To illuminate the mysterious greatness of Anton Chekhov'swritings, Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic,biographer, and journalist. Her close readings of the stories andplays are interwoven with episodes from Chekhov's life and framedby an account of Malcolm's journey to St. Petersburg, Moscow, andYalta. She writes of Chekhov's childhood, his relationships, histravels, his early success, and his self-imposed "exile"--alwayswith an eye to connecting them to themes and characters in hiswork. Lovers of Chekhov as well as those new to his work will betransfixed by "Reading Chekhov."

The first complete, unvarnished history of Southern rock’slegendary and most popular band, from its members’ hardscrabbleboyhoods in Jacksonville, Florida and their rise to worldwide fameto the tragic plane crash that killed the founder and the band’srise again from the ashes. In the summer of 1964 Jacksonville, Florida teenager Ronnie VanZant and some of his friends hatched the idea of forming a band toplay covers of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Yardbirds and thecountry and blues-rock music they had grown to love. Naming theirband after Leonard Skinner, the gym teacher at Robert E. Lee SeniorHigh School who constantly badgered the long-haired aspiringmusicians to get haircuts, they were soon playing gigs at parties,and bars throughout the South. During the next decade LynyrdSkynyrd grew into the most critically acclaimed and commerciallysuccessful of the rock bands to emerge from the South since theAllman Brothers. Their hits “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama”became classics. The

In this extraordinary memoir, one of the best young writers inAmerica today transforms into a work of art the darkest passageimaginable in a young woman's life: an obsessive love affairbetween father and daughter that began when Kathryn Harrison,twenty years old, was reunited with a parent whose absence hadhaunted her youth. Exquisitely and hypnotically written, like a bold and terrifyingdream, The Kiss is breathtaking in its honesty and in the power andbeauty of its creation. A story both of taboo and of familycomplicity in breaking taboo, The Kiss is also about love -- aboutthe most primal of love triangles, the one that ensnares a childbetween mother and father. From the Hardcover edition.

“You keep fighting, okay?” I whispered. “We’re in thistogether. You and me. You’re not alone. You hear me? You are notalone. ” 5:38 p.m. It was the precise moment Sean Manning was born and thetime each year that his mother wished him happy birthday. But justbefore he turned twenty-seven, their tradition collapsed. A heartattack landed his mom in the hospital and uprooted Manning from hislife in New York. What followed was a testament to a family’sindestructible bond—a life-changing odyssey that broke a boy andmade a man—captured here in Manning’s indelible memoir.

Offers a remarkable perspective on how a brutal mobster couldlead a sweet home life as a suburban dad.” —New York Times “One of the most searing volumes ever written about the mob .. . An] unforgettable memoir.” —Publishers Weekly “Admirers of Mafia fiction . . . should enjoy DeMeo’s attemptto strip off the gaudy veneer of what is, what was, and [what]always will be very dirty business.” —Detroit Free Press

modern-day classic. "Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself inits small and perfect form . . . It tells of light and life andlove and the security that lies at the heart."--New York Times BookReview.

“On our first date, Rich ordered a chocolate soufflé at thebeginning of the meal, noting an asterisk on the menu warningdiners of the wait involved. At the time, I imagined he did itpartly to impress me, which it did, though today I know well thathe’s simply the type of man who knows better than to turn down ahot-from-the-oven soufflé when one is offered to him.” When Michelle Maisto meets Rich–like her, a closet writer with afierce love of books and good food–their single-mindedness at thetable draws them together, and meals become a stage for their longcourtship. Finally engaged, they move in together, but sitting downto shared meals each night–while working at careers, trying towrite, and falling into the routines that come to define ahome–soon feels like something far different from their firstdinner together. Who cooks, who shops, who does the dishes? Rich craves the lightfare his mother learned to prepare as a girl in China, but Michelleleans toward the hearty dishes h

On the night of March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, rightup the street from the chocolate factory, Wilt Chamberlain, a youngand striking athlete celebrated as the Big Dipper, scored onehundred points in a game against the New York Knickerbockers. As historic and revolutionary as the achievement was, it remainsshrouded in myth. The game was not televised; no New Yorksportswriters showed up; and a fourteen-year-old local boy ran ontothe court when Chamberlain scored his hundredth point, shook hishand, and then ran off with the basketball. In telling the story ofthis remarkable night, author Gary M. Pomerantz brings to life alost world of American sports. In 1962, the National Basketball Association, stepchild to thecollege game, was searching for its identity. Its teams were mostlywhite, the number of black players limited by an unspoken quota.Games were played in drafty, half-filled arenas, and the playerstraveled on buses and trains, telling tall tales, playing cards,and sometimes read

A chance encounter in Spain in 1959 brought young Irishreporter Valerie Danby-Smith face to face with Ernest Hemingway.The interview was awkward and brief, but before it ended somethinghad clicked into place. For the next two years, Valerie devoted herlife to Hemingway and his wife, Mary, traveling with them throughbeloved old haunts in Spain and France and living with them duringthe tumultuous final months in Cuba. In name a personal secretary,but in reality a confidante and sharer of the great man’s secretsand sorrows, Valerie literally came of age in the company of one ofthe greatest literary lions of the twentieth century. Five years after his death, Valerie became a Hemingway herselfwhen she married the writer’s estranged son Gregory. Now, at last,she tells the story of the incredible years she spent with thisextravagantly talented and tragically doomed family. In prose of brilliant clarity and stinging candor, Valerie evokesthe magic and the pathos of Papa Hemingway

