Best of
Autobiography

1997

James Herriot's Animal Stories


James Herriot - 1997
    Pumphrey’s inimitable Pekinese, Tricki Woo.Herbert, the orphaned lamb --Lesson from the horse's mouth --Tricki Woo requests the pleasure --Susie, messenger of love --Real happy Harry --Mick the dreamer --Blossom comes home --There's nothing wrong with Myrtle --Spot or two of bother --There's Christmas and Christmas

Flight of Passage: A True Story


Rinker Buck - 1997
    Having grown up in an aviation family, the two boys bought an old Piper Cub, restored it themselves, and set out on the grand journey. Buck is a great storyteller, and once you get airborne with the boys you find yourself absorbed in a story of adventure and family drama. And Flight of Passage is also an affecting look back to the summer of 1966, when the times seemed much less cynical and adventures much more enjoyable.

Tears of Rage: From Grieving Father to Crusader for Justice: The Untold Story of the Adam Walsh Case


John Walsh - 1997
    This is the heartbreaking chronicle of John Walsh's transformation from grieving parent to full-time activist—and the infuriating conspiracy of events that have kept America's No. 1 crime-fighter from obtaining justice and closure for himself and his family. From the day Adam disappeared from a mall in Hollywood, Florida, John Walsh faced a local police department better equipped to track stolen cars than missing children—and a criminal justice system that would work against him in unimaginable ways. Outraged but determined, he ultimately enlarged the search for Adam's killer into an exhaustive battle on behalf of all missing and abused children, beginning with his efforts to put missing children's faces on milk cartons. Today, John Walsh continues the fight for legislative change and public awareness, driven by his own personal tragedy. Tears of Rage is the story of a true American hero: a man who challenged the system in the name of his son.

The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk


Palden Gyatso - 1997
    When Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, it embarked on a program of “reform” that would eventually affect all of Tibet’s citizens and nearly decimate its ancient culture. In 1967, the Chinese destroyed monasteries across Tibet and forced thousands of monks into labor camps and prisons. Gyatso spent the next 25 years of his life enduring interrogation and torture simply for the strength of his beliefs. Palden Gyatso’s story bears witness to the resilience of the human spirit, and to the strength of Tibet’s proud civilization, faced with cultural genocide.

James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet


Graham Lord - 1997
    Alf wrote amazingly little about his parents, his poor childhood in a crowded Glasgow tenement or his schooldays, but Lord describes them all in vivid detail after interviewing friends of Alf's from his earliest days in Glasgow up to the end in Yorkshire, where he worked for over fifty years with his partner Donald Sinclair, whom he called 'Siegfried' in his books, Lord has also uncovered some extraordinary events and hidden tragedies in Alf's life and he asks a series of pertinent questions. How much of the Herriot books was true? How much was fiction? And what was his real relationship with the various characters who inhabit the books. This warm but incisive portrait will be enjoyed by James Herriot's countless admirers but will also dispel the myths that have already grown up around the life of the most famous and deeply loved vet the world has ever known.

The Man Who Listens to Horses


Monty Roberts - 1997
    Roberts's story is more fascinating and profound than any told in fiction.--San Francisco Chronicle.

All Over But the Shoutin'


Rick Bragg - 1997
    It is the story of a violent, war-haunted, alcoholic father and a strong-willed, loving mother who struggled to protect her three sons from the effects of poverty and ignorance that had tainted her own life. It is the story of the life Bragg was able to carve out for himself on the strength of his mother's encouragement and belief.

The Seamstress


Sara Tuvel Bernstein - 1997
    She was born into a large family in rural Romania and grew up feisty and willing to fight back physically against anti-Semitism from other schoolchildren. She defied her father's orders to turn down a scholarship that took her to Bucharest, and got herself expelled from that school when she responded to a priest/teacher's vicious diatribe against the Jews by hurling a bottle of ink at him. After a series of incidents that ranged from dramatic escapes to a year in a forced labor detachment, Sara ended up in Ravensbruck, a women's concentration camp, and managed to survive. She tells this story with style and power." --Kirkus Reviews

Outsider in the White House


Bernie Sanders - 1997
    In this book, Sanders tells the story of a passionate and principled political life. He describes how, after cutting his teeth in the Civil Rights movement, he helped build a grassroots political movement in Vermont, making it possible for him to become the first independent elected to the US House of Representatives in forty years. The story continues into the US Senate and through the dramatic launch of his presidential campaign.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Fifty Dead Men Walking


Martin McGartland - 1997
    To the IRA, he was a trusted intelligence officer and an integral member of an active-service unit. To the British Government, however, he was known only as 'Agent Carol'. McGartland is credited by British Intelligence with having saved the lives of at least fifty people. Working within the ruthless network of the IRA, every time he tipped off the authorities, he saved a life, but with each success came a higher risk of detection. He continued to pass on life-saving information until, one day, his cover was blown. . .

The Gift of Peace


Joseph Bernardin - 1997
    Joseph Cardinal Bernardin's gentle leadership throughout his life of ministerial service had made him an internationally beloved figure, but the words he left behind about his final journey would change the lives of many more people from all faiths, from all backgrounds, and from all over the world.In the last two months of his life, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin made it his ultimate mission to share his personal reflections and insights as a legacy to those he left behind.  The Gift of Peace reveals the Cardinal's spiritual growth amid a string of traumatic events: a false accusation of sexual abuse; reconciliation a year later with his accuser, who had earlier recanted the charges; a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and surgery; the return of cancer, now in his liver; his decision to discontinue chemotherapy and live his remaining days as fully as possible.  In these pages, Bernardin tells his story openly and honestly, and shares the profound peace he came to at the end of his life.  He accepted his peace as a gift from God, and he in turn now shares that gift with the world.

