Recaptures the author's early Paris years, when he met Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and published his first important collection of stories

Profiles the nation's original First Lady as the widowed mother of two children who became George Washington's beloved partner and a mainstay in his stressful life, drawing on numerous sources to reveal her contributions to American character.

A historian presents the first full-length biography of the black woman crusader for racial justice and women's rights in the period after Reconstruction, detailing her efforts to eliminate lynching and her complicated relationship with the feminists of the time. UP.

Throughout her explosive and tempestuous career, Edith Piaf cast a spell over all who came in contact with her. The little sparrow, as she was called, stood only four foot 10 and always performed in simple black. After her, popular singing would never be the same. This classic biography documents her meteoric rise from street urchin to a living legend whose power and influence were so great that she marked an entire generation of actors and singers, including Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour.

A chance encounter with a German taxidermist determined her lifework, and Maxwell soon devoted her boundless energy to hunting and mounting all forms of Rocky Mountain wildlife, which she displayed in unusual habitat settings in her museum in Boulder and later in Denver. Her spreading fame led to an invitation to exhibit her collection at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where she achieved international renown.

Like that of other accomplished women of her era, Maxwell?s fame did not keep pace with the significant influence she had on her profession. Thanks to Maxine Benson, Martha Maxwell now takes her rightful place in the history of the West and of the nation.

Kirsten Jacobsen interviewde Henning Mankell en reisde met hem mee tijdens een aantal van zijn reizen. Naast Mankell zelf hebben ook anderen een bijdrage geleverd aan deze biografie, zoals zijn vrouw en kinderen, Desmond Tutu en Kenneth Branagh, de acteur die Wallander speelde in de gelijknamige Engelse televisieserie. Henning Mankell is een zeer persoonlijk portret van de idealist, de socialist, de workaholic en de schrijver, die met zijn ene been in de Zweedse sneeuw staat en met het andere in het Afrikaanse zand.

Katherine Mansfield was not only an extraordinary writer, devoted to her work, she was also a woman of great vivacity and strength, who led a brief but interesting life, from her birth in New Zealand to the literary circles of England and Europe. The leading writers of her age, people like Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence were a constant part of her life. Gillian Boddy has drawn on her years of research to introduce us to a new Katherine Mansfield, not ethereal as has been the myth, but substantial, alive. She has incorporated rarely seen photographs and some unpublished material to present this readable account. -- From publisher's description.

This first, and some would say greatest, poet of the English language stands before the gateway of the early modern age. He lived at a time when the elite languages of former conquerors, French and Latin, were both giving way to English - no longer just the vernacular of the common people, but increasingly the language of the court, the law, and of literature. Richard West weaves a fascinating picture of this extraordinary man, whose character has puzzled lovers of his comic masterpiece, "The Canterbury Tales". How did he remain so apparently cheerful and serene, through one of the cruellest eras of history? As a child he survived the Black Death, later he fought in France during the Hundred Years War, served as a diplomat in Italy, and became an MP at the angry beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, the Peasants' Revolt and the overthrow of Richard II.

A portrait based on firsthand interviews and conversations with fellow stars, directors, and friends offers insight into Ingrid Bergman's professional achievements and scandalous decision to abandon her family for a life in Italy with Roberto Rossellini.

Marian Anderson was a woman with two disparate voices. The first--a powerful, majestic contralto spanning four octaves--catapulted her from Philadelphia poverty to international fame. A second, softer voice emanated from her mere presence: an unwavering refrain of opportunity and accomplishment in the face of racial prejudice. Allan Keiler chronicles the life of the legendary singer and activist from the childhood manifestation of her musical genius to her worldwide celebrity. As he shows, community and familial support could not shield her from the economic hardship and bigotry she encountered in her early performing days. Early successes in London and Berlin set the stage for her American breakthrough while the triumphant 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert established her immediately as an icon in the struggle against discrimination. Keiler reveals a woman more comfortable as artist than activist. But if Anderson's intense privacy and devotion to her work distanced her from a direct role in the civil rights movement, she remained a powerful symbol of possibility.Drawing on rare archives and meetings with Anderson before her death, Marian Anderson is a magnificent study of a groundbreaking American artist

In Dawn Powell: A Biography, Tim Page explores the fascinating ironies and sad complexities of Powell's life and work. Gore Vidal once referred to her as our best comic novelist, deserving to be as widely read as Hemingway and Fitzgerald. This biography is a celebration of her triumphant rise from the ashes of near oblivion to her establishment among the giants of twentieth-century American literature. Dawn Powell lived in New York City for forty-seven years but always maintained the perspective of a "permanent visitor." She distilled this into her many poems, stories, articles, plays, and her dizzying and inventive novels.

A portrait of a prominent widow and her family provides insights into the social and cultural milieu of Peking during the 1920s and 1930s as well as describing the lifestyles of the wealthy class

Traces the roles that Wheatley and Jefferson played in the shaping of African-American literary tradition, discussing Wheatley's rise to fame and Jefferson's disputed role as the father of the black freedom struggle.

Celebrated for her courageous exploits as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman has entered history as one of nineteenth-century America's most enduring and important figures. But just who was this remarkable woman? To John Brown, leader of the Harpers Ferry slave uprising, she was General Tubman. For the many slaves she led north to freedom, she was Moses. To the slaveholders who sought her capture, she was a thief and a trickster. To abolitionists, she was a prophet. Now, in a biography widely praised for its impeccable research and its compelling narrative, Harriet Tubman is revealed for the first time as a singular and complex character, a woman who defied simple categorization.