140 results for "Biography"

The master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American labor movement

Parmet, Robert D.
"The Master of Seventh Avenue is the definitive biography of David Dubinsky (1892-1982), one of the most controversial and influential labor leaders in 20th-century America. A 'character' in the truest sense of the word, Dubinsky was both revered and reviled, but never dull, conformist, or bound by convention. A Jewish labor radical, Dubinsky fled czarist Poland in 1910 and began his career as a garment worker and union agitator in New York City. He quickly rose through the ranks of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) and became its president in 1932. Dubinsky led the ILGWU for thirty-four years, where he championed 'social unionism, ' which offered workers benefits ranging from health care to housing. Moving beyond the realm of the ILGWU, Dubinsky also played a leading role in the American Federation of Labor (AFL), particularly during World War II. A staunch anti-communist, Dubinsky worked tirelessly to rid the American labor movement of communists and fellow-travelers. Robert D. Parmet also chronicles Dubinsky's influential role in local, national, and international politics. An extraordinary personality whose life and times present a fascinating lens into the American labor movement, Dubinsky leaps off the pages of this meticulously researched and vividly detailed biography"--Publisher description
New York University Press 2005-07-01 436 pages

Member of the Legislature

Morton Shulman
This is Morton Shulman's own fast- moving story of his eight years in politics. It is sharp but full of public concern, opinionated but self-critical, serious in intent but often hilarious in the telling. It reflects perfectly the life-style of its author-- there is never a dull moment. During his eight years as a member of the provincial Legislature, Morton Shulman's name was rarely off the front pages. Here Shulman tells the dramatic stories behind the headlines, and the stories that never made the front page. For Shulman, an "unrepentant capitalist" millionaire, the decision to run for the NDP was a chance to get back at the Conservative government that had fired him as Coroner. But it became much more than that, as Shulman, the man who always was approachable, became an unofficial ombudsman for the province and the people. Shulman's career as a Member of the Legislature was as stormy as his record in office as Chief Coroner. He smuggled a camera into the House and took pictures of government members asleep during debates. Disguised as a workman, he walked into the INCO plant at Sudbury and spent the night measuring sulphur dioxide levels which proved that in spite of government inspectors' assurances the pollution levels were dangerously high. He exposed Mafia connections with union leaders, politicians and police, and ended up with a Mafia contract on his life and a full-time police guard. He put on a hard hat and walked unchallenged into the Pickering Nuclear Power Plant to show that there was virtually no security in this potentially dangerous area. All these capers had but one goal -- to expose the bureaucratic bungling that affected and sometimes even endangered the lives of the ordinary Canadians who paid the tax bill. One after another he took on the Departments of Labour, Health, Highways, Reform Institutions, Natural Resources, Energy, the Attorney General, Bell Canada and more. His eight years as a Member of the Legislature brought some changes in government policies, Royal Commissions and numerous editorials about the situations he brought to public attention. Sometimes he lost, but the degree of public trust in Morton Shulman brought him national attention. There's never been another Member like Shulman.
Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2010-03 226 pages

Disraeli

Walter Sydney Sichel
Biography of Benjamin Disraeli, who was a British politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He is the only British Prime Minister of Jewish birth.
Independently Published 2017-01-08 366 pages

My Fathers House Recollections by Israel's Former Foreign Minister

Yigal Allon
Renowned Israeli Foreign Minister General Yigal Allon refelects on his incredible life as Military commander, leader, father and politician. During his lifetime, Allon was involved in a variety of crucial military, social and political initiatives that actually changed the face and fate of Israel. Working directly with David BenGurion, General Allon helped form what is now the modern State of Israel in 1948.
Jesus Boat, Incorporated 2009-05 195 pages

Do not resuscitate: the life and afterlife of Maurice Saatchi

Saatchi, Maurice Nathan
Maurice Saatchi is dead. He is standing in front of the Gates of Heaven. Arrival halls worse than Heathrow Airport. Queues. Overcrowding. A tidal wave of Paradise seekers. ID scans. Voice and facial recognition. X-ray examinations. Background checks. It all seems like a bad dream. His tests expose abnormalities. He is charged with multiple breaches of immigration law and detained pending a full jury trial. The verdict will reveal the biggest secret of all time: why some people go to Heaven and others to Hell. Do Not Resuscitate is a bold statement. Maurice Saatchi, a towering figure in the worlds of business and politics, frames his unsparing self-portrait with the conceit of a celestial trial in which his application to pass through the Gates of Heaven is heard before a jury featuring luminaries like Marilyn Monroe, Pablo Picasso, Chairman Mao, and Margaret Thatcher. In seeking admission to Heaven, Saatchi offers a defence like no other.
ERIS 2022 127 pages