Against the Odds: An Autobiography


James Dyson - 1997
    This inspirational autobiography tells the remarkable story behind James Dyson and his most successful invention to date: the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner. With little or no support, Dyson endured years of personal struggle and financial crisis before his unswerving optimism and self-belief won him spectacular success. This is a story of personal and business triumph over the established multinational companies that tried to halt his progress.

The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey from Peasant to International Legend


Phoolan Devi - 1997
    Enduring cruel poverty, Phoolan Devi survived the humiliation of an abusive marriage, the savage killing of her bandit-lover, and horrifying gang rape to claim retribution for herself and all low-caste women of the Indian plains. In a three-year campaign that rocked the government, she delivered justice to rape victims and stole from the rich to give to the poor, before negotiating surrender on her own terms. Throughout her years of imprisonment without trial, Phoolan Devi remained a beacon of hope for the poor and the downtrodden. In 1996, amidst both popular support and media controversy, she was elected to the Parliament. On July 25, 2001, Phoolan Devi was shot dead in Delhi. The identity of her killers is unknown, but it is thought that they may include relatives of villagers killed by her gang nearly twenty years ago. For over a decade millions have found the power and scope of Phoolan Devi's myth irresistible. Here is the story of her life through her eyes and in her own voice.

जूठन: पहला खंड [Joothan]


Omprakash Valmiki - 1997
    "Joothan" refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. India's untouchables have been forced to accept and eat joothan for centuries, and the word encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of India's social pyramid.Although untouchability was abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, and ridicule. Valmiki shares his heroic struggle to survive a preordained life of perpetual physical and mental persecution and his transformation into a speaking subject under the influence of the great Dalit political leader, B. R. Ambedkar. A document of the long-silenced and long-denied sufferings of the Dalits, Joothan is a major contribution to the archives of Dalit history and a manifesto for the revolutionary transformation of society and human consciousness.

Personal History


Katharine Graham - 1997
    Katharine's account of her years as subservient daughter and wife is so painful that by the time she finally asserts herself at the Post following Phil's suicide in 1963 (more than halfway through the book), readers will want to cheer. After that, Watergate is practically an anticlimax.

Won by Love


Norma McCorvey - 1997
    Wade Supreme Court case, Norma McCorvey became known as the poster child for the pro-choice movement. But underneath she led a life of drug and alcohol addiction as she increasingly felt alienated by the wealthy and famous elements of the pro-choice crowd. Then to make matters worse, her worst enemy, the pro-life group Operation Rescue, moved in next door to her clinic.Norma's story is a heartwarming tale of how Christians from Operation Rescue -- led by a seven-year-old girl named Emily -- banded together to break through even the hardest of hearts. Few expected that a woman who once told a reporter that she "lived and breathed" for abortion would one day walk next door, give her life to Jesus, and begin working for the people she once hated. Won by Love not only reveals the shocking, inside machinations of the abortion industry, but also reveals an inspiring tale of how God uses love to mold hearts to His service.

A Lot of Hard Yakka


Simon Hughes - 1997
    In that time, he played alongside some of the great characters in cricket: Mike Brearley, Mike Gatting, Phil Edmonds and Ian Botham. This is not an autobiography of a good county pro, but a look at the ups and downs, the lifestyle, the practical jokes and sheer hard yakka that make such a poorly paid, insecure job appeal to so many. Now a respected journalist and broadcaster, Simon Hughes has written a brilliant, amusing and wrily self-depracating book, packed with hilarious and embarrassing anecdotes about some of the greatest cricketers of the last 20 years.

Over My Head: A Doctor's Own Story of Head Injury from the Inside Looking Out


Claudia L. Osborn - 1997
    Over My Head is an inspiring story of how one woman comes to terms with the loss of her identity and the courageous steps (and hilarious missteps) she takes while learning to rebuild her life. The author, a 45-year-old doctor and clinical professor of medicine, describes the aftermath of a brain injury eleven years ago which stripped her of her beloved profession. For years she was deprived of her intellectual companionship and the ability to handle the simplest undertakings like shopping for groceries or sorting the mail. Her progression from confusion, dysfunction, and alienation to a full, happy life is told with restraint, great style, and considerable humor.

The Voice that Remembers: A Tibetan Woman's Inspiring Story of Survival


Adhe Tapontsang - 1997
    Her tenacious struggle to remain human in the face of inhuman torture and deprivation while imprisoned by the Chinese for 27 years inspires any reader fortunate enough to encounter this remarkable woman's story. The Voice that Remembers features additional material on Tibet and China in the last half of the 20th century.

Leon's Story


Leon Walter Tillage - 1997
    But in those days they didn't call you "black." They didnt say "minority." They called us "colored" or "nigger." Leon Tillage grew up the son of a sharecropper in a small town in North Carolina. Told in vignettes, this is his story about walking four miles to the school for black children, and watching a school bus full of white children go past. It's about his being forced to sit in the balcony at the movie theater, hiding all night when the Klansmen came riding, and worse. Much worse.But it is also the story of a strong family and the love that bound them together. And, finally, it's about working to change an oppressive existence by joining the civil rights movement. Edited from recorded interviews conducted by Susan L. Roth, Leon's story will stay with readers long after they have finished his powerful account.Leon's Story is the winner of the 1998 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction.

On My Own at 107: Reflections on Life Without Bessie


Sarah L. Delany - 1997
    Just four years earlier, Bessie and Sadie, along with former "New York Times" reporter Amy Hill Hearth, co-wrote the bestselling "Having Our Say," which told the story of the sisters' remarkable lives as witnesses to a century. Here, Sadie reflects on the first year following Bessie's death. "Kirkus Reviews" called the book "a bracing reminder that life, a rare gift, must be savored in the living."

