Einstein believed in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutualhelpfulness, and in the high mission of science. Intended as a pleafor these beliefs, this book, like no other provides a complete keyto the understanding of this distinguished man's personality.
Revered for his strength of character when Britain stood aloneagainst Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill is painted as one of WorldWar II's most heroic figures-a characterization that overshadowshis faults, which have had their own devastating legacy. This book examines the decisions and policies of Churchillbetween June 1940 and December 1941 that actually hindered theAllied cause, extended the conflict, and even destabilized severalregions that remain in chaos to this day. With profound insight into Churchill's early colonial experiencesas well as his first tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty,Christopher Catherwood offers an honest appraisal of Churchill'sstrategies in a unique and fascinating perspective that separatesthe myth from the man.
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.
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.
He’s been imprisoned, shot at, denounced, shunned, and banned,yet Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams remains resolute in his beliefthat peace is the only viable option for the Irish people. Adamsled the oldest revolutionary movement in Ireland on anextraordinary journey from armed insurrection to activeparticipation in government. Now he tells the story of thetumultuous series of events that led to the historic Good FridayAgreement as only he can: with a tireless crusader’s conviction andan insider’s penetrating insight. In vivid detail, Adams describes the harrowing attack on his life,and he offers new details about the peace process. We learn ofpreviously undisclosed talks between republicans and the Britishgovernment, and of conflicts and surprising alliances between keyplayers. Adams reveals details of his discussions with the IRAleadership and tells how republicans differed, “dissidents”emerged, and the first IRA cessation of violence broke down. Herecounts meetings in the Clinton White House,
first victims were a teenage couple, stalked and shot dead in a lovers' lane. After another slaying, he sent his first mocking note to authorities, promising he would kill more. The official tally of his victims was six. He claimed thirty-seve dead. The rea toll may have reached fifty. "A chilling, real-life detective story." -Savannah News-Press Robert Graysmith was on staff at the San Francisco Chror micle in 1968 when Zodiac first struck, triggering in the resolute reporter an unrelenting obsession with seeing the hooded killer broughtto justice. In this gripping account Zodiac's eleven-month reign of terror, Graysmith reveals hur dreds of facts previously unreleased, including the complete text of the killer's letters.
If there is a literary gene, then the Waugh family mostcertainly has it—and it clearly seems to be passed down from fatherto son. The first of the literary Waughs was Arthur, who, when hewon the Newdigate Prize for poetry at Oxford in 1888, broke withthe family tradition of medicine. He went on to become adistinguished publisher and an immensely influential bookcolumnist. He fathered two sons, Alec and Evelyn, both of whom wereto become novelists of note (and whom Arthur, somewhat uneasily,would himself publish); both of whom were to rebel in their ownways against his bedrock Victorianism; and one of whom, Evelyn, wasto write a series of immortal novels that will be prized as long aselegance and lethal wit are admired. Evelyn begat, among sevenothers, Auberon Waugh, who would carry on in the family traditionof literary skill and eccentricity, becoming one of England’s mostincorrigibly cantankerous and provocative newspaper columnists,loved and loathed in equal measure. And Auberon begat Alexander,yet ano
No writer alive today exerts the magical appeal of GabrielGarcía Márquez. Now, in the long-awaited first volume of hisautobiography, he tells the story of his life from his birth in1927 to the moment in the 1950s when he proposed to his wife. Theresult is as spectacular as his finest fiction. Here is García Márquez’s shimmering evocation of his childhoodhome of Aracataca, the basis of the fictional Macondo. Here are themembers of his ebulliently eccentric family. Here are the forcesthat turned him into a writer. Warm, revealing, abounding in imagesso vivid that we seem to be remembering them ourselves, Living toTell the Tale is a work of enchantment.
