Her sisters included Nancy, doyenne of the 1920s London smart set and a noted novelist and biographer; Diana, wife to the English fascist chief Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, who fell head over in heels in love with Hitler; and Deborah, later the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica swung left and moved to America, where she took part in the civil rights movement and wrote her classic expose of the undertaking business, The American Way of Death.Hons and Rebels is the hugely entertaining tale of Mitford's upbringing, which was, as she dryly remarks, not exactly conventional. . . Debo spent silent hours in the chicken house learning to do an exact imitation of the look of pained concentration that comes over a hen's face when it is laying an egg. . . . Unity and I made up a complete language called Boudledidge, unintelligible to any but ourselves, in which we translated various dirty songs (for safe singing in front of the grown-ups). But Mitford found her family's world as smothering as it was singular and, determined to escape it, she eloped with Esmond Romilly, Churchill's nephew, to go fight in the Spanish Civil War. The ensuing scandal, in which a British destroyer was dispatched to recover the two truants, inspires some of Mitford's funniest, and most pointed, pages.A family portrait, a tale of youthful folly and high-spirited adventure, a study in social history, a love story, Hons and Rebels is a delightful contribution to the autobiographer's art.

    ""One of the outstanding wildlife books of all time.""-New York Herald Tribune First published 1960 by Longmans, Green & Co.

    A Zoo in My Luggage begins with an account of Durrell’s third trip to the British Cameroons in West Africa, during which he and his wife capture animals to start their own zoo. Returning to England with a few additions to their family—Cholmondeley the chimpanzee, Bug-eye the bush baby, and others—they have nowhere to put them as they haven’t yet secured a place for their zoo. Durrell’s account of how he manages his menagerie in all sorts of places throughout England while finding a permanent home for the animals provides as much adventure as capturing them. For animal lovers of all ages, A Zoo in My Luggage is the romping true story of the boy who grew up to make a Noah’s Ark of his own.

    The author recalls her life in Paris in the formative years of 1929 to 1944, telling of her relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre and of Parisian intellectual life of the 1930s and 1940s.

    minor wear on corners

    Following the 1943 sinking of the merchant ship S.S. Lulworth Hill in the south Atlantic by Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci., 14 men, including the author, gather on a small liferaft. The men attempt to reach the African coast, but intense sun, starvation, sharks, injuries and madness begin to take their toll. When British warship HMS Rapid reaches the raft nearly two months later, only two men, author Kenneth Cooke and crewmate Colin Armitage, remain alive. This heart-breaking story remains inspirational due to the author's faith, determination, and compassion for his fellow raftmates. Included are six pages of illustrations.

    

    Beauvoir recounts her difficult long-distance romance with novelist Nelson Algren and her involvement with Claude Lanzmann (the future director of Shoah). She also vividly describes her travels with Sartre to Brazil and Cuba, reveals her private sense of despair in reaction to French atrocities in Algeria, and confronts her own deepening depression. Simone de Beauvoir's outstanding achievement is to have left us an admirable record of her unceasing battle to become an independent woman and writer.Introduction by Toril Moi

    Arctic Adventure, his best-known work, was long out of print, so much from it was incorporated in this book. Some of the horrors and hardships that are part of living in the Far North (such as the occasion on which Freuchen had to cut off his own frozen toes) are detailed to a grisly degree, but are handled with surprising nonchalance. The effect is to heighten the glamour and excitement of Freuchen's experiences by contrast. The natural harmony of Eskimo existence before the advent of white men is a prevalent theme, but the point is made without specific preachment. The supreme tact of Eskimo women, in keeping with their tradition of being powers-behind-thrones, is another thing that evoked undisguised admiration from Freuchen, whose first wife was an Eskimo by whom he had two children. Considerable skill has gone into making this informative and absorbing story come to life. Photographs not yet seen. Significant viewpoints on the lives of other explorers and traders, particularly Knud Rasmussen.

    Louis in the summer of 1933.

    

    The first African to be elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and a key figure in the independence movement of his country, he looks back on the days of his childhood in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is a delightful story, told simply, frankly and with humour. We see step by step how 'that boy, with his rough edges, his foibles and nuances, his grimaces and gaucheries', was gradually moulded by his parents and teachers, until he developed qualities of leadership.

    Trade Paperback. Berenson's diary allows the reader to experience his vigor, wit, spontaneity, and creativeness. Recorded are his journeys to North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Introduction by Raymond Mortimer, a close friend. With 103 illustrations.