Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Joe Simon: My Life in Comics

Biographies & Memoirs

"Gripping from the first page... If you love comic books, history, or just love a story of a real self-made man, you must read this book." - Shadowlocked"A true visionary, Simon's book is laced with never-before-seen photos and illustrations, and told in his own words. If you're at all curious about the history of comics and one of its earliest visionaries, My Life in Comics is a must-read." - IGN"... a lovely memoir, often funny, sometimes thought-provoking, and never ostentatious. It’s a true pleasure to read." - Graphic Novel Reporter"... essential reading for any fan of comic book history and storytelling." - ComicBook.com--In his own words, this is the life of Joe Simon, one of the most important figures in comics history, and half of the famous creative team Simon and Kirby. Joe Simon co-created Captain America, and was the first editor in chief of Marvel Comics (where he hired Stan Lee for his first job in comics). Simon began his prolific career in the Great Depression, and this book recounts his journey to New York City, his first comic book work, his meeting with Jack Kirby, and the role comics played in wartime America. He remembers the near-death of the comics, and the scramble to survive. And he reveals what it was like to bring comics out of their infancy, as they became an American art form.

Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson

Biographies & Memoirs

This is an electronic edition of the complete book complemented by author biography. This book features a table of contents linked to every chapter. The book was designed for optimal navigation on the iPad, PDA, Smartphone, and other electronic readers. It is formatted to display on all electronic devices including the iPad, Smartphones and other Mobile Devices with a small display.

John Belushi

Biographies & Memoirs

Trentatré anni senza mai uscire di scena: una vita breve ma intensa quella di John Belushi, comico e bluesman, un corpo che faceva ridere e un'anima che avrebbe voluto piangere. Vitale, ribelle e sensibile, Belushi fu un talento naturale scoperto dal cabaret, lanciato dalla rivoluzione televisiva del "Saturday Night Live" e consacrato dal successo cinematografico di "Animal House" prima e di "The Blues Brothers" poi. In questa biografia, un giornalista d'eccezione come Bob Woodward - che rivelò lo scandalo Watergate - racconta, dagli esordi all'autodistruzione, l'esistenza "contro" di una grande icona del cinema, sullo sfondo della Hollywood degli anni Settanta.

De Profundis

Biographies & Memoirs

From his cell in prison, Oscar Wilde wrote "De Profundis, " the detailed and unsparing revelation of his love and tragedy.

Biographia Epistolaris, Volume 1.

Biographies & Memoirs

The work known as the Biographical Supplement of the Biographia Literaria of S. T. Coleridge, and published with the latter in 1847, was begun by Henry Nelson Coleridge, and finished after his death by his widow, Sara Coleridge. The first part, concluding with a letter dated 5th November 1796, is the more valuable portion of the Biographical Supplement.

The Dance of Reality

Biographies & Memoirs

A glimpse into the mind and life of one of the most creative and enigmatic visionaries of our time, filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky • Retraces the spiritual and mystical path Jodorowsky has followed since childhood, vividly repainting events from the perspective of an unleashed imagination • Explores the development of the author’s psychomagic and metagenealogy practices via his realization that all problems are rooted in the family tree • Includes photos from Jodorowsky’s appearance at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and from the film based on this book, which debuted at Cannes Retracing the spiritual and mystical path he has followed since childhood, Alejandro Jodorowsky re-creates the incredible adventure of his life as an artist, filmmaker, writer, and therapist--all stages on his quest to push back the boundaries of both imagination and reason. Not a traditional autobiography composed of a chronological recounting of memories, The Dance of Reality repaints events from Jodorowsky’s life from the perspective of an unleashed imagination. Like the psychomagic and metagenealogy therapies he created, this autobiography exposes the mythic models and family templates upon which the events of everyday life are founded. It reveals the development of Jodorowsky’s realization that all problems are rooted in the family tree and explains, through vivid examples from his own life, particularly interactions with his father and mother, how the individual’s road to true fulfillment means casting off the phantoms projected by parents on their children. The Dance of Reality is autobiography as an act of healing. Through the retelling of his own life, the author shows we do not start off with our own personalities, they are given to us by one or more members of our family tree. To be born into a family, Jodorowsky says, is to be possessed. To peer back into our past is equivalent to digging into our own souls. If we can dig deep enough, beyond familial projections, we shall find an inner light--a light that can help us through life’s most difficult tests. Offering a glimpse into the mind and life of one of the most creative and enigmatic visionaries of our time, The Dance of Reality is the book upon which Jodorowsky’s critically acclaimed 2013 Cannes Film Festival film of the same name was based.

