Best of
Memoir

1958

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter


Simone de Beauvoir - 1958
    A superb autobiography by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Simone de Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter offers an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent against the conventional expectations of her class, and striking out on her own with an intellectual and existential ambition exceedingly rare in a young woman in the 1920s.She vividly evokes her friendships, love interests, mentors, and the early days of the most important relationship of her life, with fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre, against the backdrop of a turbulent time in France politically.

Operators and Things: The Inner Life of a Schizophrenic


Barbara O'Brien - 1958
    

Spiritual Gems


Maharaj Sawan Singh - 1958
    Hence the soul ascends to the high regions of Divine Communion and Bliss.But these letters also aswer numerous questions that confront a seeker and a disciple in many phases of his physical, mental and spiritual life. Indeed such problems are not only inevitable in the course of our existence, but they press insistently for satisfactory answers; and their solution lends a greater coherence, stability and serenity to life. To the solution of every problem, big and small, the Master brings a sublime and enlightened quality consonant with the highest spiritual welfare of the disciple.The letters are a mine of esoteric wealth and eternal truths which travelers on the spiritual path cannot but keenly treasure.

Borstal Boy


Brendan Behan - 1958
    . . I grabbed my suitcase, containing Pot. Chlor., Sulph Ac, gelignite, detonators, electrical and ignition, and the rest of my Sinn Fein conjurer's outfit, and carried it to the window . . ." The men were, of course, the police, and seventeen-year-old Behan. He spent three years as a prisoner in England, primarily in Borstal (reform school), and was then expelled to his homeland, a changed but hardly defeated rebel. Once banned in the Irish Republic, Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a clear look into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland.

Double Exposure: A Twin Autobiography


Gloria Vanderbilt - 1958
    The whole world followed with bated breath the searing custody trial over young Gloria that pitted mother against daughter and shook the Vanderbilts and society. While much has been written from the outside about all of this, the two principals have never before disclosed the real truth behind the rumors and the headlines. And exciting as are their personal adventures and escapades, their story is also a portrait of an era.In every age there have been certain women who through a combination of beauty and personality have attracted the love and admiration of rich or famous men, and who seem to be the embodiments of the feminine charm of the period. The Edwardian era had its Lily Langtry, the Napoleonic its Josephine, the eighteenth century its Du Barry and its Lady Hamilton—and so on back to antiquity. In our time, among those women who have come close to fitting this role are Lady Furness and Gloria Vanderbilt.From childhood each had the elusive qualities that characterize the femme fatale. Both knew the love of many men, both suffered deeply, and now both have happily risen above the vicissitudes of their checkered careers and face the future with gallantry, humor, and without rancor or bitterness over the past. In this spirit, and with all sincerity, they have set down the story of their lives.In Double Exposure, we are given a matchless picture of life among the great—and the near-great—in the now-vanished world between the two wars. Above all, we come to know the minds and hearts and philosophy of life and love of two fascinating women, and something of the nature of fascination itself.

Life Plus Ninety-Nine Years.


Nathan Freudenthal Leopold - 1958
    was half of the famed duo Leopold and Loeb, murderers of 14-year old Bobby Franks in 1924 on the south side of Chicago. Life Plus 99 Years is an autobiographical work which does not dwell on the crime, as Leopold was attempting to present a positive image to his parole board at the time.

Company Coming: Six Decades of Hospitality


Ruth Stout - 1958
    Poulin, the famous hypnotist? Simple-living guru Scott Nearing? Not to mention friends, neighbors, starving artists, and refugees.Ruth Stout tells the story of her life in terms of who showed up for dinner, and she describes the way she and her husband Fred turned their barn into simple visitor accommodations, turning guests into neighbors and avoiding Ben Franklin's maxim that "fish and visitors stink after three days."The main flaw of this book is that it's too short! Major events like Ruth's work in Russia during the great famine in the Twenties are mentioned only briefly, and when we realize that the New York brownstone that they lived in for a while became Nero Wolfe's house in her brother Rex's detective stories, we'd like fuller descriptions and, if possible, floor plans!But for everything that isn't there, there's something that is, making the book funny and wise and full of surprises, like all of Ruth's writing.Ruth Stout was a beloved advocate of simple living and organic gardening, and her books, including Gardening Without Work, popularized her style of simple living to millions.Company Coming was first published in 1958, and is volume 2 of our Ruth Stout Classics series. Visit http: //www.nortoncreekpress.com for more of Ruth Stout's classic books.