Michael Jackson: The Making of "Thriller" is an illustratedtribute to the King of Pop and his groundbreaking music video, withnever-before-seen photos of its creation. The book features over200 exclusive, behind-the-scenes photographs of the artist on setduring the 1983 production of the Grammy award winning videodirected by John Landis. Considered to be the most successful project of all time,"Thriller" is beloved the world over, inspiring imitation and acult-like following of millions of fans. Documenting the creationof the most popular and iconic music video of all time, this bookcelebrates the artist and his music at the top of his career. Famed photographer Douglas Kirkland and journalist Nancy Griffinwere the only members of the media allowed on the set of the video.The resulting photos capture Jackson both in high performance modeand relaxing on the set and depict his transformation into thecharacters in the video as well capturing the public and privatefaces of Michael Jackson.

Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs BusinessBook of the Year Prize 2008 The Snowball is the first and will bethe only biography of the world's richest man, Warren Buffett,written with his full cooperation and collaboration. Combining aunique blend of "The Sage of Omaha's" business savvy, life storyand philosophy, The Snowball is essential reading for anyonewishing to discover and replicate the secrets of his business andlife success. Warren Buffett is arguably the world's greatestinvestor. Even as a child he was fascinated by the concept of riskand probability, setting up his first business at the age of six.In 1964 he bought struggling Massachusetts textile firm BerkshireHathaway and grew it to be the 12th largest corporation in the USpurely through the exercise of sound investing principles - a featnever equalled in the annals of business. Despite an estimated networth of around US$62 billion, Buffett leads an intriguingly frugallife taking home a salary of only GBP50,000 a year. Hi

From a hard childhood lived largely in foster homes, she ascended to the highest of Hollywood heights-a screen icon beyond compare. And then she died young under mysterious circumstances, tragically cementing her legend. The life story of Norma Jeane Baker, the girl who would become Marilyn Monroe, is as thrilling, glamorous and dramatic as anything seen on the big screen, and the camera was there to capture every chapter. With intimate, rarely seen photographs of a pretty little child growing up in California during the 1930s right through to the classic imagery of the movie star in the 1950

The Age Of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan’s incomparable reckoning with the contemporary financial world, channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. Following the arc of his remarkable life’s journey through his more than eighteen-year tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board to the present, in the second half of The Age of Turbulence Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour d’horizon of the global economy. The distillation of a life’s worth of wisdom and insight into an elegant expression of a coherent worldview, The Age of Turbulence will stand as Alan Greenspan’s personal and intellectual legacy.

She was, indeed, the People's Princess. She belonged to them,and was beloved by them. For some reason that cannot be pinneddown, this pretty young woman of the aristocracy, who married intoroyalty, connected with the common folk in a way that was uniqueand extraordinary. The people cared for and cared about Diana, andwhen she was killed in a tragic car accident in Paris, theoutpouring of grief-not just in England, but globally-wasoverwhelming. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of DianaSpencer's birth, LIFE has assembled a celebratory chronicle of hertoo short but constantly vibrant time in the public eye. In familyphotos, we re visit Diana's youth and then, quickly enough, thereis her courtship by Prince Charles. The Wedding of the Centuryreally was that, an opulent extravaganza at St. Paul's that seemeda fairy tale, even unto the Glass Coach. LIFE was on the job at thetime and in our pages appeared defining pictures from the day, aswell as behind the scenes shots taken by the royals themselves.Those

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral andpolitical leader of our time, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantlyre-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape NelsonMandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, A LONG WALKTO FREEDOM is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story ofhardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity andeloquence of a born leader. 'Burns with the luminosity of faith inthe invincible nature of human hope and dignity ...Unforgettable'Andre Brink 'Enthralling ...Mandela emulates the few greatpolitical leaders such as Lincoln and Gandhi, who go beyond mereconsensus and move out ahead of their followers to break newground' Donald Woods in the SUNDAY TIMES

