1472 results for "Biography"

Out of this century: confessions of an art addict

Guggenheim, Peggy
This is the fascinating autobiography of a society heiress who became the bohemian doyenne of the art world. Written in her own words it is the frank and outspoken story of her life and loves: her stormy relationships with such men as Max Ernst and Jackson Pollock, and her discovery of new artists. Known as 'the mistress of modern art', Peggy Guggenheim was a passionate collector and major patron. She amassed one of the most important collections of early twentieth century European and American art embracing cubism, surrealism and expressionism. A must read for anyone with an interest in these major-league artists, this seminal period of art history, and the ultimate self-invented woman.
Andre Deutsch 2018 464 pages

Face the music: a life exposed

Stanley, Paul
NEW YORK TIMES and INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER In Face the Music, Paul Stanley—the co-founder and famous “Starchild” frontman of KISS—reveals for the first time the incredible highs and equally incredible lows in his life both inside and outside the band. Face the Music is the shocking, funny, smart, inspirational story of one of rock’s most enduring icons and the group he helped create, define, and immortalize. Stanley mixes compelling personal revelations and gripping, gritty war stories that will surprise even the most steadfast member of the KISS Army. He takes us back to his childhood in the 1950s and ’60s, a traumatic time made more painful thanks to a physical deformity. Born with a condition called microtia, he grew up partially deaf, with only one ear. But this instilled in him an inner drive to succeed in the most unlikely of pursuits: music. With never-before-seen photos and images throughout, Stanley’s memoir is a fully realized and unflinching portrait of a rock star, a chronicle of the stories behind the famous anthems, the many brawls and betrayals, and all the drama and pyrotechnics on and off the stage. Raw and confessional, Stanley offers candid insights into his personal relationships, and the turbulent dynamics with his bandmates over the past four decades. And no one comes out unscathed—including Stanley himself. “People say I was brave to write such a revealing book, but I wrote it because I needed to personally reflect on my own life. I know everyone will see themselves somewhere in this book, and where my story might take them is why I’m sharing it.” —Paul Stanley
HarperOne 2016-07-26 462 pages

What a fool believes: a memoir

McDonald, Michael,Reiser, Paul
A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Paul Reiser.Doobie Brothers. Steely Dan. Chart topping soloist. Across a half-century of American music, Michael McDo[Bokinfo]
Dey St. 2024 336 pages

Even this I get to experience

Lear, Norman
“Flat out, one of the best Hollywood memoirs ever written . . . an absolute treasure.” — Booklist (starred review) In my ninety-plus years I’ve lived a multitude of lives. In the course of all these lives, I had a front-row seat at the birth of television; wrote, produced, created, or developed more than a hundred shows; had nine on the air at the same time; founded the 300,000-member liberal advocacy group People For the American Way; was labeled the “no. 1 enemy of the American family” by Jerry Falwell; made it onto Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List”; was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton; purchased an original copy of the Declaration of Independence and toured it for ten years in all fifty states; blew a fortune in a series of bad investments in failing businesses; and reached a point where I was informed we might even have to sell our home. Having heard that we’d fallen into such dire straits, my son-in-law phoned me and asked how I was feeling. My answer was, “Terrible, of course,” but then I added, “But I must be crazy, because despite all that’s happened, I keep hearing this inner voice saying, ‘Even this I get to experience.’” Norman Lear’s work is legendary. The renowned creator of such iconic television programs as All in the Family ; Maude ; Good Times ; The Jeffersons ; and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman , Lear remade our television culture from the ground up. At their peak, his programs were viewed by 120 million people a week, with stories that dealt with the most serious issues of the day—racism, poverty, abortion—yet still left audiences howling with laughter. In Even This I Get to Experience , Lear opens up with all the candor, humor, and wisdom to be expected from one of America’s greatest living storytellers. But TV and politics are only a fraction of the tale. Lear’s early years were grounded in the harshness of the Great Depression and further complicated by his parents’ vivid personalities. The imprisonment of Lear’s father, a believer in the get-rich-quick scheme, colored his son’s childhood. During this absence, Lear’s mother left her son to live with relatives. Lear’s comic gifts were put to good use during this hard time, as they would be decades later during World War II, when Lear produced and staged a variety show for his fellow airmen in addition to flying fifty bombing missions. After the war, Lear tried his hand at publicity in New York before setting out for Los Angeles in 1949. A lucky break had a powerful agent in the audience the night Danny Thomas performed a nightclub routine written by Lear, and within days his career in television began. Before long, his work with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (and later Martha Raye and George Gobel) made him the highest-paid comedy writer in the country, and he was spending his summers with the likes of Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. Movies followed, and soon he was making films starring Frank Sinatra, Dick Van Dyke, and Jason Robards. Then came the ’70s and Lear’s unprecedented string of TV hits. Married three times and the father of six children ranging in age from nineteen to sixty-eight, Lear’s penetrating look at family life, parenthood, and marriage is a volume in itself. A memoir as touching, funny, and remarkable as any of Lear’s countless artistic creations, Even This I Get to Experience is nothing less than a profound gift, endlessly readable and characteristically unforgettable.
Penguin Books 2015-10-27 480 pages

