3040 results for "Biography"

She made me laugh: my friend Nora Ephron

Cohen, Richard M.
“A very personal remembrance of Nora Ephron’s life and loves, and her ups and downs” ( USA TODAY ) by her long-time and dear friend Richard Cohen in a hilarious, blunt, raucous, and poignant recollection of their decades-long friendship. Nora Ephron (1941–2012) was a phenomenal personality, journalist, essayist, novelist, playwright, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and movie director ( Sleepless in Seattle ; You’ve Got Mail ; When Harry Met Sally ; Heartburn ; Julie & Julia ). She wrote a slew of bestsellers ( I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman ; I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections ; Scribble, Scribble: Notes on the Media ; Crazy Salad : Some Things About Women ). She was celebrated by Hollywood, embraced by literary New York, and adored by legions of fans throughout the world. Award-winning journalist Richard Cohen, wrote this about She Made Me Laugh : “I call this book a third-person memoir. It is about my closest friend, Nora Ephron, and the lives we lived together and how her life got to be bigger until, finally, she wrote her last work, the play, Lucky Guy , about a newspaper columnist dying of cancer while she herself was dying of cancer. I have interviewed many of her other friends—Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Arianna Huffington—but the book is not a name-dropping star turn, but an attempt to capture a remarkable woman who meant so much to so many other women.” With “the nuanced perspective of a confidant” ( The Washington Post ), She Made Me Laugh “is a fine tribute to a fascinating woman” ( Houston Chronicle ): “Nora would be pleased” ( People , “Book of the Week”).
Simon & Schuster 2016-09 299 pages

Klopp: bring the noise

Honigstein, Raphael
The definitive insight into the man behind Liverpool's Champions League 2019 victory Jürgen Klopp was confirmed as manager of Liverpool FC in October 2015 to a rapturous reception. His super-sized personality and all-or-nothing style of football and management made him the perfect choice to pump up the volume at Anfield and lift Liverpool out of a slump. Fans and club officials were delighted to get the coach they'd long admired from afar and eager to see the impact he would have on the club and the Premier League. Klopp is the manager to turn players into winners. He's authentic, approachable and funny, charming media and fans alike. He's also merciless and exceptionally driven, his quick temper bubbling away barely under the surface. Klopp's pitch-side passion has enthralled fans, culminating in 2019's triumphant Champions League win. With exclusive access to Klopp's friends, family, colleagues and players, Raphael Honigstein goes behind-the-scenes at Liverpool to tell the definitive story of Klopp's career and how he brought Liverpool to victory.
Yellow Jersey Press 2017 324 pages

Capitol men: the epic story of Reconstruction through the lives of the first Black congressmen

Dray, Philip
Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray shines a light on a little known group of men: the nation's first black members of Congress. These men played a critical role in pushing for much-needed reforms in the wake of a traumatic civil war, including public education for all children, equal rights, and protection from Klan violence. But they have been either neglected or maligned by most historians--their "glorious failure" chalked up to corruption and "ill-preparedness."--From publisher description.
Houghton Mifflin Co 2008 463 pages

Daughter of empire: my life as a Mountbatten

Hicks, Pamela
“Lady Pamela Hicks’s joyously entertaining new memoir, arguably the poshest book that ever has or will be written” ( Newsweek ), is a privileged glimpse into the lives and loves of some of the twentieth century’s leading figures. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born in Madrid at the very end of the “Roaring Twenties.” Daughter of the glamorous heiress Edwina Ashley and Lord Louis Mountbatten, Pamela spent much of her early life with her sister, nannies, and servants—not to mention a menagerie of animals that included, at different times, a honey bear, chameleons, a bush baby, and a mongoose. Her parents’ vast social circle included royalty, film stars, celebrities, and politicians. Noel Coward invited Pamela to watch him film, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. dropped in for tea. However when war broke out Pamela and her sister were sent to New York to live with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, while the prime minister appointed her father to be the last Viceroy of India. Amid the turmoil, Pamela came of age, meeting the student leaders who had been released from jail, working in the canteen for Allied forces and in a clinic outside Delhi. She also developed a close bond with Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. “If you are addicted to Downton Abbey , chances are that you will relish Daughter of Empire , a British aristocrat’s memoir of her childhood and coming of age…She is also a keen observer of a way of life now vanished, except on PBS” ( The Wall Street Journal ). “Not many people remain who can tell stories like Lady Pamela Hicks” ( Vanity Fair ).
Simon & Schuster 2013 240 pages

