- Table View
- List View
Cell 2455 Death Row: A Condemned Man's Own Story
by Caryl ChessmanIn June 1948, 27-year-old petty criminal Caryl Chessman was sentenced in California on two counts of sexual assault, receiving two death sentences as punishment in a case that remains one of the most baffling episodes in American legal history. Maintaining his innocence of these crimes, Chessman lived in Cell 2455, a four-by-ten foot space on Death Row in San Quentin for the twelve years between his sentencing and eventual execution. He spent this time, punctuated by eight separate stays of execution, writing this memoir ? a moving and pitiless account of his life in crime and the early life that produced it. ChessmanOCOs clarity of mind and ability to bring his thoughts directly to the page, even within the stifling walls of San Quentin, help make this work the most literate and authentic expose ever written by a criminal about his crimes. "
The Cell Game: Sam Waksal's Fast Money and False Promises—and the Fate of ImClone's Cancer Drug
by Alex Prud'homme"It began with a promising cancer drug, the brainchild of a gifted researcher, and grew into an insider trading scandal that ensnared one of America's most successful women. The story of ImClone Systems and its "miracle" cancer drug, Erbitux, is the quintessential business saga of the late 1990s. It's the story of big money and cutting-edgescience, celebrity, greed, and slipshod business practices; the story of biotech hype and hope and every kind of excess.At the center of it all stands a single, enigmatic figure named Sam Waksal. A brilliant, mercurial, and desperate-to-be-liked entrepreneur, Waksal was addicted to the trappings of wealth and fame that accrued to a darling of the stock market and the overheated atmosphere of biotech IPOs. At the height of his stardom, Waksal hobnobbed with Martha Stewart in New York and Carl Icahn in the Hamptons, hosted parties at his fabulous art-filled loft, and was a fixture in the gossip columns. He promised that Erbitux would "change oncology," and would soon be making $1 billion a year.But as Waksal partied late into the night, desperate cancer patients languished, waiting for his drug to come to market. When the FDA withheld approval of Erbitux, the charming scientist who had always stayed just one step ahead of bankruptcy panicked and desperately tried to cash in his stock before the bad news hit Wall Street.Waksal is now in jail, the first of the Enron-era white-collar criminals to be sentenced. Yet his cancer drug has proved more durable than his evanescent profits. Erbitux remains promising, the leading example of a new way to fight cancer, and patients and investors hope it will be available soon.
Cellar Girl
by Josefina Rivera'I stood there for a moment, silently speaking to myself: Josefina, you will survive this. You are strong. You are a fighter. You adapt.'As a young mum-of-three, Josefina Rivera was determined to get her troubled life back on track. But then she met Gary Heidnik and the next four months became a living nightmare. Along with five women Josefina was held captive in a cellar where she was starved, beaten, and repeatedly raped to fulfil Heidnik’s desire of creating a ‘family’ of ten children.Cellar Girl is the shocking but ultimately inspiring story of how one brave, young woman saved herself and others from a life worse than hell.
The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece
by Eric SiblinOne autumn evening, shortly after ending a ten-year stint as a pop-music columnist for the Montreal Gazette, Eric Siblin attended a concert at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. There, something unlikely happened: he fell in love with a piece of classical music -- Bach's cello suites. Part biography, part music history, and part literary mystery, The Cello Suites weaves together three dramatic stories: The first features Johann Sebastian Bach and the missing manuscript of his suites from the eighteenth century; the second is that of Pablo Casals and his incredible discovery of the manuscript in Spain in the early twentieth century; and the third is Eric Siblin's own infatuation with the suites in the twenty-first century. This love affair leads Siblin to the back streets of Barcelona, a Belgian mansion, and a bombed out German palace; to interviews with cellists Mischa Maisky, Anner Bylsma, and Pieter Wispelwey; to archives, festivals, conferences, and cemeteries; and even to cello lessons -- all in pursuit of answers to the mysteries that continue to haunt this piece of music more than 250 years after its composer's death. The Cello Suites is an incomparable, beautifully written, true-life journey of passion, imagination, and discovery, fuelled by the transcendent power of a musical masterpiece.
Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo
by Michael SchiaviCelluloid Activist is the biography of gay-rights giant Vito Russo, the man who wrote The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, commonly regarded as the foundational text of gay and lesbian film studies, and one of the first to be widely read. But Russo was much more than a pioneering journalist and author. A founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and cofounder of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Russo lived at the center of the most important gay cultural turning points in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. His life as a cultural Zelig intersects a crucial period of social change, and in some ways his story becomes the story of a developing gay revolution in America. A frequent participant at "zaps" and an organizer of Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) cabarets and dances-which gave the New York gay and lesbian community its first social alternative to Mafia-owned bars-Russo made his most enduring contribution to the GAA with his marshaling of "Movie Nights," the forerunners to his worldwide Celluloid Closet lecture tours that gave gay audiences their first community forum for the dissection of gay imagery in mainstream film. Biographer Michael Schiavi unravels Vito Russo's fascinating life story, from his childhood in East Harlem to his own heartbreaking experiences with HIV/AIDS. Drawing on archival materials, unpublished letters and journals, and more than two hundred interviews, including conversations with a range of Russo's friends and family from brother Charlie Russo to comedian Lily Tomlin to pioneering activist and playwright Larry Kramer,Celluloid Activist provides an unprecedented portrait of a man who defined gay-rights and AIDS activism.
A Celtic Childhood
by Bill WatkinsA Celtic Childhood vividly portrays Bill Watkins' eccentric Celtic family: his vibrant Irish mam whose "hand is on the tiller" as head of household; his principled but stout-loving Welsh dad; and his Grandda, who has "a generous supply of Celtic songs and tall stories." These tales from Watkins' boyhood find him disrupting weddings while dressed as a gangster, illegally operating a ham radio, and getting kicked out of Ireland for "vagrancy." The lively anecdotes of A Celtic Childhood sing from the page with a keen sense of rhythm.
A Celtic Childhood
by Bill WatkinsThis first volume of a planned trilogy of memoirs reflects upon the boyhood years of Bill Watkins. The stories take place in Limerick and Wales and are told largely through dialogue. This volume includes a glossary of words and phrases. Watkins also provides the lyrics of some traditional songs.
A Celtic Temperament
by Ramsay Derry Jennifer Surridge Robertson DaviesVersatile and prolific, Robertson Davies was an actor, journalist and newspaper publisher, playwright, essayist, founding master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, and one of Canada's greatest novelists. He was also an obsessive, complex, and self-revealing diarist. His diaries, which he began as a teenager, grew to over 3 million words and are an astonishing literary legacy. This first published selection of his diaries spans 1959 to 1963, years in which Davies, in mid-life, experienced both daunting failure and unexpected success.Born in Thamesville, Ontario, in 1913, he was educated at local schools, then Upper Canada College, Queen's University and Oxford University. He worked in England at the famous Old Vic theatre as an actor and literary advisor before returning to Canada where he became the editor and publisher of the Peterborough Examiner, established himself as a prominent Canadian playwright, and published his first three novels now known as the Salterton Trilogy. By 1959, at the age of forty-five, Robertson Davies was already one of Canada's leading literary figures. Even so the diaries show that he was frustrated by the limitations of his literary success, often exasperated with the distractions of his daily life and buffeted by his mental and emotional state. They also show that he enjoyed life, was deeply interested in the society he lived in, and in the people he encountered. More often than not he found comedy in the world around him and delighted in recording it. He kept not only a daily journal, but also more focused diaries such as his accounts of the Toronto and New York production of his play Love and Libel, when he worked closely with the great British director Tyrone Guthrie, and of the founding of Massey College, the brainchild of Vincent Massey. The descriptions of backstage and academic politics are invariably entertaining, but in his diaries Davies also reveals himself as intensely self-critical, frequently insecure, and with a highly changeable nature that he described as his "celtic temperament." We also see him as a partner in an intensely happy and creative marriage, and as a man with an astonishing capacity for hard work. By the end of 1963 his life had taken a new direction. As master of Massey College, he finds himself a public figure, but he is increasingly preoccupied with a new novel he wants to write which he is calling Fifth Business.The publication of A Celtic Temperament establishes Robertson Davies as one of the great diarists. In their range, variety, intimacy, and honesty his diaries present an extraordinarily rich portrait of the man and his times.From the Hardcover edition.
