Collection: Biography & Memoir

Winner of the Indie National Excellence Award for Nonfiction Category and the Book Excellence Awards for Adventure Non-Fiction.

Foreword Indies Honorable Mention and Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite.

Christine discovered long distance backpacking while surfing the internet at work. She decided that day to attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. One adventure led to another and a few years later she set out on the Wonderland Trail in Mt Rainier National Park.

Her Rugged Outdoors Woman persona started as a joke, a nod to the outdoor adventurer that she wished to be. But in the years since, she has come into her own as a backpacker, rock climber, and trail runner. This book is a testament to the decision to name who you want to be and make it so.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Kennedy and Me and Five Days in November reflects on his seventeen years on the Secret Service for presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford.

The assassination of one

A celebrated historian recounts Hubert Humphrey's role as a liberal hero of twentieth-century America

Hubert Humphrey was liberalism's most dedicated defender, and its most public and tragic sacrifice. As a young politician in 1948, he defied segregationists and forced the Democratic Party to commit itself to civil rights. As a senator in 1964, he made good on that commitment by helping pass the Civil Rights Act. But as Lyndon B. Johnson's vice president, his support for the war in Vietnam made him a target for both Right and Left, and he suffered a shattering loss in the presidential election of 1968.

Though Humphrey's defeat was widely seen as the end of America's era of liberal optimism, he never gave up. Even after his humiliation on the most public stage, he crafted a new vision of economic justice to counter the yawning political divisions consuming American politics. This biography reveals a deep-dyed idealist willing to compromise and even fight ugly in pursuit of a better society. Elegantly crafted and strikingly relevant to the present, True Believer celebrates Hubert Humphrey's long struggle for justice for all.

The landmark survey of Judd's iconic spaces, featuring new drawing details, archival materials and more

This second expanded edition presents an unprecedented visual survey of the living and working spaces of the artist Donald Judd in New York and Texas. Filled with newly commissioned and archival photographs alongside five essays by the artist, this book provides an opportunity to explore Judd's personal spaces, which are a crucial part of this revered artist's oeuvre.
From a 19th-century cast-iron building in Manhattan to an extensive ranch in the mountains of western Texas, this book details the interiors, exteriors and land surrounding the buildings that comprise Judd's extant living and working spaces. Readers will discover how Judd developed the concept of permanent installation at Spring Street in New York City, with artworks, furniture and decorative objects striking a balance between the building's historical qualities and his own architectural innovations. His buildings in Marfa, Texas, demonstrate how Judd reiterated his concept of integrative living on a larger scale, extending to the reaches of the Chinati Mountains at Ayala de Chinati, his 33,000-acre ranch south of the town. Each of the spaces was thoroughly considered by Judd with resolute attention to function and design. From furniture to utilitarian structures that Judd designed himself, these residences reflect Judd's consistent aesthetic. His spaces underscore his deep interest in the preservation of buildings and his deliberate interventions within existing architecture.
Donald Judd (1928-94) was born in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. After serving in the United States Army, he attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia; the Art Students League of New York; and Columbia University in New York, where he completed a BS in philosophy in 1953. Judd was a prolific critic for magazines including Arts, Art International and Art News; he continued to write throughout his career, addressing the relationship of art practice to architecture, design, political action and lived experience in letters and published essays. As an artist, he started out as a painter before turning to three-dimensional work. His radical work and thinking helped shape the art of the late 20th century and continues to influence artists, architects and designers.

A Kirkus Best Book of October 2021

From poet Victoria Chang, a collection of literary letters and mementos on the art of remembering across generations.

For Victoria Chang, memory "isn't something that blooms, but something that bleeds internally." It is willed, summoned, and dragged to the surface. The remembrances in this collection of letters are founded in the fragments of stories her mother shared reluctantly, and the silences of her father, who first would not and then could not share more. They are whittled and sculpted from an archive of family relics: a marriage license, a letter, a visa petition, a photograph. And, just as often, they are built on the questions that can no longer be answered.

Dear Memory is not a transcription but a process of simultaneously shaping and being shaped, knowing that when a writer dips their pen into history, what emerges is poetry. In carefully crafted collages and missives on trauma, loss, and Americanness, Victoria Chang grasps on to a sense of self that grief threatens to dissipate.

