Originally a New Deal liberal and aggressive anticommunist,Senator Eugene McCarthy famously lost faith with the Democraticparty over Vietnam. His stunning challenge to Lyndon Johnson in the1968 New Hampshire primary inspired young liberals and was one ofthe greatest electoral upsets in American history. But the 1968election ultimately brought Richard Nixon and the Republican Partyto power, irrevocably shifting the country’s political landscape tothe right for decades to come. Dominic Sandbrook traces one of the most remarkable andsignificant lives in postwar politics, a career marked by bothcourage and arrogance. Sandbrook draws on extensive new research –including interviews with McCarthy himself – to show convincinglyhow Eugene McCarthy’s political experience embodies the largerdecline of American liberalism after World War II. These weretumultuous times in American politics, and Sandbrook vividlycaptures the drama and historical significance through his intimateportrait of a singularly

No writer alive today exerts the magical appeal of GabrielGarcía Márquez. Now, in the long-awaited first volume of hisautobiography, he tells the story of his life from his birth in1927 to the moment in the 1950s when he proposed to his wife. Theresult is as spectacular as his finest fiction. Here is García Márquez’s shimmering evocation of his childhoodhome of Aracataca, the basis of the fictional Macondo. Here are themembers of his ebulliently eccentric family. Here are the forcesthat turned him into a writer. Warm, revealing, abounding in imagesso vivid that we seem to be remembering them ourselves, Living toTell the Tale is a work of enchantment.

More than four decades after her death, Billie Holiday remainsone of the most gifted artists of our time–and also one of the mostelusive. Because of who she was and how she chose to live her life,Lady Day has been the subject of both intense adoration and wildlydistorted legends. Now at last, Farah Jasmine Griffin, a writer ofintellectual authority and superb literary gifts, liberates BillieHoliday from the mythology that has obscured both her life and herart. An intimate meditation on Holiday’s place in American culture andhistory, If You Can’t Be Free, Be A Mystery reveals Lady Day in allher complexity, humor and pain–a true jazz virtuoso whose passionand originality made every song she sang hers forever. Celebratedby poets, revered by recording artists from Frank Sinatra to MacyGray, Billie Holiday is more popular and influential today thanever before. Now, thanks to this marvelous book, Holiday’s manyfans can finally understand the singer and the woman they love.

Katherine was a beautiful, perfect baby for the first year ofher life. Then, without warning, she changed forever. She startedcrossing her eyes. She cried at night for hours at a time and couldnot be soothed. She stopped saying words, stopped crawling, andbegan what would become a lifelong habit of wringing her hands.Hospital visits and consultations with doctors offered no answersto the mystery. Soon Katherine slipped away to a place her motherand father could never reach. In Keeping Katherine, Susan Zimmermann tells the story of herlife with her daughter Katherine, who has Rett syndrome, adevastating neurological disorder. Writing with honesty and candor,Zimmermann chronicles her personal journey to accept the changeddynamic of her family; the strain of caring for a special needschild and the pressure it placed on her marriage, career, andrelationship with her parents; the dilemma of whether Kat would bebetter cared for in a group home; and most important, the alteredreality of her daughter’s

Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple andJonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "trulyunforgettable" ( Kirkus Review ) story of how one woman wasseduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and howshe found her way back to sanity. From Waco to Heaven's Gate, the past decade has seen its share ofcult tragedies. But none has been quite so dramatic or compellingas the Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which the Reverend Jim Jonesand 913 of his disciples perished. Deborah Layton had been a memberof the Peoples Temple for seven years when she departed forJonestown, Guyana, the promised land nestled deep in the SouthAmerican jungle. When she arrived, however, Layton saw thatsomething was seriously wrong. Jones constantly spoke of arevolutionary mass suicide, and Layton knew only too well that hehad enough control over the minds of the Jonestown residents tocarry it out. But her pleas for help--and her sworn affidavit tothe U.S. government--fell on skeptical ears. I

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

“I have been incredibly fortunate over the course of mycareer to have been associated with some extraordinary dramatic andmusical productions, and also some rather spectacular disasters.Looking back, I can find gifts and life lessons in everyone.” The legendary Patti LuPone is one of the theatre’s most belovedleading ladies. Now she lays it all bare, sharing the intimatestory of her life both onstage and off--through the dizzying highsand darkest lows--with the humor and outspokenness that have becomeher trademarks. With nearly 100 photographs, including an 8-page four-color insert,and illuminating details about the life of a working actor, frominspired costars and demanding directors to her distinctperspective on how she developed and honed her Tony Award–winningperformances, Patti LuPone: A Memoir is as inspirational asit is entertaining. And though the title might say “a memoir,” thisis ultimately a love letter to the theatre by a unique Americanartist. Raised on Long Island’s North Shor