He was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widelyread authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the mostfamous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham’s own truestory has never been fully told. At last, the fascinating truth isrevealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer SelinaHastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham’s personalcorrespondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his onlychild, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity,and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as TheRazor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage. Hastings vividly presents Maugham’s lonely childhood spentwith unloving relatives after the death of his parents, a traumathat resulted in shyness, a stammer, and for the rest of his lifean urgent need for physical tenderness. Here, too, are his adulttriumphs on the stage and page, works that allowed him a glitteringsocial life in which he befriended and sometimes fell out with suchluminaries as Do

As a memoir elevated to the level of fineart, John Ruskin’s Praeterita stands alongside The Education ofHenry Adams and the confessions of Augustine, Rousseau, andTolstoy. A luminous account of his childhood and youth, Praeteritais the last major work of the revolutionary nineteenth-centurycritic. Written in the lucid intervals between the boutsof dementia that haunted his final years, Praeterita tells thestory of Ruskin’s early life—the formation of his taste andintellect through education, travels in Europe, and encounters withgreat works of art and artists. In abandoning the traditionallinear mode of autobiography, Ruskin opened up the form and was animportant influence on Proust. He also provided a vivid, detailedportrait of pre-Victorian and Victorian England that is asindispensable an account of its era as Samuel Pepys’s diary is ofEngland in the seventeenth century. This edition of Praeterita is accompanied byDilecta, Ruskin’s own selection from his letters, diaries, andother wri

Bruce Lee has been recognized primarily for his physicalskills and tactical principles in the art of unarmed combat. ButBruce Lee: Artist of Life reveals that Lee was a man who was equalparts poet, Philosophysopher, scientist, actor. producer, director,author, choreographer, Martial Artsl artist, husband, father, andfriend, dedicated to artistic expression with the goal ofself-knowledge. Bruce Lee: Artist of Life is a collection ofwritings comprising eight parts: writings on Chinese Gung Fu,Philosophysophy psychology, Jeet Kune Do, acting, andself-knowledge, as well as a section of Lee's poetry and letters,revealing a side of Bruce Lee rarely seen letters, revealing a sideof Bruce Lee rarely seen previously. As John Little writes in theIntroduction, "No matter what the topic...you get the distinctimpression from reading Lee's words that hee, indeed, was a 'realman,' a real human being, who was in fact laying bare hissoul."

One of America’s finest historians shows us how Bob Dylan, oneof the country’s greatest and most enduring artists, stillsurprises and moves us after all these years. Growing up in Greenwich Village, Sean Wilentz discov??ered themusic of Bob Dylan as a young teenager; almost half a centurylater, he revisits Dylan’s work with the skills of an eminentAmerican historian as well as the passion of a fan. Drawn in partfrom Wilentz’s essays as “historian in residence” of Dylan’sofficial website, Bob Dylan in America is a unique blend of fact,interpretation, and affinity—a book that, much like its subject,shifts gears and changes shape as the occasion warrants. Beginning with his explosion onto the scene in 1961, this bookfollows Dylan as he continues to develop a body of musical andliterary work unique in our cultural history. Wilentz’s approachplaces Dylan’s music in the context of its time, including theearly influences of Popular Front ideology and Beat aesthetics, andoffers a larger critica

Audrey Hepburn's exquisite style and grace is much documented-her debut in Roman Holiday in 1953 redefined perceived notions of Hollywood glamour and ushered in an age of sophistication and elegance, Hepburn's legacy on screen and in fashion is undisputed, her image attaining that rare feat in cinema of becoming as synonymous with her fame as her films. Audrey Hepbum: The Pdrdmount Years collects together for the first time those memorable billboard images which established her iconic status. Featuring the golden period of Hepburn's film career, this sumptuous book includes never-before-seen poster artwork for Roman Holiddy; Sobrina, Funny Face and Breakfast At Tiffony's along with magazine covers from the period, lobby cards, stunning costume designs and rare behind-the-scenes stills from her Paramount films. With a foreword written by Sir Christopher Frayling, Chair dArts Council England and Rector of the Royal College of Art, this book shows, film by film, how Hepburn's classic image was created th