Shakespeare

Biographies & Memoirs

A TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BEST BOOK OF THE YEARDrawing on an exceptional combination of skills as literary biographer, novelist, and chronicler of London history, Peter Ackroyd surely re-creates the world that shaped Shakespeare--and brings the playwright himself into unusually vivid focus. With characteristic narrative panache, Ackroyd immerses us in sixteenth-century Stratford and the rural landscape–the industry, the animals, even the flowers–that would appear in Shakespeare’s plays. He takes us through Shakespeare’s London neighborhood and the fertile, competitive theater world where he worked as actor and writer. He shows us Shakespeare as a businessman, and as a constant reviser of his writing. In joining these intimate details with profound intuitions about the playwright and his work, Ackroyd has produced an altogether engaging masterpiece.

Funny People: The Playboy Interview

Biographies & Memoirs

About the Series: In mid-1962, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was given a partial transcript of an interview with Miles Davis. It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer Prize–winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the past half century. To celebrate the interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have assembled 13 compilations of the magazine’s most (in)famous interviews—from big mouths and wild men to sports gods and literary mavericks. Here is our collection of 12 interviews with the most deadpan comedians.

Shoe Dog

Biographies & Memoirs

In this instant and tenacious New York Times bestseller, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight “offers a rare and revealing look at the notoriously media-shy man behind the swoosh” (Booklist, starred review), illuminating his company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.Bill Gates named Shoe Dog one of his five favorite books of the year and called it “an amazing tale, a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like. It’s a messy, perilous, and chaotic journey, riddled with mistakes, endless struggles, and sacrifice. Phil Knight opens up in ways few CEOs are willing to do.” Fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his car in 1963, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. In Shoe Dog, he tells his story at last. At twenty-four, Knight decides that rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, new, dynamic, different. He details the many risks he encountered, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs. Above all, he recalls the relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers. Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the transformative power of sports, they created a brand—and a culture—that changed everything.

Medium Raw

Biographies & Memoirs

Medium Raw marks the return of the inimitable Anthony Bourdain, author of the blockbuster bestseller Kitchen Confidential and three-time Emmy Award-nominated host of No Reservations on TV’s Travel Channel. Bourdain calls his book, “A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook,” and he is at his entertaining best as he takes aim at some of the biggest names in the foodie world, including David Chang, Alice Waters, the Top Chef winners and losers, and many more. If Hunter S. Thompson had written a book about the restaurant business, it could have been Medium Raw.

Thinking Again: A Diary

Biographies & Memoirs

Jan Morris, one of “Britain’s greatest living writers” (Times, UK), returns with this whimsical yet deeply affecting volume on life as a redoubtable nonagenarian.The irrepressible Jan Morris—author of such classics as Venice and Trieste—is at it again: offering a vibrant set of reminiscences that remind us “what a good, wise and witty companion Jan Morris has been for so many readers for so long” (Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times Book Review).“Like Michel de Montaigne” (Danny Heitman, Wall Street Journal), Morris waxes on the ironies of modern life in all their resonant glories and inevitable stupidities—from her daily exercise (a “statutory thousand paces of brisk walk”) to the troubles of Brexit; her enduring yet complicated love for America; and honest reflections on the vagaries and ailments of aging. Both intimate and luminously wise, Thinking Again is a testament to the virtues of embracing life, creativity, and, above all, kindness.

Hitch-22

Biographies & Memoirs

Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide. In other words, Christopher Hitchens contains multitudes. He sees all sides of an argument. And he believes the personal is political. This is the story of his life, lived large.

