Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Travels in Vermeer: A Memoir

Biographies & Memoirs

“This book is a treasure and a guide. It is a type of healing for the intellect and the heart.” - (Rebecca Lee)A lyrical and intimate account of how a poet, in the midst of a bad divorce, finds consolation and grace through viewing the paintings of Vermeer, in six world cities. In the midst of a divorce (in which the custody of his young daughter is at stake) and over the course of a year, the poet Michael White, travels to Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft, London, Washington, and New York to view the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, an artist obsessed with romance and the inner life. He is astounded by how consoling it is to look closely at Vermeer’s women, at the artist’s relationship to his subjects, and at how composition reflects back to the viewer such deep feeling. Includes the author’s very personal study of Vermeer. Through these travels and his encounters with Vermeer’s radiant vision, White finds grace and personal transformation."White brings [sensitivity] to his luminous readings of the paintings. An enchanting book about the transformative power of art." - (Kirkus Reviews) "… Figures it took a poet to get it this beautifully, thrillingly right.” - (Peter Trachtenberg)"A unique dance among genres...clear and powerful descriptions touch on the mysteries of seduction, loss, and the artistic impulse." - (Clyde Edgerton)

AMERIGO VESPUCCI – Discover the Man Behind the Legend

Biographies & Memoirs

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts as initially conjectured from Columbus' voyages, but instead constituted an entirely separate landmass hitherto unknown to Europeans. Colloquially named the New World, this second super continent came to be known as "Americas", deriving its name from Americus, the Latin transcription of Vespucci's first name. Learn more about the man who gave his name to the new continent, read his personal letters, diaries and what his contemporaries wrote about him. Table of Contents: Biography of Amerigo Vespucci by Frederick A. Ober Life of Vespucci by Clements R. Markham Letter of Amerigo Vespucci to a "Magnificent Lord" Letter of Amerigo Vespucci to Lorenzo Pietro F. di Medici Evidence of Alonso de Hojeda respecting his Voyage of 1499 Account of the Voyage of Hojeda, 1499-1500, by Navarrete Letter of the Admiral Christopher Columbus to his Son Letter of Vianelo to the Seigneury of Venice Letter of Naturalization in Favour of Vespucci Appointment of Amerigo Vespucci as Chief Pilot Chapters from Las Casas, which discuss the Statements of Vespucci: Evidence respecting the Voyage of Pinzon and Solis Las Casas on the Voyage of Pinzon and Solis

A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee

Biographies & Memoirs

The name of Lee is beloved and respected throughout the world. Men of all parties and opinions unite in this sentiment, not only those who thought and fought with him, but those most violently opposed to his political views and career. It is natural that his own people should love and honor him as their great leader and defender in a struggle of intense bitterness—that his old enemies should share this profound regard and admiration is due solely to the character of the individual. His military genius will always be conceded, and his figure remain a conspicuous landmark in history; but this does not account for the fact that his very enemies love the man. His private character is the origin of this sentiment. The people of the North, no less than the people of the South, feel that Lee was truly great; and the harshest critic has been able to find nothing to detract from this view of him. The soldier was great, but the man himself was greater. No one was ever simpler, truer, or more honest. Those who knew him best loved him the most. Reserved and silent, with a bearing of almost austere dignity, he impressed many persons as cold and unsympathetic, and his true character was long in revealing itself to the world. To-day all men know what his friends knew during his life—that under the grave exterior of the soldier, oppressed with care and anxiety, beat a warm and kindly heart, full of an even extraordinary gentleness and sweetness; that the man himself was not cold, or stiff, or harsh, but patient, forbearing, charitable under many trials of his equanimity, and magnanimous without effort, from the native impulse of his heart. Friend and foe thus to-day regard him with much the same sentiment, as a genuinely honest man, incapable of duplicity in thought or deed, wholly good and sincere, inspired always under all temptations by that prisca fides which purifies and ennobles, and resolutely bent, in the dark hour, as in the bright, on the full performance of his duty. “Duty is the sublimest word in our language,” he wrote to his son; and, if we add that other august maxim, “Human virtue should be equal to human calamity,” we shall have in a few words a summary of the principles which inspired Lee.

Ciò che non è scritto nei miei libri

Biographies & Memoirs

Un testo ormai classico. Un’autobiografia che è il manifesto di una visione positiva dell’esistenza umana. Racconti, flash, sentimenti, aneddoti: la straordinaria esperienza che il fondatore della logoterapia e analisi esistenziale, Viktor Emil Frankl, fece dal 1942 al 1945 in quattro campi di concentramento nazisti.