Joothan: An Untouchable's Life


Omprakash Valmiki - 1997
    "Joothan" refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. India's untouchables have been forced to accept and eat joothan for centuries, and the word encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of India's social pyramid.Although untouchability was abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, and ridicule. Valmiki shares his heroic struggle to survive a preordained life of perpetual physical and mental persecution and his transformation into a speaking subject under the influence of the great Dalit political leader, B. R. Ambedkar. A document of the long-silenced and long-denied sufferings of the Dalits, Joothan is a major contribution to the archives of Dalit history and a manifesto for the revolutionary transformation of society and human consciousness.

Leaning Into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West


Linda M. Hasselstrom - 1997
    Here are reflections on cowboys real and fake, tractor-driving lessons, outhouses, and the uses of baling wire; here are ranch marriages, enduring and not; family legacies; loss and renewal. Westerners will find their friends and neighbors in these pages; others will find a vivid portrait of the women of a region all too often mythologized.

Errata: An Examined Life


George Steiner - 1997
    Brilliant and witty, his memoir reveals Steiner's thoughts on the meaning of the western tradition and its philosophic and religious premises.

Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith


Aerosmith - 1997
    And, of course, the drugs. But after crashing in a suffocating cloud of cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin, Aerosmith rose up from the ashes to become clean and sober — and reclaim their rightful title as World Champion Rockers. Learn how they did it in a book that is pure Aerosmith unbound: where they came from, what they are now, and what they will always be — a great American band.

Burning the Days: Recollection


James Salter - 1997
    Scenes of love and desire, friendship, ambition, life in foreign cities and New York, are unforgettably rendered here in the unique style for which James Salter is widely admired.Burning the Days captures a singular life, beginning with a Manhattan boyhood and then, satisfying his father's wishes, graduation from West Point, followed by service in the Air Force as a pilot. In some of the most evocative pages ever written about flying, Salter describes the exhilaration and terror of combat as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, scenes that are balanced by haunting pages of love and a young man's passion for women.After resigning from the Air Force, Salter begins a second life, becoming a writer in the New York of the 1960s. Soon films beckon. There are vivid portraits of actors, directors, and producers--Polanski, Robert Redford, and others. Here also, more important, are writers who were influential, some by their character, like Irwin Shaw, others because of their taste and knowledge.Ultimately Burning the Days is an illumination of what it is to be a man, and what it means to become a writer.Only once in a long while--Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory or Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa--does a memoir of such extraordinary clarity and power appear. Unconventional in form, Burning the Days is a stunning achievement by the writer The Washington Post Book World said "inhabits the same rarefied heights as Flannery O'Connor, Paul Bowles, Tennessee Williams and John Cheever" --a rare and unforgettable book.

Golden Afternoon


M.M. Kaye - 1997
    M. Kaye returns, after spending several years at a British boarding school, to India, the cherished country of her childhood. It is 1927, and nineteen-year-old Mollie makes her debut on the Delhi social scene. Feeling awkward and plain, party etiquette and society's intricate rules fluster her, but she finds comfort in her family, her Indian friends, her watercolors, and the country itself.The same humor, wisdom, and enchantment that inspired M.M. Kaye's bestselling novels fill the pages of Golden Afternoon. Kaye recreates with perfection the nuances of a lifestyle long past and brings the people and glorious terrain of India to vivid life.

The Amazing Secret of the Souls in Purgatory: An Interview with Maria Simma


Sister Emmanuel - 1997
    The Amazing Secret of the Souls in Purgatory is such a book. Maria Simma, lived humbly in the mountains of Austria. When shew as twenty-five, Maria was graced with a very special charism - the charism of being visited by the many souls in Purgatory - and being able to communicate with them! In her words, Maria shares with us some amazing secrets about the souls in Purgatory. She answers questions such as:What is Purgatory?How do souls get there?Who decides if a soul goes to Purgatory?What are the sins that most lead to Purgatory?How can we help get a soul released from Purgatory?Are there religions which are bad for the soul?Are there children in Purgatory?How can I avoid Purgatory?This is a remarkable interview on after-death realities, a true revelation for those who have lost a dear one!

Another Season


Gene Stallings - 1997
    When beloved Alabama football coach Gene Stallings's son was born with Down syndrome and a serious heart defect, doctors predicted he wouldn't live to see his first birthday and urged Coach Stallings and his wife to institutionalize him.But for Gene and Ruth Ann that was not an option.  Johnny quickly won the hearts and adoration of the Stallings family and everyone who took the time to know him, and, proving the doctors wrong by living a full life, he has become a vital and important part of his father's life and career.With intimate glimpses of family life and thrilling football anecdotes, Another Season is brimming with poignant lessons about defying the odds and finding joy in every moment.

The Bikeriders


Danny Lyon - 1997
    A seminal work of modern photojournalism, this landmark collection of photographs and interviews documents the abandon and risk implied in the name of the gang Lyon belonged to: the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. With images and interviews that are as raw, alive, and dramatic today as they were three decades ago, this new edition includes startling new images: 15 additional black-and-white photographs and 14 color prints--long thought missing--of works originally published in black-and-white. With a new introduction by the author, The Bikeriders rides again, capturing like never before the dawn of the counterculture era.