American Legends: The Life of John Wayne

Biographies & Memoirs

*Includes Wayne's entire filmography *Includes pictures of Wayne and important people and places in his life. *Analyzes Wayne's legacy on the screen and off of it. *Includes some of Wayne's most colorful and controversial quotes. *Includes a Table of Contents. "Every country in the world loved the folklore of the West -- the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory. It took everybody out of their own little world. The cowboy lasted a hundred years, created more songs and prose and poetry than any other folk figure. The closest thing was the Japanese samurai. Now, I wonder who'll continue it." – John Wayne A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Hollywood has produced no shortage of famous movie stars, but none have been as culturally significant as John Wayne. Marion Morrison was born in a quintessentially quaint Midwestern town, but he eventually grew up to become John Wayne, the legend of the silver screen who embodied the Western frontier. Wayne starred in so many movies (nearly 150 in all) that when asked to name his worst, he joked that 50 of them were tied, but the excessive number allowed Wayne to portray heroes of all stripes, from cowboys to soldiers, and he was invariably charming, courageous, and full of rugged, masculine swagger. Even as Westerns have certainly waned in popularity, Wayne himself has remained immensely popular, in part because he set the prototype for the heroic character, regardless of genre. Wayne will always be associated with Westerns, John Wayne transcended the Western genre. Through the portrayal of rugged, masculine characters, Wayne came to epitomize the American spirit and the way Americans view themselves. In that sense, he is truly America’s actor, and he continues to live on in both the reels of Hollywood's archives and the living rooms of middle America. At the same time, the central role of John Wayne in defining a big piece of American culture is not without controversy. His later interview with Playboy magazine is a case in point. Many Americans today realize that John Wayne's America, though beloved by many, is not the America that everyone calls their own. Western movies that pay homage to Confederate soldiers and Indian-killing frontiersman and cowboys are not everyone's cup of tea. American Legends: The Life of John Wayne looks at the iconic actor’s life on and off the silver screen, from his outsized influence to Hollywood to his outspoken views on politics. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about The Duke like you never have before, in no time at all.

Det praktfulla och det onda: Churchill, London & motståndet under blitzen

Biographies & Memoirs

Hyllad skildring av Churchill, London & motståndet under blitzen Vald till en av Årets bästa böcker av The New York Times, Time, Vogue, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, NPR och Bloomberg. »Upplysande och fascinerande för dem som vill läsa om krigets aspekter utifrån annat än ren militärhistoria.« Betyg: 4 av 5 - Linus Björk, BTJ »En perfekt bok för vår tid.« Time Under Winston Churchills första dag på jobbet som premiärminister invaderade Hitler Holland och Belgien. Vid det laget hade Polen och Tjeckoslovakien redan fallit och två veckor senare evakueras Dunkerque. De följande tolv månaderna släpper Görings Luftwaffe lös sitt raseri över Storbritannien i en skoningslös våg av flyganfall som kommer att döda 45.000 britter och förstöra två miljoner hem. Churchills jobb var att hålla samman landet och samtidigt övertyga Franklin Roosevelt om att Storbritannien var en värdig allierad, redo att strida till slutet.Med filmisk detaljrikedom och med hjälp av tidigare hemligstämplat material målar Erik Larson upp en livfull bild av hur Churchill mot alla odds lyckades ingjuta mod i sitt folk - av hur nationens mörkaste timma på detta sätt också blev dess »stoltaste stund«. Vi följer det storpolitiska dramat från vecka till vecka, men får även en unik inblick i den intrigtäta privatsfär som dolde sig bakom statsmannen Churchill. Sammantaget är Det praktfulla och det onda en verklig tour de force som sätter en av 1900-talets stora politiska ledare och hans agerande i ny blixtbelysning. ERIK LARSON är en amerikansk författare som haft sex böcker på New York Times bestsellerlista. Det praktfulla och det onda tog sig rakt in på förstaplatsen när den kom ut i USA. Erik Larson har bland annat nominerats till en National Book Award och tilldelats en Edgar Award. Hans bok The Devil in the White City planeras att bli tv-serie med Leonardo DiCaprio och Martin Scorsese som exekutiva producenter, med Keanu Reeves i en av huvudrollerna. »Erik Larson är en av USA:s stora historieberättare.« NPR

Struggles and Triumphs

Biographies & Memoirs

Struggles and Triumphs is the autobiography of Barnum, the celebrated American showman. Though subtitled Forty Years’ Recollections, it covers a period of over 60 years, from his birth in 1810, to the later years of his career in the 1870s.Barnum has an engaging style, and his autobiography is crammed with many amusing and interesting incidents as he tells how he learned to make money entertaining the public through circuses, “freak shows,” theatrical presentations, concert tours and the like. On the way he builds up an impressive fortune, only to lose it all through a fraudulous speculation perpetrated on him. Then he starts again, pays off his debts and builds up another, greater fortune. Though often labelled as a “humbug” or “a mere charlatan” it’s clear that the majority of his contemporary Americans held him in affectionate regard.However modern readers may be upset by Barnum’s rather cavalier treatment of the animals under his care in the various menageries and aquariums he created, and be distressed by the details of how they were lost in the several fires which destroyed Barnum’s Museums.Also of great interest are Barnum’s philanthropic endeavours: lecturing on teetotalism; supporting negro equality; and funding civic developments.

