- Table View
- List View
The Tender Hour of Twilight: Paris in the '50s, New York in the '60s: A Memoir of Publishing's Golden Age
by Richard SeaverFrom Beckett to Burroughs, The Story of O to The Autobiography of Malcolm X, an iconic literary troublemaker tells the colorful stories behind the storiesRichard Seaver came to Paris in 1950 seeking Hemingway's moveable feast. Paris had become a different city, traumatized by World War II, yet the red wine still flowed, the cafés bustled, and the Parisian women found American men exotic and heroic. There was an Irishman in Paris writing plays and novels unlike anything anyone had ever read—but hardly anyone was reading them. There were others, too, doing equivalently groundbreaking work for equivalently small audiences. So when his friends launched a literary magazine, Merlin, Seaver knew this was his calling: to bring the work of the likes of Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, and Jean Genet to the world. The Korean War ended all that—the navy had paid for college and it was time to pay them back. After two years at sea, Seaver washed ashore in New York City with a beautiful French wife and a wider sense of the world than his compatriots. The only young literary man with the audacity to match Seaver's own was Barney Rosset of Grove Press. A remarkable partnership was born, one that would demolish U.S. censorship laws with inimitable joie de vivre as Seaver and Rosset introduced American readers to Lady Chatterly's Lover, Henry Miller, Story of O, William Burroughs, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and more. As publishing hurtles into its uncertain future, The Tender Hour of Twilight is a stirring reminder of the passion, the vitality, and even the glamour of a true life in literature.
Sometimes There Is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider
by Zakes MdaA New York Times Notable Book of the Year South African novelist and playwright Zakes Mda's remarkable life story of growing up in South Africa, Lesotho, and America, told with style and gusto.Zakes Mda is the most acclaimed South African writer of the independence era. His novels tell stories that venture far beyond the conventional narratives of a people's struggle against apartheid. In this memoir, he tells the story of a life that intersects with the political life of his country but that at its heart is the classic adventure story of an artist, lover, father, teacher, and bon vivant. Zanemvula Mda was born in 1948 into a family of lawyers and grew up in Soweto's ambitious educated black class. At age fifteen he crossed the Telle River from South Africa into Basutoland (Lesotho), exiled like his father, a "founding spirit" of the Pan Africanist Congress. Exile was hard, but it was just another chapter in Mda's coming-of-age. He served as an altar boy (and was preyed on by priests), flirted with shebeen girls, feared the racist Boers, read comic books alongside the literature of the PAC, fell for the music of Dvorák and Coltrane, wrote his first stories—and felt the void at the heart of things that makes him an outsider wherever he goes. The Soweto uprisings called him to politics; playwriting brought him back to South Africa, where he became writer in residence at the famed Market Theatre; three marriages led him hither and yon; acclaim brought him to America, where he began writing the novels that are so thick with the life of his country. In all this, Mda struggled to remain his own man, and with Sometimes There Is a Void he shows that independence opened the way for the stories of individual South Africans in all their variety.
Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban
by Jere Van DykAn American reporter's chilling account of being kidnapped and imprisoned by the Taliban, in the no-man's-land between Afghanistan and PakistanJere Van Dyk was on the wrong side of the border. He and three Afghan guides had crossed into the tribal areas of Pakistan, where no Westerner had ventured for years, hoping to reach the home of a local chieftain by nightfall. But then a dozen armed men in black turbans appeared over the crest of a hill. Captive is Van Dyk's searing account of his forty-five days in a Taliban prison, and it is gripping and terrifying in the tradition of the best prison literature. The main action takes place in a single room, cut off from the outside world, where Van Dyk feels he can trust nobody—not his jailers, not his guides (who he fears may have betrayed him), and certainly not the charismatic Taliban leader whose fleeting appearances carry the hope of redemption as well as the prospect of immediate, violent death. Van Dyk went to the tribal areas to investigate the challenges facing America there. His story is of a deeper, more personal challenge, an unforgettable tale of human endurance.
