Collection: Biography & Memoir

Addiction and trauma are two of the most common and difficult issues that people face. In this motivating book, leading expert Lisa Najavits explains the link between addiction and trauma and presents science-based self-help strategies that you can use no matter where you are in your recovery. Every chapter features inspiring words from people who have "been there," plus carefully designed reflection questions, exercises, and other practical tools. Learn how you can:

*Build coping skills so that the future is better than the past.
*Keep yourself safe and find support.
*Set your own goals and make a plan to achieve them at your own pace.
*Choose compassion over self-blame and shame.
*Move toward your best self--the person you want to be.

If you are a family member or friend seeking to support a loved one--or a helping professional--this book is also for you. Now in a convenient large-size format, the revised edition features added materials for professional and peer counselors. First edition title: Recovery from Trauma, Addiction, or Both.

Mental health professionals, see also the author's Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse, which presents an evidence-based treatment approach developed specifically for PTSD and substance abuse.

The story of a patient who changed the world, and the mystery of her illness.

In 1880, young Bertha Pappenheim got strangely ill--she lost her ability to control her voice and her body. She was treated by Sigmund Freud's mentor, Josef Breuer, who diagnosed her with "hysteria." Together, Pappenheim and Breuer developed what she called "the talking cure"--talking out memories to eliminate symptoms. Freud renamed her "Anna O" and appropriated her ideas to form the theory of psychoanalysis. All his life, he told lies about her. For over a century, writers have argued about her illness and cure.

In this unusual work of science, history, and psychology, Brownstein does more than describe the controversies surrounding this extraordinary woman. He brings Pappenheim to life--a brilliant feminist thinker, a crusader against human trafficking, and a pioneer--in the hustling and heady world of nineteenth-century Vienna. At the same time, he tells a parallel story that is playing out in leading medical centers today, about patients who suffer symptoms very much like Pappenheim's, and about the doctors who are trying to cure them--the story of the neuroscience of a condition now called FND.

The Secret Mind of Bertha Pappenheim argues for the healing art of listening and describes the new "talking cures" emerging out of neuroscience today.

Told for the first time in picture book form is the true story of James Lafayette--an enslaved person who spied for George Washington's army during the American Revolution.

After his resounding defeat at the battle of Yorktown, British general Charles Cornwallis made a point of touring the American camp, looking for the reason behind his loss. What he didn't expect to see was James, an escaped enslaved person who had served as a guide to the British army. Or at least that's what Cornwallis was led to believe. In fact, James wasn't actually a runaway--he was a spy for the American army.

But while America celebrated its newfound freedom, James returned to slavery in Virginia. His service as a spy hadn't qualified him for the release he'd been hoping for. For James the fight wasn't over; his next adversary was the Virginia General Assembly. He'd already helped his country gain its freedom, now it was time to win his own.

Kiera Van Gelder's first suicide attempt at the age of twelve marked the onset of her struggles with drug addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress, self-harm, and chaotic romantic relationships-all of which eventually led to doctors' belated diagnosis of borderline personality disorder twenty years later.

The Buddha and the Borderline is a window into this mysterious and debilitating condition, an unblinking portrayal of one woman's fight against the emotional devastation of borderline personality disorder. This haunting, intimate memoir chronicles both the devastating period that led to Kiera's eventual diagnosis and her inspirational recovery through therapy, Buddhist spirituality, and a few online dates gone wrong. Kiera's story sheds light on the private struggle to transform suffering into compassion for herself and others, and is essential reading for all seeking to understand what it truly means to recover and reclaim the desire to live.

This is the real story of Bonnie and Clyde and their troubled times, separating fact from fiction, delivered with cinematic sweep by the author of bestselling true crime biographies of Charles Manson, Jim Jones, and the shootout at the OK Corral.

The tempestuous, bloody, and splendid reign of Henry VIII of England (1509-1547) is one of the most fascinating in all history, not least for his marriage to six extraordinary women. In this accessible work of brilliant scholarship, Alison Weir draws on early biographies, letters, memoirs, account books, and diplomatic reports to bring these women to life. Catherine of Aragon emerges as a staunch though misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn, an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour, a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves, a good-natured and innocent woman naively unaware of the court intrigues that determined her fate; Catherine Howard, an empty-headed wanton; and Catherine Parr, a warm-blooded bluestocking who survived King Henry to marry a fourth time.

