The definitive story of one of the greatest dynasties inbaseball history, Joe Torre's New York Yankees. When Joe Torre took over as manager of the Yankees in 1996, theyhad not won a World Series title in eighteen years. In that timeseventeen others had tried to take the helm of America’s mostfamous baseball team. Each one was fired by George Steinbrenner.After twelve triumphant seasons—with twelve straight playoffappearances, six pennants, and four World Series titles—Torre leftthe Yankees as the most beloved manager in baseball. But dealingwith players like Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera,Roger Clemens, and Randy Johnson is what managing is all about.Here, for the first time, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci take readersinside the dugout, the clubhouse, and the front office, showingwhat it took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world.
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.
Abraham Lincoln's remarkable emergence from the rural Midwestand his rise to the presidency have been the stuff of romance andlegend. But as Douglas L. Wilson shows us in Honor's Voice,Lincoln's transformation was not one long triumphal march, but aprocess that was more than once seriously derailed. There weretimes, in his journey from storekeeper and mill operator to lawyerand member of the Illinois state legislature, when Lincoln lost hisnerve and self-confidence - on at least two occasions he became sodespondent as to appear suicidal - and when his acute emotionalvulnerabilities were exposed. Focusing on the crucial years between 1831 and 1842, Wilson'sskillful analysis of the testimonies and writings of Lincoln'scontemporaries reveals the individual behind the legends. We seeLincoln as a boy: not the dutiful son studying by firelight, butthe stubborn rebel determined to make something of himself. We seehim as a young man: not the ascendant statesman, but the cannylocal politician who was renowned for hi
The most remarkable thing that happened to the world economy after 9/11 was ...nothing. What would have once meant a crippling shock to the system was absorbed astonishingly quickly, partly due to the efforts of the then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan. The post 9/11 global economy is a new and turbulent system - vastly more flexible, resilient, open, self-directing, and fast-changing than it was even twenty years ago. "The Age of Turbulence" is an incomparable reckoning with the nature of this new world - how we got here, what we're living through, and what lies over the horizon, for good or ill, channelled through Greenspan's own experiences working in the command room of the global economy for longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD In this groundbreaking biography, T.J. Stiles tells the dramaticstory of Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt, the combative man andAmerican icon who, through his genius and force of will, did morethan perhaps any other individual to create modern capitalism.Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The First Tycoondescribes an improbable life, from Vanderbilt’s humble birth duringthe presidency of George Washington to his death as one of therichest men in American history. In between we see how theCommodore helped to launch the transportation revolution, propelthe Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the moderncorporation. Epic in its scope and success, the life of Vanderbiltis also the story of the rise of America itself.
George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision of "Negative Utopia" is timelier than ever-and its warnings more powerful.
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.
From Ann Wroe, a biographer of the first rank, comes astartlingly original look at one of the greatest poets in theWestern tradition. Being Shelley aims to turn the poet's life inside out: ratherthan tracing the external events of his life, she tracks the innerjourney of a spirit struggling to create. In her quest tounderstand the radically unconventional Shelley, Wroe pursues thequestions that consumed the poet himself. Shelley sought to freeand empower the entire human race; his revolution was meant toshatter illusions, shock men and women with new visions, find truelove and liberty—and take everyone with him. Now, for the firsttime, this passionate quest is put at the center of his life. Theresult is a Shelley who has never been seen in biographybefore.
Extraordinary. A brilliant, painful, and important book. THE NEW YORK TIMES If there was any one man who articulated the anger, the struggle,and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man wasMalcolm X. His AUTOBIOGRAPHY is the result of a uniquecollaboration between Alex Haley and Malcolm X, whose voice andphilosophy resonate from every page, just as his experience and hisintelligence continue to speak to millions.
Saucerful of Secrets is the first in-depth biography of thisvery private group. At the heart of the saga is Syd Barrett, thegroup's brilliant founder, whose public decline into shatteredincoherence--attributable in part to his marathon use of LSD--isone of the tragedies of rock history. The making of Dark Side ofthe Moon and Floyd's other great albums is recounted in detail, asare the mounting of "The Wall"? ? and the creation of the flyingpigs, crashing? ? planes, "Mr. Screen" and the other elements oftheir spectacular stage shows. The book also explores the manybattles between bass player/song writer Roger Waters and the restof the group, leading up to Water's acrimonious departure for asolo? ? career in 1984 and his unsuccessful attempt to disolve thegroup he had left behind. Saucerful of Secrets is an electrifying account of thisground-breaking, mind-bending group, covering every period of theircareer from? ? earliest days to latest recordings. It is full of? ?revealing information that will
The intimacy between Nin and Miller, first disclosed in Henryand June, is documented further in this impassioned exchange ofletters between the two controversial writers. Edited and with anIntroduction by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index.
