Biography: general Books
Random House USA Inc Becoming Marie Antoinette
Book SynopsisThis enthralling confection of a novel, the first in a new trilogy, follows the transformation of a coddled Austrian archduchess into the reckless, powerful, beautiful queen Marie Antoinette. Why must it be me? I wondered. When I am so clearly inadequate to my destiny?Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon.Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in Vienna to the glitter, glamour, and gossip of Versailles, Antonia must change everything about herself in order to be accepted as dauphine of France and the wife of the awkward teenage boy who will one day be Louis XVI. Yet nothing can prepare her for the ingenuity and influence it will take to become queen.
£16.15
Random House USA Inc Confessions of Marie Antoinette
Book SynopsisA novel for fans of Philippa Gregory and Michelle Moran, Confessions of Marie Antoinette blends rich historical detail with searing drama, bringing to life the first years of the French Revolution and the final days of the legendary French queen. Versailles, 1789. As the burgeoning rebellion reaches the palace gates, Marie Antoinette finds her privileged and peaceful life swiftly upended by violence. Once her loyal subjects, the people of France now seek to overthrow the crown, placing the heirs of the Bourbon dynasty in mortal peril. Displaced to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the royal family is propelled into the heart of the Revolution. There, despite a few staunch allies, they are surrounded by cunning spies and vicious enemies. Yet despite the political and personal threats against her, Marie Antoinette remains, above all, a devoted wife and mother, standing steadfastly by her husband, Louis XVI, and protecting their young son and
£14.40
Random House USA Inc A Gift of Hope
Book Synopsis
£13.50
Random House USA Inc Ordinary Light
Book SynopsisNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • This dazzling memoir from the former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Life on Mars is the story of a young artist struggling to fashion her own understanding of belief, loss, history, and what it means to be black in America.Engrossing in its spare, simple understatement.... Evocative ... luminous. —The Washington PostIn Ordinary Light, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tracy K. Smith tells her remarkable story, giving us a quietly potent memoir that explores her coming-of-age and the meaning of home against a complex backdrop of race, faith, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and daughter.
£16.15
Random House USA Inc Wave
Book Synopsis
£15.30
Mariner Books The Daughters of Yalta
Book Synopsis A stirring account of one momentous week that would unleash fifty years of tyranny for half of Europe and plunge the world into the Cold War, as seen through the eyes of three young women. Catherine Grace Katz’s debut book, The Daughters of Yalta, is a marvelous and extraordinary work that reveals the human experience of the conference, with all its tragedy, love, betrayal, and even humor. She defines the relationships that shaped our world, and continue to shape our future.” —Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning writer and creator of Downton Abbey The untold story of the three intelligent and glamorous young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and of the conference’s fateful reverberations in the waning days of World War IITensions at Yalta threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days. Kathleen Harriman, daughter of U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman, was a war correspondent and champion skier. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devoted to her brilliant father, who depended on her astute political mind. Roosevelt’s only daughter, Anna, chosen instead of her mother, Eleanor, to accompany the president to Yalta, arrived there as keeper of her father’s most damaging secrets. Situated in the political maelstrom that marked the transition to the postwar world, The Daughters of Yalta is a remarkable story of fathers and daughters whose relationships were tested and strengthened by the history they witnessed and the future they crafted together.
