Greetings from Amazon.com Delivers Biographies and Memoirs Editor, Jordana Moskowitz FEATURED IN THIS E-MAIL: * What We're Reading: "A Flame of Pure Fire" by Roger Kahn, "Secrets of the Flesh" by Judith Thurman, and "Gore Vidal" by Fred Kaplan * The Dubliner: Novelist and James Joyce biographer Edna O'Brien reveals how the words of the high priest of literature initiated her in the art of writing * Courting Controversy: An ex-president and a former pope are under fire in a pair of incendiary new biographies * Books of the Century: Amazon.com editors pick the 100 best nonfiction books of the last 100 years * Biography Bestsellers: "Saint Augustine" by Garry Wills, "When Pride Still Mattered" by David Maraniss, and "The Trust" by Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones * Memoir Bestsellers: "'Tis" by Frank McCourt, "Between Silk and Cyanide" by Leo Marks, and "Out of Place" by Edward W. Said WHAT WE'RE READING ****************** "A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s" by Roger Kahn http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0151002967/entertainmentsit Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey helped inaugurate both sports as big business and the modern culture of celebrity. Roger Kahn packs his biography "A Flame of Pure Fire" with details of Dempsey's fights as well as his life in that heady decade of Prohibition, before the stock-market crash of '29. "Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette" by Judith Thurman http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039458872X/entertainmentsit It's been nearly a century since Colette's racy novel "Claudine at School" was first published under her husband's name. "Secrets of the Flesh" explores the writing, cross-dressing, bisexuality, post-literary careers, and immutable individuality of this enfant terrible of French literature. "Gore Vidal" by Fred Kaplan http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385477031/entertainmentsit Though biographer Fred Kaplan writes, "I prefer my subjects dead," it is lucky for readers that he made an exception for Gore Vidal. This biography of the writer, actor, and cultural critic--to name just a few of Vidal's vocations--is packed with memorable vignettes and American social history. THE DUBLINER ************ With nearly 20 books under her belt, including the acclaimed "Down by the River" and the Country Girls trilogy, Edna O'Brien is one of Ireland's living literary treasures. "James Joyce," a short biography in the popular Penguin Lives series, is her homage to the man who taught her "the only thing a writer needs to know." In an exclusive essay, she tells Amazon.com how Dublin's most famous son came to rule her literary universe. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search/?keyword=edna+obrien&tag=entertainmentsit "James Joyce" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670882305/entertainmentsit "Down by the River" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452278775/entertainmentsit "The Country Girls Trilogy" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452263948/entertainmentsit COURTING CONTROVERSY ******************** Two of the most hotly anticipated and fiercely debated biographies of the fall season: "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan" by Edmund Morris http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394555082/entertainmentsit Edmund Morris's big book about Ronald Reagan may be the most controversial authorized biography ever written. Find out what happens when a Pulitzer-winning historian turns a president's life into a kind of weirdly revealing historical novel. "Hitler's Pope" by John Cornwell http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670886939/entertainmentsit John Cornwell decided to write about Pope Pius XII to lay to rest the decades-long rumors that the pontiff had aided and abetted Hitler's rise to power and the extermination of Europe's Jews. In "Hitler's Pope," however, Cornwell reveals that what he found in the Vatican's archives confirmed even the most malicious rumors and his own deepest fears. BOOKS OF THE CENTURY ******************** Needless to say, biographies and memoirs are both heavily represented on our list of the best nonfiction books of the 20th century. Find out which of your favorites made the list--and make time to read the great books you've missed. Books of the century BIOGRAPHY BESTSELLERS ********************* "Saint Augustine" by Garry Wills http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670886106/entertainmentsit "Saint Augustine," by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and cultural critic Garry Wills, is a 145-page biography of a saint whose collected works total 13 volumes. Despite its brevity, the book offers a complex and compelling interpretation of Augustine's life and work. "When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi" by David Maraniss http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684844184/entertainmentsit As coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967, Vince Lombardi was revered, reviled, respected, and mocked--a touchstone for the '60s all in one person. But who was the man? That's the question Pulitzer Prize-winner David Maraniss tackles in this biography. "The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times" by Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316845469/entertainmentsit This mammoth history of the dynasty that created and controls the New York Times is as epic in its scope as is the role of the newspaper in America. And like any good epic, the story is filled with its fair share of personal ambition, disappointment, competing heirs to the throne, fierce loyalties, and powerful intrigue. MEMOIR BESTSELLERS ****************** "'Tis" by Frank McCourt http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684848783/entertainmentsit The sequel to Frank McCourt's memoir of his Irish Catholic boyhood, "Angela's Ashes," picks up the story in October 1949, upon his arrival in America. His early American experience is as harrowing as his impoverished youth in Ireland, including two of the grimmest Christmases ever described in literature. McCourt views the U.S. through the same sharp eye and with the same dark humor that distinguished his first memoir. "Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945" by Leo Marks http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684864223/entertainmentsit At the age of 8, Leo Marks discovered the great game of codemaking and -breaking in his father's London bookshop, thanks to a first edition of Poe's "The Gold-Bug." At 23, as World War II was being played out in earnest, he hoped to use his strengths for the Allies. But Marks's urgent, witty memoir, "Between Silk and Cyanide," begins with his failure to get into British Intelligence's cryptographic department. "Out of Place" by Edward W. Said http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394587391/entertainmentsit Edward Said is one of the most celebrated cultural critics of the postwar world. His career as a thinker spans literature, politics, music, philosophy, and history. However, as the title suggests, Said's memoir is a far more ambivalent and at times personally painful account of his early years in Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon and the often paralyzing embrace of his loving but overbearing parents. More biography and memoir bestsellers: Biographies & Memoirs ****** Give the Perfect Gift -- Get the Perfect Gift Does Aunt Ida send polka CDs when you'd prefer pop? Create an Amazon.com Wish List and save everyone the agony of the unwanted gift. Wish list Clueless as to what to get your Kentucky cousin for Christmas? Send him an e-card and tell him to set up an Amazon.com Wish List so you can easily find and send him his heart's desire. Wish card ****** You'll find more great books, articles, excerpts, and interviews in Amazon.com's Biographies & Memoirs section at Biographies & Memoirs
Search:
Keywords: