Most Popular Books in Biographies & Memoirs

This satire of imaginary memoirs purports to be by Eginhardus, Abbot of Seligenstadt, but is in fact a contemporary satire by Mrs Mary de la Rivière Manley, written as a continuation of her ''Secret memoirs and manners of several persons...''.

A portrait of the divergent lives of Thomas Jefferson''s three daughters reveals how his white daughters struggled with the realities of lives they were ill-prepared to manage, while the daughter he fathered with a slave did not achieve freedom until adulthood.

Jeffrey Frank, author of the bestselling Ike and Dick, returns with the first full account of the Truman presidency in nearly thirty years, recounting how so ordinary a man met the extraordinary challenge of leading America through the pivotal years of the mid-20th century. The nearly eight years of Harry Truman’s presidency—among the most turbulent in American history—were marked by victory in the wars against Germany and Japan; the first use of an atomic weapon; the beginning of the Cold War; creation of the NATO alliance; the founding of the United Nations; the Marshall Plan to rebuild the wreckage of postwar Europe; the Red Scare; and the fateful decision to commit troops to fight in Korea. Historians have tended to portray Truman as stolid and decisive, with a homespun manner, but the man who emerges in The Trials of Harry S. Truman is complex and surprising. He believed that the point of public service was to improve the lives of one’s fellow citizens, and was disturbed by the brutal treatment of African Americans. Yet while he supported stronger civil rights laws, he never quite relinquished the deep-rooted outlook of someone with Confederate ancestry reared in rural Missouri. He was often carried along by the rush of events and guided by men who succeeded in refining his fixed and facile view of the postwar world. And while he prided himself on his Midwestern rationality, he could act out of emotion, as when, in the aftermath of World War II, moved by the plight of refugees, he pushed to recognize the new state of Israel. The Truman who emerges in these pages is a man with generous impulses, loyal to friends and family, and blessed with keen political instincts, but insecure, quick to anger, and prone to hasty decisions. Archival discoveries, and research that led from Missouri to Washington, Berlin and Korea, have contributed to an indelible, and deeply human, portrait of an ordinary man suddenly forced to shoulder extraordinary responsibilities, who never lost a schoolboy’s romantic love for his country, and its Constitution.

Relates the story of the only French writer to be executed for treason during World War II, from his rise during the 1930s to his trial and death in front of a firing squad.

An historian of the Mormon Church draws on diaries and letters not available to previous biographers to profile the highly gifted and controversial church leader

Renowned Israeli-American scholar Harshav presents the first comprehensive investigation of Marc Chagall''s life and consciousness after the classic 1961 biography by Chagall''s son-in-law Franz Meyer.

"More than five years in the making, based on hundreds of interviews and access to previously unavailable documents, ... [this is a] chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan''s epic life--giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics and rocky but ultimately successful run as California governor, and ultimately, of course, his ... presidency, filled with storm and stress but climaxing with his peace talks with the Soviet Union"--

A study of the complex and political figure of Eleanor Roosevelt begins with her harrowing childhood, describes the difficulties of her marriage, and explains how she persuaded Franklin to make the reforms that would make him famous.

"One of the truly great biographies of our time."--Sean Wilentz, New York Times bestselling author of Bob Dylan in America and The Rise of American Democracy "A landmark study of Washington power politics in the twentieth century in the Robert Caro tradition."--Douglas Brinkley, New York Times bestselling author of American Moonshot The epic, definitive biography of Ted Kennedy--an immersive journey through the life of a complicated man and a sweeping history of the fall of liberalism and the collapse of political morality. Catching the Wind is the first volume of Neal Gabler''s magisterial two-volume biography of Edward Kennedy. It is at once a human drama, a history of American politics in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and a study of political morality and the role it played in the tortuous course of liberalism. Though he is often portrayed as a reckless hedonist who rode his father''s fortune and his brothers'' coattails to a Senate seat at the age of thirty, the Ted Kennedy in Catching the Wind is one the public seldom saw--a man both racked by and driven by insecurity, a man so doubtful of himself that he sinned in order to be redeemed. The last and by most contemporary accounts the least of the Kennedys, a lightweight. He lived an agonizing childhood, being shuffled from school to school at his mother''s whim, suffering numerous humiliations--including self-inflicted ones--and being pressed to rise to his brothers'' level. He entered the Senate with his colleagues'' lowest expectations, a show horse, not a workhorse, but he used his "ninth-child''s talent" of deference to and comity with his Senate elders to become a promising legislator. And with the deaths of his brothers John and Robert, he was compelled to become something more: the custodian of their political mission. In Catching the Wind, Kennedy, using his late brothers'' moral authority, becomes a moving force in the great "liberal hour," which sees the passage of the anti-poverty program and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. Then, with the election of Richard Nixon, he becomes the leading voice of liberalism itself at a time when its power is waning: a "shadow president," challenging Nixon to keep the American promise to the marginalized, while Nixon lives in terror of a Kennedy restoration. Catching the Wind also shows how Kennedy''s moral authority is eroded by the fatal auto accident on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969, dealing a blow not just to Kennedy but to liberalism. In this sweeping biography, Gabler tells a story that is Shakespearean in its dimensions: the story of a star-crossed figure who rises above his seeming limitations and the tragedy that envelopes him to change the face of America.

