Biographies & Memoirs - Books

The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux

Biographies & Memoirs

Born Marie Françoise-Therese Martin, Saint Therese of Lisieux in her twenty-four short years, through her simple and practical approach to spiritual life, left one of the most lasting impressions upon the Catholic world. In the view of Pope Saint Pius X, she was the greatest saint of modern times, and along with Saint Francis of Assisi, remains to this day as one of the popular saints in the history of the church. Contained here is her autobiography, in the words of Francis Cardinal Bourne, “It is the old story of simplicity in God’s service, of the perfect accomplishment of small recurring duties, of trustful confidence in Him who made and has redeemed and sanctified us. Humility, self-effacement, obedience, hiddenness, unfaltering charity, with all the self-control and constant effort that they imply, are written on every page of the history of this little Saint. And, as we turn its pages, the lesson is borne in upon our souls that there is no surer nor safer way of pleasing Our Father Who is in Heaven than by remaining ever as little children in His sight.”

Utºya. Un dels nostres

Biographies & Memoirs

El 22 de juliol de 2011, Anders Breivik va fer explotar una bomba davant de l'oficina del primer ministre noruec, al centre d'Oslo. Tot seguit se'n va anar a l'illa boscosa d'Utøya i va matar seixanta-nou persones, la majoria adolescents i joves. La periodista Åsne Seierstad narra la història d'aquell dia fatídic i de les seves conseqüències. Per què Breivik, un noi amb talent d'un barri ric d'Oslo va assassinar tanta gent? I com un país reconegut pel seu pacifisme va fer front a aquella matança? Seierstad recorre l'insòlit camí que va acabar convertint Breivik en un terrorista i escriu també sobre les seves víctimes.Un dels nostres és alhora un estudi psicològic sobre l'extremisme violent, una crònica real i dramàtica, un veritable true crime novel·lat, i una investigació plena d'humanitat sobre com una societat privilegiada s'enfronta al mal.

John Wycliffe and His Work

Biographies & Memoirs

It is an old and true saying, that nations sometimes know little about some of their greatest benefactors. If there ever was a man to whom this saying applies, it is John Wycliffe, the forerunner and first beginner of the Protestant Reformation in this country. To Wycliffe England owes an enormous debt: yet Wycliffe is a man of whom most Englishmen know little or nothing. In drawing up a few pages about this great and good man, the words of the Apostle St. Peter rise up before my mind. He says, “I think it meet to stir you up by putting you in remembrance” (2 Pet. i. 13). This is exactly what I want to do in this volume. I wish to stir up my readers, and try to make them remember and never forget the man who has been justly called “The Morning Star of the English Reformation.”

The Turning Point: Thirty-Five Years in this Century, the Autobiography of Klaus Mann

