Biographies & Memoirs - Books

La vie privée de J.-J. Rousseau

Biographies & Memoirs

Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

Memoirs from Beyond the Grave: 1768-1800

Biographies & Memoirs

Written over the course of four decades, Francois-ReneÅL de Chateaubriand’s epic autobiography has drawn the admiration of Baudelaire, Flaubert, Proust, Roland Barthes, Paul Auster, and W. G. Sebald. In this unabridged section of the Memoirs, spanning the years 1768 to 1800, Chateaubriand looks back on the already bygone world of his youth. He recounts the history of his aristocratic family and the first rumblings of the French Revolution. He recalls playing games on the beaches of Saint-Malo, wandering in the woods near his father’s castle in Combourg, hunting with King Louis XVI at Versailles, witnessing the first heads carried on pikes through the streets of Paris, meeting with George Washington in Philadelphia, and falling hopelessly in love with a young woman named Charlotte in the small Suffolk town of Bungay. The volume ends with Chateaubriand’s return to France after eight years of exile in England. In this new edition (the first unabridged translation of any portion of the Memoirs to be published in more than a century), Chateaubriand emerges as a writer of great wit and clarity, a self-deprecating egoist whose meditations on the meaning of history, memory, and morality are leavened with a mixture of high whimsy and memorable gloom.

Ungesagtem lauschen

Biographies & Memoirs

Diesen Erinnerungen hat der Autor in einer Vorbemerkung eine Berufung auf ein Wort von Alexander von Humboldt von „dem Selbstbeobachteten, dem Selbsterlebten“ vorangestellt. Und genau darum geht es in diesen hier zum ersten Mal veröffentlichten persönlichen Erlebnissen und Erfahrungen, die zur Wende von 1989/1990 hinführen, von ihr herkommen und heutige Umstände zeigen zur Zeit der Erstveröffentlichung im Jahre 2005. Gelegentlich habe er dafür die Form des Gestern und Heute verbindenden Essays gewählt, so der Autor. Erklärtes Ziel dieser 50 Textseiten von Uwe Berger ist es, „ein Licht auf deutsche Irrwege und Wege in unserer Zeit zu werfen und anderen zu helfen, sich zurechtzufinden“. Und so reichen diese sehr persönlichen und politischen Erinnerungen vom zweiten Weltkrieg, als der Vierzehnjährige 1943 als aus Berlin evakuiertes Kind erstmals polnischen Boden betrat und dort faschistisches Lagerleben kennenlernte, über eine viel spätere Reise mit einer DDR-Kulturdelegation nach Polen sowie über Begegnungen und die Freundschaft mit dem estnischen Schriftsteller, Filmemacher und Politiker Lennart Meri bis zu einem Volksfest im Verbannungsort des großen russischen Dichters Puschkin im Jahre 1971. Aber auch manch andere Erinnerung an Menschen und Zeiten kommt zur Sprache, die die Lage in der früheren DDR erhellen. Manchmal ist da auch von der Kritik am kleinkarierten Denken in DDR-Köpfen die Rede. Das gab es aber offenbar auch anderswo. Denn mit dem damaligen Botschafter der UdSSR in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Wjatscheslaw Kotschemassow, verstand er sich offensichtlich nicht: „Wir hatten uns nichts zu sagen.“ Ein besonderes Stück deutscher und DDR-Geschichte – nicht zuletzt im Widersteit zwischen Anpassung und Abwendung von der sowjetischen Führung. Spannende Details von einem, der manchmal dicht dran war an der großen Politik des kleinen Landes. Und nicht zuletzt ist „Pfade hinaus“ eine spannende kulturelle Bildungsreise, die es anzutreten lohnt.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Biographies & Memoirs

Harriet Ann Jacob’s autobiography, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” documents her life as a slave and how she attained freedom for herself and her children. Harrowing in its descriptions of sexual abuse, Jacob’s slave narrative is notable for its appeal to abolitionist women to open their eyes to the realities of slavery. Deemed too shocking for reading audiences at the time, the book was shelved for a time before it was published in 1861 near the start of the Civil War.

