Best of
Autobiography

1991

I Could Never Be So Lucky Again


James H. Doolittle - 1991
    . . James Jimmy Doolittle was one of America\s greatest heroes. In a life filled with adventure and achievement, Doolittle did it all. As a stunt pilot, he thrilled the world with his aerial acrobatics. As a scientist, he pioneered the development of modern aviation technology. During World War II, he served his country as a fearless and innovative air warrior, organizing and leading the devastating raid against Japan. Now, for the first time, here is his life story - modest, revealing, and candid as only Doolittle himself can tell it. Doolittle tells a story of the sucesses and adventures, the triumphs and tragedies of a true American hero - a far-seeing leader whose courage, devotion, and daring changed the course of modern history . . . and continues to make its influence felt to this day.

Patrimony


Philip Roth - 1991
    Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father—famous for his vigor, charm, and his repertoire of Newark recollections—battles with the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety, and dread, accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his final ordeal, and, as he does so, discloses the survivalist tenacity that has distinguished his father's long, stubborn engagement with life.

Modern Nature


Derek Jarman - 1991
    Facing an uncertain future, he nevertheless found solace in nature, growing all manner of plants. While some perished beneath wind and sea-spray others flourished, creating brilliant, unexpected beauty in the wilderness.Modern Nature is both a diary of the garden and a meditation by Jarman on his own life: his childhood, his time as a young gay man in the 1960s, his renowned career as an artist, writer and film-maker. It is at once a lament for a lost generation, an unabashed celebration of gay sexuality, and a devotion to all that is living.

Sold


Zana Muhsen - 1991
    When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been literally sold into marriage, and that on their arrival they were virtually prisoners. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with no running water, dung-plastered walls, frequent beatings, and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors with only old women in attendance. After eight years of misery and humiliation Zana succeeded in escaping, but her sister is still there, and it seems likely that she will now never leave the country where she has spent more than half her life. This is an updated edition of Zana's account of her experiences.

Lost for Words


Deric Longden - 1991
    She was first featured in Diana's Story, which Longden wrote some years after his wife's death. Now the author's mother appears as the central character in this book, which takes the story forward to the time after Diana's death, and also back to Deric Longden's childhood. She makes her eccentric way through Marks & Spencer, converses with her two cats, offers comments on the fresh developments in her son's life, and finally endures the stroke that led eventually to her death.

Ryan White: My Own Story


Ryan White - 1991
    "A story of tragedy and courage that should be reade by all."—Dallas Morning News.

Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam


Joseph T. Ward - 1991
    . . .The U.S. Marine Scout Snipers were among the most highly trained soldiers in Vietnam. With their unparalleled skill, freedom of movement, and deadly accurate long-range Remington 700 bolt rifles, the Scout Snipers were sought after by every Marine unit--and so feared by the enemy that the VC bounty on the Scout Snipers was higher than on any other elite American unit.Joseph Ward's letters home reveal a side of war seldom seen. Whether under nightly mortar attack in An Hoa, with a Marine company in the bullet-scarred jungle, on secret missions to Laos, or on dangerous two-man hunter-kills, Ward lived the war in a way few men did. And he fought the enemy as few men did--up close and personal.

The Diary of Mary Berg: Growing up in the Warsaw Ghetto


Mary Berg - 1991
    After 60 years of silence, 'The Diary of Mary Berg' is poised at last to gain the appreciation and widespread attention that it so richly deserves, and is certain to take it’s place alongside 'The Diary of Anne Frank' as one of the most significant memoirs of the twentieth century. From love to tragedy, seamlessly combining the everyday concerns of a growing teenager with a unique commentary on life in one of the darkest contexts of history. This is a work remarkable for its authenticity, detail, and poignancy. But it is not only as a factual report on the life and death of a people that 'The Diary of Mary Berg' ranks with the most noteworthy documents of the Second World War. This is the personal story of a life-loving girl’s encounter with unparalleled human suffering, a uniquely illuminating insight into one of the darkest chapters of history. Mary Berg was imprisoned in the ghetto from 1940 to 1943. Unlike so many others, she survived the war, having been rescued in a prisoner-of-war exchange due to her mother’s dual Polish-American nationality. Berg's diary was published in 1945 when she was still only 19, in an attempt to alert the world to the Nazi atrocities in Poland, when it was described as "one of the most heartbreaking documents yet to come out of the war" by the /New Yorker/. After the war, Berg remained in America in quiet anonymity.

Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet


Lewis B. Puller Jr. - 1991
    Puller, Jr.'s memoir is a moving story of a man born into a proud military legacy who struggles to rebuild his world after the Vietnam War has shattered his body and his ideals. Raised in the shadow of his father, Marine General Lewis B. Chesty Puller, a hero of five wars, young Lewis went to Southeast Asia at the height of the Vietnam War and served with distinction as an officer in his father's beloved Corps. But when he tripped a booby-trapped howitzer round, triggering an explosion that would cost him his legs, his career as a soldier ended, and the battle to reclaim his life began.

I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story


Hank Aaron - 1991
    But the world has also left its mark on him. "Hammering Hank" Aaron's story is one that tells us much about baseball, naturally, but also about our times. His unique, poignant life has made him a symbol for much of the social history of twentieth-century America.Raised during the Depression in the Deep South enclave of Mobile, Alabama, Aaron broke into professional baseball as a cross-handed slugger and shortstop for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. A year later, he and a few others had the unforgettable mission of integrating the South Atlantic League. A year after that, he was a timid rookie leftfielder for the Milwaukee Braves, for whom he became a World Series hero in 1957 as well as the MostValuable Player of the National League.Aaron found himself back in the South when the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1965. Nine years later, in the heat of hatred and controversy, he hit his 715th home run to break Ruth's and baseball's most cherished record--a feat that was recently voted the greatest moment in baseball history. That year, Aaron received over 900,000 pieces of mail, many of them vicious and racially charged.In a career that may be the most consistent baseball has ever seen. Aaron also set all-time records for total bases and RBIs. He ended his playing days by spending two nostalgic seasons back in Milwaukee with the Brewers, then embarked on a new career as an executive with the Atlanta Braves. He was for a long time the highest-ranking black in baseball. In this position, Aaron has become an unofficial spokesman in racial matters pertaining to the national pastime.Because of the depth and pertinence of Aaron's dramatic experiences, I Had A Hammer is more than a baseball autobiography. Henry Aaron's candor and insights have produced a revealing book about his extraordinary life and time.

Blood Memory


Martha Graham - 1991
    Blood Memory invites readers to explore her phenomenal life and highlights the unforgettable images that encompass her work. 100 photographs.

I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone


Nina Simone - 1991
    She struck a chord with bluesy jazz ballads like "Put a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and powerful protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" and "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," the anthem of the American Civil Rights movement.Here are the many lives and loves of Nina Simone, recounted in her unshakable voice.

Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent


Ruth Gruber - 1991
    Now in paperback for the first time, this captivating memoir covers the first twenty-five years of an inspiring life, including these historic moments: Gruber's unprecedented academic career, which reached its zenith in 1932, when at twenty she became the world's youngest Ph.D. as a visiting American student at Cologne University, her return to Nazi Germany in 1935, and the rallies she attended where Hitler inveighed against "international Jews" like her; and her first stint as a foreign correspondent, when she became the only journalist to report from the Soviet Arctic, traveled in open cockpit seaplanes, met utopians who extolled Stalin's system, and gulag inmates who told her the bitter truth about his terrible schemes. Gruber writes with warmth, compassion, and humor, offering a life story that will be long remembered by all history lovers, adventurers, and women and men of all ages.

The Prison Memoirs of a Japanese Woman


Kaneko Fumiko - 1991
    Despite an early life of misery, deprivation, and hardship, she grew up to be a strong and independent young woman. When she moved to Tokyo in 1920, she gravitated to left-wing groups and eventually joined with the Korean nihilist Pak Yeol to form a two-person nihilist organization. Two days after the Great Tokyo Earthquake, in a general wave of anti-leftist and anti-Korean hysteria, the authorities arrested the pair and charged them with high treason. Defiant to the end (she hanged herself in prison on July 23, 1926), Kaneko Fumiko wrote this memoir as an indictment of the society that oppressed her, the family that abused and neglected her, and the imperial system that drove her to her death.

I Will Die Free


Nobel Alexander - 1991
    From a place where death is often preferred to life comes a stunning testimony of persecution and faith that will awe and inspire all who read it.

Don't Forget to Call Your Mama...I Wish I Could Call Mine


Lewis Grizzard - 1991
    In this book, Grizzard turns his attention to his mother, and to all mothers, casting a loving, comic eye toward the most important and defining relationship of all.

A Different Kind of Life


Virginia Williams - 1991
    For his wife, Ginny, the accident meant taking on new and unwanted roles as head of the household and family decision-maker, while also struggling to overcome the anger and grief she felt after the accident.In A Different Kind of Life, Ginny tells her story with honesty and humor, set against the glamorous backdrop of Formula One racing. She documents life before and after the devastating accident - from falling in love with Frank at first sight to learning how to cope with his needs after he became severely disabled but remained fiercely independent.A testament to the power of compassion and perseverance, A Different Kind of Life is a moving and inspiration story.

