Best of
Biography-Memoir

1975

Born Again


Charles W. Colson - 1975
    Colson pleaded guilty to Watergate-related offenses and, after a tumultuous investigation, served seven months in prison. In his search for meaning and purpose in the face of the Watergate scandal, Colson penned "Born Again." This unforgettable memoir shows a man who, seeking fulfillment in success and power, found it, paradoxically, in national disgrace and prison. In the decades since its initial publication, "Born Again" has brought hope and encouragement to millions. This remarkable story of new life continues to influence lives around the world through a dozen foreign editions.

Corrie Ten Boom's Prison Letters


Corrie ten Boom - 1975
    Here are the actual writings of Corrie and her sister Betsie from the concentration camp...the emotion-filled letters they received from relatives and friends on the outside...snatches of a diary recorded by Betsie..Corrie's perceptive sketches of prison life smuggled out of the camp by a sympathetic soldier-all containing precious lessons of faith and love learned in God's training school. It was only recently that Corrie herself re-read these moving letters, an experience which resurrected many paintful memories for her. But with the sadness came the conviction that God wanted her to share these writings so that others could experience the same faith that guided her through a time of trial and triumph.

The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People


Ben Logan - 1975
    Ben Logan grew up on Seldom Seen Farm with his three brothers, father, mother, and hired hand Lyle—“the fifth Logan boy.” The boys discussed and argued and joked over the events around their farm, marked the seasons by the demands of the land, tested each other and themselves, and grew up learning timeless lessons. This paperback edition features Logan's never-before-published afterword that traces the Logan land to an earlier time, bringing the story full circle to the farm and its people.

Woodswoman I: Living Alone in the Adirondack Wilderness


Anne LaBastille - 1975
    Here is the unusual story of a young wildlife ecologist who has done just that. When her marriage ended in divorce, Anne LaBastille bought twenty-two acres of virgin forest on a lonely lake in New York State's vast Adirondack Park, and there built the log cabin that has been her home ever since.

The Jim Corbett Omnibus, Volume 1


Jim Corbett - 1975
    Mostly alone, he would traverse the hills and jungles of India, hunting his quarry using blood trails, examining pug marks and following broken twigs and branches, often putting himself at risk. Later, he became a conservationist, taking up the cause of the endangered royal Bengal tiger.This comprehensive volume contains some of Jim Corbett’s best-known books and short stories, from The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, a gripping tale of a notorious leopard, to the fascinating stories in Man-eaters of Kumaon and The Temple Tiger. Showcasing Corbett’s acute awareness of jungle sights and sounds and enlivened by his descriptions of village life, this is a must-read for those interested in wildlife and tiger tales.

Steinbeck: A Life in Letters


John Steinbeck - 1975
    Opening with letters written during Steinbeck's early years in California, and closing with a 1968 note written in Sag Harbor, New York, Steinbeck: A Life in Letters reveals the inner thoughts and rough character of this American author as nothing else has and as nothing else ever will.

Bring on the Empty Horses


David Niven - 1975
    He recounts stories and anecdotes of the stars, producers, directors, tycoons and oddballs, many of whom were his friends.

All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life


Loren Eiseley - 1975
    It was in pursuit of this interest, and in the expression of his natural curiosity and wonder, that Eiseley sprang to national fame with the publication of such works as The Immense Journey and The Firmament of Time. In All the Strange Hours, Eiseley turns his considerable powers of reflection and discovery on his own life to weave a compelling story, related with the modesty, grace, and keen eye for a telling anecdote that distinguish his work. His story begins with his childhood experiences as a sickly afterthought, weighed down by the loveless union of his parents. From there he traces the odyssey that led to his search for early postglacial man—and into inspiriting philosophical territory—culminating in his uneasy achievement of world renown. Eiseley crafts an absorbing self-portrait of a man who has thought deeply about his place in society as well as humanity’s place in the natural world.

The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers


Virginia Spencer Carr - 1975
    Author of such landmarks of modern American fiction as Reflections in a Golden Eye and The Ballad of the Sad Café, Carson McCullers was the enfant terrible of the literary world of the 1940s and 1950s. Gifted but tormented, vulnerable but exploitative, McCullers led a life that had all the elements--and more--of a tragic novel.From McCullers's birth in Columbus, Georgia, in 1917 to her death in upstate New York in 1967, The Lonely Hunter thoroughly covers every significant event in, and aspect of, the writer's life: her rise as a young literary sensation; her emotional, artistic, and sexual eccentricities and entanglements; her debilitating illnesses; her travels in America and Europe; and the provenance of her works from their earliest drafts through their book, stage, and film versions.To research her subject, Virginia Spencer Carr visited all of the important places in McCullers's life, read virtually everything written by or about her, and interviewed hundreds of McCullers's relatives, friends, and enemies. The result is an enduring, distinguished portrait of a brilliant, but deeply troubled, writer.