Im Namen der Bäume

Biographies & Memoirs

Nachdem ihre Eltern früh versterben, wird Diana Beresford-Kroeger von einer Familie aufgenommen, die seit Jahrhunderten alte keltische Traditionen pflegt. Im Laufe von drei Sommern wird Diana in der keltischen Triade von Geist, Körper und Seele unterrichtet, einer Philosophie, deren Weisheiten und Fähigkeiten Wälder als überlebenswichtig für das physische und spirituelle Überleben ansehen. Die Verwurzelung in dieser ganzheitlichen Naturauffassung lässt Diana zu einer führenden Wissenschaftlerin werden, die alte, geheime Lehren mit eigenen Beobachtungen verbindet: die Entdeckung der Mutterbäume im Herzen des Waldes oder jene, dass Bäume nicht nur mithilfe einer chemischen Sprache kommunizieren, sondern sogar über heilende natürliche Antibiotika verfügen. Dieses Buch schildert nicht nur den Werdegang einer eindrucksvollen Wissenschaftlerin, sondern bündelt auch ihr gesamtes Wissen über die komplexen Zusammenhänge zwischen dem globalen Wald und dem Wohlergehen aller Lebewesen. Nicht zuletzt bietet Im Namen der Bäume eine so fundierte wie ermutigende Handreichung dafür, dass das Pflanzen und das Verstehen von Bäumen eine praktikable Lösung darstellen, um die Folgen unseres selbstzerstörerischen Verhaltens – allen voran die des Klimawandels – in den Griff zu bekommen.

Jeg er Malala

Biographies & Memoirs

Tirsdag den 9. oktober 2012 trængte Taliban op i en skolebus og skød den 15-årige pakistanske pige Malala Yousafzai på klods hold. Hun overlevede det brutale attentat, og hendes historie gav genlyd over hele verden. Fra den ene dag til den anden blev hun et globalt symbol på fredelig protest og kravet om uddannelse til alle børn. Verden hørte første gang om Malala, da hun skrev en anonym blog om en skolepiges hverdag i en pakistansk by, hvor Taliban har sat sig tungt på magten. Bloggen blev modtaget som en sensation, og Malala og hendes far blev hovedpersoner i en amerikansk dokumentarfilm. Til sidst kunne deres identitet ikke længere holdes hemmelig, og de havnede på Talibans dødsliste. Nu fortæller Malala for første gang sin bemærkelsesværdige historie. 'JEG ER MALALA' er en inspirerende og gribende historie om en piges modige kamp og beslutning om ikke at lade sig intimidere af ekstremister. Efter skudattentatet og en nærmest mirakuløs overlevelse har Malala modtaget talrige priser. FN's generalsekretær har udnævnt 10. november til Malala Dag, og der er etableret en international Malala Fond, som skal støtte pigers uddannelse. Malala er modtager af Nobels Fredspris 2014. Nyt forord efteråret 2014.

Circus of Dreams

Biographies & Memoirs

Something extraordinary happened to the UK literary scene in the 1980s. In the space of eight years, a generation of young British writers took the literary novel into new realms of setting, subject matter and style, challenging - and almost eclipsing - the Establishment writers of the 1950s. It began with two names - Martin Amis and Ian McEwan - and became a flood: Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Graham Swift, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson and Pat Barker among them. The rise of the newcomers coincided with astonishing changes in the way books were published - and the ways in which readers bought them and interacted with their authors. Suddenly, authors of serious fiction were like rock stars, fashionable, sexy creatures, shrewdly marketed and feted in public. The yearly bunfight of the Booker Prize became a matter of keen public interest. Tim Waterstone established the first of a chain of revolutionary bookshops. London publishing houses became the playground of exciting, visionary entrepreneurs who introduced new forms of fiction - magical realist, feminist, post-colonial, gay - to modern readers. Independent houses began to spend ostentatious sums on author advances and glamorous book launches. It was nothing short of a watershed in literary culture. And its climax was the issuing of a death sentence by a fundamentalist leader whose hostility to Western ideas of free speech made him, literally, the world's most lethal critic. Through this exciting, hectic period, the journalist and author John Walsh played many parts: literary editor, reviewer, interviewer, prize judge and TV pundit. He met and interviewed numerous literary stars, attended the best launch parties and digested all the gossip and scandal of the time. In Circus of Dreams he reports on what he found, first with wide-eyed delight and then with a keen eye on what drove this glorious era. The result is a unique hybrid of personal memoir, oral history, literary investigation and elegy for a golden age.

