Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

In 1858, 14-year-old Narcisse Pelletier sailed from Marseilles in the French trader Saint-Paul. With a cargo of Bordeaux wine, they stopped in Bombay, then Hong Kong, and from there they set sail with more than 300 Chinese prospectors bound for the goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo. Around the eastern tip of New Guinea, however, the ship became engulfed in fog, struck reefs and ran aground.

The lasting reputation of George V is for dullness. He was a crack shot and an outstanding stamp collector, but that's about it. The flamboyance and hedonism of his father, Edward VII, defined an era whose influence and magnetism is still felt today. The contrast between the two could hardly be greater.

#TRAFFICKED chronicles the stories of sex-trafficking survivors and advocates, as told to Cheryl Hunter who was kidnapped to traffic as a teen. We are here to end human trafficking. Please note: listener/viewer discretion is advised. This show contains explicit content related to human trafficking, including conversations about rape, domestic abuse, violence, torture, sexual assault, drugs, alcohol abuse, trauma, and more.

The Battle of Le Hamel on 4 July 1918 was an Allied triumph and strategically very important in the closing stages of WWI. A largely Australian force, commanded by the brilliant Sir John Monash, fought what has been described as the first modern battle - where infantry, tanks, artillery and planes operated together as a coordinated force. Monash planned every detail meticulously, with nothing left to chance. Peter FitzSimons brings this Allied triumph to life and tells this magnificent story as it should be told.

Shocking, funny and unflinchingly honest, Emergency Admissions gives us a fascinating glimpse into the extraordinary world of ambulance driving from the man behind the wheel.

Kit Wharton has been an ambulance driver for a dozen years. This book is his report from the frontline of that work: 999 calls that hurtle him to critical moments in other peoples' lives. Nothing in this job is normal; every job is different. From the bizarre to the terrifying and tragic, Wharton takes his audience through his strange work.

Journalist and podcaster Andrew Rule brings us eighteen Australian crime stories that have fuelled fears, fired outrage and broken hearts and dreams. Among them are events so infamous that a word or phrase propels us back to a time and place. The author has covered crime for decades with a novelist's eye and forensic attention to truth, and lived to tell the tales. These are the best of them.

From a young age, her life was defined by uncertainty—by trauma and strength, sadness and hope, terrible lows and wondrous highs. As a teenager she found the courage to speak up after experiencing awful and ongoing child sexual abuse. This fight to find her voice would not be her last. The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner is Grace's story, in Grace's words, on Grace's terms. Like Grace, it is sharply intelligent, deeply felt and often blisteringly funny. And, as with all her work, it offers a constructive and optimistic vision for a better future for all of us.

Five decades in the music industry, 100 albums, 10 Grammys, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Add high-profile activism for the legalisation of marijuana, the foundation of a groundbreaking philanthropic organisation, and a much-publicised personal life - Willie Nelson's is a story like no other.

Bryony Gordon is a respected journalist, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning mental health campaigner. She is also an alcoholic. In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.

At first, Linda Bergstrom's marriage to her husband James was idyllic. They were young and in love; he was about to enter the Navy and she was eager to start a family. But it wasn't long before the dream exploded. James became abusive and violent, prone to sudden bursts of anger, long silences, and unexplained disappearances. But Linda vowed to hold on, despite the pain and fear...and her disturbing suspicions about her husband's secret life.

Have you ever bunged it on? Behaved like a drongo? Added mayo to a story? Lost your Reg Grundies? Join bestselling storyteller William McInnes as he offers his own take on our colourful and colloquial way with words. From the simpler times of childhood to today's testing (and unprecedented!) times, or when we're wasting time, enjoying sporting times or hitting the big time, Australians have a turn of phrase for every situation. Our love of plain speaking communicates the essence of the thing to our mates, to those in the know - and to those who should know better.

When Molly Burke was four years old, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye disease that leads to eventual blindness, forcing her to see the world through new eyes—literally. Growing up disabled didn’t stop her from playing sports, becoming a rock-climbing instructor, or winning a beauty pageant, but other people’s narrow perceptions of her held her back. Years of relentless bullying, toxic work environments, a rodent-infested apartment, and life’s lowest moments were juxtaposed with red carpets, first-class flights, and personal and professional achievements.

As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor and author. In this New York Times bestselling biography, Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer's life—the theologian and the spy—and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil.

Unsolved Medical Mysteries: Explaining the Unexplainable is your chance to explore the strangest and most confounding cases in medical history. In 12 gripping lectures, acclaimed author, historian, and medical humanities expert Dr. Brandy Schillace guides you on a fascinating journey into the unknown, from historical enigmas to modern medical conundrums. With her unique blend of storytelling and scientific insight, Dr. Schillace digs into a range of medical mysteries

Thirty years since the death of Fred West and the conviction of his wife Rose, in 1995, the West murder case exerts a magnetic fascination for true crime listeners. The Wests claimed twelve victims, young women and girls including members of their own family. Nine mutilated bodies were found buried under their home at 25 Cromwell St, Gloucester, the so-called House of Horrors. The Fred West Tapes incorporates remarkable new evidence and primary source testimony, including the experiences of the West children and victim families.

Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world’s richest man by creating America’s most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.

When Cindy Gambino dropped her three boys off at their dad's on Father’s Day 2005 she had no idea she would never see them again. By day’s end, their bodies lay at the bottom of an icy dam, a tragedy that sparked one of the most controversial and prolonged murder cases in Australian history. Award-winning author and journalist Megan Norris followed the case for eight years, chronicling Cindy’s heartbreaking journey through a trial, retrial, two failed appeals, and a 2013 High Court ruling that blocked Victorian father Robert Farquharson’s final bid for freedom.

For eight years, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets fought a deadly secret war in Laos and Cambodia under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, or SOG. Go deep into the jungle with five SOG warriors surrounded by 10,000 enemy troops as they stack up the dead to build a human buttress for protection. Witness a Green Beret, shot in the back four times and left for dead, who survives to fight savagely against incredible odds to complete his missions.

Tales of a Female Nomad is the story of Rita Golden Gelman, an ordinary woman who is living an extraordinary existence. At the age of 48, on the verge of a divorce, Rita left an elegant life in Los Angeles to follow her dream of connecting with people in cultures all over the world. In 1986, she sold her possessions and became a nomad, living in a Zapotec village in Mexico, sleeping with sea lions on the Galapagos Islands, and residing everywhere from thatched huts to regal palaces.

This is the true story of how one moment in time, by the thinnest thread of a chance, changed the course of a small boy's life in ways that are beyond description. One day he would dance with some of the greatest ballet companies of the world. One day he would be a friend to a president and first lady, movie stars, and the most influential people in America. One day he would become a star: Mao's last dancer, and the darling of the West.