“The best biography of Lord Byron ever written,” according toPoet Laureate W. S. Merwin, is now back in print afterdecades. Of the hundreds of books on Byron and his work, not one has beendevoted to the immediate aftermath of his life; and yet it is thesefirst twenty posthumous years that yield the most unexpected andexciting discoveries about the character of the poet and thebehavior of those who once surrounded him—wife, sister, friends,enemies. With the burning of his memoirs almost as soon as news of his deathreach England in May 1924, there began the sequence of impassionedcontroversies that have followed one another like the links in achain ever since. What sort of man was the begetter of thesedramas? Unflagging in energy and acumen, Doris Lang- ley Mooresifts the various witnesses, their motives and credentials, and notonly reveals how much questionable evidence has been accepted butdevelops a corrected picture that appeals and persuades. Drawing upon a very large amount of unpublished material
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
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。
Prize-winning biographer Robert D. Richardson has written thedefinitive biography of the fascinating William James, whose lifeand writing put an indelible stamp on psychology, philosophy,teaching, and religion—and on modernism itself. A pivotal member ofthe Metaphysical Club, author of The Varieties of ReligiousExperience, and older brother of extraordinary siblings Henry andAlice, William emerges here as an immensely complex man.Richardson’s thought-provoking and utterly moving work, ten yearsin the making, draws on a vast number of unpublished letters,journals, and family records. Through impassioned scholarship,Richardson illuminates James’s hugely influential works: TheVarieties, Principles of Psychology, Talks to Teachers, andPragmatism. Finally, brought richly to life through Richardson’sbrilliant insights, James is given his due as a man whose influenceresonates in innumerable areas of modern life.
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.
"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
In a book that is both biography and the most exciting form ofhistory, here are eighteen years in the life of a man, AlbertEinstein, and a city, Berlin, that were in many ways the definingyears of the twentieth century. Einstein in Berlin In the spring of 1913 two of the giants of modern sciencetraveled to Zurich. Their mission: to offer the most prestigiousposition in the very center of European scientific life to a manwho had just six years before been a mere patent clerk. AlbertEinstein accepted, arriving in Berlin in March 1914 to take up hisnew post. In December 1932 he left Berlin forever. “Take a goodlook,” he said to his wife as they walked away from their house.“You will never see it again.” In between, Einstein’s Berlin years capture in microcosm theodyssey of the twentieth century. It is a century that opens withextravagant hopes--and climaxes in unparalleled calamity. These aretumultuous times, seen through the life of one man who is at oncewitness to and architect of his day--and
Charles I waged civil wars that cost one in ten Englishmentheir lives. But in 1649 Parliament was hard put to find a lawyerwith the skill and daring to prosecute a king who claimed to beabove the law. In the end, they chose the radical lawyer JohnCooke, whose Puritan conscience, political vision, and love ofcivil liberties gave him the courage to bring the king to trial. Asa result, Charles I was beheaded, but eleven years later Cookehimself was arrested, tried, and executed at the hands of CharlesII. Geoffrey Robertson, a renowned human rights lawyer, provides avivid new reading of the tumultuous Civil War years, exposinglong-hidden truths: that the king was guilty, that his executionwas necessary to establish the sovereignty of Parliament, that theregicide trials were rigged and their victims should be seen asnational heroes. Cooke’s trial of Charles I, the first trial of ahead of state for waging war on his own people, became a forerunnerof the trials of Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic
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.
Robert Hughes has trained his critical eye on many majorsubjects, from the city of Barcelona to the history of his nativeAustralia. Now he turns that eye inward, onto himself and the worldthat formed him. Hughes analyzes his experiences the way he mightexamine a Van Gogh or a Picasso. From his relationship with hisstern and distant father to his Catholic upbringing and schoolyears; and from his development as an artist, writer, and critic tohis growing appreciation of art and his exhilaration at leavingAustralia to discover a new life, Hughes’ memoir is anextraordinary feat of exploration and celebration.
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story ofthe Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and JohnRomero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popularculture. And they provoked a national controversy. More thananything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream,escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the mostnotoriously successful game franchises in history— Doom and Quake — until the games they made tore them apart. This is astory of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerfuland compassionate account of what it's like to be young, driven,and wildly creative.
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.
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.
Plutarch's Lives, written at the beginning of the secondcentury A.D., is a brilliant social history of the ancient world byone of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time. In whatis by far his most famous and influential work, Plutarch revealsthe character and personality of his subjects and how they ledultimately to tragedy or victory. Richly anecdotal and full ofdetail, Volume I contains profiles and comparisons of Romulus andTheseus, Numa and Lycurgus, Fabius and Pericles, and many morepowerful figures of ancient Greece and Rome. The present translation, originally published in 1683 inconjunction with a life of Plutarch by John Dryden, was revised in1864 by the poet and scholar Arthur Hugh Clough, whose notes andpreface are also included in this edition.
