Showing results by publisher "Instaread" in Biographies & Memoirs

Jeannette Walls chronicles all the heartbreak, deprivation, humor, and love of her childhood in The Glass Castle, a memoir of growing up dirt-poor on a cross-country odyssey with her charismatic, but alcoholic, father and her codependent mother.

Frankl and his family were imprisoned in concentration camps during the war. Frankl was held in several camps before he was liberated from the last in 1945. During his time in the camps, Frankl witnessed the extreme cruelty of camp guards and the prisoners who were given special status by them, also known as Capos. He also witnessed the cruelty of the prisoners to each other as they underwent the three stages of reaction to their imprisonment.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson explores several crucial years in Berlin through the eyes of the US ambassador and his family. Their experiences serve as both a cautionary tale about the insidiousness of evil and a harbinger of the hard realization that the rest of America was forced to make in a few short years.

Hope, the story of two of the three young women held captive by Ariel Castro, is a graphic and gripping account of a decade of abduction, assault, and abuse in a rundown house on Seymour Street in a rough section of Cleveland. Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, the two youngest of the three captives, wrote their stories together because they wanted everyone to know the truth, not only about what they endured, but about the hope that enabled them to survive.

The Devil in the White City is a book by Erik Larson that takes a close look at the World's Columbian Exposition, the world fair that Chicago hosted in 1893 in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. The fair was tainted by deaths, a serial killer, and an assassination. The lead architect, Daniel Burnham, and the serial killer, Henry Howard Holmes, play pivotal roles in the events that unfolded before, during, and after the fair.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown is a nonfiction account of the remarkable life story of Joe Rantz. Rantz was a determined young man who overcame personal tragedy and hardship to win a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics as a member of the US rowing team. Please note: This product includes an analysis of the audiobook, not the original audiobook.

In her memoir Lab Girl, Hope Jahren describes the life she's lived and the knowledge she's learned as a scientist trying to find her way in the world. Focusing mostly on a period of professional development that stretches from 1997 to 2008, the bulk of the narrative follows Jahren from her first appointment as a professor in Atlanta to her current job at the University of Hawaii. Navigating personal and professional challenges including bipolar disorder, meager budgets, and sexist work environments.

Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman whose cervical cancer cells became one of the most important factors in bringing about important scientific and medical advancements in the 20th century. Her family, however, did not know that researchers were using Henrietta's cells in their experiments until much later. When the family learned the truth, they endured turmoil and heartache in the decades that followed.

The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E. Hoffman chronicles the six-year relationship between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and engineer Adolf Tolkachev, who spied on the Soviet Union for the United States. Tolkachev was one of the most productive CIA spies during the Cold War, persistent in his undertakings to ensure the undoing of the Soviet Union's aviation developments, which he personally had a hand in.

In her memoir, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget, Sarah Hepola examines how she drank, why she drank, how others responded to her, and the misfortunes that occurred during her journey to sobriety. Inside this Instaread Summary & Analysis of Blackout you'll find a summary of the book, introductions to important people in the book, and analysis of the themes and author's style.

Timothy Egan's The Immortal Irishman is a biography of Thomas Meagher: Irish revolutionary, convict, and Civil War general. The book also offers a broad portrait of the experiences of the Irish during the period, both at home and abroad. Meagher was born in 1823 into a prominent and wealthy Catholic family. This gave him the advantages of education and standing. At the same time, Catholics in Ireland were brutally oppressed, with limits on landholding, political representation, and religion.

The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt is the result of a year of email exchanges between a son and his mother. They explore themes of life, love, and loss. When Vanderbilt was nearing her 91st birthday, she was hospitalized with a respiratory infection. This led Cooper to consider her mortality and to wonder if he and his mother knew one another as well as they could.

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder is a unique story that blends biography, entrepreneurial business narrative, history, true crime, and a human rights crusade all into one book.

In her memoir, Brain on Fire: My Year of Madness, Susannah Cahalan recounts her battle with a rare, debilitating autoimmune disease that led to psychosis and, eventually, catatonia. Previously healthy, Susannah never guessed that one day she would wake up in the hospital with almost no recollection of her battle with a disease that threatened not only her sanity, but her life. With the help of one particularly talented doctor, Susannah eventually obtained a diagnosis and began the long road to recovery.

Please note: This product includes a summary and analysis of the audiobook, not the original audiobook. So much has been written about the late Steve Jobs that Brent Schlender and his coauthor, Rick Tetzeli, begin their biography with a prologue that explains why they wrote yet another biography of the Apple cofounder. When Jobs died, Schlender realized that his portrayal in the media was inaccurate. Jobs was perceived as a genius whose abilities had been undermined by his demanding personality.

Please note: This is summary and analysis of the book and not the original book. David McCullough's John Adams is a biography designed to establish Adams's place beside, or even above, better known figures such as Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington in the pantheon of national founders. Adams was the son of a farmer in the small town of Braintree, Massachusetts.

In 1962, at 24 years old, Phil Knight decided to pursue a business idea he researched in a Stanford University business class: introducing Japanese running shoes to the United States to compete with dominant European brands. This would require a trip to Japan. Knight wanted to extend this trip into a voyage around the world, so he acquired a loan from his father in Portland, Oregon. Knight planned an itinerary with a friend from Stanford.

Please note: this is a summary, analysis and review of the book and not the original book. This summary includes important people, character analysis, analysis of the themes and author's style, and information about the author.

Peter Schweizer's Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich is an exposé of the business dealings of Bill and Hillary Clinton between 2001 and 2015. The Clintons and their foundation have both been enriched by money from dubious sources. The payments the Clintons received as speaking fees and the funds they accepted as donations to the Clinton Foundation may have led Hillary to alter US policy when she served as senator and secretary of state.

Down the Rabbit Hole is the memoir of former Hugh Hefner girlfriend and former star of The Girls Next Door, Holly Madison. By 2002, Holly was Hugh Hefner's girlfriend at the Playboy Mansion, but she felt that she had sold her soul for a piece of fame. Inside this Instaread Summary & Analysis of Down the Rabbit Hole, you'll find a summary of the book, an introduction to the important people in the book, analysis of themes, and analysis of the author's style.