Selvbiografier

The life of Karl Dane was a Cinderella story gone horribly wrong. The immigrant from Copenhagen was transformed from a machinist to a Hollywood star after his turn as the tobacco-chewing Slim in ""The Big Parade"". This biography tells the tale of a daring yet tragic man who aimed for his wildest dreams and succeeded, if only for a short time.

Presents the fascinating life of the father of the New Germany. This book tells how, in an astonishing political career that spanned six decades including fourteen years as chancellor of West Germany, Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) was instrumental in shaping the modern political landscape, both of his own country and of Europe.

A catalogue of history's greatest military leaders - from the Classical Age to the Napoleonic Era - and what drove them to victory.

';A superb biography, not to be missed either by armchair explorers or students of human naturereveals the famed missionary and explorer as he really was.'Cleveland Plain DealerDavid Livingstone is revered as one of history's greatest explorers and missionaries, the first European to cross Africa, and the first to find Victoria Falls and the source of the Congo River. In this exciting new edition of his biography, Tim Jeal, author of the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Stanley, draws on fresh sources and archival discoveries to provide the most fully rounded portrait of this complicated mandogged by failure throughout his life despite his full share of success.Using Livingstone's original field notebooks, Jeal finds that the explorer's problems with his African followers were far graver than previously understood. From recently discovered letters he elaborates on the explorer's decision to send his wife, Mary, back home to England. He also uncovers fascinating information about Livingstone's importance to the British Empire and about his relationship with the journalist-adventurer Henry Morton Stanley. In addition, Jeal here evokes the full pathos of the explorer's final journey. This masterful, updated biography also features an excellent selection of new maps and illustrations.';Fascinating.'Los Angeles Times';A thrilling and in the end moving workThe Livingstone who emerges is a man of terrifying dimensions.'Irish Press

Saxon brings together more than 300 letters written by the self-styled "Prince of Humbugs." Here we see him, opinionated and exuberant, with only the rarest flashes of introspection and self-doubt, haggling with business partners, blustering over politics, and attempting to get such friends as Mark Twain to endorse his latest schemes.

Translated by Audie E. Bock."A first rate book and a joy to read.... It''s doubtful that a complete understanding of the director''s artistry can be obtained without reading this book.... Also indispensable for budding directors are the addenda, in which Kurosawa lays out his beliefs on the primacy of a good script, on scriptwriting as an essential tool for directors, on directing actors, on camera placement, and on the value of steeping oneself in literature, from great novels to detective fiction."--Variety"For the lover of Kurosawa''s movies...this is nothing short of must reading...a fitting companion piece to his many dynamic and absorbing screen entertainments."--Washington Post Book World

Benjamin Britten was one of the outstanding British composers of 20th century. He shot to international fame with his operas, performed by his own English Opera Group, and a series of extraordinary instrumental works. His music won a central place in the repertoire and affection of successive generations of listeners. This title tells his story.

His story, based on new archival sources and told with verve and wit, is sure to become the definitive work on a man and his era.

Mackinnon recounts his own fascinating journey from north Wales to the Black Sea in a small Mirror dinghy. A marvelous madcap adventure, told with verve and humor by the indefatigable 'captain.'

This provocative biography tells the story of how an ambitious young Londoner became England's greatest novelist. Focused on the 1830s, it portrays a restless, uncertain Dickens who could not decide on a career path. Through twists and turns, the author traces a double transformation: in reinventing himself Dickens reinvented the form of the novel.

Britain's leading cycling writer, William Fotheringham, goes back to speak to those who were there at the time and those who knew Merckx best to find out what made Eddy Merckx so invincible. 'The full unvarnished of one man's heaven, and hell, on wheels' Independent

Céleste Albaret was Marcel Proust''s housekeeper in his last years, when he retreated from the world to devote himself to In Search of Lost Time. She could imitate his voice to perfection, and Proust himself said to her, "You know everything about me." Her reminiscences of her employer present an intimate picture of the daily life of a great writer who was also a deeply peculiar man, while Madame Albaret herself proves to be a shrewd and engaging companion.

John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough (1644-1722), was one of the greatest military commanders and statesman in the history of England. His descendant, Sir Winston Churchill wrote this work as both an act of homage, and as an historical insight into the man behind the statesman.

The definitive biography, by a long way, of the most influential blues musician of them all. In a nutshell: no Muddy Waters, no Rolling Stones

Victor Bockris's much admired biography of Keith Richards has been constantly revised since its original publication, now with an additional 12,000 words for a new edition of the Omnibus Press paperback that brings the story up to the present day.

