biography

A biography of Russian empress Catherine the Great, discussing her childhood, her rise to the throne, the values and beliefs she used to guide her rule over Russia, contacts she had over the years, and more.

Chronicles the life of Lady Georgiana Spencer, the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, discussing her success as a leader of fashionable society and hostess of an important political salon, and looking at her unhappy marriage, gambling addiction, and other less savory details of her private life.

A volume of seventeen essays explores various aspects of the author's life, including his childhood in colonial Nigeria, encounters with the African-American diaspora, his family life, and the symbolism of Barack Obama's election.

Stephen Ambrose reflects on his long career as a historian and shares stories of some of his most admired, and a few of his least favorite, Americans from throughout history.

The young Hungarian artist Bela Zombory-Moldovan was abroad on vacation when World War I broke out in August 1914. Called up by the army, he soon found himself hundreds of miles away, advancing on Russian lines--or perhaps on his own lines--and facing relentless rifle and artillery fire. Badly wounded, he returned to normal life, which now struck him as unspeakably strange. He had witnessed, he realized, the end of a way of life, of a whole world. Recently discovered among private papers and published here for the first time in any language, this reminiscence is a deeply moving addition to the literature of the terrible war that defined the shape of the twentieth century.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the best loved novels of the twentieth century. But for the last fifty years, the novel's celebrated author has said almost nothing on the record. Journalists have trekked to her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, where Harper Lee, known by her friends as Nelle, has lived with her sister, Alice, for decades, trying and failing to get an interview with the author. But in 2001, the Lee sisters opened their door for Chicago Tribune reporter Marja Mills. It was the beginning of a long conversation and a friendship that has continued ever since. In 2004, with the Lees' encouragement, Mills moved into the house next door. She spent the next eighteen months talking and sharing stories over meals and daily drives in the countryside. Along with members of the Lees' tight inner circle, the sisters and Mills would go fishing, feed the ducks, go to the Laundromat, watch the Crimson Tide, drink coffee at McDonald's, and explore all over lower Alabama. Nelle shared her love of history, literature, and the quirky Southern way of life, as well as her keen sense of how journalism should be practiced. As the sisters decided to let Mills tell their story, Nelle helped make sure she was getting the story--and the South--right. Alice, the keeper of the Lee family history, shared the stories of their family. The Mockingbird Next Door is a testament to the great intelligence, sharp wit, and tremendous storytelling power of these two women, especially that of Nelle. Mills was given a rare opportunity to know Nelle Harper Lee, to be part of the Lees' life in Alabama, to see how To Kill a Mockingbird affected their lives, and why Nelle Harper Lee chose to never write another novel.

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee had thousands of residents and consumed more electricity than New York City. Young women from small towns across America were enticed to come there by war-ending work and solid wages. Kept in the dark about the true nature of their work they would not find out the secret until the end of the war. The women of Oak Ridge, also known as Atomic City to a select few, were indispensable to the winning of World War II. Tens of thousands of women and men contributed to the making of the atom bomb.

Margarete Dos moved with her family to Berlin on the eve of World War II. She and her little brother were blindly ushered into a generation of Hitler Youth. The teenage Margarete was preoccupied with school, friends, boys, and sports but she was also aware of a growing air of secrecy and fear among her elders and she struggled to make sense of it all. She lost her brother to the army, treated wounded boy soldiers for the German Red Cross, and ran scared through the streets as Allied bombs decimated her city. Just when she thought the worse was over and she and her mother were on a train to Sweden, they were suddenly rerouted deep into Russia. Margarete survived the war but the wartime tragedies she experienced would haunt her for the rest of her life.

The story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi. A rich white planter's attempt to steal their land forced them to flee to Memphis, where Frederick's father was brutally murdered. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and-- in a highly unusual choice for a Black American at the time-- went to Russia in 1899. Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship. Through his hard work, charm, and guile he became one of the city's richest and most famous owners of variety theaters and restaurants. The Bolshevik Revolution ruined him, and he barely escaped with his life and family to Constantinople in 1919. Starting from scratch, he made a second fortune by opening celebrated nightclubs that introduced jazz to Turkey. However, the long arm of American racism, the xenophobia of the new Turkish Republic, and Frederick's own extravagance landed him in debtor's prison. He died in Constantinople in 1928.

The story of a young man who rediscovers not only his childhood life and home...but an identity long-since left behind.