NATIONAL BESTSELLER Julie Holland thought she knew what crazy was. Then she cameto Bellevue. For nine eventful years, Dr. Holland was the weekendphysician in charge of the psychiatric emergency room at New YorkCity’s Bellevue Hospital. In this absorbing memoir, Hollandrecounts stories from her vast case files that are alternatelyterrifying, tragically comic, and profoundly moving: the serialkiller, the naked man barking like a dog in Times Square, theschizophrenic begging for an injection of club soda to quiet thevoices in his head, the subway conductor who watched a young womanpushed into the path of his train. Writing with uncommon candor, Holland supplies not only apage-turner with all the fast-paced immediacy of a TV medical dramabut also a fascinating glimpse into the inner lives of doctors whostruggle to maintain perspective in a world where sanity is in theeye of the beholder.
When Anne Rice stopped crafting stories about vampires andbegan writing about Jesus, many of her fans were shocked. Thisautobiographical spiritual memoir provides an account of how theauthor rediscovered and fully embraced her Catholic faith afterdecades as a self-proclaimed atheist. Rice begins with herchildhood in New Orleans, when she seriously considered entering aconvent. As she grows into a young adult she delves into concernsabout faith, God and the Catholic Church that lead her away fromreligion. The author finally reclaims her Catholic faith in thelate 1990s, describing it as a movement toward total surrender toGod. She writes beautifully about how through clouds of doubt andpain she finds clarity, realizing how much she loved God anddesired to surrender her being, including her writing talent, toGod. Covering such a large sequence of time and life events is noteasy, and some of the author's transitions are a bit jarring. Fansof Rice's earlier works will enjoy discovering more about her lifean
In 1955, Garcia Marquez was working for El Espectador, a newspaper in Bogota, when in February of that year eight crew members of the Caldas, a Colombian destroyer, were washed overboard and disappeared. Ten days later one of them turned up, barely alive, on a deserted beach in northern Colombia. This book, which originally appeared as a series of newspaper articles, is Garcia Marquez's account of that sailor's ordeal. Translated by Randolf Hogan.
A breakaway bestseller since its first printing, AllSouls takes us deep into Michael Patrick MacDonald's Southie,the proudly insular neighborhood with the highest concentration ofwhite poverty in America. Rocked by Whitey Bulger's crime schemesand busing riots, MacDonald's Southie is populated by sharply hewncharacters like his Ma, a miniskirted, accordion-playing singlemother who endures the deaths of four of her eleven children.Nearly suffocated by his grief and his community's code of silence,MacDonald tells his family story here with gritty but movinghonesty.
MARVELOUS . . . BREATHTAKING. --The New York Times Book Review "MAILER SHINES . . . Explaining Kennedy's assassination throughthe flaws in Oswald's character has been attempted before, notablyby Gerald Posner in Case Closed and Don Delillo in Libra. Butneither handled Oswald with the kind of dexterity and literaryimagination that Mailer here supplies in great force. . . .Oswald's Tale weaves a story not only about Oswald or Kennedy'sdeath but about the culture surrounding the assassination, one thatremains replete with miscomprehensions, unraveled threads and lackof resolution: All of which makes Oswald's Tale more true-to-lifethan any fact-driven treatise could hope to be. . . . VintageMailer." --The Philadelphia Inquirer "FASCINATING . . . A MASTER STORYTELLER . . . Mailer gives us ourclearest, deepest view of Oswald yet. . . . Inside three pages youare utterly absorbed." --Detroit Free Press "MAILER AT HIS BEST . . . LIVELY AND CONVINCING . . .EXTREMELY LUCI
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.
