From the author of the best-selling King Leopold's Ghost, thishaunting and deeply honest memoir tells of Adam Hochschild'sconflicted relationship with his father, the head of amultinational mining corporation. The author lyrically evokes hisprivileged childhood on an Adirondack estate, a colorful uncle whowas a pioneer aviator and fighter ace, and his first explorationsof the larger world he encountered as he came of age in thetumultuous 1960s. But above all this is a story of a father and hisonly son and of the unexpected peace finally made between them.
This is the major autobiographical statement from Nobellaureate Andre Gide. In the events and musings recorded here wefind the seeds of those themes that obsessed him throughout hiscareer and imbued his classic novels with such power. Gide led alife of uncompromising self-scrutiny, and his literary worksresembled moments of that life. With If It Die..., Gide determinedto relay without sentiment or embellishment the circumstances ofhis childhood and the birth of his philosophic wanderings, and indoing so to bring it all to light. Gide's unapologetic account ofhis awakening homosexual desire and his portrait of Oscar Wilde andLord Alfred Douglas as they indulged in debauchery in North Africaare thrilling in their frankness and alone make If It Die...anessential companion to the work of a twentieth-century literarymaster.
Long acknowledged as a master of contemporary realism, Philip Pearlstein (b. 1924) has been painting his famed monumental nudes since the 1960s. The larger-than-life men and women who occupy his canvases veer out of the frame at surprising angles, posed sitting or reclining passively, disinterestedly, under stark, even light. Since the early 1980s, Pearlstein has introduced folk art, sculpture, and other objects into his paintings, making complex compositions that create visual tension between human and inanimate forms. This striking volume—the only book now in print on this grand master of contemporary figurative painting—includes a fascinating interview with the artist and a thoughtful essay by curator, scholar, and art critic Robert Storr.
Celebrated Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson isthe director and editor of the Martin Luther King Papers Project;with thousands of King's essays, notes, letters, speeches, andsermons at his disposal, Carson has organized King's writings intoa posthumous autobiography. In an early student essay, Kingprophetically penned: "We cannot have an enlightened democracy withone great group living in ignorance.... We cannot have a nationorderly and sound with one group so ground down and thwarted thatit is almost forced into unsocial attitudes and crime." Suchstatements, made throughout King's career, are skillfully woventogether into a coherent narrative of the quest for social justice.The autobiography delves, for example, into the philosophicaltraining King received at Morehouse College, Crozer TheologicalSeminary, and Boston University, where he consolidated theteachings of Afro-American theologian Benjamin Mays with thephilosophies of Locke, Rousseau, Gandhi, and Thoreau. ThroughKing's voice, the
In this extraordinary memoir, Nobel Prizewinning author GnterGrass remembers his early life, from his boyhood in a crampedtwo-room apartment in Danzig through the late 1950s, when The TinDrum was published. During the Second World War, Grass volunteeredfor the submarine corps at the age of fifteen but was rejected; twoyears later, in 1944, he was instead drafted into the Waffen-SS.Taken prisoner by American forces as he was recovering fromshrapnel wounds, he spent the final weeks of the war in an AmericanPOW camp. After the war, Grass resolved to become an artist andmoved with his first wife to Paris, where he began to write thenovel that would make him famous. Full of the bravado of youth, therubble of postwar Germany, the thrill of wild love affairs, and theexhilaration of Paris in the early fifties, Peeling the Onionwhichcaused great controversy when it was published in GermanyrevealsGrass at his most intimate.