I'm Not Done Yet! Keeping at It, Remaining Relevant, and Having the Time of My Life

Edward I. Kock,Ed Koch,Daniel Paisner
Who better to give us the message that we can all stay vibrant, exuberant, engaged, involved, and relevant than the world's most recognizable Noo Yawker, the man who, perhaps more than anyone else, has come to epitomize the active, with-it, no-quit, in-your-face, gritty New York spirit: the Honorable Edward I. Koch? In this lively primer, the colorful three-term mayor of New York City and noted television and radio personality, columnist, and commentator, offers anecdotal evidence to suggest that the healthiest outlook on advancing age is to keep active at the work you love.
Thorndike Press 2000 301 pages

Quite a Life! From Defeat to Defeat ... and Back

Carol Schwartz
After graduating from the University of Texas in 1965, Carol Schwartz, born in Mississippi and raised in Midland, Texas, visited Washington, D.C. She was due to be married in Austin in January and had a job teaching special education there. After a very tough childhood, a happier, less stressful life stood before her. But things changed--with Carol doing the changing. As she puts it, "A magnetic pull drew me to D.C." Carol began a journey that took her away from the familiar to D.C. and the dynamic world of local politics. Then a Republican in a city where Democrats made up nearly 80% of voters, she ran for Mayor and nearly beat Marion Barry in 1994 in the closest Mayoral election in the city's history. In Quite A Life: From Defeat to Defeat ... and Back, Carol talks about growing up on the poor side of the tracks in that small West Texas town, where she was made to work starting from age eight in the family store. There were only a few Jewish families and some prejudice. Carol was often responsible, beginning at age six, for caring for her beloved older brother and only sibling Johnny, who was intellectually disabled. And sadly, she was also the target of a brilliant but full-of-rage father. Carol describes life with her own family--her three kids and husband David, who suffered from severe depression. But despite that, he went from being a child of a limited-means family with student loans to becoming one of the more successful attorneys in a city made up of them. Depression, though, and Jack Daniels ultimately caused David's tragic death when the children were teenagers. Although wounded from her childhood, she leapt over ongoing insecurity and fear to run for the D.C. Board of Education in 1974, where she became an outspoken member and leader. Carol fought against the tide to help create Banneker Academic High School and usher in educational reforms 40 years ago when it was unfashionable and took lots of courage to do it--and which led to test scores increasing. On the D.C. Council starting in 1985, she was a lone voice against bloated budgets that eventually led the city to the financial brink. Carol became an ethical watchdog in a government that too often battled corruption. Spotting government sweetheart deals, she helped root them out as a guardian of taxpayer dollars. And she spearheaded the unanimous passage of sick and safe leave for private sector workers, making D.C. the second jurisdiction in the country to have it. In doing so, she went from being a best friend of business to being viciously targeted by that community. Her passion for the city and its residents inspired her to run for Mayor several times in spite of the odds. But she picked herself up after defeat--as her tough childhood had trained her to do--and kept on ... All the while she championed wins on behalf of the city and its residents in her continuing Council career. Community responsibility has been a lifelong clarion call for Carol. She has volunteered to battle for people with HIV/AIDS and other marginalized groups, and served for nearly two decades on the Board of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which was at the forefront of that crisis. She became the first woman president of the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Clubs in its 61-year history. Her volunteer work of 50 years has touched many people, animals and organizations, and continues. Now an Independent and always a straight-shooter, Carol talks about her life with characteristic candor and her opinions with unbridled honesty--and usually with humor. As Carol says, "If you want someone to give you a sugar-coated synopsis of a life, go elsewhere. But if you want an outspoken personal autobiography--with pictures galore--that also talks about the history of D.C. since Home Rule, gives you behind-the-scenes accounts of chaotic campaigns, as well as the inner-workings of government--all rolled together--come on this ride with me." It's a journey of wins and defeats, and coming back with hope.
BookBaby 2017-11-09 764 pages

