Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Let My People Go

Biographies & Memoirs

Next to the Holy Scriptures the greatest aid to the life of faith may be Christian biography. It is indeed notable that a large part of the Bible itself is given over to the life and labors of prophets, patriarchs and kings—who they were, what they did and said, how they prayed and toiled and suffered and how they triumphed at last. Sometimes this is given in brief outline—a quick candid shot and no more—but often there is much fullness of detail covering page after page of the Sacred Word.These favored ones whose names appear on the roll of the spiritually great have been adopted by succeeding generations of pilgrims as guides and teachers in the holy way. We have all felt their presence. We have stood with Abraham as he shielded his eyes and peered down the centuries to see by faith the fulfillment of the promise. We have sat with David under the pale light of the stars as, accompanied by his homemade lyre, he tried out some verses that were later to become immortal. Who among us has not been made wiser and better by knowing Elijah or Daniel or Paul? And who has not thanked God that their story was written down for us to read?

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Biographies & Memoirs

Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, details her experiences as a slave in North Carolina, her escape to freedom in the north, and her ensuing struggles to free her children. The narrative was partly serialized in the New York Tribune, but was discontinued because Jacobs’ depictions of the sexual abuse of female slaves were considered too shocking. It was published in book form in 1861.

A Short Life of Marie Antoinette

Biographies & Memoirs

“Let them eat cake!” Did she really say it? After a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and she was executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. Long after her death, she remains a major historical figure, the subject of books, films and other forms of media. Politically engaged authors have deemed her the quintessential representative of class conflict, western aristocracy and absolutism. Some of her contemporaries, such as Jefferson, attributed to her the start of the French Revolution. For others, Marie Antoinette was a victim of her family ambition and the general situation in France. However, even her critics have recognized her qualities as a mother and her courage in dying. In A Short Life of Marie Antoinette historian John Abbott takes the reader from Antoinette’s marriage in mere girlhood to the royal stage and her ultimate role as a central figure in European history. Digital edition includes Marie Antoinette image gallery.

Actul creativ

Biographies & Memoirs

„Mi-am propus să scriu o carte despre ce trebuie să faci pentru a crea o operă de artă excepțională. În schimb, a ieșit o carte despre cum să fii." — Rick Rubin„Legendarul producător de artiști – de la Adele la Black Sabbath și de la Johnny Cash la Jay-Z – „sintetizează cunoștințele acumulate de-a lungul unei cariere strălucitoare, dezvăluind cum se poate obține tot ce este mai bun de la muzicieni și oferind, în același timp, lecții utile pentru noi, ceilalți." – Financial Times„O operă literară transcendentă, care sugerează că universul încă ne zâmbește, în ciuda tuturor semnelor potrivnice." — The Wall Street Journal„O întrebare existențială despre natura creativității, a artei și a apartenenței la rasa umană... o privire profundă asupra unuia dintre impulsurile umane fundamentale." — Big Issue„Rick Rubin este definiția geniului creativ care și-a adunat toată înțelepciunea laolaltă pentru a crea, probabil, cea mai inspirată carte despre creativitate pe care am citit-o vreodată." — Matt HaigRick Rubin este deținătorul a nouă premii Grammy, numit „unul dintre cei mai influenți 100 de oameni ai lumii" de revista Time și „producătorul cu cel mai mare succes din toate genurile muzicale" de către Rolling Stone. A colaborat cu unii dintre cei mai cunoscuți artiști, printre care se numără: Tom Petty, Adele, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Slayer, Kanye West, The Strokes, System of a Down și Jay-Z.

A Man's Place

Biographies & Memoirs

WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATUREA New York Times Notable BookAnnie Ernaux's father died exactly two months after she passed her practical examination for a teaching certificate. Barely educated and valued since childhood strictly for his labor, Ernaux's father had grown into a hard, practical man who showed his family little affection. Narrating his slow ascent towards material comfort, Ernaux's cold observation reveals the shame that haunted her father throughout his life. She scrutinizes the importance he attributed to manners and language that came so unnaturally to him as he struggled to provide for his family with a grocery store and cafe in rural France. Over the course of the book, Ernaux grows up to become the uncompromising observer now familiar to the world, while her father matures into old age with a staid appreciation for life as it is and for a daughter he cautiously, even reluctantly admires. A Man's Place is the companion book to her critically acclaimed memoir about her mother, A Woman's Story.

