Biographies & Memoirs Books

The Story of Ray Charles

The Story of Ray Charles

Biographies & Memoirs

American Biographies Series provides descriptions and stories of people important in the history of the United States. Including the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death, the series also presents highlights of various aspects of his or her life. Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), professionally known as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and composer, who is sometimes referred to as "The Genius". He pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the racial integration of country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. Charles was blind from the age of seven. Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and country artists of the day, including Art Tatum, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown and Louis Armstrong. Charles' playing reflected influences from country blues, barrelhouse and stride piano styles. He had strong ties to Quincy Jones, who often cared for him and showed him the ropes of the "music club industry." Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in show business", although Charles downplayed this notion. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Charles at number ten on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". Billy Joel observed: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley". LEARN ENGLISH AS YOU READ AND LISTEN TO THE DESCRIPTIONS AND STORIES OF PEOPLE IMPORTANT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. ADAPTATIONS ARE WRITTEN AT THE INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER-BEGINNER LEVEL AND ARE READ ONE-THIRD SLOWER THAN REGULAR ENGLISH.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Biographies & Memoirs

Former slave, impassioned abolitionist, brilliant writer, newspaper editor and eloquent orator whose speeches fired the abolitionist cause, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) led an astounding life. Physical abuse, deprivation and tragedy plagued his early years, yet through sheer force of character he was able to overcome these obstacles to become a leading spokesman for his people.In this, the first and most frequently read of his three autobiographies, Douglass provides graphic descriptions of his childhood and horrifying experiences as a slave as well as a harrowing record of his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom.Published in 1845 to quell doubts about his origins — since few slaves of that period could write — the Narrative is admired today for its extraordinary passion, sensitive and vivid descriptions and storytelling power. It belongs in the library of anyone interested in African-American history and the life of one of the country's most courageous and influential champions of civil rights.

Twelve Years A Slave

Twelve Years A Slave

Biographies & Memoirs

#1 BestsellerNow a major motion picture directed by Steve McQueen and starring Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Paul Giamatti12 Years a Slave is a riveting true account of a free man captured and sold into slavery in the pre–Civil War South. Solomon Northup’s narrative explores one of the darkest times in American history and captures in vivid detail the unimaginable realities of slavery.In 1841, the educated musician Solomon Northup, a free man living in New York who is cruelly deceived by the promise of a job in Washington, is drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Once Solomon arrives in New Orleans, he is given a slave name and soon realizes that any mention of his rights as a free man is sure to bring cruel punishment or death. Denied his freedom and ripped away from his family, he spends twelve emotionally and physically gruelling years on a Louisiana cotton plantation enduring the hardships and brutalities of life as a slave. When Solomon eventually finds a sympathizing friend, a daring rescue is attempted that could either end in Solomon’s death or restore his freedom and reunite him with his family.When Solomon Northup published this harrowing account of slavery in 1853, it immediately stirred up controversy in the national debate over slavery, helping to sway public opinion in favour of abolition. His book 12 Years a Slave remains one of the most insightful, detailed, and eloquent depictions of slavery in America. It demonstrates the extraordinary resilience of one man’s spirit in the face of extreme suffering and his incredible will to survive.

A Dutiful Son

A Dutiful Son

Biographies & Memoirs

Pascal Bruckner's memoir reads like a novel, a Bildungsroman which charts his journey from pious Catholic child to leading philosopher and writer on French culture. The key figure in Bruckner's life is his father, a virulent anti-Semite, who voluntarily went to work in Germany during the Second World War. He is a violent man who beats his wife. The young Bruckner soon reacts against his father and his revenge is to become his polar opposite, even to the point of being happy to be called a ‘Jewish thinker’, which he is not. ‘My father helped me to think better by thinking against him. I am his defeat.’ Despite this opposition, he remains tied to his father to the very end. He has other ‘fathers’, men such as Sartre, Vladimir Jankélévitch and Roland Barthes who fostered his philosophical development, and describes his friendship with his ‘philosophical twin brother’, Alain Finkielkraut. A great read for anyone interested in the 1960s, the intellectual life of France and the father and son relationship.

