Book picks similar to
Moving The Mountain: My Life In China From The Cultural Revolution To Tiananmen Square by Li Lu
china
history
biography
biographies
Bound Feet & Western Dress
Pang-Mei Natasha Chang - 1996
Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years.In the alternating voices of two generations, this dual memoir brings together a deeply textured portrait of a woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail, Bound Feet and Western Dress is the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs and duty.
Pale Native: Memories of a Renegade Reporter
Max Du Preez - 2003
Sometimes wacky, sometimes profound, the title is always entertaining, with the odd bit of sleaze.
The Voice that Remembers: A Tibetan Woman's Inspiring Story of Survival
Adhe Tapontsang - 1997
Her tenacious struggle to remain human in the face of inhuman torture and deprivation while imprisoned by the Chinese for 27 years inspires any reader fortunate enough to encounter this remarkable woman's story. The Voice that Remembers features additional material on Tibet and China in the last half of the 20th century.
Dreamgirl and Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme
Mary Wilson - 2000
Cultivated by the Motown star machine, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Florence Ballard popped onto the charts with hits like "Baby Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go" and made the Supremes not only a household name, but rock and roll legends. The story of their journey to fame is one that fairy tales are made of-complete with battles, tragedies, and triumphs. It's a story that only one of the founders of this talented trio is able or willing to share with the world. In Dreamgirls & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme, Supremes' co-founder Mary Wilson boldly brings to life all the intimate details of the group's struggle to top the charts. This is the first book to tell the complete story of Mary's courageous life from childhood through the height of the Supremes, to the turn of the century. This beautiful paperback edition combines the best-selling Dreamgirls with the sequel, Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together, for the first time in one volume. The new afterword brings Mary's intriguing story up to date with details on. . . - The tragic car accident that claimed her son's life - The death of her mother, Johnnie Mae, and her dear friend, Mary Wells - Becoming a grandmother - Making her peace with Berry Gordy and Diana Ross - Being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame The Supremes wonderful music isn't the only thing to remain in the public's mind. Diana Ross' push for dominance in the trio has become legendary. Mary Wilson speaks candidly about Ross' tactics to latch onto Berry Gordy, and force her will on the group's activities. For example, while on the early tours, Diana would threaten to call Gordy from the road if the men on the bus didn't behave to her approval. She also openly pushed for Flo's removal from the group. Wilson also openly shares her thoughts on . . .The group's never-ending b
The Kaisers
Theo Aronson - 1971
Theo Aronson's The Kaisers is the story of six people whose bitter differences were a microcosm of, and greatly influenced, a national conflict which echoed all round the world. Kaiser Wilhelm I, born 1797, King of Prussia 1861, proclaimed Emperor of all Germany 1871, died only in 1888 an autocratic, militaristic man of the eighteenth century completely opposed to the liberalizing ideas which swept Europe in his lifetime. In contrast his Empress, Augusta, was progressive in thought, open-minded in outlook, yet with all had a taste for the theatrical and pageantry of her royal status. The best of her was seen in their son, Kaiser Frederick III, who was Crown Prince for all but the last few cancer-torn weeks of his life. He personified the best of European liberalism of the nineteenth century. In this he was supported—many said unduly influenced by his energetic and vivacious English wife Victoria, Queen Victoria's eldest and 'Dearest Child', who brought to the marriage the enlightened ideals and hopes of her shrewd, practical mother and her far-seeing father, the Prince Consort. The tragedy, the tempting speculation of Germany's history, is that this couple reigned for only three months before Frederick III's death brought their son to the throne. Kaiser Wilhelm II, 'Kaiser Bill' of the first World War, was again the antithesis of everything his parents stood for. Queen Victoria's hopes that her grandson might be 'wise, sensible, courageous — liberal-minded — good and pure', could hardly have been more misplaced. The sixth, the dominating figure in the Hohenzollern story, is Prince Otto von Bismarck, the ruthless 