Breathless: an American girl in Paris

Miller, Nancy K.
"In the early 1960s, most middle-class American women in their twenties had their lives laid out for them: marriage, children, and life in the suburbs. Most, but not all. Breathless is the story of a girl who represents those who rebelled against conventional expectations. Paris was a magnet for those eager to resist domesticity, and like many young women of the decade, Nancy K. Miller was enamored of everything French--from perfume and Hermès scarves to the writing of Simone de Beauvoir and the New Wave films of Jeanne Moreau. After graduating from Barnard College in 1961, Miller set out for a year in Paris, with a plan to take classes at the Sorbonne and live out a great romantic life inspired by the movies. After a string of sexual misadventures, she gave up her short-lived freedom and married an American expatriate who promised her a lifetime of three-star meals and five-star hotels. But her husband turned out to be a con man whose promises were lies, and she had to leave Paris and her dreams behind. Upon returning to New York, with more than half of her twenties behind her, Miller was determined to start over. In an era of Vietnam anti-war protests, student unrest, and sexual liberation, she sought to become a new woman: autonomous and creative at a time when women were only expected to look pretty and smile. This stunning memoir chronicles a young woman's coming-of-age tale, and offers a glimpse into the intimate lives of girls before feminism"--
Seal Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group 2013 238 pages

Being Mr. Skin: 20 years of nip slips, cheek peeks, and fast-forwarding to the good parts

McBride, Jim (CEO of MrSkin.com),Klickstein, Mathew
Stripping Down, Laughing It Up, and Being Mr. Skin: The Naked Truth Behind a Hilarious and Unlikely Success Story You’ve heard Mr. Skin on The Howard Stern Show . You’ve seen his website in the blockbuster comedy Knocked Up . Maybe you’ve spent some time poking around on MrSkin.com, the world’s #1 resource for celebrity nudity. Now, Jim McBride—“Mr. Skin” himself—tells his story in uproarious, SKINtastic fashion…nip-slips, cheek-peeks, muff-scruffs and all! Being Mr. Skin details how Jim rose from being a suburban teen in the ‘80s with an impressively annotated videotape collection and an expert recall of the most sensational and sensuous scenes from every movie ever made, to his current status as Chief Sexecutive Officer of MrSkin.com—a naked-star-studded pop culture powerhouse. You’ll be riveted as Jim chronicles the unbelievable journey of juggling suburban family life while establishing his online sensation, quickly becoming the “World’s Foremost Authority on Celebrity Nudity.” Throughout this upward (and outward) saga of Tinseltown T&A triumphs, you’ll get the inside skinny on: • The first time Mr. Skin appeared on The Howard Stern Show and how he became a regular on the greatest radio program of all time! • How Judd Apatow turned Mr. Skin into the surprise breakout star of Knocked Up ! • The time, effort, and tissues it takes to track every nude rack and crack in every movie and TV show ever made! • How some of your favorite actresses feel about being featured on the website—including several Anatomy Award winners! • The truth about Mr. Skin, The Family Man—There is a real Mrs. Skin and there are three lovely “skinfants.” • Mr. Skin’s most stunning showcases and shout-outs in top-tier media, including Saturday Night Live , Family Guy , The People’s Choice Awards , American Idol , and The Adam Carolla Show! • How (and why) Mr. Skin.com became one of the first-ever commercially successful websites. Throughout it all, Jim’s story amuses and amazes on every page. Being Mr. Skin supplies one-of-a-kind insights into how he transformed an offbeat passion into a popular and profitable phenomenon against all manner of odds—only some of which involve unclothed body parts—all with the help of his dedicated staff, friends, and, yes…even his mom! Being Mr. Skin is what Jim McBride does, it’s who he is. And now—for the first time in book form—you can enjoy nothing but “the good parts” (no fast-forwarding necessary). Featuring brand-new comics from Eisner Award nominee Johnny Ryan!
Post Hill Press 2019-05-21 198 pages

Alex's wake: a voyage of betrayal and a journey of remembrance

Goldsmith, Martin
On May 13, 1939, the luxury liner SS St. Louis sailed away from Hamburg, Germany, bound for Havana, Cuba. On board were more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. After being denied landing rights in Havana, the refugees were turned away by the United States and Canada and forced to sail back to Europe, where the gathering storm of the Holocaust awaited them. Two of those refugees were Alex Goldschmidt, a sixty-year-old veteran of World War I, and his seventeen-year-old son Klaus Helmut Goldschmidt. After their trans-Atlantic voyage, they landed in France. They would spend the next three years in one French camp after another before being shipped to Auschwitz in 1942. Sixty-nine years later, Martin Goldsmith, Alex's grandson and Helmut's nephew, retraced their sad journey. The book offers a compelling history of the voyage of the St. Louis, including testimony from those on board, a tale of espionage, and the brave resolve of Captain Gustav Schroeder. It also offers a harrowing chronicle of the vast network of camps in France, many of which were organized by the French themselves with little or no encouragement from the Germans.
Da CapoPress, a member of the Perseus Books Group 2014-04-08 344 pages