Fully documented and highly detailed, this is the biographythat Sinatra tried but failed to stop. A runaway #1 bestseller. HC:Bantam. (Nonfiction)

“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

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 the spring of 1884 Ulysses S. Grant heeded the advice of MarkTwain and finally agreed to write his memoirs. Little did Grant orTwain realize that this seemingly straightforward decision wouldprofoundly alter not only both their lives but the course ofAmerican literature. Over the next fifteen months, as the two menbecame close friends and intimate collaborators, Grant racedagainst the spread of cancer to compose a triumphant account of hislife and times—while Twain struggled to complete and publish hisgreatest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Inthis deeply moving and meticulously researched book, veteran writerMark Perry reconstructs the heady months when Grant and Twaininspired and cajoled each other to create two quintessentiallyAmerican masterpieces. In a bold and colorful narrative, Perry recounts the early careersof these two giants, traces their quest for fame and elusivefortunes, and then follows the series of events that brought themtogether as friends. The reason Grant let Twain talk

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

Steven Gerrard is a hero to millions, not only as the inspirational captain of Liverpool FC, but as a key member of the England team. Here, for the first time, he tells the story of his lifelong obsession with football, in an honest and revealing book whi

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.

As an actor, he seduces us with his tough-guy charm. As adirector and producer, he amazes us with his artistry and technicalsavvy. As a Hollywood icon, Clint Eastwood, one of film sgreatest living legends, represents some of the finest cinematicachievements in the history of American cinema. In American Rebel, bestselling author and acclaimed filmhistorian Marc Eliot examines the ever-exciting, often-tumultuousarc of Clint Eastwood s life and career. Unlike pastbiographers, Eliot writes with unflinching candor aboutEastwood s highs and lows, his artistic successes andfailures, and the fascinating, complex relationship between hislife and his craft. Eliot s prodigious research revealshow a college dropout and unambitious playboy rose to fame asHollywood s "sexy rebel," eventually and against all oddsbecoming a star in the Academy pantheon as a multiple Oscar winner.Spanning decades, American Rebelcovers the best ofEastwood s oeuvre, films that have fast become Americanclassics– Fistful of Doll

A spirited and intimate look at American icon and activistPete Seeger, and his life and his accomplishments. Pete Seeger transformed a classic American musical style into aform of peaceful protest against war, segregation, and nuclearweapons. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, Alec Wilkinsondelivers a first hand look at Seeger's unique blend of independenceand commitment, charm, courage, energy, and belief in humanequality and American democracy. We see Seeger, the child,instilled with a love of music by his parents; Seeger, theteenager, hearing real folk music for the first time; Seeger, theyoung adult, singing with Woody Guthrie. And finally, Seeger theman marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King in Selma, standing upto McCarthyism, and fighting for his beloved Hudson River. Thegigantic life captured in this slender volume is truly an Americananthem.

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

From the moment it was first published in The New Yorker, thisbrilliant work of literary criticism aroused great attention. JanetMalcolm brings her shrewd intelligence to bear on the legend ofSylvia Plath and the wildly productive industry of Plathbiographies. Features a new Afterword by Malcolm.

In 1987, John Rember returned home to Sawtooth Valley, wherehe had been brought up. He returned out of a homing instinct: thesame forty acres that had sustained his family’s horses hadsustained a vision of a place where he belonged in the world, alife where he could get up in the morning, step out the door, andcatch dinner from the Salmon River. But to his surprise, he foundthat what was once familiar was now unfamiliar. Everything mighthave looked the same to the horses that spring, but to Rember thiswas no longer home. In Traplines , Rember recounts his experiences of growing upin a time when the fish were wild in the rivers, horses werebrought into the valley each spring from their winter pasture, andelectric light still seemed magical. Today those same experiencesno longer seem to possess the authenticity they once did. In hisjourney home, Rember discovers how the West, both as a place inwhich to live and as a terrain of the imagination, has beentransformed. And he wonders whether his recollections o

After Out on a Limb , MacLaine now offers more of her familybackground, with reproductions of parental game-playingconversations which must evoke poignant recognitions in children ofconflicting adults. Aided by spirit-guided acupuncture, she hasbeen recovering past-life experiences enabling her to deal withthis pain. Most moving is her meeting with her Higher Self, whichcontinues to guide her. Another colorful love affair in Paris andHollywood provides food for the gossip-column fans. More seriousare her ruminations on creative artistry, first as a dancer, thenas a movie star. Even readers put off by MacLaine's uncritical andwholehearted embrace of reincarnation will have to applaud hercandor and zest for discovering the meaning of her life. Jeanne S.Bagby, Tucson P.L., Ariz. Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information,Inc.

Since 1990, Jean Driscoll has been one of the most inspiringleaders in women's sports. Her tenacity for winning at women'swheelchair racing has delivered her into the record books, and hercharisma and enthusiasm for life has captured the hearts ofaudiences worldwide. Best known for her eight victories at theBoston Marathon and her two Olympic silver medals (1992, 1996),Jean has inspired both men and women, athletes and non-athletes,and those with and without physical disabilities. She's beenfeatured on Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, and the TodayShow, and twice in USA Today. A documentary highlighting Jean'slife story, Against the Wind, has aired on over 400 PBS stationsnationwide. In addition to training and racing, Jean serves as acorporate spokesperson for Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. As amotivational speaker, she delights in sharing her "Dream Big, WorkHard" message at conventions, corporations, schools, and with themedia. Now in trade paperback, Determined to Win, chronicles Jean'sjou