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Memories of life in Lhasa under Chinese rule
Tubten Khétsun ; translated and with an introduction by Matthew Akester.
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xx, 318 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
"Born in 1941, Tubten Khetsun is a nephew of the Gyatso Tashi Khendrung, one of the senior government officials taken prisoner after the Tibetan peoples' uprising of March 10, 1959. Khetsun himself was arrested while defending the Dalai Lama's summer palace, and after four years in prisons and labor camps, he spent close to two decades in Lhasa as a requisitioned laborer and "class enemy."" "In this eloquent autobiography, Khetsun describes what life was like during those troubled years. His account is one of the most dispassionate, detailed, and readable firsthand descriptions yet published of Tibet under the Communist occupation. Khetsun talks of his prison experiences as well as the state of civil society following his release, and he offers keenly observed accounts of well-known events, such as the launch of the Cultural Revolution, as well as lesser-known aspects of everyday life in occupied Lhasa." "Since Communist China continues to occupy Tibet, the facts of this era remain obscure, and few of those who lived through it have recorded their experiences at length. Khetsun's story will captivate any reader seeking a refreshingly human account of what occurred during the Maoists' shockingly brutal regime."--BOOK JACKET.
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The dream : a memoir
Harry Bernstein.
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260 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 22 cm.
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The eccentric billionaire : John D. MacArthur-- empire builder, reluctant philanthropist, relentless adversary
Nancy Kriplen.
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xii, 224 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
He was hated, feared, and admired. The country's second-richest man at the time of his death, John D. MacArthur (1897-1978) also became one of its great benefactors. Every year, some two dozen American writers, artists, intellectuals, and scientists receive as much as a half million dollars in grants known as the "genius awards" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. But MacArthur was not the benevolent figure he would seem. Now, in this first full biography of John D. MacArthur as he really was, Nancy Kriplen reveals the man behind the myth-the often vulgar, sometimes unethical, always ambitious rogue who would become one of America's wealthiest men.The Eccentric Billionaire chronicles how MacArthur amassed his fortune, rising from the poverty of his childhood as the son of a fire-and-brimstone preacher to become an insurance and real estate mogul. As sole owner of Banker's Life and Casualty, he also built a real estate empire that spanned the continent. Based on interviews with members of the MacArthur family as well as previously undiscovered letters and papers, this book reveals MacArthur's tumultuous private life, including his quickie divorce from his first wife and his Mexican marriage to Catherine, his brother's cute, clever teenage secretary who would help him on his climb to riches. The author also explores MacArthur's relationships with his family and friends, including his brother, the playwright Charles MacArthur, and sister-in-law, the great actress Helen Hayes. Extensively researched and beautifully written, The Eccentric Billionaire is a revealing look at a man whose influence has extended in ways he never dreamed. Book jacket.
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Home : a memoir of my early years
Julie Andrews.
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339 p., [32] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
"Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now." "In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny." "Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom." "Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond." "Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, 10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren."--BOOK JACKET.
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In the blood : a memoir of my childhood
Andrew Motion.
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326 p. ; 22 cm.
William Faulkner's character Quentin in The Sound and the Fury repeatedly observes that "temporary" is "the saddest word of all." Despair over human impermanence and the desire to preserve what has been known and felt, even grief, reverberate at the heart of British Poet Laureate Motion's memoir of his childhood and adolescence in rural postwar England. A p?an to his family, and the secret hollows of his beloved home, this memoir evokes a whole world long disappeared. The book begins in December of 1968, hours before his mother's foxhunting accident and subsequent coma from which she never recovers. this memoir is far more than a guide to the life behind the poems; it is a stand against the ineluctability of time's passing, an insistence that what has been "felt in the blood, and felt in the blood, and felt along the heart," is, as the epigraph from Wordsworth suggests, an integral substance of our anatomy, a part that can be neither taken from us nor lost.
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Losing it : and gaining my life back one pound at a time
Valerie Bertinelli.
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viii, 277 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
The actress recalls the challenges of maintaining a healthy self-image while coping with the stress of celebrity, her twenty-year marriage to rock star Eddie Van Halen, her battle with depression and weight, motherhood, and her determination to take control of her own life.
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Maya Angelou : a glorious celebration
by Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler and Richard A. Long.
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191 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
An unusual and irresistible look at Maya Angelou's life as well as her myriad interests and accomplishments by the people who know her best--her longtime friends Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard Long, and her niece Rosa Johnson Butler. Features over 150 sepia portraits, family photographs, and letters.