A gathering ofbrilliant and viciously funny recollections from one of thetwentieth century’s most famous literary enfants terribles. Written in 1980 but published here for the first time, thesetexts tell the story of the various farces that developed aroundthe literary prizes Thomas Bernhard received in his lifetime.Whether it was the Bremen Literature Prize, the Grillparzer Prize,or the Austrian State Prize, his participation in the acceptanceceremony—always less than gracious, it must be said—resulted inscandal (only at the awarding of the prize from Austria’s FederalChamber of Commerce did Bernhard feel at home: he received thatone, he said, in recognition of the great example he set forshopkeeping apprentices). And the remuneration connected with theprizes presented him with opportunities for adventure—of thenew-house and luxury-car variety. Here is a portrait of the writer as a prizewinner: laconic,sardonic, and shaking his head with biting amusement at the w
The epic life and times of one of the most important politicalfigures in our history. He was the Great Compromiser, a canny and colorful legislator andleader whose life mirrors the story of America from its foundinguntil the eve of the Civil War. Speaker of the House, senator,secretary of state, five-time presidential candidate, and idol tothe young Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay is captured in full at lastin this rich and sweeping biography that vividly portrays all thedrama of his times. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler present Clay in his earlyyears as a precocious, witty, and optimistic Virginia boy, raisedon a farm, who at the age of twenty transformed himself frombumpkin to attorney—a shrewd and sincere defender of the ordinaryman who would be his eventual political base. The authors revealClay’s tumultuous career in Washington, one that transformed thecapital and the country. Nicknamed “the Western Star,” Clay becamethe youngest Speaker of the House shortly before the War of 1812and tran
Let It Blurt is the raucous and righteous biography of LesterBangs (1949-82)--the gonzo journalist, gutter poet, and romanticvisionary of rock criticism. No writer on rock 'n' roll ever livedharder or wrote better--more passionately, more compellingly, morepenetratingly. He lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, guzzling boozeand Romilar like water, matching its energy in prose that eruptedfrom the pages of Rolling Stone, Creem, and The Village Voice.Bangs agitated in the seventies for sounds that were harsher,louder, more electric, and more alive, in the course of which hecharted and defined the aesthetics of heavy metal and punk. He wastreated as a peer by such brash visionaries as Lou Reed, PattiSmith, Richard Hell, Captain Beefheart, The Clash, Debbie Harry,and other luminaries. Let It Blurt is a scrupulously researched account of LesterBangs's fascinating (if often tawdry and unappetizing) life story,as well as a window on rock criticism and rock culture in theirmost turbulent and creative years
In an engaging book that sweeps from the Gilded Age to the1960s, award-winning author Laura Claridge presents the firstauthoritative biography of Emily Post, who changed the mindset ofmillions of Americans with Etiquette, a perennial bestseller andtouchstone of proper behavior. A daughter of high society and one of Manhattan’s mostsought-after debutantes, Emily Price married financier Edwin Post.It was a hopeful union that ended in scandalous divorce. But thetrauma forced Emily Post to become her own person. After writingnovels for fifteen years, Emily took on a different sort ofproject. When it debuted in 1922, Etiquette represented afifty-year-old woman at her wisest–and a country at its wildest.Claridge addresses the secret of Etiquette’s tremendous success andgives us a panoramic view of the culture from which it took itsshape, as its author meticulously updated her book twice a decadeto keep it consistent with America’s constantly changing sociallandscape. Now, nearly fifty years aft
In Franklin and Lucy, acclaimed author and historian Joseph E.Persico explores FDR’s romance with Lucy Rutherfurd. Persico’sprovocative conclusions about their relationship are informed by arevealing range of sources, including never-before-publishedletters and documents from Lucy Rutherfurd’s estate that attest tothe intensity of the affair, which lasted much longer than waspreviously acknowledged. FDR’s connection with Lucy also creates anopportunity for Persico to take a more penetrating look at theother women in FDR’s life. We come to see more clearly how FDR’sinfidelity contributed to Eleanor Roosevelt’s eventualtransformation from a repressed Victorian to perhaps the greatestAmerican woman of her century; how FDR’s strong-willed motherhelped to strengthen his resolve in overcoming personal and publicadversity; and how both paramours and platonic friends completedthe world that FDR inhabited. In focusing on Lucy Rutherfurd andthe other women who mattered to Roosevelt, Persico renders
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