Most Popular Books in Biographies & Memoirs

Includes a partial Heming''s family tree.

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.

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"--

Provides a compelling evaluation of one of the most inspiring women in American political history, Eleanor Roosevelt niece of one president and wife to another.

This biography was acclaimed by The New York Times as "deeply interesting" and "an absorbing account" of the life of the man called "the brains of the Confederacy". 16 pages of illustrations.

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.

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.

Contains articles that provide critical analyses of topics and authors representative of feminist literature, from antiquity through the twentieth century, and includes a chronology of key events, suggestions for further reading, and author, title, and subject indexes.

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

"The memoir of a young man from a long line of enlisted men and women, raised on military bases and shaped from a young age to idolize and glorify war and the people who fight it. After he joins the Marines and serves in Iraq, he must begin to reckon with the troubled and complicated truths of the American war machine"--

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.

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.

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.

Offers a new perspective on America''s most controversial diplomat and his continuing influence, arguing that Kissinger''s militarized version of American exceptionalism has led to never-ending wars abroad and political polarization at home.

This striking work of narrative nonfiction tells the true story of six-year-old Sachiko Yasui''s survival of the Nagasaki atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, and the heartbreaking and lifelong aftermath. Having conducted extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson chronicles Sachiko''s trauma and loss as well as her long journey to find peace. This book offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II and their aftermath.

"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.

1e dr. 1983.

Khan electrified viewers around the world when he took the stage at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. When he offered to lend Donald Trump his own much-read and dog-eared pocket Constitution, his gesture perfectly encapsulated the feelings of millions. The oldest of ten children born to farmers in Pakistan, Khan was a university student who read the Declaration of Independence and was awestruck by what might be possible in life. He and his wife instilled in their children the ideals that brought to America, and then tragically lost a son, an Army captain killed while protecting his base camp in Iraq. Here Khan tells readers why we must not be afraid to step forward for what we believe in when it matters most.

Since bursting onto the scene in the mid 70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille have long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw: a woman who fought a lonely struggle against the controlling and often bizarre behavior of her emotionally inaccessible husband. Toni Tennille: A Memoir is a visceral account of Toni Tennille s life from her childhood in the segregated South to her thrilling rise to fame in the world of pop music to where she is now: no longer one-half of a famed couple, but a stronger woman for all she has experienced both the good and the bad."

An ESPN writer''s account of the suicide of his son Max, delving into how his exploration of their complicated relationship led him to see grief as love. In February 2015, Ivan Maisel received a call that would alter his life forever: his son Max''s car was found abandoned in a parking next to Lake Ontario. Two months later, Max''s body would be found in the lake. I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye is the story of Maisel''s love for a son who was so different from him, but who he loved so deeply, and how he came to learn that grief for Max was nothing more than a last, ultimate expression of love. Navigating the moments of their complicated relationship, as well as their love each other, Maisel explores the bridges he tried to build to his son and the grief that engulfed him and his family after Max''s death by suicide. Taking its title from Max''s love of photography--and his tendency to only love the camera when he was behind it, looking away whenever his picture was taken--I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye delves into the tragically transformative reality of losing a child, all with grace, depth, and refinement. But by humanizing Max and humanizing his grief, Maisel evokes understanding instead of sorrow, appreciation instead of anxiety--and love instead of fear.

"In We the People, renown journalist, Fox political analyst, and bestselling author Juan Williams examines the lives of the men and women in the 20th century who have extended the Founding Fathers'' original vision of the country and reshaped what America is"--

The first English-language biography of one of the great literary talents of the twentieth century, written by his award-winning translator"Bernofsky takes us into the heart of an artist''s life/work struggles, brilliantly illuminating Walser''s exquisite sensibility and uncompromising radical innovations, while deftly tracking how his life gradually came apart at the seams. A tragic and intimate portrait."--Amy Sillman "Robert Walser is the perfect pathetic poet: pithy, awkward, drinks too much, sibling rivalrous, ambitious, broke, and mentally ill. Was he proto queer or trans, this red headed writer who next to Gertrude Stein might be the most influential writer of our moment? Riveting and heart-breaking, this biography kept me drunk for days."--Eileen Myles The great Swiss-German modernist author Robert Walser lived eccentrically on the fringes of society, shocking his Berlin friends by enrolling in butler school and later developing an urban-nomad lifestyle in the Swiss capital, Bern, before checking himself into a psychiatric clinic. A connoisseur of power differentials, his pronounced interest in everything inconspicuous and modest--social outcasts and artists as well as the impoverished, marginalized, and forgotten--prompted W. G. Sebald to dub him "a clairvoyant of the small." His revolutionary use of short prose forms won him the admiration of Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin, Robert Musil, and many others. He was long believed an outsider by conviction, but Susan Bernofsky presents a more nuanced view in this immaculately researched and beautifully written biography. Setting Walser in the context of early twentieth century European history, she provides illuminating analysis of his extraordinary life and work, bearing witness to his "extreme artistic delight."

An unauthorized biography of the controversial businessman recounts his early days in development while reviewing the unorthodox approach that brought him success and that fuels his insatiable quest for power.

This Companion provides a chronological survey of Latin American poetry, analysis of modern trends and six succinct essays on the major figures.