Inspired by the fresco cycles that depict the life of St.Francis of Assisi, acclaimed author Valerie Martin tells the lifeof Francesco di Pietro Bernardone in a series of vividly realized“panels” of moments both crucial and ordinary. Drawing from myriadsources and moving in reverse chronological order, she begins inthe dark, final days, with a suffering Francesco on the verge ofdeath, then shows us the unwashed and innocent revolutionary,unafraid to lecture a pope on Christ’s message. We see his mysticalfriendship with Chiara di Offreducci, a nobleman’s daughter whoturns her back on the world to join him, and finally, the frivolousyoung Francesco on the deserted road where his encounter with aleper leads him to an ecstatic embrace of God. Salvation is at oncean illuminating glimpse into the medieval world and an original andintimate portrait of the man whose legend has resonated through thecenturies.

"Lost Boy" John Bul Dau’s harrowing experience surviving thebrutal horrors of Sudanese civil war and his adjustment to life inmodern America is chronicled in this inspiring memoir and featuredin an award-winning documentary film of the same name. Movinglywritten, the book traces Dau’s journey through hunger, exhaustion,terror, and violence as he fled his homeland, dodging ambushes,massacres and attacks by wild animals. His tortuous, 14-yearjourney began in 1987, when he was just 13, and took him on a1,000-mile walk, barefoot, to Ethiopia, back to Sudan, then to arefugee camp in Kenya, where he lived with thousands of other LostBoys. In 2001, at the age of 27, he immigrated to the UnitedStates. With touching humor, Dau recounts the shock of his tribalculture colliding with life in America. He shares the joy ofreuniting with his family and the challenges of making a new lifefor himself while never forgetting the other Lost Boys he leftbehind.

A champion of Africa, legendary for his good looks, his charm,and his prowess as a soldier, lover, and hunter, Denys Finch Hattoninspired Karen Blixen to write the unforgettable Out of Africa. Nowesteemed British biographer Sara Wheeler tells the truth about thisextraordinarily charismatic adventurer. Born to an old aristocratic family that had gambled away most ofits fortune, Finch Hatton grew up in a world of effortless eleganceand boundless power. In 1910, searching for something new, hearrived in British East Africa and fell in love–with a continent,with a landscape, with a way of life that was about to changeforever. In Nairobi, Finch Hatton met Karen Blixen and embarked onone of the great love affairs of the twentieth century.Intellectual equals, Finch Hatton and Blixen were genuine pioneersin a land that was quickly being transformed by violence, greed,and bigotry. Ever restless, Finch Hatton wandered into a career asa big-game hunter and became an expert bush pilot. Mesmerized allhis li

The almost unbelievable story of endemic corruption, and theofficial condoning by the FBI of violent crimes committed by James“Whitey” Bulger and his South Boston Irish mob, entered a newchapter with Bulger’s arrest in California. For decades the FBI letBulger get away with murder, protecting him from prosecution forcrimes it knew he had committed and allowing him continued controlof his criminal enterprise in exchange for information about therival Italian mafia and even members of his own gang.? During the 1980s, Edward J. MacKenzie, Jr., “Eddie Mac,” was a drugdealer and enforcer who would do just about anything for Bulger. Inthis compelling eyewitness account, the first from a Bulgerinsider, Eddie Mac delivers the goods on his one-time boss and onsuch former associates as Stephen ''The Rifleman'' Flemmi andturncoat FBI agent John Connolly. Eddie Mac provides a window ontoa world rarely glimpsed by those on the outside. Street Soldier is also a story of the search for family, for

Originally published in six volumes, Sandburgs Abraham Lincolnwas called the greatest historical biography of our generation.Sandburg distilled this work into one volume that became thedefinitive life of Lincoln. Index; photographs.

At sixteen, Edward Beauclerk Maurice impulsively signed upwith the Hudson's Bay Company -- the company of GentlemanAdventurers -- and ended up at an isolated trading post in theCanadian Arctic, where there was no communication with the outsideworld and only one ship arrived each year. But he was not alone.The Inuit people who traded there taught him how to track polarbears, build igloos, and survive ferocious winter storms. Helearned their language and became completely immersed in theirculture, earning the name Issumatak, meaning “he who thinks.” In The Last Gentleman Adventurer, Edward Beauclerk Mauricerelates his story of coming of age in the Arctic and transports thereader to a time and a way of life now lost forever.

