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

At age 40, people are basically at the halfway mark in their lives, one that often induces a so-called "mid-life crisis." In Lessons at the Halfway Point, Michael Levine takes a thought-provoking look at this milestone birthday. With wit and humor, Levine examines one man's courageous journey to understand life from the perspective of reaching this halfway mile marker.

Join Rick Reynolds as he guides you through the foibles, fumbles and pratfalls of his own life beginning with his bizarre childhood. From the drowning of his father at a family picnic, to a bank-robbing stepfather, to his mother's 3 marriages and innumerable affairs, Reynolds portrays a striking picture of the lengths people will go for love and the human connection.

Few people had a better perspective on comedy and comedians than the master of it all, Steve Allen. In Funny People, Allen conveys insightful and personal observations—by anecdote and example—of some of the 20th century' s greatest comic performers: Jack Benny, George Burns, Milton Berle, and Jimmy Durante. Laugh along with Steve as he offers witty and perceptive looks at comedy legends whose work has stood the test of time.

A Sportsman's Life is the story of a man, his company, and his love of the outdoors, his commitment to conservation, and his infectious enthusiasm for the good life. This memoir is a great listen for any angler or hunter—and even for those of us who just want to dress like one.

Nixon - loathed or admired, the name recalls one of the most extraordinary political survivors in American history. Author Jonathan Aitken interviewed the legendary politician and was granted unprecedented access to his private documents to root out answers to many questions. Why didn't he burn the Watergate tapes? What were his relationships with John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, and Henry Kissinger?

Gallo Be Thy Name is the portrait of an American dynasty, chronicling the family's history from Prohibition and the Great Depression to its roots in organized crime, its impact on the roiling farm labor movements of the 60s and 70s, and ultimately to its domination of America's wine market. The Gallos rode the turbulent currents of history to triumph, with iconic brothers Ernest and Julio steering the ship. But beneath the carefully polished surface of E. & J. Gallo Winery is a sweeping story of passion and power — swirling with rumors of murder.

While Pang-Mei Natasha Chang was a Chinese Studies major at Harvard University, she stumbled across the name of her 83-year-old great aunt Chang Yu-i in a history book. Over the next several years, Pang-Mei spent long afternoons drawing forth her aunt's story. Born in Shanghai to a well-to-do family, Chang Yu-i lived a life of defiance, continually breaking class and culture barriers.

Media and law enforcement work at cross-purposes. Law enforcement wants to solve a case as fast as possible and put the guilty behind bars. The media wants a case to drag on as long as humanly possible and do all they can to extricate every last bit of drama—drop by bloody drop—in order to hold the attention of the millions of viewers who have gotten hooked. Law enforcement must abide by rules. The media make their own rules, or break them, or find loopholes to work around them.

In this memoir, the pseudonymous author, Ruthie Bolton, tells how she overcame tremendous obstacles to find her place in the world. Born into poverty in a rural Southern town, Bolton was abandoned by her 13-year-old mother and raised by her step-grandfather, an abusive tyrant who beat his wife to death and terrorized his children. With remarkable candor yet no trace of self-pity, Bolton describes how she used alcohol and drugs to try to escape her nightmarish existence.

As millions of radio listeners already know, no one has had a life quite like storyteller Daniel Pinkwater. In this comical collection of memories, Pinkwater tells of how he grew into the beloved figure he is today: a robust genius of the printed page and rotund genie of the radio. He shares a conversation with his father about art school that changed the course of his career, describes his inauguration as a sculptor in a sleazy Chicago art factory, and recounts setting off for a bright center of the American art scene— or at least as close as Hoboken, New Jersey.

In seafaring literature, no fictional sailor's story can match this true, real-life adventure. Before the Wind is the memoir of early nineteenth-century sea captain Charles Tyng— from his childhood and love affair with the sea to his rise through the ranks to captain and ship owner in the tea and sugar trade. Before the Wind takes listeners on a trip around the world— from visits to Lord Byron in Italy and King Kamehameha in Hawaii to Napoleon's prison isle of St. Helena.

Every other Thursday on Santa Monica Boulevard's Comedy Central Stage, a motley assortment of Hollywood writers, actors, and comics convened to reveal the most personal—and colorful—parts of their lives. Their soul-baring monologues revealed the sources of their creative genius, from wacky families and psycho exes to random ramblings and unbelievable Hollywood insights.

In 1948, an Austrian-Hungarian Jewish 22-year-old from New York began his new career. Determined to be famous, he bought a one-way ticket to Paris, France. His assignment: cover nightclubs, sidewalk cafes, and weddings for the legendary Paris Herald Tribune. For the next 14 years, he developed a life and career by socializing and reporting on the folkways and foibles of some of the most powerful and famous people in the world.

In 1986, newspapers across America called it "the espionage case of the century." While serving as a security guard at the American Embassy, Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, a Native American marine, fell in love with a beautiful Russian woman. Then, a KGB officer posing as the woman' s "Uncle Sasha" recruited Lonetree to become a spy for the Soviet Union. The "sex-for-secrets Marine spy scandal"—as it was called by the press—had all the elements of a great novel.

From columnist and author of Marley and Me, John Grogan, comes a collection of more than 80 newspaper articles. In pieces that reflect his unique understanding of the crazy-quilt world we inhabit, Grogan shows us all sides of the human condition. From the fragility of life at a crosswalk to cell phones driving us to distraction (as we drive!), from turning the tables on telemarketers to the Iraq War coming home to a small town in Pennsylvania, these pieces are filled with insight and sensitivity.

For more than 10 years, thoroughly Protestant Kathleen Norris had been an oblate at a Benedictine monastery. In The Cloister Life, the celebrated author turns to the priory as her spiritual landscape, as she takes us through a liturgical year, inspiring us to evaluate our own lives and values. Norris provides tremendous insight into the languages, customs, ceremonies, and sexuality of the men and women who have chosen the cloistered life.

Even as life expectancy has increased over the centuries, the thought of aging continues to plague men and women around the world. In addition to worries about the physical aspects of aging, people also fear the prejudice that exists toward the elderly. But as President Jimmy Carter demonstrates, there are indeed virtues to aging, as he explores the spiritual and intellectual growth that often comes with old age. President Carter tackles such issues as planning for retirement, adopting new diet and exercise regimens, and coping with age prejudice.

Iron Rose takes an intimate look at the incredible life of Rose Kennedy—head of the Kennedy dynasty and one of the 20th century's most influential women—and her nine famous children. A riveting account of the power behind America's political throne for several decades, Iron Rose reveals the secrets behind the triumphs and tragedies of the renowned "Queen Mother of Camelot." It chronicles her life—from a mayor's daughter in Boston and her marriage to the multimillionaire ambassador to Great Britain—to the birth of her children and becoming the mother of a president.

In this brave and provocative work, former US Vice President Al Gore asserts that only a rethinking of our relationship with nature will save the earth's ecology for future generations. Gore's analysis of where we've gone wrong ranges across politics, history, science, economics, psychology, and religion.

As a busy mother of six, Laura Bennett is on an impossible mission: raising a brood of fast-moving, messy, wild sons (and one happily civilized daughter) in the jungles of Manhattan. What other choice does she have than to sit back, grab a martini, and let the boys be—er—boys? In Didn't I Feed You Yesterday?, Laura gives her irreverent take on modern motherhood and proves that a strong sense of humor and an even stronger self of self-care are the mother's milk of sanity.