Collection: Biography & Memoir

Winner of the 2012 Sarton Memoir Award

"Every few years, a memoir comes along that revitalizes the form...With generous, precise, and unsentimental prose, Monica Wood brilliantly achieves this . . . When We Were the Kennedys is a deeply moving gem!"--Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog and Townie

Mexico, Maine, 1963: The Wood family is much like its close, Catholic, immigrant neighbors, all dependent on the fathers' wages from the Oxford Paper Company. But when Dad suddenly dies on his way to work, Mum and the four deeply connected Wood girls are set adrift. When We Were the Kennedys is the story of how a family, a town, and then a nation mourns and finds the strength to move on.

"On her own terms, wry and empathetic, Wood locates the melodies in the aftershock of sudden loss."--Boston Globe

"[A] marvel of storytelling, layered and rich. It is, by turns, a chronicle of the renowned paper mill that was both pride and poison to several generations of a town; a tribute to the ethnic stew of immigrant families that grew and prospered there; and an account of one family's grief, love, and resilience."--Maine Sunday Telegram

Named by the New Yorker as one of the best books of 2022, this posthumously published work serves as the fourth and final volume in Anne Truitt's remarkable series of journals

"Impressive. . . . Truitt lyrically looks back on 80 years of life. . . . [T]hese daily entries . . . offer a version of Truitt free of artifice as she meditates on the sacred and mundane. . . . This sparks with intelligence."--Publishers Weekly

"Truitt wrote as she sculpted, returning to the past again and again to find fresh truths. . . . A model of discipline and open-ended inquiry and a welcome counterweight to the kind of anxieties that so often accompany a creative practice."--Megan O'Grady, New Yorker

"In its stripped-down intimacy, Yield shows Truitt at her most eloquent in demonstrating, as her sculptures do, that all revelation in art is self-revelation."--Donna Rifkind, Wall Street Journal

In the spring of 1974, the artist Anne Truitt (1921-2004) committed herself to keeping a journal for a year. She would continue the practice, sometimes intermittently, over the next six years, writing in spiral-bound notebooks and setting no guidelines other than to "let the artist speak." These writings were published as Daybook: The Journal of an Artist (1982). Two other journal volumes followed: Turn (1986) and Prospect (1996). This book, the final volume, comprises journals the artist kept from the winter of 2001 to the spring of 2002, two years before her death.

In Yield, Truitt's unflinching honesty is on display as she contemplates her place in the world and comes to terms with the intellectual, practical, emotional, and spiritual issues that an artist faces when reconciling her art with her life, even as that life approaches its end. Truitt illuminates a life and career in which the demands, responsibilities, and rewards of family, friends, motherhood, and grandmotherhood are ultimately accepted, together with those of a working artist.

Coretta Scott King Author Award

Read about the fascinating life of Bass Reeves, who escaped slavery to become the first African American Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi.

Sitting tall in the saddle, with a wide-brimmed black hat and twin Colt pistols on his belt, Bass Reeves seemed bigger than life. Outlaws feared him. Law-abiding citizens respected him. As a peace officer, he was cunning and fearless. When a lawbreaker heard Bass Reeves had his warrant, he knew it was the end of the trail, because Bass always got his man, dead or alive. He achieved all this in spite of whites who didn't like the notion of a Black lawman.

Born into slavery in 1838, Bass had a hard and violent life, but he also had a strong sense of right and wrong that others admired. When Judge Isaac Parker tried to bring law and order to the lawless Indian Territories, he chose Bass to be a Deputy US Marshal. Bass would quickly prove a smart choice. For three decades, Bass was the most feared and respected lawman in the territories. He made more than 3,000 arrests, and though he was a crack shot and a quick draw, he only killed fourteen men in the line of duty. The story of Bass Reeves is the story of a remarkable African American and a remarkable hero of the Old West.

A PEOPLE BOOK OF THE WEEK WINNER OF THE JQ-WINGATE LITERARY PRIZE "A haunting tribute to survivors and those lost forever--and a reminder, in our own troubled era, never to forget." --People An "exceptional" (The Wall Street Journal) and "poignant" (The New York Times) book in the tradition of rediscovered works like Suite Française and The Nazi Officer's Wife, the powerful memoir of a fearless Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.In 1921, Françoise Frenkel--a Jewish woman from Poland--fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin's first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations. Françoise's dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her. Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly sixty years later in an attic, A Bookshop in Berlin is a remarkable story of survival and resilience, of human cruelty and human spirit. In the tradition of Suite Française and The Nazi Officer's Wife, this book is the tale of a fearless woman whose lust for life and literature refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.

The secret history of the rebellious Frenchwomen who were exiled to colonial Louisiana and found power in the Mississippi Valley

In 1719, a ship named La Mutine (the mutinous woman), sailed from the French port of Le Havre, bound for the Mississippi. It was loaded with urgently needed goods for the fledgling French colony, but its principal commodity was a new kind of export: women.

