of that decade. Introductory stories are followed by essays, poems, journal entries, and stories that were written during that period. Spanning 50-plus years, the collection reflects the development of a distinctive voice from young adulthood to maturity. These decades of writing illuminate how one woman’s life challenges and connections to social movements helped her to mature, overcome obstacles, and work toward a better world.
I hope that Rear-View Reflections on Radical Change can help people to understand each other better, reduce polarization and unify our nation and world around the goal of climate action for the sake of our grandchildren and their future grandchildren.
Linda Mary Wagner spent more than a dozen years as an independent journalist, primarily for National Public Radio and its member stations in Buffalo and Chicago. She later worked as a communications specialist for The Brooklyn Historical Society, Consumers Union, and Associated Press. While earning her Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University, she forged a third career in nonprofit leadership and management, from which she retired in 2020. Currently living with her husband in Albany, New York, Ms. Wagner is the mother of a son and daughter who have graced her with a total of five grandchildren.
Rear-View Reflections On Radical Change is her second book.
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