In letters to family, past teachers, and fellow poets, as the imagination, Dear Memory offers a model for what it looks like to find ourselves in our histories.

Other Honors for Dear Memory:

An Electric Literature Favorite Nonfiction Book of 2021

A TIME Magazine Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2021

A Los Angeles Times Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2021

A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2021An NPR Most Anticipated Book of October 2021

Born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867, Marie Curie was forbidden to attend the male-only University of Warsaw, so she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris to study physics and mathematics. There she met a professor named Pierre Curie, and the two soon married, forming one of the most famous scientific partnerships in history. Together they discovered two elements and won a Nobel Prize in 1903. (Later Marie won another Nobel award for chemistry in 1911.) She died in Savoy, France, on July 4, 1934, a victim of many years of exposure to toxic radiation.

Help your little one dream big with a Little Golden Book biography about body-builder, movie star, and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. Little Golden Book biographies are the perfect introduction to nonfiction for young readers--as well as fans of all ages!

This Little Golden Book about Arnold Schwarzenegger--an immigrant from Austria who achieved the American dream and became Mr. Universe, an action movie icon, and the governor of California--is an inspiring read-aloud for young children and Terminator fans of any age.

Look for more Little Golden Book biographies:
- Betty White
- Carol Burnett
- Lucille Ball
- Harry Belafonte
- Julie Andrews
- Dwayne Johnson

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood--along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.

With a new bonus chapter

In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, "Did you, um, make it?" She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood ("Strangers were worried about me; that's how long I was single!"), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway ("It's like I had a fashion-induced blackout").

In "What It Was Like, Part One," Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay "What It Was Like, Part Two" reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen DeGeneres, she's aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls ("If you're meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, and styling, you've already set the bar too high"), and she's a card-carrying REI shopper ("My bungee cords now earn points!").

Including photos and excerpts from the diary Graham kept during the filming of the recent Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, this book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing and swapping stories, and--of course--talking as fast as you can.

As the definitive biography of American-bred rocker Tom Petty, this updated and revised book examines his extensive music career, his personal life and his many public battles. After a momentary but pivotal encounter with Elvis Presley at age 10, Petty felt destined to pursue a career in rock and roll. Raised on a steady diet of Elvis and the Beatles, Petty left the safe confines of Gainesville in 1974 and headed for Los Angeles. Although Petty fared poorly with his early group Mudcrutch, he later formed the Heartbreakers. But with his career taking various twists and turns, Petty also thrived as a solo artist, a cofounder of the rock supergroup the Traveling Wilburys and a member of the reformed Mudcrutch. Along the way, Petty was forced to battle his own record company in court, nearly lost his life in a house fire, spent two years as a recluse after a painful divorce and became best friends with a former Beatle, George Harrison. As a prolific singer and songwriter, Tom Petty made music that mattered and remained at the top of his game for four decades with timeless rock anthems such as "Breakdown," "Refugee" and "I Won't Back Down."

"In this authoritative, unsparing history of the biggest rock group of the 1970s, Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling." --PEOPLE

From the author of the iconic, bestselling history of The Beatles, the definitive account of arguable the greatest rock band of all time.

Rock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating myth from reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.

From the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. Spitz's account of their artistic journey, amid the fascinating ecosystem of popular music, is irresistible. But the music is only part of the legend: Led Zeppelin is also the story of how the sixties became the seventies, of how innocence became decadence, of how rock took over. Led Zeppelin wasn't the first band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz's careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing.

Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. Led Zeppelin is the long-awaited full reckoning the band richly deserves.

The world-renowned architect I. M. Pei is the twenty-fourth hero in the New York Times bestselling picture book biography series. (Cover may vary)

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great--the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of an icon in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. At the back are an excellent timeline and photos. This book features I. M. Pei, the award-winning Chinese American architect whose projects include the John F. Kennedy Library and the pyramid at the Louvre. Included is a pop-up of the Louvre to help young readers see the space and Pei's design in 3D!

This friendly, fun biography series inspired the PBS Kids TV show Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum. One great role model at a time, these books encourage kids to dream big.

Included in each book are:
- A timeline of key events in the hero's history
- Photos that bring the story more fully to life
- Comic-book-style illustrations that are irresistibly adorable
- Childhood moments that influenced the hero
- Facts that make great conversation-starters
- A virtue this person embodies: I. M. Pei's ingenuity led him and his designs to brave new heights.