Georgette Heyer remains an enduring international bestseller, read and loved by four generations of readers and extolled by today's bestselling authors. Georgette Heyer wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, when she was seventeen in order to amuse her convalescent brother. This title tells her story.

Agatha Christie's personal memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan, where she worked on the digs and wrote some of her most evocative novels.

Arrian's account of Alexander's life and campaigns, published as the Anabasis and its companion piece the Indica, is our prime source for the history of Alexander, told with great narrative skill. This edition features a new translation of both texts, introduction, notes, guide to military systems and terminology, maps and a full index.

"In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The dogma of science is that the will cannot possibly affect external forces, and I think that's just ridiculous. It's as bad as the church. My viewpoint is the exact contrary of the scientific viewpoint. I believe that if you run into somebody in the street it's for a reason. Among primitive people they say that if someone was bitten by a snake he was murdered. I believe that." - William S. Burroughs In Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs, his biographer Ted Morgan wrote: 'As the single most important thing about Graham Greene was his viewpoint as a lapsed Catholic, the single most important thing about Burroughs was his belief in the magical universe. The same impulse that lead him to put out curses was, as he saw it, the source of his writing...' Burroughs' writings often describe magical, mystical or occult ideas - Invocations of Elder Gods, descriptions of Sex-Magick rituals, references to amulets, charms, ghosts, omens and spells - all the thematic set-dressing that we all know and love, from Hammer Horror Movies to Weird Tales, from H. P. Lovecraft to Dennis Wheatley and The X-Files... Then there is his personal involvement with belief systems and practices that come from strange 'other' territories outside the conventional mainstream - Scientology, Electronic Voice Phenomena,Orgone Accumulators; Ayahuasca, Rites of Pan in Morocco, Sweat-Lodges with Native American and, Chaos Magic. "Stevens has unravelled the threads to create a superlative supernatural treatise of El Hombre Invisible's life and work. Whether an initiate to the world of Burroughs or a seasoned scholar, this book opens new and fascinating vistas. Vitally unorthodox and yet true to the core, this is an essential text for anyone looking to go beyond the page into an alternative reality, where magic lives." Nina Antonia

Beginning in 1970, with the transformative effects of the Kent State University shootings - which the band-members witness firsthand - and ending a decade later with Devo on the cusp of superstardom (with "Whip It"), this title traces the sounds and ideas that the group absorbed and in turn brought to prominence as unlikely rock stars.

He is best remembered as the astute and powerful orator who inspired a battered Britain to victory against Nazi Germany during World War 2 and led the post-war, shattered nation to recovery. Richard Langworth, co-chairman and editor of The Churchill Centre, has spent over 20 years researching Churchill's written and spoken words.

From the author of 'Stuart: A Life Backwards'; a warm and witty portrait of a harmless, eccentric, bona fide genius.

As the UK government conducts its first happiness survey, Alastair Campbell looks at happiness as a political as well as a personal issue;

The decade that followed James Stockdale's seven and a half years in a North Vietnamese prison saw his life take a number of different turns, from a stay in a navy hospital to president of a civilian college to his appointment as a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution. In these essays he offers his thoughts on his imprisonment.

Famous for his venturesome spirit and advocacy of a self-supporting existence, John Seymour was thus a natural and sympathetic editor for this remarkable book, first published in 1970, which offers the authentic voice of a Romany gypsy (a scrap metal merchant and horse trader) describing the life he has led and the longer lineage of his family.

This in-depth and affectionate biography paints a complete picture of this respected actor, presenter, producer, director, dog lover, animal rights campaigner, patron of the Born Free Foundation, and devoted family man.

Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 to parents of German and Spanish descent, in Coyoacan, outside Mexico City. After contracting polio at age six, Frida also suffered severe injuries in a bus accident. Her time spent in recovery turned her toward a painting career. These experiences, combined with a difficult marriage to the artist Diego Rivera, generated vibrant works depicting Frida's experiences with pain as well as the symbolism and spirit of Mexican culture. Though she died in 1954, interest in her work continues to grow, with museum exhibitions and publications around the world. This biography will introduce art students and adult readers to one of the Latino culture's most beloved artists.In 2002, the film Frida introduced the artist and her works to a new audience. In 2007, the 100th anniversary of Kahlo's birth, a major exhibition of her work was held at the Museum of the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico. In 2007 through 2008, another major exhibition began its journey to museums throughout the United States.