Biographies & Memoirs

In this second installment of his autobiography (following Kind dieser Zeit), Klaus Mann describes his childhood in the family of Thomas Mann and his circle, his adolescence in the Weimar Republic, and his experiences as a young homosexual and early opponent of Nazism. He also describes how, after the Reichstag elections of September 1930, friends and family began to discuss the looming prospect of emigration and exile. When Stefan Zweig published an article claiming that democracy was ineffective, Klaus replied: “I want to have nothing, nothing at all to do with this perverse kind of ‘radicalism.’” After hearing one of his working-class lovers in a storm trooper’s uniform say, “They are going to be the bosses and that’s all there is to it,” Klaus fled to Paris in March of 1933. He became one of one hundred thousand German refugees in France, losing his publisher, friends and associates, and readers in the process. He describes finding a German Jewish publisher in Amsterdam and the difficulties of starting a journal of émigré writing. In 1934, his German passport expired and he was forced to renew temporary travel documents every six months. The President of Czechoslovakia offered citizenship to the entire Mann family in 1936 but then Hitler invaded that country and Klaus emigrated to the United States. Despite statelessness, bouts of syphilis and drug abuse, neither his pace of travel nor publication slowed. His novel Der Vulkan is among the most famous books about German exiles during World War II but it sold only 300 copies. Klaus stopped reading and writing German in the U.S. “The writer must not cling with stubborn nostalgia to his mother tongue,” he writes in The Turning Point. He must “find a new vocabulary, a new set of rhythms and devices, a new medium to articulate his sorrow and emotions, his protests and his prayers.” This extraordinary memoir, an eyewitness account of the rise of Nazism by an out gay man, was Klaus Mann’s first book written in English. “A highly civilized child of the twentieth century is trying to make peace with his times, trying to find a place to belong... The decay of France, the paranoia of Germany, the coming disasters, the shining myth of Europe... are now compelling concerns... A sensitive, cultivated European looks at his world, his life, and describes them in apt and telling phrase. Toward both his attitude is not so strong as despair, but rather one of alienation. His book is a commentary upon evil times...” — Lorinne Pruette, The New York Times “Klaus Mann... has written an intensely engaging autobiography... This is Klaus Mann’s own story; it is also the story of many young intellectuals in a darkening Europe; and it is the story of a son of a famous man... an eloquent book... a lavish document.” — Winfield Townley Scott, The American Mercury “[Klaus Mann’s] autobiography [is] certainly one of the great autobiographies of the century and probably the definitive one of the life of a German exile… Not only very good reading but also essential in the literature of twentieth-century exile.” — Carl Zuckmayer, Bloomsbury Review “A delightful, modern-romantic group portrait of the Manns en famille.” — The New Yorker “The portrait of the Mann family is excellent. Klaus Mann is at his best describing his childhood and the family life... The value and the interest of this book lies in the intimate impressions and memories of many celebrities who crossed the path of Klaus Mann during his wanderings through the whole world.” — The Saturday Review of Literature “The book moves with passion and conviction in a stirring tempo worthy of the son of Thomas Mann. The years in exile are superbly written.” — The New York Post “This autobiography by the son of Thomas Mann has a double value: first as a distinguished autobiography, a sensitive portrait of a young man growing up in between-wars Germany, second as a loving intimate portrait of his father. A vivid picture of what the first war meant to a child, with its violent patriotism, its deprivations; then the moral disorder of Berlin youth in the 20s and his attempts to express himself against the rising tide of fascism, one of the reasons for the family exile.” — Kirkus Reviews

Les chats aussi rêvent d'aventures

Biographies & Memoirs

Lara est une petite chatte malicieuse et sensible. Elle apprécie la douceur de son foyer, mais depuis l’arrivée d’un chien dans la famille, tout a changé. Ses maîtres ne semblent avoir d’attention que pour cette petite horreur canine !Jalouse, Lara rêve du jour où elle pourra être libre de partir à l’aventure dans le grand monde et découvrir de nouveaux amis ! L’occasion se présente lorsque toute la famille se rend en Chine. Ni vu, ni connu, elle fausse compagnie à ses maîtres.Mais la petite chatte se rend rapidement compte qu’elle est malheureuse toute seule et elle va parcourir des milliers de kilomètres à travers le monde pour retrouver sa famille. Des aventures et des défis vont changer sa vie pour toujours, car elle réalise que le véritable foyer est celui où l’on est aimé…

In His Own Words

Biographies & Memoirs

In spreading the message of freedom, equality, and human dignity, Nelson Mandela helped transform not only his own nation, but the entire world. Now his most important speeches are collected in a single volume. From the eve of his imprisonment to his release twenty-seven years later, from his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize to his election as South Africa's first black president, these speeches span some of the most pivotal moments of Mandela's life and his country's history. Arranged thematically and accompanied by tributes from leading world figures, Mandela's addresses memorably illustrate his lasting commitment to freedom and reconciliation, democracy and development, culture and diversity, and international peace and well-being. The extraordinary power of this volume is in the moving words and intimate tone of Mandela himself, one of the most courageous and articulate men of our time. "There is no easy way to walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires." -- Nelson Mandela, September 1953

The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci and Other Documents Illustrative of His Career

Biographies & Memoirs

The account of the alleged voyage of Amerigo Vespucci in 1497-98 was written for that worthy's own countrymen, and for foreigners who lived at a distance from the Peninsula. When, after some years, the story reached Spain in print, men were still alive who would have known whether any such voyage had ever been made. Among them was the able and impartial historian Las Casas, who considered that the story was false, and disproved it from internal evidence. The authority of Las Casas is alone conclusive. Modern investigators, such as Robertson, Muñoz, Navarrete, Humboldt, Washington Irving, and D'Avezac examined the question, and they all came to the same conclusion as Las Casas. The matter appeared to be finally settled until 1865. In that year M. F. de Varnhagen, Baron of Porto Seguro in Brazil, published a book at Lima, where he was accredited as Brazilian Minister, with the object of rehabilitating the Florentine's character for honesty, by arguing that the story of the alleged voyage in 1497-98 was worthy of credit. This makes it desirable that the whole question should once more be discussed. Varnhagen at least deserves the thanks of all students of the history of American discovery for having published, in an accessible form, both the Latin and the Italian texts of the letters of Vespucci. It has been decided by the Council of the Hakluyt Society to supply a volume to the members containing translations of the letters of Vespucci, of the chapters in which they are discussed in the history of Las Casas, and other original documents relating to the subject. Readers will thus be enabled to form independent judgments on this vexed question; while the Introduction will furnish them with the events of the life of Vespucci, and with a review of the arguments in support of Varnhagen's theory, as well as of those which militate against it. A Life of Vespucci was published by an enthusiastic fellow-countryman named Bandini, in 1745, who collected all there is to be known respecting his family and early life at Florence, and reprinted his authentic letters. Canovai was another biographer, and a still warmer panegyrist. There are three spurious letters attributed to Vespucci, but they are now so universally held to be forgeries, that they need not occupy our time.