Falsely accused of sex crimes, these women were prisoners, shackled in the ship's hold. Of the 132 women who were sent this way, only 62 survived. But these women carved out a place for themselves in the colonies that would have been impossible in France, making advantageous marriages and accumulating property. Many were instrumental in the building of New Orleans and in settling Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, and Mississippi.

Drawing on an impressive range of sources to restore the voices of these women to the historical record, Mutinous Women introduces us to the Gulf South's Founding Mothers.

In 1775, Paul Revere of Boston made his now-famous horseback ride warning colonists of an impending attack by the British. This event went largely unnoticed in history until Longfellow celebrated it in a poem in 1861. So who was Paul Revere? In addition to being an American patriot, he was a skilled silversmith and made false teeth from hippo tusks! This biography, with black-and-white illustrations throughout, brings to life Paul Revere's thrilling ride as well as the personal side of the man and the exciting times in which he lived.

This searing memoir tells the story of a young doctor and activist who ran an underground hospital in Damascus, humanizing the enduring crisis in Syria.

Simply put, there is no one in Syria with a story like Dr. Amani Ballour's. The only woman to have ever run a wartime hospital, she saved her peers from the atrocities of war while contending with the patriarchal conservatism around her.

Growing up in Assad's Syria, Ballour knew she wanted to be more than a housewife, even as her siblings were married off in their teens. As the revolution unfolded, she volunteered at a local clinic and was thrown into the deep end of emergency medicine. Among the facets of this powerful tale: Becoming a hospital director. Shielding children from a horrific sarin attack. Losing colleagues. Attempting to employ more women. Abandoning the hospital. Becoming a refugee. Moving forward.

Amani Ballour is a game changer who, like Malala Yousafzai, will be remembered as one of history's great heroines. Growing up in a closely confined society, she dared to dream--first of an education, then of a career--that allowed her to make her mark on the world and protect the country she loves. A passionately committed humanitarian, she is determined that others will escape the horrors she survived.

The inspirational and little-known story of a dedicated teacher who coached Hawaiian swimmers all the way to the Olympics, beautifully told in simple rhyme.

When the children of workers on a 1930s Maui sugar plantation were chased away from playing in the nearby irrigation ditches, local science teacher Soichi Sakamoto had an idea. He offered to take responsibility for the children -- and then he began training them how to swim. Using his science background, Sakamoto devised his own innovative coaching techniques: he developed a strict practice regime for the kids, building their strength and endurance by using the ditch water's natural current. The children worked hard under the dedicated Sakamoto's guidance, and their skills improved. They formed a swim club and began to dominate in swimming events around the world. And then one day, the proud Sakamoto saw an impossible dream come true -- Olympic gold!

In a unique approach that makes for a moving read-aloud, Julie Abery uses limited rhyming text to tell the little-known story of Coach Sakamoto and the Three-Year Swim Club. The stunning art of award-winning and highly acclaimed Chris Sasaki perfectly complements the lyrical storytelling. This inspiring picture book offers excellent lessons in perseverance, believing in yourself and not letting others define you, while wonderfully capturing how one person can make a huge difference in the lives of others. In highlighting the team's "bright and loud" presence at events, with their Hawaiian dress and ukulele, it also encourages children to take pride in their heritage and view it as a strength. An author's note with photos and more information tell the fuller story of Soichi Sakamoto and his Three-Year Swim Club.

De la autora de Yo no soy tu perfecta hija mexicana, bestseller del New York Times, nos llegan estos originalísimos ensayos autobiográficos, profundamente conmovedores y de una comicidad que desarma.

Hija de inmigrantes mexicanos y criada en Chicago en la década de los noventa, Erika L. Sánchez se ha descrito a sí misma como paria, inadaptada y un chasco: agitadora melancólica y malhablada que se pintaba las uñas de negro, pero también disfrutaba la comedia y tenía el sueño improbable de ser poeta. Veinticinco años más tarde se ha convertido en una galardonada novelista, poeta y ensayista, pero no ha perdido la risa incontrolable, su áspero ingenio y sus singulares poderes para percibir el mundo a su alrededor.

En estos ensayos, que tratan de todo --desde la sexualidad hasta el feminismo blanco, pasando por la depresión debilitante y las búsquedas redentoras de la espiritualidad, el arte y los viajes--, Sánchez revela una vida interior rica en ideas, autoconciencia y percepción: la de una mujer que trazó un camino enteramente de su propia factura. Atrevido, perspicaz, incorregible y brutalmente honesto, Llorando en el baño es Sánchez en su máxima expresión: un libro que te hará sentir ese subidón que resulta de revelaciones íntimas y horas de plática con tu mejor amiga.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is asdeeply moving as it is hilarious.

Growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Chicago in the nineties, Erika Sánchez was a self-described pariah, misfit, and disappointment--a foul-mouthed, melancholic rabble-rouser who painted her nails black but also loved comedy, often laughing so hard with her friends that she had to leave her school classroom. Twenty-five years later, she's now an award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, but she's still got an irrepressible laugh, an acerbic wit, and singular powers of perception about the world around her.

