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Ida y vuelta. La vida de Jorge Semprún
By Soledad Maura. 2016
Nueva edición de la biografía definitiva de Jorge Semprún, un personaje de leyenda que atravesó el siglo XX español y…
europeo en primera línea, revisada y con un nuevo prólogo de Paul Preston. La vida de Jorge Semprún es prácticamente la historia de Europa en el siglo XX, y quizá sea el español que más se acerque a «los desarraigados viajeros del siglo», como Tony Judt describió a los intelectuales. Sin duda, junto a Picasso y García Lorca, es el español del siglo XX con mayor proyección y relevancia internacional. En esta absorbente biografía Soledad Fox sigue la increíble trayectoria de Semprún, desde su nacimiento en 1923, en una familia de la alta burguesía madrileña; el trauma de la guerra civil y el exilio; el paso por el maquis y la deportación a Buchenwald; la militancia comunista; su reinvención como escritor y guionista tras la tumultuosa salida del PCE; y su paso por el Ministerio de Cultura español en el gobierno de Felipe González. Fox ha invertido cinco años y una impecable labor de investigación en archivos de Francia y España y más de cincuenta entrevistas para conseguir la excelente biografía que un personaje como Semprún merece. La crítica ha dicho: «Jorge Semprún fue uno de estos héores discretos gracias a los cuales el mundo en que vivimos no está peor de lo que está y queda siempre margen para la esperanza.» Mario Vargas Llosa «Un testigo excepcional del siglo XX.»César Antonio MolinaTribes with Flags: Adventure and Kidnap in Greater Syria (Picador Bks.)
By Charles Glass. 1992
The ABC News correspondent&’s riveting chronicle of his journey through the Middle East—and being held hostage by pro-Iranian terrorists in…
Beirut. A New York Times Notable Book—with an introduction by the author. On June 18, 1987, Charles Glass was kidnapped by pro-Iranian terrorists in a Shiite Muslim suburb of Beirut and held for sixty-two days. His daring escape on August 18, 1987, made headlines worldwide. But Glass never forgot the reason he was in Lebanon or abandoned the idea of a book capturing the splendid vitality and diversity of life in the Middle East. Tribes with Flags is the book Glass always meant it to be: A chronicle of his journey from the southern Turkish coast, around the bay of Alexandretta, and through Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Glass visited farms, slums, and refugee camps as well as royal friends in feudal palaces, capturing the entire spectrum of Levantine life. The journey ends with a gripping account of Glass&’s kidnapping in Beirut—an intimate portrayal of life as a hostage—and his successful flight to freedom. &“A literary and spiritual ramble through the countries of the Levant . . . Glass&’s account of two months&’ captivity and his escape bring to an exciting conclusion this engrossing, informative, unusual travel book.&” —Publishers WeeklyCapote: A Biography (Books Into Film Ser.)
By Gerald Clarke. 2013
The national bestselling biography and the basis for the film Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in an Academy Award–winning turn.…
One of the strongest fiction writers of his generation, Truman Capote became a literary star while still in his teens. His most phenomenal successes include Breakfast at Tiffany&’s, In Cold Blood, and Other Voices, Other Rooms. Even while his literary achievements were setting the standards that other fiction and nonfiction writers would follow for generations, Capote descended into a spiral of self-destruction and despair. This biography by Gerald Clarke was first published in 1988—just four years after Capote&’s death. In it, Clarke paints a vivid behind-the-scenes picture of the author&’s life—based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with the man himself and the people close to him. From the glittering heights of notoriety and parties with the rich and famous to his later struggles with addiction, Capote emerges as a richly multidimensional person—both brilliant and flawed. &“A book of extraordinary substance, a study rich in intelligence and compassion . . . To read Capote is to have the sense that someone has put together all the important pieces of this consummate artist&’s life, has given everything its due emphasis, and comprehended its ultimate meaning.&” —Bruce Bawer, The Wall Street Journal &“Mesmerising . . . [Capote] reads as if it had been written alongside his life, rather than after it.&” —Molly Haskell, The New York Times Book ReviewThe Burgess Shale: The Canadian Writing Landscape of the 1960s (The CLC Kreisel Lecture Series)
By Margaret Atwood. 2017
“Atwood provides a window into her own early writing days . . . a treasure for readers interested in Canadian literature because…