Celtic Woman: A Memoir of Life's Poetic Journey
by Treasa O'DriscollCeltic Woman explores with open honesty and engaging irony how cycles of personal discovery have connected international performing artist Treasa O’Driscoll to heaven and earthbut not the way you’d expect. This surprising memoir of an Irish woman attuned to poetic updrafts and spiritual downloads in the lives of real people, many of them celebrities in Ireland and North America she counts as personal friends, exudes her Celtic heritage on every page. Her encounters in life have been testing, tragic, romantic, and highly comic. O’Driscoll’s life entwines with musicians, poets, teachers, artists, actors, farmers, unexpected strangers and familiar drunkards. Their lives all become a single interwoven tapestry of common meaning connected at the level of the soul.
A Cemetery for Bees: A Novel
by Alina DumitrescuIn this series of poetic vignettes, the author describes growing up in Rumania under a totalitarian government and her emigration to Montreal as a young woman with a child. Life in her Rumanian village centers around holidays, church, family, and food, yet the drums of war are never far off. In Canada at last, the author tries to make sense of new customs, new expectations, and a language she does not fully understand. She counts on "those who know" to keep the world running while she tries to thread her way through the confusion of life.
Cenizas que te rodearon al caer: Vidas y muertes de Ana María González, la montonera que mató al jefe de la Policía Federal
by Federico LorenzEl 18 de junio de 1976, el jefe de la Policía Federal de la dictadura militar, Cesáreo Cardozo, murió en un atentado. Horas antes, Ana María González, militante montonera y compañera de estudios de su hija, le había colocado una bomba debajo de su cama. La madrugada del 18 de junio de 1976, una bomba mataba al jefe de la Policía Federal Argentina, el general Cesáreo Cardozo, figura en ascenso dentro de la Junta que gobernaba el país tras el golpe de Estado del 24 de marzo. La cacería se concentró sobre Ana María González, una joven de 20 años, militante de Montoneros, compañera de estudios de Chela, hija del militar. Ana había estado esa tarde en el departamento de los Cardozo y, con la excusa de hablar por teléfono, había entrado a la habitación matrimonial y puesto una bomba bajo la cama. Enseguida dijo que se sentía mal y se tenía que ir. Fue la última vez que la vieron. Ana pasó inmediatamente a la clandestinidad y fue un trofeo tan protegido por la organización armada como buscado por la dictadura. Nunca se supo nada más de ella, pero su caso fue usado como pieza fundamental de la narración que construyeron los medios adictos al gobierno militar desde el momento de los hechos hasta nuestros días. Federico Lorenz siguió las huellas perdidas de esa chica de la que nadie quiere hablar excepto sus acusadores. En una reconstrucción de enorme complejidad, Cenizas que te rodearon al caer consigue que el contexto político, social e histórico le devuelva el contorno humano a la protagonista y habilite nuevas discusiones sobre la violencia política de los setenta y sus profundas consecuencias.
The Center Can Not Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by Elyn R. SaksSaks was only eight, and living an otherwise idyllic childhood in sunny 1960s Miami, when her first symptoms appeared in the form of obsessions and night terrors. But it was not until she reached Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar that her first full-blown episode, complete with voices in her head and terrifying suicidal fantasies, forced her into a psychiatric hospital. Saks would later attend Yale Law School where one night, during her first term, she had a breakdown that left her singing on the roof of the law school library at midnight. She was taken to the emergency room, force-fed antipsychotic medication, and tied hand-and-foot to the cold metal of a hospital bed. She spent the next five months in a psychiatric ward. So began Saks's long war with her own internal demons and the equally powerful forces of stigma. Today she is a chaired professor of law who researches and writes about the rights of the mentally ill. She is married to a wonderful man. In The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks discusses frankly and movingly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, and the voices in her head insisting she do terrible things, as well as the many obstacles she overcame to become the woman she is today. It is destined to become a classic in the genre.