Jeremy

Biographies & Memoirs

Another classic converted by eBooksLib.com.About thirty years ago there was at the top of the right-hand side of Orange Street, in Polchester, a large stone house. I say was; the shell of it is still there, and the people who now live in it are quite unaware, I suppose, that anything has happened to the inside of it, except that they are certainly assured that their furniture is vastly superior to the furniture of their predecessors

Palæstinas Røde Rose. Laila Atshan

Biographies & Memoirs

Palæstinas Røde Rose. Laila Atshan er en nutidsdokumentar, der fortæller historien om den seende blinde kvinde fra Palæstina. Hun blev født blind og er seende som få. Lad os møde kvinden, der hellere tænder et lys end forbander mørket. Lad os se hende som hun træder os i møde gennem sine mails til en dansk ven. Lad os følge hendes tanker om liv, død og eksistens. Lad os høre hende fortælle om, hvordan det er som familie at miste sin rodfæstelse og genvinde sin eksistens. En kvindeskæbne indlejret i Palæstinas aktuelle historie.

Une vie oubliée

Biographies & Memoirs

Et si, un matin, vous aviez de nouveau 15 ans ? Comment reprendre le contrôle de sa vie quand on se réveille un jour et qu'on a 15 ans au lieu de 32 ? C'est l'expérience hallucinante qu'a vécue Naomi Jacobs un matin de 2008, en découvrant une adulte dans son miroir et un jeune garçon qui s'obstine à l'appeler " maman ". C'est un cauchemar. Elle ne reconnaît pas la maison où elle habite, ne sait pas ce qu'est Internet ou un Smartphone... ni comment s'occuper de son fils.Les médecins vont finir par découvrir que Naomi souffre d'une forme d'amnésie très rare. Aidée par son entourage, elle va dès lors entamer une longue démarche de réintégration. Mais le plus difficile est de constater à quel point sa vie d'adulte est un échec. Chômage, dépression, amours désastreuses, dépendances... Alors pour comprendre comment elle en est arrivée là, elle décide d'écrire un journal.Naomi Jacobs vit aujourd'hui à Manchester avec son fils Leo. Son histoire a été publiée en feuilleton dans The Guardian avant de faire le tour du monde.Traduit de l'anglais par Thierry Arson

Life of Johnson, Volume 1

Biographies & Memoirs

This is a biographical book. To Johnson, whose supreme enjoyment was the exercise of his reason, the disturbance or obscuration of that faculty was the evil most to be dreaded. Insanity, therefore, was the object of his most dismal apprehension; and he fancied himself seized by it, or approaching to it, at the very time when he was giving proofs of a more than ordinary soundness and vigour of judgement. That his own diseased imagination should have so far deceived him, is strange; but it is stranger still that some of his friends should have given credit to his groundless opinion, when they had such undoubted proofs that it was totally fallacious; though it is by no means surprising that those who wish to depreciate him, should, since his death, have laid hold of this circumstance, and insisted upon it with very unfair.

Plutarch’s Lives: Life of Crassus

Biographies & Memoirs

*Illustrated *Includes Table of Contents Plutarch's best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives. Some of the Lives, such as those of Heracles, Philip II of Macedon and Scipio Africanus, no longer exist; many of the remaining Lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae or have been tampered with by later writers. Extant Lives include those on Aristides, Pericles, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Cato the Younger, Mark Antony, and Marcus Junius Brutus. Plutarch also wrote a series of biographies, including the biographies of Demetrius, Pyrrhus, Agis and Cleomenes, Aratus and Artaxerxes, Philopoemen, Camillus, Marcellus, Flamininus, Aemilius Paulus, Galba and Otho. This edition of Plutarch’s biography on the famous Roman general and triumvir, Life of Crassus, is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and is illustrated with over a dozen illustrations.

