The author shares the story of his family, their immigration, and the challenges of navigating two cultures.

"Julia Howe (1819-1910) was a beautiful, studious New York heiress and aspiring poet when she married Bostonian Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, a hero of the Greek war of independence against the Turks and an internationally acclaimed pioneer in the education of the blind. Their marriage united two exceptional people. Together the Howes knew many of the key figures of their era, from Charles Dickens and Florence Nightingale in England, to Margaret Fuller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Horace Mann, Charles Sumner, and John Brown. But despite his philanthropic and abolitionist ideals, Dr. Howe did not support married women's work outside the home. He isolated Julia, opposed her literary ambitions, and wasted her inheritance. She defied him by continuing to publish poems and plays while raising their six children. She also secretly wrote a bold novel about a hermaphrodite, undiscovered until long after her death. And during the Civil War, she wrote the words to the most powerful and enduring anthem in the nation's history. Authorship of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' made her famous and revered. But she fought her own civil war at home, battling with her husband over her rights to equality, intellectual freedom, and a public voice. As soon as the war ended, she became a pacifist and suffragist leader. In the second half of her life, she came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women's rights and social reform. In this biography, Elaine Showalter tells the story of Howe's determined self-creation and vividly restores her to the pantheon of feminist intellectuals who changed the world"--Jacket

Has any sport executive had as many words written about him as Branch Rickey? A one-time catcher, Rickey managed the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals at the end of the dead-ball era before serving as vice president of the Dodgers and general manager of the Pirates. Possessed of one of the most creative minds in the game's long history, Rickey made early use of statistical analysis, pioneered the farm system, and pressed for the expansion of major league baseball. But he is best known for integrating organized baseball, signing Jackie Robinson to a contract at a time when the U.S. armed forces were still segregated and the Civil Rights movement was years away. A courageous move, the signing also stands as proof of Rickey's foresight; by tapping the Negro Leagues, he enlarged the pool of exploitable talent. Soon after, major league ties to the talent-rich Caribbean were cinched up, and years later scouts sign players from Asia and all over the globe. Based on nearly one hundred of interviews and vast amounts of research, including exclusive access to Rickey's own papers.

The guiding metaphor in Coyote's new spiritual biography is drawn from a line in an early Bob Dylan song, and has become the tale of a young man caught between apparently antipodal options and the journey that leads to wealth and power. Coyote provides readers intimate portraits of mentors that shaped him, as what begins as a peripatetic flirtation with Zen deepens into a life-long avocation, ordination as a priest, and finally the road to Transmission-- acknowledgment from his teacher that he is ready to be an independent teacher.

"A biography of Samuel Gompers, leader of the American Federation of Labor."--

Erica Jong, the author of Fear of Flying, was a correspondent and friend of Henry Miller for the last decade of his life. In this blend of biography, autobiography, scholarship and polemic, she sets out to re-evaluate Miller's work and to rescue him from charges of misogyny and titillation. The book contains Jong's own correspondence with Miller, and also examines the background to the diaries of Anais Nin.

Streaming Video on Love In Black & White now available at Expandedbooks.com Most Americans regard the World War II period as belonging to the "greatest generation," but it was also a time when religious intolerance and racial violence flourished. Shamefully, it was commonplace to see signs that read "Whites Only" or "Jews Not Allowed." It is within this world that this compelling memoir is set. William Cohen, born in Bangor, Maine, was the eldest son of a Jewish father and a Protestant Irish mother. Janet Langhart, an African-American, was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana by her single parent mother, a Southern Baptist. The book draws fascinating parallels between the histories of two people from different regions, races, and religions, as both are witnesses to and targets of the social tensions of the day. Throughout Love in Black and White, readers accompany Bill and Janet in their struggle to overcome to the barriers of ethnic and racial bigotry and hatred. The stories are rich and profound. At times they are amusing. Other times, harrowing. Against impossible odds, Bill would be elected to serve his country as a U.S. Congressman and Senator, and Janet would become a prominent television personality, activist, and highly respected businesswoman and author. Opposites in so many ways―in color, faith and culture―seemingly a bundle of contradictions, they meet in 1974, become friends, and eventually fall in love. They decide to marry on Valentine's Day 1996 in the very place that once harbored some of the nation's most prominent racists-the U.S. Capitol. They receive the surprise of a lifetime when Bill is asked by President Bill Clinton to serve as the nation's 20th Secretary of Defense. It is a calling that proves to be life transforming for both him and Janet, as they lead, inspire and bring comfort to the men and women who defend our nation. It is at the Pentagon where they witness just how powerful our nation ca