'Iron Chancellor', virtual dictator of Germany for nearly thirty years. He served all three Kaisers, claiming with justification that on his shoulders he had carried the first to the Imperial throne—where he manipulated him to his will despite the hatred and manoeuvrings of the Empress Augusta. He feared the reign of the short-lived second Kaiser and feared more perhaps (and never missed an opportunity to disparage) the Empress Victoria and the constant, commonsense influence from England of her mother. (`That', he said ruefully after their one meeting, 'was a woman ! One could do business with her ! ') Their son he flattered, siding with him against his parents, and in so doing brought about his own downfall, when the vainglorious young man he had schooled as Crown Prince came as Kaiser to believe that he could do without his mentor. But for Europe it was too late, and the policies of one and the vanities of the other were already leading Europe helter-skelter into the holocaust of 'the Kaiser's War'. Theo Aronson's gifts as a writer have deservedly brought him high regard as a chronicler of the complex histories of Europe's great ruling Houses. Rarely have his talents been better employed than in this study of the comet-like rise and fall of the House of Hohenzollern, the House of the Kaisers of Germany. It is a story of bitter, almost continual conflict, yet even in what can now be seen as a path to inevitable destruction Mr. Aronson finds passages of light and shade that show the Hohenzollerns not simply as Wagnerian puppets posturing on a vast European stage, but people deserving of our understanding and compassion.
Born to Fight: The bestselling story of UFC champion Mark Hunt, the real life Rocky
Mark Hunt - 2015
Born into a Mormon Samoan family, Hunt details his harrowing early life, his troubled teen years, and his angry youth with no apparent future.After being plucked from an Auckland street fight and dropped into his first kickboxing bout, Mark went on to achieve unprecedented success in Australian and New Zealand combat sports. In an ongoing career that has spanned the globe, Mark Hunt has been in some of the UFC, Pride and K-1's most memorable battles. But in some ways those fights pale in comparison to that which he has overcome out of the ring and cage.As fearless with his opinions as he is in the Octagon, Mark pulls no punches in revealing the highs and lows of his extraordinary life.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Barack Obama - 1995
It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership
Colin Powell - 2012
At its heart are Powell's "Thirteen Rules"—notes he gathered over the years and that now form the basis of his leadership presentations given throughout the world. Powell's short but sweet rules—among them, "Get mad, then get over it" and "Share credit"—are illustrated by revealing personal stories that introduce and expand upon his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work, and, above all, respect for others. In work and in life, Powell writes, "it's about how we touch and are touched by the people we meet. It's all about the people."A natural storyteller, Powell offers warm and engaging parables with wise advice on succeeding in the workplace and beyond. "Trust your people," he counsels as he delegates presidential briefing responsibilities to two junior State Department desk officers. "Do your best—someone is watching," he advises those just starting out, recalling his own teenage summer job mopping floors in a soda-bottling factory.Powell combines the insights he has gained serving in the top ranks of the military and in four presidential administrations with the lessons he's learned from his immigrant-family upbringing in the Bronx, his training in the ROTC, and his growth as an Army officer. The result is a powerful portrait of a leader who is reflective, self-effacing, and grateful for the contributions of everyone he works with.Colin Powell's It Worked for Me is bound to inspire, move, and surprise readers. Thoughtful and revealing, it is a brilliant and original blueprint for leadership.
Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's
Ray Kroc - 1977
His revolutions in food service automation, franchising, shared national training and advertising have earned him a place beside the men who founded not merely businesses but entire new industries.But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business legend is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 when he met the McDonald brothers and opened his first franchise.Now meet Ray Kroc, the man behind the business legend, in his own words. Irrepressible enthusiast, perceptive people-watcher, and born storyteller, he will fascinate and inspire you. You'll never forget Ray Kroc.