Succeeds more than any previous book in bringing Ali into focus. . . as a starburst of energy, ego and ability whose like willnever be seen again.-- The Wall Street Journal "Best Nonfiction Book of the Year"-- Time "Penetrating . . . reveal[s] details that even close followers of[Ali] might not have known. . . . An amazing story." -- The NewYork Times On the night in 1964 that Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay)stepped into the ring with Sonny Liston, he was widely regarded asan irritating freak who danced and talked way too much. Six roundslater Ali was not only the new world heavyweight boxing champion:He was "a new kind of black man" who would shortly transformAmerica's racial politics, its popular culture, and its notions ofheroism. No one has capturedAli--and the era that he exhilarated and sometimes infuriated--withgreater vibrancy, drama, and astuteness than David Remnick, thePulitzer Prize-winning author of Lenin's Tomb (and editor of The New Yorker ). In charting Ali's rise fro

In the most inspiring speech of his career, Ted Kennedy oncevowed: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the workgoes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dreamshall never die." Unlike his martyred brothers, John and Robert, whose lives werecut off before the promise of a better future could be realized,Ted lived long enough to make many promises come true. During acareer that spanned an astonishing half-century, he put his imprinton every major piece of progressive legislation–from health careand education to civil rights.

With this collection of short and fascinating biographicalpieces, the award-winning biographer of Coleridge and Shelleyoffers a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious art ofbiography. When researching, Richard Holmes has often become captivated byfigures peripheral to his main subject, literary forays that hecouldn’t resist. These tales–the forbidden love of John StuartMill, the bizarre novel of Oscar Wilde’s tragic grand-uncle, Scottand Zelda Fitzgerald’s nightmarish yet cathartic final trip toParis–are part of what comprises Sidetracks, a marvelously originalthat includes letters and travelogues, radio plays, essays, andminature biographies. This book is a rare literary feast and anexploration of the creative processes of one of our most preeminentbiographers.

With a New Afterword "Our knowledge of fundamental physics contains not one fruitful idea that does not carry the name of Murray Gell-Mann."--Richard Feynman Acclaimed science writer George Johnson brings his formidable reporting skills to the first biography of Nobel Prize-winner Murray Gell-Mann, the brilliant, irascible man who revolutionized modern particle physics with his models of the quark and the Eightfold Way. Born into a Jewish immigrant family on New York's East 14th Street, Gell-Mann's prodigious talent was evident from an early age--he entered Yale at 15, completed his Ph.D. at 21, and was soon identifying the structures of the world's smallest components and illuminating the elegant symmetries of the universe. Beautifully balanced in its portrayal of an extraordinary and difficult man, interpreting the concepts of advanced physics with scrupulous clarity and simplicity, Strange Beauty is a tour-de-force of both science writing and biography.

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

He was one of pro football’s most beloved and respected stars,admired not only by NFL fans and his own teammates, but by hisopponents as well. Super Bowl champion; six time Pro Bowler; NFLComeback Player of the Year; NFL Man of the Year; fifth all-timeleading rusher in the NFL; future Hall of Famer; now NBC Sportscommentator. You may think you know Jerome Bettis, but you don’t. In The Bus, Jerome Bettis tells his full, unvarnished story forthe first time--from his sometimes troubled childhood in inner-cityDetroit to his difficult transition at Notre Dame, to a pro coachwho almost caused him to quit the game, to a trade for the agesthat resulted in ten glorious seasons with the PittsburghSteelers. As a chunky child wearing glasses, Jerome’s only sports-relatedaspiration was to become a professional bowler. But growing up inone of the roughest neighborhoods in Detroit, he eventually foundhis escape on the high school football field, thanks to thedevotion of hard-working parents, a

McCain, with help from his administrative assistant Salter,picks up where the bestselling Faith of My Fathers left off, afterhis release from a North Vietnamese POW prison. After two decadesin Congress, he has plenty of stories to tell, beginning with hisfirst experiences on Capitol Hill as a navy liaison to the Senate,where he became friends with men like Henry "Scoop" Jackson andJohn Tower. (The latter friendship plays a crucial role in McCain'saccount of the battle over Tower's 1989 nomination for defensesecretary.) He revisits the "Keating Five" affair that nearlywrecked his career in the early '90s, pointedly observing how theinvestigating Senate committee left him dangling for politicalreasons long after he'd been cleared of wrongdoing. There's muchless on his 2000 presidential campaign than one might expect; asingle chapter lingers on a self-lacerating analysis of how he lostthe South Carolina primary. (He admits, "I doubt I shall havereason or opportunity to try again" for the White House, and