Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Louis XIII

Biographies & Memoirs

"En considérant le second des Bourbons à la lumière de la vérité, il nous est apparu que ce prince énigmatique était bien loin encore d'occuper le rang auquel il avait droit en tant que souverain et surtout en tant qu'homme. Il nous est apparu qu'à la place du fantoche, cher aux romanciers de l'histoire, se trouvait une personnalité d'une si grande richesse psychologique qu'il était permis de voir en elle un reflet des héros créés par les premiers génies du temps – un Shakespeare, un Corneille." Philippe Erlanger

Lob der Wildnis

Biographies & Memoirs

Henry David Thoreau in neuer Übesetzung »Der Wert dieser wilden Früchte liegt nicht in ihrem Besitz oder Verzehr, sondern in ihrem Anblick und der Freude, dieman an ihnen hat.« — Henry David Thoreau. Esther Kinsky hat aus den nach gelassenen Schriften einen Gang durch die Jahreszeiten zusammengestellt - und entdeckt in ihrer Übersetzung einen Thoreau, wie er für den deutschen Leser so noch nie zu lesen war: schlicht und klar, begeistert und respektvoll in der Genauigkeit seiner Naturbeschreibungen. Er preist die Reichhaltigkeit der Früchte, erfreut sich an der Schönheit seiner landschaftlichen Umgebung und lädt ein, in der Flora vor der eigenen Haustür einen vollkommenen Kosmos zu finden.

Diary of a Philosophy Student

Biographies & Memoirs

Simone de Beauvoir, still a teen, began a diary while a philosophy student at the Sorbonne. Written in 1926-27—before Beauvoir met Jean-Paul Sartre—the diaries reveal previously unknown details about her life and times and offer critical insights into her early intellectual interests, philosophy, and literary works.Presented for the first time in translation, this fully annotated first volume of the Diary includes essays from Barbara Klaw and Margaret A. Simons that address its philosophical, historical, and literary significance. It remains an invaluable resource for tracing the development of Beauvoir’s independent thinking and her influence on philosophy, feminism, and the world.

Whispering Range

Biographies & Memoirs

When ranchers of Sundown formed a vigilante group to stamp out rustling, owner of the D Slash outfit, Dave Denver, refused to join. He wanted the rustling stopped as much as anyone, but there was no real evidence pointing to the Redmain gang. Besides, Denver hated mob rule. But when Denver's best friend was killed in an outlaw trap, he led the D Slash to a war that ended up in Sundown where Denver and his men, Colts flaming in their fists, smashed Redmain's attempt to burn and sack the entire town. Ernest Haycox, considered the dean among authors of Western fiction, also wrote Long Storm, Sundown Jim and The Wild Bunch.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Biographies & Memoirs

Tormented by her master, a young mother plots a daring escape, in this courageous and captivating slave narrative When her mother dies, six-year-old slave girl Linda Brent is sent to the big house, where she grows up serving a gentle mistress who teaches her to read and write. But the mistress’s death brings about a sudden and terrible change in Linda’s fortunes. Her lecherous new master torments Linda mercilessly, making her life a living hell. Unable to join her two young children in their escape to the North, Linda hides in the attic above her grandmother’s house. For seven years, she waits for the opportunity to flee North Carolina and reunite with her son and daughter in the land of freedom. But when the chance finally comes, Linda discovers she has yet more pain to endure. Based on the true story of Harriet Jacobs’s escape from the South, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is one of American literature’s most powerful indictments of the evils of slavery. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Politische Profile