Night Flyer

Biographies & Memoirs

From the National Book Award–winning author of All That She Carried, an intimate and revelatory reckoning with the myth and the truth behind an American everyone knows and few really understandHarriet Tubman is among the most famous Americans ever born and soon to be the face of the twenty-dollar bill. Yet often she’s a figure more out of myth than history, almost a comic-book superhero. Despite being barely five feet tall, unable to read, and suffering from a brain injury, she managed to escape from her own enslavement, return again and again to lead others north to freedom without loss of life, speak out powerfully against slavery, and then become the first American woman in history to lead a military raid, freeing some seven hundred people. You could almost say she’s America’s Robin Hood, a miraculous vision, often rightly celebrated but seldom understood.Tiya Miles’s extraordinary Night Flyer changes all that. With her characteristic tenderness and imaginative genius, Miles explores beyond the stock historical grid to weave Tubman’s life into the fabric of her world. She probes the ecological reality of Tubman’s surroundings and examines her kinship with other enslaved women who similarly passed through a spiritual wilderness and recorded those travels in profound and moving memoirs. What emerges, uncannily, is a human being whose mysticism becomes more palpable the more we understand it—a story that offers us powerful inspiration for our own time of troubles. Harriet Tubman traversed many boundaries, inner and outer. Now, thanks to Tiya Miles, she becomes an even clearer and sharper signal from the past, one that can help us to echolocate a more just and sustainable path.

Balzac et les femmes

Biographies & Memoirs

La trop brève existence de Balzac s’est déroulée sous le double signe de l’amour et d’une inlassable activité littéraire. Tandis qu’il réalise une œuvre grandiose, trois femmes vont jouer auprès de lui un rôle déterminant : Laure de Berny, la passion de sa jeunesse, puis Laure d’Abrantès, la maîtresse de son âge d’homme et enfin Evelyne Hanska « l’Etrangère », la bonne fée de son crépuscule qui traverse l’Europe pour le rejoindre. Les relations avec ces trois femmes tissent les fils de sa prodigieuse destinée ; non seulement on retrouve leur présence dans ses romans, mais encore elles interviennent dans ses péripéties financières. Car elle est mouvementée, la vie de cet écrivain qui se croit un homme d’affaires et se lance dans de chimériques entreprises. Après chaque déconvenue, il repart vers d’autres aventures, tout en poursuivant son œuvre, véritable monument littéraire. Il faut un mot de passe pour entrer chez lui et ses maisons ont au moins deux issues. Avec cela, il aime le luxe, la bonne vie, les beaux objets, ce qui allonge encore la liste de ses dettes… C’est donc une existence passionnante et passionnée que l’auteur se propose de raconter, dans le style vivant qui convient à cet homme d’exception. Un portrait singulier qui dévoile les pensées intimes de Balzac en même temps qu’il explore les secrètes alchimies de son inspiration. Claude Dufresne, homme de radio, est l’auteur de nombreux ouvrages d’histoire où dominent l’élégance du style et le goût du récit. Il est l’auteur avec Danielle Dufresne du Mystère du Masque de fer (Tallandier, 1998).

Confessions of a School Nurse

Biographies & Memoirs

From the people who brought you the bestselling Confessions of a GP.After sixteen years of high-pressure nursing, Michael Alexander has traded in his hospital uniform for the fresh air, comfort and routine of an International private school in the French Alps. Bliss! But it’s not long before he discovers that school nursing is not all permission slips, sniffles and gift baskets. Disastrous school trips; after hours dorm sleepovers; awkward sex education classes; culture clashes; swine flu panic; and kids with six-figure bank balances and a taste for bribery. This is nursing as you’ve never seen it before.What goes on behind the gates of one of the world’s most elite boarding schools? What happens when kids from all over the world – Russia, Africa, America, Saudi Arabia – live, learn and grow under one roof? What happens when it’s left to school staff to teach children the facts of life, and lust?Following on from the hugely successful Confessions of a Male Nurse, Michael Alexander is back with more touching, shocking and often laugh-out-loud funny tales of nursing. In Confessions of a School Nurse, Alexander tells all on boarding school life – as a nurse, parent, and Average Joe, he offers a unique perspective on this strange world.ReviewsPraise for Confessions of a Male Nurse‘A fantastic read. Everything I had always suspected about nurses and so much more!’ – Dr Benjamin Daniels, author of bestselling ‘Confessions of a GP’‘An incredibly emotional journey’ – Star MagazineAbout the authorMichael Alexander is the pseudonym of a nurse who has previously worked in the UK and New Zealand.