Keynes Hayek: The Clash that Defined Modern Economics
Nicholas Wapshott - 2011
John Maynard Keynes, the mercurial Cambridge economist, believed that government had a duty to spend when others would not. He met his opposite in a little-known Austrian economics professor, Freidrich Hayek, who considered attempts to intervene both pointless and potentially dangerous. The battle lines thus drawn, Keynesian economics would dominate for decades and coincide with an era of unprecedented prosperity, but conservative economists and political leaders would eventually embrace and execute Hayek's contrary vision.From their first face-to-face encounter to the heated arguments between their ardent disciples, Nicholas Wapshott here unearths the contemporary relevance of Keynes and Hayek, as present-day arguments over the virtues of the free market and government intervention rage with the same ferocity as they did in the 1930s.
Invincible: My Journey from Fan to NFL Team Captain
Vince Papale - 2006
When he heard that Coach Dick Vermeil was holding open tryouts, he decided to give it a shot. Shocking himself and the coaches, he ran an explosive 40-yard-dash in just 4.5 seconds -- a world-class time -- and was offered a contract on the spot. When he joined the team, Papale became the oldest non-kicking rookie in NFL history, a fan favorite who played for four years and was named a team captain. Invincible is Vince Papale's story, and a tie-in to the Disney Pictures film of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg as Papale and Greg Kinnear as Vermeil. But more than just a tie-in, it tells Papale's story in his own words, covering subjects not included in the film. Like Rudy, Glory Road, and Rookie, it is the true story of an ordinary man who achieves an extraordinary goal.
Sam Walton: Made In America
Sam Walton - 1992
And it's a story about believing in your idea even when maybe some other folks don't, and about sticking to your guns." It's the story of how Walton parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, he never lost the common touch. Here Walton tells his extraordinary story in his own inimitable words. Genuinely modest, but always sure of his ambitions and achievements, Walton shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style."Here is an extraordinary success story about a man whose empire was built not with smoke and mirrors, but with good old-fashioned elbow grease."
No Time for Fear: How a shark attack survivor beat the odds
Paul de Gelder - 2011
Paul chased adventure wherever he could find it, from his wild ride as a hoodlum teen and his drug-and-alcohol fuelled stint working in a strip club to hauling his way up to the elite echelons of the defence forces.But trouble hunted him down in the form of a brutal shark in February 2009. Paul lost two limbs, and his career as a daredevil navy clearance diver was flung into jeopardy. Drawing on everything his eventful life had taught him, Paul left nothing to chance in his recovery. He fought through excruciating pain, smashing challenge after challenge, and amazing the medical staff with his will to succeed. His inspiring story takes ‘never say die’ to a whole new level.
All Round View
Imran Khan - 1988
He tells of his life and the game he loves: from his childhood in Lahore, to his student days at Oxford (where he led the University team), his time at Worcester and thence to Sussex, culminating in his captaincy of Pakistan. A self portrait emerges of a man who has spent fifteen years at the top: years which have wrought changes - political, commercial and tactical - in the way cricket is played and promoted; changes too, in the man himself, as he reconciled his Muslim upbringing with the professional and personal pressures of being an international sportsman.
Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
Clint Hill - 2016
Kennedy and Me and Five Days in November.Secret Service agent Clint Hill brings history intimately and vividly to life as he reflects on his seventeen years protecting the most powerful office in the nation. Hill walked alongside Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford, seeing them through a long, tumultuous era—the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard M. Nixon. Some of his stunning, never-before-revealed anecdotes include: -Eisenhower’s reaction at Russian Prime Minister Khrushchev’s refusal to talk following the U-2 incident -The torture of watching himself in the Zapruder film in a Secret Service training -Johnson’s virtual imprisonment in the White House during violent anti-Vietnam protests -His decision to place White House files under protection after a midnight phone call about Watergate -The challenges of protecting Ford after he pardoned Nixon With a unique insider’s perspective, Hill sheds new light on the character and personality of these five presidents, revealing their humanity in the face of grave decisions.