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Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach
by Meryl GordonA biography that looks behind the headlines, and the gates of the house of Astor, as the famous family falls apart in public.The fate of Brooke Astor, the endearing philanthropist with the storied name, has generated worldwide headlines since her grandson Philip sued his father in 2006, alleging mistreatment of Brooke. And shortly after her death in 2007, Anthony Marshall, Mrs. Astor&’s only child, was indicted on charges of looting her estate. Rarely has there been a story with such an appealing heroine, conjuring up a world so nearly forgotten: a realm of lavish wealth and secrets of the sort that have engaged Americans from the era of Edith Wharton to the more recent days of Truman Capote.New York journalist Meryl Gordon has interviewed not only the elite of Brooke Astor&’s social circle, but also the large staff who cosseted and cared for Mrs. Astor during her declining years. The result is the behind-the-headlines story of the Astor empire&’s unraveling, filled with never-before-reported scenes. This powerful, poignant saga takes the reader inside the gilded gates of an American dynasty to tell of three generations&’ worth of longing and missed opportunities. Even in this territory of privilege, no riches can put things right once they&’ve been torn asunder. Here is an American epic of the bonds of money, morality, and social position.Updated with new material from inside the Brooke Astor TrialUSA Today&“An even-handed and fascinating portrait of a wealthy family torn apart by money, jealousy, and emotional distance.&”—&“If the tabloids are your morning cup of tea, this is your book.&”—New York Times Book Review
Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery's Frontier
by Lea VanderVeldeAmong the most infamous U.S. Supreme Court decisions is Dred Scott v. Sandford . Despite the case's signal importance as a turning point in America's history, the lives of the slave litigants have receded to the margins of the record, as conventional accounts have focused on the case's judges and lawyers. In telling the life of Harriet, Dred's wife and co-litigant in the case, this book provides a compensatory history to the generations of work that missed key sources only recently brought to light. Moreover, it gives insight into the reasons and ways that slaves used the courts to establish their freedom. <P><P>A remarkable piece of historical detective work, Mrs. Dred Scott chronicles Harriet's life from her adolescence on the 1830s Minnesota-Wisconsin frontier, to slavery-era St. Louis, through the eleven years of legal wrangling that ended with the high court's notorious decision. The book not only recovers her story, but also reveals that Harriet may well have been the lynchpin in this pivotal episode in American legal history. <P><P>Reconstructing Harriet Scott's life through innovative readings of journals, military records, court dockets, and even frontier store ledgers, VanderVelde offers a stunningly detailed account that is at once a rich portrait of slave life, an engrossing legal drama, and a provocative reassessment of a central event in U.S. constitutional history. More than a biography, the book is a deep social history that freshly illuminates some of the major issues confronting antebellum America, including the status of women, slaves, Free Blacks, and Native Americans.
Mrs. Engels: A Novel
by Gavin Mccrea"Richly imagined."-starred review, Publishers Weekly"Grabs the reader from the first sentence and doesn't let go. . . Who knew reading about communists could be so much fun?"-starred review, Kirkus ReviewsLonglisted for The Guardian 2015 First Book AwardVery little is known about Lizzie Burns, the illiterate Irishwoman and longtime lover of Frederick Engels, coauthor of The Communist Manifesto. In Gavin McCrea's first novel, the unsung Lizzie is finally given a voice that won't be forgotten.Lizzie is a poor worker in the Manchester, England, mill that Frederick owns. When they move to London to be closer to Karl Marx and family, she must learn to navigate the complex landscapes of Victorian society. We are privy to Lizzie's intimate, wry views on Marx and Engels's mission to spur revolution among the working classes, and to her ambivalence toward her newly luxurious circumstances. Lizzie is haunted by her first love (a revolutionary Irishman), burdened by a sense of duty to right past mistakes, and torn between a desire for independence and the pragmatic need to be cared for.Yet despite or because of their profound differences, Lizzie and Frederick remain drawn to each other in this complex, high-spirited love story.
