This riveting, New York Times bestselling biography illuminates the life of Otto von Bismarck, the statesman who unified Germany but who also embodied everything brutal and ruthless about Prussian culture. Jonathan Steinberg draws heavily on contemporary writings, allowing Bismarck's friends and foes to tell the story. What rises from these pages is a complex giant of a man: a hypochondriac with the constitution of an ox, a brutal tyrant who could easily shed tears, a convert to an extreme form of evangelical Protestantism who secularized schools and introduced civil divorce. Bismarck may have been in sheer ability the most intelligent man to direct a great state in modern times. His brilliance and insight dazzled his contemporaries. But all agreed there was also something demonic, diabolical, and overwhelming in Bismarck's personality. He was a kind of malign genius who, behind the various postures, concealed an ice-cold contempt for his fellow human beings and a drive to control and rule them. As one contemporary noted: "the Bismarck regime was a constant orgy of scorn and abuse of mankind, collectively and individually." A brilliant study in power, this comprehensive biography brings Bismarck to life, revealing the stark contrast between the "Iron Chancellor's" unmatched political skills and his profoundly flawed human character.

The definitive biography of Chicago Bears superstar Walter Payton. In the twelve years since his death from cancer, Walter Payton’s legend has only grown in magnitude. The Hall of Fame running back, who broke Jim Brown’s all-time NFL rushing mark, appeared in nine Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl ring with the 1985 Chicago Bears, and is still revered throughout the sporting landscape. Payton has become the lasting image of what’s great about football. Yet in mindlessly canonizing the man simply known as “Sweetness,” we have missed the opportunity to understand—and appreciate—one of the most uniquely complex and enigmatic superstars in the history of American sports. No longer. Based on meticulous research and interviews with nearly seven hundred family members, friends, teammates, and various associates, Sweetness delivers an unforgettable portrait of a man who lived his life just like he played the game: at full speed. From his childhood in segregated Mississippi, to Chicago, where Payton emerged from athlete to icon as he broke the NFL’s all-time rushing record and led the Bears to Super Bowl glory; to his darker moments battling depression and adjusting to life after football, Sweetness is an eloquently written, revelatory saga of a complex, guarded superstar who died far too young.

After more than two decades, this dramatic and concise single-volume distillation of James Thomas Flexner's definitive four-volume biography George Washington , which received a Pulitzer Prize citation and a National Book Award for the fourth volume, has itself become an American classic. Now in a new trade paperback edition, this masterful work explores the Father of Our Country - sometimes an unpopular hero, a man of great contradictions, but always a towering historical figure, who remains, as Flexner writes in these pages, "a fallible human being made of flesh and blood and spirit - not a statue of marble and wood... a great and good man." The author unflinchingly paints a portrait of slave owner, brave leader, man of passion, reluctant politician, and fierce general. His complex character and career are neither glorified nor vilified here; rather, Flexner sets up a brilliant counterpoint between Washington's public and private lives and gives us a challenging look at the man who has become as much a national symbol as the American flag.

Discover the life story of one of American history's most imporant orators & freedom fighters. Sojourner Truth was born into slavery 1797, and what she would learn and do during her lifetime would change the country. She was one of the first African-American women in the United States to win a lawsuit against a white man. She traveled the country speaking out against slavery and racist injustice, and for her efforts she met and talked with two different presidents. Introduce young readers to a remarkable story of a woman who always believed there was more work to be done. For almost thirty years, David Adler's Picture Book Biography series has profiled famous people who changed the world. Colorful, kid-friendly illustrations combine with Adler's "expert mixtures of facts and personality" ( Booklist ) to introduce young readers to history through compelling biographies of presidents, heroes, inventors, explorers, and adventurers. These books are ideal for first and second graders interested in history or who need reliable sources for school book reports.

A factual account of the serial killer who terrorized Boston for eighteen months.

Emil Ludwig's account of Cleopatra's life is a brilliant psychological study of the Queen and those two men with whom her name remains forever: Caesar and Antonius. Instead of the eccentric amorous, the idiosyncratic author shows us a real and deep lover, a mother, and a fighter.

