Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Men of Letters: The Playboy Interview

Biographies & Memoirs

About the Series: In mid-1962, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was given a partial transcript of an interview with Miles Davis. It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer Prize–winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the past half century.To celebrate the interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have assembled 13 compilations of the magazine’s most (in)famous interviews—from big mouths and wild men to sports gods and literary mavericks. Here is our collection of 12 interviews with the most riveting writers.

Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells

Biographies & Memoirs

Men and women who, perhaps, naturally very calm, and with feelings moderate in degree, and little marked in kind, have been trained from their cradle to observe the utmost evenness of manner and guardedness of language, will hardly know what to make of the rough, strong utterance, the harshly manifested passions, the unbridled aversions, and headlong partialities of unlettered moorland hinds and rugged moorland squires, who have grown up untaught and unchecked, except by Mentors as harsh as themselves. A large class of readers, likewise, will suffer greatly

The Story of My Life (The Complete Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova, Volume 8 of 12)

Biographies & Memoirs

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

Twelve Years A Slave, Illustrated Edition

Biographies & Memoirs

Kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, freeman Solomon Northup spent twelve years in bondage before being freed. Twelve Years a Slave is Northup’s moving memoir, revealing unimaginable details of the horrors he faced as a slave on Southern plantations, and his unshakable belief that he would return home to his family.Written in the year after Northup was freed and published in the wake of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Northup’s story was quickly taken up by abolitionist groups and news organizations as part of the fight against slavery, and continues to resonate more than a century after the end of the American Civil War.

I'm Glad My Mom Died

Biographies & Memoirs

* #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * MORE THAN 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD!A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life. Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

El color del agua

Biographies & Memoirs

Hijo de un hombre negro y una mujer blanca, James McBride creció con sus once hermanos en un barrio pobre de Brooklyn. Su madre, una mujer ferozmente protectora, con «ojos oscuros llenos de energía y fuego», siempre se preocupó por la educación de su prole. Les exigió buenas calificaciones en la escuela mientras ella debía trabajar largas jornadas para llevar un poco de pan y leche a casa. Por el color de su piel y cierto aire extravagante, desde niño McBride vio a su madre como una fuente de vergüenza, preocupación y confusión. Llegados los treinta, decide explorar su pasado y vuelve sobre sus pasos para descubrir la verdadera historia de Rachel Shilsky, una mujer judía que a los diecisiete años huyó de una vida familiar opresiva para casarse con un pastor bautista. Con un estilo franco y preciso, el autor recrea la conmovedora historia de su madre mientras evoca sus propias experiencias como niño mulato y pobre, sus coqueteos con las drogas y la violencia, hasta alcanzar finalmente la autorrealización y el éxito profesional.

The Woman They Could Not Silence

Biographies & Memoirs

From the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Radium Girls comes another dark and dramatic but ultimately uplifting tale of a forgotten woman whose inspirational journey sparked lasting change for women's rights and exposed injustices that still resonate today."Moore has written a masterpiece of nonfiction."—Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened—by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So Theophilus makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum.The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line—conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored.No one is willing to fight for their freedom and, disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose…Bestselling author Kate Moore brings her sparkling narrative voice to The Woman They Could Not Silence, an unputdownable story of the forgotten woman who courageously fought for her own freedom—and in so doing freed millions more. Elizabeth's refusal to be silenced and her ceaseless quest for justice not only challenged the medical science of the day, and led to a giant leap forward in human rights, it also showcased the most salutary lesson: sometimes, the greatest heroes we have are those inside ourselves."The Woman They Could Not Silence is a remarkable story of perseverance in an unjust and hostile world."—Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire

Amazing People: Volume 2

Biographies & Memoirs

Timeless collection of the greatest American biographies. 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. 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.

