Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Biography of Bruce Lee

Biographies & Memoirs

The present book is a biography of Hong Kong and American martial artist; actor; philosopher and film maker Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee is credited for the foundation of an entire form of martial arts – Jeet Kune Do. To know more about this iconic and most influential figure of the 20th century who inspired the pop culture of the time; read Abhishek Kumar’s book ‘The Life And Times of Bruce Lee.

Letters from Amherst

Biographies & Memoirs

Entertaining and informative letters written from 1984 to 1991 by the award-winning author and critic. Five substantial letters written from 1989 to 1991 bring readers into conversation with Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Samuel Delany. With engaging prose, Delany shares details about his work, his relationships, and the thoughts he had while living in Amherst and teaching as a professor at the UMASS campus just outside of town, in contrast to the more chaotic life of New York City. Along with commentary on his own work and the work of other writers, he ponders the state of America, discusses friends who are facing AIDS and other ailments, and comments on the politics of working in academia. Two of the letters, which tell the story of his meeting his life partner Dennis, became the basis of his 1995 graphic novel, Bread & Wine. Another letter describes the funeral of his uncle Hubert T. Delany, former judge and well-known civil rights activist, and leads to reflections on his family’s life in 1950s Harlem. Another details a visit from science fiction writer and critic Judith Merril, and in another he gives a portrait of his one-time student Octavia E. Butler, who by then has become his colleague. In addition, an appendix shares ten letters Delany sent to his daughter while she attended summer camp between 1984 and 1988. These letters describe Delany’s daily life, including visitors to his upper-west-side apartment, his travels for work and pleasure, lectures attended, movies viewed, and exhibits seen.“Letters from Amherst is significant and important. Delany provides unseen glimpses into his important familial lineages, personal friendship and partnership, his assessment of universities and their politics, and just a general joy in anything that has to do with intellectual culture.” —L.H. Stallings, author of Funk the Erotic: Transaesthetics and Black Sexual Cultures“Letters from Amherst gives readers insight into the personal and professional life and aesthetic assessments of the author, Samuel R. Delany, one of the most important literary figures of our time.” —Nisi Shawl, author of the Nebula Award Finalist novel Everfair, and the James Tiptree Jr. Award–winning story collection Filter House

The Tennis Partner

Biographies & Memoirs

An unforgettable, illuminating story of how men live and how they survive, from Abraham Verghese, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Cutting for Stone and The Covenant of Water, an Oprah's Book Club Pick.“Heartbreaking. . . . Indelible and haunting, [The Tennis Partner] is an elegy to friendship found, and an ode to a good friend lost.”—The Boston GlobeWhen Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital. There he meets David Smith, a medical student recovering from drug addiction, and the two men begin a tennis ritual that allows them to shed their inhibitions and find security in the sport they love and with each other. This friendship between doctor and intern grows increasingly rich and complex, more intimate than two men usually allow. Just when it seems nothing can go wrong, the dark beast from David’s past emerges once again—and almost everything Verghese has come to trust and believe in is threatened as David spirals out of control.

Tumulto

Biographies & Memoirs

Testemunho do maior nome vivo da literatura alemã sobre um momento complexo e pouco compreendido da história recente.Em Tumulto, Enzensberger oferece suas memórias dos anos 1960, época cuja agitação política prenunciava uma revolução não só nos regimes de governo, mas também na cultura de diversos países. Da literatura à política, da história à sociologia, o autor narra experiências vividas no circuito da oficialidade militante, em que o seu olhar preciso e irônico revela as contradições entre utopia e autoritarismo que marcaram o espírito daquele tempo.

Il sogno, la passione, il mestiere di un editore: Tiziano M. Barbieri Torriani per gli amici Ciuffo

Biographies & Memoirs

Nel 2004, a dieci anni dalla scomparsa di Tiziano M. Barbieri Torriani, la Sperling & Kupfer diede alle stampe un volume in edizione limitata, oggi riproposto in questa versione digitale: un ricordo a più voci dell'uomo e dell'editore e, insieme, il racconto di una storia aziendale di successo. Riproporre questo ebook è molto più di un doveroso omaggio a un grande editore. È un'occasione per raccontare un certo modo di fare impresa culturale, di cui – in condizioni senz'altro molto mutate – ancora oggi si leggono le tracce nell'operato delle «creature» di Barbieri, Sperling & Kupfer e Frassinelli.

