Biography & Autobiography - Historical

A pair of silver Regency candlesticks. Pieces of well-worn family jewelry. More than a thousand documents, letters, and photographs Lotte Meyerhoff's best friends risked their lives in Nazi Germany to safeguard these and other treasured heirlooms and mementos from her family and return them...

Seit ?er 20 Jahren ist dies die erste umfassende Einstein-Biographie. Der anerkannte Autor Denis Brian untersucht die private, fentliche und wissenschaftliche Seite der legend舐en Perslichkeit dieses r舩selhaften Mannes. Geschickt beleuchtet Brian Einsteins eigenartig-neugierigen Charakter, die Tr舫me und Ereignisse, die den k?ftigen Wissenschaftler vorangetrieben haben...

This entertaining guide covers the period from 1485 to 1603, exploring the life and times of everyday people (from famine and the flu epidemic, to education, witchcraft and William Shakespeare) as well as the intrigues and scandals at court. Strap yourself in and get...

An enthralling chronicle of the American nineteenth century told through the unraveling of the nation's first political dynasty John and Abigail Adams founded a famous political family, but they would not witness its calamitous fall from grace. When John Quincy Adams died in 1848,...

An illuminating biography of Alfonso X, the 13th-century philosopher-king whose affinity for Islamic culture left an indelible mark on Western civilization "If I had been present at the Creation," the thirteenth-century Spanish philosopher-king Alfonso X is said to have stated, "Many faults in the...

"[A] gem of a book . . . enlivened by incisive analysis, exquisite detail and an elegant and witty style." -- Alison Weir The Wars of the Roses, which tore apart the ruling Plantagenet family in fifteenth-century England, was truly a domestic drama, as...

When Harry S. Truman left the White House in 1953, his reputation was in ruins. Tarred by corruption scandals and his controversial decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan, he ended his second term with an abysmal approval rating, his presidency widely considered a...

As politician and diplomat, writer and lover, but above all as a military genius, Julius Caesar is one of the perennially fascinating figures in history -- Boswell called him "the greatest man of any age." Christian Meier's authoritative and accessible biography is the definitive...

By delving into the life of Catherine the Great, this acclaimed biographer reveals the rich tapestry of Russia's past, giving insight into the paradoxical character of its people and their stunning evolution from feudalism to communism to their present-day struggle for a free-market democracy....

"The best biography Jane Austen has ever received."--NewsweekPark Honan's highly acclaimed Jane Austen: Her Life is the biography that Austen--and her readers--have long deserved. Readers have long cherished the brilliant, ironic novels of Jane Austen and critics have ranked them with the masterpieces of...

Reading Rodney King/Reading Urban Uprising keeps the public debate alive by exploring the connections between the Rodney King incidents and the ordinary workings of cultural, political, and economic power in contemporary America. Its recurrent theme is the continuing, complicated significance of race in American...

In this second edition of Arthur Keaveney's classic biography, a fresh generation of students, scholars and readers are introduced to one of the most pivotal figures in the outgoing Roman Empire. A definitive book in its field, this second edition is a must read....

Edward the Elder, son and successor of King Alfred, was one of the greatest architects of the English state and yet is one of the most neglected kings of English history. During his 24-year reign, Edward led a series of successful campaigns against the...

In this well-structured, fluent and lively account, Paula Bartley uses new archival material to assess whether Pankhurst should be seen as a heroine or a tyrant, a conservative or a progressive.Emmeline Pankhurst was the most prominent campaigner for the women's right to vote and...

Now in paperback, this thrilling, meticulous biography by naturalist and historian Kevin Dann fills a gap in our understanding of Henry Thoreau, one modern history's most important spiritual visionaries by capturing the full arc of his life as a mystic, spiritual seeker, and explorer...

A unique perspective on the influence and enduring fascination of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis What Jackie Taught Us offers insights about how Jackie lived with poise, grace, and zest, including wisdom about image and style, focus, courage and vision, men, marriage, and motherhood. After more...