They called him Neutron Jack. They called him the world's toughest boss. And then Fortune called him "The Manager of the Century." In his twenty-year career at the helm of General Electric, Jack Welch defied conventional wisdom and turned an aging behemoth of a corporation into a lean, mean engine of growth and corporate innovation. In this remarkable autobiography--now updated with a special new afterword by the author--Jack Welch takes us on the rough-and-tumble ride that has been his remarkable life. From his working-class childhood to his early days in G.E. Plastics to his life at the top of the world's most successful company, JACK is ultimately a story about people--from a man who based his career on demanding only the best from others and from himself. ... 作者简介: "JACK is about something so rarely encountered in American life today. That something is called getting it right The point of this book is to help us understand how Jack Welch got it done."--Michael M. Thomas, Financial Obse
The Outsider is an unsentimental yet profoundly moving look atone family’s experience with mental illness. In 1978, CharlesLachenmeyer was a happily married professor of sociology who livedin the New York suburbs with his wife and nine-year-old son,Nathaniel. But within a few short years, schizophrenia–adevastating mental illness with no known cure–would cost himeverything: his sanity, his career, his family, even the roof overhis head. Upon learning of his father’s death in 1995, Nathanielset out to search for the truth behind his father’s haunted,solitary existence. Rich in imagery and poignant symbolism, TheOutsider is a beautifully written memoir of a father’s struggle tosurvive with dignity, and a son’s struggle to know the father helost to schizophrenia long before he finally lost him todeath. The Outsider is a recipient of the Kenneth Johnson MemorialResearch Library Book Award and is the winner of the 2000 Bell ofHope Award, presented annually by the Mental Health Associatio
This explosive, revelatory history of the early years ofpsychoanalysis shows that the bitterly unresolvable split betweenJung and Freud pivoted around a former patient and lover of Jung'swhose story and own potentially important theoretical contributionsto psychoanalysis were blocked by both men. "A huge scholarly work. . . gripping."--The New York Times.
Through the lives of four xceptional sisters an intimate account of China in the last century…
A bestseller since 1880... The classic saga of the Roman Empire From a thrilling sea battle to its famouschariot race to the agony of the Crucifixion, this is the epic taleof a prince who became a slave and by a twist of fate and his ownskill-won a chance at freedom.
does eminem matter? On assignment for his first cover story for Rolling Stone, thevery first national cover story on Eminem, Anthony Bozza met ayoung blond kid, a rapper who would soon take the country by storm.But back in 1999, Eminem was just beginning to make waves amongsuburban white teenagers as his first single, “My Name Is,” wentinto heavy rotation on MTV. Who could have predicted that in a mere two years, Eminem wouldbecome the most reviled and controversial hip-hop figure ever? Orthat twelve months after that, Eminem would sit firmly at thepinnacle of American celebrity, a Grammy winner many times over andthe recipient of an Oscar. did eminem change or did america finally figure him out? Whatever You Say I Am attempts to answer this question and manymore. Since their first meeting, Bozza has been given a level ofaccess to Eminem that no other journalist has enjoyed. In WhateverYou Say I Am, original, never-before-published text from Bozza’sinterviews with Eminem a
Thriller takes us back to a time in 1982 when MichaelJackson was king of the charts, breaking the color barrier on MTV,heralding the age of video, and becoming the ultimaterepresentation of the crossover dreams of Motown’s Berry Gordy, whohelped launch Jackson’s career with the Jackson 5. In this incisiveand revealing examination of the making and meaning of Thriller , Nelson George illuminates the brilliant creativeprocess (and work ethic) of Jackson and producer Quincy Jones,deftly exploring the larger context of the music, life, and seismicimpact of Michael Jackson on three generations. All this from agroundbreaking journalist and cultural critic who was there. Georgequestions whether the phenomenon Jackson became is even possibletoday. He revisits his early writings on the King of Pop andexamines not only the stunning success of Thriller but alsoJackson as an artist, public figure, and racial enigma—includingthe details surrounding his death on June 25, 2009.