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality


Joan Frances Casey - 1991
    And it wasn't the first time she had blanked out. She decided to give therapy another try. And after a few sessions, Lynn Wilson, an experienced psychiatric social worker, was shocked to discover that Joan had MPD--Multiple Personality Disorder. And as she came to know Joan's distinct selves, Lynn uncovered a nightmarish pattern of emotional and physical abuse, including rape and incest, that nearly succeeded in smothering the artistic and intellectual gifts of this amazing young woman.

Photographs


Allen Ginsberg - 1991
    Pointing his camera randomly at the counterculture around him, the poet created a unique visual record of his friends and companions covering a period of almost forty years. His subjects include Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Robert Frank, Paul Bowles, Timothy Leary, dozens of other writers, painters, and friends, and several revealing self-portraits. Beneath each photograph are Ginsberg's handwritten reminiscences of the circumstances, people, and places relating to the photograph.

Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line


Ben Hamper - 1991
    For 10 years, Hamper, as did many of his fellow workers, showed up to work drunk and on drugs, was repeatedly laid off and called back, and battled continuously with foremen and supervisors.Eventually his talent for depicting these wretched work conditions formed into a column, called "Rivethead," that appeared in Midwest newspapers as well as in Mother Jones. This book is based on that column, which takes well-aimed potshots at American management and business and illuminates the world of the automobile builder and lunch pail carrier in hard-edged, vernacular prose.

Chicago Days/Hoboken Nights


Daniel Pinkwater - 1991
    The story of a young man who finds himself somewhat unexpectedly a fine arts major in college, a fledgling sculptor in Chicago, a gadabout painter in Hoboken, and who eventually winds up a writer sometimes called "a born storyteller".The author of more than fifty books, Pinkwater now chronicles his own early life.

Later Works: Black Boy (American Hunger) / The Outsider


Richard Wright - 1991
    This two-volume Library of America edition presents for the first time Wright’s major works in the form in which he intended them to be read. The authoritative new texts, based on Wright’s original typescripts and proofs, reveal the full range and power of his achievement as an experimental stylist and as a fiery prophet of the tragic consequences of racism in American society.Wright’s wrenching memoir Black Boy, an eloquent account of his struggle to escape a life of poverty, ignorance, and fear in his native South, was an immediate bestseller when it appeared in 1945. But Wright’s complete autobiography, Black Boy (American Hunger), is a far more complex and probing work. Its original second section, in which Wright chronicled his encounter with racism in the North, his apprenticeship as a writer, and his disillusion with the Communist party, was cut at the insistence of book club editors and was only published posthumously as a separate work. Now that the two parts of Wright’s autobiography are finally printed together, Black Boy (American Hunger) appears as a new and different work—a unique contribution to the literature of self-discovery and a searing vision of racism in Northern slums as well as Southern shanties.Richard Wright’s novel The Outsider (1953) appears here in a text that restores the many stylistic changes and long cuts made by his editors without his knowledge. This text, based on Wright’s final, corrected typescript, casts new light on his development of the style he called “poetic realism.” The “outsider” of Wright’s story is Cross Damon, a black man who works in the Chicago post office. When Damon is mistakenly believed to have died in a subway accident, he seizes the opportunity to invent a new life for himself. In this, his most philosophical novel, Wright reconsiders the existentialist themes of man’s freedom and responsibility as he traces Damon’s doomed attempts to lead a free life.This volume includes notes on significant changes in Wright’s texts and a detailed chronology of his life.

Freedom from Fear


Aung San Suu Kyi - 1991
    Today, she is newly liberated from six years' house arrest in Rangoon, where she was held as a prisoner of conscience, despite an overwhelming victory by her party in May 1990. This collection of writings, now revised with substantial new material, including the text of the Nobel Peace Prize speech delivered by her son, reflects Aung San Suu Kyi's greatest hopes and fears for her people and her concern about the need for international cooperation, and gives poignant and humorous reminiscences as well as independent assessments of her role in politics. Containing speeches, letters and interviews, some of which are newly added, these writings give a voice to Burma's 'woman of destiny', who was awarded both the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.'This book is bound to become a classic for a new generation of Asians who value democracy even more highly than Westerners do, simply because they are deprived of the basic freedoms that Westerners take for granted"--The New York Times

Hannah: The Complete Story


Hannah Hauxwell - 1991
    

Left for Dead


Dick Quinn - 1991
    Left for Dead tells his remarkable story and shows how he controls blood pressure and cholesterol, cleans arteries, prevents heart attack and enjoys a wonderful quality of life without drugs or special diets. Heart Attack - "An overwhelming presence took charge of my spirit, my life force, my soul. I was floating in the air, watching my body down below...That was the day I died for the first time."Open Heart Surgery - "Truly a remarkable performance by remarkably skilled people working together like a precision drill team, in an extraordinarily equipped operating theatre at a cost of many dollars and much pain. Too bad it doesn't work."Cholesterol - "I have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, prevented heart attack, felt terrific and enjoyed a wonderful quality of life for years because of a common kitchen spice."