Who On Earth Is Tom Baker?: An Autobiography


Tom Baker - 1997
    This original and most British of television series chronicled the travels and tribulations of the famous Doctor Who and his merry band of followers. Tom Baker, though not the first but probably the most unforgettable of the actors who took on this role, has published an autobiography that not only lets us explore the man made famous but also the man himself. Tom inhabited the world of television production agencies, the BBC with its cast of thousands, and the drinking haunts of Soho with the likes of Jeffery Bernard, Anthony Hopkins and actors for whom feast and famine were a daily way of life. Tom, with his expressive face and kind eyes was born in Liverpool to a raucous and lively Irish family where love and a good respect for the teachings of the Catholic Church were able to prepare him for an interesting and fulfilling life. In fact, Tom's early experiences with the church involved a trial at a monastery for an unsuccessful preparation as a priest and an insight into the daily workings of these institutions. A slow starting but rapidly improving acting career was followed by time spent pulling pints and on London construction sites before the big break. Then came with the casting agent and the meeting that allowed for instant world-wide recognition for the famous Doctor Who that still exists today. The style of the story is very much that of a black comedy with a marriage, children and a certain fixation with a lawnmower and the mowing of the grass around his own gravestone, making for an enjoyable read. He is now happily married and living in a rural utopia outside of London, millions of miles and light years away from the hectic and all- consuming career of both straight acting and in the television role that has made him famous in more that 70 countries. --Brian Reinker

The Quotable Mark Twain


Mark Twain - 1997
    A must-have for all Twain collectors, The Quotable Mark Twain is filled with his opinions about the people he knew, the places he's been, and the books he wrote, as well as more far-ranging topics, such as writers, billiards, smoking, his family, and more. The book also includes 150 illustrations taken from the original editions of Twain's publications, source citations for each quotation, an annotated bibliography, and a complete index.

Letter To Daniel Tie In: Despatches From The Heart


Fergal Keane - 1997
    His latest work for Radio 4 was Letter to Daniel, an emotional message to his newborn son.

Forever Flying: Fifty Years of High-flying Adventures, From Barnstorming in Prop Planes to Dogfighting Germans to Testing Supersonic Jets, An Autobiography


Bob Hoover - 1997
    Now, in 'Forever Flying', he tells his amazing story, sharing all the thrills and chills, spectacular stunts and death-defying exploits that have made him a living aviation legend.

Your Life as Story: Discovering the "new Autobiography" and Writing Memoir as Literature


Tristine Rainer - 1997
    Like Mary Karr or Frank McCourt, we can shape those stories into dramatic narratives that are compelling to others. Blending literary scholarship with practical coaching, Rainer shares her remarkable techniques for finding the essentials of story structure within your life's scattered experiences. Most important, she explains how to treasure the struggles in your past and discover the meaning within those experiences to capture the unique myth at work in your life.

Paisley: Smile On Me and Guide My Hand


John Keith - 1997
    This authorized biography traces Bob Paisley's life from his humble beginnings in a North East pit village through his wartime experiences to his days at Anfield, where an array of 19 trophies for Liverpool in nine seasons was his response to accepting the managerial job he never wanted.

Orphan Factory: Essays and Memoirs


Charles Simic - 1997
    A native of Yugoslavia who emigrated to America in his teens, Simic believes that tragedy, comedy, and paradox are the commonplace experiences of an exile's life. In this delightful collection of journal entries, autobiographical essays, criticism, and prose poetry, the poet reveals once again his fondness for odd juxtapositions that reveal hidden and unexpected connections.In the title essay, Simic--whom critic Helen Vendler has called "the best political poet on the American scene"--reflects on his family's experiences of their war-torn homeland during World War II and the frightening familiarity of the recent tragic events in the region. The collection has many hilarious moments, such as Simic's memoir of his first days in New York City as a young poet and painter, impressions from his poet's notebook, and first lines from his unwritten books. The book also contains reflections on dreams, insomnia, and the night sky, and considers the work of poets Jane Kenyon and Ingeborg Bachmann, and of visual artists Saul Steinberg and Holly Wright.Charles Simic's most recent poetry collections are Walking the Black Cat ( 1996), nominated for the National Book Award, and Hotel Insomnia. He has won numerous prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, and a P.E.N. Translation Prize.

Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan


Daryl Davis - 1997
    As a teenager he was told he would be shipped back to Africa. Driven by an intense need to understand those who hate him because of the colour of his skin, Davis decided to seek out the roots of racism. The author, who is a professional musician, recounts his courageous, lifelong confrontations and conversations with members of the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to unearth the roots of bigotry and foster harmony between black and white, often using music to bridge the divide.

Cash


Johnny Cash - 1997
    He was an icon of rugged individualism who had been to hell and back, telling the tale as never before. In his unforgettable autobiography, Johnny Cash tells the truth about the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs, and the people who shaped him.In his own words, Cash set the record straight -- and dispelled a few myths -- as he looked unsparingly at his remarkable life: from the joys of his boyhood in Dyess, Arkansas to superstardom in Nashville, Tennessee, the road of Cash's life has been anything but smooth. Cash writes of the thrill of playing with Elvis, the comfort of praying with Billy Graham; of his battles with addiction and of the devotion of his wife, June; of his gratitude for life, and of his thoughts on what the afterlife may bring. Here, too, are the friends of a lifetime, including Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson. As powerful and memorable as one of his classic songs, Cash is filled with the candor, wit, and wisdom of a man who truly "walked the line."