Still Just a Geek

Biographies & Memoirs

A New York Times bestseller!Celebrated actor, personality, and all-around nerd, Wil Wheaton updates his memoir of collected blog posts with all new material and annotations as he reexamines one of the most interesting lives in Hollywood and fandom--and now for the first time in audio, narrated by Wil himself!From starring in Stand by Me to playing Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation to playing himself, in his second (third?) iconic role of Evil Wil Wheaton in The Big Bang Theory, to becoming a social media supernova, Wil Wheaton has charted a career course unlike anyone else, and has emerged as one of the most popular and well respected names in science fiction, fantasy and pop culture.Back in 2001, Wil began blogging on wilwheaton.net. Believing himself to have fallen victim to the curse of the child actor, Wil felt relegated to the convention circuit, and didn’t expect many would want to read about his random experiences and personal philosophies.Yet, much to his surprise, people were reading. He still blogs, and now has an enormous following on social media with well over 3 million followers.In Still Just a Geek, Wil revisits his 2004 collection of blog posts, Just a Geek, filled with insightful and often laugh-out-loud annotated comments, additional later writings, and all new material written for this publication. The result is an incredibly raw and honest memoir, in which Wil opens up about his life, about falling in love, about coming to grips with his past work, choices, and family, and finding fulfillment in the new phases of his career. From his times on the Enterprise to his struggles with depression to his starting a family and finding his passion--writing--Wil Wheaton is someone whose life is both a cautionary tale and a story of finding one’s true purpose that should resonate with fans and aspiring artists alike.

Conversations with Myself

Biographies & Memoirs

Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela's personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the private world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written in Robben Island and other South African prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the postapartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and correspondence written during his presidency—a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An intimate journey from Mandela's first stirrings of political consciousness to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged on the front lines of the struggle for freedom and justice.While other books have recounted Mandela's life from the vantage of the present, Conversations with Myself allows, for the first time, unhindered insight into the human side of the icon.

The Green River Killer

Biographies & Memoirs

Second Opus de la collection Serial Killer, cette fois-ci, Stéphane Bourgoin nous invite à découvrir The Green River Killer... Gary Ridgway est né le 18 février 1949 à Salt Lake City dans l'Utah. Le mode opératoire de Gary Ridgway consistait à avoir des relations sexuelles avec ses victimes, les étrangler, et jeter leurs cadavres dans la forêt ou bien dans la Green River. Il aurait assassiné entre 49 et 90 personnes, dans l'État de Washington.Ses premiers crimes remontent à 1982, et très vite la presse lui attribue le surnom de « tueur de la Green River », du nom de la rivière dans laquelle il jette ses cinq premières victimes. Cependant, il n'a été démasqué qu'en novembre 2001, grâce à l'analyse de traces ADN...

