Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp

Léonie, whose mother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, struggles with an implacable, court-appointed guardian against the backdrop of centuries-old family myths and miscommunication. Mama wants their story told, but the courts demand that secrecy enshroud all guardianship records—forever. After years of struggle and Kafkaesque frustration, and with the help of a brilliant, unconventional attorney, Léonie goes to war with the establishment in an attempt to help others find their way through the swamp of legal guardianship.

“Not in This Country,” an article based on the story of the gag order and how it was released, won First Place in the New Mexico Press Women’s annual Communications Contest (2022).

Praise for Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp

Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music

A detailed, authoritative portrait of a commanding figure in twentieth-century music. Nadia Boulanger’s life spanned nearly a century, and at her death she was still director of the American School of Music at Fontainebleau, which she helped found after World War I. Enormously influential, she taught many distinguished performers and composers―among them Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Elliott Carter. She helped American music gain worldwide recognition. For this first full biography, Léonie Rosenstiel has drawn on papers and records to which Boulanger gave her unprecedented access and also on numerous interviews. The result is a rich portrait of an important woman of our time. The final third of the book depicts Nadia’s progressive loss of her mental capacity and the increasing control her longtime assistants assumed over her life.

Praise for Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music