"A dazzling portrait. . . . Written with energy, daring, andartful intelligence." --San Francisco Chronicle

In The Perfect Hour, biographer James L. W. West III reveals thenever-before told story of the romance between F. Scott Fitzgeraldand his first love, Ginevra King. They met in January 1915, whenScott was nineteen, a Princeton student, and sixteen-year-oldGinevra, socially poised and confident, was a sophomore at WestoverSchool. Their romance flourished in heartfelt letters and quicklyran its course–but Scott never forgot it. Ginevra became theinspiration for Isabelle Borgé in This Side of Paradise and themodel for Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. Scott also wroteshort stories inspired by her–including “Babes in the Woods” and“Winter Dreams,” which, along with Ginevra’s own story featuringScott are reprinted in this volume. With access to Ginevra’spersonal diary, love letters, photographs, and Scott’s ownscrapbook, West tells the beguiling story of youthful passion thatshaped Scott Fitzgerald’s life as a writer. For Scott and Ginevra, “the perfect hour” was private code for afleeti

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.

In August 1930, on a voyage from Madras to London, a youngIndian looked up at the stars and contemplated their fate.Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar--Chandra, as he was called--calculatedthat certain stars would suffer a strange and violent death,collapsing to virtually nothing. This extraordinary claim, thefirst mathematical de*ion of black holes, brought Chandra intodirect conflict with Sir Arthur Eddington, one of the greatestastrophysicists of the day. Eddington ridiculed the young man'sidea at a meeting of the Royal Astronomy Society in 1935, sendingChandra into an intellectual and emotional tailspin--and hinderingthe progress of astrophysics for nearly forty years. Empire of the Stars is the dramatic story of this intellectualdebate and its implications for twentieth-century science. ArthurI. Miller traces the idea of black holes from early notions of"dark stars" to the modern concepts of wormholes, quantum foam, andbaby universes. In the process, he follows the rise of two greattheories--relativ

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the monumentalwork that assured T.E. Lawrence's place in history as "Lawrence ofArabia." Not only a consummate military history, but also acolorful epic and a lyrical exploration of the mind of a great man,this is one of the indisputable classics of 20th century Englishliterature. Line drawings throughout.

In 1773, the great Samuel Johnson–then 63–and his young friendand future biographer, James Boswell, traveled together around thecoast of Scotland, each writing his own account of the 83-dayjourney. Published in one volume, the very different travelogues ofthis unlikely duo provide a fascinating picture not only of theScottish Highlands but also of the relationship between two menwhose fame would be forever entwined. Johnson's account contains elegant de*ions and analysesof what was then a remote and rugged land. In contrast, theScottish-born Boswell's journal of the trip focuses on thepsychological landscape of his famously gruff and witty companion,and is part of the material he was already collecting for hisfuture Life of Samuel Johnson, the masterly biography that wouldmake his name. Read together, the two accounts form both a unique classic oftravel writing and a revelation of one of the most famous literaryfriendships.

One day in late 1906, seventy-one-year-old Mark Twain attendeda meeting on copyright law at the Library of Congress. The arrivalof the famous author caused the usual stir—but then Twain took offhis overcoat to reveal a "snow-white" tailored suit and scandalizedthe room. His shocking outfit appalled and delighted hiscontemporaries, but far more than that, as Pulitzer Prize finalistMichael Shelden shows in this wonderful new biography, Twain hadbrilliantly staged this act of showmanship to cement his image, andhis personal legend, in the public's imagination. That afternoon inWashington, less than four years before his death, marked thebeginning of a vibrant, tumultuous period in Twain's life thatwould shape much of the now-famous image by which he has come to beknown—America's indomitable icon, the Man in White. Although Mark Twain has long been one of our most belovedliterary figures—Time magazine has declared him "our originalsuperstar"—his final years have been largely misunderstood. D

The author has condensed his memoirs into six chaptersconcerning, his psoriasis, his stuttering, the Vietnam War, hisancestors, religion and his sense of self. His books include"Rabbit is Rich", the 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner and "The Witchesof Eastwick" which was made into a feature film.