Waypoints

Biographies & Memoirs

«Había llegado tan lejos que no podía dar marcha atrás.»En este viaje de autodescubrimiento, Sam Heughan, protagonista de la exitosa serie de televisión Outlander, recorre el West Highland Way, la ruta de senderismo más popular de Escocia, para explorar sus propios orígenes y reflexionar sobre las experiencias personales que lo han moldeado y que lo definen a día de hoy.Mientras recorre estos más de ciento cincuenta kilómetros de naturaleza salvaje e inclemente, Sam traza un mapa de los momentos más significativos de su trayectoria, de sus sueños y sus ambiciones, de sus recuerdos sobre la familia, las amistades, el amor y la vida. El resultado es una carta de amor al indómito paisaje escocés tan importante para Sam, además de un retrato divertido y perspicaz del mundo visto a través de sus ojos.Waypoints es, en suma, un viaje personal tan revelador para el propio Sam como lo será para sus lectores.

A Book of Prefaces

Biographies & Memoirs

Henry Louis Mencken was born on September 12, 1880, in Baltimore. He was an American journalist, magazine editor, essayist and critic of the American culture and life. He was one of the most influential American writers of the first half of the 20th century. He died on January 29, 1956, in Baltimore. “A book of Prefaces” represents a collection of essays that criticise the American culture, movements and the American authors. He described his work as the most important book in terms of the effects on his career. This book was considered malicious, which made one of his friends question the publishing of it, because of the increased patriotism in America, during the World War I. The essays you will find in this book include: • Joseph Conrad • Theodore Dreiser • James Huneker • Puritanism as a Literary Force

Anne of Avonlea

Biographies & Memoirs

Following Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. This book follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well as new ones like Mr. Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy.

Heavenly Breakfast

Biographies & Memoirs

Acclaimed author Samuel R. Delany’s memoir of his time in a commune and rock band in New York’s Lower East Side in 1967–1968. In this Constellation Press ebook edition, several people’s names have been restored to their real-life names (instead of the pseudonyms used in the earlier paper editions). This edition also includes some notes about the members of the band, and a note giving biographical context about what was going on in Delany’s life before and after the period described in the book.

Dieu, ma mère et moi

Biographies & Memoirs

'Je n'ai jamais eu à chercher Dieu : je vis avec lui. Avant même que je sois extrait par des spatules du ventre de ma mère où je serais bien resté, si on m'avait demandé mon avis, il était en moi comme je suis en lui. Il m'accompagne tout le temps. Même quand je dors. C'est ma mère qui m'a inoculé Dieu. Une caricature de sainte mystique qu'un rien exaltait, des pivoines en fleur aussi bien qu'une crotte de son dernier-né, au fond du pot. Je suis sûr qu'elle avait de l'eau bénite en guise de liquide amniotique. Elle exsudait la foi.'

The Story of My Life (The Complete Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova, Volume 11 of 12)

Biographies & Memoirs

A Venetian adventurer, author, and lifelong womanizer, the name of Casanova has become interchangeable with the art of seduction since the 18th century. In his most notable book, "Story of My Life," Casanova narrates countless tales of the people with whom he interacted: lovers, European royalty, clergymen, and artists such as Goethe, Voltaire, and Mozart. His writing demonstrates his talent for dialogue, while his life seems an inadvertent testament to skill in plot development. Casanova gambled, spied, translated, dueled, schemed, traveled, and observed people of all levels of society, having been born of two actors and becoming a self-made gentleman. He writes of his life without regret, recalling his adventures, from necromancy to imprisonment, with general honesty and the occasional embellishment, and always with a good humor. In this remarkable celebration of the senses, Casanova proves his talent for storytelling by revealing a refreshingly authentic view of the customs and everyday life of social 18th century Europeans, ultimately proving his claim that "I can say I have lived." In this edition you will find the eleventh of twelve volumes of "The Complete Memoirs."