I'll Gather My Geese


Hallie Crawford Stillwell - 1991
    Hallie's father, considering this a dangerous place for a young woman of nineteen to live alone, told her he thought she was going on a wild goose chase. "Then I'll gather my geese," she told him, with determination and independence. These traits stayed with Hallie all her life, and were indispensable in her role as a ranch wife. Raised as a "proper" Southern woman, Hallie was not prepared for the difficulties she faced when she moved to her new home, the Stillwell Ranch, in 1918. But she quickly became an invaluable part of the workings on the ranch. She watched and learned from her husband, Roy Stillwell, and she adjusted to the new life-style that she grew to love. The ranch hands, who thought she would only last six months, came to respect her and her abilities to do as much work as any man on the ranch. They became a family. Then Roy and Hallie started a family of their own. Three children were a handful, and the Stillwell family split its time between the ranch and a home in town. On the ranch outside Marathon, near the Mexican border, work was hard and joy came in the simple things. After working cattle all day, relaxing under the arbor in front of the house was a pleasure. Hallie had a favorite rock out behind the house, and she often sat on it to watch the sun set, take a break from her energetic youngsters, or otherwise gain some tranquility and perspective.The ranch and its inhabitants survived two world wars, the depression, droughts, an influenza epidemic, as well as the everyday troubles of ranching in the Big Bend country. Hallie's story, told in a personal and engaging way, is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the history of pioneering ranching in Texas.

The Race of the Golden Apples


Claire Martin - 1991
    A Greek princess, raised by bears in the forest and then returned to her rightful place in the kingdom, refuses to marry unless the man can outrun her in a footrace.

Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos


Harry Partch - 1991
    Bitter Music presents Partch's ideas about the place of music in society, his work as a composer, his compositions, and his unique instruments.The anthology opens with "Bitter Music," a journal Partch kept while he wandered the American West as a transient during the Depression. Partch himself had thought the journal was lost. Deeply personal, it provides important biographical information on a formative period in his life and hints at the insecurity that pervaded his career, the institutional support he enjoyed one year and the economic hardship he endured the next. An important work of American Depression literature, the journal is unique for its inclusion of musically notated speech and folk and popular music. A second journal, "End Littoral" records a hiking trip along the rugged California coastline. The anthology also offers twelve essays detailing Partch's provocative analysis of the relation of music and the composer to society. Two are published here for the first time; the others appeared in often obscure or ephemeral publications between 1941 and 1972. Included as well are twelve extended discussions by Partch of his own compositions, in the form of introductions or program notes, of which ten are published here for the first time. The anthology concludes with librettos or scenarios for six of his major narrative or dramatic compositions.

A Season for Justice: The Life & Times of Civil Rights Lawyer Morris Dees


Morris Dees - 1991
    The grandson of a Klansman, who engineered the landmark civil suit that bankrupted the Ku Klux Klan, recounts the story of his battles against racism in the New South.

People Who Say Goodbye: Memories of Childhood


P.Y. Betts - 1991
    Betts grew up there, observing with absolute clarity the behaviour and conversation of the adults around her. She did not always understand the implications of what she saw and heard but she remembered it and recreates it with startling immediacy. There were summer holidays at places that always seemed to begin with 'B, dark and smoggy winters when she was dosed with either brown medicine or red tonic, dreaded Christmas with her Grandfather and joyous schooldays with Mrs Stroud that consisted mainly of dictation from the 'Daily Mail'. Phyliss was five when the First World War broke out and she was left with the abiding belief that people who say goodbye did not come back again. Written with the keen eye for humour that pervades all her work and with the candour of childhood, this delightful and refreshing book captivates all who read it.

No Minor Chords: My Days in Hollywood


André Previn - 1991
    He was a quick learner, and he went on to win several Academy Awards and to fashion the scores of such films as "Gigi", "Porgy and Bess" and "My Fair Lady". In this memoir Previn recalls his years in Hollywood in the Golden Age from 1948 to 1964. Andre Previn is the author of "Music Face to Face" and "Andre Previn's Guide to Music".

