Here is the first biography of Casanova, "the king of all adventurers," the great gallant of the Eighteenth Century. Liar, forger, cardsharp, adulterer, seducer, he had only his wits to protect him from unmasking - and the resultant imprisonment and poverty. Yet in the midst of his ruthless existence he found time to be, also, a student to the humanities, a philosopher, dramatist and poet.His Memoirs, famous through they are, have been unavailable to all but a few, and cover but a portion of his career. Mr. Endore has undertaken to sift out the falsehood in the Memoirs, fill in their hiatuses, and complete the life-story, basing it upon the latest available sources.So amazing was the life of this paradoxical gentleman that a generation after his death the world refused to believe he had ever existed. He became a rakehelly myth. Mr. Endore has restored him to his rightful place in history, at the same time preserving the picturesque and flavorsome aspects of his nature.

In this political biography, Ilan Pappe traces the rise of the Husayni family of Jerusalem, who dominated Palestinian history from the early 1700s until the second half of the twentieth century.

The life story of one of Hollywood's most dashing swashbucklers reveals how his wild offscreen behavior--drinking, womanizing, and carousing with David Niven--contrasted with his on-screen charm. (Biography).

The Jazz Book of Two Lifetimes NEA Jazz Master saxophonist Dave Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach have enjoyed a fifty-year friendship on and off the bandstand. They've performed with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, and their own bands. Ruminations and Reflections takes readers on a rollicking journey through their musical lives. Along the way, they share their views on jazz education, prominent musicians, and musical preparation. Liebman and Beirach pay tribute to their musical mentors, tour their discography, and suggest essential recordings to study. The book's conversational style will delight students, professionals, and music lovers alike. "We really don't have an exact name for musicians like Dave and Richie. Across decades of recordings and concerts, their aspirations obliterate the definitions of any single genre. This volume reveals the deep insight and wisdom required to resolve their shared quest for meaning in music. Both are master players who continue to strive for what goes beyond and what lies beneath. Reading their words and following their stories in this wonderful book affirms the feeling that they share on the bandstand as one of the great long-term partnerships in this music." - Pat Metheny A masterclass in the art and skill of jazz Ruminations and Reflections is more than just a jazz biography, it is a masterclass in how to improvise, jazz theory, how to listen to jazz, and the business of being a musician in today's world. Never shy, these two friends share fascinating and revealing stories of growing into their musical selves, late night hangs with legendary musicians, and the jazz life. Known for their virtuosity and playing free, Liebman and Beirach share their secrets for preparing for the ultimate exercise of musical improvisation. Both musicians use their deep devotion to classical music as a basis for improvisation, crossing genres and boundaries to create spontaneous and beautiful musical experiences. As veteran educators, Dave and Richie share their wisdom and life lessons to keep the legacy of jazz improvisation and free jazz alive. Jazz musicians and students will find value in their masterful analysis of duo playing, comping, and musical leadership. For fans of jazz masters and legends Ruminations and Reflections showcases never before told anecdotes and opinions about musical legends including, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Chick Corea, Lee Konitz, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, and Wynton Marsalis. Jazz fans will delight in the in-depth analysis of over twenty of this duo's best recordings, providing insight and history to this important discography. A journey through modern jazz history Jazz aficionados will enjoy the personal accounts of their formative years in Brooklyn, developing a passion for music that has lasted a lifetime. A road trip through Brooklyn and Manhattan sets the scene for reminiscences about the New York City jazz scene today and in days gone by. Jazz clubs like Birdland and the Village Vanguard come to life with tales of the musicians who played there. Ruminations and Reflections chronicles the intersection of jazz and rock and roll in the fertile early 1970's New York loft scene. Beirach and Liebman were pioneers in the jazz fusion era and recount tours, jam sessions, and recordings with their bands Lookout Farm and Quest. They continue to marvel audiences in any musical setting. Along their journey, Liebman and Beirach have created a legacy of excellence and dedication to fans, fellow musicians, and the music. This book is a celebration of musical lives well-lived and a gift to us all.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Jean Mermoz nació en Aisne el 9 de diciembre de 1901 y desapareció en 1936 a bordo del hidroavión Croix-du-Sud a lo largo de las costas de Dakar. Tuvo un destino único: fue el piloto más prestigioso y más querido en una época en la que la aviación aún contaba epopeyas que inspiraban al mundo entero una admiración sin límites. Joseph Kessel, su amigo y biógrafo, dijo de él: “Arcángel glorioso, neurasténico profundo, místico resignado, pagano deslumbrante, enamorado de la vida, inclinado hacia la muerte, niño y sabio, todo esto era cierto en Mermoz, pero resultaría falso aislar cada uno de estos elementos, fundidos en una extraordinaria unidad”.

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.

The riveting tale of how the wannabe aristo Conrad Black and his social mountaineering wife Barbara gulled their way into the City, the Tory party, Wall Street and High Society.