Traces the life of Benjamin, the first Jewish U.S. Senator, and the Confederate Secretary of State, and describes his exile in England

The life of Franklin Roosevelt''s most trusted and powerful advisor, Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief "Fascinating... greatly enriches our understanding of Washington wartime power."--Madeleine Albright Aside from FDR, no American did more to shape World War II than Admiral William D. Leahy--not Douglas MacArthur, not Dwight Eisenhower, and not even the legendary George Marshall. No man, including Harry Hopkins, was closer to Roosevelt, nor had earned his blind faith, like Leahy. Through the course of the war, constantly at the president''s side and advising him on daily decisions, Leahy became the second most powerful man in the world. In a time of titanic personalities, Leahy regularly downplayed his influence, preferring the substance of power to the style. A stern-faced, salty sailor, his U.S. Navy career had begun as a cadet aboard a sailing ship. Four decades later, Admiral Leahy was a trusted friend and advisor to the president and his ambassador to Vichy France until the attack on Pearl Harbor. Needing one person who could help him grapple with the enormous strategic consequences of the war both at home and abroad, Roosevelt made Leahy the first presidential chief of staff--though Leahy''s role embodied far more power than the position of today. Leahy''s profound power was recognized by figures like Stalin and Churchill, yet historians have largely overlooked his role. In this important biography, historian Phillips Payson O''Brien illuminates the admiral''s influence on the most crucial and transformative decisions of WWII and the early Cold War. From the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and France, to the allocation of resources to fight Japan, O''Brien contends that America''s war largely unfolded according to Leahy''s vision. Among the author''s surprising revelations is that while FDR''s health failed, Leahy became almost a de facto president, making decisions while FDR was too ill to work, and that much of his influence carried over to Truman''s White House.

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 From the great historian of the American Revolution, New York Times-bestselling and Pulitzer-winning Gordon Wood, comes a majestic dual biography of two of America''s most enduringly fascinating figures, whose partnership helped birth a nation, and whose subsequent falling out did much to fix its course. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds, or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy''s champion, was an aristocratic Southern slaveowner, while Adams, the overachiever from New England''s rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government. They worked closely in the crucible of revolution, crafting the Declaration of Independence and leading, with Franklin, the diplomatic effort that brought France into the fight. But ultimately, their profound differences would lead to a fundamental crisis, in their friendship and in the nation writ large, as they became the figureheads of two entirely new forces, the first American political parties. It was a bitter breach, lasting through the presidential administrations of both men, and beyond. But late in life, something remarkable happened: these two men were nudged into reconciliation. What started as a grudging trickle of correspondence became a great flood, and a friendship was rekindled, over the course of hundreds of letters. In their final years they were the last surviving founding fathers and cherished their role in this mighty young republic as it approached the half century mark in 1826. At last, on the afternoon of July 4th, 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration, Adams let out a sigh and said, At least Jefferson still lives. He died soon thereafter. In fact, a few hours earlier on that same day, far to the south in his home in Monticello, Jefferson died as well. Arguably no relationship in this country''s history carries as much freight as that of John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Gordon Wood has more than done justice to these entwined lives and their meaning; he has written a magnificent new addition to America''s collective story.

