Selvbiografier

The story of Black British theatre at its most radical, entertaining and profound - told through the lives of its great trailblazers

Relaying the events of Desmond Ibbotson's short but eventful but eventful career as well as what happened next, investigating his tragic death on a routine test flight, and how he came to have two graves

Travel with Lady Dorothy Mills around the world, from high society in the Jazz Age to Timbuktu - her globe-trotting story is one of cannibals and cocktails.

A deeply researched account of the life and legacy of the man who defined the profession of private eyeAllan Pinkerton, the world's most famous private detective, has been an enduring source of fascination since the nineteenth century. But the details of his impact, business empire, and private life have been incomplete. Drawing on overlooked primary sources, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones provides an authoritative account of the man and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (PNDA). It is the story of how PNDA's founder and its successive generations of heirs put it at the center of American history for decades. A small sampling of Pinkerton's activities includes providing intelligence in the Civil War, pursuing high-profile outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and protecting scabs in the Homestead lockout, for which they became notorious. The book continues telling PNDA's history into the twentieth century. General readers as well as scholars of American history will be fascinated by this rich new portrait of Pinkerton's accomplishments, controversies, and contradictions.

A book for the world's misfits. For those who think differently or are married to them, work with them or employ them. A non-judgemental mirror for readers to see themselves.

In this authorised biography, Derek Jarman's story stretches from the bleakness of post-war Britain and his RAF childhood to studenthood at the Slade and work as a designer for such figures as John Gielgud and Ken Russell. It tells how energetic home filmmaking with dazzling friends led to distinctive features like Sebastiane, Jubilee, The Tempest, Caravaggio and Blue. It is the story of a filmmaker, a gay activist, a painter and a gardener, and a vivid bohemian existence in a London long gone. Jarman created a singular garden in the shingle surrounding his simple fisherman's cottage at Dungeness in Kent, which has become a site of memorial, celebration and pilgrimage. He became known as an impassioned and provocative spokesperson not only for gay men, but for anyone oppressed by bigotry. Derek Jarman died of AIDS-related causes in February 1994 and Peake describes the inimitable courage and grace in the face of painful death, and the legacies Jarman left behind.

On Elton John offers a lively, provocative, and imaginative new way to explore the career and music of Elton John within the contexts both of other artists from David Bowie to Britney Spears and of sweeping shifts in popular culture during Sir Elton's lifetime. A must-have for fans, the book will appeal to a wide range of readers interested in music history, popular culture, and the social issues of our era.

"A young South Asian American woman's story of reconnecting with her identity, family, and heritage through sustainable farming"--

An engaging and entertaining memoir from national treasure Johnny Ball, chronicling his early life and career up to the early 1980s.

In this interactive journal, Lucinda Light guides you towards deeper emotional intelligence and genuine self-love

PANSY is a non-linear, episodic memoir that combines poetry, cultural criticism, and essays. It follows transmasc, southern writer Jasper as they fumble through an awkward Memphis upbringing in the 90s and early aughts, an insufferable Nashville PWI, and a fierce NYC queer awakening, all with a poignant throughline on Black exceptionalism, focused on Jasper's wildly agonizing first publishing experience with novel, JUNIPER LEAVES.

