From Hermione Lee, the internationally acclaimed, award-winningbiographer of Virginia Woolf and Willa Cather , comesa superb reexamination of one of the most famous American women ofletters. Delving into heretofore untapped sources, Lee does away with theimage of the snobbish bluestocking and gives us a new EdithWharton-tough, startlingly modern, as brilliant and complex as herfiction. Born into a wealthy family, Wharton left America as anadult and eventually chose to create a life in France. Her renownednovels and stories have become classics of American literature, butas Lee shows, Wharton's own life, filled with success and scandal,was as intriguing as those of her heroines. Bridging two centuriesand two very different sensibilities, Wharton here comes to life inthe skillful hands of one of the great literary biographers of ourtime.

She has a job in Paris, a handsome Frenchman, a beautifulbilingual toddler, and an adorable apartment with breathtakingviews. So why does Catherine Sanderson feel that her life is comingapart? Stuck in a relationship quickly losing its heat, overwhelmedby the burdens of motherhood, and restless in a dead-end job,Catherine reads an article about starting an online diary, and on aslow day at work–voilà–Petite Anglaise is born. But what begins asa lighthearted diversion, a place to muse on the fish-out-of-waterchallenges of expat life, soon gives way to a raw forum whereCatherine shares intimate details about her relationship, herdiscontents, and her most impulsive desires. When one of herreaders–a charming Englishman–tries to get close to the girl behindthe blog, Catherine’s real and virtual personas collide, forcingher to choose between life as she knows it and the possibility ofmore.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “ The Social Network , themuch anticipated movie…adapted from Ben Mezrich’s book TheAccidental Billionaires .” — The New York Times Best friends Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg had spent manylonely nights looking for a way to stand out among HarvardUniversity’s elite, comptetitive, and accomplished studentbody. Then, in 2003, Zuckerberg hacked into Harvard’s computers,crashed the campus network, almost got himself expelled, and was inspired to create Facebook, the socialnetworking site that has since revolutionized communication aroundthe world. With Saverin’s funding their tiny start-up went from dorm room toSilicon Valley. But conflicting ideas about Facebook’s futuretransformed the friends into enemies. Soon, the undergraduateexuberance that marked their collaboration turned into out-and-outwarfare as it fell prey to the adult world of venture capitalists,big money, lawyers.

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

In a book that is both biography and the most exciting form ofhistory, here are eighteen years in the life of a man, AlbertEinstein, and a city, Berlin, that were in many ways the definingyears of the twentieth century. Einstein in Berlin In the spring of 1913 two of the giants of modern sciencetraveled to Zurich. Their mission: to offer the most prestigiousposition in the very center of European scientific life to a manwho had just six years before been a mere patent clerk. AlbertEinstein accepted, arriving in Berlin in March 1914 to take up hisnew post. In December 1932 he left Berlin forever. “Take a goodlook,” he said to his wife as they walked away from their house.“You will never see it again.” In between, Einstein’s Berlin years capture in microcosm theodyssey of the twentieth century. It is a century that opens withextravagant hopes--and climaxes in unparalleled calamity. These aretumultuous times, seen through the life of one man who is at oncewitness to and architect of his day--and

While many people dream of abandoning civilization and headinginto the wilderness, few manage to actually do it. One exceptionwas twenty-four-year-old Elliott Merrick, who in 1929 left hisadvertising job in New Jersey and moved to Labrador, one ofCanada’s most remote regions. First published by Scribner’s in1933, True North tells the captivating story of one of the highpoints of Merrick’s years there: a hunting trip he and his wife,Kay, made with trapper John Michelin in 1930. Covering 300 milesover a harsh winter, they experienced an unexplored realm of natureat its most intense and faced numerous challenges. Merrickaccidentally shot himself in the thigh and almost cut off his toe.Freezing cold and hunger were constant. Nonetheless, the groupfound beauty and even magic in the stark landscape. The couple andthe trappers bonded with each other and their environment throughsuch surprisingly daunting tasks as fabricating sunglasses to avoidsnow blindness and learning to wash underwear without it fre

An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maughamwas one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. Hepublished seventy-eight books -- including the undisputed classicsOf Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge -- which sold over 40 millioncopies in his lifetime. Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham wasorphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small Englishcoastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as adoctor, but never practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden, based onhis own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writersfrom Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with anactress, he married another man’s mistress, but reserved hisgreatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirtyyears. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite adebilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, heentertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in thesouth of France. He made a fortune from hi

William Lee Miller’s ethical biography is a fresh, engagingtelling of the story of Lincoln’s rise to power. Through carefulscrutiny of Lincoln’s actions, speeches, and writings, and ofaccounts from those who knew him, Miller gives us insight into themoral development of a great politician — one who made the choiceto go into politics, and ultimately realized that vocation’sfullest moral possibilities. As Lincoln’s Virtues makes refreshingly clear, Lincoln wasnot born with his face on Mount Rushmore; he was an actual humanbeing making choices — moral choices — in a real world. In anaccount animated by wit and humor, Miller follows this unschooledfrontier politician’s rise, showing that the higher he went and thegreater his power, the worthier his conduct would become. He wouldbecome that rare bird, a great man who was also a good man.Uniquely revealing of its subject’s heart and mind, it represents amajor contribution to our understanding and of Lincoln, and to theperennial American discu

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who hasdesigned one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in theUnited States. She also lectures widely on autism—because TempleGrandin is autistic, a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences theworld in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us. In this unprecedented book, Grandin delivers a report from thecountry of autism. Writing from the dual perspectives of ascientist and an autistic person, she tells us how that country isexperienced by its inhabitants and how she managed to breach itsboundaries to function in the outside world. What emerges in Thinking in Pictures is the document of an extraordinaryhuman being, one who, in gracefully and lucidly bridging the gulfbetween her condition and our own, sheds light on the riddle of ourcommon identity.

Sex, intrigue and adultery in the world of high politics andhuge wealth in late eighteenth-century England. Georgiana, Duchessof Devonshire, was one of the most flamboyant and influential womenof the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt ofDiana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, apolitical savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict,an adulteress and the darling of the common people. Thisauthoritative, utterly absorbing book presents a mesmerizingpicture of a fascinating world of political and sexual intrigues,grand houses, huge parties, glamour and great wealth -- always onthe edge of being squandered by the excesses and scandals ofindividuals. Georgiana's extraordinary life has now been made intoa major film - starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes - whichis due for release in summer 2008. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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

Tony Blair is a politician who defines our times. Hisemergence as Labour Party leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift inBritish politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed hisparty and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime ministerin 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour’s history, and bringingto an end eighteen years of Conservative government. He took Labourto a historic three terms in office as Britain’s dominant politicalfigure of the last two decades. A Journey is Tony Blair’s firsthand account of his years inoffice and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role inshaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’sdeath to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisionsthat were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships withcolleagues including Gordon Brown, the grueling negotiations forpeace in Northern Ireland, the implementation of the biggestreforms to public services in Britain since 1945, and hisrelationships with l