The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (Platinum Nonfiction Ser.)
by Andrew MarrA surprising and very personal biography of a woman who may be the world's last great queen, published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of her reignElizabeth II, one of England's longest-reigning monarchs, is an enigma. In public, she confines herself to optimistic pieties and guarded smiles; in private, she is wry, funny, and an excellent mimic. Now, for the first time, one of Britain's leading journalists and historians gets behind the mask and tells us the fascinating story of the real Elizabeth.Born shortly before the Depression, Elizabeth grew up during World War II and became queen because of the shocking abdication of her uncle and the early death of her father. Only twenty-five when she ascended to the throne, she has been at the apex of the British state for nearly six decades. She has entertained and known numerous world leaders, including every U.S. president since Harry Truman. Brought up to regard family values as sacred, she has seen all but one of her children divorce; her heir, Prince Charles, conduct an adulterous affair before Princess Diana's death; and a steady stream of family secrets poured into the open. Yet she has never failed to carry out her duties, and she has never said a word about any of the troubles she has endured.Andrew Marr, who enjoys extraordinary access to senior figures at Buckingham Palace, has written a revealing and essential book about a woman who has managed to remain private to the point of mystery throughout her reign.
From the Jaws of Death: Extreme True Adventures of Man vs. Nature
by Brogan SteeleA harrowing collection of true tales of death and survival under the most extreme conditions imaginableThere comes a time in some men's lives when their physical and emotional states are pushed to the limit. Maybe their boat has capsized and they are adrift in the ocean, or maybe they've fallen into an ice crevasse, with no apparent way out. It is in these moments men discover what they are truly made of and whether they have the courage and physical strength to come back From the Jaws of Death.This explosive collection showcases twenty-three stories of adventure gone horribly wrong, including:--"The Devil's Thumb" by Jon Krakauer: the bestselling author recounts his perilous solo climb of Alaska's infamous Devil's Thumb--"Surviving the St. Patrick" by Spike Walker: the crew of a fishing boat face crushing waves in the middle of a winter storm in the Gulf of Alaska--"Look for a Corpse" by Larry Kaniut: a man buried by an avalanche fights to make it out alive--"The Boat Journey" by Sir Ernest Shackleton: when his expedition's ship is destroyed, Shackleton and five of his crewmembers resolve to cross 800 ocean miles in a lifeboat to look for help--And many more!This is one of the finest and most extreme collections of true adventure ever assembled.
Thomas Hart Benton: A Life
by Justin WolffBorn in Missouri at the end of the nineteenth century, Thomas Hart Benton would become the most notorious and celebrated painter America had ever seen. The first artist to make the cover of Time, he was a true original: an heir to both the rollicking populism of his father's political family and the quiet life of his Appalachian grandfather. In his twenties, he would find his calling in New York, where he was drawn to memories of his small-town youth—and to visions of the American scene.By the mid-1930s, Benton's heroic murals were featured in galleries, statehouses, universities, and museums, and magazines commissioned him to report on the stories of the day. Yet even as the nation learned his name, he was often scorned by critics and political commentators, many of whom found him too nationalistic and his art too regressive. Even Jackson Pollock, his once devoted former student, would turn away from him in dramatic fashion. A boxer in his youth, Benton was quick to fight back, but the widespread backlash had an impact—and foreshadowed many of the artistic debates that would dominate the coming decades.In this definitive biography, Justin Wolff places Benton in the context of his tumultuous historical moment—as well as in the landscapes and cultural circles that inspired him. Thomas Hart Benton—with compelling insights into Benton's art, his philosophy, and his family history—rescues a great American artist from myth and hearsay, and provides an indelibly moving portrait of an influential, controversial, and often misunderstood man.