A Woman's Story

Biographies & Memoirs

WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATUREA New York Times Notable Book"A deeply affecting account of mothers and daughters, youth and age, and dreams and reality" (Kirkus Reviews)Upon her mother’s death from Alzheimer’s, Ernaux embarks on a daunting journey back through time, as she seeks to "capture the real woman, the one who existed independently from me, born on the outskirts of a small Normandy town, and who died in the geriatric ward of a hospital in the suburbs of Paris."She explores the bond between mother and daughter, tenuous and unshakable at once, the alienating worlds that separate them, and the inescapable truth that we must lose the ones we love. In this quietly powerful tribute, Ernaux attempts to do her mother the greatest justice she can: to portray her as the individual she was. She writes, "I believe I am writing about my mother because it is my turn to bring her into the world."

Jeg er glad mamma døde

Biographies & Memoirs

Hjerteskjærende og hylende morsom selvbiografi - endelig på norsk! Jeg er glad mamma døde er en internasjonal sensasjon som har solgt over to millioner eksemplarer. Den tidligere barnestjernen Jennette McCurdy har fått strålende anmeldelser. Det handler om spiseforstyrrelser og avhengighet, om å ha en mor som lever ut sine forskrudde drømmer gjennom datteren - men først og fremst om å ta tilbake kontrollen over sitt eget liv. Dette er en inspirerende fortelling om motstandskraft, uavhengighet og gleden over å vaske håret selv. «[...] en smertelig morsom fortelling» Lena Dunham «Et mesterverk» The Washington Post

Saudi Babylon

Biographies & Memoirs

When Sandy Mitchell was arrested for his alleged involvement in two bombings in Saudi Arabia in December 2000, he thought it was a case of mistaken identity and that he would soon be released. Instead, he spent nearly three years in jail, where he was repeatedly tortured before being forced to sign a confession and admit his guilt on Saudi television.Throughout his incarceration the Saudi authorities knew that the attacks had been committed by al-Qaeda militants. Yet they kept Mitchell in jail and refused him access to a lawyer for a year. By this time he had been sentenced to death but he was eventually released before the penalty could be imposed. Saudi Babylon is the story of a shocking miscarriage of justice. But it also reveals an even more disturbing truth: how the British government, mindful of multi-billion-pound arms sales to Saudi Arabia, virtually abandoned Mitchell by adopting a softly-softly diplomatic approach to the corrupt Saudi royal family. Based on diaries and records of meetings with ministers and officials, this is a powerful exposé of how the British government acts when one of its citizens is illegally imprisoned and tortured by a regime with which it does business.

LIFE Queen

Biographies & Memoirs

The Editors of LIFE Magazine present LIFE Queen: The Music. The Life. The Rhapsody.

Laeticia, la vraie histoire

Biographies & Memoirs

Est-elle une épouse aimante, une mère particulièrement attentionnée qui a dû composer avec les excès de son mari ou une marâtre cynique, mue par la notoriété, l'argent et une ambition démesurée? La France se déchire sur son cas. Après la mort de Johnny Hallyday le 5 décembre 2017, son épouse Laeticia Hallyday s'est retrouvée au cœur d'une vaste polémique, devenue affaire nationale. Avec la révélation d'un héritage largement en sa faveur, celle qui a accompagné l'idole des jeunes jusqu'à son dernier souffle est passée du statut d'héroïne à celui de femme la plus haïe de France. Est-elle une épouse aimante, une mère particulièrement attentionnée qui a dû composer avec les excès de son mari ou une marâtre cynique, mue par la notoriété, l'argent et une ambition démesurée? La France se déchire sur son cas. Dans un livre documenté, deux journalistes dressent le portrait en clair-obscur de Laeticia Boudou-Hallyday. Le livre d'une vie. De son enfance, à Marseillan où la fillette nourrissait déjà des rêves de gloire et de paillettes, à ses 22 ans de vie commune, de joie et de sacrifices auprès d'une icône qui lui appartenait autant qu'à ses fans. Sans oublier, enfin, ces années américaines où elle s'est émancipée et affranchie d'une partie de l'entourage de son mari, jugé trop encombrant. Derrière ce personnage complexe, agaçant et attachant à la fois, s'esquisse le portrait en creux d'un autre Johnny : celui d'un homme, dévoré par ses démons, incapable de communiquer avec ses proches dont l'unique rempart, la seule bouée de survie fut, pendant les heures sombres de son existence, sa femme : Laeticia.

