Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Le Curé de Nazareth

Biographies & Memoirs

« Que peut-il sortir de bon de Nazareth ? » demandait déjà Nathanaël, dubitatif, dans l'Évangile de Jean. Et aujourd'hui ? Qui pourrait croire que, dans cette ville de Galilée essentiellement peuplée d'Arabes israéliens, l'expérience d'un humble curé palestinien puisse ressusciter l'espoir malgré toutes les haines prétendument héréditaires ? Pourtant, depuis plus de vingt-cinq ans, Émile Shoufani a réussi, sur les lieux mêmes où vécut Jésus, à redonner vie au message évangélique de réconciliation. Hubert Prolongeau retrace l'itinéraire hors du commun de cet homme de parole, qui a su unifier en lui des solidarités apparemment contradictoires : patriotisme arabe affirmé haut et fort ; loyauté vis-à-vis de l'État hébreu dont il pos-sède la nationalité et maîtrise la langue ; attachement à la tradition chrétienne orientale et au rite byzantin ; fidélité à l'Église catholique dont sa communauté melkite fait partie ; affinité de coeur avec la France et sa tradition de liberté. Dans les villages de Galilée comme dans l'école modèle qu'il dirige, le curé de Nazareth s'est fait l'ami des Druzes, des musulmans, des juifs, et le prophète infatigable de la paix auprès des jeunes générations. À travers son combat, c'est toute une aventure spirituelle qui nous est contée : celle d'une résistance concrète à l'injustice et à la violence, fondée sur la foi en l'Évangile.

No Name in the Street

Biographies & Memoirs

From one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century—an extraordinary history of the turbulent sixties and early seventies that powerfully speaks to contemporary conversations around racism. “It contains truth that cannot be denied.” —The Atlantic MonthlyIn this stunningly personal document, James Baldwin remembers in vivid details the Harlem childhood that shaped his early conciousness and the later events that scored his heart with pain—the murders of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, his sojourns in Europe and in Hollywood, and his retum to the American South to confront a violent America face-to-face.

A bennem lévő nő

Biographies & Memoirs

Britney Spears végre saját maga mondja el történetét szabadságról, hírnévről, anyaságról, túlélésről, hitről és reményről.2021 júniusában az egész világ a bíróság előtt beszélő Britney Spearsre figyelt. Történetének - igazságának - ereje tagadhatatlan volt, és beszéde nem csupán az ő életét változtatta meg, hanem számtalan más nőét is. A bennem lévő nőben Britney most először tárja elénk elképesztő életútját - és a popzene történetének egyik legnagyobb előadójában rejtőző belső erőt. Britney Spears megalkuvás nélküli nyíltsággal és figyelemre méltó humorral megírt memoárja rávilágít a zene és a szeretet erejére, és annak fontosságára, hogy a nők végre a saját szavaikkal mondhassák el történetüket.

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Biographies & Memoirs

As a reporter for the "New York Evening Post" during the time of New York's Tammany Hall Machine, William Riordan compiled and published this work in 1905 from a series of articles he wrote on George Washington Plunkitt, the millionaire ward boss of New York's 15th District. Plunkitt is best remembered as a streetwise politician who practiced what he called "honest graft," or what is otherwise known today as "machine politics." Of the Tammany Hall bosses, he alone spoke candidly and on the record about how to get and successfully retain political power and wealth. This collection of interviews is an honest and accurate account of Plunkitt's critical analysis of social reformers and the federal government, void of editorial gloss and comment, and preserving the original speech and slang which made Plunkitt notorious. "Plunkitt of Tammany Hall" has given generations of scholars insight into the controversy, animosity, corruption and sensationalism of the American political machine in its heyday.

Diaries

Biographies & Memoirs

A major literary event—the long-awaited publication of George Orwell's diaries, chronicling the events that inspired his greatest works. This groundbreaking volume, never before published in the United States, at last introduces the interior life of George Orwell, the writer who defined twentieth-century political thought. Written as individual books throughout his career, the eleven surviving diaries collected here record Orwell’s youthful travels among miners and itinerant laborers, the fearsome rise of totalitarianism, the horrific drama of World War II, and the feverish composition of his great masterpieces Animal Farm and 1984 (which have now sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author). Personal entries cover the tragic death of his first wife and Orwell’s own decline as he battled tuberculosis. Exhibiting great brilliance of prose and composition, these treasured dispatches, edited by the world’s leading Orwell scholar, exhibit “the seeds of famous passages to come” (New Statesman) and amount to a volume as penetrating as the autobiography he would never write.