This is the story of when I was a boy, almost 100 years ago, when fire engines were pulled by horses, boys did not play with girls, kids went to libraries for books, there was no TV, you could see a movie for a nickel and everybody wore a hat. When Everybody Wore a Hat was one of celebrated author/artist William Steig's last gifts to the world of children's books: a portrait of the artist himself, told in Steig's signature quirky words and illustrations. Now in paperback, this funny, poignant, and revealing picture book has all the vitality and wit of a Steig classic. Ages 2+

Starring in seventy-nine episodes and six feature films as Captain James T. Kirk, William Shatner is the leading man in the global cultural phenomenon known as "Star Trek." In this in-depth, insider's expose, he reveals the backstage anecdotes, personal rivalries, and network politics that were carefully hidden behind the camera.

No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of "Twelfth Night" on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right. Each No Fear Shakespeare contains

A haunting and often hilarious memoir of growing up in 80s Miami as the son of Big Tony, a flawless model of the great American pot baron. To his fellow smugglers, Anthony Edward Dokoupil was the Old Man. He ran stateside operations for one of the largest marijuana rings of the twentieth century. In all they sold hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana, and Big Tony distributed at least fifty tons of it. To his son he was a rambling man who was also somehow a present father, a self-destructive addict who ruined everything but affection. Here Tony Dokoupil blends superb reportage with searing personal memories, presenting a probing chronicle of pot-smoking, drug-taking America from the perspective of the generation that grew up in the aftermath of the Great Stoned Age.

There's No Bones in Ice Cream, by Sylvain Sylvain, is the inside story of glam heroes the New York Dolls - outrageous, defiant, sleaze kings, transgender posers, drug casualties and victims, not just of their own excess but of an unsympathetic music industry that simply didn't know how to process them. Sylvain, one of only two surviving members of the original New York Dolls, offers a fly-on-the-wall, sincere and often hilarious account of the rise and fall of the Dolls, the group that flew so close to the sun that they exploded in a fireball that lit the touch paper under punk rock. Though their brief, sensation-filled yet doomed career produced just two albums, the Dolls exerted an influence on rock that changed it forever. A cross between the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols, the Dolls became the link in the chain between them, offering a crash course in mischief, cross-dressing and anarchy, but like unheralded prophets of Biblical times they were cast aside until the world finally caught up. "Other people turned the New York Dolls into legends. We just went along for the ride."

Chaplin plays 2 characters in his first full talkie. Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of Tomania, and a Jewish Barber. The Barber recovers from amnesia to discover Hynkel is persecuting all the Jews in his country.

Bestselling author Ruth Reichl embarks on a clear-eyed and openhearted investigation of her mother's life, piecing together the journey of a woman she comes to realize she never really knew. Looking to her mother's letters and diaries, Reichl confronts the painful transition her mother made from a hopeful young woman to an increasingly unhappy older one and realizes the tremendous sacrifices she made to make sure her daughter's life would not be as disappointing as her own. Book jacket.

The award-winning actor takes us behind-the-scenes into his professional and private life In Just One More Thing, Peter Falk takes us on an acting journey that begins not in Hollywood but in Hartford, where he worked as a management analyst for the Connecticut State Budget Bureau. His time there was no more successful than an earlier attempt to find work with the Central Intelligence Agency. At loose ends, Falk turned to an old college interest: acting. He came to prominence as an actor in 1956 in the highly successful Off-Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards. Although he worked continuously for the next three years, bouncing from one Off-Broadway theater to the next, a theatrical agent advised him not to expect much work in motion pictures because of his glass eye. Surgeons had removed his right eye, along with a malignant tumor, when he was three years old. But in 1958, the actor made the jump to Hollywood, where he landed his first movie, Murder Incorporated, and was nominated for an Oscar. Next came Frank Capra's A Pocketful of Miracles starring Bette Davis, which garnered Falk his second Oscar nomination. Falk was a favorite among moviegoers during the 1960s, admired for his roles in classic comedies such as It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Great Race. However, it was through his collaboration with filmmaker John Cassavetes that Falk entered into his most creative period in 1970. Motion pictures such as Husbands and A Woman Under the Influence helped launch the independent film movement. Nevertheless, Falk continued to act in light film comedies, including The In-Laws and Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective and Murder by Death, among others. Yet it was through television that Falk reached his widest audience. He has portrayed the beloved Lt. Columbo since the 1970s, winning four Emmys. The series was so successful that ten years after it's demise, Columbo was re-launched, bringing Falk to a new generation of viewers. Just One More Thing also chronicles the author's later work, such as movie appearances in A Shark's Tale and Paul Reiser's The Thing About My Folks, as well stories of growing up in New York, Hollywood and Broadway luminaries, and the author's accomplished passion for drawing and painting.

