Best of
Biography

1951

A Man Called Peter: The Story of Peter Marshall


Catherine Marshall - 1951
    It is a book about love - the love between a dynamic man and his God, and the tender love between a man and the woman he married. It is also the gripping adventure of a poor Scottish immigrant who became chaplain of the United States Senate and one of the most revered men in America. A Man Called Peter became the number-one best-seller when it was published in 1951, and around the world lives were changed by reading of the chaplain's remarkable faith. In the foreword to this book, Peter's son writes, "Even when [Dad's] words were preached 'secondhand'. . . in the movie version of A Man Called Peter, they had an amazing effect on people."Through Peter's story and the compelling sermons and prayers included in A Man Called Peter, you will discover insight into God, man, and life on earth and hereafter. You will also be encouraged by the realization that "if God can do so much for a man called Peter, he can do as much for you.".

Letters and Papers from Prison


Dietrich Bonhoeffer - 1951
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a young German pastor who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his part in the “officers’ plot” to assassinate Adolf Hitler.       This expanded version of Letters and Papers from Prison shifts the emphasis of earlier editions of Bonhoeffer’s theological reflections to the private sphere of his life. His letters appear in greater detail and show his daily concerns. Letters from Bonhoeffer’s parents, siblings, and other relatives have also been added, in addition to previously inaccessible letters and legal papers referring to his trial.      Acute and subtle, warm and perceptive, yet also profoundly moving, the documents collectively tell a very human story of loss, of courage, and of hope. Bonhoeffer’s story seems as vitally relevant, as politically prophetic, and as theologically significant today, as it did yesterday.

Memoirs of a Revolutionary


Victor Serge - 1951
    This facsimile edition brings Charles Lamb's critically acclaimed and revered "Elia" essays back into print.

Catherine of Siena


Sigrid Undset - 1951
    Known for her historical fiction, which won her the Nobel Prize for literature in 1928, Undset based this factual work on primary sources, her own experiences living in Italy, and her profound understanding of the human heart. One of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century, Undset was no stranger to hagiography. Her meticulous research of medieval times, which bore such fruit in her multi-volume masterpieces Kristin Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken, acquainted her with some of the holy men and women produced by the Age of Faith. Their exemplary lives left a lasting impression upon the author, an impression Undset credited as one of her reasons for entering the Church in 1924. Catherine of Siena was a particular favorite of Undset, who also was a Third Order Dominican. An extraordinarily active, intelligent, and courageous woman, Catherine at an early age devoted herself to the love of God. The intensity of her prayer, sacrifice, and service to the poor won her a reputation for holiness and wisdom, and she was called upon to make peace between warring nobles. Believing that peace in Italy could be achieved only if the Pope, then living in France, returned to Rome, Catherine boldly traveled to Avignon to meet with Pope Gregory XI. With sensitivity to the zealous love of God and man that permeated the life of Saint Catherine, Undset presents a most moving and memorable portrait of one of the greatest women of all time.

The Restless Flame: A Novel About Saint Augustine


Louis de Wohl - 1951
    Augustine, one of the most remarkable men of all time.

Michael Jordan


Coleen Lovitt - 1951
    Completely revised and updated, this inspiring biography covers the whole of Jordan's amazing career -- from his boyhood and NCAA years to his 1999 retirement from the game.

A Soldier's Story


Omar N. Bradley - 1951
    A Soldier's Story is the behind-the-scenes eyewitness account of the war that shaped our century: the tremendous manpower at work, the unprecedented stakes, the snafus that almost led to defeat, the larger-than-life personalities and brilliant generals (Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery) who masterminded it all. One of the two books on which the movie Patton was based, A Soldier's Story is a compelling and vivid memoir from the greatest military tactician of our time.      The books in the Modern Library War series have been chosen by series editor Caleb Carr according to the significance of their subject matter, their contribution to the field of military history, and their literary merit.