A Marvelous Life

Biographies & Memoirs

The definitive biography of the beloved—often controversial—co-creator of many legendary superheroes, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee presents the origin of “Stan the Man,” who spun a storytelling web of comic book heroic adventures into a pop culture phenomenon: the Marvel Universe."[Fingeroth's] intimate yet balanced account, highlights Lee’s humanity, humor and even humility. But it doesn’t ignore how his canny self-promotion at times shortchanged his collaborators and constrained his own choices." —Wall Street JournalStan Lee was the most famous American comic book creator who ever lived.Thanks, especially, to his many cameos in Marvel movies and TV shows, Lee was—and even after his 2018 death, still is—the voice and face of comics and popular culture in general, and Marvel Comics in particular. How he got to that place is a story that has never been fully told—until now.With creative partners including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko—with whom he had tempestuous relationships that rivaled any superhero battle—Lee created world-famous characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X–Men, the Avengers, and the Hulk!But Lee’s career was haunted by conflict and controversy. Was he the most innovative creator to ever do comics? Was he a lucky no-talent whose only skill was taking credit for others’ work? Or was he something else altogether? Danny Fingeroth’s A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Leeattempts to answer some of those questions. It is the first comprehensive biography of this powerhouse of ideas who, with his invention of Marvel Comics, changed the world’s ideas of what a hero is and how a story should be told. With exclusive interviews with Lee himself, as well as with colleagues, relatives, friends—and detractors—Fingeroth makes a doubly remarkable case for Lee’s achievements, while not ignoring the controversies that dogged him his entire life—and even past his death. With unique access to Lee’s personal archives at the University of Wyoming, Fingeroth explores never-before-examined aspects of Lee’s life and career, and digs under the surface of what people thought they knew about him.Fingeroth, himself a longtime writer and editor at Marvel Comics, and now a lauded pop culture critic and historian, knew and worked with Stan Lee for over four decades. With his unique insights as a comics world insider, Fingeroth is able to put Lee’s life and work in a unique context that makes events and actions come to life as no other writer could. Despite F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous warning that “There are no second acts in American lives,” Stan Lee created a second act for himself that changed everything for him, his family, his industry, and ultimately for all of popular culture. How he did it—and what it cost him—is a larger-than-life tale of a man who helped create the modern superhero mythology that has become a part of all our lives.

The Autobiography of Charles Finney

Biographies & Memoirs

Charles Finney (1792-1875) was mightily used of God to promote revival throughout the United States in the 1800's. His biography details his conversion and the amazing accounts of whole towns coming under conviction and scores of people turning to Christ. Finney not only narrates this wonderful move of God, but also highlights important aspects of the revival such as prayer and repentance. Charles Finney has inspired countless Christians to passionately pursue God (and was a favorite of Jonathan Goforth, Leonard Ravenhill and Keith Green). A must read for those who long to see God move in our day! • This is the original 1876 edition, contains 36 powerful chapters as well as a Timeline of Finney's life.

Carnets d'un sale gosse

Biographies & Memoirs

Une carrière en images " Difficile tâche que de réunir cinquante ans de souvenirs et de sélectionner des documents, des photos et des sketches parmi ce que j'ai accumulé durant toutes ces années ! "Cinquante ans dont trente passés sur scène, que Laurent Gerra évoque à travers une multitude d'anecdotes incroyables qui ont émaillé sa carrière, en révélant la genèse de ses sketches les plus célèbres ou en revenant sur toutes les rencontres marquantes de sa vie.On y retrouve des photos de son enfance – ses premiers pas sur scène à 5 ans –, son adolescence en chanteur de bals, ses débuts à Lyon et ses premières émissions de radio avant que sa carrière démarre, d'abord au côté de Virginie Lemoine, chez Jacques Martin ou MichelDrucker, et enfin en solo.De son premier Olympia jusqu'au nouveau spectacle Sans modération, ce livre foisonnant vous fait pénétrer dans les coulisses des plus grandes scènes et en propose les meilleurs sketches, sans oublier toutes les autres passions de Laurent Gerra : la radio bien sûr mais aussi l'édition, la télévision, le cinéma, et quelques jardins secrets à découvrir." Je voulais partager avec vous ces tranches de vie, mes meilleurs souvenirs, vous faire revivre les rencontres, les rigolades, les moments d'émotion, aussi, et surtout vous remercier de m'avoir été si fidèles. Nous, les saltimbanques, faisons un beau métier, un métier où l'on dit qu'on va "jouer' ! C'est sans doute cela qui m'a permis de garder une âme d'enfant, celle d'un sale gosse qui voulait surtout faire rire ses copains ! " Un livre illustré de plus de 430 photos et documents comprenant les meilleurs sketches de Laurent Gerra, dont les textes inédits de son nouveau spectacle,Sans modération.