In these essays, Sánchez writes about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression, revealing an interior life rich with ideas, self-awareness, and perception. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest, Crying in the Bathroom is Sánchez at her best--a book that will make you feel that post-confessional high that comes from talking for hours with your best friend.

"Not only is there more to life than basketball, there's a lot more to basketball than basketball." -- Phil Jackson"
One of the most successful coaches in NBA history, Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson provides an inside look at the higher wisdom of teamwork with "Sacred Hoops" -- Jackson's philosophy of mindful basketball and his lifelong quest to bring enlightenment to the competitive world of professional sports.
A new paradigm of leadership based on Eastern and Native American principles, Jackson's approach flies in the face of the egoistic, winner-take-all attitude that has changed the face of American sports. Rather than winning through intimidation, Jackson -- who describes himself as a Zen Christian -- stresses awareness, compassion and most of all selfless team play. Filled with stories about Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc and other members of the Bulls, "Sacred Hoops" reveals how Jackson directs his players to act with a clear mind; to respect the enemy and be aggressive without anger or violence; to live in the moment and stay calmly focused in the midst of chaos, so that the "me" becomes the servant of the "we."
In "Sacred Hoops, " Jackson takes us inside the mind of the thinking man's coach as he builds one of the greatest teams of all time. Not just for sports fans, this inspiring memoir is for anyone interested in the potential of the human spirit.

Luscious reproductions of more than 50 of Twombly's paintings, drawings and little-known sculptures, along with classical works of art, tell the story of an American abstractionist's poetical dialogue with antiquity

Cy Twombly's first visit to Italy as a young man ignited a lifelong passion for classical culture that is everywhere present in his art. Painted canvases, works on paper and small-scale sculptures reveal the historical soul of Twombly's abstract compositions. Taking on myths and heroes as personal guides, he created a psychologically complex dialogue with the visual and literary art of antiquity.

This sumptuously illustrated publication reproduces a carefully chosen selection of the artist's paintings, drawings and sculptures alongside works of classical antiquity, including a number from his personal collection. Illuminating essays by leading scholars and writers, including Anne Carson, Jennifer R. Gross, Brooke Holmes and Mary Jacobus, explore the often enigmatic engagement of Twombly's art with the world of the past.

Cy Twombly (1928-2011) was born in Lexington, Virginia, and lived and worked in New York in the early 1950s and at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. After traveling around North Africa, Spain and Italy, he settled in Rome, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to Super Bowl victory in 2020. That year, he signed a record-breaking contract with the team. Learn about the superstar's life on and off the field.

In It's Just the Way It Was: Inside the War on the New England Mob and other stories, Joe Broadmeadow and Brendan Doherty take you inside the investigations, covert surveillances, and murky world of informants in the war against Organized Crime.

Make no mistake about it, it was a war targeting the insidious nature of the mob and their detrimental effect on Rhode Island and throughout New England.
Indeed, the book reveals the extensive nature of Organized Crime throughout the United States.

From the opening moments detailing a mob enforcer's near death in a hail of gunfire to the potentially deadly confrontation between then Detective Brendan Doherty and a notorious mob associate, Gerard Ouimette, this book puts you right there in the middle.

Most books on the mob tell a sanitized story of guys who relished their time as mobsters. As Nicholas Pileggi, author of "Wiseguys," put it, "most mob books are the egomaniacal ravings of an illiterate hood masquerading as a benevolent godfather."

This is not that kind of book. This is the story of the good guys.

It's just the way it was.

One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams--including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge--seemed to have slipped beyond his reach. Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year's Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had. Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal--come what may--of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year. One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous--for gifts or kindnesses he'd received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who'd done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he'd sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John's way--from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John's whole life turned around.A Simple Act of Gratitude is a rare memoir: its touching, immediately accessible message--and benefits--come to readers from the plainspoken storytelling of an ordinary man. Kralik sets a believable, doable example of how to live a miraculously good life. To read A Simple Act of Gratitude is to be changed.

Who HQ brings you the stories behind the most beloved characters of our time.

His aliases include the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, and World's Greatest Detective, but he's best known as Batman, and he's leaping from the night sky onto the page in this fun biography.

Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American philanthropist and business owner, and Batman, his crime-fighting alter ego, have been entertaining audiences since 1939. The character was so popular after appearing in Detective Comics that DC Comics decided to give Batman a comic book of his own. In doing so, they created one of the company's most successful franchises.

Author Michael Burgan details the history of Batman--from his tragic origin story and his infamous arch enemies--to his iconic depictions in television and movies throughout the years. This book shows readers why this superhero with no superpowers is so beloved around the world.

A Washington Post Best Children's Book of 2017
Parents' Choice Recommended

Get to know Zaha Hadid in this nonfiction picture book about the famed architect's life and her triumph over adversity from celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter.

Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying architecture in London, she opened her own studio and started designing buildings. But as a Muslim woman, Hadid faced many obstacles. Determined to succeed, she worked hard for many years, and achieved her goals--and now you can see the buildings Hadid has designed all over the world.