Biographies & Memoirs - Books

King: A Life

Biographies & Memoirs

WINNER OF THE 2024 PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHYFeatured on Amazon's Al Woolworth's Top 10 Books of the Past 25 YearsA finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award | Named one of the ten best books of 2023 by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and TimeA New York Times bestseller and notable book of 2023 | One of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2023One of The New Yorker’s essential reads of 2023 | A Christian Science Monitor best book of the year | One of Air Mail’s twelve best books of 2023A Washington Post and national indie bestseller | One of Publishers Weekly’s best nonfiction books of 2023 | One of Smithsonian magazine’s ten best books of 2023“Supple, penetrating, heartstring-pulling and compulsively readable . . . Eig’s book is worthy of its subject.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)“[King is] infused with the narrative energy of a thriller . . . The most compelling account of King’s life in a generation.” —Mark Whitaker, The Washington Post“No book could be more timely than Jonathan Eig’s sweeping and majestic new King . . . Eig has created 2023′s most vital tome.” —Will Bunch, The Philadelphia InquirerHailed by The New York Times as “the new definitive biography,” King mixes revelatory new research with accessible storytelling to offer an MLK for our times.Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.Includes 8 pages of black-and-white photographs

Alpha Girls

Biographies & Memoirs

An unforgettable story of four women who, through grit and ingenuity, became stars in the cutthroat, high-stakes, male dominated world of venture capital in Silicon Valley, and helped build some of the foremost companies of our time. In Alpha Girls, award-winning journalist Julian Guthrie takes readers behind the closed doors of venture capital, an industry that transforms economies and shapes how we live. We follow the lives and careers of four women who were largely written out of history - until now. Magdalena Yesil, who arrived in America from Turkey with $43 to her name, would go on to receive her electrical engineering degree from Stanford, found some of the first companies to commercialize internet access, and help Marc Benioff build Salesforce. Mary Jane Elmore went from the corn fields of Indiana to Stanford and on to the storied venture capital firm IVP - where she was one of the first women in the U.S. to make partner - only to be pulled back from the glass ceiling by expectations at home. Theresia Gouw, an overachieving first-generation Asian American from a working-class town, dominated the foosball tables at Brown (she would later reluctantly let Sergey Brin win to help Accel Partners court Google), before she helped land and build companies including Facebook, Trulia, Imperva, and ForeScout. Sonja Hoel, a Southerner who became the first woman investing partner at white-glove Menlo Ventures, invested in McAfee, Hotmail, Acme Packet, and F5 Networks. As her star was still rising at Menlo, a personal crisis would turn her into an activist overnight, inspiring her to found an all-women's investment group and a national nonprofit for girls.These women, juggling work and family, shaped the tech landscape we know today while overcoming unequal pay, actual punches, betrayals, and the sexist attitudes prevalent in Silicon Valley and in male-dominated industries everywhere. Despite the setbacks, they would rise again to rewrite the rules for an industry they love. In Alpha Girls, Guthrie reveals their untold stories.

Cherry

Biographies & Memoirs

From Mary Karr comes this gorgeously written, often hilarious story of her tumultuous teens and sexual coming-of-age. Picking up where the bestselling The Liars' Club left off, Karr dashes down the trail of her teen years with customary sass, only to run up against the paralyzing self-doubt of a girl in bloom. Fleeing the thrills and terrors of adolescence, she clashes against authority in all its forms and hooks up with an unforgettable band of heads and bona-fide geniuses. Parts of Cherry will leave you gasping with laughter. Karr assembles a self from the smokiest beginnings, delivering a long-awaited sequel that is both "bawdy and wise" (San Francisco Chronicle).

