The first dual biography of two of the world’s most remarkablewomen—Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots—by one ofBritain’s “best biographers” ( The Sunday Times ). In a rich and riveting narrative, Jane Dunn reveals theextraordinary rivalry between the regal cousins. It is the story oftwo queens ruling on one island, each with a claim to the throne ofEngland, each embodying dramatically opposing qualities ofcharacter, ideals of womanliness (and views of sexuality) anddivinely ordained kingship. As regnant queens in an overwhelmingly masculine world, they weredeplored for their femaleness, compared unfavorably with each otherand courted by the same men. By placing their dynamic andever-changing relationship at the center of the book, Dunnilluminates their differences. Elizabeth, inheriting a weak,divided country coveted by all the Catholic monarchs of Europe, isrevolutionary in her insistence on ruling alone and inspired in heruse of celibacy as a political tool—yet also possessed of

Robert Hughes has trained his critical eye on many majorsubjects, from the city of Barcelona to the history of his nativeAustralia. Now he turns that eye inward, onto himself and the worldthat formed him. Hughes analyzes his experiences the way he mightexamine a Van Gogh or a Picasso. From his relationship with hisstern and distant father to his Catholic upbringing and schoolyears; and from his development as an artist, writer, and critic tohis growing appreciation of art and his exhilaration at leavingAustralia to discover a new life, Hughes’ memoir is anextraordinary feat of exploration and celebration.

As a young guardsman, Grigory Potemkin caught the eye ofCatherine the Great with a theatrical act of gallantry during thecoup that placed her on the throne. Over the next thirty years hewould become her lover, co-ruler, and husband in a secret marriagethat left room for both to satisfy their sexual appetites. Potemkinproved to be one of the most brilliant statesmen of the eighteenthcentury, helping Catherine expand the Russian empire and deftlymanipulating allies and adversaries from Constantinople toLondon. This acclaimed biographyvividly re-creates Potemkin’s outsized character andaccomplishments and restores him to his rightful place as acolossus of the eighteenth century. It chronicles the tempestuousrelationship between Potemkin and Catherine, a remarkable loveaffair between two strong personalities that helped shape thecourse of history. As he brings these characters to life,Montefiore also tells the story of the creation of the Russianempire. This is biography as it is meant to be: both inti

Theodore Rex is the story—never fully toldbefore—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms asPresident of the United States. A hundred years before thecatastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in theaftermath of an act of terrorism. Youngest of all our chiefexecutives, he rallied a stricken nation with his superhumanenergy, charm, and political skills. He proceeded to combat theproblems of race and labor relations and trust control while makingthe Panama Canal possible and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Buthis most historic achievement remains his creation of a nationalconservation policy, and his monument millions of acres ofprotected parks and forest. Theodore Rex ends with TRleaving office, still only fifty years old, his future reputationsecure as one of our greatest presidents.

Immensely learned, self-educated in an era when formal schoolingwas denied to women, Mary Wortley Montagu was an admired poet, aconsistently scandalous doyenne of eighteenth-century Londonsociety, and, in a period when letter-writing had been elevated toan art form, one of the greatest letter writers in the Englishlanguage. Her epistles, meant for both public and privateconsumption, are the product of a mind distinguished by itsadventurousness, its indifference to convention, and its eagernessnot only to acquire knowledge but to convey it with unmitigatedstyle and grace.

Michael J. Neufeld, curator and space historian at theSmithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, delivers a brilliantlynuanced biography of Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathersof the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source ofconsistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as awar criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whoseintelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, somewould say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld'sbiography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritativeportrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailinghow he was a man caught between morality and progress, between hisdreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.