The Story of My Life (The Complete Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova, Volume 7 of 12)

Biographies & Memoirs

A Venetian adventurer, author, and lifelong womanizer, the name of Casanova has become interchangeable with the art of seduction since the 18th century. In his most notable book, "Story of My Life," Casanova narrates countless tales of the people with whom he interacted: lovers, European royalty, clergymen, and artists such as Goethe, Voltaire, and Mozart. His writing demonstrates his talent for dialogue, while his life seems an inadvertent testament to skill in plot development. Casanova gambled, spied, translated, dueled, schemed, traveled, and observed people of all levels of society, having been born of two actors and becoming a self-made gentleman. He writes of his life without regret, recalling his adventures, from necromancy to imprisonment, with general honesty and the occasional embellishment, and always with a good humor. In this remarkable celebration of the senses, Casanova proves his talent for storytelling by revealing a refreshingly authentic view of the customs and everyday life of social 18th century Europeans, ultimately proving his claim that "I can say I have lived." In this edition you will find the seventh of twelve volumes of "The Complete Memoirs."

La Bretagne des écrivains

Biographies & Memoirs

La vie des écrivains dans leur terre d'appartenance est racontée par leur meilleur biographes. Imaginons une terre qui a engendré le roman européen et le romantisme, une terre de légende(s) où sont nés des écrivains majeurs d’hier (Souvestre, Renan, Guilloux, Guéhenno, Jarry…) et d’aujourd’hui (Mona Ozouf, Michel Le Bris, Hervé Hamon, Yvon Le Men…), une terre d’inspiration pour Balzac, Hugo, Loti … Imaginons des falaises, des plages et des forêts arpentées par Victor Segalen, Colette, Jean Grenier, Kenneth White, Erik Orsenna... Puis voyageons en Bretagne sur les pas de ces écrivains, et laissons-nous charmer par l’esprit des lieux en écoutant les savoureux récits de leur vie. Car, comme dit le poète, la littérature est une affaire sérieuse pour un pays, elle est, au bout du compte, son visage.

Ma vie revue et corrigée par l'auteur

Biographies & Memoirs

Cet ouvrage est le fruit d'entretiens à bâtons rompus entre le journaliste et écrivain Maurice Chavardès et l'écrivaine varoise Christiane Rochefort (1917-1998), lauréate du Prix de la Nouvelle Vague en 1958 et du Prix Médicis.

The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 4

Biographies & Memoirs

This is a biographical book. Sir, I have read with great pleasure and information, your History of Scottish Councils. It gave me much more satisfaction than I could have expected from so dry a subject. It will be perused, do not doubt it, by men of taste and judgment; and it is happy that it will be read Without occasioning a controversy. The curse of modern times is, that almost every thing does create controversy, and that men who are willing to instruct or amuse the world have to dread malevolence and interested censure, instead of receiving thanks. If your part of our country is at all free from that odious spirit, you are to be envied. In our region we are given up to every venomous mischievous passion, and as we behold all the public vices that raged in and destroyed the remains of the Roman Commonwealth, so I wish we do not experience some of the horrors that brought on the same revolution. When we see men who call themselves patriots and friends of liberty attacking the House of Commons, to what, Sir, can you and I, who are really friends of liberty, impute such pursuits, but to interest and disappointed ambition! When we see, on one hand, the prerogative of the Crown excited against Parliament, and on the other, the King and Royal Family traduced and insulted in the most shameless manner, can we believe such a faction is animated by honesty or love of the constitution? When, as you very sensibly observe, the authors of grievances are the loudest to complain of them, and when those authors and their capital enemies shake hands, embrace, and join in a common cause, which set can we believe most or least sincere?