An eye-opening account of time served in the great battles of our century - for workers' rights, against Fascism, Communism, and racism - Jumping the Line is the life story of an American original. William Herrick relates his adventures and misadventures on the front lines of the Spanish Civil War, in (and very much out of) the Communist Party, driving a tractor on a communal farm in Michigan, jumping the line as a hobo, organizing African American sharecroppers in Georgia, at work with Orson Welles, and immersed in his own writing. When Paul Berman interviewed Herrick in the Village Voice in 1986, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, Herrick's remarks so incensed other veterans of the Abraham Lincoln battalion that they picketed the paper. What William Herrick has to say doesn't always go down easily. But for those who like the truth, with a dash of wit and a healthy dose of history, it can be exhilarating.

Life Out of Context begins as a powerful, brooding and humorously honest examination of Mosley's own sense of cultural dislocation as an African American writer. But due to a series of serendipitous events -- the screening of a documentary about Africa, an encounter with Harry Belafonte and Hugh Masakela -- Mosley, rather like the protagonist in one of his mystery novels, has a series of epiphanies on the role of a black intellectual in America. He asks: What can we do to fight injustice, poverty, exploitation, and racism? What is globalization doing to us? Through these late night meditations, Mosley attempts to transcend his earlier feelings of living a "life out of context" and seeks instead to find a political context. He ends with a call to arms, proposing that African Americans have to break their historic ties with the Democrat Party, and form a party of their own.

Walter Laqueur has been writing and teaching for over six decades, primarily in the fields of twentieth century history and politics, always as a shrewd and thoughtful generalist in an age of specialization. In this engaging memoir, Laqueur focuses on the political and historical events that shaped his thinking and that have inspired his intellectual work throughout his life. He discusses living and attending school under Nazism; Marxism, the Soviet Union, and the part he played in Cold War politics; and the image his generation had of Zionism, Israel, and the Middle East. Laqueur shares his views on beltway politics and think tanks, and concludes with a look at guerrilla warfare and terrorism, and the future of Europe.

This is a complete story of the life of furniture designer Vladimir Kagan, in the words of the man himself. It features many never before seen photographs and sketches.

Book by Gold, Victor

The life story of this daring news reporter, globetrotter, and advocate for women's rights is presented chronologically from birth to death.

"At last, National Geographic's award-winning photobiography of Annie Oakley bursts into paperback. This stirring story of an enduring American heroine has won widespread acclaim and was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Annie's amazing life comes sharply into focus in a compelling narrative, period photography, and in her own words. Two historical maps and a chronology ground the legend in time and place. Readers ride through a life filled with adventure. Annie grows up in the backwoods of Ohio, hunting game to feed her family. Discovered by Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, she wows crowds with target shooting and daring horse riding. Annie's hardships are examined too, as is her inspirational status as a role model for women. Awards include:"American Library Association Notable BookBest Book of the Year―School Library JournalTexas Bluebonnet Award Master List

A sophisticated coming-of-age memoir tracing a modern Holly Golightly from girl- to womanhood and from fantasy to realityFrom the glittering skyscrapers of Manhattan's media elite to the slacker haven of a fashionably low-rent L. A. bar, Strawberry Saroyan traces her journey not only from girl- to womanhood, but from fantasy to reality. A powerful and profoundly post-modern coming of age story, with a voice reminiscent of Liz Phair one moment and Mary McCarthy the next, Girl Walks into a Bar explores Saroyan's struggle not only with who she is and who she wants to be, but also who she is in the context of what she's supposed to embody: the iconic media-promulgated 'girl', a 21st-century version of Audrey Hepburn standing outside Tiffany's looking at diamonds. episodes of Saroyan's life and brings them to the page as a filmmaker might, zeroing in on the crucial 'scenes': losing her virginity, starting her own riot grrly magazine, falling in dysfunctional love. Yet all the while, she's trailed by that other black-clad girl, the Platonic ideal of so many modern young women's fantasies. Will they ever meet? That question lies at the heart of Saroyan's genre-bending meoir. Girl Walks into a Bar promises to be one of the most memorable debuts of the year. Strawberry Saroyan was born in 1970 and grew up in California. After graduating from Barnard, she was an editor at Conde Nast Traveler. Her writing has appeared in Salon, Elle and Vogue. She lives in Los Angeles.