this is where it all began.” —Prairie Fire Review of Books“The outburst of cultural energy that took place in the 1960s was in part a product of the two decades that came before. It’s always difficult for young people to see their own time in perspective: when you’re in your teens, a decade earlier feels like ancient history and the present moment seems normal: what exists now is surely what has always existed.”In this short work, Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale and “Canada’s most famous writer” (The New Yorker), compares the Canadian literary landscape of the 1960s to the Burgess Shale, a geological formation that contains the fossils of many strange prehistoric life forms. The Burgess Shale is not entirely about writing itself, however: Atwood also provides some insight into the meager writing infrastructure of that time, taking a lighthearted look at the early days of the institutions we take for granted today—from writers’ organizations, prizes, and grant programs to book tours and festivals.“Allows the reader a brief glimpse into the mind of a great writer and her perspective and experience living through what would now seem to many the Stone Age of the Canadian writing scene . . . invaluable and very readable.” —Canadian LiteratureA Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family's Quest for Justice
By Paul Caruana Galizia. 2023
A journalist&’s spellbinding account of the shocking murder of his muckraking mother and a quest for justice that has reverberated…
far beyond their tiny homelandAn archipelago off the southern coast of Italy, Malta is a picturesque gem eroded by a climate of corruption, polarization, inequality, and a virtual absence of civic spirit. In this unpromising soil, a fearless journalist took root. Daphne Caruana Galizia fashioned herself into the country&’s lonely voice of conscience, her muckraking and editorializing sending shock waves that threatened to topple those in power and made her at once the island&’s best-known figure and its most reviled. In 2017, a campaign of intimidation against her culminated in a car bombing that took her life. Daphne was also he devoted and inspiring mother to three sons, who with their father have carried on the quest for justice and transparency after her death. Spellbindingly narrated by the youngest of them, the award-winning journalist Paul Caruana Galizia, A Death in Malta is at once a study in heroism and the powerful story of a family&’s crusade for accountability in a society built on lies, with reverberations far beyond their homeland.Jackie and the Books She Loved
By Ronni Diamondstein. 2023
"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." —Jacqueline Kennedy…
Onassis Discover a delightful new story about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, one of the most famous women in the world. History remembers Jackie as the consummate First Lady, especially for her White House restoration and the cultural events she instituted during her husband&’s administration. Jackie was on the world stage in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. She led the nation in grieving the fallen leader with grace and dignity. In this inspirational celebration of reading, Ronni Diamondstein, with her engaging writing style in this picture book biography, introduces readers to an independent and confident Jackie and the idea of how books guided her life. The insightful story paints the portrait of a child captivated by reading and a love of literature and writing—from five‑year‑old Jackie reading Chekhov stories to a seasoned and confident Jackie at her desk as an editor in the last two decades of her life. Jackie never wrote a memoir but revealed herself in the nearly 100 books she brought into print. Jackie and the Books She Loved is a dazzling book about the real woman behind this American icon of style and grace brought to life by the whimsical and tasteful artwork of Bats Langley.Back to Istanbul: On Foot across Europe to the Great Silk Road
By Bernard Ollivier, Bénédicte Flatet. 2016
After trekking nearly 7,500 miles, from Istanbul, Turkey to Xi&’an, China, French travel writer Bernard Ollivier thought he had put…
the Silk Road behind him—enough for a retiree to rest on his laurels! But that was before meeting his now-partner-in-life Bénédicte Flatet. Why, she asked, hadn&’t he set out from France? After all, the city of Lyon was once Europe&’s silk capital. Now, at seventy-five years old, Ollivier decides to lace up his walking boots and head out to complete his Silk-Road journey, once and for all: 1,900 miles, from Lyon to Istanbul. Only this time, he won&’t be alone. Flatet has long yearned to hike side-by-side with Ollivier, so the couple sets out together . . . This unexpected fourth volume in Ollivier&’s Silk Road series (Out of Istanbul, Walking to Samarkand, and Winds of the Steppe) is a wonderful bonus for the author&’s fans: not only is it the enthralling continuation of his long walk across Asia, it&’s a new journey unto itself, across Europe, full of delightful firsts, such as the inclusion of short chronicles by Flatet. Through ten countries—from familiar France and Italy to the more mysterious Balkans—the intrepid pair invites us to discover the sometimes happy, sometimes tragic history of those they encounter, and to share in their daily lives. Back to Istanbul is both a fervent appeal for greater understanding among peoples, and a magnificent declaration of love.The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture
By Courtney Thorsson. 2023
One Sunday afternoon in February 1977, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, and several other Black women writers met at…