You don't know me but you don't like me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and my misadventures with two of music's most maligned tribes

Rabin, Nathan
One of Rolling Stone ’s 20 Best Music Books of 2013 When memoirist and head writer for The A.V. Club Nathan Rabin first set out to write about obsessed music fans, he had no idea the journey would take him to the deepest recesses of both the pop culture universe and his own mind. For two very curious years, Rabin, who Mindy Kaling called “smart and funny” in The New Yorker , hit the road with two of music’s most well-established fanbases: Phish’s hippie fans and Insane Clown Posse’s notorious “Juggalos.” Musically or style-wise, these two groups could not be more different from each other, and Rabin, admittedly, was a cynic about both bands. But once he gets deep below the surface, past the caricatures and into the essence of their collective cultures, he discovers that both groups have tapped into the human need for community. Rabin also grapples with his own mental well-being—he discovers that he is bipolar—and his journey is both a prism for cultural analysis and a deeply personal exploration, equal parts humor and heart.
Scribner 2013-06-11 261 pages

Finish strong: a father's code and a son's path

Ebner, Nate,Daugherty, Paul
"The inspiring story of Nate Ebner's bond with his unconventional father, which still remains unbroken years after his father's tragic death--and which has led Ebner to success as an Olympic rugby player and a New England Patriot with three Super Bowl rings Nate Ebner and his father were inseparable. From an early age, they worked side-by-side in the family junk yard, where part of the job was dispensing citizen's justice to would-be robbers, and worked out side-by-side in their grungy homemade gym. So tight were father and son that even though Nate was a great peewee football player, in football-mad Ohio, he followed his father's passion, and started playing for the same men's rugby club when he was only twelve years old. Nate skipped high school football entirely to devote himself to rugby, a decision that was validated when he was selected a member of the U.S. junior national team at only sixteen. But even after winning a college national championship in rugby at Ohio State, Nate had to face the fact that he was nearing a dead end--there was no way to make a living as a professional in rugby in this country. So Nate gave his dad the news that he planned to quit rugby and go out for the football team at Ohio State with an eye toward making the NFL. As a goal for someone who hadn't even played high school football, this was completely insane. Without blinking, his father told him that if he gave up what he had built in rugby, he had to see it through, to matter how rough the path. This was the last conversation they ever had--the next day, his father was brutally murdered at work by a would-be robber. Nate went on to make the Ohio State team and play in every game for three years, becoming a hero to his teammates along the way, and when NFL draft day came, he was selected by the New England Patriots. Three Super Bowl rings later, his legacy in the sport is secure. But he got another unexpected chance to honor his father's legacy when the Olympics admitted rugby as a sport for the 2016 Games. Nate hadn't played the game in six years, but he asked the Patriots for a leave to pursue what he knew would have been his father's ultimate dream. Against long odds, he made this team too, and competed in Rio in the sport he and his father loved above all others. An astonishing story of what a father will do for a son, and what a son will do for a father, Finish Strong offers us a powerful reminder that the lessons parents embody for their children continue to bear fruit long after they are gone"--
Penguin Press 2021 268 pages