Biographies & Memoirs

Bereits als junger Mann entfaltete Leo Trotzki eine rege Tätigkeit als politischer Schriftsteller innerhalb der revolutionären Arbeiterbewegung. Sein Talent, Analysen deutlich darzustellen und Sachverhalte ansprechend und treffend zuzuspitzen, brachte ihm bald den Beinamen »Die Feder« ein. Bis zu seiner Ermordung im Jahr 1940 verfasste er ein literarisches Lebenswerk, das viele Regalmeter füllt. Während der Zeit seiner Verbannung im Zarenreich und der Emigration, aber auch danach, war sein Talent über politische Differenzen hinweg gefragt. So schrieb er nicht nur für die Presse seiner eigenen Organisation, sondern für zahlreiche sozialistische Zeitungen verschiedener Länder. Sehr gefragt waren unter anderem die pointierten Charakterisierungen politischer Persönlichkeiten, ob Freund*in oder Gegner*in. Die »politische Profile«, die er im Laufe der Jahre verfasste, halfen, eine Einschätzung zu bekommen, wen man bekämpfte. Doch genauso schrieb er in zahlreichen Nachrufen, welche Lehren und Errungenschaften Mitstreiter*innen der revolutionären Bewegung hinterließen. Dieses Buch ist viel mehr als eine Sammlung biographischer Texte. Wolfram Klein übersetzte viele von ihnen und verfasste die Einleitung sowie ein ausführliches Glossar mit Verzeichnissen über Personen und Periodika. So entstand ein Werk, das schon fast enzyklopädischen Charakter hat und sowohl zum Lesen, als auch zum Nachschlagen einlädt.

La voce di Sergio Zavoli

Biographies & Memoirs

Un ritratto umano e letterario scritto da una poetessa conterranea che gli fu amica. Tema: la doppia natura di grande giornalista, il “cronista” per eccellenza, che è poeta. La voce indimenticabile dell’autore del Processo alla tappa, di Notte della Repubblica è uno “spazio letterario”, secondo l’accezione di Maurice Blanchot.

Stimmen der Revolution: Lebensgeschichten von widerständigen Heldinnen und Helden

Biographies & Memoirs

Diese Ausgabe präsentiert das faszinierende Leben der mutigsten und entschlossensten Revolutionäre der Geschichte. Entdecken Sie die Leidenschaft ihrer Überzeugungen und das Erbe ihres Kampfes für Gerechtigkeit: Thomas More (Karl Kautsky) Garibaldi: Meine Lebenserinnerungen (Autobiographie) Kropotkin: Memoiren eines Revolutionärs (Autobiographie) Lenin (Emil Ludwig) Rosa Luxemburg: Biographie (Karl Radek) Briefe aus dem Gefängnis von Rosa Luxemburg Karl Liebknecht (Karl Radek) Leo Jogiches (Karl Radek) Clara Zetkin: Erinnerungen an Lenin (Autobiographie) Wladimir Korolenko: Die Geschichte meines Zeitgenossen (Autobiographie) Michael Bakunin (Ricarda Huch) Ernst Toller: Eine Jugend in Deutschland (Autobiographie) Louise Aston: Aus dem Leben einer Frau (Autobiographie) Bertha von Suttner: Memoiren der Friedensaktivistin (Autobiographie)

The Golden Legend

Biographies & Memoirs

The famous saint biographies by 13th century chronicler Jacobus de Voragine are a classic of Christian literature; this edition contains the scholarly translations to English by William Caxton. Living at a time when biography mainly concerned religious figures and their significance to the church, de Voragine’s held a privileged position as a researcher of old texts. The Golden Legend – known as the Legenda Aurea in the original Latin – met with approval when it was published in the 13th century. A collection of saint biographies under one cover, with its sources meticulously recorded, the work allowed the Christian priesthood and the literate laity to conveniently learn about the canonized figures of yore. The system of chronicling used by de Voragine evidences the fact that his book was meant as an educational resource rather than as a form of popular entertainment. Over the centuries, various entries were added to de Voragine’s principal text. This edition of The Golden Legend was compiled and annotated by George V. O’Neill, a Professor of English working at University College in Dublin. The notes, appended after the conclusion of the biographies, explain various historical facts of the Medieval era and the meanings of certain archaic terms.