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of Thank You, Mr. Falker and Pink and Say . Whenever Mary Ellen needed Betty Doll, she was there. Betty Doll saw her through happy and sad times, thunderstorms and parties, weddings and births. Now, when Mary Ellen's daughter Trisha needs Betty Doll most, she rediscovers the sweet old doll, along with a letter written by her mother before she died. This touching story is a reminder of the power of a mother's love and the joy of life's precious moments.

From the author of Doc Hollywood, the basis for the hit movie starring Michael J. Fox, Better Health Care for Less, High Blood Pressure, and Understanding Growth Hormone comes a hilarious novel based on the author's experiences as a young doctor. Dr. Shulman's comic personality launched him into a successful career in entertainment where he has been using humor as therapy in a unique one-man live traveling comedy show. His adventures have also included a United Nations peace mission to Cyprus.

A bilingual portrait of the Queen of Salsa describes her childhood in Cuba, her musical career, and her move to the United States, and explains how her music brought her native Cuba to the world.

A quick search on the net reveals some 2,400,000 sites about the 23-year-old socialite who is famous for doing little and baring little. But what is it about Paris Hilton that continues to fascinate everyone worldwide and why do or should we care? (oh, but we do). Paris has teamed up with entertainment/fashion/beauty/celebrity writer Merle Ginsberg and Jeff Vespa, Paris's fave photographer, to write her autobiography CONFESSIONS OF AN HEIRESS: A TONGUE-IN-CHIC PEEK AT LIFE BEHIND THE POSE. There are chapters on sister Nicky, the jet/set life, and Paris's cavalcade of paramours including Rick Salomon and the notorious sex tape that "has made me change my life. I used to have fun and dress up and that was my life. But now I'm moving on, I've grown up a lot." Wow. CONFESSIONS OF AN HEIRESS also include a section on how to tell if a guy is only interested in your money. "If they offer to pay for dinner, that's a good sign," Paris advises. "But if they talk about how 'you're so rich,' if they do stuff like that, I can tell they like money more than they like me. But I think girls are more gold-diggers than guys." Ouch. CONFESSIONS OF AN HEIRESS doesn't just include Paris's thoughts on men and money. She also weighs in on nutrition ("Never drink Diet Coke. Diet Coke is for fat people.") and the hardships of travel ("Having a stewardess spill something on you can totally ruin your flight. I hate rude stewardesses. It's like, 'Hello, I'm paying, be nice to me.'"). Like, hello, we think they're called flight attendants now.

An award-winning, internationally bestselling Holocaust memoir in the tradition of Elie Wiesel's Night and Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz In the spring of 1944, gendarmes forcibly removed Tibor "Max" Eisen and his family from their home, brought them to a brickyard and eventually loaded them onto crowded cattle cars bound for Auschwitz-Birkenau. At fifteen years of age, Eisen survived the selection process and was inducted into the camp as a slave laborer. More than seventy years after the Nazi camps were liberated by the Allies, By Chance Alone details Eisen's story of survival: the backbreaking slave labor in Auschwitz I, the infamous death march in January 1945, the painful aftermath of liberation and Eisen's journey of physical and psychological healing. Ultimately, the book offers a message of hope as the author finds his way to a new life.