"From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world--where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she)"--

"Known for her outstanding performances on The Good Wife and ER, Julianna Margulies now unleashes her sharp talent with a powerful debut memoir chronicling her life and her work, examining from within, her journey from chaos to calm. "When an actor is on a long running television show, especially when the writing is superb as was the case with The Good Wife, the character becomes a second skin; they grow as you grow, they change as you change. Being an actress gives me the luxury of discovering myself. All the feelings that came up from playing Alicia allowed me to look back at my life and tap into my own vulnerability. My personal fear of the unknown reared its ugly head as I studied this character, most likely stemming from the ever-present unpredictability of my childhood." - From the Introduction An apple-cheeked bubbly child, Julianna Margulies was bestowed the nickname "Sunshine Girl" by her mother at an early age. Raised between two divorced parents, often on different continents, Julianna quickly learned how to be of value to her eccentric mother and her absent father. Raised in fairly unconventional ways in various homes in Paris, England, New York, and New Hampshire, Julianna's role among the turmoil and uncertainty that her parents generated, was to comfort those around her, find organization among the disorder, and eventually make her way in the world as a young adult and eventually an Award-winning actress. Along the way, there were failed romances, difficult choices, and overwhelming rejections. But there was also the moment that fate, faith, and talent assembled in a perfect storm that lead to the roles of a lifetime, both professionally and personally. Sunshine Girl is an accomplished coming of age story that offers readers a rich sense of relatability as well as the intimate details of a life unimagined"--

Anarchist, journalist, drama critic, advocate of birth control and free love, Emma Goldman was the most famous—and notorious—woman in the early twentieth century. This abridged version of her two-volume autobiography takes her from her birthplace in czarist Russia to the socialist enclaves of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Against a dramatic backdrop of political argument, show trials, imprisonment, and tempestuous romances, Goldman chronicles the epoch that she helped shape: the reform movements of the Progressive Era, the early years of and later disillusionment with Lenin’s Bolshevik experiment, and more. Sounding a call still heard today, Living My Life is a riveting account of political ferment and ideological turbulence. First time in Penguin Classics Condensed to half the length of Goldman's original work, this edition is accessible to those interested in the activist and her extraordinary era

Janina Bauman was a year older than Anne Frank when the Second World War began but, unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, this is a story of survival. When Hitler's decree forced her family into the Warsaw Ghetto, Janina, an intelligent, lively girl, suddenly found herself in a cramped flat, hiding with other Jewish families. At first even curfews and the casual cruelty meted out by the German occupiers could not dim her passion for books, boys and romance. Then came the raids, and Janina, with her sister and mother, had to keep on the move, hiding in the ruins of the ghetto to avoid being one of thousands rounded up every day and deported to the camps. Their escape to the 'Aryan' side was followed by two years in hiding, taking shelter with those willing to help them and living in constant fear of betrayal. Told through her teenage diaries, giving her story a rare immediacy, this is the extraordinary tale of a passionate young woman's courage and survival.

If rock 'n' roll is an altered state of intoxicated consciousness between creation and destruction, violence and romance, beauty and ugliness, 'N' Roses, one of the most successful bands on the popular music scene. Author Danny Sugarman is no stranger to this scene, and his biography of Jim Morrison, No One Here Gets Out, reveals his immense experience with the L.A. music scene. 16 pages of photographs; 35 illustrations.

The life of the German-Jewish literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) is a veritable allegory of the life of letters in the twentieth century. Benjamin's intellectual odyssey culminated in his death by suicide on the Franco-Spanish border, pursued by the Nazis, but long before he had traveled to the Soviet Union. His stunning account of that journey is unique among Benjamin's writings for the frank, merciless way he struggles with his motives and conscience. Perhaps the primary reason for his trip was his affection for Asja Lacis, a Latvian Bolshevik whom he had first met in Capri in 1924 and who would remain an important intellectual and erotic influence on him throughout the twenties and thirties. Asja Lacis resided in Moscow, eking out a living as a journalist, and Benjamin's diary is, on one level, the account of his masochistic love affair with this elusive--and rather unsympathetic--object of desire. On another level, it is the story of a failed romance with the Russian Revolution; for Benjamin had journeyed to Russia not only to inform himself firsthand about Soviet society, but also to arrive at an eventual decision about joining the Communist Party. Benjamin's diary paints the dilemma of a writer seduced by the promises of the Revolution yet unwilling to blinker himself to its human and institutional failings.