£19.99
HarperCollins The High Desert
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWinner of a 2022 ALA Alex Award * Winner of the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Print Comics* One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2022 * One of NYPL's Best Books of 2022 *One of Chicago Public Library's "Best of the Best 2022 Books" * A Publishers Weekly "Best Book of 2022" * One of LitHub's "Best Graphic Novels and Nonfiction of 2022" * One of ALA's "Best Graphic Novels for Adults" — "Punk is James Spooner’s salvation as he comes of age in a racist world, but punk culture is also a microcosm of that world. The path to reconciliation—with himself, his parents, his peers—is navigated with exquisite nuance and compassion. A beautifully drawn story." — Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home "A rewarding journey of identity, creativity and self-determination." — Washington Post “Deeply relatable...it is genuinely therapeutic to read about James Spooner’s experiences: being in proximity to white supremacy, the exceptions that are made in small town, USA, and how quickly violence can escalate. Man oh man. The High Desert hits so deep.” — Kimya Dawson, Moldy Peaches "Like most coming-of-age books, 'The High Desert' is the saga of a square peg. What differentiates Spooner’s memoir is its bold confrontation of race." — Los Angeles Times "James Spooner’s documentary AFRO-PUNK not only exposed racism in the punk scene, it inspired a movement that centered Black and Brown punks everywhere. In his new memoir, we learn about the major pitfalls and minor triumphs that put Spooner on the path to realize his dream of an all Black mosh pit. Beautifully written and illustrated The High Desert is a must-have for every music fan. After I finished reading it I kept wishing a second, third and fourth volume would magically appear so it didn’t have to end." — Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill & Le Tigre “James Spooner captures an often overlooked, West Coast slice of modern American culture and subculture. Misfits, nerds, social outcasts and rebels: Mr. Spooner has delivered a well needed roadmap for future generations of kids that don’t quite fit in, especially kids of color.” — Norwood, Fishbone “This beautifully paced graphic memoir illustrates the struggle and joy of finding self-acceptance and community on the fringes. It perfectly captures the innocence, camaraderie, and trauma of being a punk of color in the late eighties and early nineties. I couldn’t look away.” — MariNaomi, author and illustrator of Losing the Girl "Washington DC is a long way from Apple Valley and the circumstances of James’ introduction to the punk underground are vastly different than mine, but there’s something so recognizable in The High Desert that I felt like I was there. I suspect in a way we were all there at one time in our lives, navigating and negotiating as we figured out just who the fuck we were and who was with us. I loved this book." — Ian MacKaye, Minor Threat & Fugazi “In each panel of The High Desert, James Spooner delivers magic between his art and his words, mixing the intense passions of youth with the hindsight of the wise. Gorgeously drawn, brutally honest, and as emotionally raw as your favorite punk song.” — Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev “A coming of age tale of the very precarious faultlines of growing up an outsider amongst outsiders: The High Desert is an American tale of race, politics, counter-culture, and the tender and personal story of Black adolescence rarely told.” — Brontez Purnell, author of 100 Boyfriends "This reminds me of how punk can pull us out of a pit, give us legs to dance on, and words to scream with our dumb drunk beautiful friends. This already feels like a classic." — Ben Passmore, author of BTTM FDRS and Your Black Friend “[A] probing graphic memoir. . . . . Spooner is a discerning student of his own past and the movement he joined. . . .[An] eloquent latter-day rejoinder to Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City. A lively, inspirational tale that will point readers toward art, music, and resistance of their own.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Much like Ghost World, this grabbing, angsty coming-of-age tale offers a sidewalk view of a creative subculture. It’s also a poignant ode to the power of music to fill voids left by family and circumstance, with provocations thrumming on race and identity that sound out like a smashed guitar.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A masterful debut that's just as captivating as it is inspiring. Spooner paints a world that's irresistible and harrowing, and fills it with the kind of honesty that defines every great graphic memoir." — Ezra Claytan Daniels, author of BTTM FDRS "James Spooner’s The High Desert has all the marks of a classic Black punk coming-of-age story. What makes this graphic novel extra special is Spooner’s thoughtful observations about the ways that Black kids have to flatten themselves to feel safe in hostile white spaces. If you’ve ever had to fight to be yourself, this book is for you." — Chris L. Terry, author of Black Card and Zero Fade "The High Desert is a memoir for music lovers. Spooner brings readers along on the punk journey of his younger self, blazing lyrics across the pages; the larger the writing, the louder the volume." — departures.com "His freshly told and achingly vulnerable graphic memoir illustrates his adolescence as being an outcast many times over...Spooner’s narration is endearingly earnest and honest feeling, whether pining after the cool Goth girl at the video store or exulting in discovering countercultural meccas like the East Village and Venice Beach." — Star Tribune "I always love a good ‘punk kid coming of age’ tale and the 350+ pages of this kept me reading pretty much non-stop to the end." — Hanging Hex "Perfect for fans of music history, as well anyone who’s ever been looking for their place to fit in." — Book Riot "A must-read for fans of punk music." — "The Hub" at the Young Adult Library Services Association.
£20.00
Lulu.com Letters of Abelard and Heloise Correspondences Between a Medieval Theologian and Scholar and His Student and Lover
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£10.87
Lulu.com A Tramp Across the Continent An Adventurer Journalist and Activist for Native American Rights and Natures Preservation Journeys Across North America Hardcover
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£23.65
Lulu.com A Tramp Across the Continent An Adventurer Journalist and Activist for Native American Rights and Natures Preservation Journeys Across North America
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£12.30
Lulu.com My Move
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£20.73
Lulu.com Attack Transport The Story of the USS Doyen The Story of the USS Doyen
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£9.93
Lulu.com Surface at the Pole The Extraordinary Voyages of the USS Skate
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£11.50
Lulu.com Surface at the Pole The Extraordinary Voyages of the USS Skate
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£27.25
Lulu.com They Call It Pacific
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£15.07
Lulu.com They Call It Pacific
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£34.52
Lulu.com The Life of St Mary Magdalene OR The Path of Penitence As Written by the Reverend Thomas S Preston in the Year 1860
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£26.79
Lulu.com Diehr Breedlove
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£15.88
Lulu.com Kommunarov St.