The Story of Ernest Hemingway

The Story of Ernest Hemingway

Biographies & Memoirs

American Biographies Series provides descriptions and stories of people important in the history of the United States. Including the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death, the series also presents highlights of various aspects of his or her life. Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature. LEARN ENGLISH AS YOU READ AND LISTEN TO THE DESCRIPTIONS AND STORIES OF PEOPLE IMPORTANT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. ADAPTATIONS ARE WRITTEN AT THE INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER-BEGINNER LEVEL AND ARE READ ONE-THIRD SLOWER THAN REGULAR ENGLISH.

The Beautiful Struggle

The Beautiful Struggle

Biographies & Memoirs

Ta-Nehisi Coates wächst in den 1980er-Jahren in Baltimore auf - als die Stadt am Abgrund taumelt: Armut und Drogenkriminalität prägen den Alltag, Chaos und Gewalt stellen für den schwarzen Jungen eine permanente Bedrohung dar. Er muss schnell lernen, sich in dieser feindlichen Umgebung zu behaupten - und sein Vater Paul ist ihm ein guter Lehrer: Der Black-Panther-Aktivist und autodidakte Verleger lehrt Ta-Nehisi wie man auf den Straßen von Baltimore überlebt, wie man vorankommt im Leben und es schließlich sogar bis an die Universität schafft. THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE ist eine bewegende Vater-Sohn-Geschichte über die Herausforderungen der gesellschaftlichen Realität, in die wir hineingeboren werden, und über die Liebe, die uns davor beschützt.

What Remains

What Remains

Biographies & Memoirs

A stunning, tragic memoir about John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and his cousin Anthony Radziwill, by Radziwill’s widow.What Remains is a vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes an award-winning television producer and marries a prince, Anthony Radziwill. Carole grew up in a small suburb with a large, eccentric cast of characters. At nineteen, she struck out for New York City to find a different life. Her career at ABC News led her to the refugee camps of Cambodia, to a bunker in Tel Aviv, and to the scene of the Menendez murders. Her marriage led her into the old world of European nobility and the newer world of American aristocracy.What Remains begins with loss and returns to loss. A small plane plunges into the ocean carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., Anthony’s cousin, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Carole’s closest friend. Three weeks later Anthony dies of cancer. With unflinching honesty and a journalist’s keen eye, Carole Radziwill explores the enduring ties of family, the complexities of marriage, the importance of friendship, and the challenges of self-invention. Beautifully written, What Remains “gets at the essence of what matters,” wrote Oprah Winfrey. “Friendship, compassion, destiny.”

Black and proud

Black and proud

Biographies & Memoirs

Der Mann hinter dem Mythos James Brown."Godfather", "Mr. Dynamite" und "Da Number One Soul Brother": James Brown war eine der exzentrischsten und wirkmächtigsten Figuren der Popmusik. Doch es gab auch den anderen James Brown, das Kind schwarzer Landarbeiter in den ärmlichen Verhältnissen von Augusta, Georgia. James McBride begibt sich in Interviews mit ehemaligen Bandmitgliedern, Managern und Familienangehörigen auf seine persönliche Suche nach dem Mann hinter dem Mythos James Brown - und nimmt uns mit auf eine Reise durch das ganz andere Amerika: die Südstaaten, Heimat der Unterdrückten, der Magier, Trickster und Gestaltenwandler. Vom Leben des zerrissenen Musikers weitet sich dabei der Blick auf die kulturelle Landschaft einer zutiefst gespaltenen Nation.

