Leni Riefenstahl, the woman known as “Hitler’s filmmaker,”made some of the greatest and most innovative documentaries evermade. They are also insidious glorifications of Adolf Hitler andthe Third Reich. Now, Steven Bach reveals the truths and liesbehind Riefenstahl’s lifelong self-vindication as an apoliticalartist who claimed to know nothing of the Holocaust and denied hercomplicity with the criminal regime she both used andsanctified. A riveting and illuminating biography of one of the mostfascinating and controversial personalities of the twentiethcentury.
In this exhaustive and enlightening biography—nearly two decadesin the making—Gerald Martin dexterously traces the life and timesof one of the twentieth century’s greatest literary titans, NobelPrize-winner Gabriel García Márquez. Martin chronicles the particulars of an extraordinary life, fromhis upbringing in backwater Columbia and early journalism career,to the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude at ageforty, and the wealth and fame that followed. Based on interviewswith more than three hundred of Garcia Marquez’s closest friends,family members, fellow authors, and detractors—as well as the manyhours Martin spent with ‘Gabo’ himself—the result is a revelationof both the writer and the man. It is as gripping as any of GabrielGarcía Márquez’s powerful journalism, as enthralling as any of hisacclaimed and beloved fiction.
Emily Dickinson, probably the most loved and certainly the greatest of American poets, continues to be seen as the most elusive. One reason she has become a timeless icon of mystery for many readers is that her developmental phases have not been clarified. In this exhaustively researched biography, Alfred Habegger presents the first thorough account of Dickinson s growth a richly contextualized story of genius in the process of formation and then in the act of overwhelming production.
Translated by Audie E. Bock. "A first rate book and a joy to read.... It's doubtful that acomplete understanding of the director's artistry can be obtainedwithout reading this book.... Also indispensable for buddingdirectors are the addenda, in which Kurosawa lays out his beliefson the primacy of a good *, on *writing as an essentialtool for directors, on directing actors, on camera placement, andon the value of steeping oneself in literature, from great novelsto detective fiction." -- Variety "For the lover of Kurosawa's movies...this is nothing short of mustreading...a fitting companion piece to his many dynamic andabsorbing screen entertainments." -- Washington Post Book World
With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, Ipresume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformedinto one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. Butthe true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist HenryMorton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is anextraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure—definedby alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw humanachievement. In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seasand continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet onevexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mightyNile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, GreatBritain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone,who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866,Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa.In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostilecannibals, and deadly predators. W
Frédéric Chopin’s reputation as one of the Great Romanticsendures, but as Benita Eisler reveals in her elegant and elegiacbiography, the man was more complicated than his iconicimage. A classicist, conservative, and dandy who relished his conquestof Parisian society, the Polish émigré was for a while blessed withgenius, acclaim, and the love of Europe’s most infamous womanwriter, George Sand. But by the age of 39, the man whose brilliantcompositions had thrilled audiences in the most fashionable salonslay dying of consumption, penniless and abandoned by his lover. Inthe fall of 1849, his lavish funeral was attended by thousands—butnot by George Sand. In this intimate portrait of an embattled man, Eisler tells thestory of a turbulent love affair, of pain and loss redeemed by art,and of worlds—both private and public—convulsed by momentouschange.
Robert Altman—visionary director, hard-partying hedonist,eccentric family man, Hollywood legend—comes roaring to life inthis rollicking oral biography. After an all-American boyhoodin Kansas City, a stint flying bombers in World War II, and jobsranging from dog tattoo entrepreneur to television director, RobertAltman burst onto the scene in 1970 with M*A*S*H . Hereinvented American filmmaking, and went on to produce suchmasterpieces as McCabe Mrs. Miller, Nashville , ThePlayer, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park . In RobertAltman , Mitchell Zuckoff has woven together Altman’s finalinterviews; an incredible cast of voices including Meryl Streep,Warren Beatty, Paul Newman, among scores of others; andcontemporary reviews and news accounts into a riveting tale of anextraordinary life.
On the day she turned seventy-seven, internationally acclaimedmystery writer P. D. James embarked on an endeavor unlike any otherin her distinguished career: she decided to write a personal memoirin the form of a diary. Over the course of a year she set down notonly the events and impressions of her extraordinarily active life,but also the memories, joys, discoveries, and crises of a lifetime.This enchantingly original volume is the result. Time to Be in Earnest offers an intimate portrait of one of mostaccomplished women of our time. Here are vivid, revealing accountsof her school days in Cambridge in the 1920s and '30s, her happymarriage and the tragedy of her husband's mental illness, and thethrill of publishing her first novel, Cover Her Face, in 1962. Asshe recounts the decades of her exceptional life, James holds forthwith wit and candor on such diverse subjects as the evolution ofthe detective novel, her deep love of the English countryside, herviews of author tours and television adaptati
From the moment Jacqueline du Pré first held a cello at the ageof five, it was clear she had an extraordinary gift. At sixteen,when she made her professional debut, she was hailed as one of theworld's most talented and exciting musicians. But ten years later,she stopped playing virtually overnight, when multiple sclerosisremoved the feeling in her hands just before a concert. It tookfourteen more years for the crippling disease to take its finaltoll. In this uniquely revealing biography,Hilary and Piers du Pré have re-created the life they shared withtheir sister in astonishing personal detail, unveiling the privateworld behind the public face. With warmth and candor they recountJackie's blissful love of the cello, her marriage to the conductorDaniel Barenboim, her compulsions, her suffering, and, above all,the price exacted by her talent on the whole family. For proud asthey were of Jackie's enormous success, none of them was preparedfor the profound impact her genius would have on each of theirlives
The long-awaited second volume of the best Churchill biographyreveals the true portrait of this ambitious world leader.Discussion centers on the alarm he sounded about the terrible plotbeing hatched inside Hitler's deranged mind. Two 8-page photosinserts.