Mrs. Harkness and the Panda
by Alicia PotterIn 1934, Ruth Harkness had never seen a panda bear. Not many people in the world had.But soon the young Mrs. Harkness would inherit an expedition from her explorer husband: the hunt for a panda. She knew that bringing back a panda would be hard. Impossible, even. But she intended to try.So she went to China, where she found a guide, built traps, gathered supplies, and had explorers' clothes made—unheard of for a woman in those days. Then she set out up the Yangtze River and into the wilderness. What she discovered would awe America: an adorable baby panda she named Su Lin, which means "a little bit of something very cute."With breathtaking illustrations from Caldecott Honor artist Melissa Sweet, this little-known true story shares the tale of an adventurous woman who was bold and brave—and the unforgettable journey that helped shape American attitudes toward wildlife.
Mrs. Houdini
by Victoria Kelly"Kelly's mesmerizing reimagining shines a light on the kind of love that burns strong even after death." --People "A richly lyrical and thought-provoking novel with closing twists that feel as impossible, inevitable, and satisfying--as magical, in short--as one of Houdini's own illusions." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)Before escape artist Harry Houdini died, he vowed he would find a way to speak to his beloved wife Bess from beyond the grave using a coded message known only to the two of them. When a widowed Bess begins seeing this code in seemingly impossible places, it becomes clear that Harry has an urgent message to convey. Unlocking the puzzle will set Bess on a course back through the pair's extraordinary romance, which swept the illusionist and his bride from the beaches of Coney Island, to the palaces of Budapest, to the back lots of Hollywood. When the mystery finally leads Bess to the doorstep of a mysterious young photographer, she realizes that her husband's magic may have been more than just illusion. In surprising turns that weave through the uncertain days of the dawn of the twentieth century and continue into the dazzling 1920s, Mrs. Houdini is a thrilling tale that will take you deep into the heart of one of history's greatest love stories--asking what drives people to believe in something bigger than themselves--even as it reveals the famous magician's most remarkable feat of all.
Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower
by Susan EisenhowerSusan Eisenhower looks back on the life of her grandmother in a tribute that coincides with the centenary of Mamie Eisenhower's birth. In this compelling biography of an army captain's wife who becomes First Lady, she paints the portrait of an independent, headstrong woman who was passionately engaged in a lifelong relationship with a man who was her utter opposite. Although their fifty-three-year marriage was ultimately marked by public triumph and private contentedness, their lives together were not always easy. On army posts all over America, in Panama and the Philippines, in Paris and Washington, Mamie Eisenhower struggled to find her way in a military system that took dedication and self-sacrifice for granted--just as she worked to keep her marriage on an even keel after the death of their first child, during debilitating illnesses, and in the midst of painful isolation when her husband was absorbed by work or committed to the battlefield. Yet as her granddaughter knew well, she radiated optimism, though people rarely recognized the discipline and fortitude behind her cheerfulness and her apparently effortless courtesy.
Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir
by Clint Hill Lisa MccubbinThe #1 New York Times bestselling memoir by Clint Hill that Kirkus Reviews called “clear and honest prose free from salaciousness and gossip,” Jackie Kennedy’s personal Secret Service agent details his very close relationship with the First Lady during the four years leading up to and following President John F. Kennedy’s tragic assassination.In those four years, Hill was by Mrs. Kennedy’s side for some of the happiest moments as well as the darkest. He was there for the birth of John, Jr. on November 25, 1960, as well as for the birth and sudden death of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy on August 8, 1963. Three and a half months later, the unthinkable happened.Forty-seven years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the one vivid image that never leaves Clint Hill’s mind is that of President Kennedy’s head lying on Mrs. Kennedy’s lap in the back seat of the limousine, his eyes fixed, blood splattered all over the back of the car, Mrs. Kennedy, and Hill as well. Sprawled on the trunk of the car as it sped away from Dealey Plaza, Hill clung to the sides of the car, his feet wedged in so his body was as high as possible. Clint Hill jumped on the car too late to save the president, but all he knew after that first shot was that if more shots were coming, the bullets had to hit him instead of the First Lady. Mrs. Kennedy’s strength, class, and dignity over those tragic four days in November 1963 held the country together.This is the story, told for the first time, of the man who perhaps held her together.
Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter: A Biography
by Diana SouhamiAlice Keppel, the married lover of Queen Victoria's eldest son and great-grandmother to Camilla Parker-Bowles, was a key figure in Edwardian society. Hers was the acceptable face of adultery. Discretion was her hallmark. It was her art to be the king's mistress and yet to laud the Royal Family and the institution of marriage. Formidable and manipulative, her attentions to the king brought her wealth, power, and status. Her daughter Violet Trefusis had a long tempestuous affair with the author and aristocrat Vita Sackville-West, during which Vita left her husband and two sons to travel abroad with Violet. It was a liaison that threatened the fabric of Violet's social world, and her passion and recalcitrance in pursuit of it pitted her against her mother and society. From memoirs, diaries, and letters, Diana Souhami portrays this fascinating and intense mother/daughter relationship in Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter. Her story of these women, their lovers, and their lovers' mothers, highlights Edwardian - and contemporary - duplicity and double standards and goes to the heart of questions about sexual freedoms.
Mrs. Lee's Rose Garden
by Carlo DevitoMrs. Lee's Rose Garden is an intimate retelling of Arlington National Cemetery's tragic beginnings, and sheds new light on this profound chapter in American history.Mrs. Lee's Rose Garden is the intensely personal story of Arlington National Cemetery's earliest history as seen through the lives of three people during the outbreak of the Civil War: Mary Ann Randolph Custis Lee, Robert E. Lee, and Montgomery C. Meigs. With all the majesty and pathos of a Greek tragedy, this story unfolds as the war's inevitable spiral of betrayal, tragedy, loss, and death begins, ultimately transforming the nation's most famous country estate into its most sacred ground. In the years before the war, the Arlington estate sat like an American Acropolis towering above Washington. Mary Custis Lee was known as the Rose of Arlington, a brash, young, willful, and charming young woman, indulged by her famous father, George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of George Washington. Artistic, well read, and highly intelligent, she was an avid gardener who spent as much time as possible tending the numerous flowerbeds of the Arlington Mansion, along with her mother and her three daughters. Handsome and dashing, Robert E. Lee was easily the most promising soldier of his generation. But long before he was a field commander he was also a great success in the Army Corps of Engineers, having worked on major projects around the U.S. His friend, Montgomery C. Meigs, who had served under Robert, was a scion of Philadelphia society, and rose to become the engineer responsible for helping to complete the capital, and one of the most accomplished builders of his generation. When the time for war arose, Lee refused the opportunity to head the Union Army. He could not draw his sword against his own state, his own people, and instead accepted a commission in the Confederate Army, pitting himself against many of his old comrades. Thus began a series of events that would ultimately pit these three against each other.
Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly
by Jennifer FleischnerA vibrant social history set against the backdrop of the Antebellum south and the Civil War that recreates the lives and friendship of two exceptional women: First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her mulatto dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckly. “I consider you my best living friend,” Mary Lincoln wrote to Elizabeth Keckly in 1867, and indeed theirs was a close, if tumultuous, relationship. Born into slavery, mulatto Elizabeth Keckly was Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker, confidante, and mainstay during the difficult years that the Lincolns occupied the White House and the early years of Mary’s widowhood. But she was a fascinating woman in her own right, independent and already well-established as the dressmaker to the Washington elite when she was first hired by Mary Lincoln upon her arrival in the nation’s capital. Lizzy had bought her freedom in 1855 and come to Washington determined to make a life for herself as a free black, and she soon had Washington correspondents reporting that “stately carriages stand before her door, whose haughty owners sit before Lizzy docile as lambs while she tells them what to wear. ” Mary Lincoln had hired Lizzy in part because she was considered a “high society” seamstress and Mary, an outsider in Washington’s social circles, was desperate for social cachet. With her husband struggling to keep the nation together, Mary turned increasingly to her seamstress for companionship, support, and advice—and over the course of those trying years, Lizzy Keckly became her confidante and closest friend. WithMrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly, pioneering historian Jennifer Fleischner allows us to glimpse the intimate dynamics of this unusual friendship for the first time, and traces the pivotal events that enabled these two women—one born to be a mistress, the other to be a slave—to forge such an unlikely bond at a time when relations between blacks and whites were tearing the nation apart. Beginning with their respective childhoods in the slaveholding states of Virginia and Kentucky, their story takes us through the years of tragic Civil War, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the early Reconstruction period. An author in her own right, Keckly wrote one of the most detailed biographies of Mary Lincoln ever published, and though it led to a bitter feud between the friends, it is one of the many rich resources that have enhanced Fleischner’s trove of original findings. A remarkable, riveting work of scholarship that reveals the legacy of slavery and sheds new light on the Lincoln White House,Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Kecklybrings to life a mesmerizing, intimate aspect of Civil War history, and underscores the inseparability of black and white in our nation’s heritage. From the Hardcover edition.
