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Manstein: Hitler's Greatest General
by Mungo MelvinThe first proper biography of Germany's most controversial military hero.The story of the military genius Field Marshal Erich von Manstein chronicles the misguided generation of German generals in the Second World War who claimed they fought for Germany, not for Hitler and National Socialism. The polished, urbane von Manstein was no uncouth Nazi. He persuaded the British writer Liddell Hart to assist in organising his defence during his war crimes trial at Hamburg in 1949. Sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment, he was released after three and then advised the West German government in raising its new army in the 1950s.Manstein was the mastermind who created the plan for the 1940 blitzkrieg that overran France in just six weeks. He played a key role in the invasion of Russia and conquered the Crimea, but failed to rescue the doomed Sixth Army at Stalingrad, his most controversial campaign. Three months after the inevitable failure there, he inflicted a massive defeat on the Red Army at Kharkov in a brilliantly designed counter-attack: a battle that has been studied in military academies ever since.Major-General Mungo Melvin speaks good German and knows Germany well. He has been assisted by the Manstein family, has delved deeply into the military archives and studied many of Manstein's battlefields close at hand. His book is much more than a biography of an extraordinary soldier: it describes the dilemmas encountered on operations and highlights the enduring tensions between senior military commanders and their political leaders in the prosecution of strategy.In Germany today, Manstein has become a symbol of the moral corruption of the Wehrmacht, whose commanders' actions enabled Hitler to prosecute a devastating war of conquest and perpetrate the Holocaust. This book reveals the true story of Hitler and his greatest general.
Manstein: Hitler's Greatest General
by Major General Mungo Melvin OBEThe first proper biography of Germany's most controversial military hero.The story of the military genius Field Marshal Erich von Manstein chronicles the misguided generation of German generals in the Second World War who claimed they fought for Germany, not for Hitler and National Socialism. The polished, urbane von Manstein was no uncouth Nazi. He persuaded the British writer Liddell Hart to assist in organising his defence during his war crimes trial at Hamburg in 1949. Sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment, he was released after three and then advised the West German government in raising its new army in the 1950s.Manstein was the mastermind who created the plan for the 1940 blitzkrieg that overran France in just six weeks. He played a key role in the invasion of Russia and conquered the Crimea, but failed to rescue the doomed Sixth Army at Stalingrad, his most controversial campaign. Three months after the inevitable failure there, he inflicted a massive defeat on the Red Army at Kharkov in a brilliantly designed counter-attack: a battle that has been studied in military academies ever since.Major-General Mungo Melvin speaks good German and knows Germany well. He has been assisted by the Manstein family, has delved deeply into the military archives and studied many of Manstein's battlefields close at hand. His book is much more than a biography of an extraordinary soldier: it describes the dilemmas encountered on operations and highlights the enduring tensions between senior military commanders and their political leaders in the prosecution of strategy.In Germany today, Manstein has become a symbol of the moral corruption of the Wehrmacht, whose commanders' actions enabled Hitler to prosecute a devastating war of conquest and perpetrate the Holocaust. This book reveals the true story of Hitler and his greatest general.
The Mantle of Struggle: A Biography of Black Revolutionary Rosie Douglas
by Irving AndreRosie Douglas, former prime minister of Dominica, had a life unlike any other modern politician. After leaving home to study agriculture in Canada, he became a member of the young Conservatives, under the Canadian prime minister’s guidance. However, after he moved to Montreal to study political science his politics started to shift. By the late sixties he was an active civil rights supporter and when Black students in Montreal began to protest racism in 1969, he helped lead the sit-in. He was identified as a protest ringleader after the peaceful protest turned into a police riot, and served 18 months in prison. After his deportation from Canada in 1976, having been named a danger to national security, Douglas participated in political movements around the world building global solidarity. He became a leader of the Libyan-based revolutionary group World Mathaba and supported Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress. Once back home in Dominica, he led the movement for Dominica’s full political independence from Great Britain, then served as a senator in the post-independence government, an MP, party leader, and finally prime minister. Relying on family sources, interviews, newspaper articles, government documents, and Douglas’ own articles, letters, and speeches, Irving Andre has drawn a rich and riveting record of this important Black revolutionary.
The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran
by Roy MottahedehThis book is unlike any other title written about the people and history of Iran. It is part novel, part historical record of the people of Iran, the Muslims who have lived there for centuries. The authors interviewed hundreds of citizens of Iran as well as former citizens who are now living in exile in order to create an accurate and authentic picture of daily life and the mindset of Islamic people in Iran. He explains the reasons for the revolution in 1978-79 as well as discussing its consequences.