Since turning pro after a short stint at Stanford University,no one athlete has dominated their sport as Tiger Woods hasdominated the world of golf. His list of achievements andchampionships would fill pages. But how does he do it? In HOW I PLAY GOLF, through fabulous colorphotos, slow-motion photography, and plenty of text, Tiger talksabout his drives, his putting, his chip shots, his mental approachto the game, and much more more. This is the complete instructionalon how Tiger plays the game of golf. Tiger shares his thoughts on what he calls the game for alifetime. He reveals the five secrets he believes are responsiblefor his success -- a combination of physical, metaphysical, andpsychological practices he uses daily to keep his game in top shapeand to help him to transcend all the ups and downs of golf. Not many can play golf as well as Tiger does, but at least we canread how we can try to improve our game. This one singular volumecontains all the golf instruction that anyone wou

Michael Jackson was the undisputed King of Pop and his untimely death has provoked tributes from around the world. With a colourful life spanning from 1968 when Michael was a member of the Jackson 5 to his recent announcement of a final comeback tour at the O2 in London, nobody can dispute the achievements of the man who was arguably the greatest artist of the millenium. This fully illustrated book offers an insightful tribute to the man behind Thriller, the world's best selling album of all time. Including sections on Michael's early life and the Jackson 5, the making of Off the Wall and Thriller, and the troubled years leading right up to his announcement of a comeback tour, this will be a comprehensive and fitting tribute to a legendary pop star, the likes of which the world will never be seen again.

Thriller takes us back to a time in 1982 when MichaelJackson was king of the charts, breaking the color barrier on MTV,heralding the age of video, and becoming the ultimaterepresentation of the crossover dreams of Motown’s Berry Gordy, whohelped launch Jackson’s career with the Jackson 5. In this incisiveand revealing examination of the making and meaning of Thriller , Nelson George illuminates the brilliant creativeprocess (and work ethic) of Jackson and producer Quincy Jones,deftly exploring the larger context of the music, life, and seismicimpact of Michael Jackson on three generations. All this from agroundbreaking journalist and cultural critic who was there. Georgequestions whether the phenomenon Jackson became is even possibletoday. He revisits his early writings on the King of Pop andexamines not only the stunning success of Thriller but alsoJackson as an artist, public figure, and racial enigma—includingthe details surrounding his death on June 25, 2009.

Barack Obama is arguably the most dynamic political figure to grace the American stage since John F. Kennedy. His meteoric rise from promise to power has stunned even the cynics and inspired a legion of devout followers. For anyone who wants to know more about the man who would be president, David Mendell's Obama is essential reading. Mendell, who has covered Obama for the Chicago Tribune since the beginning of Obama's campaign for the Senate, had far-reaching access to the senator, the details of which he shares in this compelling biography. Positioning Obama as the savior of a fumbling Democratic party, Mendell shows how Obama conquered Illinois politics and paved the way brick by brick for a galvanizing, historic presidential run. With exclusive contributions by family members and advisers, and details on Obama's voting record, this is a complete, complex, and revealing portrait, a must read for anyone interested in American politics in general and Senator Barack Obama in particular.

An enraged man abducts his estranged wife and child, holes upin a secluded mountain cabin, threatening to kill them both. Aright wing survivalist amasses a cache of weapons and resists callsto surrender. A drug trafficker barricades himself and his familyin a railroad car, and begins shooting. A cult leader in Waco,Texas faces the FBI in an armed stand-off that leaves many dead ina fiery blaze. A sniper, claiming to be God, terrorizes the DCmetropolitan area. For most of us, these are events we hear abouton the news. For Gary Noesner, head of the FBI’s groundbreakingCrisis Negotiation Unit, it was just another day on the job. In Stalling for Time, Noesner takes readers on a heart-poundingtour through many of the most famous hostage crises of the pastthirty years. Specially trained in non-violent confrontation andcommunication techniques, Noesner’s unit successfully defused manypotentially volatile standoffs, but perhaps their most hard-wonvictory was earning the recognition and respect of the

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.

A fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's 73 recently discovered notebooks, including illustrations, deleted extracts, and two unpublished Poirot stories. When Agatha Christie died in 1976, aged 85, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide in more than 100 countries, she had achieved the impossible - more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller. So prolific was Agatha Christie's output - 66 crime novels, 20 plays, 6 romance books under a pseudonym and over 150 short stories - it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those 55 years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes? Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable secret was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, 73 handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining

This volume provides a systematic overview and comprehensiveassessment of Bernard Williams' contribution to moral philosophy, afield in which Williams was one of the most influential ofcontemporary philosophers. The seven essays, which were speciallycommissioned for this volume, examine his work on moralobjectivity, the nature of practical reason, moral emotion, thecritique of the 'morality system', Williams' assessment of theethical thought of the ancient world, and his later adoption ofNietzsche's method of 'genealogy'. Collectively, the essays notonly engage with Williams' work, but also develop independentphilosophical arguments in connection with those topics that have,over the last thirty years, particularly reflected Williams'influence.

An inspiring story of one doctor’s struggle in a war-tornvillage in the heart of Sudan In 2007, James Maskalyk, newly recruited byDoctors Without Borders, set out for the contested border town ofAbyei, Sudan. An emergency physician drawn to the ravaged parts ofthe world, Maskalyk spent six months treating malnourishedchildren, coping with a measles epidemic, watching for war, andstruggling to meet overwhelming needs with few resources. Six Months in Sudan began as a blog thatMaskalyk wrote from his hut in Sudan in an attempt to bring hisfamily and friends closer to his experiences on the medical frontline of one of the poorest and most fragile places on earth. It isthe story of the doctors, nurses, and countless volunteers wholeave their homes behind to ease the suffering of others, and it isthe story of the people of Abyei, who endure its hardship becauseit is the only home they have. A memoir of volunteerism that recalls Three Cupsof Tea, Six Months in Sudan is written with humanity, convicti

1956 was the year Elvis released his first record, made hisfirst television appearance, and started his movie career. It wasthe year he became a star. Alfred Wertheimer, then a youngfreelance photojournalist, was there to document the extraordinarytransition. "Elvis 1956" features images that are a nationaltreasure, including photographs of Elvis never before published: aunique visual record of one of the most exciting performers of histime, one of the most influential of all time, the first true iconof rock 'n' roll. Here is the first and last unguarded look atElvis, featuring images of him in every aspect of his life - fromperformance and with the fans, to the recording studio and at homewith his family. "Elvis 1956" serves as the catalogue for anationally traveling exhibition exhibition developedcollaboratively by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling ExhibitionService, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and theGovinda Gallery to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the legendaryrock star's b

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived the darkest and mostdangerous life of any of the great painters. The worlds of Milan,Rome and Naples through which Caravaggio moved and which AndrewGraham-Dixon describes brilliantly in this book, are those ofcardinals and whores, prayer and violence. On the streetssurrounding the churches and palaces, brawls and sword fights wereregular occurrences. In the course of this desperate lifeCaravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, usingordinary men and women - often prostitutes and the very poor - tomodel for his depictions of classic religious scenes. AndrewGraham-Dixon's exceptionally illuminating readings of Caravaggio'spictures, which are the heart of the book, show very clearly how hecreated their drama, immediacy and humanity, and how completely hedeparted from the conventions of his time.

The first compilation of Bruce Lee photographs published inassociation with the Bruce Lee estate. This book reveals the fullrange of Lee's talents. It includes rare photos spanning from hisearly stage career in Hong Kong to his worldwide success as anactor and martial arts phenomenon. Selected with the assistance ofLee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee expert John Littlepresents a photographic record, accompanied by de*ivecommentary, of all facets of this fascinating man, from the startof his career to his untimely death a quarter century ago. Includedare photos from Bruce's personal family photos, from his childhoodyears, through the early years in Hollywood, to the peak of hiscareer as an international star.