Thomas Paine's Rights of Man

Biographies & Memoirs

A “brief but potent” appreciation of one of the most influential and revolutionary works of political thought “mixing biography, criticism and philosophy” (Los Angeles Times). Christopher Hitchens, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of God Is Not Great, has been called a Tom Paine for our times. In this addition to the Books that Changed the World Series, Hitchens vividly introduces Paine and his Declaration of the Rights of Man, the world’s foremost defense of democracy. An outraged response to Edmund Burke’s attack on the French Revolution, Paine’s immortal text is a passionate defense of man’s inalienable rights, and the key to his reputation. Ever since the day of its publication in 1791, Declaration of the Rights of Man has been celebrated, criticized, maligned, suppressed, and co-opted. But in Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, Hitchens marvels at its forethought and revels in its contentiousness. Famous as a polemicist and provocative commentator, Hitchens himself is a political descendant of the great pamphleteer. Here, he demonstrates how Paine’s book became the philosophical cornerstone of the United States of America, and how “in a time when both rights and reason are under several kinds of open and covert attack, the life and writing of Thomas Paine will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend.” Enlivened by Hitchens’s extraordinary prose, this “elegant and useful primer . . . ought still to engage us all” (The Guardian). “Paine, as Hitchens notes in this lucid and fast-moving appreciation, has no proper memorial anywhere; this slender book makes a good start.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Menendez Murders, Updated Edition

Biographies & Memoirs

Discover the definitive book on the Menendez case—and the disquieting true story behind Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.A successful entertainment executive making $2 million a year. His former beauty queen wife. Their two sons on the fast track to success. But it was all a façade. The Menendez saga has captivated the American public since 1989. The killing of José and Kitty Menendez on a quiet Sunday evening in Beverly Hills didn’t make the cover of People magazine until the arrest of their sons seven months later, when the case developed an intense cult following. By the time the first Menendez trial began in July 1993, the public was convinced that Lyle and Erik were a pair of greedy rich kids who had killed loving, devoted parents. The real story remained buried beneath years of dark secrets.A culmination of more than 30 years of journalist Robert Rand’s relentless reporting, this updated edition of The Menendez Murders shares these intimate, breakthrough findings, including a deeply disturbing history of child abuse and sexual molestation in the Menendez family going back generations, as well as exclusive new revelations linking the 1980s boy band Menudo and the Menendez family, a first-hand account of the emotional reunion between Erik and Lyle Menendez, and surprising insights into how the Menendez brothers remain resilient and live with purpose despite a life sentence without parole.Rand has followed the Menendez murders from the beginning and is the only reporter who covered the original investigation as well as both trials. With a unique vantage and unparalleled access to the Menendez family and their history, including interviews with both brothers before and after their arrest, Rand has uncovered extraordinary details that would certainly have changed the fate of the brothers’ first-degree murder conviction in 1996. Today, his discoveries give the brothers new hope for reopening the case.

Conquerors: The Lives and Legacies of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte

Biographies & Memoirs

*Includes pictures depicting important people, places, and events in each man's life. *Discusses interesting, lesser known facts about each man and answers common myths and misconceptions about them. Was Alexander referenced in the Qur'an? What were Caesar's last words? Was Napoleon really short? *Includes bibliographies on Napoleon and Alexander for further reading. *Includes a Table of Contents. “There is nothing impossible to him that will but try” – Alexander “I would rather be the first man in a humble village, than the second man in Rome” – Caesar “Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is the one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.” – Napoleon Over the last 2,000 years, ambitious men have dreamed of conquering vast empires and attaining eternal glory in battle, but of all the men who took steps toward such dreams, few were as successful as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte, all of whom have been inextricably tied together by their successes and ambitions. Over the last 200 years, would-be conquerors and generals hoped to rival Napoleon’s accomplishments, while Napoleon aimed to emulate the accomplishments of Julius Caesar. But Caesar himself found inspiration in Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), the Macedonian King who managed to stretch an empire from Greece to the Himalayas in Asia at just 30 years old. It took less than 15 years for Alexander to conquer much of the known world. Alexander was responsible for establishing 20 cities in his name across the world, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, and he was directly responsible for spreading Ancient Greek culture as far east as modern day India and other parts of Asia. Alexander was a legend in his own time, and one of the men who viewed his body was possibly the most important man of antiquity, and even all of history: Julius Caesar. The ultimate conqueror, statesman, dictator, visionary, and opportunist, during his time in power Caesar expanded the borders of Rome to almost twice their previous size, revolutionized the infrastructure of the Roman state, and destroyed the Roman Republic for good, leaving a line of emperors in its place. His legacy is so strong that his name has become, in many languages, synonymous with power: the Emperors of Austria and Germany bore the title Kaiser, and the Czars of Russia also owe the etymology of their title to Caesar. His name also crept further eastward out of Europe, even cropping up in Hindi and Urdu, where the term for “Emperor” is Kaisar. When historians are asked to list the most influential people of the last 200 years, a handful of names might vary, but there is no question that the list will include Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), the most successful French leader since Charlemagne and widely acknowledged as one of the greatest generals ever. Indeed, Napoleon was likely the most influential man of the 19th century, leaving an indelible mark on everything from the strategy and tactics of warfare to the Napoleonic Code that drafted laws across the continent. To defeat Napoleon, the Europeans had to form large coalitions multiple times, which helped bring about the entangling alliances that sparked World War I after Europe was rebuilt following Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna. Conquerors chronicles the amazing lives and accomplishments of these conquerors, while discussing and explaining some of the myths and legends that have surrounded them for centuries. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte like you never have before, in no time at all.