The Emancipation of Robert Sadler: The Powerful True Story of a Twentieth-Century Plantation Slave


Robert Sadler - 1975
    This is the no-holds-barred tale of those dark days, his quest for freedom, and the determination to serve others born out of his experience. It is a story of good triumphing over evil, of God's grace, and of an extraordinary life of ministry. An updated edition of a classic title.

Spandau: The Secret Diaries


Albert Speer - 1975
    And, when Albert Speer was captured and sentenced at Nuremberg -- after becoming the only defendant to plead guilty -- he started keeping this secret diary, much of it on toilet paper. After 20 years of imprisonment, he found 25,000 of the smuggled pages waiting for him, and from those entries he shaped this deeply powerful document.

Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith


Beth Holloway - 1975
     In May of 2005, Beth Holloway received the worst phone call a parent can imagine. Her beautiful daughter, Natalee, had disappeared without a trace in Aruba during her high school senior class trip. Two years later, for the first time, Beth Holloway steps forward in this astonishingly candid and inspirational memoir to tell of her harrowing ordeal and her never-ending belief in the power of faith that gave her hope against all odds. Natalee's senior class picture was splashed across the front pages of the country's newspapers and on television. Desperate for a clue as to her daughter's whereabouts, Beth and an army of faithful volunteers searched tirelessly for the missing eighteen-year-old. In their pursuit of Natalee, they encountered many roadblocks. As the horror stretched out, Beth stood on her foundation of faith, which at times was all she had to give her strength against a barrage of unbearable questions with no answers. Natalee's disappearance remains unsolved and her location unknown to this day. Beth's search continues.

Judy


Gerold Frank - 1975
    Here, in all her glory and turmoil, is the singer-actress whose performances in films like The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, A Star Is Born, and on concert tours enthralled audiences, a woman whose brazen and tender voice continues to captivate listeners decades after her death at age forty-seven.

Wilfred Owen: A New Biography


Dominic Hibberd - 1975
    Hibberd's new biography of the Great War's greatest poet, based on more than thirty years of wide-ranging research, brings new information and reinterpretation to virtually every phase of Owen's life--carefully guarded by family and friends after his death. Although Dominic Hibberd modestly says that his book 'is not, of course, definitive, ' it is hard to see how it could be improved upon. --Times Literary Supplement

Edith Wharton


R.W.B. Lewis - 1975
    This an American writer.--The New York Times Book Review.

Master of Spies: The Memoirs of General Frantisek Moravec


František Moravec - 1975
    

Longing For Darkness: Kamante's Tales from Out of Africa


Kamante - 1975
    Readers familiar with Out of Africa may recognize many of the enchanting stories. These celebrated tales and others are retold here from Kamante's perspective and are enhanced with his own drawings and letters, Dinesen's words and snapshots, and photographs by Peter Beard. Writes Beard, "Over a period of 12 years, as if divesting himself of his possessions, Kamante put down the extra dimensions of truth which are at the heart of Out of Africa."

Leonardo Da Vinci


Leonardo da Vinci - 1975
    Primarily an artist, he was also an architect, sculptor, inventor, biologist, & engineer. This book reproduces in full color Leonardo's paintings & drawings.

Six Against The Rock


Clark Howard - 1975
    

Malcolm Lowry


Douglas Day - 1975
    As well as presenting extensive new criticism of Lowry's work, Douglas Day paints a rare and revealing portrait of this brilliant, clumsy, shy, prodigal, and outrageous genius.

Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story


Rocky Bleier - 1975
    Book by Rocky Bleier, Terry O'Neil

Albert Schweitzer: A Biography


James Brabazon - 1975
    The second edition of this biography of humanitarian Albert Schweitzer has been updated to include documents discovered since the work was originally written, including the letters between Schweitzer and Helene Bresslau written during the ten years before their marriage.

Honorary White


E.R. Braithwaite - 1975
    R. Braithwaite ("To Sir, With Love") chronicles the brutality, oppression, and courage he witnessed as a black man granted "Honorary White" status during a six-week visit to apartheid South AfricaAs a black man living in a white-dominated world, author E. R. Braithwaite was painfully aware of the multitude of injustices suffered by people of color and he wrote powerfully and poignantly about racial discrimination in his acclaimed novels and nonfiction works. So it came as a complete surprise when, in 1973, the longstanding ban on his books was lifted by the South African government, a ruling body of minority whites that brutally oppressed the black majority through apartheid laws. Applying for a visa--and secretly hoping to be refused--he was granted the official status of "Honorary White" for the length of his stay. As such, Braithwaite would be afforded some of the freedoms that South Africa's black population was denied, yet would nonetheless be considered inferior by the white establishment.With "Honorary White," Braithwaite bears witness to a dark and troubling time, relating with grave honesty and power the shocking abuses, inequities, and horrors he observed and experienced firsthand during his six-week stay in a criminal nation. His book is a personal testament to the savagery of apartheid and to the courage of those who refused to be broken by it.

