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Biography and Memoir September 2017
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| I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad by Souad MekhennetWashington Post national security correspondent Souad Mekhennet is a Muslim who grew up in Germany. Viewed by Muslims as an interviewer they can trust, she often has access to significant newsmakers who won't meet with other Western journalists. In I Was Told to Come Alone, Mekhennet traces her life and career, offering insight into the experiences of Arabs and Muslims living in Europe. Mekhennet also vividly portrays the people she's interviewed (including several jihadis) and the places of conflict she's visited as a reporter. |
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Marlene Dietrich: The Life
by Maria Riva
Marlene Dietrich's daughter chronicles her mother's remarkable life, describing Hollywood in its heyday, Dietrich's travels, her relationships, her performances, and more.
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Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat
by Patricia Williams
The popular comedian traces her youth in Atlanta's most troubled neighborhood at the height of the crack epidemic, discussing the experiences with an alcoholic mother, four siblings, petty crime and prostitution that led to her becoming a mother at age 13 before resolving to secure a better life for her children.
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Margaret Thatcher: A Life and Legacy
by David Cannadine
With elegance, wit, and historical insight, Cannadine charts Mrs Thatcher's upbringing and influences, her political career and life after politics, the impact of her policies, and her personal reputation and political legacy. The book also features a glossary of key terms, a chronology, a "dramatis personae" of significant figures of the period, and a guide to further reading.
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Patrick Henry: Champion of Liberty
by Jon Kukla
Presents the life story of an often-overlooked Founding Father, best known as an outspoken orator in the Independence movement who served as the first post-colonial governor of Virginia and who opposed the Constitution for granting too much power to central government.
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Stanton: Lincoln's War Secretary
by Walter Stahr
The award-winning author of the best-selling Seward documents the story of the 16th President's controversial secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, detailing his role in raising the Union army, directing military movements, imposing penalties on Confederates and organizing the search for assassin John Wilkes Booth.
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Reckless Years: A Diary of Love and Madness
by Heather Chaplin
The New York journalist and co-author of Smartbomb reveals how, after summoning the courage to end a dissatisfying 10-year marriage, she embarked on an intoxicating journey of adventure and romance in multiple cities before her irresponsible choices triggered a downward spiral and a reckoning she had avoided all her life.
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Go Slow: The Life of Julie London
by Michael Owen
Go Slow follows Julie London’s life and career through its many stages: her transformation from 1940s movie starlet to coolly defiant singer of the classic torch ballad “Cry Me a River” of the ’50s, and her journey from Las Vegas hotel entertainer during the rock ’n’ roll revolution of the ’60s to the no-nonsense nurse of the ’70s hit television series Emergency!
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Defiance: The Extraordinary Life of Lady Anne Barnard
by Stephen Taylor
Having been given access to the private papers of Lady Anne Barnard, including six volumes of unpublished memoirs, the author chronicles the amazing life of this 18th- and 19th-century poet and painter, who lived on her own terms and defied the conventions of her day.
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Rescued from ISIS: The Gripping True Story of How a Father Saved His Son
by Dimitri Bontinck
Documents the gripping true story of how the author rescued his son from a radical mosque that brainwashed him into becoming a jihadist soldier, describing the months of unassisted work that were required and how his success reverberated throughout the world, triggering pleas from other families whose children were similarly indoctrinated.
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The Shadow in the Garden: A Biographer's Tale
by James Atlas
A biographer describes what it’s like to document the lives of other, more famous people and revisits the experiences and work of the classical biographers who brought the lives of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell to life.
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Down the Up Staircase: Three Generations of a Harlem Family
by Bruce D. Haynes
Down the Up Staircase traces the social history of Harlem through the lens of one family across three generations, connecting their journey to the historical and social forces that transformed Harlem. Haynes and Solovitch capture the tides of change that pushed blacks forward through the twentieth century and the forces that ravaged black communities. This story is told against the backdrop of a crumbling three-story brownstone in Sugar Hill that once hosted Harlem Renaissance elites and later became an embodiment of the family's rise and demise.
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Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor
by Bruce Campbell
A raucous follow-up to If Chins Could Kill shares all-new confessions by the actor best known from the Evil Dead film series and the Ash vs. Evil Dead and Burn Notice TV series, covering the past decade of his experiences in acting and on the Wizard World convention circuit.