I'm supposed to protect you from all this: a memoir

Spiegelman, Nadja
"A memoir of mothers and daughters -- and mothers as daughters -- traced through four generations, from Paris to New York and back again. For a long time, Nadja Spiegelman believed her mother was a fairy. More than her famous father, Mauscreator Art Spiegelman, and even more than most mothers, hers -- French-born New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly -- exerted a force over reality that was both dazzling and daunting. As Nadja's body changed and "began to whisper to the adults around me in a language I did not understand," their relationship grew tense. Unwittingly, they were replaying a drama from her mother's past, a drama Nadja sensed but had never been told. Then, after college, her mother suddenly opened up to her. Françoise recounted her turbulent adolescence caught between a volatile mother and a playboy father, one of the first plastic surgeons in France. The weight of the difficult stories she told her daughter shifted the balance between them. It had taken an ocean to allow Françoise the distance to become her own person. At about the same age, Nadja made the journey in reverse, moving to Paris determined to get to know the woman her mother had fled. Her grandmother's memories contradicted her mother's at nearly every turn, but beneath them lay a difficult history of her own. Nadja emerged with a deeper understanding of how each generation reshapes the past in order to forge ahead, their narratives both weapon and defense, eternally in conflict. Every reader will recognize herself and her family in this gorgeous and heartbreaking memoir, which helps us to see why sometimes those who love us best hurt us most"--
Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 2017-08 372 pages

Bloomberg by Bloomberg

Bloomberg, Michael,Winkler, Matthew
"The original Bloomberg by Bloomberg was published in 1997 and focused primarily on the genesis of the financial software, data, and media company, Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers, before forming Bloomberg L.P. in 1981 and spending the next twenty years as its Chairman and CEO. Bloomberg by Bloomberg featured insights and anecdotes from Bloomberg's illustrious career and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. In 2001, Bloomberg became the 108th Mayor of New York City, and he was reelected for two more terms. Thus, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Second Edition will feature additional content highlighting Bloomberg's time as mayor of NYC and how it affected his principles"--
Wiley 2019-01-07 244 pages

All roads lead to October: Boss Steinbrenner's 25-year reign over the New York Yankees

Allen, Maury
George Herman Ruth was the Babe. Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse. Joe DiMaggio was the Yankee Clipper. George Steinbrenner is the Boss. On a rainy January morning, 1973, a press conference is called that will change the face of the Yankees forever. A young Cleveland Industrialist by the name of Steinbrenner stands at New York's famed 21 Club and announces his new ownership of the Yankees. And so begins the Steinbrenner era, the era of the Boss. Now with five World Championships to his name, Steinbrenner is not only the owner of one of the past century's winningest baseball teams, but a legendary figure in his own right. Both eccentric and egocentric, Steinbrenner's unique approach to the game turned a not-so-good 1973 Yankees squad into World Champions just five years later. As integral to the history of the Yankees as DiMaggio or Ruth, All Road Lead to October examines the team under Steinbrenner's reign. Having covered the Yankees since Steinbrenner came aboard, acclaimed sports journalist and noted author Maury Allen examines the complex and often fiery relationships the owner had with the likes of Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Yogi Berra, Joe Torre, Darryl Strawberry and many others. Here are the first hand, insider's accounts of the pivotal events in the Yankees rise to power. Covering both off the field and on the field controversies like Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich's wife swapping, the angry tirades, fights and often brilliant coaching moves of the misunderstood Billy Martin, the inside story of the signing of Reggie Jackson whose ego was as big as his bat, and the Yankees rise to baseball dominance with the likes of Jeter, Williams, El Duque, Clemens, Rivera and Torre, Maury Allen give an exclusive look at all the action. Allen was there through it all, from Steinbrenner's first press conference, through the death of Catfish Hunter, the World Series wins, the controversial trades and firings, and even when a drunk Billy Martin banged on his hotel room door one night madder than hell. This is the definitive look at not only the Boss, the but the New York Yankees, the most celebrated team of the twentieth century.
St. Martin's Press 2000-07-14 298 pages

Marv Levy: where else would you rather be?

