[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Biography and Memoir October 2008
- From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:17:55 -0400
New and Recently Released!
Epilogue - by Anne Roiphe
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/1/2008
ISBN: 9780061254628
ISBN-10: 0061254622
Like Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking, author Anne Richardson Roiphe
recounts her emotional distress following her beloved husband's death and
her efforts to create a life for herself without him. For Roiphe, simple acts
such as grocery shopping bring back painful memories of the man with whom
she shared more than 39 years; just as difficult are her attempts to make new
friends--and even, with her daughters' assistance, begin to date again. Booklist
writes, "Roiphe's brave foray into the devastation that is widowhood radiates
with raw emotion."
Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt - by Joyce Tyldesley
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/25/2008
ISBN: 9780465009404
ISBN-10: 0465009409
Cleopatra VII, the last Queen of Egypt, has achieved iconic status in today's
world, and accounts of her life have been told--and distorted--by writers
ranging from her own contemporaries to William Shakespeare. As the last
Egyptian Pharaoh, Cleopatra fought to protect her kingdom from the grasping
Roman
Empire, forming alliances (and notorious sexual relationships) with both Julius
Caesar and Marc Antony before finally being defeated by Caesar's heir,
Octavian. Joyce Tyldesley, a British archaeologist, probes the many sources
documenting Cleopatra's life and reign to create this compelling biography,
which, according to Publishers Weekly, "hits the elusive sweet spot between
scholarship and readability."
Table of Contents
The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life,
His Own - by David Carr
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/5/2008
ISBN: 9781416541523
ISBN-10: 1416541527
Unlike former drug addicts who recount their past in hazy--and often
fabricated--detail, David Carr, currently a reporter for The New York Times,
has taken
an investigative approach to his turbulent personal history, supporting his own
memories with interviews and exhaustive research. As a young man in Minneapolis,
Carr juggled a promising career as a reporter with a hard-partying lifestyle;
it was only after his fellow-addict girlfriend prematurely gave birth to
twins that he began to turn his life around. Kirkus Reviews calls The Night of
the Gun "a brilliantly written, brutally honest memoir."
First Chapter
Not Just the Levees Broke: My Story During and After Hurricane Katrina - by
Phyllis Montana-Leblanc
Publisher: Atria Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/19/2008
ISBN: 9781416563464
ISBN-10: 1416563466
As one of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, Phyllis Montana-Leblanc was
featured in Spike Lee's Emmy Award-winning documentary, When the Levees Broke.
Now, in Not Just the Levees Broke, Montana-Leblanc shares more of her traumatic
story. Though Montana-Leblanc and her family decided to ride out the hurricane
in her Ninth Ward apartment rather than evacuate, they never expected Katrina
to cause such devastation. Montana-Leblanc holds nothing back as she describes
the horrific conditions of life in post-hurricane New Orleans as well as the
inefficiency of the desperately needed rescue efforts. Kirkus Reviews calls
her story a "drama of crackling immediacy and with ringing outspokenness."
First Chapter
Born in October
An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood - by Jimmy Carter
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 10/16/2001
ISBN: 9780743211994
ISBN-10: 0743211995
October 1, 1924. For Depression-era farming families like Jimmy Carter's, work
always began "an hour before daylight"--and it never stopped until dark.
Yet the title of this thoughtful memoir also refers to race relations during
Carter's childhood, when segregation had not yet given way to true freedom
for African Americans. In vivid detail, Carter relives the experiences of his
youth, from the difficulties of farming without electricity to his close
friendships with his African-American neighbors. In the process, he also shares
profiles of the people who shaped his life, including his parents, his
eccentric relatives and childhood friends, and an eminent African-American
bishop.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Eleanor Roosevelt: Vol. 1, 1884-1933 - by Blanche Wiesen Cook
Publisher: Penguin Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/1/1993
ISBN: 9780140094602
ISBN-10: 0140094601
October 11, 1884. The first volume in Blanche Wiesen Cook's acclaimed biography
of Eleanor Roosevelt spans nearly a half century, from Eleanor's birth to
her husband's election as United States President. Raised in a prominent family
that showed her little affection, Eleanor seemed destined for a socialite's
life of ease when she married her cousin Franklin--but though she was devoted
to her family, she also carved out an independent life of her own through
social and political activism. With clear admiration for her subject, Cook
analyzes Eleanor's personality as well as her relationships with key figures
such as Franklin and the reporter Lorena Hickok.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Ike: An American Hero - by Michael Korda
Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/21/2007
ISBN: 9780060756659
ISBN-10: 0060756659
October 14, 1890. Though he never experienced combat himself, Dwight D.