June Jordan’s Brooklyn apartment to eat gumbo, drink champagne, and talk about their work. Calling themselves “The Sisterhood,” the group—which also came to include Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Margo Jefferson, and others—would get together once a month over the next two years, creating a vital space for Black women to discuss literature and liberation.The Sisterhood tells the story of how this remarkable community transformed American writing and cultural institutions. Drawing on original interviews with Sisterhood members as well as correspondence, meeting minutes, and readings of their works, Courtney Thorsson explores the group’s everyday collaboration and profound legacy. The Sisterhood advocated for Black women writers at trade publishers and magazines such as Random House, Ms., and Essence, and eventually in academic departments as well—often in the face of sexist, racist, and homophobic backlash. Thorsson traces the personal, professional, and political ties that brought the group together as well as the reasons for its dissolution. She considers the popular and critical success of Sisterhood members in the 1980s, the uneasy absorption of Black feminism into the academy, and how younger writers built on the foundations the group laid. Highlighting the organizing, networking, and community building that nurtured Black women’s writing, this book demonstrates that The Sisterhood offers an enduring model for Black feminist collaboration.Honeymoon With A Killer
By Don Lasseter, Ronald E. Bowers. 2009
The shocking true crime story of a California bride who took her wealthy husband for everything he had—including his life.Everything…
She Wanted . . .Rebecca Salcedo had an easy smile, a sexy body, and strong appetites—she wanted the world. Bruce Cleland, she decided, would buy it for her. The shy engineer quickly fell victim to her charms, getting her whatever she wanted. A new car. A boat. A house. But he wasn&’t Rebecca&’s only admirer . . .She Got . . .Even after Rebecca manipulated Bruce into marrying her, hoping to divorce him and take him for everything he had, she occupied herself with a series of lovers. Male strippers, women . . . they all spent time in Rebecca&’s bed. But when she learned that a divorce would only get her a few pennies, she knew she had to find another way to secure Bruce&’s fortune.Even Murder . . .Enlisting two family members as killers-for-hire, Rebecca set in motion her solution to the problem. While she watched, the first bullet hit Bruce in the face. Three more would follow. But while Rebecca kept the blood off her hands, she could not conceal evidence that led straight to her, culminating in a trial that would shock a community.With sixteen pages of shocking photosPraise for Honeymoon with a Killer&“The sordid tale of an innocent man and the woman who plotted his murder. . . . Lasseter and Bowers provide readers with a highly detailed depiction of events leading up to and following the gruesome murder of Bruce Cleland. True crime aficionados will savor this riveting read.&” —Publishers Weekly, starred reviewIn the Sierra Madre
By Jeff Biggers. 2006
A stunning history of legendary treasure seekers and enigmatic natives in Mexico's Copper Canyon The Sierra Madre--no other mountain range…
in the world possesses such a ring of intrigue. In the Sierra Madre is a groundbreaking and extraordinary memoir that chronicles the astonishing history of one of the most famous, yet unknown, regions in the world. Based on his one-year sojourn among the Raramuri/Tarahumara, award-winning journalist Jeff Biggers offers a rare look into the ways of the most resilient indigenous culture in the Americas, the exploits of Mexican mountaineers, and the fascinating parade of argonauts and accidental travelers that has journeyed into the Sierra Madre over centuries. From African explorers, Bohemian friars, Confederate and Irish war deserters, French poets, Boer and Russian commandos, Apache and Mennonite communities, bewildered archaeologists, addled writers, and legendary characters including Antonin Artaud, B. Traven, Sergei Eisenstein, George Patton, Geronimo, and Pancho Villa, Biggers uncovers the remarkable treasures of the Sierra Madre.The Poet and the Sailor: The Story of My Friendship with Carl Sandburg
By Kenneth Dodson. 2006
Two friends, a lifetime of letters, and an intimate look at a literary icon Carl Sandburg first encountered Kenneth Dodson…
through a letter written at sea during World War II. Though Dodson wrote the letter to his wife, Letha, Sandburg read it in tears and told her, "I've got to meet this man." Composed primarily of their correspondence that continued until Sandburg's death in 1967, The Poet and the Sailor is a chronicle of the deep friendship that followed. Ranging over anything they found important, from writing to health and humor, the letters are arranged by Richard Dodson and are accompanied by a foreword from Sandburg's noted biographer, Penelope Niven.The Limits of Love: The Lives of D. H. Lawrence and Frieda von Richthofen
By Michael Squires. 2023
The Limits of Love: The Lives of D. H. Lawrence and Frieda von Richthofen provides a candid look at two…
