History Is Embarrassing

A collection of essays full of startling directness, fearlessness, and surprise. Filled with profound reflections and snapshots from the past, Karen Chases History is Embarrassing weaves together threads from one single lifea girl suffering from polio, a poet, a Jewish woman, a writer, and a painter. Like Chase, the characters who populate these essays are outsidersundercover cops, a gay couple in 1500s India, bear poachers, psychiatric patients, and even a presidenteach a meaningful part of history. Divided into three partshistories, pleasures, and horrorsHistory is Embarrassing is an assortment of thought-provoking essays that are sure to resonate with many readers.