The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful,dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracyand set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by thebestselling author of The First American. The most famous American of his time, Andrew Jackson is a seminalfigure in American history. The first “common man” to rise to thepresidency, Jackson embodied the spirit and the vision of theemerging American nation; the term “Jacksonian democracy” isembedded in our national lexicon. With the sweep, passion, and attention to detail that made TheFirst American a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a national bestseller,historian H.W. Brands shapes a historical narrative that’s asfast-paced and compelling as the best fiction. He follows AndrewJackson from his days as rebellious youth, risking execution tofree the Carolinas of the British during the Revolutionary War, tohis years as a young lawyer and congressman from the newly settledfrontier state of Tennessee

Humphrey Bogart: it’s hard to think of anyone who’s had thesame lasting impact on the culture of movies. Though he died at theyoung age of fifty-seven more than half a century ago, hisinfluence among actors and filmmakers, and his enduring appeal forfilm lovers around the world, remains as strong as ever. What is itabout Bogart, with his unconventional looks and noticeable speechimpediment, that has captured our collective imagination for solong? In this definitive biography, Stefan Kanfer answers thatquestion, along the way illuminating the private man Bogart was andshining the spotlight on some of the greatest performances evercaptured on celluloid. Bogart fell into show business almost by accident and worked fornearly twenty years before becoming the star we know today. Borninto a life of wealth and privilege in turn-of-the-century NewYork, Bogart was a troublemaker throughout his youth, gettingkicked out of prep school and running away to join the navy at theage of nineteen. After a short

A gathering ofbrilliant and viciously funny recollections from one of thetwentieth century’s most famous literary enfants terribles. Written in 1980 but published here for the first time, thesetexts tell the story of the various farces that developed aroundthe literary prizes Thomas Bernhard received in his lifetime.Whether it was the Bremen Literature Prize, the Grillparzer Prize,or the Austrian State Prize, his participation in the acceptanceceremony—always less than gracious, it must be said—resulted inscandal (only at the awarding of the prize from Austria’s FederalChamber of Commerce did Bernhard feel at home: he received thatone, he said, in recognition of the great example he set forshopkeeping apprentices). And the remuneration connected with theprizes presented him with opportunities for adventure—of thenew-house and luxury-car variety. Here is a portrait of the writer as a prizewinner: laconic,sardonic, and shaking his head with biting amusement at the w

In The Cubist Rebel, 1907–1916 , the second volume of his Life of Picasso , John Richardson reveals the young Picassoin the Baudelairean role of “the painter of modern life”—a rolethat stipulated the brothel as the noblest subject for a modernartist. Hence his great breakthrough painting, Les Demoisellesd’Avignon , with which this book opens. As well as portrayingPicasso as a revolutionary, Richardson analyzes the morecompassionate side of his genius. The misogynist of posthumouslegend turns out to have been surprisingly vulnerable—more oftensinned against than sinning. Heartbroken at the death of hismistress Eva, Picasso tried desperately to find a wife. Richardsonrecounts the untold story of how his two great loves of 1915–17successively turned him down. These disappointments, as well as hishorror at the outbreak of World War I and the wounds it inflictedon his closest friends, Braque and Apollinaire, shadowed hispainting and drove him off to work for the Ballets Russes in Romeand Naples—

Masters of Doom is the amazing true story ofthe Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and JohnRomero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popularculture. And they provoked a national controversy. More thananything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream,escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the mostnotoriously successful game franchises in history— Doom and Quake — until the games they made tore them apart. This is astory of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerfuland compassionate account of what it's like to be young, driven,and wildly creative.

A majestic literary biography, a truly new, surprisingly freshportrait. -- Newsday A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice National Book Critics Circle Award finalist A biography wholly worthy of the brilliant woman it chronicles. .. . It rediscovers Virginia Woolf afresh." --The Philadelphia Inquirer While Virginia Woolf--one of our century's most brilliant andmercurial writers--has had no shortage of biographers, none hasseemed as naturally suited to the task as Hermione Lee. Subscribingto Virginia Woolf's own belief in the fluidity and elusiveness ofidentity, Lee comes at her subject from a multitude ofperspectives, producing a richly layered portrait of the writer andthe woman that leaves all of her complexities and contradictionsintact. Such issues as sexual abuse, mental illness, and suicideare brought into balance with the immensity of her literaryachievement, her heroic commitment to her work, her generosity andwit, and her sanity and strength. It