After a childhood spent on Hollywood film sets, Meghan Markle fought hard for stardom. But even when she landed her breakthrough role on Suits, her dream of worldwide celebrity remained elusive until she met the man who would change her life--Prince Harry. Their whirlwind romance culminated with Meghan's ultimate fairy tale ending: their 2018 wedding at Windsor Castle. Finally, the world was her stage. It seemed that the dizzying success of the wedding between the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex marked the beginning of a fresh era for the British Royal Family. Yet, within one tumultuous year, the dream became a nightmare. Now, with extensive research and exclusive insider interviews, Britain's leading investigative biographer unravels the tangled web of courtroom drama, courtier politics, and thwarted childhood dreams to reveal this story of love, betrayal, secrets, deceit, and revenge.

In 2011, when she was in her late fifties, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the nineteen months that followed, as they battled his illness together, she discovered for the first time what it really meant to be a couple - to be a true partner and to have one. This is their story. Charting the course through their whirlwind romance, a marriage cut short by tragedy, and Joyce's return to singleness on new terms, 'The Best of Us' is a heart-wrenching, ultimately life-affirming reflection on coming to understand true love

At the height of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tony Curtis starred in Houdini and Spartacus, made comedy history with Jack Lemmon in the unforgettable Some Like It Hot, was friends with Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and James Dean, and romanced screen sirens such as Marilyn Monroe, Janet Leigh and Natalie Wood. He lived a life he could only dream of growing up in the Bronx. Born Bernard Schwarz to immigrant parents, this is Tony Curtis' story of his hard-knock childhood, his wild days as a Hollywood playboy, his destructive drug addiction and his life now as an artist in his eighties. Sparing no name, no detail and no ego, Tony Curtis talks intimately about the people he has known during his long, illustrious career, his co-stars, the studio owners, his wives, his lovers and his friends. This book will be the true record of his life, told with humour, grace and honesty.

"A classic memoir of self-invention in a strange land : Ian Buruma's unflinching account of his amazing journey into the heart of Tokyo's underground culture as a young man in the 1970's When Ian Buruma arrived in Tokyo in 1975, Japan was little more than an idea in his mind, a fantasy of a distant land. A sensitive misfit in the world of his upper middleclass youth, what he longed for wasn't so much the exotic as the raw, unfiltered humanity he had experienced in Japanese theater performances and films, witnessed in Amsterdam and Paris. One particular theater troupe, directed by a poet of runaways, outsiders, and eccentrics, was especially alluring, more than a little frightening, and completely unforgettable. If Tokyo was anything like his plays, Buruma knew that he had to join the circus as soon as possible"--

Linda McCartney died of breast cancer in April 1998. This biography by a friend of over 30 years offers to bring the whole Linda McCartney into view. In 1969, when Linda Eastman married the world's most eligible bachelor, The Beatles' Paul McCartney people said it wouldn't last. Yet it lasted nearly 30 years. How did they do it? What was the nature of their commitment, and what made it so strong? Was it indeed as idyllic as the press has defined it. In their own words, Linda and Paul reveal to Danny Fields how a romance given a poor chance of survival, flourished until Linda's death. Interviews with the couple, with friends, family and stars of the world they lived in, and the perspective of a 30-year intense friendship have gone into the writing of the book, intended to both inform and inspire.

This text provides an account of the turbulent romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham. In July 1937 Scott Fitzgerald was broken in spirit, desperate for money and headed for Hollywood for work as a screenwriter - his one last shot at staying sober and re-establishing himself as a writer. There he met the young Sheilah Graham, a fledgling columnist who had transformed herself from a Jewish orphan from London's East End to a British aristocrat, determined to eradicate all traces of her squalid youth. Scott was fascinated by the gutsy Graham, she instinctively understood him and his demons and, together, they sought refuge from the glittering ferment of late-1930s Hollywood among friends such as Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker and Ogden Nash.

"This account of Philip Roth traces the psychological and artistic origins of his creative life. It examines the major events of his career, while identifying a series of personal themes in his writing, from his relationship with Judaism to family, marriage, Eastern Europe and America. It addresses his private challenges from romance and health, to surviving as a writer burdened with success. The book also reflects how living outside the United States, initially in Italy and then England, plus his visits to Eastern Europe and exposure to their oppressed writers affected his writing. In particular, it primed him for a new engagement with American political and social history, resulting in a renewed determination to re-write America through his American trilogy and The Plot Against America. Although chronology is the framework, this is a thematic reading of Roth's life and career with attention to family, self-identity and success. A set of contrasting angles form this approach, beginning with his prolonged sense of discontent, yet public image of success, his search for sustained relationships but then decision to end them, his idealization of his parents but persistent undercurrent of criticism. Three overlapping issues provide the impetus for this reading: the aesthetic, the emotional and the historical. The lasting importance of such themes as anger, betrayal and failure has a vital role in understanding Roth's character and work. So, too, does his sense of performance on and off the page. Location is also significant and there are extensive discussions of Newark, London, Iowa, Prague and rural Connecticut. Particular attention to writers of the Holocaust, notably Primo Levi and Aharon Appelfeld, and contemporaries such as Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud, also frame the narrative along with discussions of John Updike, Cynthia Ozick, Norman Mailer, Nadine Gordimer and Nicole Krauss. Works receiving special attention are Portnoy's Complaint, The Ghost Writer, Sabbath's Theater and the American trilogy. The shifting patterns of Roth's writing style, often related to changes in his physical and psychological health, are also considered. But more importantly is Roth's character and how early incidents formed later behavior, especially his inability to forget the past, particularly an insult or criticism. Analysis of his life with his two wives, Margaret (Maggie) Williams and Claire Bloom also occurs, as well as his relationships with other women. Further commentary focuses on Roth's illnesses and his life after he publically announced that he had stopped writing"--

During the hard and bitter years of his youth in England, Harry Bernstein’s selfless mother never stops dreaming of a better life in America, no matter how unlikely. Then, one miraculous day when Harry is twelve years old, steamship tickets arrive in the mail, sent by an anonymous benefactor. Suddenly, a new life full of the promise of prosperity seems possible–and the family sets sail for America, meeting relatives in Chicago. For a time, they get a taste of the good life: electric lights, a bathtub, a telephone. But soon the harsh realities of the Great Depression envelop them. Skeletons in the family closet come to light, mafiosi darken their doorstep, family members are lost, and dreams are shattered. In the face of so much loss, Harry and his mother must make a fateful decision–one that will change their lives forever. And though he has struggled for so long, there is an incredible bounty waiting for Harry in New York: his future wife, Ruby. It is their romance that will finally bring the peace and happiness that Harry’s mother always dreamed was possible.

This dual biography reveals, as never before, the secret life and the extraordinary relationship of Hollywood's legendary pair: Greta Garbo and Cecil Beaton, the celebrated Hollywood photographer who immortalized her image. With provocative details about their personal lives and a subtle focus on their work, Diana Souhami divulges the secrets of Greta and Cecil's unconventional loves and obsessions. It is a compelling tale of a strange romance where boundaries merge between image and reality, fact and fantasy, male and female, and art and life. Their ardent affair, Garbo's discreet liaisons with the women she loved, and Beaton's charismatic yet emotionally distraught personality are brought to life in Diana Souhami's hallmark style. Photographs, letters, and a wealth of new research reveal the obsessions, true desires, and secrets of Hollywood behind closed doors.

Many books in Japanese have been devoted to the poet and critic Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912). Although he died at the age of twenty-six and wrote many of his best-known poems in the space of a few years, his name is familiar to every literate Japanese. Takuboku's early death added to the sad romance of the unhappy poet, but there has been no satisfactory biography of his life or career, even in Japanese, and only a small part of his writings have been translated. His mature poetry was based on the work of no predecessor, and he left no disciples. Takuboku stands unique. Takuboku's most popular poems, especially those with a humorous overlay, are often read and memorized, but his diaries and letters, though less familiar, contain rich and vivid glimpses of the poet's thoughts and experiences. They reflect the outlook of an unconstrained man who at times behaved in a startling or even shocking manner. Despite his misdemeanors, Takuboku is regarded as a national poet, all but a saint to his admirers, especially in the regions of Japan where he lived. His refusal to conform to the Japan of the time drove him in striking directions and ranked him as the first poet of the new Japan.

"Phoning Home is a collection of entertaining and thought-provoking essays featuring the author's quirky family, his Jewish heritage, and his New York City upbringing. Jacob M. Appel's recollections and insights, informed and filtered by his advanced degrees in medicine, law, and ethics, not only inspire nostalgic feelings but also offer insight into contemporary medical and ethical issues. At times sardonic and at others self-deprecating, Appel lays bare the most private aspects of his emotional life. "We'd just visited my grandaunt in Miami Beach, the last time we would ever see her. I had my two travel companions, Fat and Thin, securely buckled into the backseat of my mother's foul-tempered Dodge Dart," writes Appel of his family vacation with his two favorite rubber cat toys. Shortly thereafter Fat and Thin were lost forever--beginning, when Appel was just six years old, what he calls his "private apocalypse." Both erudite and full-hearted, Appel recounts storylines ranging from a bout of unrequited love gone awry to the poignant romance of his grandparents. We learn of the crank phone calls he made to his own family, the conspicuous absence of Jell-O at his grandaunt's house, and family secrets long believed buried. The stories capture the author's distinctive voice--a blend of a physician's compassion and an ethicist's constant questioning. "--

"A poignant, groundbreaking memoir that links the Holocaust and its aftermath to the safe haven that opened for camp survivors in Latin America at mid-century. The controversy surrounding the collaboration between Isacovici and Rodr guez remains an extraordinary opportunity to reflect on the thorny path of Jewish-Hispanic relations worldwide."-Ilan Stavans"Distinguished by geography as well as by its painful testimony. . . . Much of the memoir's early drama involves the creeping Nazi threat opposing Jews' wishful thinking-that the war might be ending and that 'it can't happen here.' . . . The author's family is shattered in Birkenau, but he survives Auschwitz with jobs peeling potatoes and mining coal at Jaworno, and he survives a gruesome death march as the Soviets advance. Isacovici is able to rejoin two brothers in a fruitless return to the family farm and to many European cities in search of a haven. He then joins the family of a woman with whom he has a serious romance, who end up with visas for Ecuador, where he feels an empathy for the suffering of the local Indians. . . . This account tells an unforgettable and unique story."-Kirkus ReviewsSalomon Isacovici died in 1998. Dick Gerdes is a professor of Spanish at George Mason University. Man of Ashes was first published in Mexico in 1990 as A7393: Hombre de cenizas and was awarded the Fernando Jeno Prize.

Musically Speaking A Life Through Song Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer "Touching and frequently witty."-- Publishers Weekly "Dr. Ruth sees music as a kind of conscience. Melody is something she has measured her life on. It's an extraordinary story, her story."--Bono "Dr. Ruth shows us how and why music functions in her life, with lessons for all of us. A real gem of a book."--Wynton Marsalis "A wonderful book, both moving and delightful. With her customary charm and brio, Westheimer shares with us how a life can be shaped by music. Brava!"--Zubin Mehta "Who would have thought that when Dr. Ruth finally explained the rhythm method, she'd be talking about music? To read her is to know her, to know her is to adore her."--Harvey Fierstein "Music, I have come to realize, is for me a kind of golden thread running through my life. It has helped maintain my connection with the past that otherwise might have been severed by catastrophe and time. I am often asked--indeed, I often wonder myself--why it is that I should always have had such joie de vivre in the face of the losses and dislocations I had to endure in my early years. The answer I always gave was that the warmth and security of my early childhood had a remarkable power and influence. This is certainly true. But now I have realized that there is another part to the answer. And that is music."--from the introduction Who among us does not have a song that triggers vivid memories--of jubilation, of belonging, of sorrow, of love? In Musically Speaking , Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer, one of America's most beloved personalities, has written a warm and contemplative book about the role music has played in her life and the ineradicable traces it has left on her thoughts, emotions, her very being. In this memoir through song, Dr. Ruth invites us to share her story from a uniquely musical perspective. By the time she was thirty, Ruth Westheimer had lived in five countries, each with a distinctive musical culture, each with a different hold on her sensibility. For the first ten years of her life, the comforting melodies of childhood helped drown out the anthems of Nazism to be heard elsewhere in her native Germany; as an adolescent refugee in Switzerland, she came to be aware that, however loudly she sang the patriotic songs of the land that gave her shelter, she could never truly be at home there. Present at the creation of the modern state of Israel, she sang and danced to the new music of a new nation; as a young woman eagerly absorbing all that Paris had to offer in the way of romance and worldliness in the early 1950s, the songs of Edith Piaf, Mouloudji, and Yves Montand were her tutors. An almost accidental emigration to America brought new challenges and new stability, as she became a wife, mother, and professional; tremendous and unforeseen celebrity came later, and with it the giddy opportunity to indulge her love of music as never before. Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer is a psychosexual therapist who pioneered the field of media therapy. She is author of 24 books. An Adjunct Professor at New York University, she also holds visiting appointments at Princeton and Yale. Personal Takes 2003 152 pages 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 ISBN 978-0-8122-3746-7 Cloth $24.95t £16.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0835-1 Ebook $24.95t £16.50 World Rights Biography, Music