Memories After My Death The Story of My Father, Joseph "Tommy" Lapid

Yair Lapid
From leading political figure and bestselling Hebrew author Yair Lapid comes a mesmerizing portrait of the author's father, one of modern Israel's leading figures. Memories After My Death is the astonishing true story of Tommy Lapid, a well-loved and controversial Israeli figure who saw the development of the country from all angles over its first sixty years. From seeing his father taken away to a concentration camp to arriving in Tel Aviv at the birth of Israel, Tommy Lapid lived every major incident of Jewish life since the 1930s first-hand. This sweeping narrative will captivate anyone with an interest in how Israel became what it is today. Tommy Lapid's uniquely unorthodox opinions - he belonged to neither left nor right, was Jewish, but vehemently secular - expose the many contradictions inherent in Israeli life today.
St. Martin's Publishing Group 2017-10-24 336 pages

Citizen Cohn Memoir of Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn

Steve Cohn
Facing surgery to remove a brain tumor, former Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn wrote this memoir chronicling his life's story, from his grandfather's daring escape from the Russian Army in Ukraine during World War I and Cohn's childhood growing up in mid-century Missouri, to his adult life in Northern California, where he raised a family and began a long career as an attorney for the nation's most progressive electric utility and a civic leader for "America's Most Livable City." Cohn was one of the longest serving City Council members in the history of Sacramento, dating back to the California Capital's founding during the Gold Rush in 1849. Cohn's memoir shines a light on how local politics was played, for better or worse, during some of the Capital's most controversial battles over the last 25 years, including the saga of the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team and the building of a new Downtown arena. Cohn's memoir also tells the inside story of some of the Council's toughest decisions to change the City's development pattern from its post-war suburban, automobile-oriented past to a more sustainable vision of Sacramento as "America's Most Livable City."
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2016-10-08 272 pages

Extraordinary Canadians Lester B Pearson

Andrew Cohen
In his 2 terms as prime minister, from 1963–1968, Lester B. Pearson oversaw the revamping of Canada through the introduction of Medicare, the Canada Pension Plan, the Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the Auto Pact, and the new Maple Leaf flag. Pearson came to power after an impressive career as a diplomat, where he played a vital role in the creation of NATO and the United Nations, later serving as president of its General Assembly. He put Canada on the world stage when he won the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his handling of the Suez Crisis, during which he brokered the formation of a UN peacekeeping force. Author Andrew Cohen, whose books have focused on Canada’s place in the world, is the perfect author to assess Pearson’s legacy.
Penguin Canada 2011-08-30 232 pages

Spider's Web Bush, Saddam, Thatcher and the Decade of Deceit

Alan Friedman
For ten years, the White House, assisted by allies in London and Rome, brushed aside the law in a relentless quest to support Saddam Hussein. What were the forces that shaped this persisting embrace of a dictator whom George Bush would eventually compare to Adolf Hitler? How did Washington and its NATO allies nurture a frequently illicit rapport with Saddam, and what was the real story of why it became necessary to mount Operation Desert Storm? How did the governments led by George Bush and Margaret Thatcher seek to cover up their past dealings with the Iraqi leader after Desert Storm finally drove him from Kuwait in 1991?
DIANE Publishing Company 1999-12 455 pages