The Dating Game Killer: The True Story of a TV Dating Show, a Violent Sociopath, and a Series of Brutal Murders (St. Martin's True Crime Classics)
by Stella SandsThe true crime story of the California serial killer who won a date on the 1970s TV show The Dating Game during his killing spree.The real story behind the Anna Kendrick Netflix film Woman of the Hour In 1978, Rodney Alcala was a contestant on The Dating Game, one of America&’s most popular television shows at the time. Handsome, successful, and romantic, he was embraced by the audience—and chosen as the winner by the beautiful bachelorette. To viewers across the country, Rodney seemed like the answer to every woman&’s dreams. Until they learned the truth about his once and future crimes... Ten years before his TV appearance, Rodney was charged with the sexual assault and attempted murder of an eight-year-old girl. In the decades that followed, he would be accused of seven murders—and, as new DNA evidence continues to be uncovered, the list may grow. The case is so disturbing that it&’s been documented in several news outlets, from People magazine and USA Today to 48 Hours Mystery and Dr. Phil. The Dating Game Killer is the shocking true story about the dark and twisted man. &“Ms. Sands presents the crimes and evidence with professional skill and objectivity…. A must read!&”—Steve Hodel, New York Times bestselling true-crime author, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, Detective Supervisor, LAPD Hollywood Homicide Division
Last Dog on the Hill: The Extraordinary Life of Lou
by Steve DunoThe moving story of the author's adopted Rottweiler mix, Lou, a free-thinking heroic dog who changed his life forever Born of guard dogs on a secret marijuana farm in Mendicino County, Lou truly was one dog in a million. On the winter day that the ailing, tick-infested feral pup was rescued by Steve Duno, neither dog nor man had a clue as to what they were getting into, or where the relationship would lead. Last Dog on the Hill tells the story of an indigent young Rottweiler mix who, after abandoning his pack and the hills of his birth, went on to change the lives of hundreds of people and dogs, including the author's, whose career as a behaviorist and writer was made possible through Lou's extraordinary intelligence and heart. Lou won the respect of gang members, foiled an armed robbery, caught a rapist, fought coyotes and kidnappers, comforted elderly war veterans and Alzheimer patients in their final days, taught ASL to kids, learned scores of unique behaviors and tricks, amassed a vocabulary of nearly 200 words, helped rehabilitate hundreds of aggressive dogs and saved them from euthanasia. He was also a clown, consummate performer and Steve's best friend for sixteen years. His story will make readers laugh and cry in equal measures.
A Chance in Hell: The Men Who Triumphed Over Iraq's Deadliest City and Turned the Tide of War
by Jim MichaelsJim Michaels's A Chance in Hell presents the riveting account of how one brigade turned Iraq's most violent city into a model of stability.Colonel Sean MacFarland arrived in Iraq's deadliest city with simple instructions: pacify Ramadi without destroying it. The odds were against him from the start. By 2006, insurgents roamed freely in many parts of the city in open defiance of Iraq's U.S.-backed government. Al-Qaeda had boldly declared Ramadi its capital. Even the U.S. military acknowledged that the province would be the last to be pacified.MacFarland laid out a bold plan. His soldiers would take on the insurgents in their own backyard. He set up combat outposts in the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. Snipers roamed the back alleys, killing al-Qaeda leaders and terrorist cells. U.S. tanks rumbled down the streets, firing point-blank into buildings occupied by insurgents. MacFarland's brigade engaged in some of the bloodiest street fighting of the war. Casualties on both sides mounted. Al-Qaeda wasn't going to give up easily--Ramadi was too important. MacFarland wasn't going to back down, either.A Chance in Hell tells how a handful of men turned the tide of war at a time when it appeared all hope was lost.
India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking
by Anand GiridharadasReversing his parents’ immigrant path, a young American-born writer returns to India and discovers an old country making itself new.Anand Giridharadas sensed something was afoot as his plane from America prepared to land in Bombay. An elderly passenger looked at him and said, “We’re all trying to go that way,” pointing to the rear. “You, you’re going this way?” Giridharadas was returning to the land of his ancestors, amid an unlikely economic boom. But he was more interested in India’s cultural upheaval, as a new generation has sought to reconcile old traditions and customs with new ambitions and dreams.In India Calling, Giridharadas brings to life the people and the dilemmas of India today, through the prism of his émigré family history, introducing us to entrepreneurs, radicals, industrialists, and religious seekers, and, most of all, to Indian families. Through their stories, and his own, he paints an intimate portrait of a country becoming modern while striving to remain itself.Praise for India Calling“A fine book, elegant, self-aware and unafraid of contradictions and complexity. Giridharadas captures fundamental changes in the nature of family and class relationships and the very idea of what it means to be an Indian.” —The New York Times Book Review“[A] smart, evocative and sharply observed memoir . . . Giridharadas’s narrative gusto makes the familiar fresh.” —The Wall Street Journal“[A] readable, intriguing book . . . [Giridharadas is] a marvelous journalist—intrepid, easy to like, curious . . . India Calling connects us to a new India, and an engaging new voice.” —The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Prince: Inside the Music and the Masks
by Ronin RoWith a brand-new introduction and chapter that cover the last five year's of Prince's life and work and his untimely death in April 2016.In his three decades of recording, Prince had nearly thirty albums hit the Billboard Top 100. He is the only artist since the Beatles to have a number-one song, movie, and single at the same time. Prince's trajectory—from a teenage unknown in Minneapolis to an idol and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer—won him millions of adoring fans the world over. Prince is the first book to give full treatment to his thirty-five-year career. Acclaimed music journalist Ronin Ro traces Prince's rise from anonymity in the late 70s, to his catapult to stardom in the 80s, to his reemergence in the twenty-first century as an artistic icon. Ro expertly chronicles his music and career, showing how Prince and his albums helped define and inspire a generation. Along the way, Prince confronted labels, fostered other young talents, and took ownership of his music, making a profound mark on the entertainment industry and pop culture.
Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul
by Gary WeissThirty years after her death in March 1982, Ayn Rand's ideas have never been more important. Unfettered capitalism, unregulated business, bare-bones government providing no social services, glorification of selfishness, disdain for Judeo-Christian morality—these are the tenets of Rand's harsh philosophy.In Ayn Rand Nation, Gary Weiss explores the people and institutions that remain under the spell of the Russian-born novelist. He provides new insights into Rand's inner circle in the last years of her life, with revelations of never-before-publicized predictions by Rand that still resonate today. Weiss charts Rand's infiltration of the Tea Party and Libertarian movements, and provides an inside look at the radical belief system that has exerted a powerful influence on the Republican Party and its presidential candidates. It's a fascinating cast of characters that ranges from Glenn Beck to Oliver Stone, and includes Rand's most influential disciple, Alan Greenspan. Weiss describes in penetrating detail how Greenspan became a stalking horse for Rand—slashing and burning regulations with ideological zeal, and then seeking to conceal her influence on his life and thinking. Lastly, Weiss provides a strategy for a renewed national dialogue, an embrace of the nation's core values that is needed to deal with Rand's pervasive grip on society. From The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged to Rand's lesser-known and misunderstood nonfiction books, Gary Weiss examines the impact of Rand's thinking across our society.
The Royal Stuarts
by Allan Massie"Compelling...A masterly feat...A magnificent, sweeping, authoritative, warm yet wry history."--The Wall Street JournalIn this fascinating and intimate portrait of the Stuarts, author Allan Massie takes us deep into one of history's bloodiest and most tumultuous reigns. Exploring the family's lineage from the first Stuart king to the last, The Royal Stuarts is a panoramic history of the family that acted as a major player in the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Union of the Crowns, the English Civil War, the Restoration, and more. Drawing on the accounts of historians past and present, novels, and plays, this is the complete story of the Stuart family, documenting their path from the salt marshes of Brittany to the thrones of Scotland and England and eventually to exile. The Royal Stuarts brings to life figures like Mary, Queens of Scots, Charles I, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, uncovering a family of strong affections and fierce rivalries. Told with panache, this is the gripping true story of backstabbing, betrayal, and ambition gone awry.
The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner
by Jay RaynerAn astronomical gastronomical undertaking —one of the world's preeminent restaurant critics takes on the giants of haute cuisine, one tasting menu at a timeLike the luxury fashion companies Gucci and Chanel, high-end dining has gone global, and Jay Rayner has watched, amazed, as the great names of the restaurant business have turned themselves from artisans into international brands.Long suspecting that his job was too good to be true, Rayner uses his entrée into this world to probe the larger issues behind the globalization of dinner. Combining memoir with vivid scenes at the table; interviews with the world's most renowned chefs, restaurateurs, and eaters; and a few well-placed rants and raves about life as a paid gourmand, Rayner puts his thoughtful, innovative, and hilarious stamp on food writing. He reports on high-end gastronomy from Vegas to Dubai, Moscow to Tokyo, London to New York, ending in Paris where he attempts to do with Michelin-starred restaurants what Morgan Spurlock did with McDonald's in Super Size Me—eating at those establishments on consecutive days and never refusing a sixteen-course tasting menu when it's offered.The Man Who Ate the World is a fascinating and riotous look at the business and pleasure of fine dining.