Autobiography of a Hunted Priest


John Gerard - 1951
    And nowhere in literature is it so apparent as in this classic work, "The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest." This autobiography of a Jesuit priest in Elizabethan England is a most remarkable document and John Gerard, its author, a most remarkable priest in a time when to be a Catholic in England courted imprisonment and torture; to be a priest was treason by act of Parliament.Smuggled into England after his ordination and dumped on a Norfolk beach at night, Fr. Gerard disguised himself as a country gentleman and traveled about the country saying Mass, preaching and ministering to the faithful in secret always in constant danger. The houses in which he found shelter were frequently raided by priest hunters; priest-holes, hide-outs and hair-breadth escapes were part of his daily life. He was finally caught and imprisoned, and later removed to the infamous Tower of London where he was brutally tortured.The stirring account of his escape, by means of a rope thrown across the moat, is a daring and magnificent climax to a true story which, for sheer narrative power and interest, far exceeds any fiction. Here is an accurate and compelling picture of England when Catholics were denied their freedom to worship and endured vicious persecution and often martyrdom.But more than the story of a single priest, "The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest" epitomizes the constant struggle of all human beings through the ages to maintain their freedom. It is a book of courage and of conviction whose message is most timely for our age.

The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell


Bertrand Russell - 1951
    One of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, he transformed philosophy and can lay claim to being one of the greatest philosophers of all time. He was a Nobel Prize winner for Literature and was imprisoned several times as a result of his pacifism. His views on religion, education, sex, politics and many other topics, made him one of the most read and revered writers of the age. This, his autobiography, is one of the most compelling and vivid ever written. This one-volume, compact paperback edition contains an introduction by the politician and scholar, Michael Foot, which explores the status of this classic nearly 30 years after the publication of the final volume.

Conversations with Kafka


Gustav Janouch - 1951
    They "fell into the habit of taking long strolls through the city, strolls on which Kafka seems to have said many amazing, incisive, literary, and personal things to...the teenage Boswell of Prague." For instance: "Life is infinitely great and profound as the immensity of the stars above us. One can only look at it through the narrow keyhole of one's personal experience. But through it one perceives more than one can see. So above all one must keep the keyhole clean."They discuss writing, of course Kafka's own works, but also his favorite writers, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Rimbaud, who "transforms vowels into colors." Other topics, as summarized by Prose, include "technology, film, photography, crime, money, Darwinism, Chinese philosophy, street fights, insomnia, Hindu scripture, suicide, art and prayer."

Saint Maximilian Kolbe: Knight of the Immaculata


Jeremiah J. Smith - 1951
    Before WW II, he worked mightily to conquer the world for Christ through Mary, desiring to save all souls in the world till the End of Time. Recommended in Kolbe Academy Junior High Literature Publisher: TAN Books Author: Rev. J. J. Smith Format: 104 pages, paperback

The Life of St. Sava


Nikolaj Velimirović - 1951
    Born in 1173, as a young man he left the home of the father, the King of Serbia, went to Mount Athos, became a monk and founded the great monastic house of Hilandar. In 1219 he was appointed the first archbishop of the newly organized autocephalous Serbian Church. He died in 1236 and was subsequently canonized as the spiritual "enlightener" of the Serbian Church. Bishop Nicholai writes about St Sava in a simple, moving and clear manner. He uses his sources to convey the atmosphere and history of the time. Often brief chapters are accompanied by the Bishop's meditations on the meaning of particular events in the life of the saint. St Sava, he writes, "wanted only through the nationally organized church to make his people worthy members of the universal Orthodox family of Christ. He himself was permeated with the spirit of ecumenical Christianity. As such, he felt at home in every Orthodox community of every race and language." Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich, the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Zicha who lived from 1880 to 1956, was the most influential and the most productive figure in Serbian church life in this century. In 1946, after spending the war years in the Dachau concentration camp, he came to the United States and died in 1956.