Theodore Rex is the story—never fully toldbefore—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms asPresident of the United States. A hundred years before thecatastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in theaftermath of an act of terrorism. Youngest of all our chiefexecutives, he rallied a stricken nation with his superhumanenergy, charm, and political skills. He proceeded to combat theproblems of race and labor relations and trust control while makingthe Panama Canal possible and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Buthis most historic achievement remains his creation of a nationalconservation policy, and his monument millions of acres ofprotected parks and forest. Theodore Rex ends with TRleaving office, still only fifty years old, his future reputationsecure as one of our greatest presidents.
From October to December of 1888, Paul Gauguin shared a yellowhouse in the south of France with Vincent van Gogh. They were theodd couple of the art world -- one calm, the other volatile -- andthe denouement of their living arrangement was explosive. Makinguse of new evidence and Van Goghs voluminous correspondence, MartinGayford describes not only how these two hallowed artists paintedand exchanged ideas, but also the texture of their everyday lives.Gayford also makes a persuasive analysis of Van Goghs mentalillness -- the probable bipolar affliction that led him to commitsuicide at the age of thirty-seven. The Yellow House is a singularbiographical work, as dramatic and vibrant as the work of thesebrilliant artists.
"This man will either go insane or leave us all far behind," prophesied the great Impressionist Camille Pissarro. The man was Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), a vicar's son born at Groot-Zundert near Breda in Holland, who at that time was struggling to find buyers for his paintings. Van Gogh did indeed go at least to the brink of insanity. And he has long been recognised as one of the greatest modern artists.Van Gogh, who followed a variety of professions before becoming an artist, was a solitary, despairing and self-destructive man his whole life long. His truest friend was his brother Theo, who supported him unstintingly throughout and followed him to the grave just six months later.This richly illustrated study by two experts on van Gogh follows the artist from the early gloom-laden paintings in which he captured the misery of peasants and workers in his home parts, through the bright and colourful paintings he did in Paris, to the work of his final years under a southern sun in Arles, where he at last found
In a brilliant combination of biography, literary criticism,and history, The Bronté Myth shows how Charlotte, Emily, and AnneBronté became cultural icons whose ever-changing reputationsreflected the obsessions of various eras. When literary London learned that Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heightshad been written by young rural spinsters, the Brontés instantlybecame as famous as their shockingly passionate books. Soon aftertheir deaths, their first biographer spun the sisters into apicturesque myth of family tragedies and Yorkshire moors. Eversince, these enigmatic figures have tempted generations ofreaders–Victorian, Freudian, feminist–to reinterpret them, castingthem as everything from domestic saints to sex-starved hysterics.In her bewitching “metabiography,” Lucasta Miller follows thetwists and turns of the phenomenon of Bront-mania and rescues thesethree fiercely original geniuses from the distortions oflegend.
As a child in German-occupied Poland, Roma Ligocka was known forthe bright strawberry-red coat she wore against a tide of gatheringdarkness. Fifty years later, Roma, an artist living in Germany,attended a screening of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, andinstantly knew that “the girl in the red coat”—the only splash ofcolor in the film—was her. Thus began a harrowing journey into thepast, as Roma Ligocka sought to reclaim her life and put togetherthe pieces of a shattered childhood. The result is this remarkable memoir, a fifty-year chronicle ofsurvival and its aftermath. With brutal honesty, Ligocka recollectsa childhood at the heart of evil: the flashing black boots, thesudden executions, her mother weeping, her father vanished…then herown harrowing escape and the strange twists of fate that allowedher to live on into the haunted years after the war. Powerful,lyrical, and unique among Holocaust memoirs, The Girl in the RedCoat eloquently explores the power of evil to twist our liveslong
At 16, Justin Bieber has done it all. Two chart-topping albums,a best-selling book and a 3-D concert movie on the way. Not tomention stealing the hearts of millions of girls around the world.In Superstars! Justin Bieber: In the Spotlight and Behind theScenes , readers will get a backstage pass to Justin's life.What is he truly like offstage? Who inspires him? What makes himlaugh? And what video games can he never get enough of? Packed withmore than 150 drool-worthy pics, this is a must-have for anyself-respecting Bieber fan.