The Other Preacher in Lynchburg: My Life Across Town from Jerry Falwell
by John KillingerAfter teaching for a number of years, John Killinger, eager to be a pastor, was offered a church in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was in the 1980s when Jerry Falwell had a congregation there. Falwell had just started the Moral Majority movement and had helped to get Ronald Reagan elected president. In 1983, a Good Housekeeping national poll rated Jerry Falwell the second most respected man in America after Reagan.John Killinger's new book is in part a picture of Falwell and an exploration of his influence from the unique standpoint of a "rival" minister who says that his experience of his Lynchburg years is what soon turned him into one of Fundamentalism's most trenchant and outspoken critics.This is a fascinating story told with great grace and style about two very different men of faith, both struggling to capture hearts, minds, and souls."Swift-moving and engaging." - Publishers Weekly
Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business
by Ethan MorddenAny girl who twists her hat will be fired! – Florenz ZiegfeldAnd no Ziegfeld girl ever did as she made her way down the gala stairways of the Ziegfeld Follies in some of the most astonishing spectacles the American theatergoing public ever witnessed. When Florenz Ziegfeld started in theater, it was flea circus, operetta and sideshow all rolled into one. When he left it, the glamorous world of "show-biz" had been created. Though many know him as the man who "glorified the American girl," his first real star attraction was the bodybuilder Eugen Sandow, who flexed his muscles and thrilled the society matrons who came backstage to squeeze his biceps. His lesson learned with Sandow, Ziegfeld went on to present Anna Held, the naughty French sensation, who became the first Mrs. Ziegfeld. He was one of the first impresarios to mix headliners of different ethnic backgrounds, and literally the earliest proponent of mixed-race casting. The stars he showcased and, in some cases, created have become legends: Billie Burke (who also became his wife), elfin Marilyn Miller, cowboy Will Rogers, Bert Williams, W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor and, last but not least, neighborhood diva Fanny Brice. A man of voracious sexual appetites when it came to beautiful women, Ziegfeld knew what he wanted and what others would want as well. From that passion, the Ziegfeld Girl was born. Elaborately bejeweled, they wore little more than a smile as they glided through eye-popping tableaux that were the highlight of the Follies, presented almost every year from 1907 to 1931. Ziegfeld's reputation and power, however, went beyond the stage of the Follies as he produced a number of other musicals, among them the ground-breaking Show Boat. In Ziegfeld: The Man Who Created Show Business, Ethan Mordden recreates the lost world of the Follies, a place of long-vanished beauty masterminded by one of the most inventive, ruthless, street-smart and exacting men ever to fill a theatre on the Great White Way : Florenz Ziegfeld.
Young Eliot: From St. Louis to The Waste Land
by Robert CrawfordA groundbreaking new biography of one of the twentieth century's most important poetsOn the fiftieth anniversary of the death of T. S. Eliot, the award-winning biographer Robert Crawford presents us with the first volume of a comprehensive account of this poetic genius. Young Eliot traces the life of the twentieth century's most important poet from his childhood in St. Louis to the publication of his revolutionary poem The Waste Land. Crawford provides readers with a new understanding of the foundations of some of the most widely read poems in the English language through his depiction of Eliot's childhood—laced with tragedy and shaped by an idealistic, bookish family in which knowledge of saints and martyrs was taken for granted—as well as through his exploration of Eliot's marriage to Vivien Haigh-Wood, a woman who believed she loved Eliot "in a way that destroys us both." Quoting extensively from Eliot's poetry and prose as well as drawing on new interviews, archives, and previously undisclosed memoirs, Crawford shows how the poet's background in Missouri, Massachusetts, and Paris made him a lightning rod for modernity. Most impressively, Young Eliot reveals the way he accessed his inner life—his anguishes and his fears—and blended them with his omnivorous reading to create his masterpieces "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and The Waste Land. At last, we experience T. S. Eliot in all his tender complexity as student and lover, penitent and provocateur, banker and philosopher—but most of all, Young Eliot shows us as an epoch-shaping poet struggling to make art among personal disasters.