Max and Mia's Story

Biographies & Memoirs

From the bestselling author of the Thrown Away Children series comes another heartbreaking story of life in foster care.Parents Angelina and Ben exist in enviable luxury: not just wealth, success and a gorgeous home, but a loving relationship and beautiful twin babies to complete the perfect family.But having it all means that you have the most to lose. And when cracks begin to appear things fall apart at a shocking pace; and it's twins Max and Mia who suffer the most.Money isn't enough to paper over the problems in this extraordinary and heartbreaking story. It is a foster-caring experience like no other, and one which tests Louise's emotional strength to the core.

Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat

Biographies & Memoirs

A refreshingly honest spiritual exploration from the New York Times bestselling author of the Anna Pigeon novels.Actor, adventuress, seeker of truth, and author of the New York Times bestselling Anna Pigeon mystery series, Nevada Barr beckons readers to share her spiritual search for meaning in life.Hat by hat, step by step, Barr leads readers down her path to enlightenment by sharing personal episodes, some of them funny and revealing, others painfully honest. Each chapter offers a truth or an answer forged through experience and deep reflection, and a nugget of insight certain to encourage thought and discussion among readers, who may, in turn, find their own spiritual language.

Nina Simone's Gum

Biographies & Memoirs

THE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER A GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH, THE TIMES, IRISH TIMES, ROUGH TRADE, MOJO, CLASH, ROLLING STONE, UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEAR From award-winning musician and composer Warren Ellis comes the unexpected and inspiring story of a piece of chewing gum. FEATURING AN INTRODUCTION BY NICK CAVE 'Warren has turned this memento, snatched from his idol's piano in a moment of rapture, into a genuine religious artefact.' NICK CAVE 'Such a mad, happy book about art and music and obsession. I'm so glad I got to read it. It made the world feel lighter.' NEIL GAIMAN 'In praise of meaning-rich relics and magical things. Totally heartwarming project.' MAX PORTER 'A unique study of a fan's devotion, of transcendence and of the artistic vocation - it's got depth and great warmth. It's a beautiful piece of work.' KEVIN BARRY I hadn't opened the towel that contained her gum since 2013. The last person to touch it was Nina Simone, her saliva and fingerprints unsullied. The idea that it was still in her towel was something I had drawn strength from. I thought each time I opened it some of Nina Simone's spirit would vanish. In many ways that thought was more important than the gum itself. On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his creative muse, a conduit that would eventually take Ellis back to his childhood and his relationship with found objects, growing in significance with every passing year. Nina Simone's Gum is about how something so small can form beautiful connections between people.

The Good Good Pig

Biographies & Memoirs

"In loving yet unsentimental prose, Sy Montgomery captures the richness that animals bring to the human experience. Sometimes it takes a too-smart-for-his-own-good pig to open our eyes to what most matters in life.”—John Grogan, author of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst DogA naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always felt more comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladly opened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away from nourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inkling that this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not only survive but flourish—and she soon found herself engaged with her small-town community in ways she had never dreamed possible. Unexpectedly, Christopher provided this peripatetic traveler with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family and home. The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire, where his boundless zest for life and his large, loving heart made him absolute monarch over a (mostly) peaceable kingdom. At first, his domain included only Sy’s cosseted hens and her beautiful border collie, Tess. Then the neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth. He was featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. On election day, some voters even wrote in Christopher’s name on their ballots. But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood’s influence extended far beyond celebrity; for he was, as a friend said, a great big Buddha master. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig—lessons about self-acceptance, the meaning of family, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. The Good Good Pig provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.

The Hashishin Club

Biographies & Memoirs

The Club des Hashischins (“Club of the Hashish-Eaters”), was a Parisian literary group dedicated to the exploration of drug-induced altered states of consciousness, principally through the use of hashish, a concentrated form of cannabis resin. Notable members of the club, which was active from 1844 to 1849, included Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Baudelaire, Gerard de Nerval, Honoré de Balzac, and Théophile Gautier, all dedicated to experimenting with drugs and recording drug-induced visions. Whilst Baudelaire notably produced his treatise “The Poem Of Hashish” based on his experiences at the club, the most notable record of the group’s activities and experiences under the influence of hashish remains Gautier’s “Le Club des Hachichin”, first published in the Revue des Deux Mondes in February 1846. This text also includes a section on the original hashishin, the assassins who served the Old Man of the Mountain, a figure later identified by William S. Burroughs as Hassan i Sabbah. Transmutation and insanity loom over Gautier as he explores a hypnagogic inner world of monstrous distortions and shadows, on a trip into the revelries of Walpurgisnacht. The result is an enduring masterpiece of drug literature.

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