This six-volume set explores the history of women and feminism throughout literature, from classical antiquity to modern times. Topics covered include misogyny and women''s social roles in ancient civilizations, 16th-century women''s devotional literature, 17th- and 18th-century women''s captivity narratives, the women''s suffrage movement in 19th-century America, women writers of the "Lost Generation," lesbian literature, and much more.

The collected writings of women freethinkers of the nineteenth & twentieth centuries

This political biography reveals the turbulent life of Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker, born on Java in 1879, whose life spanned a critical period in late colonial and early Indonesian national history. His story flows in novel-like fashion from the battle fields of South Africa, internment camps in Sri Lanka, work as a journalist and teacher in Java, to service as a political advisor and close friend of President Soekarno. Paul W. van der Veur is professor emeritus of Ohio University.

In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda deepens understanding of the violence-the Rwandan genocide and the Congolese war-that engulfed Central Africa in the midnineties, and America''s policy response to the crises. Author Robert E. Gribbin draws on his thirty years of diplomatic experience in the region to analyze U.S. perceptions of Rwanda in the years before the genocide and to recount the unfolding of the terrible event itself. Most important, he describes what happened afterwards-how the new government and people of Rwanda, together with their international partners, confronted devastation, picked up the pieces, and began to forge a new nation. They had to reestablish viable government, deliver justice to those guilty of genocide, repatriate over a million refugees, and confront an insurgency at home and a war in the Congo. In the Aftermath of Genocide is an insider''s account of these crucial events. It recounts what the U.S. government knew, or did not know, and what it did, or did not do, about them.

The Women Who Made New York reveals the untold stories of the phenomenal women who made New York City the cultural epicenter of the world. Many were revolutionaries and activists, like Zora Neale Hurston and Audre Lorde. Others were icons and iconoclasts, like Fran Lebowitz and Grace Jones. There were also women who led quieter private lives but were just as influential, such as Emily Warren Roebling, who completed the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her engineer husband became too ill to work.--Amazon.com

In this provocative, impassioned memoir, Jerad W. Alexander reveals what it was like to be raised on war, vividly recreating the masculine fantasies of American heroism and patriotism that animated his childhood--and at the same time brilliantly dismantling those myths. To many outsiders, joining the military can be a path out of a difficult life, a chance to acquire vocational training, a college scholarship, a patriotic career. But to those, like Alexander, whose parents, stepfather, and grandparents served, and who grew up on American military bases around the world, enlisting was a way of life. The only way. Young Jerad''s obsession with all things military--from guns to war games to the trappings of uniforms, medals, and the movies and books of Vietnam--was bottomless, and as soon as he was able, he joined the US Marines. Only then, on the ground in Iraq, part of the same war his parents had fought before him--a war we are still embroiled in today, years later--did he begin to question all that he had taken on faith. With courage and raw power, Alexander brings to the fore vital questions: Is America in fact exceptional? Are the "bad guys" actually easy to identify? And most important, are our causes always just? This powerful debut joins the canon of essential war literature--books like Anthony Swofford''s Jarhead or Tim O''Brien''s The Things They Carried--helping readers understand the violent and self-replicating mythology of American patriotism, from the eloquent perspective of an enlisted man--not some elite warrior, but a simple volunteer.

Written by one of the world''s outstanding music historians and critics, the late Alfred Einstein, this classic study of Mozart''s character and works brings to light many new facts about his relationship with his family, his susceptibility to ambitious women, and his associations with musicalcontemporaries, as well as offering a penetrating analysis of his operas, piano music, chamber music, and symphonies.

"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf"--Title page verso.

The editor of twelve volumes of Walter Scott''s letters has written a new life, founded upon extensive research. The book is based upon the author''s lectures at Toronto University & throws new light on Scott''s financial affairs.

1e dr. 1983.