Il libraio di Kabul

Biographies & Memoirs

Novembre 2001. Åsne Seierstad entra a Kabul e nella vita di Sultan Khan, il libraio che ha pagato con il carcere lo scontro per la dignità della sua nazione. La giovane reporter norvegese diventa per quasi un anno "la figlia bionda" di Sultan, ospite nella sua casa e testimone di amori proibiti, crimini, punizioni, ribellioni giovanili e ingiustizie che segnano la vita quotidiana della famiglia Khan, divisa tra l'onore e le umiliazioni subite, soprattutto dalle donne, sotto il regime talebano. Il libraio di Kabul è il resoconto di quell'esperienza straordinaria, la voce di un popolo che cerca di risollevarsi dopo la guerra, i sogni di riscatto che squarciano il buio di una società in lotta per la sopravvivenza.

Miles Standish

Biographies & Memoirs

Paphos Publishers offers a wide catalog of rare classic titles, published for a new generation. Miles Standish is a biography of the famous pilgrim.

Der Ruf der Stille

Biographies & Memoirs

Sehnsucht nach Stille - wie Christopher Knight 27 Jahre in der Wildnis lebte.Im Sommer 1986 begibt sich Christopher Knight auf einen Roadtrip von Massachusetts nach Maine und verschwindet in den Wäldern. 27 Jahre lang bleibt er dort, abgeschieden von der Welt, ohne menschlichen Kontakt, bis er wegen Diebstahls gefasst wird: Er hatte Essen geklaut. In einem einfachen Zelt überlebte Knight die härtesten Winter, weil er klug wie ein Eichhörnchen Vorräte gebunkert und alles darauf ausgerichtet hatte, nicht zu erfrieren. In den nahegelegenen Ferienhäusern versorgte er sich mit Lebensmitteln, Kleidung und Büchern und verstörte als unheimliches Phantom die Bewohner von North Pond. Der Journalist Michael Finkel hat das außergewöhnliche Leben des Chris Knight dokumentiert. Entstanden ist eine fesselnde Story, die den fundamentalen Fragen über ein gutes Leben nachgeht und das tief bewegende Porträt eines Mannes hinterlässt, der sich seinen Traum erfüllte: ein Leben in absoluter Stille.

Jackie: Public, Private, Secret

Biographies & Memoirs

From New York Times bestselling author of Jackie, Janet & Lee comes a fresh and often startling look at the life of the legendary former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.Based on hundreds of interviews with friends, family, and lovers over a thirty-year period—as well as previously unreleased material from the JFK Library—Kennedy historian J. Randy Taraborrelli paints an unforgettable new portrait of a woman whose flaws and contradictions only serve to make her even more iconic. “I have three lives,” Jackie told a former lover, “public, private and secret.” In this revealing biography, readers will become intimately familiar with all three. New insights from the book include:· Jackie’s cold feet before her wedding to Jack Kennedy and her secret plan to avoid moving into the White House with him.· Jackie's plan to meet with the woman with whom her husband, Aristotle Onassis, was again having an affair, Maria Callas…and why, in the end, she decided against it.· The truth about the nude photos of Jackie which scandalized her in the 1970s…and which family member had betrayed her by selling them.· Her unusual relationship with Maurice Templesman, which was never what outsiders believed it to be.· The never-before-reported, last-ditch efforts to save Jackie’s life with experimental cancer treatments, and the doctor who wouldn’t risk jail time in order to treat her.Twenty-nine years after her death and sixty years after the assassination of President Kennedy, Jackie delivers the last word on one of the most famous women in the world.