Twelve Years a Slave

Biographies & Memoirs

Now the major motion picture that won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong’o, and directed by Steve McQueen Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Soccer Satisfied

Biographies & Memoirs

As supporter, player and broadcaster, John Gwynne has enjoyed a lifelong passion for football. In 'Soccer Satisfied' we follow a footballing journey which originated in the Shropshire countryside of the 1950s. Shrewsbury Town was the local league team but a move to Manchester triggered over sixty years of undying love for Manchester City. This sky blue thread weaves through the book, interspersed with memories of John's own playing career at grass roots level, anecdotes from his broadcasting career on local radio and for Sky's 'Soccer Saturday' and memorable evenings on the dinner circuit. John has met and befriended many great characters including Bert Trautmann, Denis Law, Jimmy Armfield and Gordon Banks. Meetings with Sir Matt Busby, Bobby Moore and Sir Alex Ferguson have left a lasting impression. Pain and passion are felt as he writes movingly of the Munich tragedy and the death of his beloved and ever-supportive wife Margaret. On a lighter note, there are a host of humorous anecdotes and one of broadcasting's most distinctive voices can be heard on every page. 'Soccer Satisfied' is a warm, nostalgic journey connecting two quite different eras. The game has changed markedly but John's enthusiasm for it has not dimmed.

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

Biographies & Memoirs

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • Entertainment Weekly • The Seattle Times • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Bloomberg BusinessweekIn this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power. Thomas Jefferson hated confrontation, and yet his understanding of power and of human nature enabled him to move men and to marshal ideas, to learn from his mistakes, and to prevail. Passionate about many things—women, his family, books, science, architecture, gardens, friends, Monticello, and Paris—Jefferson loved America most, and he strove over and over again, despite fierce opposition, to realize his vision: the creation, survival, and success of popular government in America. Jon Meacham lets us see Jefferson’s world as Jefferson himself saw it, and to appreciate how Jefferson found the means to endure and win in the face of rife partisan division, economic uncertainty, and external threat. Drawing on archives in the United States, England, and France, as well as unpublished Jefferson presidential papers, Meacham presents Jefferson as the most successful political leader of the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history. The father of the ideal of individual liberty, of the Louisiana Purchase, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and of the settling of the West, Jefferson recognized that the genius of humanity—and the genius of the new nation—lay in the possibility of progress, of discovering the undiscovered and seeking the unknown. From the writing of the Declaration of Independence to elegant dinners in Paris and in the President’s House; from political maneuverings in the boardinghouses and legislative halls of Philadelphia and New York to the infant capital on the Potomac; from his complicated life at Monticello, his breathtaking house and plantation in Virginia, to the creation of the University of Virginia, Jefferson was central to the age. Here too is the personal Jefferson, a man of appetite, sensuality, and passion. The Jefferson story resonates today not least because he led his nation through ferocious partisanship and cultural warfare amid economic change and external threats, and also because he embodies an eternal drama, the struggle of the leadership of a nation to achieve greatness in a difficult and confounding world.Praise for Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power “This is probably the best single-volume biography of Jefferson ever written.”—Gordon S. Wood “A big, grand, absorbing exploration of not just Jefferson and his role in history but also Jefferson the man, humanized as never before.”—Entertainment Weekly“[Meacham] captures who Jefferson was, not just as a statesman but as a man. . . . By the end of the book . . . the reader is likely to feel as if he is losing a dear friend. . . . [An] absorbing tale.”—The Christian Science Monitor“This terrific book allows us to see the political genius of Thomas Jefferson better than we have ever seen it before. In these endlessly fascinating pages, Jefferson emerges with such vitality that it seems as if he might still be alive today.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin

A Vida dos Estoicos

Biographies & Memoirs

Um dos grandes pensadores contemporâneos da filosofia antiga, Ryan Holiday apresenta em seu novo livro as lições atemporais que os estoicos ensinaram ao mundo e como podemos aplicá-las em nossas vidasMais de vinte e três séculos atrás, um comerciante falido chamado Zenão fundou uma escola na Ágora ateniense. Desde então, o estoicismo tem sido o guia de todos os que buscam grandeza e encontram nos exemplos dos filósofos o bom senso necessário para alcançar seus objetivos.Em A vida dos estoicos, Ryan Holiday e Stephen Hanselman apresentam histórias fascinantes de homens e mulheres que se esforçaram para seguir as virtudes estoicas atemporais da coragem, da justiça, da temperança e da sabedoria. Organizado em breves biografias que abordam desde os estoicos mais estudados aos menos conhecidos, este livro lança luz sobre os hábitos de pessoas que viveram essa filosofia e as lições que devem ser aprendidas de suas dificuldades e de seus sucessos.Epicteto ou Marco Aurélio, escravizados ou imperadores, cada exemplo nestas páginas vai ajudar você a aplicar a filosofia em sua própria vida. Holiday e Hanselman revelam os principais valores e ideais que uniram personalidades como Sêneca, Catão e Cícero ao longo dos séculos: o autogoverno é o maior império; caráter é destino; é benéfico se preparar para o sucesso, mas também para o fracasso; e aprender a amar — e não apenas aceitar — o que o destino nos traz é a chave que nos possibilita viver bem.A filosofia estoica é tão urgente hoje quanto no período mais caótico do Império Romano. E esta é uma obra que pode — e deve — ser consultada sempre.

The Trump Tapes

Biographies & Memoirs

“An uncharacteristic warning from one of the most respected, non-partisan journalists in the world” —Jake Tapper, CNN“It was riveting. I couldn’t get enough of it.” —Gayle King, CBS MorningsThe Trump Tapes explodes with the exclusive, inside story of Trump’s performance as president—in his own words as he is questioned, even interrogated by Woodward, on the president’s key responsibilities from managing foreign relations to crisis management of the coronavirus pandemic.This is the job Trump seeks again. How did he do the first time? This is the authentic answer, laying bare his repeated failures, obsessions, and grievances.The Woodward interviews take a reader to a reporter’s laboratory meticulously examining the Trump presidency like never before—spellbinding and devastating.*Including all 27 letters between President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un

Up from Slavery: an Autobiography

Biographies & Memoirs

Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama—to help black people and other disadvantaged minorities learn useful, marketable skills and work to pull themselves, as a race, up by the bootstraps.— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

La posizione della missionaria

Biographies & Memoirs

Christopher Hitchens – indimenticato autore di controversi saggi in cui ha applicato la sua vena di libero pensatore iconoclasta a personaggi come Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton e Lady Diana – propone in questo libro un’insolita analisi della figura di Madre Teresa di Calcutta, rafforzata dalle testimonianze affidabili e ben documentate di alcune ex infermiere della missionaria di origine albanese, nonché di un autorevole medico (Robin Fox, direttore di una delle più importanti riviste mediche del mondo, The Lancet) che visitò una delle sue case di cura. Hitchens sottopone all’attenzione del lettore gli aspetti più contraddittori dell’attività della religiosa e mette in discussione, in maniera coraggiosa e politicamente scorretta, l’«etica della sofferenza» che ne è alla base.

My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III.

Biographies & Memoirs

My Secret Life' is perhaps the most infamous of all underground Victorian erotica. It is the sexual memoir of a well-to-do gentleman who began at an early age to keep a diary of his erotic behavior. He continues this record for over 40 years, creating in the process a unique social & psychological document. .

And There Was Light

Biographies & Memoirs

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how—and why—he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America. “Meacham has given us the Lincoln for our time.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize • Longlisted for the Biographers International Plutarch Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus ReviewsA president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations.At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents—a remote icon—or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln—an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right.This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination in 1865: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans, Lincoln’s story illustrates the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events.

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