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Biography and Memoir October 2017
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Award-Winning Biographies and Memoirs
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Truman
by David G. McCullough
1993 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography A biography of the U.S. president explores Truman's brutal frontier childhood, his education, his dogged optimism, and his rise through the ranks of the Pendergast machine that controlled Missouri politics
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Angela's ashes : a memoir
by Frank McCourt
1997 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies. 40,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. First serial, The New Yorker.
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Personal history
by Katharine Graham
1998 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography Graham describes her privileged but lonely childhood, her tragic marriage to the charismatic Phil Graham, her struggles as the head of a famous newspaper, great moments at the Post, and the colorful politicians and celebrities she has known. 200,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo. Tour.
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W.E.B. DuBois : The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963
by David L. Lewis
2001 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography The second volume of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography begins with the end of World War I and chronicles the flowering of the Harlem Renaissance, the little-known political agenda behind it, Du Bois's battle for equality and justice for African Americans, and his self-exile in Ghana. 35,000 first printing.
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Khrushchev : the man and his era
by William Taubman
2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography A portrait of the head of the Soviet Union whose rule followed Stalin's identifies his impact on the country and the rest of the world, citing how his career reflected of the Soviet experience and tracing his efforts to reform communism and ease the cold war. 20,000 first printing.
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American Prometheus : the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird
2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography A definitive portrait of legendary scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father" of the atomic bomb, discusses his seminal role in the twentieth-century scientific world, as well as his lesser-known roles as family man, supposed communist, and head of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. 50,000 first printing.
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The most famous man in America : the biography of Henry Ward Beecher
by Debby Applegate
2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography Presents the life of the nineteenth century orator, noted for his support of the abolition of slavery and the suffrage of women, as well as his friendships with some of the century's most famous writers such as Henry Thoreau, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman
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Eden's outcasts : the story of Louisa May Alcott and her father
by John Matteson
2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography An evaluation of the complicated relationship between the classic author and her idealistic father considers how Louisa's exuberant personality often challenged Bronson's intricate child-rearing philosophies, describes his failed Fruitlands utopia, and considers how Louisa eventually came to support her family through writing.
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| Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson2013 Stonewall Book-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award When English novelist Jeanette Winterson was a child, her adoptive mother limited her activities to a narrow religious framework. Winterson responded by finding ways to take refuge in creativity -- especially in writing, after her mother burned her books -- and by running away at age 16 to live on her own. Her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, won a Costa award and received acclaim for its depiction of a lesbian's coming of age. In her Lambda Literary Award-winning memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Winterson reveals her own coming-of-age struggles -- which gradually led her to understand what it means to love. |
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| The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography If you've ever wondered where the 19th-century French novelist Alexandre Dumas, père learned to swashbuckle, biographer Tom Reiss has the answer in The Black Count. The novelist's father, called Alex, was born in Santo Domingo to a black slave and a French aristocrat. Later brought to France, Alex rose through the ranks in the French Army and eventually served in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. However, he was captured by enemies, languished in prison, and died before his son was four. Alexandre idolized his father and used parts of his life's story in his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo. Reiss' Pulitzer Prize-winning biography completes the picture of Alex's actual life. |
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| Jack London: An American Life by Earle Labor2014 Western Writers of America Spur Award as Best Nonfiction Biography Widely celebrated American author Jack London was also a social activist who included some of his views on workers' rights in his stories and novels. In this Spur Award-winning biography, Earle Labor, curator of the Jack London Museum in Shreveport, Louisiana, explores London's life and philosophy in addition to his writing. Drawing on London's personal papers and those of his wife, as well as on interviews with people who were close to London, Labor distinguishes the legends about the larger-than-life man from the facts (which are equally impressive). Fans of American literature won't want to miss this impressive life study. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street
Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100
http://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us
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