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life
by Catherine ClintonAbraham Lincoln is the most revered president in American history, but the woman at the center of his life, his wife, Mary, has remained a historical enigma. In this definitive, magisterial biography, Catherine Clinton draws on important new research to illuminate the remarkable life of Mary Lincoln, and at a time when the nation was being tested as never before. Mary Lincoln's story is inextricably tied with the story of America and with her husband's presidency, yet her life is an extraordinary chronicle on its own. Born into an aristocratic Kentucky family, she was an educated, well-connected Southern daughter, and when she married a Springfield lawyer she became a Northern wife--an experience mirrored by thousands of her countrywomen. The Lincolns endured many personal setbacks--including the death of a child and defeats in two U.S. Senate races--along the road to the White House. Mrs. Lincoln herself suffered scorching press attacks, but remained faithful to the Union and her wartime husband. She was also the first presidential wife known as the "First Lady," and it was in this role that she gained her lasting fame. The assassination of her husband haunted her for the rest of her life. Her disintegrating downward spiral resulted in a brief but traumatizing involuntary incarceration in an asylum and exile in Europe during her later years. One of the most tragic and mysterious of nineteenth-century figures, Mary Lincoln and her story symbolize the pain and loss of Civil War America. Authoritative and utterly engrossing, Mrs. Lincoln is the long-awaited portrait of the woman who so richly contributed to Lincoln's life and legacy.
Mrs. Morhard and the Boys: One mother's vision. The first boys' baseball league. A nation inspired.
by Ruth Hanford MorhardAs the Great Depression brought America to the brink of disaster, a devoted single mother in Cleveland, Ohio, wrestled triumph out of adversity by creating a community activity that would inspire the nation. Josephine Morhard never waited for something to happen. At twelve years old, fiercely independent Josephine left her family’s Pennsylvania farm to start a new life. Coming of age during one of the most devastating times in America, and weathering two bad marriages, Josephine put her personal problems aside to insure a productive future for her daughter and son. But Junior was a volatile boy of eight—until his mother came upon a novel sports idea to encourage discipline, guidance, and self-worth in her son. Out of a dream, an empty lot, and the enthusiasm of other neighborhood kids, Josephine established the first boys’ baseball league in America. Her city—and the country—was watching. Beyond all expectations, the Cleveland Indians rallied behind her project. Indians legends Bob Feller, Jeff Heath, and Roy Weatherly helped hone the boys’ skills; renowned sports reporter Hal Lebovitz became an umpire; and they were given permission to play in historic League Park. All the while, as Josephine’s Little Indians graduated into the Junior American and Junior National Leagues, and finally a Little World Series, she instilled in her boys strong values, good sportsmanship, and an unprecedented sense of accomplishment. Some of them, like Ray Lindquist and Jack Heinen, would become Minor League players. Not one of Mrs. Morhard’s boys would ever forget her. In this stirring biography of an unsung American heroine, Josephine Morhard’s daughter-in-law recounts the extraordinary life and accomplishments of a resilient, selfless, and determined woman. Her inspiring true story—a long time coming—is something to cheer for.