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A mirror garden
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian and Zara Houshmand.
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322 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
In Persia in 1924, when a child still had to worry about hostile camels in the bazaar, the extraordinary and irresistible Monir was born. From the enchanted basement storeroom where she played as a girl to the penthouse high above New York City where she would someday live, this is the story of her life as an artist, a wife and mother, a collector, and an Iranian. Born an adventurer and a tomboy, the mischievous girl becomes a spirited young woman defiant of tradition: traveling to America during World War II; training as an artist; escaping a disastrous marriage; and learning to support herself and her baby, before an Iranian of royal descent whisks her back to Tehran for her second wedding. Home again, Monir discovers the neglected folk arts of far-flung regions and explores her own creative impulse. She throws parties and delights in road trips in the decades before the rise of radical fundamentalism forces her to leave everything behind and begin a new life in New York.--From publisher description.
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Never give in : battling cancer in the Senate
Arlen Specter ; with Frank J. Scaturro.
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xi, 270 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 22 cm.
"This is not simply the memoir of a cancer survivor. Nor is it just the memoir of a respected senator. This is an unprecedented glimpse into a man who is both. It is inspiration for people of all political persuasions, of how to persevere and succeed - despite what the doctors may say, despite what the tests might show." "In early 2004, Senator Specter was in the midst of a grueling primary race, facing significant opposition from the right as he worked to win his party's nomination to run for reelection for his Pennsylvania Senate seat. It would be the most difficult election in his quarter-century career in the Senate. Following on its heels were two more challenges - the general election race and opposition to his elevation as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, his lifelong ambition. He overcame all three challenges in time for his seventy-fifth birthday." "But exhaustion and fatigue - initially thought to be the aftereffects of months of vigorous campaigning - were found to be far more serious. After a series of tests and consultation with several doctors, Specter was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, Stage IVB, the most advanced stage." "He had received death sentences before and lived to tell about it. To Senator Specter, this diagnosis was another challenge. After all, he still had a job to do." "His cancer treatments came as he reached the height of his power - surrounded by political storms that polarized Washington and threatened to shut the Senate down. His leadership positions made it his job to manage Supreme Court nominations and public-health appropriations as he faced his own illness. He had fought on public-health issues for years, but now it added potency to the message that the messenger was ailing himself." "The phrase "Never give in" became Specter's mantra, invoking the famous words from Winston Churchill in his own battle with cancer. This moving book describes the treatment the Senator received and offers his advice on how to handle the side effects (both visible and private), deal with hair loss, and, of course, maintain a nearly daily squash regimen. So, how does one move forward when faced with mortality? It's simple. Work."--BOOK JACKET.
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Princess Masako : prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne
Ben Hills.
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xiv, 304 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), map ; 24 cm.
"Stealing a look behind the "Chrysanthemum Curtain" into the mysterious world of the Japanese royal family, Princes Masako details the pressure that the Royal Household Agency has placed on the princess to produce a male heir and prevent the world's oldest dynasty from dying out." "Some thought the princess would be a breath of fresh air in the musty corridors of this 2,600-year-old monarchy, but thirteen years later and now at age forty-two, Masako is a tragic figure whose struggles with depression have made international headlines. This book reveals the impact that the recent birth of a male son to her sister-in-law Princess Kiko has had on Masako's troubled life and on any hopes she might have had for her daughter, little Aiko, to be Japan's first empress." "Ben Hill's portrait of Princess Masako and the Chrysanthemum Throne draws on research in Tokyo and rural Japan, at Harvard and Oxford, and on more than sixty interviews with Japanese, American, British, and Australian sources - Masako's and Naruhito's friends, teachers, and former colleagues. Many of them have never spoken publicly before, and they now shed light on the royal family's darkest secrets, secrets that can never be discussed openly in Japan because of the reverence in which the emperor and his family are held. Princess Masako poses questions that few in Japan would dare to ask, about the role of the emperor, the place of women, attitudes toward mental health and IVF, and the power of the bureaucracy. But above all, this is a story about a love affair that went tragically wrong."--BOOK JACKET.
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A remarkable mother
Jimmy Carter.
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xiii, 222 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.
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Shakespeare's wife
Germaine Greer.
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406 p. ; 24 cm.
Challenges popular beliefs about the estranged nature of Shakespeare's marriage to Ann Hathaway, placing their relationship in a social and historical context that poses alternative theories about her rural upbringing and role in the bard's professional life.
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