Best of
Biography-Memoir
1931
Living My Life
Emma Goldman - 1931
This abridged version of her two-volume autobiography takes her from her birthplace in czarist Russia to the socialist enclaves of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Against a dramatic backdrop of political argument, show trials, imprisonment, and tempestuous romances, Goldman chronicles the epoch that she helped shape: the reform movements of the Progressive Era, the early years of and later disillusionment with Lenin’s Bolshevik experiment, and more. Sounding a call still heard today, Living My Life is a riveting account of political ferment and ideological turbulence.First time in Penguin ClassicsCondensed to half the length of Goldman's original work, this edition is accessible to those interested in the activist and her extraordinary era
Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer
Wooden Leg - 1931
Stories about the Battle of Little Bighorn are therefore often more myth than truth. In 1922, Thomas B. Marquis decided to uncover the true story of Custer’s Last Stand by speaking to someone who had actually fought against him. For hour after hour Marquis spoke to Wooden Leg and pieced together the narrative of the battle. Yet, Marquis’ studies cover much more than the final demise of Custer. Through his interviews with Wooden Leg, who was a young man at the time of Little Bighorn, he was able to uncover fascinating details about the everyday life of Cheyenne Indians and their practices. Their hunting practices, their conflicts with the Crows, how they were given names, their religion, their marriage customs, and other details of their way of life are all covered. As the relations between American soldiers and Native Americans grew more tense Wooden Leg and his Cheyenne people were drawn into conflict. Wooden Leg provides a fascinating account of how the Native American tribes were drawn together in a loose alliance to repel the oppression to which they had been subjected. Though the Native Americans won the battle, they certainly did not win the war. Wooden Leg’s account of the years after Little Bighorn demonstrates how many Native Americans struggled with life on the reservations and how they longed to be on the plains once again. Wooden Leg’s memoirs interpreted by Thomas B. Marquis give a fascinating insight into Native American life in the late-nineteenth century. “[A] deeply interesting story.” The New York Times After entering a reservation Wooden Leg worked as a scout, messenger and sentry. He was part of the 1913 delegation sent to Washington to speak about the Cheyenne tribe. Later he became a judge on the reservation and died in 1940.
The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens
Lincoln Steffens - 1931
Growing up in Sacramento, Steffens (1866-1936) was an editor at the NY Evening Post, later at McClure’s Magazine. As popular as he was cantankerous, he brushed shoulders with presidents & corporate barons, tsars & dictators. His efforts to expose corruption took him all over the nation & on to Mexico, Europe & the new USSR, where he made his famous proclamation, ‘I have seen the future, & it works!’ He would later become disenchanted with Soviet communism, & eventually he returned to California, to feel again its ‘warm, colorful force of beauty’ & to write what would become this best-selling memoir. Inspiring, entertaining & lyrical, The Autobiography is the story of a brilliant reporter with a passion for examining the complex & contradictory conditions that breed corruption, poverty & misery.AcknowledgmentsA Boy on HorsebackSeeing New York FirstMuckrakingRevolutionSeeing America LastIllustrationsIndex
Silver Ley
Adrian Bell - 1931
Describing his first year in farming he finds himself and his community caught up in larger affairs as the signs of the Depression begin to affect the countryside. However, there is still time for play, with field hockey and hunting in winter, dancing and village fetes in summer, not to mention the firm friends he found amongst his neighbors.