Beyond East and West


John C.H. Wu - 1951
    H. Wu's spiritual autobiography Beyond East and West was published in 1951, it became an instant Catholic best seller and was compared to Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, which had appeared four years earlier. It was also hailed as the new Confession of St. Augustine for its moving description of Wu's conversion in 1937 and early years as a Catholic. This new edition, including a foreward written by Wu's son John Wu, Jr., makes this profoundly beautiful book by one of the most influential Chinese lay Catholic intellectuals of the twentieth century available for a new generation of readers hungry for spiritual sustenance. Beyond East and West recounts the story of Wu's early life in Ningpo, China, his family and friendships, education and law career, drafting of the constitution of the Republic of China, translation of the Bible into classical Chinese in collaboration with Chinese president Chiang Kai-Shek, and his role as China's delegate to the Holy See. In passages of arresting beauty, the book reveals the development of his thought and the progress of his growth toward love of God, arriving through experience at the conclusion that the wisdom in all of China's traditions, especially Confucian thought, Taoism, and Buddhism, point to universal truths that come from, and are fulfilled in, Christ. In Beyond East and West, Wu develops a synthesis between Catholicism and the ancient culture of the Orient. A sublime expression of faith, here is a book for anyone who seeks the peace of the spirit, a memorable book whose ideas will linger long after its pages are closed.

His Eye is on the Sparrow


Ethel Waters - 1951
    With astonishing candor, Ethel Waters tells her dramatic and dazzling story: from a childhood of abject poverty, to her early success in Black vaudeville, to her rise into the top ranks of stardom with her memorable performances in Cabin in the Sky, Pinky, and The Member of the Wedding. Hers is both an engrossing record of a topsy-turvy career and, just as importantly, an invaluable social document that traces the changing landscape for African American entertainers in the first half of the twentieth century. One of our very best show-business memoirs, brimming with insights, humor, and an unbreakable spirit, His Eye Is on the Sparrow was a significant groundbreaker when first published in 1951--and remains an authentic American classic today."--Donald BogleEthel Waters's His Eye Is on the Sparrow stands as perhaps the greatest autobiography of a black female performer, capturing both the horror and the joy of the African American woman's experience through the often bitter yet always forgiving voice of an indomitable spirit. This edition is supplemented with a new historical preface and over a dozen photographs.

Light in the Dark Belt


Rosa Young - 1951
    Light in the Dark Belt is the inspiring story of Rosa Young, who labored tirelessly in service to Christ, to establish Christian schools among the African-American communities throughout the Deep South.

The Letters of Private Wheeler: 1809-1828


B.H. Liddell Hart - 1951
    These are the letters - in the form of a frank and amusing diary - written by a private in Wellington's army who fought throughout the Napoleonic wars and it includes a colourful eye-witness account of the Battle of Waterloo.

John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics, With Selected Speeches and Letters


Russell Kirk - 1951
    Only twenty-six when first elected to Congress in 1799, he readily became the most forceful figure at the Capitol. An incomparable orator, he was also, in the observation of Dumas Malone, "a merciless castigator of iniquity." For most of his public career Randolph was a leader of the opposition—to both Jeffersonians and Federalists. He was, writes Russell Kirk, "devoted to state rights, the agricultural interest, economy in government, and freedom from foreign entanglements." Above all things Randolph cherished liberty, and he famously declared, "I love liberty; I hate equality. "This fourth edition incorporates the corrections and modest revisions provided by the author shortly before his death in 1994. Among the new material is a transcription of the first-hand account of Randolph's death that relates information long deemed apocryphal. The account is by Dr. Joseph Parrish, who was at Randolph's side when he died in 1833. Russell Kirk (1918–1994) was the author of some thirty books, including The Conservative Mind, and was one of the seminal political thinkers of the twentieth century.

