About this item
The Severances: An American Odyssey, from Puritan Massachusetts to Ohios Western Reserve, and Beyond reveals how John and Abigail Severans and a line of their descendants fared on these shores. Biographies seldom look back more than a few generations. The Severances spans nearly the entirety of America history and touches on almost every geographical section of the country. The book describes in remarkable detail how each successive generation of a family whose arrival here predated the nations founding met the challenges of its time and place, took advantage of the opportunities presented by a country undergoing the process of self-invention, built on the sacrifices and gains of forebears, chose to enjoy mounting success, implanted family traditions and beliefs, and endeavored to give something back to society. Drawing on insights contained in these previously unmined materials and information uncovered in archives from Philadelphia to Pasadena, author Diana Tittle has created a richly textured portrait of ten generations of Anglo-Saxon strivers compelled by necessity and nurturance to be community builders. A series of questions animate the narrative. Why was the branch of the family on which The Severances focuses still scratching out a living as subsistence farmers two centuries after John and Abigail landed in Boston harbor? What caused members of the seventh generation to leave behind their familys hard-won security in western Massachusetts for the frontier outpost of Cleveland? How did the son of a penniless newcomer to Ohio build one of nineteenth-century Americas impressive fortunes? What compelled him to spend millions on foreign missionary work? Finding answers rooted in the "profoundly religious culture" of New England, The Severances is a fascinating saga that will command readers attention while deepening their general understanding of the forging of our nation and national character.
About the Author
Diana Tittle is an award-winning journalist based in Cleveland, Ohio, who has worked as a magazine writer and editor and started a small press. In 1997 she won the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature for her nonfiction reportage on urban affairs.
The daughter of an Air Force test pilot, Ms. Tittle conceived an interest in journalism while working on her high school newspaper. She received her bachelor's degree in English literature from Miami University (Ohio) in 1972. She was managing editor of Miami's student newspaper and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After earning a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1973, she landed a job as a general assignment reporter for the Chronicle-Telegram newspaper in Elyria, Ohio.
In 1974 Tittle joined the editorial staff of Cleveland Magazine, a city magazine, where she wrote monthly articles on topics ranging from fashion to governmental inefficiency. By the mid-1970s, a half-dozen of her stories had appeared on the covers of Cleveland's Top 10 best-selling issues, and in 1978 the Cleveland Press Club recognized the excellence of her in-depth profile of the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
After leaving Cleveland, Tittle conceived and helped to secure the capital for Northern Ohio LIVE, a monthly magazine covering arts and entertainment that began publishing in 1981. She guided the magazine's editorial direction until her departure in 1986. A decade later, Ms. Tittle returned to oversee Northern Ohio LIVE's editorial re-launch and redesign, an initiative that was nationally recognized by the magazine industry.
In 1987 Tittle launched Octavia Press with the publication of two trade titles: "Superman at Fifty: The Persistence of a Legend," a collection of essays examining the enduring popularity of the comic-book hero created by Clevelanders Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and "The Ultimate Benefit Book: How to Raise $50,000-Plus for Your Favorite Organization," a (then) one-of-a-kind primer written by a pre-eminent Cleveland fund raiser. "Superman," which was favorably mentioned or reviewed in Time, Variety and Omni magazine and scores of newspapers, including The New York Times, sold out its 10,000-copy print run in six weeks. The Ultimate Benefit Book enjoyed steady word-of-mouth sales for more than five years.
Under the imprimatur of Octavia Press, Tittle has guided the design and publication of more than a half-dozen nonfiction books of regional interest for which she has also written the text.