Woody, Cisco, and Me: Seamen Three in the Merchant Marine


Jim Longhi - 1997
    Despite some occasionally stilted dialog, Longhi's fast-paced memoir reads like a novel as the "seamen three" survive rough storms, crooked gamblers, and two torpedo attacks. Of the vivid cast of characters, the irrepressible Guthrie is the most compelling, though he sometimes drifts to the background as Longhi relates his own often hilarious exploits as ship's baker and chairman of the crew's union. (For a solid Guthrie biography, see Joe Klein's Woody Guthrie, LJ 10/15/80, still available in paperback.) Still, Guthrie's folksy persona looms above all others. With Guthrie and Houston long since dead, it is left to Longhi to tell stories that have only been hinted at in previous Guthrie biographies. Highly recommended.?Lloyd Jansen, Stockton- San Joaquin Cty. P.L

Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography--1949-1962


Doris Lessing - 1997
    She describes how communism dominated the intellectual life of the 1950s and how she, like nearly all communists, became disillusioned with extreme and rhetorical politics and left communism behind. Evoking the bohemian days of a young writer and single mother, Lessing speaks openly about her writing process, her friends and lovers, her involvement in the theater, and her political activities. Walking in the Shade is an invaluable social history as well as Doris Lessing's Sentimental Education.

Baptism of Fire: The Astonishing True Story of a Man of God


Frank Collins - 1997
    

Colleen Dewhurst


Colleen Dewhurst - 1997
    “Over ten years ago, I had an idea that brings me to this very moment,” are the words of Colleen Dewhurst that led her to recall and record the numerous stories of her life that led to this book. Including stories of her experiences mothering a daughter who wrestled the domineering strength of her mother’s will, being a student of Tyrone Gutherie, Harold Clurman, and Joseph Papp, winning multiple Obies, Tonys, and Emmys, and her lifetime as a friend whose laughter and easy willingness to share joy, pain, and random ridiculousness of life invited many into her heart. Interviews with friends of Colleen’s, such as Ellen Burstyn, Jose Quintero, and Roscoe Lee Browne enhance the pages of this autobiography, telling the story of a life filled with indelible impressions and stunning influence.

Mario Lemieux: The Final Period


Mario Lemieux - 1997
    Despite a relentless series of medical setbacks, including a well-publicized battle with cancer, Lemieux led the Pittsburgh Penguins to two Stanley Cups and won six NHL scoring titles before retiring in 1997 at the tender age of 31. In the book Lemieux tells his story in his own words. He has always been a man of few words, but he has a great story to tell.

Thomas Moran


Nancy K. Anderson - 1997
    The book is the catalogue for an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Addict


Stephen Smith - 1997
    Those dead can't hit back.At the age of fourteen I became addicted to amphetamine and for the next twenty years took up to 100 tablets a day. Drugs led me into a bizarre life of crime and lunacy. As my addiction took its toll I fell from being a wealthy playboy with everything money could buy to living in the Salvation Army Missions, ending up on the streets with the winos for over five years. Why did all this happen to me? Looking at young children today I wonder if some of them are just a few years away from a similar roller coaster hell-ride. What distinguishes them from the others, the normal children?

Author: A True Story


Helen Lester - 1997
    By sharing her struggles as a child and later as a successful author, she demonstrates that hurdles are part of the process. She even gives writing tips, such as keeping a "fizzle box." Helen Lester uses her unique ability to laugh at her mistakes to create both a guide for young writers and an amusing personal story of the disappointments and triumphs of a writer's life.

Bob Marley: My Son


Cedella Marley Booker - 1997
    It begins with her shock at hearing about her son's illness and then goes on to recount his fight for survival together with his music, and tumultuous life.

Once a Dancer: An Autobiography


Allegra Kent - 1997
    Beautiful, sensuous, and mysterious, she quickly became an essential Balanchine dancer-and the story of her personal life is as dramatic as they story of her rise to fame. Her account of a bizarre childhood, a magnificent if curious dance career, a charged, complicated domestic life with photographer Bert Stern, and a never-ending struggle with emotional, physical, and financial pressures is fascinating-as are her portraits of the other great dance figures who punctuated her life, from Balanchine to Baryshnikov.

A Real Good War


Sam Halpert - 1997
    It depicts their humor, despair, fear and courage while flying mission after mission, their friendships brutally "scrubbed" by mounting casualties. You'll taste the terror of flying each mission through heavy black barrages of flak and flame, bearing wounded or dead buddies. Praised for its "gutsy realism," its "stoic humor and crusty humanity," this book transports the reader into the very belly of the Flying Fortress, as its bombs rain on Nazi Germany and its young crew learns the real meaning of war.

One Up: A Woman in Action with the SAS


Sarah Ford - 1997
    What makes a woman join the most secretive and dangerous unit of Special Forces? What keeps her there? How does she cope with the rigorous physical and psychological training, including 'simulated terrorist interrogations', the often deadly missions, the relentless pressures of a macho world, and hte sex?

Out of My Mind: An Autobiography


Kristin Nelson Tinker - 1997
    Throughout her life she has recorded personal events and experiences on canvas. This book is her story, in words and pictures.

Angels along the Way


Della Reese - 1997
    In this upbeat, joyful book, Della Reese leaves readers with a belief in the human angels who step in, providing guidance and support. of photos.

A Thousand Suns


Dominique Lapierre - 1997
    Lapierre delves eloquently into the heart of the history of uour time

Speak You Also: A Survivor's Reckoning


Paul Steinberg - 1997
    A chemistry student, Steinberg was assigned to work in the camp's laboratory alongside Primo Levi, who would later immortalize his fellow inmate as "Henri," the ultimate survivor, the paradigm of the prisoner who clung to life at the cost of his own humanity. "One seems to glimpse a human soul," Levi wrote in If This Is a Man, "but then Henri's sad smile freezes in a cold grimace, and here he is again, intent on his hunt and his struggle; hard and distant, enclosed in armor, the enemy of all."Now, after fifty years, Steinberg speaks for himself. In an unsparing act of self-scrutiny, he traces his passage from artless adolescent to ruthless creature determined to do anything to live. He describes his strategies of survival: the boxing matches he staged for the camp commanders, the English POWs he exploited, the maneuvers and tactics he applied with cold competence. Ultimately, he confirms Levi's judgment: "No doubt he saw straight. I probably was that creature, prepared to use whatever means I had available." But, he asks, "Is it so wrong to survive?"Brave and rare, Speak You Also is a profound and necessary addition to the body of Holocaust writing: a survivor's reckoning with culpability and survival.