The Shirley Temple Scrapbook


Loraine Burdick - 1975
    Born the year before the Great Depression, indescribably adorable Shirley was just what the world needed to lift itself out of the doldrums. She was, said Irvin S. Cobb in presenting Shirley a special Oscar in l935, "the world�s greatest gift of joy and happiness." Lifelong fan and renowned collector Loraine Burdick has compiled this treasure chest of memories of the irresistible youngster with the fifty-two perfect curls. Featuring never-before-published photos, glorious color portraits, and rare publicity pieces, The Shirley Temple Scrapbook takes us into Loraine�s very own magical place dubbed "Shirleyland." The Scrapbook chronicles Shirley�s stellar career, from her start in the Baby Burlesks to her standout performances in such films as Bright Eyes and Captain January. We become privy to how Shirley became the first toddler to promote the film industry; why her hand-holding song-and-dance routine with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in The Little Colonel was considered so controversial; and what made her shine among Hollywood legends Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert, Cary Grant, Rudy Vallee, Gary Cooper, and Carole Lombard--to name just a few! Loraine Burdick�s valentine to Shirley Temple invites us to relive, or perhaps discover for the first time, some of the most glorious films of the twentieth century, sneak a peak at the styles of the day, and get a realistic view of Shirley�s personal and professional thrills and disappointments on the road to fame. Complete with plot summaries, cast lists, and hard-to-find tidbits, The Shirley Temple Scrapbook is a must-have book of love that captures the magnanimous spirit of a celebrated personality who enraptured us all.

The Brontes


Brian Wilks - 1975
     In Brian Wilks’ book the sisters, their brother Branwell and their father Patrick are seen with remarkable clarity. The author paints a vivid picture from when Patrick meets his short-lived wife, Maria. Their courtship and love for each other is detailed along with their move to the village of Haworth., where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born. Unbeknown to them, the village of Haworth was a densely populated and highly unsanitary. The combination of this, along with living amongst the dead, was to bring the family more troubles. The author gives a vivid picture of the times, and of the Brontës’ surroundings — the reeking, unhealthy village, the bleak parsonage, and the wild and lonely moors. Shortly after Anne’s birth, Maria fell ill and died — leaving six young children in the care of their grieving father. With the help of Maria’s sister, Elizabeth Branwell, the family got through this difficult period. Elizabeth was to stay on with the Brontës for the rest of her life and support the children’s various endeavours. Patrick took it upon himself to ensure his children would be able to survive on their own in the event of his death. Following the death of the older girls, Maria and Elizabeth, he withdrew, leaving the four remaining siblings to form their own imaginations — weaving the foundations for the stories that that were to come. Governessing was a decent form of living then and the girls took it up. Branwell was moved towards becoming an artist. However, none of the siblings could stay away from home, Haworth, for too long and they missed the close companionship of their siblings. Inevitably, they returned time and time again, unable to follow their career paths. With illness surrounding Haworth, the girls, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, took to seeking comfort in their writing. Their greatest novels were written during some of the most harrowing times of their lives. When Charlotte, the last remaining Brontë child, died, Patrick was left with the greatest of grief, and alone. Yet the compassion he was well known to possess continued well up to his death at the age of eighty-five. Brian Wilks is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire. He is also the author of a biography of Jane Austen. “All scholars will cherish this book which is recommended for college and public libraries.” — Library Journal

The Oak And The Calf: Sketches Of Literary Life In The Soviet Union


Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - 1975
    In this autobiographical work, Solzhenitsyn tells of his ten-year war to outwit Russia's rulers and get his works published in his own country.

Makarenko, His Life and Work: Articles, Talks and Reminiscences


Anton S. MakarenkoKlavdia Beriskina - 1975
    In the Soviet Union alone it has run into eighty-five editions totalling two and a half million copies. The name of this distinguished educator, who broke new ground in pedagogics, is familiar to the English reader. Translations of his books The Road to Life (in three volumes), Learning to Live, and A Book for Parents have been published in English by the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow. The object of the present book is to acquaint the reader more fully with the life and remarkable work of this Knight of Education. The volume is in two sections. The first opens with a short biographical sketch of Makarenko by Academician Medinsky, a leading personality in Soviet education. This is followed by stories and reminiscences by people who knew Makarenko closely -his wife and great friend Galina Stakhiyevna, the colonists' patron Maxim Gorky, and numerous ex-pupils of the Colony, themselves the chief characters in the books The Road to Life and Learning to Live. In the second section Makarenko speaks to the readers himself. He discusses his pedagogical experience and practice, gives his views on education, quotes numerous interesting examples from his own practice, gives advice to parents, and answers questions from listeners and readers. This collection, based on the numerous publications dealing with Makarenko issued in the Russian language, has been prepared for the press with the co-operation of the late Galina Stakhiyevna Makarenko.