Kempe's work is accompanied by an introduction, a map of medieval England, a Kempe lexicon, and explanatory annotations. "Contexts" collects primary readings that illuminate The Book of Margery Kempe. Included are excerpts from The Constitutions of Thomas Arundel, Meditations on the Life of Christ,...

During the upheavals of 2007-09, the chairman of the Federal Reserve had the name of a Victorian icon on the tip of his tongue: Walter Bagehot. Banker, man of letters, inventor of the Treasury bill, and author of Lombard Street, the still-canonical guide to...

The entry of the United States into the First World War in late 1911 found Herbert Hoover at a crossroads. Three years earlier, he had been a successful mining engineer in London. Then, as the war intensified in Europe, Hoover founded and led the...

In wanting to think through modern women's history, Susan Ware found herself drawn to seven larger-than-life women who influenced not only their professions--politics, journalism, anthropology, acting, sports, dance, and music--but also the way women saw themselves and their options in life. Ware recovers the...

The Macdonalds were both of their own time and yet our contemporaries. In the personal and social journeys they made they were creatures of an exceptional moment in history, a social drama set in a privileged time and place, while in the ordinary dynamics...

Through hundreds of letters, family papers, anecdotes, and records, the Bach Reader established a new approach to biography by offering original documents in impeccable translations. In The New Bach Reader, Christoph Wolff has incorporated numerous facsimiles and added many newly discovered items, reflecting the...

Larina tells the story not only of her twenty years in the Gulag but of her life as a daughter and a wife among the founding fathers of the Soviet Union.Author: Anna LarinaISBN-10: 0393312348ISBN-13: 9780393312348Publisher: W. W. Norton & CompanyLanguage: EnglishPublished: 08/01/1994Pages: 410Format: PaperbackWeight:...

In almost every respect, Daniel Webster was larger than life, an intellectual colossus, a statesman of the first rank, and a man of towering and finally unfulfilled ambition. In this new biography, Webster is seen as a major player in American politics in the...

A study of the life of Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. It traces his life as a soldier, as a tax collector, his time as a prisoner of war of the Turks, and finally the publication of Don Quixote in 1605.Author: Jean Canavaggio,...

For forty years, until his death in 1852, Daniel Webster played a dominant national role as a lawyer, orator, congressman, senator, secretary of state, leader of two major parties, and perennial presidential candidate. This new biography, drawing on the recently collected Webster papers, explains...

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: THE WASHINGTON POST, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, LOS ANGELES TIMES, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Politician, evangelist, and reformer William Jennings Bryan was the most popular public speaker of his time. In this acclaimed biography--the first major reconsideration of Bryan's...

A harrowing, action-packed account of the author's series of audacious escapes from the Nazis' Final Solution--"riveting...a fascinating and moving piece of history" (Library Journal). Young Leo Bretholz survived the Holocaust by escaping from the Nazis (and others) not once, but seven times during his...

Rafer Johnson's story is the classic American dream: hard work leading to success, honor, and glory. Here, he openly writes about his humble beginnings in an obscure African American Texas ghetto, his growing up in the all-white, sun-drenched Californian town of Kingsburg, and his...

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of RFK, Doubleday/Main Street Books reissues a collection of articles and photos from the time immediately after the event. Part of the proceeds goes to the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Fund, which rewards individuals who have...

The "unwritten" final chapter of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl tells the story of the time between Anne Frank's arrest and her death through the testimony of six Jewish women who survived the hell from which Anne Frank never retumed.Author: Willy...

One of art's purest challenges is to translate a human being into words. The New Yorker has met this challenge more successfully and more originally than any other modern American journal. It has indelibly shaped the genre known as the Profile. Starting with light-fantastic...

In the waning days of Venice's glory in the mid-1700s, Andrea Memmo was scion to one the city's oldest patrician families. At the age of twenty-four he fell passionately in love with sixteen-year-old Giustiniana Wynne, the beautiful, illegitimate daughter of a Venetian mother and...

