2013 marks Dannie Abse's 90th birthday. In his lifetime he has published an astonishing array of work including poetry, fiction, criticism, plays and autobiography but it is as a poet that he is best known and loved. In Speak, Old Parrot he returns to themes of loss, love, medicine and its moral implications, the nature of creativity, Jewish folk tradition and the passing of time. The poems are observant of the outside world as well as the inner life and emotions but most of all they are a joy to read.

'A scrupulously researched account...the most authoritative yet to have appeared.' - Financial Times 'Certainly the best account of the war from the Israeli standpoint that has yet appeared or is likely to appear for some years to come.' - Basil Collier, New York Times Book Review This is the authoritative account of the Israeli Army s performance in the bitter Yom Kippur War of 1973. The origins of the war in the turbulent history of competing powers in the Middle East are fully explored, as are the build-up of Arab forces that almost caught Israel by surprise, and the realisation of the Israeli leadership that they would have to fight against overwhelming odds for the survival of their state. An analysis of the political implications of the conflict brings this epic tale to a close. A gripping narrative, punctuated by first-hand accounts and interviews with combatants, 'The War of Atonement' is full of drama and tales of inspirational bravery. For this edition Chaim Herzog's son, Colonel Michael Herzog, has written an Introduction that places the book in the context of his father s achievements and gives a revealing insight of the man himself. This is the most comprehensive work on a conflict that has had major implications for our own troubled times. AUTHOR: Chaim Herzog served in the British Army in the Second World War and, later, in the Israel Defence Forces. He became Director of Israeli Military Intelligence, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations and President of Israel. His other books include 'Battles of the Bible' (co-authored with Mordechai Gichon) and his autobiography, 'Living History', published shortly before his death in 1997.

This captivating autobiography by a Tibetan educator and former political prisoner is full of twists and turns. Born in 1929 in a Tibetan village, Tsering developed a strong dislike of his country's theocratic ruling elite. As a 13-year-old member of the Dalai Lama's personal dance troupe, he was frequently whipped or beaten by teachers for minor infractions. A heterosexual, he escaped by becoming a drombo, or homosexual passive partner and sex-toy, for a well-connected monk. After studying at the University of Washington, he returned to Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1964, convinced that Tibet could become a modernized society based on socialist, egalitarian principles only through cooperation with the Chinese. Denounced as a 'counterrevolutionary' during Mao's Cultural Revolution, he was arrested in 1967 and spent six years in prison or doing forced labor in China. Officially exonerated in 1978, Tsering became a professor of English at Tibet University in Lhasa. He now raises funds to build schools in Tibet's villages, emphasizing Tibetan language and culture.

Passionate, profound and funny, Berman is inspiring people from all walks of life to get off the sidelines and fight the good fight--and win. This unique book--part manifesto from a leader, part humorous activist memoir from a soccer mom--offers a wryly honest, behind-the-scenes, ultimately uplifting look at the state of the planet. For almost 20 years, Tzeporah Berman has been one of our most influential environmentalists. A founder of ForestEthics and PowerUp Canada, she was instrumental in shaping the tactics and concerns of the modern environmental movement. In her early 20s she faced nearly one thousand criminal charges and 6 years in prison for her role organizing blockades in Canada's rainforest. She later transformed her tactics and sat down with CEOs and political leaders to reshape their policies and practices. In her new role at Greenpeace International she is fighting the problem of our time: climate change. This Crazy Time is an impassioned plea for a better world.

Nikolai Bukharin was one of the most eminent leaders and theoreticians of the Bolsheviks, a man who had become famous long before the Russian Revolution. He was idolized by the youth of Soviet Russia, who identified with him and drew much of their inspiration from his writings. Prominent among the organizers of the revolution, he served for twenty years on the Central Committee and for ten years as a member of the Politburo. From 1917 to 1929 he was in charge of the newspaper Pravda, and though he and Lenin often disagreed, Lenin referred to him in his Testament as "deservedly the favorite of the Party."

Faced with the loss of her mother, Suzy, to cancer at sixty, Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Rosman longs to find answers to the questions that we all wrestle with after losing someone we love. So she does what she does best: she opens her notebook and starts investigating. Thumbing through her late mother's address book, Rosman embarks on a cross-country odyssey, tracking down total strangers from whom she hopes to learn about a woman she once thought she couldn't know better. With a reporter's eye for detail and nuance, Rosman creates a vivid, unflinching, and unforgettable portrait of a privately remarkable mother and woman. In the process, Rosman tells a universal tale of loss and love, capturing the angst families confront when wading through the world of doctors and hospitals, the poignancy and pain that come as a life ends, and the humor that helps transform sadness into a new and powerful brand of happiness.