Blue Boy

Biographies & Memoirs

Blue Boy is the fictionalised autobiography of Giono’s boyhood. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of the young Jean, however the novel is written in the lyrical style and language and with the hedonistic and mystical insight which characterise Giono’s greatest works. Sensuousness, the benign figure of Jean’s father, Pere Jean, and an intensely tender and loving regard for human suffering and for the beauties of the world provide a unity of tone and subject matter.

Finding Family

Biographies & Memoirs

Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA is the highly suspenseful account of an adoptee trying to reclaim the biological family denied him by sealed birth records. This fascinating quest, including the author's landmark use of DNA testing, takes readers on an exhilarating roller-coaster ride and concludes with a twist that rivals anything Hollywood has to offer.In the vein of a classic mystery, Hill gathers the seemingly scant evidence surrounding the circumstances of his birth. As his resolve shores up, the author also avails of new friends, genealogists, the Internet, and the latest DNA tests in the new field of genetic genealogy. As he closes in on the truth of his ancestry, he is able to construct a living, breathing portrait of the young woman who was faced with the decision to forsake her rights to her child, and ultimately the man whose identity had remained hidden for decades.Finding Family offers guidance, insight, and motivation for anyone engaged in a similar mission, from ways to obtain information to the many networks that can facilitate adoption searches. The book includes a detailed guide to DNA and genetic genealogy and how they can produce irrefutable results in determining genetic connections and help adoptees bypass sealed records and similar stumbling blocks.

Journals 1990-2014

Biographies & Memoirs

Ride the wave with Rudy Rucker—author, programmer, mathematician, professor, cyberpunk, hipster, transrealist and family man. A writer's journey.

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

Biographies & Memoirs

Intelligent, deeply moving firsthand account of Civil War military campaigns by former U.S. President and key figure in the Union's victory. Perhaps the finest military memoir ever written, the volume offers an incomparable vantage point on that conflict. Includes Grant's letters to his wife, photographs by Mathew Brady, maps, and more.

Scandal!

Biographies & Memoirs

What makes a good scandal? Money, politics and power, and a huge dose of media interest. Scandal reigns in the world of politics, celebrity, business, religion, royalty and art, and this book covers it all - from Watergate to Michael Jackson, Diana to Oscar Wilde. Distinguished writer Colin Wilson delves into the murky intrigues of British and American life to bring the most scandalous secrets to light.Containing brand new chapters on Michael Jackson, ENRON, the death of David Kelly, the Catholic Church sex scandals and the cash-for-honours scandal, and an updated chapter on OJ Simpson, here are the embarrassing true stories the rich and famous tried but failed to hide.

The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau — Volume 03

Biographies & Memoirs

This book story was the service of Madam de Vercellis nearly as. The Confessions is an autobiographical book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In modern times. I had entered it, I returned to my former hostess, and remained there five or six weeks; during which time health, youth, and laziness, frequently rendered my temperament importunate. I was restless, absent, and thoughtful: I wept and sighed for a happiness I had no idea of, though at the same time highly sensible of some deficiency. This situation is indescribable, few men can even form any conception of it, because, in general, they have prevented that plenitude of life, at once tormenting and delicious. My thoughts were incessantly occupied with girls and women, but in a manner peculiar to myself: these ideas kept my senses in a perpetual and disagreeable activity, though, fortunately, they did not point out the means of deliverance. I was never well informed of the motives of this journey. I am certain she would have told me had I asked her, but never was man less curious to learn the secrets of his friend.

