Best of
Biography

1936

George Washington


Ingri d'Aulaire - 1936
    Beautifully illustrated in full color. Recommended in Laura Berquist Syllabus Grades 2, 3 and 4 Author: Edgar D Aulaire Grade: 1-6 Pages: 60, Paperback Publisher: Beautiful Feet Books ISBN: 0-9643803-1-5

Characters of the Reformation


Hilaire Belloc - 1936
    It includes Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, St. Thomas More, Cranmer, Calvin, Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"), Mary Stuart ("Queen of Scots"), Cardinal Richelieu and many others--23 in all--analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, motives and mistakes and showing how this or that seemingly insignificant factor actually changed the course of history. An amazing book!

The Cattle King


Ion L. Idriess - 1936
    At the age of 13 Sidney Kidman ran away from home with only five shillings in his pocket. He went on to become a horse dealer, drover, cattle buyer and bush jockey and he also ran a coach business. Above all, Kidman created a mighty cattle empire of more than a hundred stations, fighting droughts, bushfires, floods and plagues of vermin to do so. His enterprise and courage won him a huge fortune and made him a legend.

Siamese White


Maurice Collis - 1936
    The book superbly embodies that old adage - truth is stranger than fiction. 'A magnificent story, full of interest and excitement, but there is more to it than that. Collis, who has lived for years on the scene of these high happenings, is able to give us a first-hand picture of a fascinating land: of a lovely archipelago, of rivers and rapids, of an immemorial track through jungles haunted by tigers and malaria.' - The Evening Standard

Young Pushkin: A Novel


Yury Tynyanov - 1936
    Although the author did not live to accomplish his full epic scheme, he did complete the first part, his fictional masterpiece of Pushkin's early years. This is the first English translation. In a blend of encyclopedic knowledge and creative imagination, Tynyanov thrillingly brings early nineteenth century Russia to life--Napoleonic invasion, rapid political change, and a gallery of fascinating characters, including Pushkin's unusual family with its African blood stemming from his great-grandfather Abram Hannibal. At the center of it all is the young Pushkin, explosive, unpredictable, totally absorbed, constantly scribbling verses, consorting with women twice his age, and living it up in the capital with hussars and actresses, before being exiled for his reckless liberal verse. Tynyanov's novel not only captures Pushkin's impulsive, swift genius but also deftly foreshadows his place in Russian history. It includes notes, family tree, and a selection of Pushkin's early poems.

The Exile


Pearl S. Buck - 1936
    Buck, a portrait of an American woman in China.

Heads and Tales


Malvina Hoffman - 1936
    3.

The Letters of Lord Byron


Lord Byron - 1936
    These 284 letters and letter-excerpts vividly portray a magnificently independent man of means whose impatience with brow-beating, mediocrity and convention was legendary.Ranging from an early epistle to his mother at the age of 11, to heartfelt mourning over the loss of dear friends, to exchanges in love, to all the to and fro of publishing most of his extraordinary works, to the celebration of lifelong connections, to criticism of society and its literary adherents, to political and military machinations in Italy and, finally, Greece, these letters are better than autobiography – they are the brilliant record of life as it was lived day-to-day by one of the most notable men of his era.