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.

Note-Book of Anton Chekhov

Biographies & Memoirs

My neighbor V.N.S. told me that his uncle Fet-Shenshin, the famous poet, when driving through the Mokhovaia Street, would invariably let down the window of his carriage and spit at the University. He would expectorate and spit: Bah! His coachman got so used to this that every time he drove past the University, he would stop. In January I was in Petersburg and stayed with Souvorin. I often saw Potapenko. Met Korolenko. I often went to the Maly Theatre. As Alexander [Chekhov's brother] came downstairs one day, B.V.G. simultaneously came out of the editorial office of the Novoye Vremya and said to me indignantly: "Why do you set the old man (i.e. Souvorin) against Burenin?" I have never spoken ill of the contributors to the Novoye Vremya in Souvorin's presence, although I have the deepest disrespect for the majority of them. In February, passing through Moscow, I went to see L.N. Tolstoi. He was irritated, made stinging remarks about the décadents, and for an hour and a half argued with B. Tchitcherin, who, I thought, talked nonsense all the time. Tatyana and Mary [Tolstoi's daughters] laid out a patience; they both wished, and asked me to pick a card out; I picked out the ace of spades separately for each of them, and that annoyed them. By accident there were two aces of spades in the pack. Both of them are extraordinarily sympathetic, and their attitude to their father is touching. The countess denounced the painter Gé all the evening. She too was irritated. May 5. The sexton Ivan Nicolayevitch brought my portrait, which he has painted from a photograph. In the evening V.N.S. brought his friend N. He is director of the Foreign Department … editor of a magazine … and doctor of medicine. He gives the impression of being an unusually stupid person and a reptile. He said: "There's nothing more pernicious on earth than a rascally liberal paper," and told us that, apparently, the peasants whom he doctors, having got his advice and medicine free of charge, ask him for a tip. He and S. speak of the peasants with exasperation and loathing.

Eine gefährliche Frau

Biographies & Memoirs

Die mitreißende Geschichte einer verwegenen Frau.« The Times - New York Times-Bestseller1942 sendete die Gestapo folgenden Funkspruch: »Sie ist die gefährlichste unter allen Spionen der Alliierten. Wir müssen sie finden und vernichten.« Gemeint war Virginia Hall, eine Frau aus besten amerikanischen Kreisen, die es geschafft hatte, in Winston Churchills Geheimorganisation Special Operations Executives aufgenommen zu werden. Hall war die erste Frau, die für die Allierten hinter der Linie des Feindes operierte. Sie unterstützte den französischen Widerstand und revolutionierte die verdeckte Kriegsführung. Und das alles trotz einer massiven körperlichen Einschränkung: aufgrund eines Reitunfalls hatte sie eine Beinprothese. Mit ihrem mutigen Einsatz, stets unter Gefahr ihres Lebens, kämpfte sie gegen Nazideutschland und für die Freiheit.

Tupac Shakur

Biographies & Memoirs

Leben und Tod einer Legende Er war der beste Rapper der Welt. Hat Millionen von Platten verkauft. Mit Drogen gehandelt. Im Gefängnis gesessen. Und wurde Opfer eines Attentats, dessen Hintergründe bis heute ungeklärt sind. Die Faszination von Tupac Shakur, der als 2pac Musikgeschichte geschrieben hat, ist auch Jahrzehnte nach seiner Ermordung ungebrochen. Seine posthum veröffentlichten Alben, Gedichte und Filme haben ihn zu einer Legende werden lassen. In seiner Biografie begibt sich Michael Eric Dyson, einer der wichtigsten schwarzen Stimmen in den USA, auf Spurensuche. Lässt ehemalige Weggefährten wie Snoop Dogg ebenso zu Wort kommen wie Tupacs geliebte Mutter, die Black-Panther-Aktivistin Afeni Shakur. Dieses Buch ist mehr als eine Musikerbiografie. Es zeigt, wie Tupac Shakur unsere Gesellschaft verändert hat.