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£11.48
Lulu.com My Move
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£22.27
Lulu.com SelfReliance
£10.88
Lulu.com The Life of Pope Leo XIII
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£24.78
Lulu.com Cesar Cardinal Baronius
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£16.55
ReadHowYouWant Leonardo DiCaprio The Biography 16pt Large Print Edition
£25.64
£25.64
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl Madam Prime Minister
£20.69
Sarah Crichton Books Gertrude Bell
Book SynopsisA marvelous tale of an adventurous life of great historical importShe has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author (of Persian Pictures, The Desert and the Sown, and many other collections), poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes).She traveled the globe several times, but her passion was the desert, where she traveled with only her guns and her servants. Her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the Cairo Intelligence Office of the British government during World Wa
£16.00
North Point Press O My America Six Women and Their Second Acts in a New World
£12.34
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc American Rhapsody Writers Musicians Movie Stars and One Great Building
£20.69
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Against Wind and Tide
Book SynopsisIn this final collection of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s letters and journals, we mark Mrs. Lindbergh’s progress as she navigated a remarkable life and a remarkable century with enthusiasm and delight, humor and wit, sorrow and bewilderment, but above all devoted to finding the essential truth in life’s experiences through a hard-won spirituality and a passion for literature. Between the inevitable squalls of life with her beloved but elusive husband, the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, she shepherded their five children through whooping cough, horned toads, fiancés, the Vietnam War, and their own personal tragedies. She researched and wrote books and articles on issues ranging from the condition of Europe after World War II to the meaning of marriage to the launch of Apollo 8. She published one of the most beloved books of inspiration of all time, Gift from the Sea. She left penetrating accounts of meetings with such luminaries as John and Ja
£14.24
Penguin Random House LLC The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
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£12.99
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc Traveling Mercies
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£15.26
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc Mother Angelica
Book Synopsis
£16.99
WW Norton & Co Questions Of Madness
Book SynopsisZhores Medvedev, a Soviet biochemist and outspoken critic of the Soviet bureaucracy, who was railroaded into a mental hospital, and his brother, historian Roy Medvedev, who rallied the Soviet scientific and intellectual community in protest, together tell the story of repression by psychiatry in Russia today.
£18.50
W. W. Norton & Company Give Us This Day
Book SynopsisWhat happened to the survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March in World War II? In a new edition of this classic account, Sidney Stewart gives one man's gripping answer.
£19.76
W. W. Norton & Company Karl Marx
Book SynopsisA brilliant book, by a superb author, about a necessary man.-Christopher Hitchens
£22.00
W. W. Norton & Company One of Ours Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing
£19.95
W. W. Norton & Company Dear Juliette Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley
Book SynopsisIn these extraordinary letters, we see May Sarton in all her complexities and are privy to her tangled relationship with Juliette Huxley, whom May considered her muse and the greatest love of her life.
£22.32
W. W. Norton & Company Wanderer
Book SynopsisFourteen years ago, when it was first published, Wanderer startled the reading world. Here was no simple narrative of a sea voyage, and here was the antithesis of a self-serving Hollywood memoir.
£22.80
W. W. Norton & Company Castles Burning A Childs Life in War
Book SynopsisRecounting an odyssey through the wreckage and homelessness of postwar Europe, Castles Burning embodies for us a powerful personality, a stunning gift for prose and storytelling, a remarkable sense of humor, and true emotional wisdom.
