- Table View
- List View
Brummie Kid: More Tales from Birmingham's Backstreets
by Graham V TwistBrummie Kid is a fascinating recollection of the experience of growing up in the slums of Nechells and Aston. All the harshness of daily life is remembered here by local author Graham Twist. Despite hard living conditions and a distinct lack of money, a strong community spirit prevailed and families and neighbourhoods were close-knit. In these tough times you hoped nobody noticed you going to the ‘pop shop’ to pawn precious valuables, siphoning petrol from cars under the nose of the local bobby, or sneaking into the flicks without paying – though everyone was more or less in the same boat. Here are more funny, heart-warming stories from the backstreets of Birmingham which are sure to rekindle old memories.
Brunel and the Steamship Stowaway: Independent Reading White 10 (Reading Champion #1718)
by Ruth PercivalThis story is part of Reading Champion, a series carefully linked to book bands to encourage independent reading skills, developed with Dr Sue Bodman and Glen Franklin of UCL Institute of Education (IOE) Fantastic, original stories are accompanied by engaging artwork and a reading activity. Each book has been carefully graded so that it can be matched to a child's reading ability, encouraging reading for pleasure. Perfect for 5-7 year olds or those reading book band white.
Brunel: The Engineering Visionary (Pocket GIANTS)
by Eugene ByrneIn a BBC poll in 2002, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was voted the second-greatest Briton of all time, only eclipsed by Churchill.It's often claimed that that through his ships, bridges, tunnels and railways Brunel played a critical role in creating the modern world. In the soaring ambitions of the Victorian age, nobody thought bigger than Brunel.Never tied to a dusty office, he crammed enough work, adventure and danger into a single year to last a lesser person a lifetime. He was also a brilliant showman, a flamboyant personality and charmer who time and again succeeded in convincing investors to finance schemes which seemed impossible.Brunel made plenty of mistakes, some of them ruinously expensive. But he also designed and built several structures which are still with us to this day. For these we have to thank a man who was famously described as ‘in love with the impossible’.
Brunel: The Man Who Built The World (Phoenix Press Ser.)
by Dan Cruickshank Steven BrindleA celebration of the life and engineering achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel by two of the world's foremost authorities.In his lifetime, Isambard Kingdom Brunel towered over his profession. Today, he remains the most famous engineer in history, the epitome of the volcanic creative forces which brought about the Industrial Revolution - and brought modern society into being.Brunel's extraordinary talents were drawn out by some remarkable opportunities - above all his appointment as engineer to the new Great Western Railway at the age of 26 - but it was his nature to take nothing for granted, and to look at every project, whether it was the longest railway yet planned, or the largest ship ever imagined, from first principles. A hard taskmaster to those who served him, he ultimately sacrificed his own life to his work in his tragically early death at the age of 53. His legacy, though, is all around us, in the railways and bridges that he personally designed, and in his wider influence.This fascinating new book draws on Brunel's own diaries, letters and sketchbooks to understand his life, times, and work.
Brunel: The Man Who Built the World
by Steven BrindleA celebration of the life and engineering achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel by two of the world's foremost authorities.In his lifetime, Isambard Kingdom Brunel towered over his profession. Today, he remains the most famous engineer in history, the epitome of the volcanic creative forces which brought about the Industrial Revolution - and brought modern society into being.Brunel's extraordinary talents were drawn out by some remarkable opportunities - above all his appointment as engineer to the new Great Western Railway at the age of 26 - but it was his nature to take nothing for granted, and to look at every project, whether it was the longest railway yet planned, or the largest ship ever imagined, from first principles. A hard taskmaster to those who served him, he ultimately sacrificed his own life to his work in his tragically early death at the age of 53. His legacy, though, is all around us, in the railways and bridges that he personally designed, and in his wider influence.This fascinating new book draws on Brunel's own diaries, letters and sketchbooks to understand his life, times, and work.