My Life As A Medium


Betty Shine - 1997
    This is the story of how she became the best known medium and healer in the UK.Through her books, tapes and absent healing service, she is in touch with thousands of people worldwide. The hardback publication of her book produced a tremendous response from both the media and the general public and this A-format edition will bring her story to an even wider audience.

A Will to Win: The Manager's Diary


Alex Ferguson - 1997
    Outspoken as ever, Fergie confides to his diary the shocks, setbacks, and secrets of life at England's biggest football club.

Crowded House: Something So Strong


Chris Bourke - 1997
    When "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong" exploded in the US charts, worldwide success looked inevitable. Critics compared them musically to the Beatles and fans adored them for their warmth and humour on stage. Four brilliant albums later, their roller-coaster ride of achievements and disappointments came to an end on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, in front of one of the largest audiences in Australian history. The dream was over, the band broken up, their enormous promise only partly fulfilled. In this definitive account, New Zealand journalist Chris Bourke has written the true story of Crowded House. With unparalleled access to all band members, their families, friends, musical collaborators, managers, and record company personanel, he has captured their essence. It is a unique tale of musical chemistry, family bonds and the personal costs of pursuing an artistic vision. From the manic energy of the recording studio to the machinations of the record industry, this riveting account is a book for every Crowded House fan.

There's Something Happening Here: The Story Of Buffalo Springfield For What It's Worth


John Einarson - 1997
    Eye-witness perspective of founding band member Richie Furay, the story of an influential group, pop culture, and politics in the 60's and 70's.

Why Didn't You Get Me Out?: A POW's Nightmare in Vietnam


Frank Anton - 1997
    Now, more than thirty years later, he tells the story of how his own government failed him...For give hellish years, American soldier Frank Anton was held as a POW in Vietnam. Subject to disease, starvation, and physical and psychological torture, Anton and his fellow prisoners held out hope that the U.S. government would find and rescue them.When he was finally freed in 1973, Anton returned to the United States bruised and battered. And the most devastating blow of all had yet to even be struck. Upon his release, Anton and debriefed by the government and saw both aerial photographs of the prison camps where he was held and a close-us picture of himself walking the grueling Ho Chi Minh Trail. The government had known all along where and when Anton and his fellow soldiers were being held--and made no attempt to rescue them.now, in this harrowing first-person account and shocking expose, Frank Anton recounts his years as a POW and the aftermath--devoting his life to understanding why and how his own government left him and others to suffer and possibly die in the Vietnamese prison camps. And the answers he's uncovered will forever astound and disturb you.With eight pages of dramatic photosA main selection of the Military Book Club

The Communion Letters


Whitley Strieber - 1997
    Now, in The Communion Letters, Strieber presents a fascinating selection of this vast and compelling correspondence.

1968


Ed Sanders - 1997
    this is the '68 / whose pulses still surge / in my psyche," writes author Edward Sanders. What he's done with that surge is to take memoir, anecdote, and factual research and fashion them into an epic, book-length poem.Sanders is distinguished among the poets of his generation by his engagement with history, including its missed chances, wrong turns, broken hearts. He evokes participation, performance and prophecy in a fury of emotional tones and swirling facts, chronicling the laughter and terror of his own creative annus mirabilis as freak/ poet/ publisher / Yippie activist / rock star in the midst of the near-breaking of the nation. He looks back toward his generation's vital and tragic sources, reconstructing the decisive year in a unique commingling of personal and political poetry.

When Do I Start?: A Memoir


Karl Malden - 1997
    He won an Academy Award "RM" in 1951 for the film version of Streetcar and an Emmy in 1984 for the TV movie Fatal Vision. His memorable performances in major film classics such as Patton, Baby Doll, On the Waterfront, and One-Eyed Jacks earned glowing notices, and he endeared himself to television viewers as veteran detective Mike Stone in "The Streets of San Francisco". Yet Karl Malden has had anything but an easy road to fame.Growing up tough and poor in Gary, Indiana, as the son of a Serbian steelworker, Maiden turned to the mills himself, doing hard, dangerous work to finance his way through acting school. In When Do I Start? he tells of his determined pursuit of Broadway, his involvement with the Group Theater (which brought him to the notice of Elia Kazan and then almost cost him his career during the anticommunist witchhunts of the fifties), his starring roles in two television series, and his rise to movie stardom. Delicious anecdotes about Kazan, Brando, Jessica Tandy, Paul Muni, Vivien Leigh, Montgomery Clift, Michael Douglas, and many others fill the pages of this memoir by a shrewd and witty observer of show business who turns out to be a gifted, natural storyteller.

I Am Rosa Parks


Rosa Parks - 1997
    Her brave act sparked the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott and brought the civil rights movement to national attention. In simple, lively language, Rosa Parks describes her life from childhood to the present and recounts the events that shook the nation. Her story is powerful, inspiring and unforgettable.An NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies

The Wit And Whimsy Of Mary Engelbreit


Mary Engelbreit - 1997
    Her imaginative and richly detailed illustrations bring a sense of joy and a touch of nostalgia to everyday events.