I sat down to write a book about pain and ended up writing about love, says award-winning Chickasaw poet and novelist Linda Hogan. In this book, she recounts her difficult childhood as the daughter of an army sergeant, her love affair at age fifteen with an older man, the legacy of alcoholism, the troubled history of her adopted daughters, and her own physical struggles since a recent horse accident. She shows how historic and emotional pain are passed down through generations, blending personal history with stories of important Indian figures of the past such as Lozen, the woman who was the military strategist for Geronimo, and Ohiesha, the Santee Sioux medical doctor who witnessed the massacre at Wounded Knee. Ultimately, Hogan sees herself and her people whole again and gives an illuminating story of personal triumph. This wise and compassionate offering deserves to be widely read.--

Publishers Weekly, starred review

A Jane Addam's Children's Book Award Honor Book for Younger Children.

Dolores is a teacher, a mother, and a friend She wants to know why her students are too hungry to listen, why they don't have shoes to wear to school.

Dolores is a warrior, an organizer, and a peacemaker. When she finds out that the farm workers in her community are poorly paid and working under dangerous conditions, she stands up for their rights.

This is the story of Dolores Huerta and the extraordinary battle she waged to ensure fair and safe work places for migrant workers. The powerful text, paired with Robert Casilla's vibrant watercolor-and-pastel illustrations, brings Dolores's amazing journey to life. A timeline, additional reading, articles, websites, and resources for teachers are included.

No woman in the three-hundred-year history of the karyukai has ever come forward in public to tell her story--until now.

"Many say I was the best geisha of my generation," writes Mineko Iwasaki. "And yet, it was a life that I found too constricting to continue. And one that I ultimately had to leave." Trained to become a geisha from the age of five, Iwasaki would live among the other "women of art" in Kyoto's Gion Kobu district and practice the ancient customs of Japanese entertainment. She was loved by kings, princes, military heroes, and wealthy statesmen alike. But even though she became one of the most prized geishas in Japan's history, Iwasaki wanted more: her own life. And by the time she retired at age twenty-nine, Iwasaki was finally on her way toward a new beginning.

Geisha, a Life is her story -- at times heartbreaking, always awe-inspiring, and totally true.

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman in Vienna when the Gestapo forced her into a ghetto and then into a slave labor camp. When she returned home months later, she knew she would become a hunted woman and went underground. With the help of a Christian friend, she emerged in Munich as Grete Denner. There she met Werner Vetter, a Nazi Party member who fell in love with her. Despite Edith's protests and even her eventual confession that she was Jewish, he married her and kept her identity a secret.

In wrenching detail, Edith recalls a life of constant, almost paralyzing fear. She tells how German officials casually questioned the lineage of her parents; how during childbirth she refused all painkillers, afraid that in an altered state of mind she might reveal something of her past; and how, after her husband was captured by the Soviets, she was bombed out of her house and had to hide while drunken Russian soldiers raped women on the street.

Despite the risk it posed to her life, Edith created a remarkable record of survival. She saved every document, as well as photographs she took inside labor camps. Now part of the permanent collection at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., these hundreds of documents, several of which are included in this volume, form the fabric of a gripping new chapter in the history of the Holocaust--complex, troubling, and ultimately triumphant.

In his debut collection of personal essays, Emmy-nominated screenwriter Michael Jamin (King of the Hill, Just Shoot Me, Beavis and Butt-Head, Wilfred, Maron, Rules of Engagement, Tacoma FD) recounts the true stories of a sensitive, anxious man searching for the things that are most important: identity, love, forgiveness, and redemption.

A cross between David Sedaris and Neil Simon, Michael discovers his unlikeliest moments of growth: he fakes his way onto a college-football team to experience a moment of grace; gets caught lying during a Hollywood power meeting; takes advantage of the pandemic lockdown to repair his relationship with his daughters, breaks up with a woman because she can't stop saying "just kidding."

Audaciously funny yet achingly poignant, A Paper Orchestra will have you rethinking the smallest, almost forgotten moments of your life.

The unique history of aerial firefighting as seen through the eyes of a pilot, former Navy SEAL, and current owner of one of the most successful aerial firefighting companies in the world.

