Best of
Biography

1957

Through Gates of Splendor


Elisabeth Elliot - 1957
    The men's mission combined modern technology with innate ingenuity, sparked by a passionate determination to get the gospel to those without Christ. In a nearby village, their wives waited to hear from them. The news they received - all five missionaries had been murdered - changed lives around the world forever. Written while she was still a missionary in South America and at the request of the men's families, Through Gates of Splendor was Elisabeth Elliot's personal account of the final mission of these five courageous men. Filled with quotations from letters, material from personal journals, a wealth of photographs, and an epilogue update, this reprint of the original hardcover edition tells a lasting story of God's grace, unconditional love, and great courage. This story inspired the 2006 box office hit End of the Spear and is sure to inspire the next generation of servant believers.

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness


Alan Burgess - 1957
    There she opens an inn for mule drivers, serves as "foot inspector," and advises the local Mandarin. But when the Japanese invade, she discovers her true destiny---leading 100 orphans across the mountains to safety.

My Father's Glory & My Mother's Castle: Marcel Pagnol's Memories of Childhood


Marcel Pagnol - 1957
    But he never forgot the magic of his Provencal childhood, and when he set his memories to paper late in life the result was a great new success. My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle appeared on the scene like a fresh breeze, captivating readers with its sweet enchantments. Pagnol recalls his days hunting and fishing in the hill country, his jaunts about Marseilles, his schoolboy diversions, and above all his family: his anticlerical father and sanctimonious uncle, his mild and beautiful mother, and many others. This bright and lively book sparkles with the charm and magic that were Marcel Pagnol's own.

Washington


Douglas Southall Freeman - 1957
    In 1948 renowned biographer and military historian Douglas Southall Freeman won his second Pulitzer Prize for his new and dramatic reexamination of George Washington. For years biographies had gone from idolatry to muckraking in their depictions of this somewhat marbleized Founding Father. Freeman’s new interpretation was a fresh step, making Washington a living, breathing individual, flawed but heroic. An able commander who defeated the British Empire against incredible odds, Washington proved to be just as adept at wielding political power, and adroitly steered our new loosely called nation through the first stormy years of our unproven federal stewardship and the first two presidential administrations. Here with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Kammen, who puts the writing and publication of Washington into perspective, and an afterword by Pulitzer Prize winner Dumas Malone, who explains the travails of Freeman’s grinding work, Washington is the most comprehensive biography available, and its value as an important classic has never been more evident.

Green Leaf In Drought


Isobel Kuhn - 1957
    The experiences of Arthur and Wilda Mathews answer the question: Can a Christian grow in the direst circumstances?

Saint Bernadette Soubirous


François Trochu - 1957
    Bernadette and Lourdes. Beautifully illustrated with 77 photographs and images, including lovely photos of St. Bernadette's incorrupt body. Our Lady told her, "I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next." This young French visionary is sure to steal your heart! 416 pgs, PB.

Gold Cord


Amy Carmichael - 1957
    Shows the loving heart of God at work in thirsting human hearts.

The Tartan Pimpernel


Donald Caskie - 1957
    Although he had several opportunities to flee, Caskie stayed behind to help establish a network of safe houses and escape routes for Allied soldiers and airmen trapped in occupied territory. This was dangerous work, and despite the constant threat of capture and execution, Caskie showed enormous resourcefulness and courage as he aided thousands of servicemen to freedom. Finally arrested and interrogated, he was sentenced to death at a Nazi show-trial, and it was only through the intervention of a German pastor that he was saved. After the war, Caskie returned to the Scots Kirk, where he served as minister until 1960. This inspiring story of selfless commitment to others in the face of extreme adversity is the legacy of a truly brave man.

The Crisis of the Old Order 1919-33


Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. - 1957
    Schlesinger, Jr.’s Age of Roosevelt series, is the first of three books that interpret the political, economic, social, and intellectual history of the early twentieth century in terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the spokesman and symbol of the period. Portraying the United States from the Great War to the Great Depression, The Crisis of the Old Order covers the Jazz Age and the rise and fall of the cult of business. For a season, prosperity seemed permanent, but the illusion came to an end when Wall Street crashed in October 1929. Public trust in the wisdom of business leadership crashed too. With a dramatist’s eye for vivid detail and a scholar’s respect for accuracy, Schlesinger brings to life the era that gave rise to FDR and his New Deal and changed the public face of the United States forever.

Sweet Promised Land


Robert Laxalt - 1957
    Dominique Laxalt, a Basque-American sheepherder, is persuaded by his family to return home for a long-planned visit after living nearly half a century on the ranges of the American West. Accompanied by his son Robert, Dominique travels to his native Basque Country in the French Pyrenees. His return to the village and mountain trails of his youth evokes ambiguous feelings as he describes to his relatives the life of hardship he has endured in the United States. The nostalgic trip to his native land ends poignantly as the elder Laxalt realizes that America has become his true home. Told with compelling sensitivity, this story portrays a family whose members share a strength of character drawn from their peasant ancestors and yet remain separated by diverse cultures on different continents.