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by Elyn R. SaksElyn Saks is a success by any measure: she's an endowed professor at the prestigious University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She has managed to achieve this in spite of being diagnosed as schizophrenic and given a "grave" prognosis--and suffering the effects of her illness throughout her life.Saks was only eight, and living an otherwise idyllic childhood in sunny 1960s Miami, when her first symptoms appeared in the form of obsessions and night terrors. But it was not until she reached Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar that her first full-blown episode, complete with voices in her head and terrifying suicidal fantasies, forced her into a psychiatric hospital.Saks would later attend Yale Law School where one night, during her first term, she had a breakdown that left her singing on the roof of the law school library at midnight. She was taken to the emergency room, force-fed antipsychotic medication, and tied hand-and-foot to the cold metal of a hospital bed. She spent the next five months in a psychiatric ward.So began Saks's long war with her own internal demons and the equally powerful forces of stigma. Today she is a chaired professor of law who researches and writes about the rights of the mentally ill. She is married to a wonderful man.In The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks discusses frankly and movingly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, and the voices in her head insisting she do terrible things, as well as the many obstacles she overcame to become the woman she is today. It is destined to become a classic in the genre.
Center Center: A Funny, Sexy, Sad Almost-Memoir of a Boy in Ballet
by James Whiteside&“James Whiteside is an electrifying performer, an incredible athlete, and an artist, through and through. To know James is to love him; with Center Center, you are about to fall in love.&” —Jennifer Garner &“A frank examination and celebration of queerness.&”—Good Morning America A daring, joyous, and inspiring memoir-in-essays from the American Ballet Theatre principal dancer-slash-drag queen-slash-pop star who's redefining what it means to be a man in balletThere's a mark on every stage around the world that signifies the center of its depth and width, called "center center." James Whiteside has dreamed of standing on that very mark as a principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre ever since he was a twelve-year-old blown away by watching the company's spring gala. The GLAMOUR. The VIRTUOSITY. The RIPPED MEN IN TIGHTS! In this absurd and absurdist collection of essays, Whiteside tells us the story of how he got to be a primo ballerino—stopping along the way to muse about the tragically fated childhood pets who taught him how to feel, reminisce on ill-advised partying at summer dance camps, and imagine fantastical run-ins with Jesus on Grindr. Also in these pages are tales of the two alter egos he created to subvert the strict classical rigor of ballet: JbDubs, an out-and-proud pop musician, and Ühu Betch, an over-the-top drag queen named after Yoohoo chocolate milk. Center Center is an exuberant behind-the-scenes tour of Whiteside&’s triple life, both on- and offstage—a raunchy, curious, and unapologetic celebration of queerness, self-expression, friendship, sex, creativity, and pushing boundaries that will entertain you, shock you*, inspire you, embolden you . . . and maybe even make you cry.*THIS IS NOT A BOOK FOR CHILDREN.
The Center of the Universe: A Memoir
by Nancy BachrachThe story is so improbable, it can only be true: A brilliant woman with a long history of mental illness--who once proclaimed herself to be "the center of the universe" -- is miraculously cured by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning aboard the family boat. Nancy Bachrach warns readers, "Don't try this at home" in her darkly humorous memoir about "the second coming" of her mother -- the indomitable Lola, whose buried family secrets had been driving her crazy. Aching and tender, unflinching and wry, The Center of the Universe is a multigenerational mother-daughter story--a splendid, funny, lyrical memoir about family, truth, and the resilience of love.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Center of the Universe: A Memoir
by Nancy BachrachThe story is so improbable, it can only be true: A brilliant woman with a long history of mental illness—who once proclaimed herself to be "the center of the universe" — is miraculously cured by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning aboard the family boat. Nancy Bachrach warns readers, “Don’t try this at home” in her darkly humorous memoir about “the second coming” of her mother — the indomitable Lola, whose buried family secrets had been driving her crazy. Aching and tender, unflinching and wry, The Center of the Universe is a multigenerational mother-daughter story—a splendid, funny, lyrical memoir about family, truth, and the resilience of love.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Center of the Universe: A Memoir
by Nancy BachrachThe story is so improbable, it can only be true: A brilliant woman with a long history of mental illness—who once proclaimed herself to be "the center of the universe" — is miraculously cured by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning aboard the family boat. Nancy Bachrach warns readers, “Don’t try this at home” in her darkly humorous memoir about “the second coming” of her mother — the indomitable Lola, whose buried family secrets had been driving her crazy. Aching and tender, unflinching and wry, The Center of the Universe is a multigenerational mother-daughter story—a splendid, funny, lyrical memoir about family, truth, and the resilience of love.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The CENTER of the UNIVERSE
by Nancy BachrachThe story is so improbable, it can only be true: A brilliant woman with a long history of mental illness-who once proclaimed herself to be "the center of the universe" - is miraculously cured by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning aboard the family boat. Nancy Bachrach warns readers, "Don't try this at home" in her darkly humorous memoir about "the second coming" of her mother - the indomitable Lola, whose buried family secrets had been driving her crazy. Aching and tender, unflinching and wry,The Center of the Universeis a multigenerational mother-daughter story-a splendid, funny, lyrical memoir about family, truth, and the resilience of love.