"I would rather teach than eat," Alice King Ebey once commented. She began teaching in 1890 at age eighteen in a one-room Wabash County (Indiana) schoolhouse, then attended Mount Morris College in Illinois and later became an instructor in the Bible School at Manchester College in her hometown of North Manchester, Indiana. But Alice could not ignore the call of her Christian faith to teach the Gospel message of hope to those who had never heard of Jesus.In 1900, Alice and her husband, Adam, sailed to Bombay, India, where they served as Church of the Brethren missionaries in the villages and towns of western India until 1931. Together they raised two daughters there and made their home at seven different mission stations. Mastering both Marathi and Gujarati, they worked together to improve living conditions and health care in areas of great need. Adam built orphanages and schools and alleviated the suffering of sick people who lacked access to medical care due to caste restrictions. Alice worked with women and children, teaching them to read and work together as a Christian community. After retirement to North Manchester and following Adam's death in 1939, Alice returned to India for another term as missionary in 1945-1947.Adapting to a very different way of life, Alice and Adam lived through turbulent times of personal tragedies, hardship and social change. Yet Alice vowed to "teach and teach and teach with love, and pray with confidence," trusting God to guide them through grief and discouragement. Returning to North Manchester, where she lived until her death in 1960, she spoke and wrote about her experiences and told marvelous stories to her grandchildren. Her words taught many others of the wonders of India, the kindness of its people, and our common humanity.When Alice died, she left a trunk full of diaries, letters and other documents containing her private thoughts and public writing for her granddaughter, Janice Shull, to discover. From this treasure, the author reveals Alice's story of faith, courage, and hope, a story that continues to teach a message of service and compassion today.

Surviving the Odd is a rare and deeply personal glimpse into a childhood spent in the halls of one of Californias first homes for the mentally ill. With humor and an unflinching eye, Candi recounts growing up amidst psychiatric patients, a father who ran the care home like a nightclub, and a world where madness and laughter often blurred together. As she navigates through the chaos, she unearths a story of resilience, love, and the determination to find her own voice amidst the clamor of mental illness and societal disregard in the Bay Area during the 1970s.This book is an unforgettable exploration of what it means to survive in a world that often feels on the edge, wrapped in the bittersweet absurdity of a life lived between punchlines and lithium prescriptions.

love lay down beside me and we wept is Helen Murray Taylor’s lyrical memoir of devastating mental illness.Helen Murray Taylor was finding her feet as a young doctor and trying to maintain some semblance of a life in the shadow of a punishing schedule when she witnessed a horrific road traffic accident. The impact of this fatal collision caught Helen off guard and had terrible repercussions. Both her career and her mental health took a battering. After a succession of other distressing events left Helen emotionally shattered and seriously depressed, she was admitted to a psychiatric ward and sectioned under the Mental Health Act. At her lowest, she almost succeeded in taking her own life. love lay down beside me and we wept sprang from these difficult times, from Helen’s months on the ward and the psychological upheaval of being restrained against her will, and from the challenge of being a doctor turned patient, but also from the moments of pure comedy and unexpected comradeship that she encountered there.This is a profoundly moving and masterful account of one woman's physical and psychological breakdown, it's a tribute to the love that supported her through it, and it's an offering to the reader who might find comfort or understanding in this story.

An extraordinary biography of Karl Lagerfeld, based upon a series of rare, powerful, and emotional interviews—the real story, full of inside details, that repeatedly surprises and enlightens.Ottavi enjoyed a rare degree of open and candid access to Lagerfeld in his later years, and this biography offers an unparalleled look into the iconic designer’s complex personality and wide-ranging creativity. Lagerfeld himself wanted this to be a frank, honest, serious account that would be an invaluable resource for fashion lovers and admirers of his incomparable legacy. Unlike other recent books, this intimate portrait deftly reveals his true inner nature in his own words.Based upon interviews with Lagerfeld over the course of two years prior to his death, this biography is further enriched with memories, stories, and anecdotes from close friends and associates including the Princess of Hanover, Bernard and Hélène Arnault, Silvia Fendi, Bruno Pavlovsky, Tom Ford, Alessandro Michele, Valentino, Carine Roitfeld, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Inès de La Fressange, Linda Evangelista, Tadao Ando, Fran Lebowitz, and others.Lagerfeld was many things: inspired creator, witty raconteur, media darling, highly cultured, eccentric in his manners, insatiable at work, ultra-sensitive, and given to maintaining grudges. This narrative includes Lagerfeld’s own especially perceptive insights into his relationship with Jacques de Bascher, his only true love, and how Yves Saint Laurent’s later passion for de Bascher resulted in the infamous break in the longstanding friendship between the two couturiers.