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We Recommend
Biographies, Autobiographies
Truth can be stranger than fiction (with apologies to Lord Byron). Biographies afford us the opportunity to learn of someone's life told by another person. Autobiographies let us explore a person's life through their own words. Rich or poor, famous, infamous or not so famous, biographies and autobiographies offer the reader a connected, non-fiction narrative on a person's life. Collected biographies offer information about different people or a group of people such as a family. Memoirs are similar to autobiographies, but tend to focus on one aspect of a person's life in one's own words rather than telling the entire story.
Obama owes his success to the hard work of preceding African-American and civil rights leaders. Remnick recounts Obama's early life without his Kenyan-born father, his time in college and at the post-graduate level, his work as a community organizer, the influence of Harold Washington (Chicago's first African-American mayor), his contentious elections for the Illinois state senate, followed by his election first as a senator and then president. Obama is portrayed as a man of conciliation, principles, discipline and intelligence.
Following a serious illness, this American woman chooses to move to Cairo to teach English, embraces Islam, learns Arabic, and falls in love with an Egyptian physics teacher. She distinguishes between the majority of peace-loving Muslims and the radical fundamentalists who have problems with Western society.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist and three-time MVP of the WNBA recounts her life both on and off the basketball court. As a child growing up in Los Angeles, she was unusually tall for the sixth grade as well as being timid and awkward. Challenges from others and her interest in basketball strengthened her determination to improve her game and strive for goals.
God is an undeniable fact even to atheists who won't admit it, argues Catholic-born David Adams Richards. Richards deals with his own uneven relationship with Catholicism, his battle with alcoholism, meeting men who were proud to murder, and witnessing many miracles during his life. This is the other side of the coin for those who had read Dawkins' The God Delusion and Hitchens' God is Not Great.
Hitchens' memoir is semi-autobiographical in that the book partially focuses on his earlier years but it also expounds his viewpoints on a wide variety of topics, including his support for George W. Bush's war in Iraq. However, the personal and the political become intertwined, especially where his opinions on a variety of personalities come into play including former President Bill Clinton.
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Humanitarian Compton-Rock, wife of comedian Chris Rock, encourages youth how to find volunteer opportunities, how to engage children into the spirit of service, how to find charities, and how to start a non-profit organization as she did. She recounts her "Journey for Change" initiative which provides programs for 25 at-risk youth from Brooklyn, New York, including a ten-day trip to South Africa to participate in community initiatives.
The Kapoors have been involved in the Indian/Bollywood film scene going back to the silent film era, beginning with family patriarch Prithviraj who also founded Prithvi Theaters. The book also covers well-known Raj and his brothers Shammi and Shashi in addition to Raj's children Randhir, Rishi and Rima and grandchildren Kareena and Karisma.
The former Canadian Autoworkers President offers his perspective on a Canadian labour movement under siege in challenging economic times. He addresses his controversial decision to support the Liberal Party in the 2006 federal election.
Academic Cordery produced a detailed biography of Mary Harris Jones who became a major player in the American labour movement in the late 1800s in her sixth decade. "Mother Jones" encouraged American workers to stand up to capitalists like Carnegie and Rockefeller and further influenced the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
Woolf concludes that author Lewis Carroll (aka mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was not guilty of being an active pedophiliac, although his penchant of photographing underage girls (sometimes without clothes) is questionable in any time period. However, Carroll also was philanthropic in that he gave generously to charities benefiting the vulnerable in society. Unfortunately, he paid little attention to his own financial future and took out no life insurance.
Kitty Kelley, well-known for tell-all, unauthorized biographies of other famous people, takes a look at the life of billionaire, humanitarian, philanthropist and television personality Oprah Winfrey. She promises to keep the name of Oprah's real father secret until Oprah is informed first.
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The late former Pakistani Prime Minister and champion of women's rights recounted her return from exile, analyzed the sectarian schism between Shiite and Sunnite Islam, offered an historical examination of various African and Asian countries, and advocated the development of a "Marshall-like" Plan by wealthy countries to assist poor Muslim states.
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Former teacher-librarian and U.S. first lady Laura Bush is a strong literacy advocate and has spoken out for human rights in Myanmar and women's education and health in Afghanistan and Africa. Unlike her husband, she is pro-choice on abortion and supports gay marriage. She also touches upon personal tragedies, including the death of three siblings shortly after birth and the accidental death of a high school friend caused by Laura driving through a stop sign.
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Burnett discusses her humble beginnings as a fired movie theatre usher to her successful Broadway and television career, including 11 years on The Carol Burnett Show. She is complimentary about her famous friends and co-stars but also touches upon sad memories, including the death of her daughter Carrie in 2002.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff focuses on his mother Alison Grant's family, beginning with his great-grandfather George Monro Grant, continuing with his grandfather William Lawson Grant and his uncle George Parkin Grant, author of Lament for a Nation, and ending with himself. Ignatieff shares family anecdotes and emphasizes the family's love of Canada.
This authorized biography portrays Mays in a balanced fashion, not only showing the genius on the baseball field, including "the Catch" in the 1954 World Series and his promotion of a faster style of play, but also problems in his personal life and his somewhat cold personality.