Brunette Ambition
by Lea MicheleThe star of the hit show Glee shares her experiences and insider tips on beauty, fashion, inner strength, and more in an illustrated in an illustrated book that's part memoir, part how-to, and part style guide. Lea Michele is one of the hardest working performers in show business. Whether she's starring as Rachel Berry on Glee, rocking a glamorous look on the red carpet, recording her solo album, or acting as the spokesperson for L'Oreal, Lea is the ultimate multi-tasker. She knows better than anyone that it is difficult to be your best self and keep things in perspective when your to-do list is overflowing and you are faced with challenges, so she's developed a foolproof system for remaining healthy and centered. In Brunette Ambition, she reveals the lessons and advice that have worked for her--from beauty and fashion secrets to fitness tips, and career insights. Supplemented with never-before-seen photos and revealing anecdotes, it's the book Lea wishes she'd had in her teens and early twenties: A practical and inspirational guide to harnessing tenacity and passion and living the fullest life, no matter what obstacles life puts in your way.
Bruno My Story
by Bruno TonioliMeet Bruno Tonioli - Strictly Come Dancing judge, wildcat choreographer and stardust magnet. With his irrepressible personality and Italian exuberance, Bruno has become a TV sensation, settling the fate of Britain's ballroom hopefuls during the nation's favourite Saturday night show. Bruno's journey is mind-blowing. He fled from home at eighteen to join the dance company La Grande Eugene and travelled around Europe; he later coached the actress Goldie Hawn as a dance instructor, and orchestrated lavish productions for TV, film and pop videos, where he worked alongside The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, Duran Duran and Tina Turner. Along the way Bruno has Tangoed with high fashion, performed the Cha Cha Cha with untameable pop vixens Bananarama and danced an emotional Waltz with bereavement and breakdown before settling in the perfect location - a seat on the judging panel of Strictly Come Dancing, where he wowed the nation at home and in Hollywood with his passion for dance and an excitable turn of phrase. My Story tears away the glittery wrapping of this most exuberant and loveable of TV stars. Strap yourselves in for a wild and sexy ride with more frills than Versailles.
Bruno My Story
by Bruno TonioliMeet Bruno Tonioli - Strictly Come Dancing judge, wildcat choreographer and stardust magnet. With his irrepressible personality and Italian exuberance, Bruno has become a TV sensation, settling the fate of Britain's ballroom hopefuls during the nation's favourite Saturday night show. Bruno's journey is mind-blowing. He fled from home at eighteen to join the dance company La Grande Eugene and travelled around Europe; he later coached the actress Goldie Hawn as a dance instructor, and orchestrated lavish productions for TV, film and pop videos, where he worked alongside The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, Duran Duran and Tina Turner. Along the way Bruno has Tangoed with high fashion, performed the Cha Cha Cha with untameable pop vixens Bananarama and danced an emotional Waltz with bereavement and breakdown before settling in the perfect location - a seat on the judging panel of Strictly Come Dancing, where he wowed the nation at home and in Hollywood with his passion for dance and an excitable turn of phrase. My Story tears away the glittery wrapping of this most exuberant and loveable of TV stars. Strap yourselves in for a wild and sexy ride with more frills than Versailles.
Bruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History
by Benjamin BalintA fresh portrait of the Polish-Jewish writer and artist, and a gripping account of the secret operation to rescue his last artworks. The twentieth-century artist Bruno Schulz was born an Austrian, lived as a Pole, and died a Jew. First a citizen of the Habsburg monarchy, he would, without moving, become the subject of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Second Polish Republic, the USSR, and, finally, the Third Reich. Yet to use his own metaphor, Schulz remained throughout a citizen of the Republic of Dreams. He was a master of twentieth-century imaginative fiction who mapped the anxious perplexities of his time; Isaac Bashevis Singer called him “one of the most remarkable writers who ever lived.” Schulz was also a talented illustrator and graphic artist whose masochistic drawings would catch the eye of a sadistic Nazi officer. Schulz’s art became the currency in which he bought life. Drawing on extensive new reporting and archival research, Benjamin Balint chases the inventive murals Schulz painted on the walls of an SS villa—the last traces of his vanished world—into multiple dimensions of the artist’s life and afterlife. Sixty years after Schulz was murdered, those murals were miraculously rediscovered, only to be secretly smuggled by Israeli agents to Jerusalem. The ensuing international furor summoned broader perplexities, not just about who has the right to curate orphaned artworks and to construe their meanings, but about who can claim to stand guard over the legacy of Jews killed in the Nazi slaughter. By re-creating the artist’s milieu at a crossroads not just of Jewish and Polish culture but of art, sex, and violence, Bruno Schulz itself stands as an act of belated restitution, offering a kaleidoscopic portrait of a life with all its paradoxes and curtailed possibilities.
Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere
by Rebecca Pechefsky Erik RydingBruno Walter, one of the greatest conductors in the twentieth century, lived a fascinating life in difficult times. This engrossing book is the first full-length biography of Walter to appear in English. Erik Ryding and Rebecca Pechefsky describe Walter's early years in Germany, where his successes in provincial theaters led to positions at the Berlin State Opera and the Vienna State Opera. They then tell of his decade-long term as Bavarian music director and his romantic involvement with the soprano Delia Reinhardt; his other positions in the musical community until he was ousted from Germany when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933; and his return to Vienna, where he was artistic director of the Opera House until he was again forced out by the Nazis. Finally they trace his career in the United States, where he led the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras and in his last years made numerous recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble created especially for him. Ryding and Pechefsky are the first biographers to make extensive use of the thousands of unpublished letters in the Bruno Walter Papers, now in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. In addition to interviewing more than sixty people who knew Walter, they examined countless reviews to assess the popular and critical impact he had on his times. Authoritative and even-handed, this biography sheds new light on Walter, one of the great formative influences in musical interpretation.
Brush with the Law: The True Life Story of Law School Today at Harvard and Stanford
by Jaime Marquart Robert Ebert Byrnes“A wonderfully depraved book that will not be welcome in the libraries of the finest American law schools—but no ambitious law student should be without it.” —Dr. Hunter S. ThompsonUntil now, the traditional concept of the law-school experience was the one presented in Scott Turow's One L, published in 1977, a dark description of his first year at Harvard Law School. Twenty-four years later things have definitely changed. Turow's book became the accepted primer—and warning—for aspiring law students, giving them a glimpse of what awaited: grueling nonstop study, brutally competitive classes, endless research, and unfathomable terminology. It described a draconian prison and endless work in the company of equally obsessive, desperate fellow students.Yet, sidestepping terror and intimidation, law students (and new authors) Robert Byrnes and Jaime Marquart entered highly prestigious law schools, did things their own way, earned law degrees, and were hired by a Los Angeles law firm, turning Turow's vision upside down. In their parallel narratives—two twisted, hilarious, blighted, and glorious coming-of-age stories—Byrnes and Marquart explain how they managed to graduate while spending most of their time in the pursuit of pleasure.“Hold on tight, readers. Brush with the Law is a comic, drug-fueled ride that veers from revelry to revelation without transition. With shameless aplomb, the authors slack their way to law degrees, skewering top-notch schools in the process.” —Mike Dayton, Editor, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly“This edgy book would be a great movie. An independent production, of course. Hollywood couldn’t capture the darkly funny vibe of this terrific work without screwing up the heart of it.” —Michael C. Gross, Executive Producer, Twins, Legal Eagles
Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob
by Phyllis Karas Kevin WeeksI grew up in the Old Colony housing project in South Boston and became partners with James "Whitey" Bulger, who I always called Jimmy.Jimmy and I, we were unstoppable. We took what we wanted. And we made people disappear—permanently. We made millions. And if someone ratted us out, we killed him. We were not nice guys.I found out that Jimmy had been an FBI informant in 1999, and my life was never the same. When the feds finally got me, I was faced with something Jimmy would have killed me for—cooperating with the authorities. I pled guilty to twenty-nine counts, including five murders. I went away for five and a half years.I was brutally honest on the witness stand, and this book is brutally honest, too; the brutal truth that was never before told. How could it? Only three people could tell the true story. With one on the run and one in jail for life, it falls on me.
Brutalities: A Love Story
by Margo Steines"Brutalities is electric with insight, riveted by its commitments—to love and bewilderment, to bearing witness—and utterly propulsive." —Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams A searing, vivid memoir that investigates the dynamics of violence, power, desire, and a body pushed to the brink. Quarantined in a southwestern desert city in the midst of her high-risk pregnancy, Margo Steines felt her life narrow around her growing body, compelling her to reckon with the violence entangled in its history. She was a professional dominatrix in New York City, a homestead farmer in a brutal relationship, a welder on a high-rise building crew, and a mixed martial arts enthusiast; each of her many lives brought a new perspective on how power and masculinity coalesce—and how far she could push her body toward the brink. With unflinching candor, Steines searches for the roots of her erstwhile attraction to pain while charting the complicated triumph of gentleness and love.
Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
by Robert CoramFrom the earliest days of his thirty-four-year military career, Victor "Brute" Krulak displayed a remarkable facility for applying creative ways of fighting to the Marine Corps. He went on daring spy missions, was badly wounded, pioneered the use of amphibious vehicles, and masterminded the invasion of Okinawa. In Korea, he was a combat hero and invented the use of helicopters in warfare. In Vietnam, he developed a holistic strategy in stark contrast to the Army's "Search and Destroy" methods-but when he stood up to LBJ to protest, he was punished. And yet it can be argued that all of his these accomplishments pale in comparison to what he did after World War II and again after Korea: Krulak almost single-handedly stopped the U.S. government from abolishing the Marine Corps.
Brutus: Caesar's Assassin
by Dr. Kirsty CorriganThe extraordinary life of the &“noblest Roman of them all.&” Although Marcus Junius Brutus is one of the most famous, or infamous, conspirators of Rome and the ancient world, if not of all time, knowledge of this historical figure has principally been passed to the modern world through the literary medium of Shakespeare&’s tragedy, Julius Caesar. Furthermore, any interest in Brutus has tended to focus only on events surrounding his most legendary act: Caesar&’s murder. This biography instead considers Brutus in his historical context, gathering details from ancient evidence and piecing together, as much as possible, his whole life. While his actions played a pivotal role in Roman history, ultimately, although completely unintentionally, bringing about the downfall of the Roman republic, Brutus has often been neglected. Indeed, he has rarely been considered on his own merits, instead featuring as part of the biographies and studies of other leading political figures of the time, especially those of Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Octavian. As the first dedicated biography in over thirty years, this full and balanced reconsideration of this significant Roman republican is long overdue.
Brutus: The Noble Conspirator
by Kathryn TempestThis award-winning biography delves beyond the myths about Ancient Rome&’s most famous assassin: &“A beautifully written and thought-provoking book&” (Christopher Pelling, author of Plutarch and History). Conspirator and assassin, philosopher and statesman, promoter of peace and commander in war, Marcus Brutus was a controversial and enigmatic man even to those who knew him. His leading role in the murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BC, immortalized his name, but no final verdict has ever been made about his fateful act. Was Brutus wrong to kill his friend and benefactor or was he right to place his duty to country ahead of personal obligations? In this comprehensive biography, Kathryn Tempest examines historical sources to bring to light the personal and political struggles Brutus faced. As the details are revealed—from his own correspondence with Cicero, the perceptions of his peers, and the Roman aristocratic values and concepts that held sway in his time—Brutus emerges from legend, revealed as the complex man he was. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Winner
Bryson City Secrets: Even More Tales of a Small-Town Doctor in the Smoky Mountains
by Walt LarimoreMore enchanting tales of the people and events that shaped a young doctor's life and faith during his early practice in the Smoky Mountains.There are places in Bryson City where the smell of home cooking is a little too tempting for an empty stomach. Don't, for instance, pass the Fryemont Inn when the windows are open--not unless you plan to come inside and enjoy fresh-baked rolls, gourmet cooking, and an owner who is as warm and inviting as the food. She's just one of the friendly faces you'll meet in Bryson City Secrets.Told with winsome humor and deep affection, Bryson City Secrets is a story-lover's delight, continuing Dr. Walt Larimore's reminiscences of his early years of country medical practice. Pull up a chair and feast on this rich fare of Smoky Mountain personalities, highland wisdom, and all the tears, laughter, tenderness, faith, courage, and misadventures of small-town life.
Bryson City Tales: Stories of a Doctor's First Year of Practice in the Smoky Mountains
by Walt LarimoreCaptivating stories of how a young doctor's first year of medical practice in the Smoky Mountains shaped his practice of life and faith.The little mountain hamlet of Bryson City, North Carolina, offers more than dazzling vistas. For Walt Larimore, a young "flatlander" physician setting up his first practice, the town presents its peculiar challenges as well. With the winsomeness of a James Herriott book, Bryson City Tales sweeps you into a world of colorful characters, the texture of Smoky Mountain life, and the warmth, humor, quirks, and struggles of a small country town.It's a world where the family doctor is also the emergency physician, the coroner, and the obstetrician, and where wilderness medicine is part of the job, search-and-rescue calls in the national forest are a way of life, and the next patient just may be somebody's livestock or pet.Bryson City Tales is the tender and insightful chronicle of a young man's rite of passage from medical student to family physician. Laughter and adventure await you in these pages, and lessons learned from Bryson City's unforgettable residents.
