No one is better poised to write the biography of JamesHerriot than the son who worked alongside him in the Yorkshireveterinary practice when Herriot became an internationallybestselling author. Now, in this warm and poignant biography, JimWight ventures beyond his father's life as a veterinarian to revealthe man behind the stories--the private individual who refused toallow fame and wealth to interfere with his practice or his family.With access to all of his father's papers, correspondence,manu*s, and photographs--and intimate recollections of thefarmers, locals, and friends who populate the James Herriotbooks--only Jim Wight could write this definitive biography of theman who was not only his father but his best friend.

In her acclaimed collections Happy Family and Music Minus One,Jane Shore traced her life from childhood to coming of age toparenthood. Now, in A Yes-or-No Answer, Shore etches thepersistence of the past in a life that has moved into a mature newphase as a member of the baby boom generation. Recalling her Jewishchildhood in New Jersey, living in the apartment above the family'sclothing store, Shore lovingly imagines her parents, now gone,reunited with relatives over a Scrabble board in the afterlife. Thepoet's teenage daughter sorts through the "vintage" clothes of hermother's own hippie days. Cherished items left behind -- an addressbook, a piano, an easy chair, a favorite doll -- continue to hauntthe living. The poems in A Yes-or-No Answer dignify memory throughprecise detail, with a voice that will resonate for a generation ata crossroads.

In Unbowed, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai recountsher extraordinary journey from her childhood in rural Kenya to theworld stage. When Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977,she began a vital poor people’s environmental movement, focused onthe empowerment of women, that soon spread across Africa.Persevering through run-ins with the Kenyan government and personallosses, and jailed and beaten on numerous occasions, Maathaicontinued to fight tirelessly to save Kenya’s forests and torestore democracy to her beloved country . Infused with herunique luminosity of spirit, Wangari Maathai’s remarkable story ofcourage, faith, and the power of persistence is destined to inspiregenerations to come.

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.

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

An erudite history of medicine...a welcome addition to anymedical collection. -- Booklist How does medical science advance? Popular historians would have usbelieve that a few heroic individuals, possessing superhumantalents, lead an unselfish quest to better the human condition. Butas renowned Yale surgeon and medical historian Sherwin B. Nulandshows in this brilliant collection of linked life portraits, thetheory bears little resemblance to the truth. Through the centuries, the men and women Who have shaped theworld of medicine have been not only very human people but alsovery much the products of their own times and places. Presentingcompelling studies of great medical innovators and pioneers,Doctors gives us the extraordinary story of the development ofmodern medicine -- told through the lives of thephysician-scientists whose deeds and determination paved the way.Ranging from the legendary Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, toAndreas Vesalius, whose Renaissance masterwork on anatomy offeredinval

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

“I had prepared a life plan that included ten years ofwandering, later years studying medicine. . . . All that's in thepast, the only thing that's clear is that the ten years ofwandering might grow longer . . . but it will now be of an entirelydifferent type from the one I dreamed of, and when I arrive in anew country it will not be to go to museums and look at ruins,because that still interests me, but also to join the struggle ofthe people.” – Che Guevara, in a letter to his mother, 1956 Assembled from two separate books written by Che's father, this isa vivid and intimate account of the formative years of an icon.Ernesto Guevara Lynch describes the people and personal events thatshaped the development of his son's revolutionary worldview, fromhis childhood in a bourgeois Argentinian home to the moment hejoined Castro to train for the invasion of Cuba in 1956. It alsoincludes, available for the first time in the United States, Che'sdiary of his trip around Northern Argentina in 1950. YoungChe is

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.

How does he assess the information that is brought to him? Howdoes his personal or political philosophy, or a moral sense,sustain him? How does he draw inspiration from those around him?How does he deal with setbacks and disasters? In this brilliantclose-up look at Winston Churchill's leadership during the SecondWorld War, Gilbert gets to the heart of the trials and strugglesthat have confronted the world's most powerful leaders, even up tocurrent politicians such as George Bush and Tony Blair. Basing the book on his intimate knowledge of Churchill's privateand official papers, Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s officialbiographer, looks at the public figure and wartime propaganda, toreveal a very human, sensitive, and often tormented man, whonevertheless found the strength to lead his nation forward from thedarkest and most dangerous of times.

Nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award, Wherethe Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs gathers togetherWallace Stegner’s most important and memorable writings on theAmerican West: its landscapes, diverse history, and shiftingidentity; its beauty, fragility, and power. With subjects rangingfrom the writer’s own “migrant childhood” to the need to protectwhat remains of the great western wilderness (which Stegner dubs“the geography of hope”) to poignant profiles of western writerssuch as John Steinbeck and Norman Maclean, this collection is ariveting testament to the power of place. At the same time itcommunicates vividly the sensibility and range of this most giftedof American writers, historians, and environmentalists.

An absorbing biography of the great leaderwho was the bridge between ancient and modern Europe — the firstmajor study in more than twenty-five years. Charlemagne was an extraordinary figure: aningenious military strategist, a wise but ruthless leader, acunning politician, and a devout believer who ensured the survivalof Christianity in the West. He also believed himself above therules of the church, siring bastards across Europe, and coldlyordering the execution of 4,500 prisoners. Derek Wilson shows howthis complicated, fascinating man married the military might of hisarmy to the spiritual force of the Church in Rome, thereby forgingWestern Christendom. This is a remarkable portrait of Charlemagneand of the intricate political, religious, and cultural world hedominated.

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

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.

Although his popularity is eclipsed by Rembrandt today, PeterPaul Rubens was revered by his contemporaries as the greatestpainter of his era, if not of all history. His undeniableartistic genius, bolstered by a modest disposition and a reputationas a man of tact and discretion, made him a favorite among monarchsand political leaders across Europe—and gave him the perfect coverfor the clandestine activities that shaped the landscape ofseventeenth-century politics. In Master of Shadows, Mark Lamster brilliantly recreates theculture, religious conflicts, and political intrigues of Rubens’stime, following the painter from Antwerp to London, Madrid, Paris,and Rome and providing an insightful exploration of Rubens’s art aswell as the private passions that influenced it.

On the day she turned seventy-seven, internationally acclaimedmystery writer P. D. James embarked on an endeavor unlike any otherin her distinguished career: she decided to write a personal memoirin the form of a diary. Over the course of a year she set down notonly the events and impressions of her extraordinarily active life,but also the memories, joys, discoveries, and crises of a lifetime.This enchantingly original volume is the result. Time to Be in Earnest offers an intimate portrait of one of mostaccomplished women of our time. Here are vivid, revealing accountsof her school days in Cambridge in the 1920s and '30s, her happymarriage and the tragedy of her husband's mental illness, and thethrill of publishing her first novel, Cover Her Face, in 1962. Asshe recounts the decades of her exceptional life, James holds forthwith wit and candor on such diverse subjects as the evolution ofthe detective novel, her deep love of the English countryside, herviews of author tours and television adaptati

The Facts is the unconventional autobiography of a writer whohas reshaped our idea of fiction—a work of compelling candor andinventiveness, instructive particularly in its revelation of theinterplay between life and art. Philip Roth concentrates on five episodes from his life: hissecure city childhood in the thirties and forties; his education inAmerican life at a conventional college; his passionateentanglement, as an ambitious young man, with the angriest personhe ever met (the "girl of my dreams" Roth calls her); his clash, asa fledgling writer, with a Jewish establishment outraged byGoodbye, Columbus; and his discovery, in the excesses of thesixties, of an unmined side to his talent that led him to writePortnoy's Complaint. The book concludes surprisingly—in true Rothian fashion—with asustained assault by the novelist against his proficiencies as anautobiographer.

First U.S. Publication A major literary event--the complete, uncensored journals of SylviaPlath, published in their entirety for the first time. Sylvia Plath's journals were originally published in 1982 in aheavily abridged version authorized by Plath's husband, Ted Hughes.This new edition is an exact and complete tran*ion of thediaries Plath kept during the last twelve years of her life. Sixtypercent of the book is material that has never before been madepublic, more fully revealing the intensity of the poet's personaland literary struggles, and providing fresh insight into both herfrequent desperation and the bravery with which she faced down herdemons. The complete Journals of Sylvia Plath is essentialreading for all who have been moved and fascinated by Plath's lifeand work. First U.S. Publication A major literary event--the complete, uncensored journals of SylviaPlath, published in their entirety for the first time. Sylvia Plath's journals were originally published in 1982 in aheavily abridged ve