illustrious people who tested the capacity—and the limits—of marriage. The Lawrences come alive not as simple quarreling travelers, nor as blissful domestic partners, but as complex personalities who experimented with marriage to see if it would fulfill their needs. Their antagonisms and their sexual experiences informed Lawrence’s fearless novels The Rainbow and Women in Love. Both works also tested the boundaries of public taste and faced harsh receptions.The cost of the Lawrences’ strong but unstable marriage was high. Despite periods of happiness and peace, angry clashes meant separations and uneasy agreements to repair the marital intimacy when it cracked. Fractures of 1916, 1919, 1923, and 1926 healed slowly and with difficulty. In Lawrence’s most calculated and famous work, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, he successfully coded their marital stress and, full of rage, fused two stories of failed marriages.Drawing on many unpublished and recently discovered letters, The Limits of Love offers readers a detailed reconstruction of two complicated lives, written with narrative speed and a forceful style, filled with vivid interpretations of Lawrence’s work, and conveying deep sympathy for people living outside established norms. This new dual biography, based on years of research by Michael Squires, captures the essence of Lawrence and Frieda, making the couple real, alive, and accessible.The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers
By Eric Weiner. 2020
The New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the…
footsteps of history&’s greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today&’s unsettled times.We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a different perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope. Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and travel in a globe-trotting pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to reconnect with philosophy&’s original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Beauvoir and 20th-century Paris, Weiner&’s chosen philosophers and places provide important practical and spiritual lessons as we navigate today&’s chaotic times. In a &“delightful&” odyssey that &“will take you places intellectually and humorously&” (San Francisco Book Review), Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions. The Socrates Express is &“full of valuable lessons…a fun, sharp book that draws readers in with its apparent simplicity and bubble-gum philosophy approach and gradually pulls them in deeper and deeper&” (NPR).The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
By Sarah Ogilvie. 2023
The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A history and celebration of the many far-flung volunteers who helped define…
the English language, word by word.&“Enthralling and exuberant, Sarah Ogilvie tells the surprising story of the making of the OED. Philologists, fantasists, crackpots, criminals, career spinsters, suffragists, and Australians: here is a wonder book for word lovers.&” —Jeanette Winterson, author of Oranges Are Not the Only FruitThe Oxford English Dictionary is one of mankind&’s greatest achievements, and yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered. Who were the people behind this unprecedented book? As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia . . . and thousands of others. Of deep transgenerational and broad appeal, a thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read and write and speak. It was the greatest crowdsourcing endeavor in human history, the Wikipedia of its time. The Dictionary People is a celebration of words, language, and people, whose eccentricities and obsessions, triumphs, and failures enriched the English language.Brief Lives: Charlotte Brontë (Brief Lives)
By Jessica Cox. 2011
Charlotte Brontë is one of the world's best-loved writers. Her extraordinary literary talent manifested itself at an early age when…
she penned a series of imaginative and entertaining tales. Before her untimely death at the age of 38 she produced the masterpieces Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Vilette. Superb and meticulously researched, Jessica Cox's biography provides a beautifully drawn portrait of the creator of some of the world's most remarkable novels.Brief Lives: Marquis De Sade (Brief Lives)
By David Carter. 2011
As explicit in his prose as he was in his private life, the Marquis de Sade remains one of the…
most controversial writers of all time. This new biography, by the acclaimed translator and author David Carter, promises to shock as much as it informs. Arrested many times for sexual misdemeanors, the Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille, where he was writing 120 Days of Sodom and The Misfortunes of Virtue at the time that it was stormed in 1789. After the French Revolution he was again imprisoned and sent to an asylum, where he wrote diaries and plays. This concise biography offers a fresh look at a relentlessly compelling figure with a fascinating life of scandal and imprisonment.Brief Lives: Wilkie Collins (Brief Lives)
By Melisa Klimaszewski. 2009
Author of the first detective novel in English, Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular authors in Victorian England.…