World Within World: The Autobiography of Stephen Spender


Stephen Spender - 1951
    His portrait of his friends--Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Christopher Isherwood--render a romantic world of literary genius. Spender uses a poet's language to create an honest and tender exploration of amity and the many possibilities of love. First published in 1951, World Within World simultaneously shocked and bedazzled the literary establishment for its frank discussion of Eros in the modern world.Out of print for several years, this Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the critic John Bayley and an Afterword that Spender wrote in 1994 describing his reaction to the charges that David Leavitt plagiarized this autobiography in a novel.

The Philosopher and Theology


Étienne Gilson - 1951
    In this autobiographical narrative, Gilson retraces his early education in the Catholic faith and its lasting influence on his life and thought, and describes his educational career at the University of Paris, where the always dynamic interaction of diverse schools of thought led him to his lifelong dedication to philosophical discourse.Gilson became a scholar of Descartes, and through Descartes and under the brilliant direction of Lévy-Bruhl, while at the Sorbonne he began a deep and unique study of medieval thought, which has resulted in his revolutionizing the understanding of early Christian thought and especially St. Thomas, and has brought to the modern world a new concept of Christian philosophy. In dealing with the main problems of his career as philosopher-scholar, Gilson gives a first-hand account of the attitudes and thoughts of such outsanding men as Durkheim, Brunschvicg, Péguy, Lévy-Bruhl and especially the Jewish philosopher Bergson, whose philosophy has had such an effect on modern Catholic thinkers.The Philosopher and Theology is the warm personal account of the development of a modern Scholastic among the conflicts of twentieth-century thought and those men who have played important roles in the history of philosophy.

Show Business is No Business


Al Hirschfeld - 1951
    It's all tongue-in-cheek and wittily illustrated with Hirschfeld's distinctive black ink drawings.

Mission with Mountbatten


Alan Campbell-Johnson - 1951
    This tour de force was primarily the achievement of Lord Mountbatten's dynamic diplomacy by discussion, allied to the statesmanship of the Indian leaders. To assist him Lord Mountbatten gathered a high powered Staff team headed by Lord Ismay and including the author of this book. In his capacity as Press Attach to the last Viceroy and the first Governor General of the Dominion of India, Mr Alan Campbell-Johnson was engaged in what has been described "as one of the most momentous Public Relations jobs ever created by events". Throughout this time he kept daily notes of his experiences and impressions, finding himself in the privileged position of being able to write not just from the documents and data of others but from history of which he was part. So it is that Mr Alan Campbell-Johnson records here, as though caught in amber, the interplay of great personalities at the hour of decision. Gandhi, saint and seer - India's "Father of the Nation"; Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan; Nehru, world figure, Prime Minister and Gandhi's "chosen son"; Liaquat Ali Khan Prime Minister of Pakistan and Jinnah's right hand man; Vallabhbhai Patel, India's Deputy Prime Minister and strong man; Rajagopalachari, philosopher and elder statesman; the elder Nizam of Hyderabad; and from day to day the indefatigable Mountbattens themselves. The records cover a period from 19 Dec 1946 to 20 May 1948. This edition has been updated by the author in March 1997 in the current edition designated as the Jubilee issue (to celebrate 50 years of India's Independence). It is one of a trilogy of books authorised by the author. The other two books are : 1. Mountbatten In Retrospect (ISBN 1897829329) 2. Peace Offering (ISBN 1897829469)

The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams


William Carlos Williams - 1951
    For forty years he was a busy doctor in the town of Rutherford, New Jersey, and yet he was able to write more than thirty books. One of the finest chapters in the Autobiography tells how each of his two roles stimulated and supported the other.

At Home in the Woods: Living the Life of Thoreau Today


Bradford Angier - 1951
    Brad was a journalist, and Vena, a dance director. One day they packed up all their belongings and set off for a remote spot in the woods of British Columbia. This is the story of their first year "living the life of Thoreau today"--simply, happily and successfully.

Matthew Arnold: With an Additional Essay Matthew Arnold, Poet


Lionel Trilling - 1951
    We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.