"From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the Marine's invasion at Iwo Jima. From the Nary fighter pilots in the Pacific to the Air Force bomber pilots in Europe. From the paratroopers at Normandy, Holland and the Battle of the Bulge to the 10th Mountain Division (Alpine) fighting in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. From being a prisoner of war (POW) to the nurses who helped evacuate the German concentration camps you will read and experience the harrowing and heroic stories of eight World War II combat veterans who fought valiantly to keep our county free from tyranny."--Back cover

Two companion pieces released in one volume, containing selected writing and tour journal entries from 1988-1992.

A definitive life of the flawed man who succeeded to the American presidency after Lincoln's assassination and who presided, disastrously, over the tumultuous first years of Reconstruction. Historian Hans L. Trefousse gives us "a brilliant, compassionate portrait of a dynamic era of social change and national healing, and of the tragic failure of an American leader" (LIBRARY JOURNAL). Photos.

From Eva Moskowitz, the outspoken founder and CEO of the charter school Success Academy, comes a frank, feisty memoir about the rough-and-tumble battles to reform America’s education system. Eva Moskowitz is a fighter with a reputation for having "sharp elbows"— if that’s a synonym for getting the job done, she’ll take it. A born and bred New Yorker, former City Councilmember, and "charter czarina," Moskowitz has taken on powerful unions and politicians to establish and grow her astonishingly effective and popular charter school program in four of the city’s five boroughs. In this unabashedly candid memoir, Moskowitz tells of how she became a forward-thinking education entrepreneur and her fight to establish nearly four dozen schools—activism that has made her into one of the most polarizing figures in New York City and beyond. Now, having established a remarkable, even unprecedented, track record for guiding the city’s most disadvantaged children to high academic performance, Moskowitz addresses the battles she has won and lost, writing candidly about the people who seek to undermine her work—most notably New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio—and celebrating the powerful allies who have aided her cause, including former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Andrew Cuomo. Moskowitz’s insightful memoir is a deeply felt personal story and an impassioned call to action that bluntly identifies failing policies and the alarmingly powerful forces arrayed against improving an education system that is both deeply dysfunctional and prejudiced. The Education of Eva Moskowitz is sure to galvanize supporters, enrage her opponents, generate headlines, and urgently impact the national conversation on education.

"We are on our way to Le Havre. The train is going so fast that the landscape is all but a blur. From time to time, I can see a farm in the mist surrounded by a sea of green fields. I am excited but also scared. It is 1955, and we are on our way to New York." So begins the marvelous journey of Colette Rossant, just married to an American architect and about to leave France for a new life in the heart of New York City. At first, Colette finds Americans' manners to be as mystifying as their cuisine, but before long, she discovers the myriad charms of her adopted country. Between taking on an astoundingly diverse series of jobs, raising four children, and renovating a Soho town house, Colette develops her own flair for food -- and for superb food writing. In this spirited and deliciously entertaining memoir, Colette shares the unforgettable stories of her forty tumultuous years at the heart of American and international cuisine. The children's cooking school she starts for her daughter's friends turns into a starring role on a PBS television series. As New York magazine's "Underground Gourmet," she hails the city's staggering array of outstanding ethnic cuisine. Either with her husband and children, or on her own, she travels to Africa, China, Japan, and South America, exploring cuisine and culture around the globe. She rides camels through the Australian outback, barters lipstick for fresh vegetables in Tanzania, and is almost arrested as a spy by the Chinese secret police -- just because she is trying to eat like a local. Charming, indomitable, endlessly curious and adventurous, Colette Rossant inspires us to savor every meal -- and every day. With a wonderful array of mouth-watering recipes, The World in My Kitchen is an irresistible celebration of family, food, and life.

"REMARKABLE . . . A WONDERFUL STORY." --The Boston Globe The father is a high-ranking Communist officer, a Jew who survived Stalin's purges. The son is a "refusenik," who risked his life and happiness to protest everything his father held dear. Now, Chaim Potok, beloved author of the award-winning novels The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev, unfolds the gripping true story of a father, a son, and a conflict that spans Soviet history. Drawing on taped interviews and his harrowing visits to Russia, Potok traces the public and privates lives of the Slepak family: Their passions and ideologies, their struggles to reconcile their identities as Russians and as Jews, their willingness to fight--and die--for diametrically opposed political beliefs. "[A] vivid account . . . [Potok] brings a novelist's passion and eye for detail to a gripping story that possesses many of the elements of fiction--except that it's all too true." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Фиалки по средам" (1953 г.) — сборник новелл Андре Моруа, прославивший писателя еще при жизни. Наверное, главное достоинство этих рассказов в том, что они очень жизненны, очень правдивы. Описанные писателем ситуации не потеряли своей актуальности и сегодня. Читатель вслед за Моруа проникнется судьбой этих персонажей, за что-то их жалеет, над чем-то от души посмеется, а иногда и всерьез задумается.