£20.42
WW Norton & Co Funny Weather
Book Synopsis“One of the finest writers of the new nonfiction” (Harper’s Bazaar) explores the role of art in our tumultuous modern era.Trade Review"[Olivia Laing is] a kind of cultural sage… an accidental literary grande dame of the emotional havoc wrought by late capitalism and digital disconnect." -- Hillary Kelly - Vulture"Laing’s arts writing is sharp-minded, and her manner is generous toward both subject and reader." -- John Glassie - Washington Post"Laing writes of her creative subjects in a winning, passionate voice that proves both soothing and galvanizing, especially amid a panic.… It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there." -- Alina Cohen - Observer"As exterior life shuts temporarily down, Funny Weather is an immensely useful reminder that new space can be intellectual as well as physical.… Laing animates her prose with concise, brainy descriptions of visual art.… Laing is a tremendously gifted genre-mixer, and her writing flourishes most when its topic requires her both to observe and to imagine.… Funny Weather is an invitation to Laing’s imaginary museum, where minds if not bodies meet, and where true hospitality resides." -- Lily Meyer - Hyperallergic"Laing opens each piece with a deceptive ease [and] alights upon poetic insights.… [H]er light touch throughout these essays makes room for some stunning perceptions." -- A.V. Club"A thought-provoking, inspiring collection that you can go back to whenever the weather takes a funny turn." -- Susannah Butter - Evening Standard"Funny Weather gives the reader a tangible sense of the sprawling garden of work which Laing has planted. She is to the art world what David Attenborough is to nature: a worthy guide with both a macro and micro vision, fluent in her chosen tongue and always full of empathy and awe." -- Mia Colleran - Irish Times"An incisive meditation on the value of heartfelt, messy art in our paranoid times." -- Telegraph"A fine writer’s embrace of the artists who preceded her, friendly visits with their lives, and loving acknowledgement of their foundational contributions. A work of joy in recognition." -- Sarah Schulman, author of Conflict Is Not Abuse"Like all great critics, Olivia Laing combines formidable intelligence with boundless curiosity and fabulous taste, but she also has a rare quality of intimacy; an ability to connect the reader to a work of art or literature (or for that matter a facet of life itself) with a directness that lights it up like nothing else. It’s why I read her." -- James Lasdun, author of Afternoon of a Faun
£13.29
WW Norton & Co The Stranger Beside Me
Book SynopsisA new edition of the iconic, best-selling account of America’s most fascinating serial killer, “perhaps the most unnerving true-crime book ever published” (Victoria Beale, The New Yorker), with a foreword by Georgia Hardstark. Trade Review"Ann Rule has an extraordinary angle...[on] the most fascinating killer in modern American history." -- New York Times"Perhaps the most unnerving true-crime book ever published." -- The New Yorker"So riveting that I missed my train stop... [Rule] does an amazing job shining a light on the lives of the victims and works hard to demystify the myth of Ted." -- Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell - New York Times Book Review"A shattering story...carefully investigated, written with compassion but also with professional objectivity." -- Seattle Times
£15.19
Penguin Putnam Inc Priestdaddy
Book Synopsis
£15.30
Random House USA Inc Last Witnesses
Book Synopsis“A masterpiece” (The Guardian) from the Nobel Prize–winning writer, an oral history of children’s experiences in World War II across RussiaNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the twentieth century. When the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing “a new kind of literary genre,” describing her work as “a history of emotions . . . a history of the soul.” Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, Last Witnesses is Alexievich’s collection of the memories of those who were children during World War II. They had sometimes been soldiers as well as witnesses, and their generation grew up with the trauma of the war deeply embedded—a trauma that would change the course of the Russian nation. Coll
£16.20
Random House USA Inc The Undocumented Americans
Book SynopsisNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation.“Karla’s book sheds light on people’s personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard.”—Selena GomezFINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIMEWriter Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she’d tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer’s p
£15.30
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC My Life In Art Biography and Autobiography
Book SynopsisIn this volume, Stanislavski recalls his theatrical career, from his early experiences in Rubinstein's Russian Musical Society to his final triumphs with Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre. His account of his own famous productions is interspersed with his anecdotes of the famous.
£27.47
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Moscow Art Theatre Letters Diaries Letters and Essays
Book SynopsisThese letters, most of them translated into English for the first time, tell the inside story of the Moscow Art Theatre, which changed the face of 20th century acting. They include correspondence between such important figures as Stanislavski, Chekhov, Bulgakov, Meyerhold and Isadora Duncan.
£27.47
Penguin Putnam Inc When Rabbit Howls
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPraise for When Rabbit Howls“Startling...stunning...powerful.”—The San Francisco Chronicle“Perhaps the most extraordinary victim of multiple personalities on record. A nightmarish story the reader cannot easily forget.”—The Chicago Tribune“Horrifying, compelling...a shocking tale...extremely disturbing.”—Psychology Today“A fascinating book...unusual and very emotionally touching.”—Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, the psychiatrist who treated Sybil“An extraordinary story. [When Rabbit Howls] is the reconstruction, through therapy, of the lost life of a woman so...abused by her stepfather that her only defense down the years was to shatter into the Troops...no fewer than 92 different and autonomous personalities.”—The Guardian (London)“Remarkable...alarmingly real and courageous.”—Toronto Sun“Fascinating, provocative reading.”—Library Journal“The first book authored by a multiple personality...When Rabbit Howls is a document that breaks the silence...a searing indictment of the crime of child sexual abuse...a truly moving and thought-provoking work...an uplifting, inspiring story of a survivor.”—Sojourner: The Women’s Forum
£15.30
