Famous Lives: Between the Covers of a Book
Recent biographies -- to discover, to enjoy, and to share with others. |
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 | Bell, Gertrude | | Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, by Georgina Howell | | Born into a world of privilege, she turned her back on Victorian society, going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, photographer, and legendary mountaineer -- at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire, and driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. |
|  | Bonhoeffer, Dietrich | | Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas | | Brings to life the personalities and experiences that shaped Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- his developing "call" to speak for those who could not speak, his role in religious resistance to Nazism, and the faith journey that eventually involved the Lutheran pastor in unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Hitler. |
|  | Bush, Laura Welch | | Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Welch Bush | | Born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death, and when she first left West Texas in 1964, she never imagined that her journey would lead her to the world stage and the White House. |
|  | Christie, Agatha | | Agatha Christie: an Autobiography | | A woman of mystery, in every sense of the word, Christie completed her autobiography between 1950 and 1965, when she was 75 years old, saying: "It seemed like the right moment to stop." |
|  | Cleopatra | | Cleopatra: a Life, by Stacy Schiff | | This Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last Queen of Egypt -- though her life spanned fewer than 40 years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. |
|  | Cosby, Bill | | I Didn’t Ask to be Born (But I’m Glad I Was), by Bill Cosby | | Humorously focues on the foibles of life and aging, parenting and family life -- remembering growing up in the projects of Philadelphia, the rough-and-tumble of the playground and sports, through his years on The Cosby Show. |
|  | Cosell, Howard | | Howard Cosell: the Man, the Myth and the Transformation of American Sports | | Interpreting him for a generation that never knew him, this book reveals the insecurities that fueled hs bravado, and charts his ascension from a middle-class home in Brooklyn to a short-lived career as a lawyer, before elbowing his way into radio and TV an on to become the most influential -- and controversial -- sports commentator in America. |
|  | Cromwell, Thomas | | Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel | | In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power -- Thomas Cromwell. |
|  | DiMaggio, Joe | | 56: Jo DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, by Kostya Kennedy | | Beyond the playing field, from the private world inhabited only by DiMaggio and his new bride, to Newark barbershops, the playgrounds of Queens, and the streets of DiMaggio’s hometown, San Francisco -- sets the scene for his magical fifth season, setting a record that may stand forever. |
|  | Downton Abbey | | Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, by Fiona, Countess of Carnarvon | | The current Lady Carnarvon contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of WWI, and tells of the life of Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon -- the daughter of wealthy industrialist Alfred de Rothschild, who married her off at a young age, to preserve an ancestral home. |
|  | Fey, Tina | | Bossypants, by Tina Fey | | From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty, to her life as a mother eating things off the floor, to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live -- comedian Tina Fey reveals all, and proves that you’re no one until someone calls you bossy. |
|  | Hawking, Stephen | | Stehen Hawking: an Unfettered Mind, by Kitty Ferguson | | Told in his youth that he would not live past his 20s, Hawking will turn 70 in 2012 -- the celebrated theoretical physicist continues to inspire millions, drawing rock-concert-sized crowds wherever he lectures, while courageously coping with devastating disability. |
|  | Holliday, Doc | | Doc, by Mary Doria Russell | | Beginning long before the ill-fated shootout at the O.K. Corral, Russell paints a portrait of the tubercular young would-be dentist, Doc Holliday, heading west for his health, meeting up with all of the familiar real-life figures -- dentistry takes a back seat to gambling in Dodge City, and the rest is history. |
|  | Kamkwamba, William | | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba | | He was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled an dmodern science was mysterym a land withered by drought and hunger -- but he had read about windmills in a book, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change their lives forever. |
|  | Keaton, Diane | | Then Again, by Diane Keaton | | More than a celebrity tell-all, an ode to Keaton’s complicated, adage-wielding mother who harbored her own dreams of a bigger life -- of a young woman coming into her own as an artist, and a daughter becoming a mother. |
|  | Lacks, Henrietta | | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot | | In 1951, a poor black woman died of cervical cancer, but pieces of the tumor that killed her, taken without her knowledge or consent, live on -- first in one lab, then in giant factories churning out vaccines, then aboard rocket ships launched into space. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. |
|  | LeMieux, Richard | | Breakfast at Sally’s: One Homeless Man’s Inspirational Journey, by Richard LeMieux | | He was a successful businessman, and then suddenly everything was gone -- this upbeat book chronicles his life as a homeless man, eating at the Salvation Army shelter in Bremerton (Sally’s), and moving from overwhelming depression to a discovery of a sense of hope. |
|  | Louis XIV | | Before Versailles: a Novel of Louis XIV, by Karleen Koen | | Despite his tender age (22) and relative lack of governing experience, young Louis XIV makes himself a force to be reckoned with during the first year of his reign -- navigating his way through court politics and intrigue, the Sun King develops the style and vrve that will define his lengthy sovereignty, sewing plenty of wild oats along the way. |
|  | Moore, Michael | | Here Comes Trouble: Stories From My Life, by Michael Moore | | Capturing the flavor of the past fifty years, yet deeply personal an dunflinchingly honest, this biography takes readers on a take-no-prisoners ride through the life and times of Michael Moore, surprising us with what we didn’t know. |
|  | Redford, Robert | | Robert Redford: the Biography, by Michael Feeney Callan | | From his personal papers -- journals, script notes, correspondence -- and hundreds of hours of taped interviews, one of the most admired Hollywood stars of his generation comes into focus as the complex man beneath his Hollywood persona. |
|  | Thatcher, Margaret | | The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, by John Campbell | | One of the most vital and controversial figures of our time, Thatcher’s followed from her humble, small-town upbringing to her rise to power as the United Kingdom’s first female prime minister, to her dramatic fall from grace after more than three decades. |
|  | Vonnegut, Kurt | | And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, a Life, by Charles Shields | | Vonnegut initially refused to grant an interview to the author but then relented, enabling Shieles to meet him during the last moments of his life -- this first authorized biography probes both Vonnegut’s creative struggles and family life, detailing his transition from "the bowery of the book world" to counterculture icon. |
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