Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Biographies & Memoirs

From the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles comes an exploration of a promising theory that when put to practice wreaked havoc on the world. An expert on communism, Richard Pipes follows the history of the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolution to the Cold War, and finally, to its deterioration and collapse.

Acclaimed author Andrea di Robilant sweeps listeners back to 18th-century Venice for a spellbinding tale of forbidden love. Originally serialized in The New Yorker, this dazzling story is based on actual family letters. The letters describe a searing and illicit affair between the author’s ancestor, a great Venetian statesman, and a beautiful half-English girl. The couple pursued their passion with reckless abandon, offending nearly everyone, and even getting some help along the way from the infamous Casanova.

This runaway New York Times best seller is a book to savor and treasure. Author Tony Hendra, a National Lampoon and Spy magazine veteran and one of the world's greatest satirists, delivers a beautifully written, humorous, and profoundly moving memoir reminiscent of Tuesdays with Morrie.

Free Creations of the Human Mind: The Worlds of Albert Einstein presents a concise and nuanced account of Einstein's life and work embedded in his intellectual and social contexts. His life is interconnected with so many of the important political and intellectual movements of his era—Zionism, pacifism, Nazism, nuclear weapons, philosophy, civil rights, McCarthyism, the League of Nations, and substantial discoveries in epochal theories of special relativity and quantum theory.

In this incredible-but-true crime memoir from “The First Lady of BMF” (Black Mafia Family), Tonesa Welch reveals the dramatic story of her unlikely rise from middle-class teenaged mom to Mafia Queen of Detroit, from Beverly Hills mansions to federal prison—and from a life of danger and self-doubt to one of acceptance, redemption, and love....

Tony Award winner John Leguizamo lays bare his life story in this graphic novel illustrated by artists Christa Cassano and Shamus Beyale. He shares memories of his early years as an actor on stage, on television, and in major motion pictures opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest stars—including Al Pacino, Patrick Swayze, and Steven Seagal—and working for directors Baz Luhrmann and Brian De Palma.

In Two-Dimensional Man, Paul Sahre shares deeply revealing stories that serve as the unlikely inspiration behind his extraordinary thirty-year design career. Sahre explores his mostly vain attempts to escape his "suburban Addams Family" upbringing and the death of his elephant-trainer brother.

Powerful, haunting, and unforgettable, this remarkable gathering of original documents, including never-before-published letters and papers, creates a day-by-day eyewitness account of the monumental collision at Gettysburg, in the words of the commanders, soldiers, politicians, and civilians from both the North and the South who experienced firsthand the changing course of the Civil War. New York Times bestselling and award-winning historian and author Allen C. Guelzo delivers an invaluable and sobering firsthand perspective of the Civil War’s turning point.

He pulled off what some deem the crime of the century: skyjacking a commercial jetliner, collecting a ransom of $200,000, parachuting off the aft stairs of the Boeing 727 into the night, and simply disappearing. Since November 1971, “D. B. Cooper”—no one knows his real name or identity—has become a figure of enduring fascination and obsession. The FBI pursued him for over forty years, before closing the case and leaving it unsolved. Unsolved, perhaps, but much admired. D. B. Cooper’s exploit over the skies of the American Northwest has inspired books, films, and endless speculation.

A layered saga, Vegas Concierge spans more than a decade and includes world-famous stars, violent “gorilla” pimps, crooked and honest cops, struggling journalists, ambitious FBI agents, influential casino executives, and high-profile political figures. It tells the inside story of this failed investigation and its countless twists, moving from the luxury hotel rooms of the Las Vegas Strip to the inner offices of the Las Vegas police, to the newsrooms of some of Nevada’s biggest news organizations.

Visionary writings from the protean Bradbury, America's preeminent master of the fantastic who has enchanted millions of readers worldwide. Part memoir, part commentary, these writings are an exploration and celebration of ideas. Bradbury reflects on art, literature, history, architecture, science fiction, and the people who have influenced him.

The JT LeRoy scandal is a story of our times. In January 2006, the New York Times unmasked Savannah Knoop as the face of the mysterious author JT LeRoy. A media frenzy ensued as JT's fans, mentors, and readers came to terms with the fact that the gay male-ex-truck stop prostitute turned literary wunderkind was really a girl from San Francisco whose sister-in-law wrote the books.

On August 18, 1945, US Army Sergeant Anthony J. Marchione bled to death in the clear, bright sky above Tokyo. Marchione, a gunner in the US Air Force, died, like so many before him in World War II, quietly, cradled in the arms of a buddy. Though tragic, Marchione's death would have been no more notable than any other had he not had the dubious distinction of being the last American killed in World War II combat.

Este libro relata la vida de una familia y unos acontecimientos que cambiaron para siempre la historia de América Latina. Como nadie más podía hacerlo, Juanita nos adentra en el mundo familiar de los Castro, desde su infancia y juventud hasta las nuevas generaciones, pasando por la gesta contra Batista, la Revolución y el posterior desencanto de muchos.

Teeda Butt Mam was 15 years old when the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, in 1975, forcing Teeda and her family to join 3,000,000 other people fleeing the city. In minutes, their safe and well-ordered lives were destroyed. Teeda’s story tells of her extraordinary odyssey out of Cambodia to a strange new land.

George Washington may be the most famous American who ever lived and certainly is one of the most admired. But although he has been heavily mythologized, it is no myth that the man who led America's fight for independence and whose two terms in office largely defined the presidency was the most highly respected individual among a generation of formidable personalities. In First and Always, celebrated historian Peter Henriques illuminates Washington's life, more fully explicating his character and his achievements.

Vance has a solid grip on where the Republican Party has come from and where it is heading. He sees the various factions and coalitions that make up the Party and understands them deeply. As the Republican Party works to adapt to the political changes initiated by Trump to truly become the profamily and pro-worker Party of the American middle class, Vance stands alone as the most knowledgeable and capable politician to bring the Republican Party—and the nation—into the post-Donald Trump world.

The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses is the fascinating culmination of author RJ Roger’s extensive research into the Italian-American Cosa Nostra. Analyzing more than 100 years of underworld history, Roger has distilled the behavior of the bosses of the five New York Mafia families—the most powerful in the United States—into 36 rules. Unwritten until codified in The Don, these rules were the foundation of the bosses’ success for over a century.

For anyone struggling with the loss of a spouse—anyone whose world has been turned upside down in a way they’ve never encountered before—here is something that could help. Waving Goodbye is a candid, honest, and approachable guide to dealing with the death of a spouse written by a very ordinary guy who has lived through the ordeal.

Kaffe Fassett has led an extraordinary life and is a captivating storyteller with a vivid memory. Born in 1937, he spent much of his youth in Big Sur, California, where his parents bought a cabin from Orson Welles and transformed it into the world-famous Nepenthe restaurant, a gathering place for artists and bohemians. After attending a boarding school run by the disciples of Krishnamurti, an Indian guru, he studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, then traveled to England, where he made his home.