"They've said some crazy things about me over the years. I mean, okay: 'He bit the head off a bat.' Yes. 'He bit the head off a dove.' Yes. But then you hear things like, 'Ozzy went to the show last night, but he wouldn't perform until he'd killed fifteen puppies . . .' Now me, kill fifteen puppies? I love puppies. I've got eighteen of the f**king things at home. I've killed a few cows in my time, mind you. And the chickens. I shot the chickens in my house that night. It haunts me, all this crazy stuff. Every day of my life has been an event. I took lethal combinations of booze and drugs for thirty f**king years. I survived a direct hit by a plane, suicidal overdoses, STDs. I've been accused of attempted murder. Then I almost died while riding over a bump on a quad bike at f**king two miles per hour. People ask me how come I'm still alive, and I don't know what to say. When I was growing up, if you'd have put me up against a wall with the other kids from my street and asked me which one o
An instinctive and magnificent storyteller, Somerset Maughamwas one of the most popular and successful writers of his time. Hepublished seventy-eight books -- including the undisputed classicsOf Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge -- which sold over 40 millioncopies in his lifetime. Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham wasorphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small Englishcoastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as adoctor, but never practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden, based onhis own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writersfrom Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with anactress, he married another man’s mistress, but reserved hisgreatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirtyyears. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite adebilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, heentertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in thesouth of France. He made a fortune from hi
Emily Dickinson, probably the most loved and certainly the greatest of American poets, continues to be seen as the most elusive. One reason she has become a timeless icon of mystery for many readers is that her developmental phases have not been clarified. In this exhaustively researched biography, Alfred Habegger presents the first thorough account of Dickinson s growth a richly contextualized story of genius in the process of formation and then in the act of overwhelming production.
Warren Buffett is the most successful investor of all time. His ability to consistently find undervalued companies has made him one of the world's richest men. Yet while his track record is hard to argue with, the Buffett way isn't the only way, nor is it always the best way, to invest. Even Buffett Isn't Perfect dispels many myths about Buffett and his "solid as a rock" style. It shows readers how to learn from the master's best moves while avoiding strategies that don't apply to small investors -- and avoiding Buffett's mistakes, such as sometimes riding his winners too long.
Consuelo and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry met in Buenos Aires in1930—she a seductive young widow, he a brave pioneer of earlyaviation, decorated for his acts of heroism in the deserts of NorthAfrica. He was large in his passions, a fierce loner with achildlike appetite for danger. She was frail and voluble, exoticand capricious. Within hours of their first encounter, he knew hewould have her as his wife. Their love affair and marriage would take them from Buenos Airesto Paris to Casablanca to New York. It would take them throughperiods of betrayal and infidelity, pain and intense passion,devastating abandonment and tender, poetic love. The Tale of theRose is the story of a man of extravagant dreams and of the womanwho was his muse, the inspiration for the Little Prince’s belovedrose—unique in all the world—whom he could not live with and couldnot live without.
Norman Rockwell ’s hundreds of memorable covers for The Saturday Evening Post made him a twentieth-centuryAmerican icon. However, because of the very popularity of hisidealized depictions of middle-class life, his more seriouspaintings have been largely ignored, and he has often been deemed amere illustrator, not a “real” artist. In this, the first comprehensive biography of America’s mostpopular artist, Laura Claridge breaks new ground with herappreciative but clear-eyed view of Rockwell’s work—and his life.Based upon previously unpublished family archives and hundreds ofinterviews, this account reveals for the first time the deepdisparity between the artist’s public image and his privatelife.
Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-linedboulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking fa?ades around everycorner--in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured theAmerican imagination for as long as there have beenAmericans. In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left thefamiliar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbaneglamour of the City of Light. Gopnik is a longtime New Yorkerwriter, and the magazine has sent its writers to Paris fordecades--but his was above all a personal pilgrimage to the placethat had for so long been the undisputed capital of everythingcultural and beautiful. It was also the opportunity to raise achild who would know what it was to romp in the Luxembourg Gardens,to enjoy a croque monsieur in a Left Bank café--a child (andperhaps a father, too) who would have a grasp of that Parisiansense of style we Americans find so elusive. So, in the grand tradition of the American abroad, Gopnik walkedthe paths of the Tuileries, enjoy
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.