Storie fantastiche di isole vere

Biographies & Memoirs

La vera storia del labirinto di Creta, le statue misteriose dell'Isola di Pasqua, le avventure dei pirati a Tortuga, il sole di mezzanotte nelle Lofoten, le fughe impossibili da Alcatraz: le isole sono mondi gelosi della propria libertà e non rivelano facilmente i segreti che custodiscono. Procuriamoci quindi un libro anfibio come questo, un isolario , per illuminare la rotta giusta, mettendo in scena la verità e l'invenzione presenti in ogni viaggio, luogo e anima umana. Isole contese, abbandonate, conquistate e riconquistate, vendute e amate, incantate e stregate, plasmate dal vento che le abbraccia e le sferza, luoghi dell'origine e dell'utopia, inaccessibili, invisibili, isole che non sono isole, appena affioranti, quasi penisole: da Cipro ad Alcatraz, da Tortuga alle Galápagos, quando parliamo di isole - secondo il narratore di questo libro - parliamo di profezie, messaggi in bottiglia affidati alle acque. Che cosa vogliono comunicarci, le isole, con la loro presunzione di pensarsi come centro del mondo, di credere che tutto giri attorno a loro, come in realtà fanno solo le correnti e i pesci? La cosa piú difficile di fronte a un'isola è semplicemente leggerla, capire quale lingua parla e quale inesauribile racconto mormora il mare frangendosi sugli scogli. Storie fantastiche di isole vere descrive l'incontro di due personaggi. Il primo è un narratore, il Pilota, un marinaio che ha navigato su ogni rotta ed è sbarcato in ogni porto, e possiede perciò la saggezza dell'esperienza, quella vera, che si deposita lentamente nel corso di una vita. Sorseggiando un bicchiere di vino Pigato o di rum, fumando una delle sue sigarette papier maïs, pescando nella baia a bordo di una lampara o osservando il mare dall'alto della collina, con il suo affabulare ipnotico e avvolgente il Pilota irretisce chi lo ascolta, lo piglia all'amo, lo cattura, iniziandolo all'insulomania, il culto, o malattia, degli ultimi discendenti di Atlantide. Il secondo personaggio si limita per lo piú ad accogliere e raccogliere i racconti dell'altro, ma senza chi ascolta non esisterebbe chi narra, senza lettore non ci sarebbe scrittore. Il porto in cui i due si trovano è quello di Genova, dove «quando vedi una nave enorme sfilare piano in fondo alle vie, ti chiedi se sta salpando lei o se sta salpando la città»; il molo su cui passeggiano è «una rampa verso l'ignoto, una macchina della fantasia: se non salpi con una nave, lo fai con il desiderio o con i ricordi». E il testo che compongono insieme è un isolario, ovvero un libro anfibio, per metà vero e per metà fantastico: un inno al mistero e all'inquieta bellezza delle isole, e quindi all'arte del racconto, e all'oceano delle storie.

Permis de séjour (1977-1982)

Biographies & Memoirs

"Au début de 1982, je fus menacé de me voir retiré mon permis de séjour sur la terre", écrit Claude Roy. Ce qui l'a amené à se demander si l'homme est capable de regarder la vérité en face. Et pas seulement à l'occasion d'une maladie. Le croyant inquiet qui se force à croire, le fanatique politique, l'amant qui ne veut pas voir qu'il n'est plus aimé, telles sont les mille stratégies ambiguës de l'homme, animal menteur qui a reçu la grâce, ou la malédiction, de pouvoir se mentir à lui-même.

Strangers in the House

Biographies & Memoirs

A stunningly honest memoir of growing up with a political father amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that “captures the rage and despair of lives stunted by occupation” (The Boston Globe) This “is not a political book,” Anthony Lewis writes in his foreword. “Yet in a hundred different ways it is political . . . Shehadeh shatters the stereotype many Americans have of Palestinians. Hath not a Palestinian senses, affections, passions?” This revealing memoir of a father-son relationship, the first of its kind by a Palestinian living in the occupied territories, is set against the backdrop of Middle East hostilities and more than thirty years of life under military occupation. Three years after his family was driven from the coastal city of Jaffa in 1948, Raja Shehadeh was born in the provincial town of Ramallah, in the rural hills of the West Bank. His early childhood was marked by his family’s sense of loss and impermanence, vividly evoked by the glittering lights “on the other side of the hill.” Growing up “in the shadow of home,” he was introduced early to political conflict. He witnessed the numerous arrests of his father, Aziz Shehadeh, who, in 1967, was the first Palestinian to advocate a peaceful, two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He predicted that if peace were not achieved, what remained of the Palestinian homeland would be taken away, bit by bit, through Israeli settlement. Ostracized by his fellow Arabs and disillusioned by the failure of either side to recognize his prophetic vision, Aziz retreated from politics. He was murdered in 1985. Strangers in the House offers a moving description of the daily lives of those who have chosen to remain on their land. It is also the family drama of a difficult relationship between an idealistic son and his politically active father complicated by the arbitrary humiliation of the “occupier's law.”

Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 3

Biographies & Memoirs

This is an autobiography which is Flowery, romantic and highly moral - harder work than Austen and it ends VERY suddenly at the end of Vol I, which was a bit of a shock. I really got into the flow of it though and was swept along with the drama.

Speak, Silence

Biographies & Memoirs

A SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'The best biography I have read in years' Philippe Sands 'Spectacular' Observer 'A remarkable portrait' Guardian W. G. Sebald was one of the most extraordinary and influential writers of the twentieth century. Through books including The Emigrants, Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn, he pursued an original literary vision that combined fiction, history, autobiography and photography and addressed some of the most profound themes of contemporary literature: the burden of the Holocaust, memory, loss and exile. The first biography to explore his life and work, Speak, Silence pursues the true Sebald through the memories of those who knew him and through the work he left behind. This quest takes Carole Angier from Sebald's birth as a second-generation German at the end of the Second World War, through his rejection of the poisoned inheritance of the Third Reich, to his emigration to England, exploring the choice of isolation and exile that drove his work. It digs deep into a creative mind on the edge, finding profound empathy and paradoxical ruthlessness, saving humour, and an elusive mix of fact and fiction in his life as well as work. The result is a unique, ferociously original portrait.

Neix un teixidor de somnis

Biographies & Memoirs

Neix un teixidor de somnis és el despertar d'un escriptor i és l'alliberament d'un poble. Mentre Ngũgĩ se'n va a estudiar a la Universitat de Makerere, Uganda, el seu poble es defensa de l'Imperi britànic. En aquells temps convulsos és quan neix un dels intel·lectuals més importants de la nostra època, formant-se com a periodista, escriptor de contes, dramaturg i novel·lista. Perseguit pels records i les notícies de la carnisseria i dels encarceraments en massa realitzats per l'estat colonial britànic a la seva Kenya natal, però alhora inspirat en la lluita titànica contra aquestes injustícies, Ngũgĩ comença a teixir històries que recull de les fibres de la memòria, la història i un present vibrant i turbulent. És així com es comença a formar una identitat d'intel·lectual al servei del seu poble.En aquest text emocionant i provocatiu es despleguen simultàniament el naixement de Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o com a escriptor combatiu, la fi del colonialisme militar en un dels episodis més violents de la història global i l'empoderament dels pobles africans per decidir el seu futur.

Your Dose of Motivation

Biographies & Memoirs

Your Dose of Motivation brings forth 18 stories of different people from different walks of life, with all of them sharing their personal story with us. Whether it’s a lifelong problem they have endured, family problem, health problem, career dilemmas, challenges with starting a business—you name it and it’s there. In the stories that they’ve shared with us, they tell us what they’ve gone through and how they’ve overcome it, or how they’ve learned to live with it. Along the way, they help us all find the light at the end of our own tunnels and be inspired to push through and get motivated.

Unofficial Diplomacy

Biographies & Memoirs

This book describes the progress of United States unofficial, nongovernmental relations with Taiwan since 1979. For the first time in United States diplomatic history, the whole range of US interaction with a foreign entity was carried out by a private, nonprofit corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The history of the establishment and development of AIT is provided in this book, set in the context of the life and career of David Dean, founding director of AIT. This book provides insights into US relations with Taiwan and China, beginning with the founding of the Republic of China on Taiwan. Other themes include US perspectives on the reforms initiated by President Chiang Ching-kuo, the development of human rights in Taiwan, efforts to combat corruption, and the future security concerns of Taiwan

Against All Odds

Biographies & Memoirs

Against All Odds is the extraordinary personal story of the man who rose up to meet the challenge of terrific opposition and become one of America's most promising new political figures—Senator Scott Brown. Brown is famous for succeeding popular Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy after Kennedy’s death in 2010—but, as he reveals in a compelling memoir reminiscent of Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue and Clarence Thomas’s My Grandfather’s Son, his experiences with struggle and achievement go back a lifetime.

The Makers of Canada: George Brown

Biographies & Memoirs

George Brown was born at Alloa, a seaport on the tidal Forth, thirty-five miles inward from Edinburgh, on November 29th, 1818. His mother was a daughter of George Mackenzie, of Stornoway, in the Island of Lewis. His father, Peter Brown, was a merchant and builder.

