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

Sometimes Farmgirls Become Revolutionaries is the story of an unsung civil rights organizer, Black Power activist, and barrier-breaking Black woman, Florence Louise Tate (1931-2014). Tate was close to the young leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She became a mentor, a mother-of-the-movement, and a target of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

Raised by a crack addict, Lil' Bert has a chip on his shoulder and murder in his heart. As the leader of Philly's most dangerous drug gang, he is determined to keep the city’s murder rate skyrocketing to unprecedented proportions.

Girlz 'n the Hood is the unsentimental, moving, and surprisingly humorous account of a girl and her 10 siblings who grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Mary’s mother was a fierce matriarch, a single mom who raised 11 children with the help of welfare checks and a firearm hidden in her bra.

Based on the film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science chronicles the history of this unique organization, from its roots as an unlikely partnership between a country doctor and a Franciscan order of nuns to its position today as a worldwide model for patient care, research, and education. The book demonstrates how the institution’s remarkable 150-year history continues to inspire the way medicine is practiced there today.

The following books are included: The Harlan Ellison Hornbook and Harlan Ellison's Movie.

Carla Funk is a teenager with her hands on the church piano keys and her feet edging toward the flames. Coming of age in a remote valley town - a place rich in Mennonites, loggers, and dutiful wives who submit to their husbands - she knows her destiny is to marry, have babies, and join the church ladies’ sewing circle. At once an affectionate coming-of-age tale and a contemplation on meaning, morality, and destiny, Mennonite Valley Girl is about the places we all long to escape - even if they are the same places that define us.

From his humble beginnings in St. Joseph, Missouri, Bill Snyder rose to greatness, bringing K-State up from the ashes to a number one ranking, six 11-win seasons in a span of seven years, and one Big 12 Championship. He still wasn’t finished. After a three-year retirement, Snyder returned to lead the Wildcats to another Big 12 title. In 2015, he became just the fourth person in college football history to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach. In this new memoir, Snyder reflects on a successful yet complicated life

The evening of April 12, 1979, was clear and warm. Unaware of the danger lurking on the periphery of the French Quarter, Drs. Ronald Banks and John Hakola made a tragic decision - to walk the few blocks from the historic district to the Hyatt Regency. Inches from the safety of their hotel entrance, they were accosted by two young men - a scuffle ensued, a shot fired, Dr. Banks lay dead on the sidewalk. Fighting Time tells the story of what happened next - hours, days, weeks, and years after those horrible seconds.

Amid strict new rules and coronavirus outbreaks on other teams that wreaked havoc on the schedule, the Dodgers maintained a laser focus as a team and organization, and, ultimately, won the first bubbled playoffs in the history of Major League Baseball. In COVID Curveball, author and Dodgers’ broadcaster Tim Neverett takes us through this unprecedented season, offering exclusive access and firsthand, edge-of-your-seat play-by-play coverage of the surreal days and weeks that led up to the dramatic championship climax.

Sam Melville was both reviled and admired as one of the most feared radicals in post-World War II history. His importance in the 1960s is widely recognized by historians and scholars as epitomizing the controversies, the promise, and the problems of the New Left. This memoir by Melville’s son opens a window into the personal life of a legend, revealing the universal and all-too-human foibles motivating those driven to make change through violence.

The war cost her everything: a mother, a father, and a country. Four-year-old Bang Sun, found tied to a tree, is riddled with disease, malnutrition, and bears the scars of a tragic life. Facing a future of nothing but pain, loss, and hopelessness, we follow the story of a mixed-race African American child of the Korean War. When Korea begins purging itself of its unwanted casualties, babies of war, her abandonment leads to two orphanages and eventually to adoption in America - where Bang Sun must now become an American - a Black American.

The Man in the Arena offers the essence of John C. Bogle's thinking and the meaning of his life's work, which transformed individual investing to benefit tens of millions of investors. Through Bogle's own words - as well as the voices of others whose hearts and minds he touched - the book touches on topics he cares about most deeply: Vanguard, indexing, corporate governance, and a fiduciary society.

Sifting gingerly through memories of her late mother, brilliant newcomer Sarah McColl has penned an indelible tribute to the joy and pain of loving well. Even as her own marriage splinters, McColl drops everything when her mother is diagnosed with cancer, returning to the family farmhouse and laboring over elaborate meals in the hopes of nourishing her back to health. In a series of vibrant vignettes - lipstick applied, novels read, imperfect cakes baked - McColl reveals a woman of endless charm and infinite love for her unruly brood of children.

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Monopolists, the incredible story of Olympic sailor Kevin Hall and the psychiatric syndrome that makes him believe he stars in a television show of his life.

Kinky Friedman has always maintained his Kinkster persona and hidden Richard Friedman from the public eye. Using one-liners, humor, and occasional rudeness, he follows the advice of his friend Bob Dylan to keep an aura of mystery. Author Mary Lou Sullivan spent many contentious days and nights at Kinky's Texas Hill Country ranch before he trusted her enough to open up and speak candidly.

November is usually quiet in Holcomb, Kansas, but in 1959, the town is shattered by the quadruple murder of the Clutter family. Suspicion falls on Nancy Clutter's boyfriend, Bobby Rupp, the last one to see them alive. New Yorker Carly Fleming, new to the small Midwestern town, is an outsider. She tutored Nancy, and (in private, at least) they were close. Carly and Bobby were the only ones who saw that Nancy was always performing, and that she was cracking under the pressure of being Holcomb's golden girl.

John Jay was a central figure in the early history of the American Republic. A New York lawyer, born in 1745, Jay served his country with the greatest distinction, and was one of the most influential of its Founding Fathers. In this first full-length biography of John Jay in almost 70 years, Walter Stahr brings Jay vividly to life, setting his astonishing career against the background of the American Revolution. Drawing on substantial new material, Walter Stahr has written a full and highly enjoyable portrait of both the public and private man.

Kelly Carlisle was three weeks old when her mother was strangled in downtown Los Angeles, leaving Kelly in the care of her grandfather, an eccentric Englishman who owned a porn store and lived on a boat in the harbor. It is here that Kelly finds a home among friendly alcoholics and the city's forgotten residents. But she can't help but wonder if she is destined to become a part of the dysfunction that surrounds her.

In this biography of Chester B. Himes (1909-1984), Lawrence P. Jackson depicts the improbable life of the controversial writer whose novels confront sexuality, racism, and social injustice. In absorbing detail, Jackson explores Chester Himes's middle-class origins, eight years in prison, painful odyssey as a Black World War II-era artist, and escape to Europe, where Himes became internationally famous for his Harlem detective series.

An unprecedented new collection of true stories from the brave men and women who served in the Marine Corps. Behind one of the most established military branches in America are the riveting, untold tales of the courageous warriors who fought on the front lines.