In this illuminating biography, Melisa Klimaszewski situates the writer within his own milieu and demonstrates how his work sparks new understandings of Victorian life and letters. A close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens, Collins secured his own fame with sensational novels that feature intricate legal plots, mistaken identities, and complex crimes. Boldly challenging the mores of Victorian society by maintaining two families and shunning the institution of marriage, Collins was also one of the most unconventional public figures of his day. His life story, succinctly told in this elegant biography, promises to instruct and to entertain.Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life
By Brigitta Olubas. 2007
The first biography of Shirley Hazzard, the author of The Transit of Venus and a writer of “shocking wisdom” and…
“intellectual thrill” (The New Yorker).Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life tells the extraordinary story of a great modern novelist. Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s authorized biographer, has drawn, with great subtlety and understanding, on her fiction; on an extensive archive of letters, diaries, and notebooks; and on the memories of surviving friends and colleagues to create this resonant portrait of an exceptional woman. This biography explores the distinctive times of Hazzard’s life, from her youth and middle age to her widowhood and years of decline, and traces the complex and intricate processes of self-fashioning that lay beneath Hazzard’s formidable, beguiling presence. Olubas shows us the places of Hazzard’s life, of which she wrote with characteristic lyricism, accompanied by rare photographs from Hazzard’s collection and elsewhere.Hazzard was the last of a generation of self-taught writers, devotees of a great literary tradition, and her depth of perception and expressive gifts have earned her iconic status. Olubas has brought her brilliantly alive, enhancing and deepening our understanding of the singular woman who created some of the most enduring fiction of the past sixty years. As Dwight Garner wrote in The New York Times, “Hazzard’s stories feel timeless because she understands, as she writes in one of them: ‘We are human beings, not rational ones.’” Here, in Shirley Hazzard, is the story of a remarkable human being.The Real Hergé: The Inspiration Behind Tintin
By Sian Lye. 2020
&“If you are looking to understand a bit more about the circumstances that inspired The Adventures of Tintin—this book will provide…
a good snapshot.&” —The BookBuff Review Hergé created only twenty-four Tintin books which have been translated into more than seventy languages and sold 230 million copies worldwide.The Real Hergé: The Inspiration Behind Tintin takes an in-depth look at the man behind the cultural phenomenon and the history that helped shape these books. As well as focusing on the controversies that engulfed Hergé, this biography will also look at his personal life, as well as the relationships and experiences that influenced him.&“Tintin is more famous now than when Hergé was actually writing and illustrating his adventures. Sian Mye&’s book is another in the excellent series about the real lives of our most famous authors, and is well worth a look. Brilliant!&” —Books Monthly&“It is certainly possible to enjoy the Tintin books without knowing Hergé. But they are more interesting after learning about this complex, sometimes frustrating, man. We can learn from him, even if we learn from his mistakes.&” —Rose City ReaderThe Tudor Murder Files
By James Moore. 2016
&“Collates the most shocking killings and puzzling murder mysteries from the sixteenth century in fascinating detail&” —Gazette & Herald …
In the Tudor age the murder rate was five times higher than it is today. Now, this unique true crime guide, The Tudor Murder Files, reveals just how bloody and brutal this fascinating era really was. From the dark days of Henry VIII to the turbulent times of Shakespeare, James Moore&’s new book is the first to chart the period&’s most gripping murder cases in all their grizzly detail. Featuring tales of domestic slaughter, sexual intrigue, and cunning assassinations, as well as murder mysteries worthy of Agatha Christie, the book vividly brings to life the violent crime wave that gripped the sixteenth century both at home and abroad. Enter a world in which stabbings were rife, guns were used to kill victims for the first time, and in which culprits frequently escaped justice. The book also reveals just how severe some of the penalties could be, with grisly punishments for those who dared to commit the gravest of crimes. Discover how one murderer was gruesomely pressed to death, another boiled alive for poisoning his victims, and meet some of history&’s most notorious serial killers, including one considered so barbaric she was labelled a vampire. &“Contains more than seventy real life murders, profiling over thirty cases in detail. And not only does James chart how killers were caught and dealt with by the justice system, he also discusses how murders were reported to the new, news hungry nation.&” —Luton Today