last years

Computer science professor Randy Pausch, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, discusses how to overcome obstacles in one's life and achieve one's dreams.

Edward Trelawny, a companion of English Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron between 1821 and 1824, describes his experiences with and impressions of them, as well as their early deaths.

President Reagan insider, Peggy Grande, shares behind-the-scenes stories, intimate moments, and insights into his presidency. She began working in the Los Angeles office of Ronald Reagan as a college student and earned her way into a ten-year position as his executive assistant. Her stories and photographs show a unique and private side of a leader as he lived his presidency as well as an unparalled perspective on the post-presidency of a political icon. Through it all Ronald Reagan remained true to his core beliefs, gentlemanly kindness, undying hope for his country and the American values he represented: faith, optimism, and patriotism.

?By far the most enigmatic leading figure? of World War II. That?s how the British military historian John Keegan described Franklin D. Roosevelt, who frequently left his contemporaries guessing, never more so than at the end of his life. Here, in a hugely insightful account, a prizewinning author and journalist untangles the narrative threads of Roosevelt?s final months, showing how he juggled the strategic, political, and personal choices he faced as the war, his presidency, and his life raced in tandem to their climax.

"Mad Enchantment tells the full story behind the creation of the Water Lilies, as the horrors of World War I came ever closer to Paris and Giverny, and a new generation of younger artists, led by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, were challenging the achievements of Impressionism. By early 1914, French newspapers were reporting that Monet, by then 73 and one of the world's wealthiest, most celebrated painters, had retired his brushes. ... And yet, despite ill health, self-doubt, and advancing age, Monet began painting again on a more ambitious scale than ever before. Linking great artistic achievement to the personal and historical dramas unfolding around it, Ross King presents the most intimate and revealing portrait of an iconic figure in world culture--from his lavish lifestyle and tempestuous personality to his close friendship with the fiery war leader Georges Clemenceau, who regarded the Water Lilies as one of the highest expressions of the human spirit"--Amazon.com.

Reprints the 1918 diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra, providing insight into her thoughts about her children, her husband Tsar Nicholas, and the revolution sweeping Russia; covering a period that ranges from January 1 until the night of her death in July.

Reconstructs the events of Mozart's last year of life, discussing the creation of his final works, his personal and professional relationships, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death at the age of thirty-five.