One climbed to the very top of the social ladder, the otherchose to live among tramps. One was a celebrity at twenty-three,the other virtually unknown until his dying days. One wasright-wing and religious, the other a socialist and an atheist.Yet, as this ingenious and important new book reveals, at the heartof their lives and writing, Evelyn Waugh and George Orwell wereessentially the same man. Orwell is best known for "Animal Farm"and "1984," Waugh for "Brideshead Revisited" and comic novels like"Scoop" and "Vile Bodies." How ever different they may seem, thesetwo towering figures of twentieth-century literature are linked forthe first time in this engaging and unconventional biography, whichgoes beyond the story of their amazing lives to reach the core oftheir beliefs-a shared vision that was startlingly prescient aboutour own troubled times. Both Waugh and Orwell were born in 1903,into the same comfortable stratum of England's class-obsessedsociety. But at first glance they seem to have lived

波姬·小丝（Brooke Christa Shields）， 美国 著名 女演员 和 模特 ，1965年生于 纽约 城，拥有 意大利 、 法国 、 爱尔兰 和 英国 的贵族血统，其祖母是意大利公主Donna Marina Torlonia。小丝出生11个月就为香皂拍过广告，14岁就成为Vogue杂志封面年轻的时装模特；更是用家喻户晓的广告成就了Calvin Klein品牌牛仔装。13岁就在1978年的影片《漂亮宝贝》(Pretty Baby)中扮演一个童妓；1980年的《青春珊瑚岛/蓝色泻湖》(Blue Lagoon)中，出演因海上事故流落荒岛逐渐长大成为少年的两个孩子中的女孩，青春靓丽脱俗的形象让年仅15岁的波姬·小丝红极一时。

The official and definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth theQueen Mother: consort of King George VI, mother of Queen ElizabethII, grandmother of Prince Charles, and the most beloved Britishmonarch of the twentieth century. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon—the ninth of the Earl ofStrathmore’s ten children—was born on August 4, 1900, and,certainly, no one could have imagined that her long life (she diedin 2002) would come to reflect a changing nation over the course ofan entire century. Vividly detailed, written with unrestrictedaccess to her personal papers, letters, and diaries, this candidroyal biography by William Shawcross is also a singular history ofBritain in the twentieth century.

V. S. Naipaul is perhaps the most famous émigré writer sinceVladimir Nabokov, and though he always spoke and wrote English, hisself-imposed exile to England from his native Trinidad representeda cultural shift as profound as learning to think in anotherlanguage. In this moving, novel-like correspondence, we witness thegreat writer’s early transformation from an expatriate adrift to aworld-renowned man of letters. The letters collected here illuminate with unalloyed candor therelationship between a sacrificing father and his determined son asthey encourage each other to persevere with their writing. Forthough his father’s literary aspirations would go unrealized,Naipaul’s triumphant career would ultimately vindicate his belovedmentor’s legacy.

The only thing the writers in this book have in common is thatthey've exchanged sex for money. They're PhDs and dropouts, soccermoms and jailbirds, $2,500-a-night call girls and $10 crack hos,and everything in between. This anthology lends a voice to anunderrepresented population that is simultaneously reviled andworshipped. Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys is a collection of shortmemoirs, rants, confessions, nightmares, journalism, and poetrycovering life, love, work, family, and yes, sex. The editors gatherpieces from the world of industrial sex, including contributionsfrom art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle, best-selling memoiristDavid Henry Sterry (Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man forRent), sex activist and musical diva Candye Kane, women and menright off the streets, girls participating in the first-everNational Summit of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth, and RuthMorgan Thomas, one of the organizers of the European Sex Work,Human Rights, and Migration Conference. Se

At once an incredible adventure narrative and apenetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is thetrue story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one ofthe most dangerous rivers on earth. The River ofDoubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakesthrough one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indiansarmed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glidethrough its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into aroiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set hissights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, thefirst descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of theAmazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famousexplorer, C?ndido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished afeat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In theprocess, he changed the map of the western hemisphereforever. Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an