It's Only a Game

Biographies & Memoirs

This is the absolutely guaranteed 100% mostly true story of Terry Bradshaw: the man who gained sports immortality as the first quarterback to win four Super Bowls -- and the man who later became America's most popular sports broadcaster. IT'S ONLY A GAME "I had a real job once," begins a memoir as honest, unexpected, and downright hysterical as Bradshaw himself. From his humble beginnings in Shreveport, Louisiana, to his success as the centerpiece of the highest-rated football studio show in television history, Terry has always understood the importance of hard work. A veritable jack-of-all-trades, he has probably held more jobs than any other football Hall of Famer ever: pipeline worker, youth minister, professional singer, actor, television and radio talk show host, and now one of the nation's most popular speakers. But let's not forget one of the reasons why so many people know and love Terry Bradshaw: he won four Super Bowls! In It's Only A Game, Terry brings the reader right into the huddle and describes the game from the bottom of a two-ton pile to the top of the sports world. You'll sit right on the fifty-yard line and watch as Terry earns the title world's greatest benchwarmer. And you'll also hear about the single greatest play in pro football -- the Immaculate Reception -- as he never saw it. It's Only A Game is much more than a collection of Terry Bradshaw's favorite and funniest stories, it is the personal account of a great man's search for life before and after football...as only Terry could tell it.

Idea Man

Biographies & Memoirs

By his early thirties, Paul Allen was a world-famous billionaire-and that was just the beginning. In 2007 and 2008, Time named Paul Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft, one of the hundred most influential people in the world. Since he made his fortune, his impact has been felt in science, technology, business, medicine, sports, music, and philanthropy. His passion, curiosity, and intellectual rigor-combined with the resources to launch and support new initiatives-have literally changed the world. In 2009 Allen discovered that he had lymphoma, lending urgency to his desire to share his story for the first time. In this classic memoir, Allen explains how he has solved problems, what he's learned from his many endeavors-both the triumphs and the failures-and his compelling vision for the future. He reflects candidly on an extraordinary life. The book also features previously untold stories about everything from the true origins of Microsoft to Allen's role in the dawn of private space travel (with SpaceShipOne) and in discoveries at the frontiers of brain science. With honesty, humor, and insight, Allen tells the story of a life of ideas made real.

The Writings of Thomas Jefferson

Biographies & Memoirs

The most comprehensive one-volume selection of Jefferson ever published. Contains the "Autobiography", "Notes on the State of Virginia", public and private papers, including the original and revised drafts of the Declaration of Independence, addresses, and 287 letters.

Personal Memoirs

Biographies & Memoirs

"One of the most unflinching studies of war in our literature." --William McFeeleyAmong the autobiographies of great military figures, Ulysses S. Grant's is certainly one of the finest, and it is arguably the most notable literary achievement of any American president: a lucid, compelling, and brutally honest chronicle of triumph and failure. From his frontier boyhood to his heroics in battle to the grinding poverty from which the Civil War ironically "rescued" him, these memoirs are a mesmerizing, deeply moving account of a brilliant man, told with great courage as he reflects on the fortunes that shaped his life and his character. Written under excruciating circumstances (as Grant was dying of throat cancer), encouraged and edited from its very inception by Mark Twain, it is a triumph of the art of autobiography. The books in the Modern Library War series have been chosen by series editor Caleb Carr according to the significance of their subject matter, their contribution to the field of military history, and their literary merit.

The Private Journal of William Reynolds

Biographies & Memoirs

One of the finest nineteenth-century first-person narratives of a sea voyage in existence, and a principle source for Sea of Glory, The Private Journal of William Reynolds brings to life the boisterous world traversed by the six vessels that comprised America's first ocean-going voyage of discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842. With great eloquence and verve Midshipman William Reynolds describes the harrowing 87,000-mile, four-year circuit of the globe, and relates the story of how the abusive commander of the Ex. Ex., Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, gradually lost the support of his crew. With a seaman's understanding and an artist's appreciation for the wild beauty that surrounds him, the Journal is a tour de force combining meticulous observations with a young man's sense of wonder and, on occasion, terror as he is tossed about by the tremendous seas.

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