Eisenhower remains one of the world's greatest war heroes. After coordinating
the
successful D-Day invasion of France during World War II, Eisenhower, or "Ike,"
became supreme commander of Allied military forces, overseeing the eventual
defeat of Europe's Axis powers. His popularity as a military leader eventually
swept him into the presidency of the United States, a position he held for
two terms. In Ike: An American Hero, Michael Korda examines Eisenhower's
eventful life, focusing primarily on his military career. Kirkus Reviews calls
Ike "an engaging history, guided by an elegant, witty sense of
characterization."
First Chapter
Table of Contents
A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932 - by John Richardson; with
the collaboration of Marilyn McCully
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/6/2007
ISBN: 9780307266651
ISBN-10: 0307266656
October 25, 1881. This third volume in John Richardson's landmark biography of
Picasso (following The Prodigy and The Cubist Rebel) continues the story
of one of the 20th century's greatest (and most notorious) painters. In 1917, a
recently jilted Picasso traveled to Rome to design costumes for the Ballets
Russes; there, he met and soon married the ballerina Olga Khokhlova.
Eventually, their marriage disintegrated, and a 45-year-old Picasso became
embroiled
in a love affair with 17-year-old Marie-Thérèse Walter. Richardson masterfully
discusses how the events in Picasso's life (such as his changing feelings
for Olga) often shaped his art.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Biographies
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer - by Kai
Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Publisher: A.A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 4/5/2005
ISBN: 9780375412028
ISBN-10: 0375412026
2006 Pulitzer Prize. When the atomic bomb was first tested in the barren
wilderness of New Mexico, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the bomb's
development,
famously recalled the words from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the
destroyer of worlds." Oppenheimer understood the need for the bomb during
World War II, but he also comprehended its potential to unleash disaster on the
world if not controlled--a position that eventually led the U.S. Government
to strip him of his security clearance. Drawing on 25 years of research,
authors Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin have created a definitive biography of
Oppenheimer's
extraordinary life.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Personal History - by Katharine Graham
Publisher: A.A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/1/1997
ISBN: 9780394585857
ISBN-10: 0394585852
1998 Pulitzer Prize. Today, the late Katharine Graham is remembered as a
prominent and highly successful working woman. As the publisher of The
Washington
Post, she oversaw the newspaper during such famous events as the Watergate
scandal and the pressman's strike of 1972. Yet in this compelling memoir, Graham
reveals the difficult journey to her success, from her sheltered and lonely
childhood to her traumatic marriage to Philip Graham. For an insider's look
into the life of the rich, famous, and powerful, be sure to check out Personal
History.
First Chapter
Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father - by John
Matteson
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/1/2007
ISBN: 9780393059649
ISBN-10: 0393059642
2008 Pulitzer Prize. More than 100 years after her death, Louisa May Alcott
remains a famous literary figure, largely for writing the beloved children's
book Little Women. Yet while she was alive, Louisa shared the spotlight with
her father, Bronson, an idealistic transcendentalist who counted among his
friends Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Eden's Outcasts, John
Matteson offers a dual biography of Louisa and Bronson that not only provides
readers with a glimpse into their sometimes turbulent personal lives and
literary careers, but also acquaints them with the intellectual landscape of
19th-century
New England.
John Adams - by David McCullough
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 5/22/2001
ISBN: 9780684813639
ISBN-10: 0684813637
2002 Pulitzer Prize. John Adams, a sometimes irascible but always honorable
Massachusetts lawyer, played a pivotal--though often unheralded--role in the
formation of the United States. In John Adams, David McCullough employs a
sweeping narrative to trace the man's eventful life and his many
accomplishments,
including his participation in the Continental Congress and his term as the
young country's second president. McCullough also reveals the complexities
of Adams' personality, from his integrity and his occasional pride to his
complex friendship with Thomas Jefferson and his tender relationship with his
wife, Abigail. Anyone who enjoys reading about American history will relish
this epic biography of one of its greatest patriots.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
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