Fidel Castro is perhaps the most charismatic and controversialhead of state in modern times. A dictatorial pariah to some, he hasbecome a hero and inspiration for many of the world's poor,defiantly charting an independent and revolutionary path for Cubaover nearly half a century. Numerous attempts have been made to get Castro to tell his ownstory. But only now, in the twilight of his years, has he beenprepared to set out the details of his remarkable biography for theworld to read. This book is nothing less than his living testament.As he told reporters, his desire to finish checking its text wasthe one thing that kept him going through his recent illness. Hepresented a copy of the book in its Spanish edition to his compadrePresident Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. In these pages, Castro narrates a compelling chronicle thatspans the harshness of his elementary school teachers; the earlyfailures of the revolution; his intense comradeship with CheGuevara and their astonishing, against-all-odds victory over thedic
Katrina Firlik is a neurosurgeon, one of only two hundred or so women among the alpha males who dominate this high-pressure, high-prestige medical specialty. She is also a superbly gifted writer–witty, insightful, at once deeply humane and refreshingly wry. In Another Day in the Frontal Lobe, Dr. Firlik draws on this rare combination to create a neurosurgeon’s Kitchen Confidential–a unique insider’s memoir of a fascinating profession. Neurosurgeons are renowned for their big egos and aggressive self-confidence, and Dr. Firlik confirms that timidity is indeed rare in the field. “They’re the kids who never lost at musical chairs,” she writes. A brain surgeon is not only a highly trained scientist and clinician but also a mechanic who of necessity develops an intimate, hands-on familiarity with the gray matter inside our skulls. It’s the balance between cutting-edge medical technology and manual dexterity, between instinct and expertise, that Firlik finds so appealing–and so difficult to
When the first Superman movie came out I was frequently asked'What is a hero?' I remember the glib response I repeated somany times. My answer was that a hero is someone who commitsa courageous action without considering the consequences--a soldierwho crawls out of a foxhole to drag an injured buddy tosafety. And I also meant individuals who are slightly largerthan life: Houdini and Lindbergh, John Wayne, JFK, and JoeDiMaggio. Now my definition is completely different. Ithink a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength topersevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles: afifteen-year-old boy who landed on his head while wrestling withhis brother, leaving him barely able to swallow or speak; TravisRoy, paralyzed in the first thirty seconds of a hockey game in hisfreshman year at college. These are real heroes, and so arethe families and friends who have stood by them." The whole world held its breath when Christopher Reeve struggledfor life on Memorial Day, 1995. On the
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.
In 1997, Tony Blair won the biggest Labour victory in history to sweep the party to power and end eighteen years of Conservative government. He has been one of the most dynamic leaders of modern times; few British prime ministers have shaped the nation's course as profoundly as Blair during his ten years in power, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Now his memoirs reveal in intimate detail this unique political and personal journey, providing an insight into the man, the politician and the statesman, and charting successes, controversies and disappointments with an extraordinary candour. "A Journey" will prove essential and compulsive reading for anyone who wants to understand the complexities of our global world. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will also have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenges of leadership today.
It is remarkable how infrequently, over a period of more thanfifty years, Alfred Hitchcock spoke about the legendary actresseshe directed–including Ingrid Bergman, Kim Novak, and Grace Kelly.But his leading ladies greatly enriched his films, and many of themachieved international stardom precisely because of their work forHitchcock. Rich with new material, anecdotes, andnever-before-told personal observations, this explosive portraitdetails Hitchcock’s outbursts of cruelty, the shocking humor, andthe odd amalgam of adoration and contempt that characterizedHitchcock’s obsessive relationships with women–and that also,paradoxically, fed his genius.
Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning actor with the legendary blueeyes, achieved superstar status by playing charismatic renegades,broken heroes, and winsome antiheroes in such revered films as TheHustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, TheVerdict, The Color of Money, and Nobody’s Fool. But Newman was alsoan oddity in Hollywood: the rare box-office titan who cared aboutthe craft of acting, the sexy leading man known for the stayingpower of his marriage, and the humble celebrity who madephilanthropy his calling card long before it was cool. The son of a successful entrepreneur, Newman grew up in aprosperous Cleveland suburb. Despite fears that he would fail tolive up to his father’s expectations, Newman bypassed the familysporting goods business to pursue an acting career. Afterstruggling as a theater and television actor, Newman saw his starrise in a tragic twist of fate, landing the role of boxer RockyGraziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me when James Dean was killedin a car a
Bono is one of the most influential musicians at work today.Over the past twenty-five years his band, U2, have sold astaggering 130 million albums and collected 14 Grammys. Theirsuccess has made Bono one of the most recognisable faces in theworld. Here, in a series of conversations with his friend, themusic journalist, Michka Assayas, Bono reflects on histransformation from extrovert singer of a small, Irish, post-punkband into an international rock star. Along the way he speakscandidly about his childhood, about his mother's death, about hisChristian faith and about his difficult relationship with hisfather, who died recently. Bono also speaks passionately about howhe has used his fame as a platform to campaign fervently on a rangeof global issues, and why these issues - which include the IRAceasefire, Third World debt and, most recently, the growing AIDScrisis in Africa - are so important to each of us. Intimate,humorous, and fiercely opinionated, BONO ON BONO is Bono's story inhis own words. It will
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.