Evita: The Legacy and Mythology of Eva Peron

Evita: The Legacy and Mythology of Eva Peron

Biographies & Memoirs

Eva Perón (1919-1952) only lived to be 33, but Evita has had much longer staying power in the decades after her death. Eva started out as a young actress hoping to make it on the big stage, a fitting desire for a woman who became the subject of a major movie. But her destiny was to meet and marry Juan Perón in the 1940s, as he was on the verge of becoming president of Argentina. It would be on that stage that Evita charmed her country’s people and began advocating politically, to the point that she became her own political force in the country, slowed only by her premature death of cancer.  Since her death, the mythology and legend of Evita have grown monumentally. Though millions worshipped Eva, who nearly became the Vice-President of Argentina before her premature death, opinions of her still vary between two extremes. While some think of her as an angelic woman who sought to uplift women and the poor, others view her as a self-serving, egotistical, and embittered woman who used sex to rise up Argentina’s social and political ladder and seek vengeance on the upper classes. Evita: The Legacy and Mythology of Eva Perón humanizes the youngest of 5 siblings who once had more modest ambitions as Eva Duarte, and it explores the mythology and legacy that have grown around Evita, examining her representations in literature, film, and theatre to uncover the truth behind her enigmatic existence.

60 Biographies & Memoirs

60 Biographies & Memoirs

Biographies & Memoirs

Timeless collection of biographies and memoirs including the stories of Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth, Cleopatra, Karl Marx, and more. The stories have variety in style and subject, but are all masterpieces with enduring quality of writing. A LESSON IN JUSTICE A STORY OF OLD ROME ANOTHER BIRD STORY GOING TO SEA HOW A PRINCE LEARNED TO READ KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA OUR FIRST GREAT PAINTER QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER READ, AND YOU WILL KNOW   + 50 more

Capote's Women

Capote's Women

Biographies & Memoirs

DON’T MISS FX’s FEUD: CAPOTE VS. THE SWANS—THE ORIGINAL SERIES BASED ON THE BESTSELLING BOOK—NOW AVAILABLE TO STREAM ON HULU!New York Times bestselling author Laurence Leamer reveals the complex web of relationships and scandalous true stories behind Truman Capote's never-published final novel, Answered Prayers—the dark secrets, tragic glamour, and Capote's ultimate betrayal of the group of female friends he called his "swans."“There are certain women,” Truman Capote wrote, “who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich.” Barbara “Babe” Paley, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Slim Hayward, Pamela Churchill, C. Z. Guest, Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy’s sister)—they were the toast of midcentury New York, each beautiful and distinguished in her own way. Capote befriended them, received their deepest confidences, and ingratiated himself into their lives. Then, in one fell swoop, he betrayed them in the most surprising and startling way possible.Bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer delves into the years following the acclaimed publication of Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1958 and In Cold Blood in 1966, when Capote struggled with a crippling case of writer’s block. While en­joying all the fruits of his success, he was struck with an idea for what he was sure would be his most celebrated novel…one based on the re­markable, racy lives of his very, very rich friends.For years, Capote attempted to write An­swered Prayers, what he believed would have been his magnum opus. But when he eventually published a few chapters in Esquire, the thinly fictionalized lives (and scandals) of his closest fe­male confidantes were laid bare for all to see, and he was banished from their high-society world forever. Laurence Leamer re-creates the lives of these fascinating swans, their friendships with Capote and one another, and the doomed quest to write what could have been one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

The Many Lives of Mama Love

The Many Lives of Mama Love

Biographies & Memoirs

New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards.Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly finds the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the “shot caller,” showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with The Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, prove to herself that she is more good than bad, and much more.The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla: The Pioneers of Electricity

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla: The Pioneers of Electricity

