Maria Riva – författare

Wildly entertaining, Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother in vivid detail, evoking Dietrich the woman, her legendary career, and her world. Opening with Dietrich’s childhood in Berlin, we meet an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress, whose own mother equated the stage with a world of vagabonds and thieves.Dietrich would quickly rise to stardom on the Berlin stage in the 1920s with her sharp wit and bisexuality—wearing the top hat and tails that revolutionized our concept of beauty and femininity.  She would play vulgarity but not become in; startle the world but still maintain the aloofness of an aristocrat.As Riva herself remembers, “At age three, I knew quite definitely that I didn’t have a mother, I belonged to a queen.” Marlene Dietrich comes alive in these pages in all of her incarnations: as muse, artistic collaborator, bonafide movie star, box-office poison, lover, wife, and mother.Dietrich would stand up to the Nazis and galvanize American troops, eventually earning the Congressional Medal of Freedom.  There were her rich artistic relationships with Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, Morocco, Shanghai Express), Colette, Erich Maria Remarque, Noël Coward and Cole Porter, and her heady romances.  In her final years, she would make herself visibly invisible, devoting herself to the immortality of her legend.Maria Riva’s biography of her mother has the depth, range, and resonance of a novel and captures the conviction and passion of its remarkable subject.

The most comprehensive and thoroughly researched text available on this topic, Handbook of Group Counseling and Psychotherapy, Second Edition underscores the notion that group work is improved through increased collaboration between researchers and practitioners. Edited by renowned leaders in the field, this thoroughly updated and revised Second Edition explores current literature and research and offers suggestions for practice in psycho-educational, counseling, and therapy groups. The Handbook is divided into five main sections: current and historical perspectives, best practices, multicultural and diverse groups, groups in special settings, and an introduction to special topics.

Marlene Dietrich comes alive in these pages in all of her incarnations: as muse, artistic collaborator, bona fide film star, box-office poison, lover, wife and mother. Maria Riva’s biography has the depth, range and resonance of a novel and captures the conviction and passion of its remarkable subject.

A richly imagined portrait of an immigrant woman in the heady and unpredictable first half of the twentieth century.Sweeping and panoramic, You Were There Before My Eyes is the epic and intimate story of a young woman who chafes at the stifling routine and tradition of her small, turn-of-the-century Italian village. When an opportunity presents itself for her to emigrate to America, her hunger for escape compels her to leave everything behind for the gleaming promises that await her and her young husband in Mr. Ford’s factories. Determined to survive, and perhaps even thrive, young Jane finds herself navigating not just a new language and country, but a world poised upon the edge of economic and social revolution—and war. As Jane searches for inner fulfillment while building young family, the tide of history ebbs and flows. From the chaos of Ellis Island to the melting pot of industrial Detroit, You Were There Before My Eyes spills over with colorful characters and vivid period details. Maria Riva paints an authentic portrait of immigrant America and poignantly captures the ever evolving nature of the American dream.