Centered: Autism, Basketball, and One Athlete's Dreams
by Anthony Ianni Rob Keast Tom Izzo"They don't know me. They don't know what I'm capable of." Diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a form of autism, as a toddler, Anthony Ianni wasn't expected to succeed in school or participate in sports, but he had other ideas. As a child, Ianni told anybody who would listen, including head coach Tom Izzo, that he would one day play for the Michigan State Spartans. Centered: Autism, Basketball, and One Athlete's Dreams is the firsthand account of a young man's social, academic, and athletic struggles and his determination to reach his goals. In this remarkable memoir, Ianni reflects on his experiences with both basketball and the autism spectrum. Centered, an inspirational sports story in the vein of Rudy, reveals Ianni to be unflinching in his honesty, generous in his gratitude, and gracious in his compassion.Sports fans will root for the underdog. Parents, teachers, and coaches will gain insight into the experience of an autistic child. And everyone will triumph in the achievements of Centered.
Centered By A Miracle: A True Story of Friendship, Football and Life
by Steve RomMiracles can happen to anyone. Steve Rom, a sportswriter at the Ann Arbor News, never thought his friendship with a recently retired Super Bowl champion would last. Rod Payne, a member of the 2000 world champion Baltimore Ravens, and a former All-America center at the University of Michigan, never thought the camaraderie he shared with his teammates in the NFL could be found with a rookie reporter. But when the two met by chance on Michigan's campus early in the summer of 2001, they discovered they had a lot in common. Each was an only child raised by a working mother. Both felt a loss growing up without a father around. Despite pressure from their peers (including Rod's former teammates and Steve's fellow writers) to end their friendship-athletes aren't supposed to get along with reporters, after all-their bond developed quickly. When Steve took a short vacation to his native Los Angeles, three days of severe flu-like symptoms landed him in the hospital, where he received the most devastating news of his life. He was told he had leukemia. Steve and Rod's friendship was about to change forever.
CenterStage: My Most Fascinating Interviews—from A-Rod to Jay-Z
by Michael KayFrom the longtime host of the New York Yankees&’ television broadcasts, ESPN Radio&’s The Michael Kay Show, and YES Network&’s Emmy Award–winning CenterStage comes a selection of his most memorable interviews with the most intriguing personalities in sports and entertainment—ranging from Jay-Z to Mike Tyson to Serena Williams to Adam Sandler to Bon Jovi to Larry David. Emmy Award–winning television announcer and interviewer Michael Kay&’s eighteen years as host of CenterStage have given him access to many remarkable figures in sports and entertainment. Now, this absorbing selection of the best, most revealing—and often surprising—interviews are available in one amazing collection, including some of the behind-the-scenes stories that didn&’t appear on camera. From Kay&’s very first CenterStage interview in 2001 with quarterback Steve Young, the show&’s creators knew they had something special. Kay&’s ability to get celebrities and otherwise private personalities to open up and share candid insights has become his trademark. Among the interviews featured in the book are those with Red Auerbach, Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, Bobby Orr, Sly Stallone, Jay-Z, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, John McEnroe, Rob Reiner, Seth Meyers, Serena Williams, Alan Alda, David Halberstam, Larry David, Bob Costas, Billy Crystal, Lindsey Vonn, Chris Evert, and Quentin Tarantino. For any pop culture fan or sports enthusiast, this prized collection is one to cherish for generations.