Fidel Castro is perhaps the most charismatic and controversialhead of state in modern times. A dictatorial pariah to some, he hasbecome a hero and inspiration for many of the world's poor,defiantly charting an independent and revolutionary path for Cubaover nearly half a century. Numerous attempts have been made to get Castro to tell his ownstory. But only now, in the twilight of his years, has he beenprepared to set out the details of his remarkable biography for theworld to read. This book is nothing less than his living testament.As he told reporters, his desire to finish checking its text wasthe one thing that kept him going through his recent illness. Hepresented a copy of the book in its Spanish edition to his compadrePresident Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. In these pages, Castro narrates a compelling chronicle thatspans the harshness of his elementary school teachers; the earlyfailures of the revolution; his intense comradeship with CheGuevara and their astonishing, against-all-odds victory over thedic

Adored by many, loathed by some, General George S. Patton,Jr., was one of the most brilliant military strategists in history.War As I Knew It is the personal and candid account of hiscelebrated, relentless crusade across western Europe during WorldWar II. First published in 1947, this absorbing narrative draws onPatton's vivid memories of battle and his detailed diaries, fromthe moment the Third Army exploded onto the Brittany Peninsula tothe final Allied casualty report. The result is not only agrueling, human account of daily combat and heroic feats -including a riveting look at the Battle of the Bulge - but avaluable chronicle of the strategies and fiery personality of alegendary warrior. Patton's letters from earlier military campaignsin North Africa and Sicily, complemented by a powerfulretrospective of his guiding philosophies, further reveal a man ofuncompromising will and uncommon character, which made "Georgie" ahousehold name in mid-century America. With a new introduction.

A fascinating history--. Literate andauthoritative--.Marvelously exciting. --The New York Times BookReview Jonathan Weiner, winner of the Pulitzer Prizefor The Beak of the Finch, brings his brilliant reporting skills tothe story of Seymour Benzer, the Brooklyn-born maverick scientistwhose study of genetics and experiments with fruit fly genes hashelped revolutionize or knowledge of the connections between DNAand behavior both animal and human. How much of our fate is decided before we areborn? Which of our characteristics is inscribed in our DNA? Weinerbrings us into Benzer's Fly Rooms at the California Institute ofTechnology, where Benzer, and his asssociates are in the process offinding answers, often astonishing ones, to these questions. Partbiography, part thrilling scientific detective story, Time, Love,Memory forcefully demonstrates how Benzer's studies are changingour world view--and even our lives.

Charles I waged civil wars that cost one in ten Englishmentheir lives. But in 1649 Parliament was hard put to find a lawyerwith the skill and daring to prosecute a king who claimed to beabove the law. In the end, they chose the radical lawyer JohnCooke, whose Puritan conscience, political vision, and love ofcivil liberties gave him the courage to bring the king to trial. Asa result, Charles I was beheaded, but eleven years later Cookehimself was arrested, tried, and executed at the hands of CharlesII. Geoffrey Robertson, a renowned human rights lawyer, provides avivid new reading of the tumultuous Civil War years, exposinglong-hidden truths: that the king was guilty, that his executionwas necessary to establish the sovereignty of Parliament, that theregicide trials were rigged and their victims should be seen asnational heroes. Cooke’s trial of Charles I, the first trial of ahead of state for waging war on his own people, became a forerunnerof the trials of Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic

An erudite history of medicine...a welcome addition to anymedical collection. -- Booklist How does medical science advance? Popular historians would have usbelieve that a few heroic individuals, possessing superhumantalents, lead an unselfish quest to better the human condition. Butas renowned Yale surgeon and medical historian Sherwin B. Nulandshows in this brilliant collection of linked life portraits, thetheory bears little resemblance to the truth. Through the centuries, the men and women Who have shaped theworld of medicine have been not only very human people but alsovery much the products of their own times and places. Presentingcompelling studies of great medical innovators and pioneers,Doctors gives us the extraordinary story of the development ofmodern medicine -- told through the lives of thephysician-scientists whose deeds and determination paved the way.Ranging from the legendary Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, toAndreas Vesalius, whose Renaissance masterwork on anatomy offeredinval