Unofficial Diplomacy

Biographies & Memoirs

This book describes the progress of United States unofficial, non-governmental relations with Taiwan since 1979. For the first time in United States diplomatic history, the whole range of U.S. interaction with a foreign entity was carried out by a private, non-profit corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The history of the establishment and development of AIT is provided in this book, set in the context of the life and career of David Dean, founding Director of AIT. This book provides insights into U.S. relations with Taiwan and China, beginning with the founding of the Republic of China on Taiwan. Other themes include US perspectives on the reforms initiated by President Chiang Ching-kuo, the development of human rights in Taiwan, efforts to combat corruption, and the future security concerns of Taiwan

Jack London: Autobiographische Werke

Biographies & Memoirs

In "Jack London: Autobiographische Werke" entfaltet der Autor in beeindruckender Weise sein Leben und seine Erfahrungen, die seine schriftstellerische Karriere prägten. Das Buch vereint eine Reihe autobiographischer Texte, die in einem kraftvollen, oft poetischen Stil verfasst sind. London reflektiert über seine Abenteuer im Yukon, seine sozialen und politischen Überzeugungen sowie über die Herausforderungen, die das Leben als Schriftsteller mit sich brachte. Gleichzeitig illustriert das Werk den Einfluss des amerikanischen Naturalismus und der sozialen Darstellungen des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts auf Londons Werk, wobei persönliche Erlebnisse geschickt mit philosophischen Überlegungen verwoben werden. Jack London (1876-1916) war ein bedeutender amerikanischer Schriftsteller, dessen Lebensweg von Armut, Arbeit und dem Streben nach Erfolg geprägt war. Als Sohn einer ledigen Mutter wuchs er in bescheidenen Verhältnissen auf und erlebte früh die sozialen Ungerechtigkeiten seiner Zeit. Diese Erlebnisse und seine Leidenschaft für das Abenteuer schufen eine solide Grundlage für seine Erzählungen, die oft von Überlebenswillen und dem Kampf gegen die Elemente handeln. Londons eigene Reisen und Erfahrungen führten zu einem tiefen Verständnis für die menschliche Natur und die Gesellschaft. Dieses Buch ist ein Muss für Literaturinteressierte, die ein tieferes Verständnis für Jack Londons Werk und sein Leben gewinnen möchten. Die Autobiographischen Werke bieten nicht nur intime Einblicke in Londons Denken und Gefühl, sondern sind auch ein wertvolles Dokument amerikanischer Geschichte. Leser werden eingeladen, nicht nur die literarischen Techniken des Autors zu erfassen, sondern auch die universellen Themen von Leidenschaft, Überleben und Identität zu erleben.

Palomas de guerra

Biographies & Memoirs

Mercedes Sanz-Bachiller, Nan Green, Priscilla Scott-Ellis, Margarita Nelken y Carmen Polo son los cinco personajes de este libro riguroso, documentado y conmovedor en el que Paul Preston aúna el trabajo de investigación con las historias personales y emotivas de cinco mujeres únicas y relativamente poco conocidas de la historia de España.Palomas de guerra es la continuación de Las tres Españas del 36, Primer Premio Así Fue, aunque en esta ocasión el autor ha preferido concentrarse en una serie de personajes femeninos -dos inglesas y dos españolas, dos de derechas y dos de izquierdas, y un quinto personaje, Carmen Polo, esposa de Franco, que no tiene nada que ver con las cuatro mujeres anteriores-, cuyo nexo común es que sus vidas estuvieron marcadas, de una manera u otra, por la tragedia de la Guerra Civil.De diferentes nacionalidades, orígenes sociales e ideologías, cuatro de ellas eran valientes, independientes y compasivas, algunas enviudaron, otras perdieron hijos y todas quedaron profundamente traumatizadas por la contienda. Ninguno de esos sufrimientos afectó a la quinta, cuya vida también quedó drásticamente marcada por el conflicto bélico, pero de una manera muy diferente.

Hovory s T. G. Masarykem

Biographies & Memoirs

Třídílný spis rozhovorů spisovatele Karla Čapka a Tomáše G. Masaryka vznikal od roku 1926 a představuje život a myšlenky prvního československého prezidenta. Prvá část Hovorů byla poprvé knižně vydána v roce 1928, druhá roku 1931 a třetí 1935.