A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion
by Tom Segev2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist"[A] fascinating biography . . . a masterly portrait of a titanic yet unfulfilled man . . . this is a gripping study of power, and the loneliness of power." —The Economist As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he thereupon took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel’s independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. And yet Ben-Gurion remains an enigma—he could be driven and imperious, or quizzical and confounding. In this definitive biography, Israel’s leading journalist-historian Tom Segev uses large amounts of previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account, transcending the myths and legends that have accreted around the man. Segev’s probing biography ranges from the villages of Poland to Manhattan libraries, London hotels, and the hills of Palestine, and shows us Ben-Gurion’s relentless activity across six decades. Along the way, Segev reveals for the first time Ben-Gurion’s secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel’s independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbors, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional “nutty moments”—from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. Segev also reveals that Ben-Gurion first heard about the Holocaust from a Palestinian Arab acquaintance, and explores his tempestuous private life, including the testimony of four former lovers.The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state “at any cost”—at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation, and reason. Segev’s Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but rather a historical actor who belongs in the company of Lenin or Churchill—a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a complex and contentious legacy that we still reckon with today.
Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself
by Michael ShapiroIn Bottom of the Ninth, Michael Shapiro brings to life a watershed moment in baseball history, when the sport was under siege in the late 1950s "A fascinating look at an almost forgotten era . . . One of the best baseball books of recent seasons." -Cleveland Plain DealerShapiro reveals how the legendary executive Branch Rickey saw the game's salvation in two radical ideas: the creation of a third major league—the Continental League—and the pooling of television revenues for the benefit of all. And Shapiro captures the audacity of Casey Stengel, the manager of the Yankees, who believed that he could remake how baseball was played.The story of their ingenious schemes—and of the powerful men who tried to thwart them—is interwoven with the on-field drama of pennant races and clutch performances, culminating in the stunning climax of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series, when one swing of the bat heralds baseball's eclipse as America's number-one sport.
Betsy Ross and the Making of America
by Marla R. MillerA “first-rate” biography of the seamstress and patriot and a vivid portrait of life in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia: “Authoritative and engrossing” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).Finalist, Cundill Prize in HistoryBetsy Ross and the Making of America is the first comprehensively researched and elegantly written biography of one of America’s most captivating figures of the Revolutionary War. Drawing on new sources and bringing a fresh, keen eye to the fabled creation of “the first flag,” Marla R. Miller thoroughly reconstructs the life behind the legend. This authoritative work provides a close look at the famous seamstress while shedding new light on the lives of the artisan families who peopled the young nation and crafted its tools, ships, and homes.Betsy Ross occupies a sacred place in the American consciousness, and Miller’s winning narrative finally does her justice. This history of the ordinary craftspeople of the Revolutionary War and their most famous representative “reinvigorate[es] a timeworn American icon by placing her firmly into historical and social context [and] illuminates the significant role that ordinary citizens—especially women—played in the birth of the new nation” (Booklist).“An engaging biography.” —The New York Times Book Review“Fascinating.” —Cokie Roberts, New York Times–bestselling author of Founding Mothers“A stupendous literary achievement. It’s not easy to accurately write about a real folk legend. Miller does so with historical accuracy, vivid descriptive language, and an encyclopedic knowledge of her subject.” —Douglas Brinkley, New York Times–bestselling author of The Wilderness Warrior
Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World
by Claire HarmanJane's Fame tells the fascinating story of Jane Austen's renown, from the years of rejection the author faced during her lifetime to the global recognition and adoration she now enjoys. Almost two hundred years after her death, Austen remains a hot topic, constantly open to revival and reinterpretation and known to millions of people through film and television adaptations as much as through her books. In Jane's Fame, Claire Harman gives us the complete biography—of both the author and her lasting cultural influence—making this essential reading for anyone interested in Austen's life, works, and remarkably potent fame.