WHY CRIME DOES NOT PAY BY SOPHIE LYONS WITH BEAUTIFUL CLASSIC COVER. PERFECTLY FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES CLASSIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY BOOKS OR AS A GIFT FOR YOU LOVED ONE. GET YOURS TODAY! Specifications: Cover Finish: GLOSSY Dimensions: 5,25" x 8" (13,34 x 20,32 cm) Interior: White Paper Pages: 155

A moving personal history of how Sufism and Zen came to America.... The story of meetings with remarkable beings like Swami Papa Ramdas, Nyogen Senzaki, Sokeian Sasaki, Mother Krishnabai, Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, the Rev. M.T. Kirby and others who sought to bring East and West together through the universality of genuine mystical experience... A sweeping and prophetic view of the last half-century of international relations with the East.... Political and religious turmoil in faraway Iands, organic agriculture and seed exchange for peace, the great mystics and sages of the 20th century--all play a part in this story of an American scholar and scientist's search for truth. "I have no fonder memory of the 60's than the appearance of this strange-looking man, who said things which made me first laugh, then smile, then later pause in appreciation of a spiritual original, a pioneer." - Dr. Jacob Needleman , author of The New Religions "Everytime I remember Sam, I end up laughing at myself. That's pretty good work for a dead-rascal-saint." - Ram Dass , author of Be Here Now "By being spiritual, Samuel Lewis expanded the range of being human; and by being human he deepened the meaning of being spiritual." - Moineddin Jablonski , spiritual successor of Murshid Samuel Lewis

Looks at the journeys of Roy Chapman Andrews who, in the early twentieth-century, led countless expeditions for the American Museum of Natural History in search of dinosaur fossils, facing dangers such as pythons, wild dogs, marauding bandits, sandstorms, and corrupt officials. Original.

The autobiography of Sir Robert Rietti, (1923-) About the Author: Robert Rietti comes from a distinguished Italian family dating back to the thirteenth century, when one of his ancestors was physician to the pope and who performed the first known blood transfusion, on the pontiff. Robert has had a varied career as an actor, director, playwright and broadcaster. He has also been responsible for dubbing many successful foreign films into English and specializes in re-voicing artists and completing the soundtrack of English-made pictures in which foreign artistes have also been used and whose accents may need correcting or replacing. He was nominated for the Golden Reel Award in Hollywood for his dubbing of Once Upon a Time in America. He also won the Oxford Film Festival Award for "The best foreign film in the English language" with his version of the Russian film Pavlova. After Jack Hawkins had lost the use of his voice through throat cancer, Robert undertook to imitate him and to record his dialogue in his last ten films. He has broadcast over 6,000 times and for over six years, recorded a weekly program from the BBC to the United States, as their answer to Alistair Cooke's Letter from America. His reading of D.H. Lawrence's Rocking Horse Winner won such acclaim that the recording was awarded the rare privilege of being buried in the BBC archives for future generations. Members of the Rietti family came to Britain 200 years ago and the grandmother of Benjamin Disraeli (British Prime Minister) was Rebecca Rietti.

"I have been a Jew during Fascism, a bourgeois under Communism, a rebel defeated in an uprising, a refugee among the free, and a have-not amid plenty. This book contains over 60 stories that range from my youth in Hungary, the ordeal of a death march and concentration camps, the oppression of the Communist dictatorship, the promise and defeat of the Hungarian Revolution and, finally, my American years"--Preminary pages

In the early 1950's, in Los Angeles, at 6 AM, John West, vice-president of the National Broadcasting Company in charge of west coast, gets a phone call from New York City on the NBC tie line. The caller is General David Sarnoff, chairman of the Board of RCA, the Radio Corporation of America, NBC's parent company. Awakened from sleep, Mr. West groggily says "Hello" "John, this is General Sarnoff." Mr. West swiftly clears the cobwebs. "Good morning, General, it's always good to hear from you." "John, you're acquainted with my nephew Richard Baer, aren't you?" "Yes, General, I am. He's a fine young man. I think very highly of him." "Last night I spoke with his mother, my sister. She's upset. The reason she's upset is that Richard has been out of work for four months and he has no prospects, so it looks like his life is going nowhere." "General, I'm surprised and sorry to hear that." "John, I want you to find Richard a job. And I want you to find him a job by nine o'clock this morning, your time. I'll be waiting for your call saying you took care of it. Goodbye."

Relates the trials and eventual transformation of Richard--a Yale tennis captain, surgeon, Lt. Commander in the navy, and a happily married man into Renee Richards, a woman with many accomplishments in her own right

Can a lady be kissed without being touched? Raymond Smullyan has been providing the world with such puzzle fun, chess problems, and logic quizzes for a long time. Now, he reviews his life and how all of this got started in a way that is just as interesting as his previous entertainments. Not surprisingly, there are more puzzles, but there are also new stories, many photos, and a look inside the many hobbies of the many personalities that is Raymond Smullyan. Some Interesting Memories is a "rambly" account taking you inside university life, meeting musicians, mathematicians, magicians, then, off to Eastern Philosophy, making stereoscopic viewers, or installing a 40-speaker sound system.