Tex Johnston: Jet-Age Test Pilot


A.M. Johnston - 1991
    One of America's most daring and accomplished test pilots, Johnston helped develop the jet age at Bell Aircraft and Boeing. At Bell, he tested the XS-1, and at Boeing the XB-47 (the first six-jet engine bomber), the XB-52 bomber, and the 707 series of jets -- including a famous barrel-roll above a crowd gathered for the Gold Cup Hydroplane Races in Seattle, Wash.

The Time of Secrets AND The Time of Love


Marcel Pagnol - 1991
    Following the success of "My Father's Glory" and "My Mother's Castle", this book is an evocation of the author's school-days in Provence.

The Journals, 1762-95


James Boswell - 1991
    This one-volume selection of Boswell's journal entries, gathered and introduced by the distinguished writer John Wain, brings to life both a pre-eminent chronicler of eighteenth-century Britain and the tumultuous land about which he wrote so well.

John Wayne: My Father


Aissa Wayne - 1991
    The result is an affecting portrait that offers a new perspective on one of America's most enduring hero's humanity.

Letters from Honeyhill: A Woman's View of Homesteading, 1914-1922


Cecilia Hennel Hendricks - 1991
    "While there have been many published accounts of a woman's life in the West, rarely if ever have they been executed by such a literate scribe."

Homestead: Modern Pioneers Pursuing the Edge of Possibility


Jane Kirkpatrick - 1991
    A NONFICTION ADVENTURE. VERY INTERESTING.CHECK OUR STORE FRONT FOR GREAT BOOKS & CDs. FAST SERVICE.-24-

Faces In The Smoke


Douchan Gersi - 1991
    Douchan Gersi, an internationally known explorer and documentary maker, recounts dozens of mysterious events and arcane religious rituals he has seen in the remote areas of Borneo, Haiti, the Sahara, the Philippines, the Andes, and elsewhere.

The Spike Milligan Collection [Boxed Set]


Spike Milligan - 1991
    Adolf Hitler My Part in His Downfall'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?'Monty His Part in My VictoryMussolini His Part in My DownfallWhere Have All the Bullets Gone?Goodbye SoldierPeace Work

The Wolfpen Notebooks: A Record of Appalachian Life


James Still - 1991
    Still joined the life of the scattered community. He raised his own food, preserved fruits and vegetables for the winter, and kept two stands of bees for honey. A neighbor remarked of Still, "He's left a good job, and come

Dave's Way


Rex David Thomas - 1991
    "Sound advice for any entrepreneur or business manager".--Chicago Tribune.

The Impressionists


Robert Katz - 1991
    This book tells the story of these revolutionary painters & the times that shaped their visions. Section One examines the artistic trends which led away from the French landscape tradition in the early part of the 19th century to the Realist art of Courbet and the shocking debut of Manet. Section Two considers the most important individuals in the history of Impressionism, providing details of their lives and examining what linked them together & ultimately pulled them apart. 10 1/4" x 11". Color plates of representative paintings.

Blues of a Lifetime: The Autobiography of Cornell Woolrich


Cornell Woolrich - 1991
    Woolrich’s autobiography includes accounts of his working methods, his family and home, memories of childhood, college experience, and his philosophy of life.

Wisdom of the 90's


George Burns - 1991
    But miracles seem to come easily for George, who is America's most beloved nonagenarian author. Here he delivers wit, charm and sage advice with laughter and the puff of a cigar. Photographs throughout.

Memories: The Autobiography of Ralph Emery


Ralph Emery - 1991
    Now he documents those years in this uplifting rags-to-riches story filled with anecdotes both humorous and touching. The story of a man who "is to country music what Dick Clark is to rock 'n' roll".--Ronnie Milsap. Photographs.

Secrets of the Universe: Essays on Family, Community, Spirit, and Place


Scott Russell Sanders - 1991
    Ranging from an autobiographical tour-de-force that describes a childhood spent with an alcoholic father to "Looking at Women," a reflection on male yearning and confusion, to a look at the place—or absence—of nature in recent American fiction.

Selected Works of Ion Creanga and Mihai Eminescu


Kurt W. Treptow - 1991
    This book consists of selections from the best known works of the classic Romanian writers of the nineteenth century in annotated English translations.

A Land So Fair and Bright: The True Story of a Young Man's Adventures Across Depression America


Russ Hofvendahl - 1991
    When he jumped ahip in 1938, he headed east through Canada, south to New Orleans via New York, and across to San Francisco. He rode the rails often, and here he tells of catching freights on the fly, of panaoramas viewed from side-door pullmans or from open gondolas snaking down California peaks. There were also times without shelter, food, or water...A rare and exhilarating true-life tale. Booklist

As God is My Witness


Carl Rosenberg - 1991