William Lee Miller's ethical biography is a fresh, engaging telling of the story of Lincoln's rise to power. Through careful scrutiny of Lincoln's actions, speeches, and writings, and of accounts from those who knew him, Miller gives us insight into the moral development of...

When Mary Anne Lewis met Benjamin Disraeli, she was married to Wyndham Lewis, a rich, mildly successful politician at the center of nineteenth-century British high society. The three became friends and with his deep pockets Wyndham helped Disraeli--young, ambitious, and swimming in debt--get his...

From a great critic of english literature, a different kind of text: a luminous account of his own life. Throughout this uniquely personal work, Frank Kermode touches on the deeper, lighter, ineffable issues of autobiography, and he does so with his characteristic grace, precision,...

Edmund Wilson's The Fifties, edited by Leon Edel, is the highly acclaimed fourth volume in the series that began with The Twenties. It is complimented with photographs and journal excerpts of some of the most interesting characters of the decade, including Edna St. Vincent...

Florence Nightingale was for a time the most famous woman in Britain-if not the world. We know her today primarily as a saintly character, perhaps as a heroic reformer of Britain's health-care system. The reality is more involved and far more fascinating. In an...

There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. To the legions of golf fans around the world, Palmer is a charismatic hero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and still going strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind...

Lawgiver and liberator. Seer and prophet. The only human permitted to converse with God "face-to-face." Moses is the most commanding presence in the Old Testament. Yet as Jonathan Kirsch shows in this brilliant, stunningly original volume, Moses was also an enigmatic and mysterious figure--at...

How does Stalin's history relate to Russia's history? Where do these two stories intersect, and where do they part? How best should we assess Stalin's legacy? The ebb and flow of debate about Stalin's Russia is brilliantly captured in this book. Chris Ward thus...

From a prize-winning British author comes a lush, absorbing memoir--an Out of Africa set in the Venezuelan Andes. Tremendously atmospheric, The Hacienda brilliantly evokes the unique confluence of time, place, and people that shaped this powerful writer.Author: Lisa St Aubin de TeranISBN-10: 0316816884ISBN-13: 9780316816885Publisher:...

From the bestselling biographer of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman comes a multi-generational saga of one of America's wealthiest and most controversial families--the Annenbergs.Author: Christopher OgdenISBN-10: 0316633798ISBN-13: 9780316633796Publisher: Little Brown and CompanyLanguage: EnglishPublished: 06/24/1999Pages: 624Format: HardcoverWeight: 2.39lbsSize: 9.34h x 6.32w x 1.78dReview Citation(s): Publishers...

The long-awaited final volume of William Manchester's legendary biography of Winston Churchill. Spanning the years of 1940-1965, The Last Lion picks up shortly after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister-when his tiny island nation stood alone against the overwhelming might of Nazi Germany. The Churchill...

The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial -- and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages. On March 15, 1348, twenty-two-year-old Joanna I, Queen of Naples, stood trial for the murder of her husband before...

George Washington: Anguish and Farewell is the fourth and final volume of one of the most distinguished American biographies of our generation. Covering the tumultuous years of Washington's second term as President, his retirement, and his death, the book reveals the almost shattering pressures...

When he was just six years old, Zachary Lazar's father, Edward, was shot dead by hit men in a Phoenix, Arizona parking garage. The year was 1975, a time when, according to the Arizona Republic, "land-fraud artists roamed the state in sharp suits, gouging...

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra...

Providing both an analysis of the Mexican Revolution and a compelling story of the notorious Pancho Villa, this book describes this historical period from the perspective of its most iconic figure. Doroteo Arango--much better known as "Pancho Villa"--was one of the revolutionary generals during...

History will remember Desmond Tutu, who has been called South Africa's Martin Luther King, Jr., as a great leader in the struggle against apartheid. In this new biography, which includes original quotations from the author's interviews with Tutu, readers will follow the steady progress...