Biographies & Memoirs

*Includes pictures of Tesla, Edison and important people and places in their lives.  *Includes some of the inventors' most inspiring quotes and explanations of their inventive techniques. *Discusses the relationship and rivalry between Edison and Tesla *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. *Includes a Table of Contents. Thomas Edison holds a unique legacy in the United States, but there's no denying that his inventions have benefited the world as a whole. Known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park", every American knows that their nation's most prolific inventor harnessed the power of electricity to create the first light bulb. But that was just one of over 1,000 patents Edison would establish during his life, as he not only dreamed up new devices but also revolutionized the way materials were mass produced. His life's work heavily influenced everything from electric power, batteries and lighting to cement, telegraphy and mining.  While Edison's inventions are important, what he represented was also critical to the nation as a whole. Edison represented the American Dream, specifically the notion that hard work can accomplish anything, and he always understood that himself, once exhorting the nation, "Be courageous! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation." As one Edison biographer put it, "Thomas Edison was more responsible than any one else for creating the modern world...No one did more to shape the physical/cultural makeup of present day civilization..."  If anyone could challenge that claim, it might be Nikola Tesla. Born a Serb in the Austrian Empire, Tesla came to the United States and worked in a laboratory for none other than the Wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison. It was through his work on behalf of Edison that Tesla flourished and became a well-known figure in his own right. His work there helped him establish financial backing for his own projects, particularly the design of AC (alternating current) as a system for supplying electricity. This later put him at odds with Edison, who championed DC (direct current), but Tesla’s model would come out on top as the 19th century came to a close.  Having established AC as an electrical supply system, Tesla became a global celebrity, and his devices and inventions fascinated people. Tesla tinkered with everything from X-rays to wireless communications and even attempted a primitive form of the radio. While Tesla was not able to successfully execute the devices and concepts he foresaw, his forward thinking in fields like wireless communication certainly proved prescient, and his futuristic devices and his later reputation for eccentricity helped create the “mad scientist” image that still remains a pop culture fixture. Tesla seemed to have come to grips with this aspect of his legacy late in life, noting, “The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter — for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.” This book profiles the lives and legacies of the two famous scientists, while also examining their inventions and work. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Edison and Tesla like never before.

UP FROM SLAVERY (An Autobiography)

UP FROM SLAVERY (An Autobiography)

Biographies & Memoirs

This carefully crafted ebook: "UP FROM SLAVERY (An Autobiography)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Excerpt: Up From Slavery chronicles the life of Booker T. Washington from his days as a child slave during American Civil War to his journey though self-education and towards his growth as a prominent African American leader. This book became a best seller upon its publication in 1905 and impressed Theodore Roosevelt so much that he invited Washington to dine at White House. "I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office called Hale's Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not know the month or the day. The earliest impressions I can now recall are of the plantation and the slave quarters—the latter being the part of the plantation where the slaves had their cabins. My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings." Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Washington was from the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants. He was also a key proponent of African-American businesses and one of the founders of the National Negro Business League.

Kill 'Em and Leave

Kill 'Em and Leave

Biographies & Memoirs

“You won’t leave this hypnotic book without feeling that James Brown is still out there, howling.”—The Boston Globe From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, Deacon King Kong, and Five-Carat Soul Kill ’Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Brown embodied the contradictions of American life: He was an unsettling symbol of the tensions between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. After receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth, James McBride goes in search of the “real” James Brown. McBride’s travels take him to forgotten corners of Brown’s never-before-revealed history, illuminating not only our understanding of the immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated Godfather of Soul, but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Brown’s enduring legacy.  Praise for Kill ’Em and Leave“A tour de force of cultural reportage.”—The Seattle Times “Thoughtful and probing.”—The New York Times Book Review “Masterly . . . powerful.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “McBride provides something lacking in most of the books about James Brown: an intimate feeling for the musician, a veracious if inchoate sense of what it was like to be touched by him. . . . It may be as close [to ‘the real James Brown’] as we’ll ever get.”—David Hajdu, The Nation “A feat of intrepid journalistic fortitude.”—USA Today “[McBride is] the biographer of James Brown we’ve all been waiting for. . . . McBride’s true subject is race and poverty in a country that doesn’t want to hear about it, unless compelled by a voice that demands to be heard.”—Boris Kachka, New York “Illuminating . . . engaging.”—The Washington Post “A gorgeously written piece of reportage that gives us glimpses of Brown’s genius and contradictions.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me