Mrs. Nixon
by Ann BeattieDazzlingly original, Ann Beattie's Mrs. Nixon is a riveting exploration of an elusive American icon and of the fiction writer's art. Pat Nixon remains one of our most mysterious and intriguing public figures, the only modern First Lady who never wrote a memoir. Beattie, like many of her generation, dismissed Richard Nixon's wife: "interchangeable with a Martian," she said. Decades later, she wonders what it must have been like to be married to such a spectacularly ambitious and catastrophically self-destructive man. Drawing on a wealth of sources from Life magazine to accounts by Nixon's daughter and his doctor to The Haldeman Diaries and Jonathan Schell's The Time of Illusion, Beattie reconstructs dozens of scenes in an attempt to see the world from Mrs. Nixon's point of view. Like Stephen King's On Writing, this fascinating and intimate account offers readers a rare glimpse into the imagination of a writer. Beattie, whose fiction Vanity Fair calls "irony-laced reports from the front line of the baby boomers' war with themselves," packs insight and humor into her examination of the First Couple with whom boomers came of age. Mrs. Nixon is a startlingly compelling and revelatory work.
Mrs. Paine's Garage and the Murder of John F. Kennedy: and the Murder of John F. Kennedy
by Thomas MallonFor 9 months in 1963, Ruth Paine, a Quaker housewife in suburban Dallas, offered shelter and assistance to Lee Harvey Oswald and his Russian wife, Marina. Mrs. Paine was so deeply involved in the Oswalds' lives that she eventually became one of the most important witnesses in the Warren Commission's investigation into the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy. This is the tragic story of a well-intentioned woman who found Oswald the job that put him 6 floors above Dealey Plaza -- into which, on Nov. 22, he fired a rifle he'd kept hidden inside Mrs. Paine's house. But this is also the story of a devout, open-hearted woman who weathered a whirlwind of investigation, suspicion, and betrayal.
Mrs. Robert E. Lee: The Lady of Arlington
by John PerryMany know about her husband, Robert E. Lee, and her great-grandmother, Martha Washington; many have visited the cemetery that now occupies her family estate. But few today know much about Mary Custis Lee herself. Chronically ill and often in excruciating pain, Mary raised seven children, faithfully witnessing to her husband for years before his conversion. She retained her dignity and faith throughout a fruitless, heartbreaking attempt to win compensation for the confiscation of her home and possessions. History is never more powerful than when it provides a role model for enduring hardship with sturdy and radiant faith. Mary Custis Lee is such an example.
Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation
by Brad RiccaNominated for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime!This is the shocking and amazing true story of the first female U.S. District Attorney and traveling detective who found missing 18-year-old Ruth Cruger when the entire NYPD had given up.Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the true story of Grace Humiston, the lawyer, detective, and first woman U.S. District Attorney who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the nation's greatest crime-fighters during an era when women were still not allowed to vote. After agreeing to take the sensational case of missing eighteen-year-old Ruth Cruger, Grace and her partner, the hard-boiled detective Julius J. Kron, navigated a dangerous web of secret boyfriends, two-faced cops, underground tunnels, rumors of white slavery, and a mysterious pale man, in a desperate race against time.Brad Ricca's Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is the first-ever narrative biography of this singular woman the press nicknamed after fiction's greatest detective. Her poignant story reveals important clues about missing girls, the media, and the real truth of crime stories. Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is a nominee for the 2018 Edgar Awards for Best Fact Crime.
Mrs. Simcoe's Diary
by Mary Quayle Innis Elizabeth Posthuma SimcoeElizabeth Simcoe’s diary, describing Canada from 1791 to 1796, is history written as it was being made. Created largely while she was seated in canoes and bateaux, the diary documents great events in a familiar way and opens our eyes to a side of Canadian history that is too little shown. During her time in Upper Canada (now Ontario), Mrs. Simcoe encountered fascinating figures, such a explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, and Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant. She took particular interest in the First Nations people, the social customs of the early settlers, and the flora and fauna of a land that contained a mere 10, 000 non-Natives in 1791. The realm she observed so vividly was quite alien to a woman used to a world of ball gowns, servants, and luxury in England, but the lieutenant-governor’s wife was made of stern stuff and embraced her new environment with relish, leaving us with an account instilled with excitement and delight at everything she witnessed.
Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden
by Emily WhaleyIn conversation with William Baldwin. Emily Whaley's garden on Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina, may be the most visited private garden in the country. And no wonder. It is the life's work of a vibrant, sociable, opinionated, determined, forceful woman who has spent the last eighty-five years cultivating whatever life offered her. MRS. WHALEY AND HER CHARLESTON GARDEN captures and preserves Emily Whaley's distinctive voice and braces us with a clear understanding of how one might cultivate a practical personal philosophy alongside one's garden. "An ageless and captivating visit." --Publishers Weekly; "South Carolina gardener grows into phenom." --USA Today, cover story; "Emily Whaley is wonderful, both in and out of her garden."--Rosemary Verey, author of THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S GARDEN. As seen on CBS Sunday Morning. Now in its 6th printing.
Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life
by Jess Phoenix"Jess Phoenix's work encompasses science and representation in such a delightful melding that it could only come from as spry and playful a soul as hers! Open this book and jump into the volcano!" —Patton Oswalt As a volcanologist, natural hazards expert, and founder of Blueprint Earth, Jess Phoenix has dedicated her life to scientific exploration. Her career path—hard earned in the male-dominated world of science—has led her into still-flowing Hawaiian lava fields, congressional races, glittering cocktail parties at Manhattan&’s elite Explorers Club, and numerous pairs of Caterpillar work boots. It has also inspired her to devote her life to making science more inclusive and accessible. Ms. Adventure skillfully blends personal memoir, daring adventure, and scientific exploration, following Phoenix&’s journey from reality television sites deep in Ecuadorian jungles to Andean glaciers, university classrooms to Death Valley in summer. She has even chased down members of a Mexican cartel to retrieve a stolen favorite rock hammer. Readers will delight in her unbelievable adventures, all embarked on for the love of science.
Ms. Cahill for Congress
by Tierney Cahill Linden GrossThe remarkable story of a teacher who ran a grassroots campaign for Congress . . . from her sixth-grade classroom “You can’t run for office in this country unless you’re a millionaire or you know a lot of millionaires. ” This offhand remark from one of her sixth-grade students dismayed public school teacher Tierney Cahill. When she told the kids that in a democracy anyone can run for office, they dared her to prove it–by running herself. She accepted their challenge on one condition: that they, her students, manage the campaign. A single mom with three kids and more than one job to make ends meet, Cahill was in for a decidedly uphill battle, especially as a Democrat in largely Republican Reno, Nevada. But Cahill had always felt a responsibility to make a positive impact on an increasingly inequitable world. With her eager students leading the way, and a war chest of just seven thousand dollars (compared to opponents with one hundred times the funds), Cahill not only got her name on the ballot but she won the Democratic primary. And as the campaign moved forward, Cahill’s students blossomed beyond her wildest expectations. Ms. Cahill for Congressis the inspiring story of an exceptional teacher who proved that anyone really can run for office–and even without money or connections, make a difference in a great many lives. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life
by Winifred ConklingThroughout the years, Gloria Steinem is perhaps the single-most iconic figure associated with women's rights, her name practically synonymous with the word "feminism." Documenting everything from her boundary-pushing journalistic career to the foundation of Ms. magazine to being awarded the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom, Winifred Conkling's Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life is a meticulously researched YA biography that is sure to satisfy even the most voracious of aspiring glass-ceiling smashers.Gloria Steinem was no stranger to injustice even from a young age. Her mother, Ruth, having suffered a nervous breakdown at only 34, spent much of Gloria's childhood in and out of mental health facilities. And when Gloria was only 10 years old, her father divorced her mother and left for California, unable to bear the stress of caring for Ruth any longer. Gloria never blamed her mother for being unable to hold down a job to support them both after that, but rather blamed society's intrinsic hostility toward women, and working women in particular. This was the spark that lit a fire in her that would burn for decades, and continues to burn brightly today.
Much Ado About Me
by Fred AllenMuch Ado About Me, first published in 1956, is the autobiography of comedian Fred Allen's childhood and vaudeville career. (His long career in radio is documented in his other book, Treadmill to Oblivion). Much Ado About Me is a warm wise and wonderfully entertaining autobiography, jammed with extraordinary events and even more extraordinary people. Here is Fred Allen's early life in the suburbs of Boston; his apprenticeship in the Boston Public Library; the happy exciting round of Amateur Nights; the wonderful, improbable world of Scollay Square; the hopes, the anxieties and the fantastic adventures of a smalltime entertainer billed as Freddy James, the "World's Worst Juggler."From his first stage appearances on 'Amateur Nights' to his U.S. and international tours, Much Ado About Me is a warm and entertaining look at one of America's top stage performers and the golden age of Vaudeville. Included are 8 pages of illustrations.