Életem

Biographies & Memoirs

Philip Zimbardo, a legendás amerikai pszichológus ezúttal kötetlen, élvezetes beszélgetés keretében mesél életéről és szakmájáról. Beszél szicíliai származásáról, majd Bronxban töltött gyermekkoráról, a mester- és doktori képzéséről a Yale-en, és gimnáziumi barátságáról Stanley Milgrammel. Megtudhatjuk, hogyan nyerte el a Stanford Pszichológia Tanszékének egyetemi katedráját, a kutatásairól, és hogy milyen volt az oktatatói lét a világ egyik legjobb egyetemén. Részletes beszámolót olvashatunk a Stanford épületében felállított álbörtönben lefolytatott kísérletről és az abból levont következtetésekről, illetve hogy mindezen tapasztalat hogyan volt segítségére, amikor felkérték, hogy a védelem szakértőjeként nyilatkozzon egy amerikai katonai börtönőr ügyében, akit azzal vádoltak, hogy megkínozta az őrizete alatt álló foglyokat az Abu Ghraib börtönben, Irakban. Beszámol arról, hogyan látogatott el Magyarországra a Heroic Imagination Projectet bemutatva, majd támogatásával hogyan indult el és működik ma is a Hősök Tere program. A megható történetekkel és bölcs meglátásokkal fűszerezett emlékfolyamból egy briliáns karrier és egy nem csekély intellektuális örökség krónikája bontakozik ki.

The Facts of Life

Biographies & Memoirs

If you had to give America a voice, it’s been said more than once, that voice would be Willie Nelson’s. For more than fifty years, he’s taken the stuff of his life-the good and the bad-and made from it a body of work that has become a permanent part of our musical heritage and kept us company through the good and the bad of our own lives. Long before he became famous as a performer, Willie Nelson was known as a songwriter, keeping his young family afloat by writing songs-like “Crazy”-that other people turned into hits.So it’s fitting, and cause for celebration, that he has finally set down in his own words, a book that does justice to his great gifts as a storyteller. In The Facts of Life, Willie Nelson reflects on what has mattered to him in life and what hasn’t. He also tells some great dirty jokes. The result is a book as wise and hilarious as its author. It’s not meant to be taken seriously as an instruction manual for living-but you could do a lot worse.

Quentin Durward

Biographies & Memoirs

This is a biographical story book. The plot centres on the medieval rivalry between Louis XI of France and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Louis incites the citizens of Liège to revolt against Charles, and they seize and murder Charles's brother-in-law, Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège, under the command of Louis's ally, William de la Marck, who was hoping to install his son in Louis de Bourbon's place (a real historical event which occurred in 1482). At the time of the murder, Louis is present in Charles' camp at Peronne, hoping to fool him with a false display of friendship. Charles, however, sees through his mask of deceit, accuses him of instigating the uprising, and has him imprisoned. Louis's superior coolness of mind permits him to allay Charles's suspicions and to regain his liberty. In a sub-plot, the Burgundian heiress Isabelle de Croye takes refuge at Louis's court when Charles attempts to give her hand in marriage to his odious favourite Campo-Basso. Louis, in turn, resolves to give her in marriage to the bandit-captain William de la Marck, and sends her to Flanders under the pretence of placing her under the protection of the Bishop of Liège. She is guarded on her journey by Quentin Durward, an archer, who has left behind poverty in Scotland to join the Archers of Louis's Scottish Guard. Quentin prevents the intended treachery and earns Isabelle's love. Charles, though, promises her in marriage to the Duke of Orléans (heir to the French crown) but she refuses, and, in anger, the Duke promises her to whoever brings him the head of de la Marck. This Quentin does with the help of his uncle, Ludovic Lesley, and wins Isabelle's hand.

George Michael

Biographies & Memoirs

In George Michael: A Life,“Gavin’s engrossing biography of the singer takes the measure of a gifted, tragic, and infuriating man” (New York Times Book Review). George Michael was an extravagantly gifted, openhearted soul singer whose work was both pained and smolderingly erotic. He was a songwriter of true craft and substance, and his music swept the world, starting in the mid-1980s. His fabricated image—that of a hypermacho sex god—loomed large in the pop culture of his day. It also hid—for a time—the secret he fought against revealing: Michael was gay. Soon his obsession with fame would start to backfire. As one of the industry’s most privileged yet tortured men began to self-destruct, the press showed little sympathy. George Michael: A Life explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world. Acclaimed music biographer James Gavin traces Michael’s metamorphosis from the shy and awkward Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou into the swaggering, dominant half of the leading British pop duo of the 1980s Wham! He then details Michael’s sensational solo career and its subsequent unraveling. With deep analysis of the creative process behind Michael’s albums, tours, and music videos, as well as interviews with hundreds of his friends and colleagues, George Michael: A Life is a probing, definitive portrait of a pop legend.