The Skeleton Coast: A Journey Through the Namib Desert


Benedict Allen - 1997
    This is Benedict Allen's account of his thousand-mile trek with camels through the Namib Desert and along the Skeleton Coast. Allen prepares for his journey with the nomadic, goat-herding Himba tribe in the north of the Namib, learning essentials for desert survival. Submerging himself in the community, he comes to understand the everyday fears and aspirations of these extraordinary people. He then travels south to the fringes of the Kalahari, where he undertakes a gruelling three-week period, training his reluctant camels. Escorted by security personnel through diamond areas closed to the outside world, Allen moves north past ghost towns and through some of the highest dunes in the world. The journey continues through lion, rhino and elephant country, where Allen battles to maintain authority over his faithful but nervous camels, until he is reunited with the Himba nomads.

Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels


Adam Hochschild - 1997
    His first book, Half The Way Home: A Memoir Of Father And Son, was published in 1986. It was followed by The Mirror At Midnight: A South African Journey, and The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin. The Unquiet Ghost won the Madeline Dane Ross Award of the Overseas Press Club of America, given to "the best foreign correspondent in any medium showing concern for the human condition. Hochschild's work has also won prizes from the World Affairs Council, the Eugene V. Debs Foundation and the Society of American Travel Writers. An anthology of his shorter pieces, Finding The Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels, won the 1998 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award for the Art of the Essay. Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost: A Story Of Greed, Terror And Heroism. In Colonial Africa was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It, Half The Way Home, and The Unquiet Ghost were all named Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. His books have been translated into six languages. Besides his books, Hochschild has also written for The New Yorker, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, The Nation, and many other newspapers and magazines. He is a former commentator on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Hochschild teaches writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, and has been a guest teacher at other campuses in the U.S. and abroad. In 1997-98, he was a Fulbright Lecturer in India. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Arlie, the sociologist and author. They have two sons.

Why Me?


Jacob Damkani - 1997
    Discover how an ordinary Jewish man was led to an extraordinary relationship with his Messiah. (NAS)

The Nearby Faraway A Personal Journey Through The Heart Of The West


David Petersen - 1997
    A rich and moving collection from one of the west's most down-to-earth writers.

The Diggers of Colditz: The classic Australian POW story about escape from the impossible


Jack Champ - 1997
    Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold, by any means necessary.   In this riveting account – by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic – historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tell the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their ‘home’, and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible – escape!   ‘A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage’ Australian Book Review

Trampled Lilies


Winifred Fortescue - 1997
    Thousands of weary French soldiers tramped past as she searched for food and shelter for them. But as the Germans advanced, Lady Fortescue realized that she was about to be trapped in France. So began her mad dash across the country to escape...

Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey


Göran Kropp - 1997
    of gear with him. He ascended Mt. Everest in May 1996, unassisted and without the use of supplemental oxygen, days after the tragedy that claimed 8 climbers. He then returned to Stockholm on his bicycle. The entire trip took one year. This is his account of his training, preparation, and accomplishment of the most self-sufficient combined approach and climb of Mt. Everest ever. Kropp has a tremendous zest for life and has been mountain climbing since he was a child. His philosophy is to approach the mountains on their own terms.

Sex and Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll


Billy Thorpe - 1997
    Through his eyes we see the Cross at a unique moment in its history, and Australia on the threshold of an astonishing new wave of youth culture.For Billy it's a tantalising and dangerous new world and he soon find his life turned upside-down by an erotic menage a trois and a murder. And as if that's not enough, he joins a group called the Aztecs and within twelve months they have a national No. 1 hit.Sex and Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll is a rollercoaster ride through this amazing year of Billy's life. Take the trip.

Rear Gunner Pathfinders


Ron Smith - 1997
    Flying initially with 626 squadron, and later 156 Pathfinder squadron, Ron Smith flew 65 operations and he has recorded them with the intensity brought on by the isolation of being cocooned in his lonely gun turret.

Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso


Vasily V. Smyslov - 1997
    In taking the reader through over 150 instructive examples, taken mostly from his own games, Smyslov covers a very broad range of positions - and provides an excellent overall insight into the endgame as a whole. Unlike standard endgame manuals, which concentrate purely on the most basic and technical positions, this book has numerous examples with many pieces on the board - the type of endgame you are in fact most likely to reach. By learning from Smyslov's impeccable technique, readers will improve their own endgame ability - and results!

Totem of the Depraved


Nick Zedd - 1997
    An autobiography that is both shocking and poignant, Totem of the Depraved chronicles the life and thoughts of the founder of the most radical film movement of the 80's.

Memoirs


Georg Solti - 1997
    He tells the story of a musical education that began in his native Budapest when his mother recognized and helped foster his talent. It continued with his studies at the rigorous Liszt Academy with Dohnányi, Kodály, Bartók, and Weiner, and a performance he heard of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, conducted by Erich Kleiber, that forever set his destiny.                   He recounts his prewar experience coaching opera in Budapest, his exile in Zurich during World War II, and his work as music director of the Bavarian State Opera and life in postwar Munich. He then moves on to similar posts in Frankfurt and in London at Covent Garden. We watch as he continues his journey through the top ranks of the musical world and becomes, in 1969, director of the Chicago Symphony, a post he holds with brilliance and renown for twenty-two years. We follow him from 1991 on as he pursues for the first time the challenges and joys of the freelance conductor, working in Salzburg, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, New York, and St. Petersburg.                  Solti expresses his feelings and thoughts about Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, and other great composers. He writes about conducting, and about Wagner's Ring cycle as well as operas by Mozart and Verdi, and symphonies by Mahler, Beethoven, and Bruckner. We see him continuously developing as an artist, constantly probing the composer's intentions: He describes how he found new insights into Beethoven's Ninth Symphony upon returning to it after many years, and how he approached new recordings of the Mozart operas and Wagner's Die Meistersinger ("This time I would come to it with my heart as well as my head ).                   His memoirs are filled with both hilarious and touching scenes of rehearsal and performance, as well as with stories of musical controversies. He speaks about the great musicians he has worked with, among them Toscanini, Walter, Furtwängler, Klemperer, Nilsson, Hotter, Domingo, and Rostropovich. Throughout, he reveals the pleasure of interpreting the composer's design, and the satisfying act of making a score come to life.                  Writing these memoirs, Solti has created yet another splendid musical event.