Homothug The Secret Life of Rudy Giuliani

A. Weberman
Rudolph, the Trump supporterhad a very brown noseand if you knew the truth aboutyou would even say he blowsAll of the other cabinet membersused to laugh and call him namesThey never let poor Rudyplay in any white house games.Then one post election eveDonald came to say:"Rudolph with your stamina so low,I'm afraid sissies have got to goRudy never got a post in the Trump Administration because he lacked stamina another way of saying he was basically a sissy since thanks to HOMOTHUG, word circulated on the internet that he was a bisexual. Rudy had this book removed from Amazon ages ago but it is back like a recurrent nightmare. Homothug exposed him as a bisexual whose butt buddy was his childhood friend Alan Placa, a disgraced child molesting priest. This book reveals the real Rudy, a cross-dressing freak whose father was busted in a State Park Men's Room frequented by boys for offering to give one of the kids a blow job. Rudy's dad was a piece of work, he claimed he ran a bar when the only bar he ever owned was a tire iron he used when he was a Mafia enforcer. His father was busted for finding this milkman that owed the mob money and taking what he owed from him forcibly. This occured at 96th St and Lexington Ave in Manhattan. And the man who bailed pops out was an investor in the 2nd Ave Subway long before the current one began construction. This book is not only a history of the pot-hating weasel but a history of the mob in New York City and New Jersey. Shoot, the U.S. Marshalls and the NYPD broke into my crib on the premise there was a gangbanger loose in the building when in reality they were looking for one of my sources who had gone underground. Rudy lied for Trump, covered up Trump groping behavior, campaigned with him and become his spokesperson. Rudy showed his true colors, something that many suspected on him all along. He is basically a fascist.
Independently Published 2016-12-15 388 pages

The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921

Deutscher, Isaac
Few political figures of the twentieth century have aroused as much controversy as the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky’s extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience; and yet there was at one time a danger that his name would disappear altogether from history. Isaac Deutscher’s magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine, and in this definitive work Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian revolution. This first volume of the trilogy, originally published in 1954, traces Trotsky’s political development: his early activities, the formation and crystallization of his distinctive and motivating idea—the permanent revolution— his long feud and final reconciliation with Lenin and Bolshevism, and his role in the October insurrection of 1917. The volume ends in the year 1921, when Trotsky, then at the climax of his power, unwittingly sowed the seeds of his own defeat.
Verso 2026-05-19 512 pages

From Exile to Washington

Michael W. Blumenthal
In a life that has spanned nearly nine decades and has taken him across the world and back, W. Michael Blumenthal has borne witness to the worlds convulsions and transformations during the twentieth century. Born in Germany between the two world wars, Blumenthal narrowly escaped the Nazi horror, when, in 1939, he and his family fled to Shanghais chaotic Jewish ghetto, where they spent the entirety of the Second World War. From these fraught and humble beginnings, Blumenthal would emerge as a major leader in American business and politics. In the second half of the century, Blumenthal headed two major American corporations Bendix and Burroughs (later Unisys) served as a United States trade ambassador in the State Department and the White House, advising John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and served under Jimmy Carter as the Secretary of the Treasury. After his retirement from business and politics, he began an entirely new chapter in his career, when he conceived and became director of Europes largest Jewish museum the Jewish Museum of Berlin a position he still holds today. An essential autobiography by one of Americas great political figures, From Exile to Washington is an engaging chronicle of the twentieth centurys greatest upheavals, and a tribute to a lifetime of courage, leadership and decisiveness.
Duckworth Publishers 2014-09-25 448 pages

The Show Another Side of Santamaria's Movement

Mark Aarons
In 1942, on the recommendation of 26-year-old Bob Santamaria, Australia's Catholic bishops created a clandestine church organisation to smash the Communist Party's massive trade union base. Soon, The Movement, working closely with ASIO, became a sophisticated intelligence agency that would influence every corner of politics. Santamaria based his Movement (also called The Show) completely on the Communist Party, copying its spectacularly successful union-organising machinery. Within a decade, it had defeated communist power in many major unions. He also adopted the communists' strategy of infiltrating the Labor Party, and embarked on an aggressive program to transform it into a Catholic political machine, helping spark the great Labor Split of the mid-1950s. Ironically, in modelling the Movement on his enemy, Santamaria imported its most odious characteristic: Stalinism. He rapidly embraced the characteristics of a Stalinist leader, actively cultivating his own 'cult of personality'. Over time, this infected The Movement, as it adopted authoritarian practices and imposed anti-democratic policies on the unions it controlled, mirroring the communists' modus operandi . As in the Communist Party, this inevitably caused internal battles and catastrophic splits that undermined and, eventually, destroyed The Movement. Weaving together a rich story from previously secret archives of both The Movement and the Communist Party, ASIO's massive files, and extensive oralhistory interviews, The Show exposes a previously unseen side of Santamaria's Catholic Movement.
Scribe Publications Pty Limited 2018-10-02 288 pages