Dr. Seuss is a classic American icon; his work has defined our childhoods, and even more than twenty-five years after his death his books continue to find new readers. Theodor Geisel, however, led a life that goes much deeper than the prolific and beloved children''s book author. He had a successful career as a political cartoonist, and his political leanings can be felt throughout his books. Jones introduces us to this complicated man, who introduced generations to the wonders of reading while teaching young people about empathy and how to treat others well. -- adapted from jacket

"Walden. Yesterday I came here to live." That entry from the journal of Henry David Thoreau, and the intellectual journey it began, would by themselves be enough to place Thoreau in the American pantheon. His attempt to "live deliberately" in a small woods at the edge of his hometown of Concord has been a touchstone for individualists and seekers since the publication of Walden in 1854. But there was much more to Thoreau than his brief experiment in living at Walden Pond. A member of the vibrant intellectual circle centered on his neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson, he was also an ardent naturalist, a manual laborer and inventor, a radical political activist, and more. Many books have taken up various aspects of Thoreau''s character and achievements, but, as Laura Dassow Walls writes, "Thoreau has never been captured between covers; he was too quixotic, mischievous, many-sided." Two hundred years after his birth, and two generations after the last full-scale biography, Walls renews Henry David Thoreau for us in all his profound, inspiring complexity. Drawing on Thoreau''s copious writings, published and unpublished, Walls presents a Thoreau vigorously alive, full of quirks and contradictions: the young man shattered by the sudden death of his brother; the ambitious Harvard College student; the ecstatic visionary who closed Walden with an account of the regenerative power of the Cosmos. We meet the man whose belief in human freedom and the value of labor made him an uncompromising abolitionist; the solitary walker who found society in nature, but also found his own nature in the society of which he was a deeply interwoven part. And, running through it all, Thoreau the passionate naturalist, who, long before the age of environmentalism, saw tragedy for future generations in the human heedlessness around him. "The Thoreau I sought was not in any book, so I wrote this one," says Walls. The result is a Thoreau unlike any seen since he walked the streets of Concord, a Thoreau for our time and all time.--Dust jacket.

A new account of America''s most controversial diplomat that moves beyond praise or condemnation to reveal Kissinger as the architect of America''s current imperial stance In his fascinating new book, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin argues that to understand the crisis of contemporary America--its never-ending wars abroad and political polarization at home--we have to understand Henry Kissinger. Examining Kissinger''s own writings, as well as a wealth of newly declassified documents, Grandin reveals how Richard Nixon''s top foreign policy advisor, even as he was presiding over defeat in Vietnam and a disastrous, secret, and illegal war in Cambodia, was helping to revive a militarized version of American exceptionalism centered on an imperial presidency. Believing that reality could be bent to his will, insisting that intuition is more important in determining policy than hard facts, and vowing that past mistakes should never hinder future bold action, Kissinger anticipated, even enabled, the ascendance of the neoconservative idealists who took America into crippling wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Going beyond accounts focusing either on Kissinger''s crimes or accomplishments, Grandin offers a compelling new interpretation of the diplomat''s continuing influence on how the United States views its role in the world.

Tells the story of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki through the eyes of Sachiko Yasui, who was six when the devastation was wrought, describing her experiences in the aftermath of the attack as well as her long journey to find peace.

"A ... memoir from the cultural icon, gay rights activist, and four-time Tony Award winner, [whose] stellar career has taken him from Broadway to Hollywood and back. He''s received accolades and awards for acting--Hairspray, Fiddler, Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day--and writing: La Cage Aux Folle, Torch Song Trilogy (for which he also won a Tony for acting) and Kinky Boots. But while he is widely known as one of today''s most peerless performers, Harvey has never shared his own story until now"--

"The story of Daniel Ellsberg and his decision to steal and publish secret documents about America''s involvement in the Vietnam War"--

This is a compelling account of this complicated, difficult man.

Famed American actress Demi Moore at last tells her own story in a surprisingly intimate and emotionally charged memoir. For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight--or the headlines. Even as Demi was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past, just one step ahead of the doubts and insecurities that defined her childhood. Throughout her rise to fame and during some of the most pivotal moments of her life, Demi battled addiction, body image issues, and childhood trauma that would follow her for years--all while juggling a skyrocketing career and at times negative public perception. As her success grew, Demi found herself questioning if she belonged in Hollywood, if she was a good mother, a good actress--and, always, if she was simply good enough. As much as her story is about adversity, it is also about tremendous resilience. In this deeply candid and reflective memoir, Demi pulls back the curtain and opens up about her career and personal life--laying bare her tumultuous relationship with her mother, her marriages, her struggles balancing stardom with raising a family, and her journey toward open heartedness. Inside Out is a story of survival, success, and surrender--a wrenchingly honest portrayal of one woman''s at once ordinary and iconic life.