“This book is a life-changer. Thomas Cahill hasshown—through the extraordinary life of one man—that God workseverywhere and can bring the most beautiful soul to maturity ineven the most horrifying circumstances. If you read his story youwill never forget Dominique Green, nor will you ever feel the sameway about our courts, our prisons, and our criminal justicesystem.” —Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead ManWalking “Though this is a book that ends in death, it does not end indespair. Read it and discover how even the obscenity of capitalpunishment can be transformed into an occasion of light and peace.”—Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Afric "A deeply moving narrative about a man transformed as he faced anunjust execution." —James H. Cone, author of Black Theologyand Black Power “I expect A Saint on Death Row to become a classic in the growingstruggle to cleanse this nation finally of the sin of the deathpenalty.” —Jonathan Kozo
In 1944, Bertie Bowman–a poor, impressionablethirteen-year-old–heard South Carolina senator Burnet Maybankdeclare: “If you all ever get up to Washington, D.C., drop by andsee me!” Bertie took those words to heart, and when he arrived inWashington, Senator Maybank, surprisingly true to his word, saw toit that the young runaway had a place to stay and a steadyincome–earned by sweeping the Capitol steps for two dollars a week.Bowman would rise to become hearing coordinator for the SenateForeign Relations Committee in the U.S. Capitol–and this is hisremarkable story. For sixty years, Bertie Bowman stood at the epicenter of change andwitnessed history in the making, observing firsthand theclandestine backroom deals made in the name of democracy. Throughit all, he lived by these guiding principles: Work hard. Be true toyourself. Take responsibility. Have a positive outlook. Expect thebest from people. As Bowman recounts his extraordinary life, healso shares the lessons and values that have served him
In this beautifully written and profoundly stirringautobiography, Geoffrey Wolff unravels the enigma of hisGatsby-esque father, an inveterate liar who falsified everythingbut love. 8 pages of black-and-white photos.
If you had to give America a voice, it’s been said more thanonce, that voice would be Willie Nelson’s. For more than fiftyyears, he’s taken the stuff of his life—the good and the bad—andmade from it a body of work that has become a permanent part of ourmusical heritage and kept us company through the good and the badof our own lives. So it’s fitting, and cause for celebration, thathe has finally set down in his own words a book that does justiceto his great gifts as a storyteller. In The Facts of Life ,Willie Nelson reflects on what has mattered to him in life and whathasn’t. He also tells some great dirty jokes. The result is a bookas wise and hilarious as its author.
After two thousand years of flawed history, here at last is amagnificent new biography of Mary Magdalene that draws her out ofthe shadows of history and restores her to her rightful place ofimportance in Christianity.Throughout history, Mary Magdalene hasbeen both revered and reviled, a woman who has taken on manyforms—witch, whore, the incarnation of the eternal feminine, thedevoted companion (and perhaps even the wife) of Jesus. In thisbrilliant new biography, Bruce Chilton, a renowned biblicalscholar, offers the first complete and authoritative portrait ofthis fascinating woman. Through groundbreaking interpretations ofancient texts, Chilton shows that Mary played a central role inJesus’ ministry and was a seminal figure in the creation ofChristianity. Chilton’s de*ions of who Mary Magdalene was and what she didchallenge the male-dominated history of Christianity familiar tomost readers. Placing Mary within the traditions of Jewish femalesavants, Chilton presents a visionary figure who was fully imm
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
Curtis spares few intimate details about his years as aHollywood lothario, including his teenage affair with a redheaded,ponytailed Marilyn Monroe.–USA Today He was the Golden Boy of the Golden Age. Dashing and debonair,Tony Curtis arrived on the scene in a blaze of bright lights andcelluloid. His good looks, smooth charm, and natural talent earnedhim fame, women, and adulation–Elvis copied his look, and theBeatles put him on their Sgt. Pepper album cover. But the Hollywoodlife of his dreams brought both invincible highs and debilitatinglows. Now, in his captivating, no-holds-barred autobiography, TonyCurtis shares the agony and ecstasy of a private life in the publiceye. Curtis revisits his immense body of work–including the classicsHoudini, Spartacus, and Some Like It Hot–and regales readers withstories of his associations with Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier,and director Billy Wilder, as well as paramours Natalie Wood andMarilyn Monroe, among others. Written with humor and grace,
He was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard ofWhack. The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. Fromthe award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller TedWilliams comes the thoroughly original, definitively ambitious, andexhilaratingly colorful biography of the largest legend ever toloom in baseball—and in the history of organized sports. “[Montville is] one of America’s best sportswriters.” —ChicagoTribune Babe Ruth was more than baseball’s original superstar. Foreighty-five years, he has remained the sport’s reigning titan. Hehas been named Athlete of the Century . . . more than once. But whowas this large, loud, enigmatic man? Why is so little known abouthis childhood, his private life, and his inner thoughts? In The BigBam, Leigh Montville, whose recent New York Times bestsellingbiography of Ted Williams garnered glowing reviews and offered anexceptionally intimate look at Williams’s life, brings histrademark touch to this groundbreakin