Selvbiografier

Our childhood is never truly our own, it is shaped by the people who raise us, by social pressures we may not even be aware exist as well as whatever education we so happen to receive.This is the story of Jo, a black South African woman born into the apartheid system and raised by her community that struggled and strived for survival. The struggles of a young woman swinging between dependence and an imagined freedom.This is the story of her immigration to another country, her loves and her losses and the strangeness of looking at a place you know, the world that raised you, from the eyes of a foreigner.

In the spring of 1862, Lucy McKim, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Philadelphia abolitionist Quaker family, traveled with her father to the Sea Islands of South Carolina to aid him in his efforts to organize humanitarian aid for thousands of newly freed slaves. During her stay she heard the singing of the slaves in their churches, as they rowed their boats from island to island, and as they worked and played. Already a skilled musician, she determined to preserve as much of the music as she could, quickly writing down words and melodies, some of them only fleeting improvisations. Upon her return to Philadelphia, she began composing musical settings for the songs and in the fall of 1862 published the first serious musical arrangements of slave songs. She also wrote about the musical characteristics of slave songs, and published, in a leading musical journal of the time, the first article to discuss what she had witnessed.In Songs of Sorrow renowned music scholar Samuel Charters tells McKim's personal story. Letters reveal the story of young women's lives during the harsh years of the war. At the same time that her arrangements of the songs were being published, a man with whom she had an unofficial "e;attachment"e; was killed in battle, and the war forced her to temporarily abandon her work.In 1865 she married Wendell Phillips Garrison, son of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and in the early months of their marriage she proposed that they turn to the collection of slave songs that had long been her dream. She and her husband--a founder and literary editor of the recently launched journal The Nation--enlisted the help of two associates who had also collected songs in the Sea Islands. Their book, Slave Songs of the United States, appeared in 1867. After a long illness, ultimately ending in paralysis, she died at the age of thirty-four in 1877. This book reclaims the story of a pioneer in ethnomusicology, one whose influential work affected the Fisk Jubilee Singers and many others.

From childhood dreams of joining the British Royal Navy to a dotage spent riding on a seesaw to improve his health, the true story of Napoleon Bonaparte is every bit as bizarre and fascinating as it is controversial. Napoleon rose up out of the chaos and horror of the French Revolution to offer a shattered nation dreams of future glory, honor and a place once more at the forefront of Europe. After he seized power through a mixture of propaganda and rigged elections, Napoleon's armies waged a seemingly never-ending war throughout Europe, from Portugal to Imperial Russia. Many hundreds of thousands died in battle, or of disease and starvation. France itself would lose 50,000 soldiers on average during every year under Napoleon's control. Napoleon claimed to be furthering the libertarian values of the Revolution to free the continent, but then he had himself crowned Emperor, began moves to reinstate a hereditary monarchy and had slavery reintroduced throughout the French Empire. Extensively illustrated, this new biography by bestselling author Mike Lepine offers a fresh and unforgettable portrait of a true military legend.

Freedom was the goal Karel Werner was sure of achieving at the start of his third life. As one of the 'bouncing Czechs given refuge by Britain after the 1968 Moscow-led invasion of his homeland, he was at last free to teach, soon becoming a lecturer at Durham University and remaining there until he retired.

This is an inspirational story of transmuting pain into purpose, healing and transforming through loss, building resilience and discovering newer meanings in life.

Jaanbaz was an itinerant door-to-door salesman from Afghanistan, one of many from that country who, have over the twentieth century, been known as Kabuliwallahs in India

Like the millions it affected, for Indira Varma too, the Partition was a scar that would remain, even as the wound healed with the passing of time.

The incredible story of an Englishwoman¿s life in Germany under Nazi rule.On 29 September 1934, at the German Embassy office in London, Christabel Bielenberg handed over her British passport as she officially became a German citizen. Having met her German husband Peter Bielenberg two years earlier, Christabel decided to renounce her British citizenship and start her new life with Peter in Berlin. Though Adolf Hitler had risen to power the year prior, newlyweds Christabel and Peter were convinced the German people would see through the newly elected chancellor.But soon Christabel found herself living under the horrors of Nazi rule and Allied bombings as the war progressed. Closely associated with resistance circles, her husband was arrested after the failure of the plot against Hitler¿s life on 20 July 1944, and she herself was interrogated by the Gestapo. Though she lived in constant fear for her and her family¿s safety, Christabel survived the war with the help of other like-minded Germans who were against Hitler and the Third Reich.With various memorable encounters ¿ from a simple-minded Nazi official who was also her odd-job gardener to the good-hearted Black Forest villagers who sheltered her till the liberation ¿ Christabel shares not only the hardships and worry but also the humour and humanity she found during these dark days. The human dimension of her writing brings about an unforgettable portrait of an evil time.

From the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, a remarkable journey into the practice of groundbreaking science 'Giorgio Parisi is renowned for his scientific creativity, originality, and power. In this exhilarating little book, he shows his human side, too. By its end, readers will feel they've made a charming, witty new friend' Frank WilczekThe world is shaped by complexity. In this enlightening book, Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work to show us how. It all starts with investigating the principles of physics by observing the sophisticated flight patterns of starlings. Studying the movements of these birds, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds - collections of everything from atoms to planets to other animals like ourselves. Along the way, Parisi reflects on the lessons he's taken from a life in pursuit of scientific truth: the importance of serendipity to the discovery of new ideas, the surprising kinship between physics and other fields of study and the value of science to a thriving society. In so doing, he removes the practice of science from the confines of the laboratory and into the real world. Complexity is all around us - from climate to finance to biology, it offers a unique way of finding order in chaos. Part elegant scientific treatise, part thrilling intellectual journey, In a Flight of Starlings is an invitation to find wonder in the world around us.