Blending historical context and first-person narrative, Mudslingers tells the dramatic and colorful story of aerial firefighting in America, as seen through the eyes of a decorated former Navy SEAL, US Naval Academy graduate, firefighting pilot, and businessman who founded Montana-based Bridger Aerospace, one of the most successful aerial firefighting teams in the world. Part narrative nonfiction, part memoir, Mudslingers is a riveting account of one person's journey from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to the front lines of a different but no less important battle on the home front--the war against the escalating threat of wildfire.

From the early days of the B-17 to the modern fleets of the twenty-first century, Tim Sheehy will take you on a ride through the history of aerial firefighting--the most hazardous and demanding aviation mission in the world. Mudslingers is a rollicking read, an enlightening journey, and a call to action for anyone who believes wildfires are not only one of the greatest threats facing modern civilization but a threat that has long been underestimated, misunderstood, and poorly addressed, despite repeated examples of bravery and innovation by those who choose to do battle with the flames.

Indeed, save for a few historic military engagements in the twentieth century, there is not a sustained aviation mission anywhere that comes close to encompassing the danger, precision, and unforgiving nature of aerial firefighting.

In telling this story, Sheehy takes readers into the cockpit and into the lives of his fellow pilots--past and present--as they struggle with the seemingly never-ending threat of wildfires. One hundred percent of author proceeds from this book are donated to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation and the United Aerial Firefighters Association.

A one-of-a-kind historical document and celebration of the artwork behind several of the Master of Suspense's greatest films.

This stunning coffee table book focuses on the storyboards for nine of Alfred Hitchcock's classic movies - Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, Torn Curtain, Marnie, Shadow of a Doubt and Spellbound. It includes never before-published images and incisive text putting the material in context and examining the role the pieces played in some of the most unforgettable scenes in cinema. Hitchcock author and aficionado Tony Lee Moral takes you through the last 100 years of cinema, with the Master of Suspense as your guide.

Dean Stott made a mistake that he was certain was going to cost him his life. As a former Special Operations soldier, this was not his first mission in Yemen. Yet although he was appropriately dressed head-to-toe as a local, he had neglected to put in brown contact lenses. Stott had been compromised. With thoughts of his family racing through his mind, Stott reached below his automobile seat and took hold of his weapon.

In a gripping retelling of his life story to date, Stott shares insight into his esteemed military career in the British army where he conducted deployments to hostile environments, worked within counterterrorism operations in some of the most dangerous places in the world, and survived a horrific parachute accident. As he leads others into his experiences, Stott discloses how he continued to fuel his journey of excellence five years after leaving the military by becoming the first man to cycle the Pan American Highway in under one hundred days while raising over a million dollars for mental health awareness charities. Throughout his retelling, Stott offers an inspiring reminder that we all have the capability to use our inner voices, drive, and instincts to become relentless in our pursuits in life.

Relentless is the extraordinary true story of Tier One Special Forces soldier, adventurer, and world-record breaker, Dean Stott.

Book Excellence Award Finalist -- Adventure

Discover the backstory of one of America's favorite toys, the yo-yo, in this colorful biography of businessman Pedro Flores.

It can spin and roll, leap and twirl. You can stretch it between your hands or swing it between your legs. The tricks you can do with one are nearly endless. No wonder the yo-yo is one of the most successful toys ever made! And its popularity began with a Filipino immigrant.

Pedro Flores was born in the Philippines in 1896, when Spain still ruled his country. After the US took over, Pedro traveled to California, received an education, and looked for ways to go into business for himself. Then he remembered a toy from his childhood called the yo-yo, which means "come back" in Tagalog. With a couple of blocks of wood and a little string, Pedro created his first model yo-yo and practiced tricks to show it off.

It was an instant hit! When children saw the yo-yo in action, they clamored to get one themselves. So Pedro always performed his tricks near movie theaters, outside candy shops--anywhere he knew children would see the toy. Soon he was hiring fellow Filipinos to advertise it for him, while he ran factories that manufactured more than a million yo-yos a week! Winner of Lee & Low's New Voices award, Pedro's Yo-Yos is the lively story of one immigrant's ups and downs as an entrepreneur and his determination to create a toy that would capture the imagination of children and adults all over the world.