Lire, c'est amusant ! No 2

Biographies & Memoirs

" Lire, c'est amusant ! No 2 " vous présente des hommes qui écrivent, ainsi que leurs oeuvres... Apprenez à mieux les connaître et découvrez la façon qu'ils en sont venus à écrire. Tout pour vous donner ou redonner le goût de lire !

I Got You Babe

Biographies & Memoirs

Covering her life and sixty-year career from Sonny & Cher to show-stopping solo performer, award-winning actress, fashion icon, and beyond, this is a glorious retrospective of one of the world’s most enduring entertainers, Cher. Featuring a foreword by Cyndi Lauper! Commemorating six decades since her first #1 hit in 1965, I Got You Babe captures Cher’s one-of-a-kind life. Written by award-winning writer and editor Annie Zaleski, this celebration of the fearless, down-to-earth “Goddess of Pop” explores key moments in her life and career in words and photos. Among the topics covered: Her 50-year friendship with fellow diva Tina Turner, which began in 1975 when they performed “Shame, Shame, Shame” together. Her story of creating a “revenge dress” with designer Bob Mackie for the 1986 Oscars after being snubbed for a nomination for her performance in Mask. The night in 1989 she made the Navy wish it could “Turn Back Time” by arriving at the USS Missouri to film her video not wearing the coveralls they expected but a barely-there fishnet bodysuit. Cher’s unfiltered social media presence. From classic posts like “BREAKING NEWS: IM BEING BURIED IN MY FISHNETS” to weighing in on issues she believes in. When Cher learned about Kaavan, dubbed “the world’s loneliest elephant.” The creature was kept in chains in a zoo in Pakistan and forced to perform for decades. After fans brought the problem to her attention, Cher eventually helped get him moved in 2021, and her efforts were captured in a Smithsonian documentary. Amid these moments are photo after photo of some of the most eye-popping outfits ever worn in life and on stage. As an avid clothes horse who wasn’t afraid to wear a see-through dress to the Met Gala in 1974, Cher’s many looks will be given their due in this engaging, career-spanning retrospective.

Usårlig

Biographies & Memoirs

Endelig på norsk! David Goggins er et av verdens største TikTok-fenomen, kjent som et forbilde for unge gutter og menn som ønsker å mestre en større del av tilværelsen og forberede seg fysisk eller mentalt. For David Goggins var barndommen farget av fattigdom, fordommer og fysisk mishandling. Men gjennom selvdisiplin, mental utholdenhet og hardt arbeid forvandlet Goggins seg fra en deprimert, overvektig ung mann uten fremtid til et ikon for det amerikanske forsvaret og en av verdens beste utholdenhetsutøvere. Goggins er den eneste mannen i historien som fullførte elitetrening som Navy SEAL, Army Ranger og Air Force Tactical Air Controller. Han har satt en rekorder i en rekke ultraløp og har blitt omtalt av Outsidemagazine som "The Fittest (Real) Man in America". I boken USÅRLIG deler han sin forbløffende livshistorie og viser en vei som alle kan følge for å trosse smerte, knuse frykt og nå sitt fulle potensial. Boken beskriver blant annet "the 40% rule", en overbevisning om at de fleste av oss bare utnytter 40% av kapasiteten vår.

By Honor Bound

Biographies & Memoirs

By Honor Bound is the powerful and moving story of two Medal of Honor recipients, written by New York Times bestselling author Dick Couch.“Delivers cracking-good minute-by-minute descriptions of two SEAL missions rich in suspense, with technically accurate fireworks and undeniable heroism.” —HistoryNetIn April of 1972, near the end of the Vietnam War, SEAL Lieutenant Tom Norris performed an unprecedented ground rescue of two American airmen who were shot down behind enemy lines in North Vietnam, a feat for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. Just six months later, Norris was sent on a dangerous special reconnaissance mission that would take his team deep into enemy territory. In the running gun battle that ensued, Lieutenant Norris was severely wounded; a bullet entered his left eye and exited the left side of his head. SEAL Petty Officer Mike Thornton, under heavy fire, fought his way back onto a North Vietnamese beach to rescue his officer—an act of heroism that earned him the Medal of Honor as well.This is the true story of two living American legends who entered military service and the Navy SEAL teams for vastly different reasons—and were thrown together for a single combat mission that would define their lives.