Bubba Wallace: Stock Car Racing Star (Sports Illustrated Kids Stars of Sports)
by Lisa A. CraytonBubba Wallace started racing cars at nine years old. He began competing in 2010 and hasn’t slowed down since, setting records as the youngest winner at many races. He was the first Black driver to win Rookie of the Year for NASCAR. Find out how Wallace's talent has led him to success in the world of stock car racing.
Buchanan Dying
by John UpdikeTo the list of John Updike's well-intentioned protagonists--Rabbit Angstrom, George Caldwell, Piet Hanema, Henry Bech--add James Buchanan, seen above as a young Congressman in the 1820's, and on the front cover as the harried fifteenth President of the United States (1857-1861). In a play meant to be read, Buchanan's political and private lives are represented as aspects of his spiritual life, whose crowning, condensing act is the act of dying. A wide-ranging Afterword rounds out the dramatic portrait of one of America's lesser known, and least appreciated, leaders.
Buck Owens: The Biography
by Eileen SiskRetracing the life of Buck Owens--from his poverty-stricken youth as the son of a sharecropper to one of the nation's best-loved and wealthiest entertainers--this biography pays tribute to the man and his music by revealing his genius, his warmth, his humor, his vulnerabilities, and his flaws. It is based on personal sources, including original and latter-day Buckaroos, the cohost and the producer of Hee Haw, the former president of Capitol Nashville, and numerous country singers, relatives, ex-wives, ex-lovers, and ex-employees. The result is a 360-degree profile of a shrewd businessman--the polar opposite of the aw-shucks image he cultivated on Hee Haw. Owens was the top-selling country act of the 1960s--with 21 number-one hits and 35 consecutive top-10 hits from 1962 to 1972, a total surpassed only by the Beatles. One of his major contributions to this era was his invention of the Bakersfield sound, mixing electric guitars with a rock 'n' roll beat, which became popular with country and rock fans alike. This biography details the rift Buck had with the Nashville establishment, his reasons for never becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the number of times Buck married, the truth about Buck posing in the nude for Playgirl, and his strained but professional relationship with Hee Haw cohost Roy Clark.
Buck: A Memoir
by M. K. AsanteA rebellious boy's journey through the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family--this is the riveting story of a generation told through one dazzlingly poetic new voice. MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation's dance company and a father who would soon become a revered pioneer in black studies. But things fell apart, and a decade later MK was in America, a teenager lost in a fog of drugs, sex, and violence on the streets of North Philadelphia. Now he was alone--his mother in a mental hospital, his father gone, his older brother locked up in a prison on the other side of the country--and forced to find his own way to survive physically, mentally, and spiritually, by any means necessary. Buck is a powerful memoir of how a precocious kid educated himself through the most unconventional teachers--outlaws and eccentrics, rappers and mystic strangers, ghetto philosophers and strippers, and, eventually, an alternative school that transformed his life with a single blank sheet of paper. It's a one-of-a-kind story about finding your purpose in life, and an inspiring tribute to the power of education, art, and love to heal and redeem us.Praise for Buck "Frequently brilliant and always engaging . . . It takes great skill to render the wide variety of characters, male and female, young and old, that populate a memoir like Buck. Asante [is] at his best when he sets out into the city of Philadelphia itself. In fact, that city is the true star of this book. Philly's skateboarders, its street-corner philosophers and its tattoo artists are all brought vividly to life here. . . . Asante's memoir will find an eager readership, especially among young people searching in books for the kind of understanding and meaning that eludes them in their real-life relationships. . . . A powerful and captivating book."--Hector Tobar, Los Angeles Times"A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style."--Maya Angelou "The book's strength lies in Asante's vibrant, specific observations, and, at times, the percussive prose that captures them. The author's fluid, filmic images of black urban life feel unique and disturbing."--Kirkus Reviews "Asante's noir chronicle is imaginative, powerful, and electric, written with passion and conviction."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "This is an inspiring story about perseverance and finding purpose that is sure to appeal to readers interested in hip-hop, black studies, and American pop culture in general."--Booklist (starred review)"Buck takes the daily words of the American streets and forges something low and lovely. Angry, profane, and beautiful, it honors the best of hip-hop's literary canon by producing a work worthy of inclusion."--Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of The Beautiful Struggle "Buck sings a song that will force all of America to face what it has become and remember what it could be."--Eddie Huang, author of Fresh off the BoatFrom the Hardcover edition.