The Drunk Diet: How I Lost 40 Pounds . . . Wasted: A Memoir
by Lüc CarlWith his trademark Rock 'N Roll hair and snakeskin spandex pants, plus a hot rod and a Harley, Lüc Carl fit the part as a bar manager based in New York City's gritty Lower East Side. And life was good for this Omaha, Nebraska, transplant—a talented drummer who originally moved to the big city to pursue his Rock 'N Roll dreams—until, suddenly, it wasn't. Fast forward through seven years of working long hours, bingeing on late-night Chinese food, and drinking excessively; life had found Lüc forty pounds overweight and completely out of shape. But when he turned to the "experts" for advice—reading countless fitness and weight-loss books in the process—he discovered that they all made the same claim: "You can't drink alcohol if you want to lose weight." Lüc decided to take matters into his own hands to transform his body and his life his way—a sort of "f*ck you" to all those so-called experts.Full of charismatic wit and raucous stories about his life, The Drunk Diet will inspire and challenge you to become fitter, healthier, and happier. Lüc's fitness philosophy isn't about following a list of rigid rules or traditional "do this, not that" charts, but gaining a better understanding of how the body works and discovering what you're personally willing to change about your lifestyle in order to reach your goals. For him, that meant trading in the crap he was eating for unprocessed, natural foods and embracing a newfound love for exercise, but never sacrificing his social life (or his love for cold beer).This is the story of how one chain-smoking, cheeseburger-eating, hard-partying Rock 'N Roller—a self-proclaimed "out-of-shape, bloated asshole"—grew into an avid runner and cyclist and, ultimately, a happier version of himself. He will be the first to tell you: If he could do it, so can you.
Frame-up on the Bowery (Houdini & Nate Mysteries)
by Tom LalickiDuring Yuletide 1911, a brutal Midtown murder shocks the denizens of New York City. After a mutual friend is wrongly accused of being the killer, young sleuth Nate Fuller, along with his famous mentor Harry Houdini, is determined to solve the case. For starters, Houdini and Nate are certain their friend has been framed. But why? By whom? And how can they save him? In their new adventure, old New York's acclaimed detecting duo brave the rough-and-tumble streets of the Lower East Side, where colorful, conniving characters abound, and the only thing certain is danger every step of the way.
"I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice
by Joe StaritaThe harrowing story of a Native American man’s tragic loss of land and family, and his heroic journey to reclaim his humanity.In 1877, Chief Standing Bear’s Ponca Indian tribe was forcibly removed from their Nebraska homeland and marched to what was then known as Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), in what became the tribe’s own Trail of Tears. A third of the tribe died on the grueling march, including Standing Bear’s only son. “I Am a Man” chronicles what happened when Standing Bear set off on a six-hundred-mile walk to return the body of his son’s body to the Ponca’s traditional burial ground. It chronicles his efforts to reclaim his land and rights, culminating in his successful use of habeas corpus to gain access to the courts and secure his freedoms. This is a story of survival that explores fundamental issues of citizenship, constitutional protection, and the nature of democracy. Joe Starita’s well-researched and insightful account bring this vital piece of American history brilliantly to life.
Shouting Won't Help: Why I—and 50 Million Other Americans—Can't Hear You
by Katherine BoutonFor twenty-two years, Katherine Bouton had a secret that grew harder to keep every day. An editor at The New York Times, at daily editorial meetings she couldn't hear what her colleagues were saying. She had gone profoundly deaf in her left ear; her right was getting worse. As she once put it, she was "the kind of person who might have used an ear trumpet in the nineteenth century."Audiologists agree that we're experiencing a national epidemic of hearing impairment. At present, 50 million Americans suffer some degree of hearing loss—17 percent of the population. And hearing loss is not exclusively a product of growing old. The usual onset is between the ages of nineteen and forty-four, and in many cases the cause is unknown.Shouting Won't Help is a deftly written, deeply felt look at a widespread and misunderstood phenomenon. In the style of Jerome Groopman and Atul Gawande, and using her experience as a guide, Bouton examines the problem personally, psychologically, and physiologically. She speaks with doctors, audiologists, and neurobiologists, and with a variety of people afflicted with midlife hearing loss, braiding their stories with her own to illuminate the startling effects of the condition.The result is a surprisingly engaging account of what it's like to live with an invisible disability—and a robust prescription for our nation's increasing problem with deafness. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013