Destiny of the Republic

Biographies & Memoirs

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The extraordinary account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from the bestselling author of The River of Doubt."Crisp, concise and revealing history.... A fresh narrative that plumbs some of the most dramatic days in U.S. presidential history." —The Washington Post James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived the attack, but become the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic brings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. history.Look for Candice Millard’s latest book, River of the Gods.

Le Français d'Europe

Biographies & Memoirs

Quand cet ouvrage fut imprimé le 20 juillet 1944, aux Éditions Balzac (nom pris par les Éditions Calmann-Levy sous administration allemande à partir de 1943), les troupes anglo-américaines avaient déjà libéré les principales villes de Normandie. Deux mois plus tard, elles entraient dans Paris. Ce livre eut donc une vie commerciale courte et son tirage fut, en très grande partie, pilonné. Dernier recueil d'articles de Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, il réunit une série de textes mi-politiques mi-littéraires qui parurent de 1940 à 1943 dans les colonnes de La Nouvelle Revue Française ainsi que tous ceux que publia l'hebdomadaire de Lucien Combelle La Révolution Nationale où s'exprimaient les partisans d'un collaborationnisme sans concessions. Parfois datés, ces écrits restent cependant toujours passionnants pour tous les amateurs d'histoire et pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent au grand écrivain que fut Pierre Drieu La Rochelle.

The Dolly Sisters

Biographies & Memoirs

The rags to riches story of identical twins Jenny and Rosie is set against the glittering backdrop of high society in America and Europe before the onset of the Second World War. They had a colourful life where nature’s duplicity enabled a highly successful career as dancers which made them ‘stars’. And yet, lurking behind their glamorous story of fame, fortune, mistaken identity, millionaires, love and sisterly devotion - that made them legends - is another of rivalry, duplicity and tragedy.

La tregua

Biographies & Memoirs

La tregua, continuación de Si esto es un hombre, es el libro del retorno, una odisea de la Europa entre la guerra y la paz escrita por Primo Levi en 1963, con la perspectiva de los años. Y es que, por razones que nunca se aclararon, la repatriación del puñado de supervivientes italianos de Auschwitz llevó mucho tiempo, y fue la culminación de un viaje tortuoso y absurdo por Polonia, Rusia, Ucrania, Rumanía y Hungría. La tregua despliega ante el atónito lector la infinita riqueza de la humanidad, ahora sí empeñada en sobrevivir, con sus pícaros y sus payasos, sus bandidos y sus nostálgicos del recién sucumbido régimen, sus devotos, sus exaltados, sus aspirantes, sus nuevas víctimas. Todo ello a través de los mercados clandestinos de Cracovia, los cuarteles del Ejército Rojo, la vasta tierra rusa permeada de gloria y de miseria, los bosques vírgenes, las borracheras de la soldadesca y las añoranzas de los italianos camino de casa.Esta es la crónica de un gigantesco esfuerzo colectivo, la historia de un éxito: la larga marcha de España hacia Europa, esto es, hacia la modernidad. Así presenta Joaquín Estefanía este volumen, que recoge el fruto de muchos años de atención, desde un observatorio privilegiado, al devenir de los acontecimientos políticos y económicos de España. En estas páginas, enmarcadas por un nuevo prólogo que analiza la evolución de la Unión Europea en el tiempo transcurrido desde la primera redacción de la obra, desemboca buena parte de la labor periodística realizada por el autor para el diario Informaciones y el semanario Cuadernos para el Diálogo, para Cinco Días y, sobre todo, para El País, en lo que constituye un viaje por la búsqueda del sueño europeo, y una reflexión sobre por qué sigue valiendo la pena perseguirlo. La larga marcha es, al mismo tiempo, un relato político y económico, un ensayo hemerográfico, un documento sociológico, una crónica periodística y un testimonio; pero su autor desea que se lea, ante todo, como «una mirada al servicio de la memoria y, con toda humildad, también de la historia de este último medio siglo que ha sido para buena parte de las distintas generaciones de ciudadanos españoles una suerte de utopía factible: Europa».

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