Countless books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, yet fewhistorians and biographers have taken Lincoln seriously as athinker or attempted to place him in the context of majorintellectual traditions. In this refreshing, brilliantly arguedportrait, Michael Lind examines the ideas and beliefs that guidedLincoln as a statesman and shaped the United States in its time ofgreat crisis.In a century in which revolutions against monarchy anddictatorship in Europe and Latin America had failed, Lincolnbelieved that liberal democracy must be defended for the good ofthe world. During an age in which many argued that only whites werecapable of republican government, Lincoln insisted on theuniversality of human rights and the potential for democracyeverywhere. Yet he also held many of the prejudices of his time;his opposition to slavery was rooted in his allegiance to theideals of the American Revolution, not support for racial equality.Challenging popular myths and capturing Lincoln’s strengths andflaws, Lind offe

波姬·小丝（Brooke Christa Shields）， 美国 著名 女演员 和 模特 ，1965年生于 纽约 城，拥有 意大利 、 法国 、 爱尔兰 和 英国 的贵族血统，其祖母是意大利公主Donna Marina Torlonia。小丝出生11个月就为香皂拍过广告，14岁就成为Vogue杂志封面年轻的时装模特；更是用家喻户晓的广告成就了Calvin Klein品牌牛仔装。13岁就在1978年的影片《漂亮宝贝》(Pretty Baby)中扮演一个童妓；1980年的《青春珊瑚岛/蓝色泻湖》(Blue Lagoon)中，出演因海上事故流落荒岛逐渐长大成为少年的两个孩子中的女孩，青春靓丽脱俗的形象让年仅15岁的波姬·小丝红极一时。

Edith Kermit Carow grew up in New York City in the same circlesas did Theodore Roosevelt. But only after TR's first wife died atage twenty-two did the childhood friends forge one of the mostsuccessful romantic and political partnerships in American history.Sylvia Jukes Morris's access to previously unpublished letters anddiaries brings to full life her portrait of the Roosevelts andtheir times. During her years as First Lady (1901-09), Edith KermitRoosevelt dazzled social and political Washington as hostess,confidante, and mother of six, leading her husband to remark, "Mrs.Roosevelt comes a good deal nearer my ideal than I do myself."

From the author of the best-selling biography Woody Allen—themost informative, revealing, and entertaining conversations fromhis thirty-six years of interviewing the great comedian andfilmmaker. For more than three decades, Woody Allen has been talkingregularly and candidly with Eric Lax, and has given him singularand unfettered access to his film sets, his editing room, and histhoughts and observations. In discussions that begin in 1971 andcontinue into 2007, Allen discusses every facet of moviemakingthrough the prism of his own films and the work of directors headmires. In doing so, he reveals an artist’s development over thecourse of his career to date, from joke writer to standup comedianto world-acclaimed filmmaker. Woody talks about the seeds of his ideas and the writing of hisscreenplays; about casting and acting, shooting and directing,editing and scoring. He tells how he reworks screenplays even whilefilming them. He describes the problems he has had casting Ameri

If there is a literary gene, then the Waugh family mostcertainly has it—and it clearly seems to be passed down from fatherto son. The first of the literary Waughs was Arthur, who, when hewon the Newdigate Prize for poetry at Oxford in 1888, broke withthe family tradition of medicine. He went on to become adistinguished publisher and an immensely influential bookcolumnist. He fathered two sons, Alec and Evelyn, both of whom wereto become novelists of note (and whom Arthur, somewhat uneasily,would himself publish); both of whom were to rebel in their ownways against his bedrock Victorianism; and one of whom, Evelyn, wasto write a series of immortal novels that will be prized as long aselegance and lethal wit are admired. Evelyn begat, among sevenothers, Auberon Waugh, who would carry on in the family traditionof literary skill and eccentricity, becoming one of England’s mostincorrigibly cantankerous and provocative newspaper columnists,loved and loathed in equal measure. And Auberon begat Alexander,yet ano