Central Florida's Most Notorious Gangsters: Alva Hunt and Hugh Gant (True Crime Ser.)
by Samuel ParishBlazing gun battles, bank heists, and high-speed escapes: The true story of two men who terrorized Depression-era Florida and the Deep South. This is the story of Alva Hunt and Hugh Gant, central Florida&’s own Dillinger and Capone. They began their infamous careers fencing automobile parts as the Florida land boom became a bust. After doing hard time in state jails, they emerged as bank robbers and embarked on a crime spree across the Deep South. In the end they were captured and served time in Leavenworth, Alcatraz, and other penitentiaries. Their reign was one of terror for Florida and many Southern states. Their story reflects an intriguing period in Florida&’s own history, and the desperate days when Southern gangsters were armed, notorious and deadly. Includes photos
The Central Park Five: A story revisited in light of the acclaimed new Netflix series When They See Us, directed by Ava DuVernay
by Sarah BurnsThe case of the Central Park Five is being revisited with a new acclaimed Netflix limited series on the subject, When They See Us, directed by Ava DuVernay.This is the only book that is going to tell you all you need to know about one of the most infamous criminal cases in American history. A trial that, thirty years on, still bears a striking, and unsettling, resemblance to our current political climate in the era of President Donald Trump.In April 1989, a white woman who came to be known as the 'Central Park jogger' was brutally raped and severely beaten, her body left crumpled in a ravine. Amid the staggering torrent of media coverage and public outcry that ensued, exposing the deep-seated race and class divisions in New York City at the time, five teenagers were quickly apprehended - four black and one Hispanic. All five confessed, were tried and convicted as adults despite no evidence linking them to the victim.Over a decade later, when DNA tests connected serial rapist Matias Reyes to the crime, the government, law enforcement, social institutions and media of New York were exposed as having undermined the individuals they were designed to protect. In The Central Park Five, Sarah Burns, who has worked closely with the young men to uncover and document the truth, recounts the ins and outs of this historic case for the first time since their convictions were overturned, telling, at last, the full story of one of America's most legendary miscarriages of justice.
The Central Park Five: A story revisited in light of the acclaimed new Netflix series When They See Us, directed by Ava DuVernay
by Sarah BurnsThe case of the Central Park Five is being revisited with a new acclaimed Netflix limited series on the subject, When They See Us, directed by Ava DuVernay.This is the only book that is going to tell you all you need to know about one of the most infamous criminal cases in American history. A trial that, thirty years on, still bears a striking, and unsettling, resemblance to our current political climate in the era of President Donald Trump.In April 1989, a white woman who came to be known as the 'Central Park jogger' was brutally raped and severely beaten, her body left crumpled in a ravine. Amid the staggering torrent of media coverage and public outcry that ensued, exposing the deep-seated race and class divisions in New York City at the time, five teenagers were quickly apprehended - four black and one Hispanic. All five confessed, were tried and convicted as adults despite no evidence linking them to the victim.Over a decade later, when DNA tests connected serial rapist Matias Reyes to the crime, the government, law enforcement, social institutions and media of New York were exposed as having undermined the individuals they were designed to protect. In The Central Park Five, Sarah Burns, who has worked closely with the young men to uncover and document the truth, recounts the ins and outs of this historic case for the first time since their convictions were overturned, telling, at last, the full story of one of America's most legendary miscarriages of justice.(P) 2020 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
The Centre of the Bed: An Autobiography
by Joan Bakewell'Honest and intriguing ... beautifully written.' Observer'Joan Bakewell was everywhere at every stage: reporting on the Cuban missile crisis, interviewing Allen Ginsberg and Vaclav Havel, taking chunks out of the Berlin Wall when it fell...draped in the kaftan of Sixties sophistication.' Independent on SundayJoan Bakewell's life and times spans the Blitz in Manchester, Cambridge during the glittering era of Michael Frayn, Peter Hall, Jonathan Miller et al, London at its most exciting in the swinging sixties and the world of the media and the arts from the 60s to the present. As she reflects on the choices she has made and the influences that shaped her, she confronts painful childhood memories of her mother's behaviour and describes both her affair with Harold Pinter and her two marriages with remarkable honesty. Throughout she uses her own experience to explore the extraordinary change in women's roles during her lifetime. This is no ordinary celebrity autobiography but a memoir that is beautifully written, frank and absorbing, which draws a thought-provoking portrait of Britain in the last 70 years.Dame Joan Bakewell was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2019.