La vita è maestra

Biographies & Memoirs

«Per quanto io ritenga sia importante testimoniare il lavoro fatto da me e dalla mia associazione, questo libro vuole essere soprattutto il mio testamento culturale. Un lascito alle future generazioni con l'auspicio che possa costituire seme e campo da cui chi desidera potrà partire per proseguire sulla via della ricerca.» Non c'è dubbio che Vandana Shiva sia una personalità tra le più straordinarie del nostro tempo. Nata in India, la terra dei maestri, è cresciuta in quella che lei definisce una "scuola verde", in un rapporto quasi simbiotico con le piante, gli animali, la natura in tutta la sua grandezza. Fin da bambina ha imparato così che anche il più piccolo seme racchiude dentro di sé la complessa meraviglia della vita stessa. Ed è per questo che, per lei, diventare la più nota attivista per l'ambiente non è stata una scelta dettata da un'improvvisa presa di coscienza, ma il risultato di un processo naturale e inevitabile. Dopo la laurea in Fisica, nel 1987 fonda quella che non è solo un'iniziativa ambientalista, ma una missione di vita e una vera e propria rivoluzione: Navdanya, letteralmente "nove semi", un'organizzazione nata per difendere la sovranità alimentare, la biodiversità, ma non solo. Perché attraverso la propria opera, Vandana promuove anche l'empowerment femminile, la lotta alla povertà, la difesa delle tradizioni in nome di un'ecologia sociale che si oppone a un progresso distruttivo e senza scrupoli.Quella di Vandana Shiva è una storia incredibile, che l'ha portata a girare il mondo per parlare di fronte alle più alte cariche mondiali, nelle assemblee più autorevoli, così come a stare in mezzo agli umili, a chi la terra la lavora con le proprie mani. Una storia che Vandana ha deciso di raccontare per la prima volta in questo libro, che lei stessa definisce un testamento spirituale: un dono per le nuove generazioni, unica vera speranza per il futuro del pianeta.

George Michael – Ett liv

Biographies & Memoirs

George Michael var en extremt begåvad sångare, låtskrivare och artist. Hans musik har fyllt dansgolven sedan mitten av åttiotalet, och hitlåtar som "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Last Christmas" och "Careless Whisper" har gjort honom odödlig. George Michael: Ett liv är en fängslande berättelse om en stjärna vars musikaliska gärning fortsätter att lysa klart långt efter den tragiska bortgången. James Gavin, som skrivit flera hyllade musikbiografier, följer George Michaels förvandling från den blyge Georgios Panayiotou till artisten som erövrade världen med Wham!. Biografin över George Michaels liv berättar målande och uttömmande om solokarriären, skandalerna och livskampen. Ingående analyser av den kreativa processen bakom album, turnéer och musikvideor, och hundratals intervjuer med vänner och kollegor gör George Michael: Ett liv till en rik skildring av en sann soullegend. "Ett gripande porträtt av George Michaels brinnande ambition, fantastiska talang och mörka hemligheter." Doug Herzog, MTV "Ett backstage-pass till en glittrande värld fylld av mörker och svek." Bob Spitz, författare "Hjärtslitande om en poplegend som inte kunde älska sig själv men som fick en hel värld att må bra." Danny Fields, Ramones manager James Gavin, bosatt i New York, är skribent och författare. Han har skrivit ett flertal biografier över artister och medverkat med artiklar och reportage i bland andra New York Times, Time Out New York och Vanity Fair. Idén till en biografi över George Michaels liv föddes när han lyssnade till succéalbumet Older och frågade sig hur någon med ett så kaotiskt liv kunde skapa något så vackert.

The Making of a Chef

Biographies & Memoirs

"Well reported and heartfelt, Ruhlman communicates the passion that draws the acolyte to this precise and frantic profession."—The New York Times Book ReviewJust over a decade ago, journalist Michael Ruhlman donned a chef's jacket and houndstooth-check pants to join the students at the Culinary Institute of America, the country's oldest and most influential cooking school. But The Making of a Chef is not just about holding a knife or slicing an onion; it's also about the nature and spirit of being a professional cook and the people who enter the profession. As Ruhlman—now an expert on the fundamentals of cooking—recounts his growing mastery of the skills of his adopted profession, he propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great food. Incisively reported, with an insider's passion and attention to detail, The Making of a Chef remains the most vivid and compelling memoir of a professional culinary education on record.

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