Much to Be Done: Private Life in Ontario From Victorian Diaries
by Frances Hoffman Ryan TaylorVictorian Ontario included people from all walks of life from homeless beggars to wealthy gentry. In Much To Be Done we glimpse how life was lived in 19th-century Ontario, not only in the grand mansions, but also in the farm houses and streets where our ancestors lived.This publication could be your great-grandmother’s story, following the cycle of life from courtship to childbirth to celebration and death. Diaries, with some contributions from letters, newspapers and reminiscences, provide a fresh and contemporary viewpoint. Much To Be Done promotes a historical understanding which links people of today with the Ontario of the past.
Much to Your Chagrin: A Memoir of Embarrassment
by Suzanne GuillettePeople who don't have embarrassing stories are untrustworthy. Or at the very least, they aren't telling the truth. -- Suzanne Guillette. By your own definition, you are very, very trustworthy. After all, you are the kind of person who spills pasta sauce down the shirt of a famous writer you're trying to impress. You are the girl who, when taking a new mentor out for a fancy lunch, forgets to bring cash -- or a backup credit card. You are almost thirty, an unemployed writer, recently un-engaged from your fiance of several years, and in all your naivete can't foresee that mixing the personal and the professional will bring you mortifyingly disastrous results. You are Suzanne Guillette, the author of Much to Your Chagrin, a smart, hilarious memoir of how chronicling the humiliations of others helped her come to understand and accept herself. Guillette was twenty-nine and the proud owner of a freshly inked MFA when she began to work on her first book -- a collection of embarrassing moments gathered from family, friends, coworkers, and strangers on the street. Stories poured in about every possible type of gaffe, from wardrobe malfunctions (widespread) to romantic misunderstandings (ditto), and from office faux pas (common) to bodily fluid mishaps (distressingly common). Everyone Guillette talked to was enthusiastic about her clever project -- and no one more so than Jack, the wry, handsome literary agent who Guillette thought might just be her soul mate. But as time marched on, Guillette began to see that the tales she'd been gathering were nothing compared to her own moments of shame. Like her increasingly frequent need to sneak out of work (at a health agency, natch) for a "quick smoke" to settle her nerves. Or her stubborn ability to ignore the reality that her fairy-tale romance with Jack was imploding in a truly spectacular fashion. When Guillette accepted that the story she was meant to tell was not others' but her own, Much to Your Chagrin was born. Told in a unique and captivating voice, punctuated by the embarrassing stories she collected, Much to Your Chagrin follows one woman's discovery of what it's like to finally feel comfortable in your own skin (even while accidentally exposing yourself to your elderly neighbors). Raw, honest, and brilliantly funny, it is an extremely personal memoir about the lengths to which we human beings sometimes go to conceal the parts of ourselves that we are least willing to admit are true. Forget the stuff we keep from the world -- it's what we hide from ourselves that is of greatest consequence. What is your most embarrassing moment?
Muchas vidas, muchos maestros
by Brian L. WeissEl doctor Brian Weiss, jefe de psiquiatría del hospital Mount Sinai de Miami, relata en este libro una asombrosa experiencia que cambió su vida por completo. Una de sus pacientes, Catherine, recordó bajo hipnosis varias de sus vidas pasadas y pudo encontrar en ellas el origen de muchos de sus traumas actuales. Catherine se curó, pero ocurrió algo todavía más importante: logró ponerse en contacto con los Maestros, los espíritus superiores que habitan los estados entre dos vidas. Ellos le comunicaron importantes mensajes de sabiduría y de conocimiento. Este relato, profundamente conmovedor, punto de encuentro entre ciencia y metafísica, es de obligada lectura en un mundo devastado por grandes sufrimientos y en continua búsqueda de un nuevo sentido espiritual.