Martin Naughton became a campaigner for the rights of disabled people. His story is of a life cut off from the rest of society behind the walls of an institution, like so many in 1960s Ireland, and the amazing resolve that forged an unlikely leader.

'Victory is a life well lived or a day enjoyed.'In this inspiring memoir, Frank recounts his life and experiences as an elite runner, as well as his fourteen-year battle with Parkinson's Disease. He is well aware that Parkinson's will ultimately win, but he is determined to not get ahead of himself, as after all tomorrow is another day.

Delve inside the mind of one of the most successful tennis players of our time.At the 2023 U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic surpassed Daniil Medvedev with his 24th Grand Slam single title, becoming the greatest male tennis player of all time. No man has ever won more Grand Slams.This is an illuminating exploration into the psyche of one of the most fascinating and controversial sporting characters ever. From his war-torn beginnings in Serbia to rewriting tennis history, this book uncovers the player's relentless pursuit for perfection and the unique and eccentric strategies that have grabbed headlines and amused and confused tennis fans worldwide.From refusing the COVID-19 vaccine to inhaling a mystery 'magic potion', Novak's controversial approach to his craft is unconventional, yet supremely effective. Dive into the world of meditation, shadow-chasing, and toe separators as we uncover the unorthodox methods that fuel Novak's focus and resilience, both on and outside the court.

The larger-than-life story of Britain's foremost writer on intelligence and espionage.

Full of passionate and personal argument, Veiled Threat is an indictment on a divided Britain that dominates and systematically others Muslim women at every level.

Nile Wilson has always been one of life's winners; a charismatic young man with an Olympic bronze medal in the Horizontal Bar at just 21 years old. But after a serious neck injury, forcing him to retire early and miss taking part in the Tokyo Olympics, Nile's world fell apart.Swamped with depression, anxiety and addictive behaviours, his mental health went over a cliff. Over the past few years, Nile has had to face down his demons and accept his new reality, and this is the book he wish he'd been given before it all began.Based on 15 hard-won lessons, Nile will guide you through the tools that have helped him come to back from the brink and find, for the first time, a sense of inner calm and renewed purpose. From recognizing destructive patterns, redefining success and managing self-talk, The Lessons will inspire and guide you through the ups and downs of life, and help you to build resilience and self-belief, no matter what.

I am sitting in bed next to Mariah Carey. She's wearing a pair of tiny boxer shorts and a belly-airing vest. "You can lie down if you want", she says. "I mean it's fine, be comfortable, " so I lean further back into the pillows, feigning being comfortable.As a young intern at Pride magazine, Diana Evans was catapulted into the role of culture editor, and so began her career as a journalist, writing about musicians, dancers and artists, interviewing the likes of Viola Davis, Alice Walker and Edward Enninful.In these portraits of contemporary icons, the author herself remains distant - always the observer. Alongside them, in essays and pieces collected here for the first time, we see her turning the lens to the personal. We watch as she dances across stages in London and travels through Cuba. We sit beside her desk as she develops her voice as a writer, shaped by her love for Jean Rhys, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. We walk by her side as she captures herself in the world - her family and the midlife sandwich, reflections on fashion, yoga, the British monarchy and lockdowns, and the lasting impact of George Floyd and Grenfell.Crafted over twenty-five years, with the intelligence and sensitivity that Diana Evans is known for, I Want to Talk to You invites you into a conversation about literature, art, identity, and everything in between.

The autobiography of Alan Dicks

School of Travel embarks on a transformative journey as the author intertwines two decades of adventures abroad with the profound lessons only travel can teach.

From the Sunday Times-bestselling author of On Chapel Sands, shortlisted for the Costa Prize for Biography'No one writes art like Laura Cumming' Philip Hoare, author of Albert and the Whale'I will never look at any painting in the same way again' Polly Morland, author of A Fortunate Woman_____________________'We see with everything that we are'On the morning of 12 October 1654, in the Dutch city of Delft, a sudden explosion was followed by a thunderclap that could be heard more than seventy miles away. Carel Fabritius - now known across the world for his exquisite painting, The Goldfinch - had been at work in his studio. He, along with many others, would not survive the day.In Thunderclap, Laura Cumming reveals her passion for the art of the Dutch Golden Age and her determination to lift up the reputation of Fabritius. She reveals the Netherlands, where - wandering the narrow streets of Amsterdam, driving across the flatlands, or pausing at a quiet waterfront - she encounters the rich reality behind the shining beauty of Vermeer and Rembrandt, Hals and de Hooch. She shares too her relationship with her father, the Scottish artist James Cumming, who had his own deep connection to Dutch painting, and who taught her about colour, light and the rewards of looking deeply.This is a book about what a picture may come to mean: how it can enter your life and change your thinking in a thunderclap, a sudden clarity of sight. This is also a book about the precariousness of human life - the way it may be snatched from us in an instant. What can art do to sustain us? The work that survives tells its own compelling story in these pages.