Michelangelo

Biographies & Memoirs

“What possessed the thirteen-year old boy—what possessed Michelangelo—to declare that he wanted to be a painter? There he sat, a reticent lad, gazing with serious eyes at anything that happened to stand or lie before him, and scrawling an image of it—or what seemed to him such—on a sheet of superlative paper. Not the father only, but the brothers too scolded him, for this was a poor, inglorious calling, and he was so often cuffed and beaten by his parent that even in his old age he would still talk of it. There was no mother to protect him; men ruled the gloomy household. But as he seemed to be good for nothing else, the father was in the end obliged to yield and take him to Messer Ghirlandajo, who was painting the walls of Santa Maria Novella, surrounded by apprentices and colour-grinders. The contract was for three years; the distrustful man grumbled and handed over his money and his hopes of making something out of his son; for how could anyone suppose that he would ever do as well as his present teacher, or the great Donatello of old?”

Desayuno en familia

Biographies & Memoirs

El autor de esta formidable memoria describe cómo a través de la rutina consiguió superar la muerte repentina de su hija a los 38 años. Él y su mujer decidieron recuperar su rol de padres e irse a vivir con sus tres nietos &ndash eurosJessica, de siete años, Sammy, de cinco, y Bubbies, de veinte meses&ndash euros y su yerno Harris. Admirado por la fortaleza de éste, y por la tenacidad y habilidad de su mujer, Ginny, Roger cumple con su principal tarea: convertir el desayuno con sus nietos en el momento más íntimo e instructivo del día.El día en que murió Amy, Harris les dijo a Ginny y Roger: «Es imposible». El relato de Roger explica lo que hace una familia para convertir en posible lo imposible.

Dear Oliver

Biographies & Memoirs

When writer and historian Peter Wells found a cache of family letters amongst his elderly mother's effects, he realised that he had the means of retracing the history of a not-untypical family swept out to New Zealand during the great nineteenth-century human diaspora from Britain. His family experienced the war against Te Kooti, the Boer War, the Napier earthquake of 1931 and the Depression. They rose from servant status to the comforts of the middle class. There was army desertion, suicide, adultery, AIDS, secrets and lies. There was also success, prosperity and social status. In digging deep into their stories, examining letters from the past and writing a letter to the future, Peter Wells constructs a novel and striking way to view the history of Pakeha New Zealanders.

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

Biographies & Memoirs

The heartrending story of twin sisters torn apart by China’s one-child policy and the rise of international adoption—from the author of the National Book Award finalist Nothing to Envy, one of today’s leading reporters“An amazing book. I truly couldn’t put it down.”—Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women“Barbara Demick turns the seemingly prosaic human dramas of our societies into a cinematic and heart-rending epic tale with consequences that cross continents.”—Emily Feng, author of Let Only Red Flowers BloomOn a warm day in September 2000, a woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut behind her brother’s home in China’s Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her family but also not her first children. Living under the shadow of China’s notorious one-child policy, Zanhua and her husband decided to leave one twin in the care of relatives, hoping each toddler on their own might stay under the radar. But, in 2002, Fangfang was violently snatched away. The family worried they would never see her again, but they didn’t imagine she could be sent as far as the United States. She might as well have been sent to another world.Following stories she wrote as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick embarks on a journey that encompasses the origins, shocking cruelty, and long-term impact of China’s one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation. Today, Esther—formerly Fangfang—lives in Texas, and Demick brings to vivid life the Christian family that felt called to adopt her, unaware that she had been kidnapped. Through Demick’s indefatigable reporting, will the long-lost sisters finally reunite—and will they feel whole again?A remarkable window into the volatile, constantly changing China of the last half century and the long-reaching legacy of the country’s most infamous law, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is also the moving story of two sisters torn apart by the forces of history and brought together again by their families’ determination and one reporter’s dogged work.

Too Close to the Falls

Biographies & Memoirs

Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the mid-1950s in Lewiston, New York, a sleepy town near Niagara Falls. Divorce is unheard of, mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon, and television has only just arrived.At the tender age of four, Cathy accompanies Roy, the deliveryman at her father's pharmacy, on his routes. She shares some of their memorable deliveries-sleeping pills to Marilyn Monroe (in town filming Niagara), sedatives to Mad Bear, a violent Tuscarora chief, and fungus cream to Warty, the gentle operator of the town dump. As she reaches her teenage years, Cathy's irrepressible spirit spurs her from dangerous sled rides that take her "too close to the Falls" to tipsy dances with the town priest.