Grant

Biographies & Memoirs

The #1 New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2017“Eminently readable but thick with import . . . Grant hits like a Mack truck of knowledge.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates, The AtlanticPulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant. Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency. Before the Civil War, Grant was flailing. His business ventures had ended dismally, and despite distinguished service in the Mexican War he ended up resigning from the army in disgrace amid recurring accusations of drunkenness. But in war, Grant began to realize his remarkable potential, soaring through the ranks of the Union army, prevailing at the battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign, and ultimately defeating the legendary Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Along the way, Grant endeared himself to President Lincoln and became his most trusted general and the strategic genius of the war effort. Grant’s military fame translated into a two-term presidency, but one plagued by corruption scandals involving his closest staff members. More important, he sought freedom and justice for black Americans, working to crush the Ku Klux Klan and earning the admiration of Frederick Douglass, who called him “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.” After his presidency, he was again brought low by a dashing young swindler on Wall Street, only to resuscitate his image by working with Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which are recognized as a masterpiece of the genre. With lucidity, breadth, and meticulousness, Chernow finds the threads that bind these disparate stories together, shedding new light on the man whom Walt Whitman described as “nothing heroic... and yet the greatest hero.” Chernow’s probing portrait of Grant's lifelong struggle with alcoholism transforms our understanding of the man at the deepest level. This is America's greatest biographer, bringing movingly to life one of our finest but most underappreciated presidents. The definitive biography, Grant is a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant's life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.Named one of the best books of the year by Goodreads • Amazon • The New York Times • Newsday • BookPage • Barnes and Noble • Wall Street Journal

Atlantic High

Biographies & Memoirs

In 1980, Buckley gathered together his friends and set out to sail across the Atlantic. This is what he correctly describes as a “celebration” of that thirty-day event. Here are the calms and the storms, the melodrama and the rumination, the wine and the song, the navigation and the introspection that in Buckley’s distinctive blend capture the imagination of sailors and non-sailors, amuse the lighthearted and the dour, and engross the reader who wishes he were aboard, as also the reader who thanks heaven that he is not.

Curie

Biographies & Memoirs

A striking biography of Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person ever to win Nobel Prizes in two disciplines. Marie Curie is most famous for her pioneering work in the field of radioactivity and for discovering two new elements, polonium and radium. Curie not only broke scientific barriers but defied the gender expectations of her time amidst a male-dominated scientific community. This revised edition of Curie, with a new introduction from the author, debunks myths about Curie, rejecting the notion of her as cold and reserved and recasting her as the dynamic and lively woman she truly was. Sarah Dry illuminates Curie’s personal and professional struggles: the demands of motherhood, the public scrutiny she faced, the grief she suffered after the loss of her husband, and her exposure to radiation. Ultimately, Curie emerges as an astonishingly resilient figure whose contributions to science and courage during adversity make her an enduring example, and a woman whose powerful legacy continues to inspire today.

Seven Men and Seven Women

Biographies & Memoirs

Two beloved Metaxas classics in a single, compact edition.In this new, one-volume edition that brings together two of his most popular works, #1 New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas explores the question of what makes a great person great? Seven Men and Seven Women tells the captivating stories of fourteen heroic individuals who changed the course of history and shaped the world in astonishing ways. George Washington led his country to independence yet resisted the temptation to become America's king. William Wilberforce led the fight to end the slave trade, giving up his chance to be England's prime minister. Susanna Wesley, the mother of nineteen children, gave the world its most significant evangelist and its greatest hymn-writer, her sons John and Charles. Jackie Robison endured the threats and abuse of racists with unimaginable dignity and strength. Corrie ten Boom risked her life to hide Dutch Jews from the Nazis in World War II and survived the horrors of a concentration camp--and forgave her tormentors years later. And Rosa Parks's God-given sense of justice and unshakable dignity helped launch the twentieth century’s greatest social movement. These and other lives profiled in Seven Men and Seven Women reveal how reveal the secret to a life of greatness--by responding to call to live for something greater than oneself.

Marco Polo

Biographies & Memoirs

Sappiamo che Marco Polo rimase in viaggio, lontano da Venezia per circa 25 anni, ma durante quel periodo poche sono le scansioni cronologiche sicure. Il Milione resta un libro misterioso: è un diario di viaggio? Un mélange di fantastico e di reale? È un testo di pratica di mercatura arricchito dalla prosa del Rustichello? Per rispondere a queste domande partiremo dal contesto originario del veneziano: il Mediterraneo nella seconda metà del Duecento e lo seguiremo in viaggio, lungo la via della seta, fino alla Cina e all’India. Ripercorreremo con lui i luoghi che visitò per scoprire uno sguardo molto più attento alla realtà di quanto non si creda; uno sguardo che non si soffermava solo sulle merci e le ricchezze, ma che comunicava all’Occidente particolari inediti sull’antropologia, i costumi, i riti, delle società osservate. Se ancora oggi emergono dubbi sulla realtà del viaggio di Marco Polo, la posizione di questo libro è chiara: il veneziano visitò l’Asia e la descrisse come nessuno aveva mai fatto prima di lui. E poiché la vita è un viaggio, il viaggio di Marco Polo sarà la sua biografia.