Patrimony , a true story, touches the emotionsas strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watchesas his eighty-six-year-old father—famous for his vigor, charm, andhis repertoire of Newark recollections—battles with the brain tumorthat will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety, and dread,accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his finalordeal, and, as he does so, discloses the survivalist tenacity thathas distinguished his father's long, stubborn engagement withlife.
Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic," TheRise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatestbiographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of TheodoreRoosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversaryof Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant. Cary Grant He is Hollywood s most fascinating and timeless star. Although he came to personify the debonair American, Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach on January 18, 1904, in the seaport village of Bristol, England. Combining the captivating beauty of silent-screen legend Rudolph Valentino with the masculine irresistibility of Clark Gable, Grant emerged as Hollywood s quintessential leading man. Today, the man from dream city, as critic Pauline Kael once described him, remains forever young, an icon of quick wit, romantic charm, and urbane sophistication, the epitome of male physical perfection. Yet beneath this idealized movie image was a conflicted man struggling to balance fame with a desire for an intensely private life separate from the Cary Grant persona celebrated by directors and movie studios. Exploring Grant s troubled childhood, ambiguous sexuality, and lifelong insecurities as well as the magical amalgam of characteristi
"Authorized, intimate, and definitive, Ben Hogan: A Life isthe long-awaited biography of one of golf's greatest, mostenigmatic legends, narrated with the unique eloquence that has madeauthor James Dodson a critically acclaimed national bestseller. "One man is often credited with shaping the landscape of moderngolf. Ben Hogan was a short, trim, impeccably dressed Texan whosefierce work ethic, legendary steel nerves, and astonishing triumphover personal disaster earned him not only an army of adoring fans,but one of the finest careers in the history of the sport. Hogancaptured a record-tying four U.S. Opens, won five of six majortournaments in a single season, and inspired future generations ofprofessional golfers from Palmer to Norman to Woods. Yet for allhis brilliance, Ben Hogan was an enigma. He was an American herowhose personal life, inner motivation, and famed "secret" were thesource of great public mystery. As Hogan grew into a giant on thepro tour, the combination of his cool outward demeanor an
How a Michigan farm boy became the richest man in America is aclassic, almost mythic tale, but never before has Henry Ford’soutsized genius been brought to life so vividly as it is in thisengaging and superbly researched biography. The real Henry Ford was a tangle of contradictions. He set offthe consumer revolution by producing a car affordable to themasses, all the while lamenting the moral toll exacted byconsumerism. He believed in giving his workers a living wage,though he was entirely opposed to union labor. He had a warm andloving relationship with his wife, but sired a son with anotherwoman. A rabid anti-Semite, he nonetheless embraced AfricanAmerican workers in the era of Jim Crow. Uncovering the man behind the myth, situating his achievementsand their attendant controversies firmly within the context ofearly twentieth-century America, Watts has given us acomprehensive, illuminating, and fascinating biography of one ofAmerica’s first mass-culture celebrities.
Based on ten years' astonishing new research, here is thethrilling story of how a charismatic, dangerous boy became astudent priest, romantic poet, gangster mastermind, prolific lover,murderous revolutionary, and the merciless politician who shapedthe Soviet Empire in his own brutal image: How Stalin becameStalin.
In Lady Blue Eyes, Barbara Sinatra's firstpubliclove letter to the husband she adored, she celebratesthesensational singer, possessive mate, sexy heart-throb, and devotedfriend that she found in Frank.For more than two decades, Barbarawas always byhis side, traveling the globe and hostingglitteringevents for their famous friends, including presi-dents,kings, queens, Hollywood royalty, and musi-cal legends. Among themwere Sammy Davis Jr.,Princess Grace of Monaco, Bob Dylan, andRonaldReagan. Each night, as Frank publicly wooed hisbride withlove songs from a concert stage, she'd fallin love with him allover again.