Betty Garrett and Other Songs: A Life on Stage Screen


Betty Garrett - 1997
    But none of her plays, movies, or television roles can match the drama of her life. Betty Garrett and Other Songs is the story of a woman who became one of Broadway's biggest stars, made several classic MGM musicals, married a handsome movie star, had two children, and could scarcely believe her happiness and good fortune. Then one day the House Un-American Activities Committee came to call. In this hilarious, moving, bawdy, and ultimately triumphant memoir, Betty Garrett tells how she and her husband, Larry Parks, rebuilt their lives and careers after falling victim to the Hollywood blacklist and how, after Parks' tragic death at the age of sixty, she went on to achieve some of her greatest personal and professional satisfaction.

The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters from Prison and Other Writings


Jingsheng Wei - 1997
    Wei Jingsheng, who has spent nearly two decades in prison for counterrevolutionary activities, confirms his status as a symbol for Chinese democracy, as he eloquently and fearlessly confronts a regime that not only fails to protect basic human rights but actively violates them. Devoid of ideological rant, the letters to Deng Xiaoping and other officials capture the verve, intelligence, audacity, and mordant humor of a man obstinately struggling to bring freedom to the world's most populous country. Also included are touching letters to his family, excerpts of his groundbreaking political essays, and his moving defense statement at trial.

I Am the Most Interesting Book of All: The Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff, Vol. 1


Marie Bashkirtseff - 1997
    Eleven years later, upon her death, she has written thousands and thousands of pages, creating an obsessively detailed monument to her own life. ."..because I hope that I will be read...I am absolutely sincere. If this hook is not the exact, absolute, strict truth, it has no reason to be." But Bashkirtseff was betrayed by her own family. The diary, published posthumously in 1887, was expurgated, sanitized, and denuded. Marie's mother made sure that none of her daughter's more radical opinions - and more importantly, their strange family history - appeared in the diary's pages. Even so, it was hailed as the true portrait of a woman by the French press, and Bashkirtseff was alternately canonized as a misunderstood genius and damned as a self-absorbed misfit. Now, in this new translation, Phyllis Howard Kernberger has returned to the original text - Marie's notebooks, held in the Bibliotheque Nationale. Her scrupulous, decades-long research has unearthed the true self-portrait that Marie Bashkirtseff hoped to reveal. Marie was enraptured with her own beauty, enraged by the constraints of society (especially for women), and determined to achieve success and fame at any cost, and her diary is a vivid portrait of a free-thinking woman born before her time. Working straight from the source, Kernberger has revived the honest image of Marie - in a seductively funny, warmly personal, and thoroughly mesmerizing account of a life lived to its fullest.

The Diary Kept by T.E. Lawrence While Travelling in Arabia During 1911 (Folios Archive Library)


T.E. Lawrence - 1997
    Left about an hour later for Nizib. Road took me up hills at first, and then across a pleasant stream full of springs. After that through olive-yards and vine yards and fields of liquorice, to Nizib in about an hour and a half. There I bought two half-pennyworth of bread and the same of grapes, and went to the roof of a khan to eat them. Left about 10 a.m. after drinking an iced sherbert of distilled rose leaves." After the British Museum wound up its excavations at Carchemish, T. E. Lawrence went walking in Northern Syria, exploring the castles which he was so fascinated by, and keeping both a diary and photographic records. Presented here with 13 key photographs and letters to his mother, the diary shows the young Lawrence developing a strong respect for the Arab people, and already involved in regional politics. In addition to his archaeological work, he was, most probably, keeping an eye on the progress of the German railway to Baghdad. This intimate and detailed diary gives a revealing perspective on Lawrence before his life was transformed into a myth.

Speechless: Facilitating Communication for People Without Voices


Rosemary Crossley - 1997
    But these people aren't necessarily strangers to language - they just haven't found a way to express themselves. In Speechless, Rosemary Crossley describes the groundbreaking work she has done with such individuals to give them the tools to communicate. Often labeled by experts as "beyond help," these patients found a teacher and a listener in Crossley. Through the use of computer technology, Crossley developed a technique in which pictures, words, and letters displayed on a computer keyboard or screen could be manipulated and combined by the patient to express himself. This "facilitated communication" technique enabled Crossley to interpret the previously unutterable thoughts, emotions, and stories of her patients. Through her accounts of people with diagnoses as varied as autism, brain injury, and Down's syndrome, Crossley emerges as a fiercely determined and driven woman who cares deeply about the rights of people with disabilities. The stories of the remarkable people she helped will make readers rethink the very definitions of communication and mental retardation, as well as reminding us all how much we have to gain by listening to those who have been kept silent.

Faces of Christmas Past


Bill Holm - 1997
    This Exceptional Memoir speaks with wit and grace to the perils of Christmas and self-imposed ritual duty (like the newsy Christmas xerox).

Hard Core Roadshow: A Screenwriter's Diary


Noel Baker - 1997
    Baker vividly chronicles the experience of seeing his first screenplay produced, derived from a diary kept during two years of down-and-dirty filmmaking with Bruce McDonald on the film "Hard Core Logo". "This is the most absorbing account of getting a move made in this country...It's funny, perceptive, and compelling".--Atom Egoyan.