Natalia Ginzburg, arguably the most important woman writer of postwar Italy, always spoke of herself with irrepressible modesty. Yet the woman who claimed she "never managed to climb up mountains" in fact wrote the history of twentieth-century Italy with her sparse and captivating prose, chronicling Fascism, war, and the Nazi occupation as well as the intimacies of family life. Ginzburg's marriage to Leone Ginzburg, who met his death at the hands of the Nazis for his anti-Fascists activities, and her work for the Einaudi publishing house placed her squarely in the center of Italian political and cultural life. But whether writing about the Turin of her childhood, the Abruzzi countryside, where her family was interned during World War II, or contemporary Rome, Ginzburg never shied away from the traumas of history-even if she approached them only indirectly, through the mundane details and catastrophes of personal life. Intensely reserved, Ginzburg said that she "crept toward autobiography stealthily like a wolf." But she did openly discuss her life and her work in an extraordinary series of interviews for Italian radio in 1990. Never before published in English, It's Hard to Talk about Yourself presents a vivid portrait of Ginzburg in her own words on the forces that shaped her remarkable life-politics, publishing, literature, and family. This fluid translation will join Ginzburg's autobiography, Family Sayings , as one of the most important records of her life and, as the editors write in their preface, "the last, unexpected, original book by Natalia Ginzburg."

Something of a historical event, this book combines loosely "autobiographical" texts by two of the most influential French intellectuals of our time. "Savoir," by Hélène Cixous, is a brief but densely layered account of her experience of recovered sight after a lifetime of severe myopia, an experience that ends with the unexpected turn of grieving for what is lost. Her literary inventiveness mines the coincidence in French between the two verbs savoir (to know) and voir (to see). Jacques Derrida's "A Silkworm of One's Own" complexly muses on a host of autobiographical, philosophical, and religious motifs―including his varied responses to "Savoir." The two texts are accompanied by six beautiful and evocative drawings that play on the theme of drapery over portions of the body. Veils suspends sexual difference between two homonyms: la voile (sail) and le voile (veil). A whole history of sexual difference is enveloped, sometimes dissimulated here―in the folds of sails and veils and in the turns, journeys, and returns of their metaphors and metonymies. However foreign to each other they may appear, however autonomous they may be, the two texts participate in a common genre: autobiography, confession, memoirs. The future also enters in: by opening to each other, the two discourses confide what is about to happen, the imminence of an event lacking any common measure with them or with anything else, an operation that restores sight and plunges into mourning the knowledge of the previous night, a "verdict" whose threatening secret remains out of reach by our knowledge.

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: HISTORICAL, POLITICAL & MILITARY. Alexander Selkirk was marooned on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez in 1704 after a row with the captain of his ship. He had been on a treasure seeking adventure to the South Seas. His abandonment meant he was alone for four years and four months, dependent for survival on what the island offered. When rescued he was clad in goat skins and had forgotten how to speak. His story inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, the first English novel. In this startlingly original book, which is as much a biography of the island as the man, award-winning author Diana Souhami draws on contemporary memoirs, letters and documents, as well as her own experience of the island to evoke one man's struggle with solitude, fate and his environment.

You thought you knew him - from Roseanne, movies like True Lies , and now his hot seat hosting Fox Sports' hit show "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." But the face he puts forth on camera is a mere part of the true Tom Arnold - also known for deciding one night in his early 20s to streak through his small Iowa town. Young Tom didn't think it was such a blast by the end of the evening, though, when he ended up naked in the drunk tank, forced to call in "sick" to his job at Hormel, where his duties included pulling fat off hog ribs and shooting in the head pigs that couldn't make it up the electrocution conveyor. When his boss found out why he had really missed work, Tom got fired, leading his grandmother to remark, "that's a shame. That was the best job you'll ever have." Fortunately, grandmom was wrong and Tom went on to better jobs, among them roles in the movies Hero, Nine Months and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery . He has had his own 3-part HBO special, "Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth," was a writer, actor and executive producer of the acclaimed show "Roseanne," and starred in 3 television shows of his own, "The Jackie Thomas Show," "Tom," and "The Tom Show." From his midwest upbringing to his early days in comedy clubs to his successes and failures in love and Hollywood, Tom is by turns endearingly self-deprecating and brutally honest about his past. Cocaine addiction, weight problems, and his most famous relationship merit full disclosure in what is THE BEST DAMN AUTOBIOGRAPHY PERIOD!

The witty American comic offers a frank, personal view of the triumphs and tragedies of his entertainment career and private life, focusing, in particular, on his long and difficult recovery from alcoholism