You'll want to collect each book in this dynamic, informative series!

Author Cheryl Bardoe and illustrator Jos. A. Smith's picture book Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas tells the true story about the father of genetics and his pea plants!

An Orbis Pictus Honor Book
An ALA-ALSC Notable Book
An IRA Notable Book
AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books Finalist

How do mothers and fathers--whether they are apple trees, sheep, or humans--pass down traits to their children? This question fascinated Gregor Mendel throughout his life. Regarded as the world's first geneticist, Mendel overcame poverty and obscurity to discover one of the fundamental aspects of genetic science: animals, plants, and people all inherit and pass down traits through the same process, following the same rules.

Living the slow-paced, contemplative life of a friar, Gregor Mendel was able to conceive and put into practice his great experiment: growing multiple generations of peas. From observing yellow peas, green peas, smooth peas, and wrinkled peas, Mendel crafted his theory of heredity--years before scientists had any notion of genes.

Children will be inspired by Gregor's never-ending search for knowledge, and his famous experiments are easy to understand as an introduction to genetics.

Includes an author's note and bibliography

Discover how Shuri uses amazing technology to protect Wakanda!

Meet princess Shuri, the smart scientist behind Wakanda's amazing technology.

Join in the action as Shuri, her brother the Black Panther, and their allies battle their greatest enemies.

Step into this amazing world in this thrilling Level 2 DK Reader. Exciting images, simple vocabulary, and a fun quiz will engage young Super Hero fans and help them build confidence in reading.

A new history of mathematics focusing on the marginalized voices who propelled the discipline, spanning six continents and thousands of years of untold stories.

"A book to make you love math." --Financial Times

Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong--warped like the sixteenth-century map that enlarged Europe at the expense of Africa, Asia and the Americas. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, renowned math historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell make the case that the history of math is infinitely deeper, broader, and richer than the narrative we think we know.

Our story takes us from Hypatia, the first great female mathematician, whose ideas revolutionized geometry and who was killed for them--to Karen Uhlenbeck, the first woman to win the Abel Prize, "math's Nobel." Along the way we travel the globe to meet the brilliant Arabic scholars of the "House of Wisdom," a math temple whose destruction in the Siege of Baghdad in the thirteenth century was a loss arguably on par with that of the Library of Alexandria; Madhava of Sangamagrama, the fourteenth-century Indian genius who uncovered the central tenets of calculus 300 years before Isaac Newton was born; and the Black mathematicians of the Civil Rights era, who played a significant role in dismantling early data-based methods of racial discrimination.

Covering thousands of years, six continents, and just about every mathematical discipline, The Secret Lives of Numbers is an immensely compelling narrative history.

Create a timeless keepsake that will be treasured by future generations.

Tell Me Your Life Story, Grandma is a beautifully designed gift to capture all of Grandma's precious memories and wisdom.

This simple guided journal helps grandmothers record their life story with over 200 questions.

The thought-provoking questions and prompts are organized into chapters based on your grandmother's life stages to help her record memories, experiences, treasured moments and reflections.

Once completed, this gift will become a precious treasure and personal keepsake of your grandmother's most important recollections, stories and life lessons that can be passed down to your children and cherished by future generations to come.

• Ideal Gift. Makes a perfect and thoughtful gift for any occasion.
• Over 200 journal prompts. 126 detailed questions and 75 short questions.
• Elegant design. 122 pages. Beautiful interior design, divided into six chapters.
• Perfect Size. 7 x 10 inches (17.8 x 25.4 cm)
• For grandmothers of all kinds. The inclusive questions are suitable for all grandmothers and family structures.

Available in both Hardcover and Paperback.

The very first book about the Anglo-American metal band Tool explores not only their uncompromising music but also their unsettling, self-made image based on mythological symbols and arcane theories.The quartet of master musicians - Maynard James Keenan, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor and Adam Jones - emerged from the club scene in Los Angeles in 1990 alongside their friends Rage Against the Machine, grabbing the concept of heavy music and then completely redefining it.With a sixties-style commitment to art and agit-prop, they have now attained a level of artistic complexity and depth which makes their enduring success a miracle in today's culture of bland, corporate entertainment. Author Joel McIver leaves no detail omitted as he delves into the mystery behind Tool's music.