El manto
by Marcela SerranoUna conmovedora reflexión sobre la pérdida. El libro más personal de Marcela Serrano En noviembre de 2017, tras años de ir y venir, un cáncer terminó con la vida de la periodista Margarita Serrano. Devastada, su hermana Marcela encontró en el retiro campesino y en la escritura la única manera de sobrellevar el desconcierto, la tristeza y la rabia. Ese estado de excepción emocional es lo que está en la base de estas páginas que, con el pasar de los días, la autora fue tejiendo como un manto para cubrir a su hermana y a quienes tras su muerte quedaron a la intemperie. El resultado de ese arrojo son los emocionantes, tristes y a la vez luminosos apuntes # discontinuos como el duelo mismo# que Serrano reunió con lucidez y coraje durante todo el año que siguió a la muerte de #la M#. Cita: Tiene el ideario y el corazón amueblados con una firmeza que es capaz de esquivar todas las contradicciones." Ángela López, El Mundo
Manu. El cielo con las manos: Edición ampliada y actualizada
by Daniel FrescóRelato apasionante y exhaustivo, pleno de anécdotas que revela aspectos desconocidos de Ginóbili: la vocación casi genética por el básquet, la obsesión por crecer y la audacia por alcanzar un destino para el que se sabía predestinado. La fuerza de voluntad, la decisión inconmovible de triunfar, el talento, la inteligencia y una rara habilidad para llegar al lugar indicado en el momento justo confluyeron para dar forma al destino singular de Emanuel Ginóbili, el más grande jugador de básquet de la Argentina de todos los tiempos y uno de los mejores del mundo. El escritor y periodista Daniel Frescó reconstruye esa vida única mediante una minuciosa investigación que incluye testimonios de familiares, amigos y compañeros, desde la llegada de su bisabuelo a Bahía Blanca, la integración y desarrollo de su familia en la ciudad, y su infancia hasta la consagración en el básquet mundial con la obtención de la medalla de oro en los Juegos Olímpicos de Grecia y cuatro anillos de la NBA. El resultado de esta investigación demuestra que la forja de una personalidad como la de Manu no es producto del azar o la buena fortuna sino de la tenacidad individual, de sus orígenes, de un entorno, de un momento y hasta de un país. Su ascenso es el paradigma del argentino que conquista el mundo pero detrás de la imagen pública se esconde una persona humilde, fiel a sus afectos y dispuesto a superar todos los contratiempos a fuerza de inteligencia y constancia. Este relato apasionante y exhaustivo, pleno de anécdotas, revela aspectos desconocidos de Ginóbili: la vocación casi genética por el básquet, la obsesión por crecer y la audacia para alcanzar un objetivo para el cual, de algún modo, se sabía predestinado. Manu. El cielo con las manos, el primer y más completo libro sobre Emanuel Ginóbili, entrega el retrato preciso de una vida y de una carrera cuyos éxitos trascienden los límites del deporte. A trece años de su publicación y cuando Manu transita el retiro de la actividad, se impone una edición definitiva no simplemente para explicar su trayectoria o sus triunfos sino para realizar una proyección de un legado, que ya es tan o más impactante que sus logros, e imaginar el devenir de su futuro. Grandes estrellas y leyendas de la NBA; entrenadores de altísimo nivel; compañeros y excompañeros de los Spurs y la Selección Argentina; los jóvenes basquetbolistas que toman su bandera; atletas que compartieron con él Juegos Olímpicos; referentes nacionales e internacionales de otros deportes y actividades terminan de redondear con valiosísimos conceptos la trascendencia de su figura. Todo ello para completar un libro que abarca generaciones, atraviesa los siglos XX y XXI, y muestra al Manu íntegro que delinea un inmenso legado que perdurará por siempre. «Es un campeón, un gran competidor y uno de los mejores Spurs. Fue muy divertido jugar contra él todos estos años.»LeBron James «Manu será recordado por siempre.»Lionel Messi «Conservó ese fuego interno y ese deseo interior de seguir ganando.»Roger Federer «Su carrera nos dice a todos que se puede.»Jorge Valdano «Es un campeón. Soy fan de Manu. Quisiera saber dónde está esa fuente de la juventud.»Stephen Curry
Manual of Painting and Calligraphy: A Novel
by José SaramagoA disgruntled portrait artist in 1970s Portugal turn to writing in the Nobel Prize-winning author’s debut novel, now available in English translation.Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was José Saramago’s first novel. Written eight years before the critically acclaimed Baltasar and Blimunda, it is a story of self-discovery set in Portugal during the last years of Antonio Salazar’s dictatorship. It tells the story of a struggling artist who is commissioned to paint a portrait of an influential industrialist.Disheartened by his squandered talent, the artist soon undergoes a creative and political awakening when he discovers the possibilities of writing. The brilliant juxtaposition of a passionate love story and the crisis of a nation foreshadows the themes of Saramago’s major works.