Gypsy: Memoirs of America's Most Celebrated Stripper


Gypsy Rose Lee - 1957
    Now a fourth, directed by Arthur Laurents and starring Patti LuPone, is lighting up New York, winning top Broadway theatre awards, including three 2008 Tony Awards, as well as raves from critics and audiences: “No matter how long you live, you’ll never see a more exciting production.” —Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal “Watch out, New York! This GYPSY is a wallop-packing show of raw power.” —Ben Brantley, The New York Times “Not your ordinary theater experience. This is the best production of the best damn musical ever.” —Liz Smith, Syndicated ColumnistThe memoir, which Gypsy began as a series of pieces for The New Yorker, contains photographs and newspaper clippings from her personal scrapbooks and an afterword by her son, Erik Lee Preminger. At turns touching and hilarious, Gypsy describes her childhood trouping across 1920s America through her rise to stardom as The Queen of Burlesque in 1930s New York—where gin came in bathtubs, gangsters were celebrities, and Walter Winchell was king.Gypsy’s story features outrageous characters—among them Broadway’s funny girl, Fanny Brice, who schooled Gypsy in how to be a star; gangster Waxy Gordon, who fixed her teeth; and her indomitable mother, Rose, who lived by her own version of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others … before they do you.”

Through Gates of Splendor


Elizabeth Elliot - 1957
    This edition includes a follow-up chapter that will give readers a unique perspective.

To Live Again


Catherine Marshall - 1957
    Here is the intimate story of how one woman began To Live Again; in this story there are answers for every man and every woman.

Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah


Kwame Nkrumah - 1957
    As the leader of the movement for independence, Nkrumah provides an illuminating discussion of the problems and conflicts along the way to political freedom, and the new prospects beyond. This book is essential for understanding the genesis of the African Revolution and the maturing of one of its outstanding leaders.

Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart


Francis X. Connolly - 1957
    Philip Neri. Despite his wisdom and learning, he was a simple, radiant, childlike soul who never ceased, even in his honored old age, to make jokes, to play with his many pets, to tease, to amuse, to teach the great lesson that it is the joyous heart that wins friends to Christ. A saint who young people are particularly attracted to, St. Philip in turn had a great love for youth.Philip grew up in a very poor family in Florence, and was later taken in by his uncle, a prosperous merchant. Ever searching for a way best to serve God, he abandoned a merchant's career to become a lay apostle. He lived in Rome for many years as a layman, preaching, instructing youth and attending the sick. Deciding that he could best help his fellow man as a priest, he then entered the seminary. As a priest, his holiness, joy and zeal soon helped thousands of Romans to live a vibrant Christian life.St. Philip founded a religious congregation, the Oratory, and became the counselor of popes and cardinals, the trusted friend of beggars and outcasts. Like Christ, he was all things to all men, a mighty example of selfless love.

A Thousand Miles Of Miracle


A.E. Glover - 1957
    In this missionary classic, set in China long ago, Glover tells a plain, unvarnished story of a humanly desperate situation and of a divinely miraculous salvation.

Mary McLeod Bethune


Emma Gelders Sterne - 1957
    Mary McLeod Bethune was the fifteenth child of hardworking and god fearing parents. She was the first of their children to be born free. Her ancestry was wholly of African origin, a point of pride throughout her life. Mrs. Bethune worked untiringly to restore—through education—her people's faith in the magnificent heritage that is rightfully theirs. During the many years of and tribulation, she refused to give up her fondest dream—her own school for Negro children. And, as a shining monument to her hard work and faith, she has given to black youth the thriving institution of Bethune- Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Guerilla Surgeon


Lindsay Rogers - 1957
    He volunteered for special service in SOE and then found himself set down one dark night on the Isle of Vis, off the Dalmatian Coast. His job was to work as a surgeon among Yugoslav partisans; to fight with them, to tend the wounded and to act as an unofficial liaison officer between them and the Allied troops. For many months to come, in caves and deep in the forests, up mountains, he brought his skill as a surgeon, his staunchness and bravery as a serving soldier to his strange job.In Guerilla Surgeon he tells his story.

The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke, 1552-1634


Catherine Drinker Bowen - 1957
    He was the prime author of the Petition of Right, so this biography is simultaneously the story of the roots of our form of free government. But the man who rose to be the Chief Justice of England was eventually dismissed from the bench in disgrace.

Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux


Stanley Vestal - 1957
    Yet it was Sitting Bull who acquired the notoriety and was paraded in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as "the warrior who killed Custer." But this new edition of Stanley Vestal's classic biography of the famous chief emphasizes that "Sitting Bull's fame does not rest upon the death of Custer’s five troops. Had he been twenty miles away shooting antelope that morning, he would still remain the greatest of the Sioux."The stirring account of the death throes of a mighty nation and its leader is the story of the "greatest of the Sioux" and his struggle to keep his people free and united. The Sioux were formidable warriors, as attested to by men who fought against them, like General Anson Mills, who said, "They were the best cavalry in the world; their like will never be seen again," but they were up against an overwhelming tide of soldiers, homesteaders, and bureaucrats. Sitting Bull fought long and hard and "He was ... a statesman, one of the most farsighted we have had," but statesmanship could not prevail against such odds.This powerful biography of Sitting Bull is brought to a new generation of readers in h a new and expanded edition, for much new material had been added to the original edition (published in 1932) that could not be disclosed while the informants were still living. Sitting Bull is a moving account of the epic courage of one man in the face of his inevitable defeat as the last defender of his people's rights.

Week-End Pilot


Frank Kingston Smith - 1957
    Smith did what many people dream of doing: He broke out of his workaday rut and became free as a bird. Beset by tension problems and advised by his doctor to find a relaxing hobby, he bought a nine year old used plane - and learned how to fly. Since originally published, Smith has logged more than 4,500 hours aloft. He and his family have flown all over the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. This book is a sort of a love story - the love of a man for the freedom of flight in a light airplane.

Follow My Dust


Jessica Hawke - 1957
     Here is Arthur Upfield's own story, the author of those remarkable murder mysteries set in odd corners of Australia and featuring the Aboriginal sleuth named 'Bony'. A detailed dossier compiled with the cheerful candour of the subject himself. An Englishman by birth, Arthur Upfield tried his luck in Australia. After a short spell as a waiter in Adelaide, Upfield felt drawn towards the Interior where he became a boundary-rider, offside-driver, cattle-drover, opal-gouger, rabbit-trapper, vermin fence patroller and manager of a camel station, drifting through the strange terrains and unusual company which were later to become the subject of his novels. He also tells how he unwittingly provided a real outback murderer with a 'fool-proof' method of disposing of a body, and who was the original on whom the character of 'Bony' was based.

Whispering Wind: Adventures in Arnhem Land


Syd Kyle-Little - 1957
    Memoir by a Patrol Officer who lived and worked in the Northern Territory of Australia, and who made several remarkable expeditions on foot into Arnhem Land, a territory very difficult of access due to the escarpment country which characterizes much of it.

Constantinople: Birth Of An Empire


Harold Lamb - 1957
    

No Man Stands Alone: The True Story of Barney Ross


Barney Ross - 1957
    

Charlie


Ben Hecht - 1957
    Ben Hecht's biography of his pal and collaborator in journalism and movies and plays including "The Front Page."

The 20s, the Lawless Decade: A Pictorial History of a Great American Transition from the World War I Armistice and Prohibition to Repeal and the New Deal


Paul Sann - 1957
    

Record of a Friendship: The Correspondence of Wilhelm Reich and A.S. Neill


Beverley R. Placzek - 1957
    

The Gallant Mrs. Stonewall: A Novel Based on the Lives of General and Mrs. Stonewall Jackson


Harnett T. Kane - 1957
    Anna and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson met by accident, were able to marry only through the intervention of a tragedy and were separated through the tragic, accidental shooting of Jackson by his own Confederate troops at Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Lawrence Durrell: A Biography


Ian S. MacNiven - 1957
    Eventually, with his third wife, he moved to southern France, where he lived for over thirty years.His poetry, his island books and his novels reflect his passion for congenial places and people, preferably around the shores of the Mediterranean. As Ian MacNiven shows in this major biography, Durrell's private world was assimilated into his writing from the very beginning, and it has taken years of patient research to piece together the true narrative of his literary background and influences.The book was undertaken at Durrell's invitation, with access to his personal papers and notebooks and letters. It draws heavily on the memories of innumerable friends and contemporaries, as well as his own family and the many women in his life, including his wives. It will engross all admirers of this mercurial and richly gifted writer whose 'investigation of modern love' in The Alexandria Quartet produced one of the masterpieces of post-war fiction.

Warwick the Kingmaker


Paul Murray Kendall - 1957
    His death, in battle with a king he put in power and then tried to overthrow, marked the end of an important era in English history.

Close to Colette: An intimate portrait of a woman of genius


Maurice Goudeket - 1957
    A memoir of Colette's last thirty years written by her husband.

Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat


Raymond Walters Jr. - 1957
    presents the definitive biography of Albert Gallatin (1761-1849), recounting sixty years that the Swiss-born diplomat served his adopted country as a congressional leader, Secretary of the Treasury, financier, and ambassador. Gallatin was a founder of the House Committee on Finance (later the Ways and Means Committee), a member of the new Democratic-Republican Party, and an active politician who opposed the Federalist Party and its programs, while also helping to bring about the election of Thomas Jefferson.

Forbidden Childhood: The Frank Account of a Girl's Struggle to Free Herself from the Strangle Hold of Her Tyrannical Father


Ruth Slenczynska - 1957
    

A Treasury of the World's Great Diaries


Philip Dunaway - 1957
    Introduction by Louis Untermeyer