Levy, Marv
Forty-seven years of joyous celebrations after victories and crushing disappointments after defeats are encompassed in Marv Levy: Where Else Would You Rather Be? , but it is about more than just touchdowns and interceptions—it’s about how a person like Marv Levy, dedicated to his life’s work, can begin his career as the obscure assistant coach of a high school junior varsity team and decades later lead a team to the Super Bowl. Readers will learn about the character, persistence, and personalities of those incomparable Buffalo Bills of the 1990s who so resolutely pursued their impossible dream. Sports fans will look forward to each adventure contained in these pages, and will no doubt agree with the sentiment of the author: “Where else would I rather be than right here—right now!”
Sports Pub 2012-01-14 420 pages

Kirby: king of comics

Evanier, Mark
Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books' most popular super heroes, including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the 1940s on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well-Mark Evanier. First issued in 2008, Kirby: King of Comics was the first overview of the legendary comic book creator's career. It is now available in a smaller, more affordable package, revised and expanded for Kirby's centennial.
Abrams ComicArts 2017-08-01 239 pages

Attempting normal

Maron, Marc
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Marc Maron is “a master of spinning humor out of anguish” ( Bookforum ), even when that anguish is pretty clearly self-inflicted. In Attempting Normal, he threads together twenty-five stories from his life and near-death, from his first comedy road trips (with a fugitive junkie comic with a missing tooth) to his love affair with feral animals (his cat rescues are bloody epics) to his surprisingly moving tales of lust, heartbreak, and hope. The stories are united by Maron’s thrilling storytelling style—intensely smart, disarmingly honest, and explosively funny. Together, they add up to a hilarious and moving tale of failing, flailing, and finding a way. Praise for Attempting Normal “I laughed so hard reading this book.” —David Sedaris “Funny . . . surprisingly deep . . . laced with revelatory insights.” —Los Angeles Times “Superb . . . A reason that [it] is a superior example of an overcrowded genre—the comedian memoir—is Mr. Maron’s hardheaded approach to his history, the wisdom of experience.” — The New York Times “Marc Maron is a legend because he is both a great comic and a brilliant mind. Attempting Normal is a deep, hilarious megashot of feeling and truth as only this man can administer.” —Sam Lipsyte Praise for Marc Maron and WTF “The stuff of comedy legend.” — Rolling Stone “Marc Maron is a startlingly honest, compelling, and hilarious comedian-poet. Truly one of the greatest of all time.” —Louis C.K. “I’ve known Marc for years and I can tell you first hand that he’s passionate, fearless, honest, self-absorbed, neurotic, and screamingly funny.” —David Cross “Revered among his peers . . . raw and unflinchingly honest.” — Entertainment Weekly “Devastatingly funny.” — Los Angeles Times “For a comedy nerd, this show is nirvana.” —Judd Apatow
Spiegel & Grau 2014-04-08 210 pages

Where am I now? true stories of girlhood and accidental fame

Wilson, Mara
""Growing up, I wanted to BE Mara Wilson. Where Am I Now? is a delight." --Ilana Glazer, cocreator and star of Broad City "Genuine and authentic, funny and heartbreaking, Where Am I Now? reminds you that no matter how unique your life is, some things bind us all together." --Jenny Lawson, author of Furiously Happy A former child actress best known for her starring roles in Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire, Mara Wilson has always felt a little young and out of place: as the onlykid on a film set full of adults, the first daughter in a house full of boys, a Valley girl in New York and a neurotic in California, and a grown-up the world still remembers as a little girl. Tackling everything fromwhat she learned about sex on the set of Melrose Place, to discovering in adolescence that she was no longer "cute" enough for Hollywood, these essays chart her journey from accidental fame to relative (but happy) obscurity. They also illuminate universal struggles, like navigating love and loss,and figuring out who you are and where you belong. Honest, insightful, and hilarious, Where Am I Now? introduces Mara Wilson as a brilliant new chronicler of the experience that is growing up young and female"--
Penguin 2016-09-13 259 pages

Ghost in the wires: my adventures as the world's most wanted hacker

Mitnick, Kevin
Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies--and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn't just about technological feats-it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information. Driven by a powerful urge to accomplish the impossible, Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI's net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat and mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down. Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escape, and a portrait of a visionary whose creativity, skills, and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, inspiring ripples that brought permanent changes in the way people and companies protect their most sensitive information
Little, Brown and Company 2011-08-15 413 pages