Alex's wake: a voyage of betrayal and a journey of remembrance

Goldsmith, Martin
On May 13, 1939, the luxury liner SS St. Louis sailed away from Hamburg, Germany, bound for Havana, Cuba. On board were more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. After being denied landing rights in Havana, the refugees were turned away by the United States and Canada and forced to sail back to Europe, where the gathering storm of the Holocaust awaited them. Two of those refugees were Alex Goldschmidt, a sixty-year-old veteran of World War I, and his seventeen-year-old son Klaus Helmut Goldschmidt. After their trans-Atlantic voyage, they landed in France. They would spend the next three years in one French camp after another before being shipped to Auschwitz in 1942. Sixty-nine years later, Martin Goldsmith, Alex's grandson and Helmut's nephew, retraced their sad journey. The book offers a compelling history of the voyage of the St. Louis, including testimony from those on board, a tale of espionage, and the brave resolve of Captain Gustav Schroeder. It also offers a harrowing chronicle of the vast network of camps in France, many of which were organized by the French themselves with little or no encouragement from the Germans.
Da CapoPress, a member of the Perseus Books Group 2014 344 pages

The Jerusalem syndrome: my life as a reluctant Messiah

Maron, Marc
By the author of Attempting Normal and host of the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, The Jerusalem Syndrome is The Gospel according to Maron: a spiritual memoir of your average hyperintelligent, ultraneurotic, superhip Jewish standup comedian and seeker. The Jerusalem Syndrome is a genuine psychological phenomenon that often strikes visitors to the Holy Land_the delusion that they are suddenly direct vessels for the voice of God. Marc Maron seems to have a distinctly American version of the Jerusalem Syndrome, which has led him on a lifelong quest for religious significance and revelation in the most unlikely of places. Maron riffs on Beat phenomena with its sacred texts, established rituals, and prescribed pilgrimages. He spends some time exploring the dark side of things, as his obsessions with cocaine (known to Maron as “magic powder”), conspiracy theories, and famous self-destructive comedians convince him that the gates of hell open beneath Los Angeles. As his quest matures, he reveals the religious aspects of Corporate America, pontificating on the timeless beauty of the Coca-Cola logo and even taking a trip to the Philip Morris cigarette factory, where the workers puff their own products with a zealot-like fervor. The culmination of Maron’s Jerusalem Syndrome comes during his own tour of the Holy Land, where, with Sony camcorder glued to his eye socket, he comes face-to-face with his own ambiguous relationship to Judaism and reaches the brink of spiritual revelation_or is it nervous breakdown? Marc Maron has considerably adapted and expanded his praised one-man show to craft a genuine literary memoir. Whether he’s a genuine prophet or a neurotic mess, he’ll make you laugh as you question the meaning of life. “Marc Maron is blazingly smart, rapid-fire, and very funny . . . A brilliant and relentless screed.” –David Rakoff, author of Fraud “Marc Maron is the first crazy person I’ve ever envied. In his brainiac-memoir-meets-hilarious-travelogue, he demonstrates the ability to tell a story with an extraordinary provocative intelligence that is regrettably shared by few.” _ Janeane Garofolo, comedian
Broadway Books 2001-10-09 180 pages

Looking at Lincoln

Kalman, Maira
A brief look at the life of United States president Abraham Lincoln. Celebrate Lincoln's remarkable life in a fresh and exciting way. In this picture book Lincoln's legacy is everywhere. But who was he, really? Among the many other things, we discover our sixteenth president was a man who believed in freedom for all, had a dog named Fido, loved Mozart, apples, and his wife's vanilla cake, and kept his notes in his hat.
Puffin Books 2017-01-03 48 pages