Manual para la vida Z
by Ocean VickyOcean Vicky, una de las voces más potentes de la generación Z, nos comparte sus secretos para enfrentarse a la vida con humor y valentía. Cuando nacemos, nos plantan en esto que llaman «la Vida» y nos dicen: «Venga, tira para delante». Lo que no nos dicen es que la Vida está llena de mierdas. Ni que cada Mierda es como un Malo Final. Un bicho feo y terrorífico que pretenden que derrotes. Tú, que no tienes ni pajolera idea de qué va la vaina. Pero no te preocupes, que aquí es donde entro yo. Yo, que sé que pedir ayuda no solo no es un Malo, sino que es muy necesario, te he escrito un manual. Algo así como el de las instrucciones del frigorífico, pero más útil y menos peñazo. Nivel a nivel, te voy a transmitir todo el conocimiento que he podido recabar, las técnicas que he utilizado yo para superar cada final boss. Tú, el o la protagonista del videojuego, eres una persona normal y, como todo el mundo, tienes tus cosillas, pero eso no importa ahora mismo. Porque en este libro te vas a convertir en un/a héroe/heroína: codo con codo, aprenderemos a luchar contra todos los monstruos. Básicamente, te voy a enseñar a pasarte la vida a la manera de la Vicky. Abróchense los cinturones, que empieza el viaje.
Manuel Cardona
by Klaus Ensslin Luis ViñaThis book pays tribute to an extraordinary researcher and personality, Manuel Cardona. He had significant influence in the development of science and inside the scientific community. The book consists of contributions by former collaborators and students of Prof. Manuel Cardona. The short contributions deal with personal encounters with Manuel Cardona describing his extraordinary personality. This includes descriptions of scientific discussions, Manuel Cardona's involvement in social justice and his enormous knowledge about human culture, languages and history.
Manuelita
by Pamela MurrayUna biografía sobre esta gran mujer. Manuelita Sáenz (1797-1856) fue ignorada por la mayoría de los historiadores profesionales, cuyos sesgos de género la relegaron a un papel menor. Chica mala, loca, indecente y hasta ninfómana son algunos de los calificativos que ha usado la historia oficial para definirla. Pero su vida fue la de una mujer decidida, que intervino el mundo militar y de la política, entonces reservado a los hombres. Incómoda para muchos, Manuelita regresa en este dedicado trabajo de investigación que sigue sus pasos en Perú, Ecuador y Colombia. En su brillante biografía, Murray presenta a Manuelita como una de las más grandes figuras femeninas del hemisferio, precursora de una nueva revolución en América Latina: la emancipación e igualdad de las mujeres.
Many Are the Crimes
by Ellen SchreckerIt all seems like so much ancient history -- the "red scare", black lists; even Senator Mccarthy. Yet, in truth, the so-called "Mccarthy period" -- during which people were persecuted and investigated for what they thought -- is one of the most shameful periods of our history. In her book, ellen Schrecker takes a hard look at this phenomenon and draws some sobering conclusions. If you love freedom and liberty and feel that all of us need to work to keep it safe -- from the right and the left -- this book is a must read. And, lest you think this is ancient history, think about some of the hysterical sexual abuse trials of the eighties and nineties. From whence will the next danger come?
The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright
by Ann M. LittleAn eye-opening biography of a woman at the intersection of three distinct cultures in colonial America Born and raised in a New England garrison town, Esther Wheelwright (1696-1780) was captured by Wabanaki Indians at age seven. Among them, she became a Catholic and lived like any other young girl in the tribe. At age twelve, she was enrolled at a French-Canadian Ursuline convent, where she would spend the rest of her life, eventually becoming the order's only foreign-born mother superior. Among these three major cultures of colonial North America, Wheelwright's life was exceptional: border-crossing, multilingual, and multicultural. This meticulously researched book discovers her life through the communities of girls and women around her: the free and enslaved women who raised her in Wells, Maine; the Wabanaki women who cared for her, catechized her, and taught her to work as an Indian girl; the French-Canadian and Native girls who were her classmates in the Ursuline school; and the Ursuline nuns who led her to a religious life.