That's Me in the Corner

Biographies & Memoirs

Fast approaching his fortieth birthday, Andrew is cornered at a family gathering by the nine-year-old son of his brother-in-law's sister. Having seen him as a talking head on TV, the boy asks, 'What are you?' It is a question so frank and simple that Andrew doesn't have an immediate answer to hand.So, with hilarious self-deprecation, he sets out to retrace how he got to where he is today. Seventeen precarious jobs in seventeen years: from trolley collector at Sainsbury's to high-flying film critic sipping cocktails with Will Smith and Jerry Bruckheimer on a yacht in Cannes. This is Andrew's tale of rubbing shoulders with the world's biggest stars: pissing off Christini Ricci, having his hairstyle mocked by Noel Gallagher, trying not to wake Clive James from his afternoon nap, having his apple pie eaten by Bob Geldof, and somehow stumbling into the next dream job.Along the way, he's been the world's worst gossip columnist, an almost-hip young gunslinger at the NME, a Radio 1 DJ (enduring a hellish Radio 1 roadshow in a car park in Birmingham), an ITV presenter, EastEnders scriptwriter, ghost writer for a major TV personality and much, much more. It charts a world of hedonism, mundanity, towering egos, shallow idiocy and occasional moments of mind-blowing joy. And, of course, being sent shit in a box.

Η ανακωχή

Biographies & Memoirs

«Αυτό είναι το τρομερό προνόμιο της γενιάς μας και του λαού μου, κανείς ποτέ δεν μπόρεσε καλύτερα από μας να συλλάβει την αγιάτρευτη φύση της αδικίας, που εξαπλώνεται σαν μολυσματική αρρώστια». Η «Ανακωχή», που αποτελεί τη συνέχεια του «Εάν αυτό είναι ο άνθρωπος» (1947), πρωτοεκδόθηκε το 1963 και από πολλούς θεωρείται το αριστούργημα του Πρίμο Λέβι. Αυτό το βιβλίο, ημερολόγιο του ταξιδιού του προς την ελευθερία μετά τον εγκλεισμό του στο στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης Άουσβιτς ΙΙΙ, είναι μια σπαρακτική αυτοβιογραφική κατάθεση, με στοιχεία πικρής σάτιρας παρά το τραγικό του θέμα. Πρόκειται για την εποποιία μιας ανθρωπότητας που προσπαθεί να αναγεννηθεί έχοντας φτάσει στα όρια της φρίκης και της δυστυχίας. Ο Λέβι γράφει την περιπέτεια της επιστροφής του στην Ιταλία, μετά την εκκένωση του Άουσβιτς λόγω της προέλασης των σοβιετικών στρατευμάτων, τον Ιανουάριο του 1945. Στοιβαγμένος μαζί με χιλιάδες άλλους σε βαγόνια εμπορικών τρένων, διέσχισε τα ερείπια της απελευθερωμένης πια Ευρώπης και, μέσω της Ρωσίας, της Ρουμανίας, της Ουγγαρίας και της Αυστρίας, έφτασε, πολλούς μήνες μετά, στο Τορίνο. Μια πολυδαίδαλη διαδρομή, με πολύ διαφορετικούς ανθρώπους, που ήταν επίσης θύματα του ίδιου πολέμου. Το τρίχρονο, ανώνυμο και άφωνο, παιδί που γεννήθηκε στο Άουσβιτς, ο γελαστός Έλληνας που αγόραζε και πουλούσε τα πάντα, ο Μαυριτανός της Βερόνα, που μάζευε κουρέλια και σκουπίδια για την παράλυτη κόρη του που ήλπιζε να ξαναδεί, ο γοητευτικός τσαρλατάνος Τσέζαρε, που ήξερε να τους ξεγελάει όλους, είναι όλοι άνθρωποι που ξεπηδούν από τα υπόγεια της εποχής και παρουσιάζονται με κατανόηση και ανθρωπιά από τον Λέβι. «Η Ανακωχή, το βιβλίο της παλιννόστησης, η Οδύσσεια της Ευρώπης ανάμεσα στον πόλεμο και στην ειρήνη… μια πολυτάραχη, πολύχρωμη ιστορία μιας άνοιξης ελευθερίας, στην οποία δεν ελπίζουμε πια». Ίταλο Καλβίνο

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