Raging Bull II

Biographies & Memoirs

Chris Anderson & Sharon McGehee with Jake La Motta Jake La Motta was a symbol of courage. As the Bronx Bull, hero of the slums and the man Marciano called the greatest fighter he’d ever seen, this sullen kid from the Bronx who rarely laughed or smiled and never talked unless he had to, survived by a simple code - "hit'em first and hit'em hard." He vowed he would make it in this world or die trying. Jake La Motta is a man who refused to let the cheering stop. If it is true that when God examines a man he looks not for medals but for scars, then La Motta, who in his sixty-odd years of survival has taken more hard knocks out of the ring than in, has more than earned the title Middle Weight Champion of the World, for which he sacrificed everything that makes most lives worth living. Raging Bull II is a continuation of the Jake La Motta story. When Robert De Niro won an Academy Award playing Jake in a film made from the book, La Motta's life brightened as he shared the limelight with De Niro. Since then he has gone through fortunes, been wealthy and flat broke, and married again in addition to his first five marriages, which ended in divorces before, the film was produced. La Motta now lives with Theresa Miller, his sixth wife. In her he believes he has finally found a marital state that will endure for the balance of his life. All of the conflicts, the fights and the terrors, which have been part and parcel of La Motta’s life, are in these pages. The book takes a sharp look at the real Raging Bull, both as the controversial ring gladiator and as the older, wiser philosophically entertaining performer he has become. In the ex-fighter's own words, "this time [he] has fought not to be a champion gladiator but to become a champion human being." Chris Anderson and Sharon McGehee, a husband and wife team, have collaborated together as a writing-producing team since 1978. A veteran New Yorker and experienced producer and director of plays on and off Broadway, Mr. Anderson established the first outdoor theater in Central Park in 1957. Ms. McGehee, a native of Pensacola, Florida, where she was a columnist for the Pensacola News Journal, received her master’s degree in education from Hunter College in 1980. She pursued a career in dance, choreography and dance therapy. Anderson and McGehee formed a production company in 1982 for the development of theatrical, film and TV properties. Raging Bull II is their first book collaboration. Jake La Motta is sui generis. Jacket design by Tim Gaydos Photo courtesy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Story Of My Experiments With Truth

Biographies & Memoirs

This unusual autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, is a window to the workings of Mahatma Gandhi' s mind, a window to the emotions of his heart, a window to understanding what drove this seemingly ordinary man to the heights of being the father of a nation— India. Starting with his days as a boy, Gandhi takes one through his trials and turmoils and situations that moulded his philosophy of life: going through child marriage, his studies in England, practicing Law in South Africa— and his Satyagraha there— to the early beginnings of the Independence movement in India. He did not aim to write an autobiography but rather share the experience of his various experiments with truth to arrive at what he perceived as Absolute Truth— the ideal of his struggle against racism, violence and colonialism. This is a translation by Mahadev Desai.

Die Briefe der Manns

Biographies & Memoirs

Erstmals veröffentlicht: Die Briefe der Manns mit über 100 unbekannten Briefen aus sechs JahrzehntenThomas Mann ist in sein Werk vertieft. Wenn der Literaturnobelpreisträger daraus auftaucht, nimmt er mit Witz und Neugier am Treiben seiner Familie teil. Katia Mann kümmert sich um alles. Die Mutter rät und ermutigt, schickt Geld und scharfe Worte – vor allem die Tochter Monika, die oft abseits steht, bekommt es immer wieder ab. Erika, Klaus, Golo, Monika, Michael und Elisabeth Mann: Sechs Kinder suchen ihren Platz in der weiten Welt, in die sie vor Hitler fliehen mussten. Ihre Briefe erzählen vom politischen Kampf und vom Schreiben, von Liebe und Eifersucht, von Erfolgen, Drogen und Unglück.Im Anschluss an den Bestseller ›Die Manns. Geschichte einer Familie‹, der die berühmte Schriftstellerfamilie in neuem Licht gezeigt hat, legen Tilmann Lahme, Holger Pils und Kerstin Klein eine Auswahl von Familienbriefen vor: Die weitgehend unbekannten und ungedruckten Schreiben aus sechs Jahrzehnten zeichnen ein intimes und oft überraschendes Porträt der Familie des „Zauberers". Die Erfolge, der Witz und die Abgründe der Manns sind stets nur einen Satz entfernt.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

Biographies & Memoirs

“[A] fascinating window on Afghan life under the Taliban . . . a celebration of women . . . who support . . . loved ones with tenacity, inventiveness and sheer guts.” —PeopleThe life Kamila Sidiqi had known changed overnight when the Taliban seized control of the city of Kabul. After receiving a teaching degree during the civil war—a rare achievement for any Afghan woman—Kamila was subsequently banned from school and confined to her home. When her father and brother were forced to flee the city, Kamila became the sole breadwinner for her five siblings. Armed only with grit and determination, she picked up a needle and thread and created a thriving business of her own.The Dressmaker of Khair Khana tells the incredible true story of this unlikely entrepreneur who mobilized her community under the Taliban. Former ABC Newsreporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon spent years on the ground reporting Kamila's story, and the result is an unusually intimate look at the daily lives of women in Afghanistan. These women are not victims; they are the glue that holds families together; they are the backbone and the heart of their nation.“Remarkable.” —New Yorker“An exciting, engrossing [story] that reads like a novel.” —Publishers Weekly“Pure inspiration. . . reveals in acute detail the anxiety of ordinary people trying to fold their lives around the whims and laws of abusive regimes.” —Los Angeles Times“Guaranteed to move you—and to show you a side of Afghanistan few ever see.” —Angelina Jolie“The Dressmaker of Khair Khana verges on required reading.” —Christian Science Monitor“Proves once again the power of girls to remake our world.” —Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea

The Story of Thomas Jefferson

Biographies & Memoirs

A beautiful short introduction to the legendary Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence and fierce proponent opponent of tyranny. This eBook covers the life of one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, tracing his path from childhood to adult years to his ultimate position as first statesman and President of the United States.

Ricardo Corazón de León

Biographies & Memoirs

La sola mención del nombre de Ricardo Corazón de León despierta en el imaginario colectivo el recuerdo de la figura del caballero por antonomasia, el noble impetuoso que alimentó tantas fantasías juveniles y cuyas luchas contra Saladino forman parte de la leyenda. La audacia, el valor, el alto sentido del deber, la ambición, la lealtad o la fortaleza física son algunos de los rasgos que atribuimos a un personaje irrepetible. Los enfrentamientos con su padre, la rivalidad con su hermano Juan sin Tierra, la conquista de Chipre, las Cruzadas, la expulsión de Felipe Augusto de Normandía… Toda su vida parece marcada por el combate y el ardor guerrero. Pero, para llegar a un conocimiento cabal de Ricardo Corazón de León, hijo de Leonor de Aquitania, es preciso situarlo en su contexto político, ideológico y literario. Más allá de la más completa y rigurosa biografía del personaje, sin duda el ejemplo más acabado de caballero medieval, Jean Flori, uno de los historiadores y expertos sobre las Cruzadas y el siglo XII más renombrados del mundo, nos regala una historia crítica de la mentalidad caballeresca del siglo XII.

The Price of Principle

Biographies & Memoirs

In his fiftieth book, The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth the Consequences, Alan Dershowitz—#1 New York Times bestselling author and one of America’s most influential legal scholars—explores the implications of the increasing tendency in politics, academia, media, and even the courts of law to punish principle and reward partisan hypocrisy. Alan Dershowitz has been called “one of the most prominent and consistent defenders of civil liberties in America” by Politico, and “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights” by Newsweek. Yet, he has come under intense criticism for living by his principles and applying his famed “shoe on the other foot test.” The Price of Principle is about efforts to cancel Alan Dershowitz and his career because he has insisted on sticking to his principles instead of choosing sides in the current culture and political war dividing our country. He explains that principled people are actively punished for not being sufficiently partisan. Principle has become the vice and partisanship the virtue in an age when partisan ends justify unprincipled means, such as denial of due process and free speech in the interest of achieving partisan or ideological goals. Throughout his narrative, Dershowitz focuses on three sets of principles that have guided his life: 1) freedom of expression and conscience; 2) due process, fundamental fairness, and the adversary system of seeking justice; and 3) basic equality and meritocracy. He documents the attacks on him and others like him for being “guilty” of refusing to compromise important principles to promote partisanship. He names names and points fingers of accusation at those who have led us down this dangerous road. In the end, The Price of Principle represents an icon in the defense of free speech and due process reckoning with the challenges of unprincipled attacks—a new brand of McCarthyism—and insisting that we ask hard questions about our own moral principles.