Wer's findet, dem gehört's

Biographies & Memoirs

»Wer anderer Leute Tagebücher liest, der bekommt, was er verdient.« David SedarisIn Wer's findet, dem gehört's gewährt Sedaris der Welt zum ersten Mal Einblick in seine privaten Aufzeichnungen - eine persönliche Erzählung davon, wie ein drogensüchtiger Schulabbrecher mit dem Talent, jeden Job zu verlieren, zu einem der lustigsten Menschen auf dem Planeten wurde. Die meisten Tagebücher - sogar die großer Schriftsteller - sind unvorstellbar dröge, weil sie von Gefühlen, Träumen, dem Innenleben handeln. Sedaris' Tagebücher sind einzigartig, weil sie sich nach außen wenden. Er erklärt uns nicht, wie sich die Welt für ihn anfühlt, er zeigt uns die Welt, und damit auch, was ihn wirklich ausmacht.Wer's findet, dem gehört's belegt, dass Sedaris - mit seinem scharfen Blick und offenen Ohr für das Bizarre, das Schöne und das Unbequeme und mit seiner Großherzigkeit, die nicht einmal sein misanthropischer Sinn für Humor ganz verbergen kann - zu einem unserer besten Beobachter gehört.

Sainte Marguerite-Marie et moi

Biographies & Memoirs

Rien ne prédisposait Clémentine, agnostique non baptisée, féministe 2.0, écolo végétarienne, à enquêter sur sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, mystique du xviie siècle, apôtre du Sacré Cœur. Mais voilà : selon la légende familiale, la religieuse serait une aïeule. Et Clémentine est enceinte, sa grand-mère bien-aimée perd la mémoire... il est temps pour elle de partir à la recherche de ses racines. Dans ce récit véridique et remarquablement écrit, Clémentine nous narre avec un humour aussi bienveillant que ravageur sa découverte du monde catho ; et nous offre, surtout, une véritable rencontre, puissante et originale, avec la voyante de Paray-le-Monial.

My Name Is Barbra

Biographies & Memoirs

The long-awaited memoir by the superstar of stage, screen, recordings, and televisionPLEASE NOTE The E-book edition features additional photographs that are exclusive to the E-book. Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed. The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming. She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making Yentl; her direction of The Prince of Tides; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin. No entertainer’s memoir has been more anticipated than Barbra Streisand’s, and this engrossing and delightful book will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans.

The Notebook

Biographies & Memoirs

Beginning on the eve of the 2008 US presidential election, The Notebook evokes life in Saramago’s beloved Lisbon, revisits conversations with friends, and offers meditations on the author’s favorite writers. Precise observations and moments of arresting significance are rendered with pointillist detail, and together demonstrate an acute understanding of our times. Characteristically critical and uncompromising, Saramago dissects the financial crisis, deplores Israel’s punishment of Gaza, and reflects on the rise of Barack Obama. The Notebook is a unique journey into the personal and political world of one of the greatest writers of our time.

The Confessions of Saint Augustine

Biographies & Memoirs

'The reader who has never met Augustine before ought to go first of all to the Confessions,' reflected the Trappist monk and scholar Thomas Merton. 'Augustine lived the theology that he wrote. . . . He experienced the reality of Christ living in his own soul.'Saint Augustine, the celebrated theologian who served as Bishop of Hippo from A.D. 396 until his death in A.D. 430, is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the Western world. Written in the form of a long prayer addressed directly to God, Augustine's Confessions, the remarkable chronicle of his conversion to Christianity, endures as the greatest spiritual autobiography of all time. 'Augustine possessed a strong, capacious, argumentative mind,' wrote Edward Gibbon. 'He boldly sounded the dark abyss of grace, predestination, free-will, and original sin.' And the eminent historian Jaroslav Pelikan remarked: 'There has, quite literally, been no century of the sixteen centuries since the conversion of Augustine in which he has not been a major intellectual, spiritual, and cultural force.'

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Biographies & Memoirs

Franklin wrote his autobiography in the form of an extended letter to his son. While recording the events of his life, he adds instructions for good living which makes this work America’s first “How to Succeed” book.

A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee

Biographies & Memoirs

This classic book contains the biography of General Robert E. Lee, the famous military officer best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War. The volume before the reader was begun in 1866. The writer first, however, informed General Lee of his design, and had the honour to receive from him in reply the assurance that the work “would not interfere with any he might have in contemplation; he had not written a line of any work as yet, and might never do so; but, should he write a history of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia, the proposed work would be rather an assistance than a hindrance.” As the writer had offered promptly to discontinue the work if it were not agreeable to General Lee, this reply was regarded in the light of an assurance that he did not disapprove of it. The composition was, however, interrupted, and the work laid aside. It is now resumed and completed at a time when the death of the illustrious soldier adds a new and absorbing interest to whatever is connected with his character or career.

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