Make your own damn movie! secrets of a renegade director

Kaufman, Lloyd
Lloyd Kaufman, the writer/producer/director of such cult-classic films as The Toxic Avenger , Class of Nuke 'Em High , and Tromeo and Juliet , offers a guide to movie-making unlike any other available anywhere. In 25 years, Kaufman, along with partner Michael Herz, has built Troma Studios up from a company struggling to find its voice in a field crowded with competitors to its current--and legendary--status as a lone survivor, a bastion of true cinematic independence, and the world's greatest collection of camp on film. As entertaining and funny as it is informative and insightful, Make Your Own Damn Movie! places Kaufman's radically low-budget, independent-studio style of filmaking directly in the reader's hands. Thus we learn how to: develop and write a knock-out screenplay; raise funding; find locations and cast actors; hire a crew; obtain equipment, permits, and music rights (all for little or no money); make incredible special effects for $0.79 each; charm, schmooze, and network while on the film-festival circuit; and, finally, make a bad actor act so bad it's actually good. From scriptwriting and directing to financing and marketing, this book is brimming with utterly off-the-wall, decidedly maverick, yet consistently proven advice on how to fully develop one's idea for an independent film.
St. Martin's Griffin 2003 329 pages

Escape through the Pyrenees

Fittko, Lisa
"Though it reads like a suspense novel, Escape through the Pyrenees is Lisa Fittko's extraordinary memoir of life as an "enemy alien" in France before and after the German invasion of 1940. Fittko and her husband, Hans, were Jewish leftists in Berlin who became active members of the anti-Fascist German resistance. In 1933, they fled the Gestapo to what they thought was the safety of France. To the French authorities, however, they and thousands of other German émigrés represented a grave political threat. Soon these émigrés were rounded up and crowded into concentration camps."--Back cover.
Northwestern University Press 2000 221 pages

Sexual violence: our war against rape

Fairstein, Linda A.
For more than fifteen years, Linda Fairstein has directed the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit within the Manhattan D.A.'s office. The first such organization in the country, this unit is charged with supervising every sex crimes prosecution in Manhattan. As a consequence Linda Fairstein and her associates have been at the very center of the massive changes in sex crimes law and procedure that have occurred over the past two decades. Emulated in most other major cities, New York's SCPU and its counterparts throughout the country have had extraordinary high success rates in prosecuting these violent crimes. Through their efforts, a victim of rape now can expect sensitive treatment from the police, can expect to be believed and supported, and has some reasonable expectation of winning in the courtroom. In Sexual Violence, Linda Fairstein shares the wisdom she has accumulated on the front lines in the war against rape, from her beginnings as a corporate law-bound female graduate of a prestigious law school to her job in the D.A.'s office at a time when criminal prosecution was "no place for a woman." Over the years, Linda Fairstein has personally tried or been involved in scores of nationally prominent rape cases, including the Robert Chambers Preppy Murder Trial and the case of the Central Park Jogger. She has been called upon to comment on virtually every significant sex crimes investigation in the country. Through the story of the Midtown Rapist case and other major investigations, she shows here how the system works to protect victims and punish criminals: how evidence is gathered, how witnesses are interviewed, how indictments are produced, and, finally, the nuts and bolts of trial, verdict, and sentencing. Sexual Violence is a living document of the transformation of our notion of sex crimes, an up-to-date commentary on the vital issues of stranger and date rape and the struggle to expunge the traditional stigma that has for too long been attached to victims of sexual assault.
William Morrow and Co 1993 288 pages

Starstruck: my unlikely road to Hollywood

Maltin, Leonard
Hollywood historian and film reviewer Leonard Maltin invites readers to pull up a chair and listen as he tells stories, many of them hilarious, of 50+ years interacting with legendary movie stars, writers, directors, producers, and cartoonists. Maltin grew up in the first decade of television, immersing himself in TV programs and accessing 1930s and '40s movies hitting the small screen. His fan letters to admired performers led to unexpected correspondences, then to interviews and publication of his own fan magazine. Maltin's career as a free-lance writer and New York Times-bestselling author as well as his 30-year run on Entertainment Tonight, gave him access to Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery, Shirley Temple, and Jimmy Stewart among hundreds of other Golden Age stars, his interviews cutting through the Hollywood veneer and revealing the human behind each legend. Starstruck also offers a fascinating glimpse inside the Disney empire, and Maltin's tenure teaching USC's popular film course reveals insights into moviemaking along with access to past, current, and future stars of film, such as George Lucas, Kevin Feige, Quentin Tarantino, and Guillermo del Toro.
GoodKnight Books, an imprint of Paladin Communications 2021 307 pages

In search of a kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the perilous birth of the British Empire

Bergreen, Laurence
"An exploration narrative of the highest order: the bestselling author of Over the Edge of the World brings alive the extraordinary life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history-as a pirate raiding Spanish galleons, as the first explorer to successfully circumnavigate the globe, and as a naval hero who defeated the Spanish Armada and reshaped the global order"--
Custom House 2021 440 pages