| Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie IzzardBritish comedian Eddie Izzard, who finds accessible humor in a wide range of erudite subjects (including linguistic history, sexual politics, mad kings, and chickens with guns), wittily and candidly recounts his life in this "more rueful than boastful" (Kirkus Reviews) memoir. Izzard's fans will be intrigued by the challenges in his life, while those unfamiliar with his career may be delighted to discover a new source of television and film entertainment. |
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You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
by Sherman Alexie
The National Book Award-winning author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian presents a literary memoir of poems, essays and intimate family photos that reflect his complicated feelings about his disadvantaged childhood on a Native American reservation with his siblings and alcoholic parents.
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| Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening by Manal Al-SharifThough author Manal Al-Sharif grew up as a devoutly fundamentalist Muslim in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, she later received a technical education that led to a job as a computer security engineer. In Daring to Drive, she relates how she publicized a protest movement, the Women2Drive campaign, with a video recording of herself driving a car. This eye-opening memoir vividly portrays the customary restrictions on girls and women in her country as well as the difficulties of pushing for social change. For additional insight into women's lives in Saudi Arabia, try Jean Sasson's Princess or Carmen bin Ladin's Inside the Kingdom. |
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Al Franken, Giant of the Senate
by Al Franken
The Harvard-educated comedian, talk-show host, and U.S. Senator chronicles the story of his unlikely senatorial campaign, detailing the ensuing months-long recount and what his service has taught him about America's deeply polarized political culture.
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| Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen AbbottIn this well-researched group biography that reads like a spy thriller, author Karen Abbott portrays some unusual participants in the American Civil War. Four women aided their causes (two on the Union side and two for the Confederacy) by going against expected norms to collect and pass on valuable information. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy weaves together parallel accounts of the women's activities and includes additional historical details about other women who assumed unconventional roles during the war. |
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| The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service by Henry A. CrumptonCIA agent and counterterrorism expert Henry Crumpton recounts his 25-year career as a spy in this absorbing and eye-opening memoir. Providing descriptions of espionage duties from routine administration to the challenges of field espionage, he relates his early advocacy of spy drones and critiques both the Bush and the Obama administrations' actions regarding the CIA. The Art of Intelligence presents an "entertainingly frank" (The Washington Post) insider view of the Agency that espionage and history buffs won't want to miss. |
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| The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA by Scott C. JohnsonInternational journalist Scott Johnson was a teenager when his father revealed the true nature of his job: he wasn't a diplomat, but a CIA agent. From that time on, Johnson struggled with the question of secret-keeping -- at first his father's, but later also his own as a journalist who had to protect his sources. The Wolf and the Watchman is an engrossing memoir that depicts the younger Johnson piecing together incidents that may have involved his father, reporting from global flashpoints, and reconciling the contradictions, betrayals, and genuine love that characterized their relationship. |
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| The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David TalbotIn The Devil's Chessboard, author David Talbot, founding editor-in-chief of Salon, provides chilling details of 1950s CIA Director Allen Dulles' secret influence during and after World War II. With deep connections to powerful business interests, attorney Dulles planned to fight Communism after the war -- in cooperation with German capitalists. Later, he went well beyond intelligence gathering to promote covert actions around the world, including a coup in Iran and the Bay of Pigs debacle in Cuba. For additional recent studies of Dulles, check out Scott Miller's Agent 110 and Stephen Kinzer's The Brothers. |
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