Hollywood ending: Harvey Weinstein and the culture of silence

Auletta, Ken
"A shocking account of how Harvey Weinstein rose to become one of the most iconic figures in the world of movies, how he used that position to feed his monstrous sexual appetites, and how it all came crashing down, from the author who has covered the Hollywood power game for the New Yorker for three decades. Twenty years ago, Ken Auletta wrote one of the iconic New Yorker profiles for which he is famous, of the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, then at the height of his powers. The profile created waves for exposing how volatile, even violent, Weinstein was to his employees and collaborators. But there was a much darker story that was just out of reach: rumors had long swirled that Weinstein was a sexual predator, but no one was willing to go on the record, and in the end he and the magazine concluded they couldn't close the case. But the story always nagged at him, and many years later, he was able to share his reporting notes and all that he knew with Ronan Farrow, and to cheer him along with Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey as they broke their pioneering stories and wrote their bestselling books. But the story continued to nag at him. Farrow, Twohey, and Kantor did a brilliant job exposing the trail of assaults and their cover-up, but the larger questions remained: what explained Weinstein's monstrousness? Even more importantly, how and why was it never checked? How does a man run the day to day operations of a company with hundreds of employees and revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars and at the same time live a shadow life of sexual predation without ever being caught, for years and years? How much is this a story about Harvey Weinstein, and how much is this a story about Hollywood and power? To answer that question fully, Ken Auletta has spent the past three years constructing a full reckoning with a career in film that has no parallel in Hollywood's history in its combination of extraordinary business and creative success and a personal brutality and viciousness that left a trail of ruined lives in its wake. How did one thing relate to the other? Hollywood Ending is an unflinching examination of Weinstein's life and career in full. Not simply a prosecutor's litany of crimes, it embeds them in the context of his overall business, his failures but also his outsized successes. To understand how he could behave as he did, we have to understand the power he wielded. Iconic film stars, Miramax employees and board members, old friends and family, even the person who knew him best, Harvey's brother Bob, all talked to Auletta at length. The result is not simply the portrait of a predator, it is a portrait of the power that allowed Weinstein to operate with such impunity for so many years, the spider web in which his victims found themselves trapped. To understand Weinstein's web is to understand how many other spider webs no doubt still remain."--
Penguin Press 2022-07-12 466 pages

Boy alone: a sibling journey through autism

Greenfeld, Karl Taro
Karl Taro Greenfeld knew from an early age that his little brother, Noah, was not like other children. He couldn't crawl, and he had trouble making eye contact or interacting with his family. As Noah grew older, his differences became even more pronounced—he was unable to communicate verbally, use the toilet, or tie his shoes, and despite his angelic demeanor, he often had violent outbursts. No doctor, social worker, or specialist could pinpoint what was wrong with Noah beyond a general diagnosis: autism. The boys' parents, Josh and Foumi, dedicated their lives to caring for their younger son with myriad approaches—a challenging, often painful experience that the devoted father detailed in a bestselling trilogy of books. Now, for the first time, acclaimed journalist Karl Taro Greenfeld speaks out about growing up in the shadow of his autistic brother, revealing the complex mix of rage, confusion, and love that defined his childhood. Boy Alone is his brutally honest memoir of the hopes, dreams, and realities of life with a mentally disabled sibling. Seamlessly weaving together the social history of autism and autism research—as the Greenfelds lived through it in seeking treatment for Noah—with the deeply affecting story of two very different boys growing up side by side, this book raises crucial philosophical questions: Can relationships exist without language? How should aging parents care for a nonverbal, violent child, and then a grown man who is not self-sufficient? Is there anything that can be done to help an extremely autistic child or adult become a member of mainstream society? Haunting, tragic, and unforgettable, this chronicle of autism is a beautiful, wholly original exploration of what it means to be a family, a brother, and a person.
HarperCollins 2009-05-12 355 pages

Being Heumann: an unrepentant memoir of a disability rights activist

Heumann, Judith E.
"One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism--from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington--Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society."--
Beacon Press 2020 218 pages