Uma terra prometida

Biographies & Memoirs

Um relato íntimo e fascinante da história em formação — feito pelo líder que nos inspirou a acreditar no poder da democracia. No comovente e aguardado primeiro volume de suas memórias presidenciais, Barack Obama narra, nas próprias palavras, a história de sua odisseia improvável, desde quando era um jovem em busca de sua identidade até se tornar líder da maior democracia do mundo. Com detalhes surpreendentes, ele descreve sua formação política e os momentos marcantes do primeiro mandato de sua presidência histórica — época de turbulências e transformações drásticas. Obama conduz os leitores através de uma jornada cativante, que inclui suas primeiras aspirações políticas, a vitória crucial nas primárias de Iowa, na qual se demonstrou a força do ativismo popular, e a noite decisiva de 4 de novembro de 2008, quando foi eleito 44º presidente dos Estados Unidos, o primeiro afro-americano a ocupar o cargo mais alto do país. Ao refletir sobre a presidência, ele faz uma análise singular e cuidadosa do alcance e das limitações do Poder Executivo, além de oferecer pontos de vista surpreendentes sobre a dinâmica da política partidária dos Estados Unidos e da diplomacia internacional. Obama leva os leitores para dentro do Salão Oval e da Sala de Situação da Casa Branca, e também em viagens a Moscou, Cairo e Pequim, entre outros lugares. Acompanhamos de perto seus pensamentos enquanto monta o gabinete, enfrenta uma crise financeira global, avalia a figura de Vladímir Pútin, supera dificuldades que pareciam insuperáveis para aprovar a Lei de Assistência Acessível (Affordable Care Act), bate de frente com generais sobre a estratégia militar dos Estados Unidos no Afeganistão, trata da reforma de Wall Street, reage à devastadora explosão da plataforma petrolífera Deepwater Horizon e autoriza a Operação Lança de Netuno, que culmina com a morte de Osama bin Laden. Uma terra prometida é extraordinariamente pessoal e introspectivo — o relato da aposta de um homem na história, da fé de um líder comunitário posta à prova no palco mundial. Obama fala com sinceridade sobre os obstáculos de concorrer a um cargo eletivo sendo um americano negro, sobre corresponder às expectativas de uma geração inspirada por mensagens de "esperança e mudança" e sobre lidar com os desafios morais das decisões de alto risco. É honesto sobre as forças que se opuseram a ele dentro e fora do país, franco sobre os efeitos da vida na Casa Branca em sua esposa e em suas filhas e audacioso ao confessar suas dúvidas e desilusões. Jamais duvida, porém, de que no grande e incessante experimento americano o progresso é sempre possível. Brilhantemente escrito e poderoso, este livro demonstra a convicção de Barack Obama de que a democracia não é uma benção divina, mas algo fundado na empatia e no entendimento comum e construído em conjunto, todos os dias.

Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings

Biographies & Memoirs

Jefferson Davis is one of the most complex and controversial figures in American political history (and the man whom Oscar Wilde wanted to meet more than anyone when he made his tour of the United States). Elected president of the Confederacy and later accused of participating in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he is a source of ongoing dissension between northerners and southerners. This volume, the first of its kind, is a selected collection of his writings culled in large part from the authoritative Papers of Jefferson Davis, a multivolume edition of his letters and speeches published by the Louisiana State University Press, and includes thirteen documents from manuscript collections and one privately held document that have never before appeared in a modern scholarly edition. From letters as a college student to his sister, to major speeches on the Constitution, slavery, and sectional issues, to his farewell to the U.S. Senate, to his inaugural address as Confederate president, to letters from prison to his wife, these selected pieces present the many faces of the enigmatic Jefferson Davis.As William J. Cooper, Jr., writes in his Introduction, “Davis’s notability does not come solely from his crucial role in the Civil War. Born on the Kentucky frontier in the first decade of the nineteenth century, he witnessed and participated in the epochal transformation of the United States from a fledgling country to a strong nation spanning the continent. In his earliest years his father moved farther south and west to Mississippi. As a young army officer just out of West Point, he served on the northwestern and southwestern frontiers in an army whose chief mission was to protect settlers surging westward. Then, in 1846 and 1847, as colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment, he fought in the Mexican War, which resulted in 1848 in the Mexican Cession, a massive addition to the United States of some 500,000 square miles, including California and the modern Southwest. As secretary of war and U.S. senator in the 1850s, he advocated government support for the building of a transcontinental railroad that he believed essential to bind the nation from ocean to ocean.”

Vivre son destin vivre sa pensée

Biographies & Memoirs

Ce que montre ce petit et grand livre, c'est que le handicap se situe toujours à la croisée entre un organisme et une société, entre une déficience, qu'elle soit innée ou acquise, et un environnement, sur lequel on peut et doit agir. On ne vit pas tout seul, ni hors du monde ou de la Cité.Ce livre de sagesse est aussi un livre de citoyenneté, qui donne à penser, donc aussi à débattre, autant qu'à admirer. Anne-Lyse Chabert, comme écrivain et comme philosophe, se veut le porte-parole de tous ceux, parmi nous, qui sont confrontés au handicap, et spécialement « de ceux qui ne peuvent souvent pas dire, qui ne sont donc pas vraiment écoutés ». Ouvrage d'utilité publique, qui s'adresse à tous, qui nous aide à comprendre, qui nous pousse à réfléchir, à discuter, à agir peut-être.André Comte-Sponville

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