Дневник писателя

Biographies & Memoirs

Как писателя и публициста Ф.М. Достоевского интересовало практически все происходящее в современном ему мире, все находило отклик в его творчестве. «Дневник писателя», помимо обсуждений самых различных тем, от глубоких философских и нравственных вопросов до анализа внешней политики держав, включает прямое обращение к читателю, как к непосредственному соучастнику событий своего времени. Для нашего же времени актуальность «Дневника писателя» заключается в проницательности Ф.М.Достоевского, вскрывающей неизменную суть явлений.

Betrayal

Biographies & Memoirs

The remarkable story of the last American spy of the Cold War: Aldrich “Rick” Ames, the most destructive traitor in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency Tim Weiner, David Johnston, and Neil A. Lewis, reporters for The New York Times, tell how the barons of the CIA could not believe that its headquarters harbored a traitor. For years, the Agency was baffled by a wily Russian spymaster who played a high-stakes chess game against the Americans, deceiving the CIA into thinking that there were other moles—or no moles at all. It took nearly eight years for the CIA to share the full facts of the scenario with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Once they knew those facts, the men and women of the FBI tracked Aldrich Ames day and night for nine months before they arrested him. They tell their story here in astonishing detail for the first time. The interviews are entirely on-the-record. There are no pseudonyms, anonymous quotes, or invented scenes. The men betrayed by Ames were real people, and the stories of their lives are the true history of the espionage game in the waning years of the Cold War.

Mostly True

Biographies & Memoirs

Molly O'Neill's father believed that baseball was his family's destiny. He wanted to spawn enough sons for an infield, so he married the tallest woman in Columbus, Ohio. Molly came out first, but eventually her father's plan prevailed. Five boys followed in rapid succession and the youngest, Paul O'Neill, did, in fact, grow up to be the star right fielder for the New York Yankees. In Mostly True, celebrated food critic and writer O'Neill tells the story of her quintessentially American family and the places where they come together -- around the table and on the ball field. Molly's great-grandfather played on one of the earliest traveling teams in organized baseball, her grandfather played barnstorming ball, and her father pitched in the minor leagues, but after being sidelined with an injury in the war, he set his sights on the next generation. While her brothers raged and struggled to become their own men, Molly, appointed "Deputy Mom" at an age when most girls were playing with dolls, learned early how to be the model Midwestern homemaker and began casting about wildly for other possible destinies. As her mother cleaned fanatically and produced elaborate, healthy meals, Molly spoiled her bro-thers with skyscraper cakes, scribbled reams of poetry, and staged theatrical productions in the backyard. By the late 1960s, the Woodstock Nation had challenged some of the O'Neill values, but nothing altered their conviction that only remarkable achievement could save them. Mostly True is the uncommon chronicle of a regular family pursuing the American dream and of one girl's quest to find her place in a world built for boys. Molly O'Neill -- an independent, extraordinarily talented, and fiercely funny woman -- showed that home runs can be hit in many fields. Her memoir is glorious.

Solitary and Wild

Biographies & Memoirs

For lovers of the often dark and troubled poetry of Louis MacNeice, his father is a reassuring presence: solid, sober, pious yet tolerant, a Church of Ireland clergyman who was not afraid to reject the Ulster Covenant of 1912, denounce sectarianism, and even espouse Irish nationalism. This book originated in the discovery of one inconvenient fact. Frederick MacNeice (1866–1942) was not a Home Ruler but an all-Ireland Unionist, who for many years was an enthusiastic Orangeman in Dublin and then Ulster. In later life, especially as Bishop of Down after 1934, he set aside these connections in order to pursue intercommunal peace and tolerance in Belfast and beyond. Louis colluded with his father in reinterpreting his earlier career, as part of a process of personal reconciliation which profoundly affected his later poetry and autobiographical writings. The relationship between father and son is discussed in two chapters, and several well-known poems are reinterpreted in the light of fresh evidence. Above all, this is the biography of a visionary who never despaired of spreading salvation through the often derided Church of Ireland. Using unfamiliar archives and local newspapes as well as the writings of both father and son, this book reconstructs the disparate worlds in which Frederick MacNeice lived and worked. It also explores his muted responses to the suffering of his parents and siblings, the early death of his deeply depressed first wife, the benefits resulting from his second marriage and its consequences for his children. The figure that emerges is complex, guarded, astute, and remarkably effective in using religion to spread enlightenment. His life demonstrates that salvation deserves to be taken seriously as a motive force in modern Irish history.