Biographies & Memoirs

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone) NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly  In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

The Kennedys: The Lives and Legacies of John, Jackie, Robert, and Ted Kennedy

The Kennedys: The Lives and Legacies of John, Jackie, Robert, and Ted Kennedy

Biographies & Memoirs

*Includes pictures of the Kennedys and important people, places, and events in their lives. *Includes an introduction for each of the 4. *Includes a Table of Contents Over the last 50 years, the name Kennedy has become the most famous one in America, with the Kennedy brothers coming to political power during the mid-20th century, while John's beautiful wife Jackie became a political wife and First Lady unlike any the nation had ever witnessed. In time, the Kennedys forged a political dynasty, leaving a lasting legacy in American politics that endures to this day. In many ways, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his young family were the perfect embodiment of the ‘60s. The decade began with a sense of idealism, personified by the attractive Kennedy, his beautiful and fashionable wife Jackie, and his young children. Months into his presidency, Kennedy exhorted the country to reach for the stars, calling upon the nation to send a man to the Moon and back by the end of the decade. In 1961, Kennedy made it seem like anything was possible, and Americans were eager to believe him. The Kennedy years were fondly and famously labeled “Camelot,” suggesting an almost mythical quality about the young President and his family.  The famous label came from John’s fashionable and beautiful wife, Jackie, whose elegance and grace made her the most popular woman in the world. Her popularity threatened to eclipse even her husband’s, who famously quipped on one presidential trip to France that he was “the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.” Americans were fascinated by the young First Lady’s style, and the manner in which she glamorously positioned both the First Family and the White House in those years, and Jackie remains one of the country’s most popular First Ladies.  Robert Francis Kennedy (1925–1968) is the quintessential middle brother among the Kennedys, eclipsed in life while working in his brother John’s administration, eclipsed in death both by his older brother’s assassination and his younger brother’s long, influential career in the Senate as a liberal lion. And yet, the politics of the 1960s and the ultimate legacy of the Kennedys, including the “Kennedy Curse”, would have been incomplete without Bobby’s place in the narrative. Today, unfortunately, Bobby is best remembered for his assassination, the way in which it helped perpetuate the “Kennedy Curse”, and the fact that his political promise, including potentially becoming president in 1968, was never fulfilled.  Ted may not have been the center of attention in the Kennedy family then or now, but he had the same charisma and skills of his older brothers, as well as the same controversial vices. And as fate would have it, Ted’s political legacy may have eclipsed them all. His brothers were victims of two of the country’s most tragic assassinations, two other siblings died in plane crashes, and he would have to eulogize nephews. But Ted had the extra gift of length of years, surviving his encounter with the “Kennedy Curse”, a 1964 plane crash that severely injured and nearly killed him. Although controversy ensured Ted would never be president, he spent nearly half a century in the U.S. Senate, forging a legacy that earned him the nickname “The Lion of the Senate”. Indeed, in the course of becoming the 4th longest serving Senator in American history, Ted became the patriarch of both the Kennedy family and the Democratic Party, as well as one of the most forceful and outspoken advocates of progressivism. The Kennedys tells the story of John, Jackie, Robert, and Ted, weaving their lives and legacies together into one narrative. Along with pictures of the Kennedy family and important people, places, and events in their lives, you will learn about the Kennedys like you never have before, in no time at all.

Catching Hell

Catching Hell

Biographies & Memoirs

Four days on the job Jay was shot point-blank in the back by a criminal suspect. The bullet travelled through his lung and exited his chest. For the next twenty-seven years, he accepted every dirty and dangerous undercover assignment possible. Some days he succeeded, on others he failed, but all he ever wanted to do was to defend and protect people who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do that for themselves.Death threats mounted from street criminals and he was again shot in the back. This time not by a suspect, but by the people he worked for; abandoned and marginalized, the threats were ignored and he was framed as an arsonist who tried to murder his family.What came next was corruption and a cover-up to proportions that few would ever believe our government was capable of.This is his true story.