Der rote Kaiser

Biographies & Memoirs

Xi Jinping herrscht über 1,4 Milliarden Menschen und die zweitgrößte Volkswirtschaft der Welt. Dennoch ist überraschend wenig über ihn bekannt. Der erfahrene Auslandskorrespondent Michael Sheridan hat alles zusammengetragen, was er in 20 Jahren aus Insiderberichten und eigenen Reportagen über den chinesischen Staatspräsidenten recherchieren konnte, und zeichnet das bislang wohl detaillierteste Bild des starken Mannes in Peking und seines Werdegangs.Als Sohn einer der einflussreichsten Familien des kommunistischen China wurde der junge Xi während der Kulturrevolution aufs Land verbannt. List, Privilegien und Intrigen bahnten ihm den Weg zurück an die Spitze. Nach dem spektakulären Sturz seines Rivalen Bo Xilai wurde Xi Jinping 2012 zum Staatschef Chinas.In dieser Zeit entwickelt sich China vom armen, isolierten Land der Jugend Xis zur militärischen und wirtschaftlichen Supermacht von heute. In Xis neuem China kämpfen Familienmafias inmitten von Mord, Korruption und Sexskandalen um die Macht, während Minister und Generäle in Säuberungsaktionen verschwinden. Xi ist ein absoluter Herrscher, dessen Wort Gesetz ist, von Krieg und Frieden bis hin zum rücksichtslosen Kampf gegen Covid-19. Er strebt danach, den Welthandel zu dominieren, die westliche Demokratie zu besiegen und China als größte Macht im Osten zu etablieren. Michael Sheridan enthüllt, dass sich hinter der Fassade der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas eine moderne Dynastie und ein neuer Kaiser verbergen.

My Life Revealed (ediz. UK)

Biographies & Memoirs

In a direct and spontaneous dialogue, the legendary American psychologist Philip Zimbardo talks about his life and career: his childhood in the Bronx, his university education at Yale, his friendship with Stanley Milgram, his appointment to the Stanford psychology faculty, his research, and his contributions in the psychological field and in the academic context, as well as his involvement in political activism, from meeting Malcolm X to writing an article on President Donald Trump's mental health, published in Psychology Today. The resulting memoir is a rich collection of moving stories and insightful reflections on his career and his intellectual legacy. The text - edited by Daniel Hartwig - is in interview form and is part of the Stanford Historical Society's Oral History Program in collaboration with the Stanford University Archives.

Is That All There Is?

Biographies & Memoirs

Praised by the New York Times Book Review as “fascinating, suspenseful, careful, musically detailed, and insightful,” this is a long-overdue biography of recording artist and musical legend Peggy Lee.Miss Peggy Lee cast a spell when she sang. She epitomized cool, but her trademark song, “Fever”—covered by Beyoncé and Madonna—is the essence of sizzling sexual heat. Her jazz sense dazzled Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. She was the voice of swing, the voice of blues, and she provided four of the voices for Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, whose score she co-wrote. But who was the woman behind the Mona Lisa smile?With elegant writing and impeccable research, including interviews with hundreds who knew Lee, acclaimed music journalist James Gavin offers the most revealing look yet at an artist of infinite contradictions and layers. Lee was a North Dakota prairie girl who became a temptress of enduring mystique. She was a singer-songwriter before the term existed. Lee “had incredible confidence onstage,” observed the Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop; yet inner turmoil wracked her. She spun a romantic nirvana in her songs, but couldn’t sustain one in reality. As she passed middle age, Lee dwelled increasingly in a bizarre dreamland. She died in 2002 at the age of eighty-one, but the enchantment with Lee has only grown.“Raucously entertaining [and] full of evocative scenes, wry humor and exasperated sympathy” (Publishers Weekly), Is That All There Is? paints a masterful portrait of an artist who redefined popular singing.

Biographies & Memoirs Books