The Danger to Be Sane

Biographies & Memoirs

A dazzling journey into the eccentric, troubled, and luminous minds that shaped literature.In this bold, personal, and deeply researched blend of memoir, essay, literary analysis, psychological reflection, and intellectual sleuth story, Montero draws on psychology, neuroscience, creative literature, and the testimonies and biographies of authors and artists to weave a fascinating narrative on the connection between creativity and mental instability.With intelligence, generosity, and narrative élan, Montero brings to life figures such as Franz Kafka, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Marcel Proust, Joseph Conrad, and Doris Lessing, painting a fresco of the ways in which the brain works, its quirks and dark corners. She breaks down the forces that influence creativity and miraculously reassembles them before the reader’s eyes over three hundred gripping pages.Like a masterfully plotted detective story, each clue leads readers one step closer to new definitions of both the creative act and of what is and is not “normal.” Blending intimate memoir with wide-ranging cultural history, The Danger to Be Sane is a moving and inspirational homage to minds and lives that are outside of the mean.’Twas a Divine Insanity— The Danger to be Sane From Emily Dickinson, Poem 593

Liderazgo

Biographies & Memoirs

Henry Kissinger analiza cómo seis líderes extraordinarios, a los que conoció de cerca, dieron forma a sus países y al mundo que hoy conocemos.«Pretende ser un manual para los líderes de hoy y de mañana».The New StatesmanHenry Kissinger, uno de los principales estrategas políticos del siglo xx, analiza en este nuevo libro los perfiles de seis de los líderes mundiales más fascinantes e influyentes del pasado reciente: Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Richard Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Lee Kuan Yew y Margaret Thatcher.Todos ellos se formaron en un periodo en el que las instituciones establecidas se derrumbaban en Europa, las estructuras coloniales daban paso a estados independientes en Asia y África y hubo que crear un nuevo orden internacional a partir de los vestigios del anterior.Kissinger repasa el camino de De Gaulle para reconstruir la Francia postimperial, la rehabilitación llevada a cabo por Adenauer de una Alemania devastada por la guerra o el éxito del experimento de la pequeña ciudad Estado de Lee Kuan Yew en Singapur. El análisis de estos procesos sirve para mostrar las estrategias de gobierno de unos líderes que, impulsados por un alto sentido de Estado, se propusieron posicionar a sus respectivos países en el centro del tablero político mundial.La perspectiva del autor no tiene parangón: es la de un historiador de primer orden que conoció y estuvo implicado en los acontecimientos que se relatan. La experiencia como alto representante público, el conocimiento personal de los protagonistas y la carrera política de Kissinger enriquecen un libro que atestigua cómo la combinación del carácter de los personajes y las circunstancias de cada situación es lo que acaba dando forma a la historia.La crítica ha dicho: «Siempre vale la pena escuchar a este sorprendente testigo de la historia». Simon Heffer, The Telegraph Book of the Year«Un estudio vital del poder en acción».Publishers Weekly«Según Kissinger, sus seis protagonistas demuestran que el liderazgo transformador de las grandes personas es más importante que las fuerzas impersonales a la hora de forjar la historia».The TimesDe Orden mundial se dijo: «El mejor Kissinger, con su inimitable combinación de erudición». Hillary Clinton«Un fascinante e instructivo recorrido global por la búsqueda de la armonía. La clave del realismo en las relaciones internacionales de Kissinger, y el tema de este libro magistral, es que la humildad es importante no solo para las personas, sino también para los países, incluido Estados Unidos». Walter Isaacson«Un magnífico ensayo sobre el desorden político internacional». Lluis Bassets, Babelia

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