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| Memory's Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia by Gerda SaundersIn Memory's Last Breath, retired gender studies professor Gerda Saunders recounts her life, reports on her exploration of neurological science in relation to her memory loss, and provides notes -- presented in sidebars -- on her experience of advancing dementia. Her lyrical descriptions of growing up in South Africa, immigrating to the U.S., and receiving acclaim for her academic achievements contrast starkly with her candid depiction of losing memory and other intellectual functions. For another engrossing first-person account of dementia's effects, pick up Thomas DiBaggio's Losing My Mind. |
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Apprenticed to Venus: My Secret Life with Anaïs Nin
by Tristine Rainer
Sharing personal memories and profound revelations, the author charts her coming of age under the guidance of Anaïs Nin—lover to Henry Miller, feminist icon of the sexual revolution and author of the erotic best-seller Delta of Venus—and how she became a fixture of Anaïs' inner circle while trying to find her own path through love, lust and loss.
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| Among the Living and the Dead: A Tale of Exile and Homecoming on the War Roads... by Inara VerzemnieksPushcart Prize-winning author and Pulitzer finalist Inara Verzemnieks was raised in Tacoma, Washington by her Latvian grandparents. They had immigrated to the U.S. after World War II because their family was displaced by the 1940 Soviet invasion of Latvia. In this memoir, Verzemnieks chronicles her journeys to Latvia, after her grandparents' deaths, to look for traces of her grandmother Livija's family. In Latvia, Verzemnieks meets her great-aunt Ausma, who helps Verzemnieks understand the sisters' childhood and the suffering they both endured over 70 years earlier. This compelling account also offers a thought-provoking consideration of refugee experiences that's relevant to the present day. |
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| Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Dassow WallsIn time for the 200th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau's birth, Notre Dame University professor of English Laura Dassow Walls offers a lively portrait of the Transcendentalist writer and philosopher. Setting Thoreau and his friends in the context of early 19th-century America, Walls examines Ralph Waldo Emerson's influence on the younger man, describes Thoreau's then-experimental educational venture, and details the background to his most famous work, Walden. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says this displays a "merger of comprehensiveness in content with pleasure in reading." |
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| Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda K. GarelickIn this thoroughly researched biography, interdisciplinary arts professor Rhonda Garelick draws on archival records to produce a multilayered and insightful portrait of the French couturiere Coco Chanel. Depicting Chanel's determination to achieve success and examining her incomparable rise in the fashion business, Garelick vividly depicts the businesswoman who capitalized on her friendships with wealthy and powerful right-wingers -- including Nazi officials during World War II. For an intriguing political portrait of this fashion leader, check out Hal Vaughan's Sleeping with the Enemy. |
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| The Face That Changed It All: A Memoir by Beverly JohnsonAs a teenager, honors student Beverly Johnson never wanted to be a model, but with encouragement (especially from her mother), luck, and some useful connections, she made it all the way to the cover of American Vogue, the first African American to do so. But as her professional star rose, her personal life fell apart. In her memoir, she writes of the racism she encountered in the modeling industry, her struggles with drug addiction, her difficult personal relationships, and her eventual successful efforts to move past these obstacles. |
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| My Journey by Donna KaranChronicling both her personal struggles and her fashion world triumphs, Donna Karan's memoir presents an engaging story. Though her childhood had some challenges, Karan progressed steadily from attending the Parsons School of Design through internships and working with mentor Anne Klein to global success as a designer. Her love life, spiritual explorations, and philanthropic activities add richness to this self-portrait, which Kirkus Reviews calls "elegant and satisfying." Those who were intrigued by Robin Givhan's Battle of Versailles can read Karan's account of that epic design contest in My Journey. |
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| Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano by Dana ThomasIn the dramatic and rarefied atmosphere of avant-garde fashion design, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano may have had the most astounding careers, from brilliant spectacle to burnout. Both came from humble London origins, both studied at a famous art school, and both achieved notoriety in Paris houses of fashion. In this dual biography of artistic geniuses, author Dana Thomas, who knew the men through her work at the New York Times Style Magazine, tracks their glittering paths -- and their comedowns -- against the background of the contemporary fashion industry. |
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| The Woman I Wanted to Be by Diane von FurstenbergOpening with a moving description of her mother, a concentration camp survivor who had been arrested by the Nazis for her activities in the Belgian Resistance, Diane von Furstenburg's memoir details the kind of woman she wanted to be (independent and self-sufficient) and relates how she achieved her objectives. Emphasizing the importance of her children and also providing details of her love life, von Furstenberg recounts her successes -- and some failures -- on the frontlines of couture. Readers interested in fashion or in the lives of powerful and creative women shouldn't miss this life story. |
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Never be without a book you love! |
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