Buckingham: The Life and Political Career of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham 1592-1628
by Roger LockyerRecounts the life of the first Duke of Buckingham, describes his relationships with James I and Charles I, and examines his role in English politics.
Buckley and Mailer: The Difficult Friendship That Shaped the Sixties
by Kevin M. SchultzA lively chronicle of the 1960s through the surprisingly close and incredibly contentious friendship of its two most colorful characters. William F. Buckley, Jr., and Norman Mailer were the two towering intellectual figures of the 1960s, and they lived remarkably parallel lives. Both became best-selling authors in their twenties (with God and Man at Yale and The Naked and the Dead); both started hugely influential papers (National Review and the Village Voice); both ran for mayor of New York City; both were noted for their exceptional wit and venom; and both became the figurehead of their respective social movements (Buckley on the right, Mailer on the left). Indeed, Buckley and Mailer argued vociferously and publicly about every major issue of their time: civil rights, feminism, the counterculture, Vietnam, the Cold War. But behind the scenes, the two were close friends and trusted confidantes. In Buckley and Mailer, historian Kevin M. Schultz delves into their personal archives to tell the rich story of their friendship, their arguments, and the tumultuous decade they did so much to shape. Here is the entertaining and deeply American story of what Mailer himself called a "difficult friendship": from their debate before the Floyd Patterson-Sonny Liston heavyweight fight in 1962 to their failed mayoral campaigns, to their confrontation at Truman Capote's Black-and-White Ball, to their starring roles in the central events of the '60s, including the giant antiwar rally in Berkeley, the March on the Pentagon, and the national political conventions in Miami and Chicago. Through it all, Schultz charts their friendship, whether sailing together off the coast of Connecticut, celebrating rave reviews and grousing about lousy ones, and defending each other's decisions privately even as they attack each other's positions publicly. Brimming with Buckley and Mailer's own thoughts from their personal diaries and letters, Buckley and Mailer also features cameos by other leading figures of the time, including James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Barry Goldwater, Robert F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gloria Steinem, and Gore Vidal. Schultz delivers a fresh chronicle of the '60s and its long aftermath as well as an enormously engaging work of narrative history that explores these extraordinary figures' contrasting visions of what America was and what it could be.
Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America
by Sam Tanenhaus&“A magnificent achievement—a long, gripping, and enthralling account of the life of America&’s premier conservative polemicist of the twentieth century.&”—Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend&“A rich, immersive biography exposes the roots of the modern conservative movement through the life of the firebrand writer and commentator who shaped it.&”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors&’ Choice)In 1951, with the publication of God and Man at Yale, a scathing attack on his alma mater, twenty-five-year-old William F. Buckley, Jr., seized the public stage—and commanded it for the next half century as he led a new generation of conservative activists and ideologues to the peak of political power and cultural influence.Ten years before his death in 2008, Buckley chose prize-winning biographer Sam Tanenhaus to tell the full, uncensored story of his life and times, granting him extensive interviews and exclusive access to his most private papers. Thus began a deep investigation into the vast and often hidden universe of Bill Buckley and the modern conservative revolution.Buckley vividly captures its subject in all his facets and phases: founding editor of National Review, the twentieth century&’s most influential political journal; syndicated columnist, Emmy-winning TV debater, and bestselling spy novelist; ally of Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater; mentor to Ronald Reagan; game-changing candidate for mayor of New York.Tanenhaus also has uncovered the darker trail of Bill Buckley&’s secret exploits, including CIA missions in Latin America, dark collusions with Watergate felon Howard Hunt, and Buckley&’s struggle in his last years to hold together a movement coming apart over the AIDS epidemic, culture wars, and the invasion of Iraq—even as his own media empire was unraveling.At a crucial moment in American history, Buckley offers a gripping and powerfully relevant story about the birth of modern politics and those who shaped it.