The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction
by Gregory KlagesA National Post Bestseller! How did Tom Thomson die in the summer of 1917? Was landscape painter Tom Thomson shot by poachers, or by a German-American draft dodger? Did a blow from a canoe paddle knock him unconscious and into the water? Was he fatally injured in a drunken fight? Did he end his life out of fear of being forced to marry his pregnant girlfriend? Commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the death of the renowned Canadian landscape painter, The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson offers an authoritative review of the historical record, as well as some theories you might not have thought of in a hundred years. Cultural historian Gregory Klages surveys first-hand testimony and archival records about Thomson’s tragic demise, attempting to sort fact from legend in the death of this Canadian icon.
The Many Faces of John Kerry: Why this Massachusetts Liberal is Wrong for America
by David BossieA hard-hitting, ruthlessly honest political biography of Sen. John F. Kerry that will expose the real views of and dig up all the dirt on the 2004 Democratic nominee for president. In Prince Albert, he dethroned Al Gore. Now, David N. Bossie, former chief investigator for Congress, is going after John Kerry and giving every conscientious voter a chance to see the truth about this year's Democratic candidate. Using his trademark in-depth investigating, Bossie gives readers the real scoop on the presidential challenger-fully exposing Kerry's peculiar voting record; early Naval discharge (so he could protest the Vietnam War); self-contradictory positions on such vital issues as health care, education, and campaign finance; and shady political dealings he'd rather voters not know about. With an exclusive jailhouse interview with former Kerry finance chairman, David Bossie has the insider's access and the hard-nosed investigator's savvy to ferret out the truth and present it to readers in a gripping, no-nonsense style. He lays bare Kerry's flip-flops, lies, and duplicitous stances on the war in Iraq, defense spending, tax cuts, Medicare, and corporate greed and corruption-finally unveiling all of Kerry's public and private faces.
The Many Faces of Josephine Baker: Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy
by Peggy CaravantesA complete biographical look at the complex life of a world-famous entertainer With determination and audacity, Josephine Baker turned her comic and musical abilities into becoming a worldwide icon of the Jazz Age. The Many Faces of Josephine Baker: Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy provides the first in-depth portrait of this remarkable woman for young adults. Author Peggy Caravantes follows Baker's life from her childhood in the depths of poverty to her comedic rise in vaudeville and fame in Europe. This lively biography covers her outspoken participation in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, espionage work for the French Resistance during World War II, and adoption of 12 children--her "rainbow tribe." Also included are informative sidebars on relevant topics such as the 1917 East St. Louis riot, Pullman railway porters, the Charleston, and more. The lush photographs, appendix updating readers on the lives of the rainbow tribe, source notes, and bibliography make this is a must-have resource for any student, Baker fan, or history buff.
Many Faces, One Voice: Secrets from The Anonymous People
by Bud Mikhitarian Greg WilliamsMany Faces, One Voice is a must-read companion book to the award-winning film The Anonymous People.<P><P> Together with the film, this collection of insights, illuminated by vibrant faces and voices of recovery, takes the reader along a journey of individual growth and, potentially, to world change.A vital record of the lives and testimony of brave people who have come out of the shadows of anonymity to fight stigma and discrimination--people who now publicly advocate for the 23 million Americans suffering with addiction. Their inspiring stories, told in intimate detail, are essential to understanding the success, the hope, and the power of recovery.Bud Mikhitarian is an award-winning filmmaker and the producer of The Anonymous People film.Greg Williams is the director of The Anonymous People.
Many Forms of Madness: A Family's Struggle with Mental Illness and the Mental Health System
by Rosemary Radford RuetherIn telling the story of her son's thirty-year struggle with schizophrenia, the author lays bare the inhumane treatment throughout the history of people with mental illness. Despite countless reforms by "idealistic reformers" and an enlightened understanding that mental illness is a physical disease like any other, conditions for people who struggle with mental illness are little improved. She asks why this is so and then goes on to imagine what we would do for people with mental illness "if we really cared."
Many Hands Make a Farm: 47 Years of Questioning Authority, Feeding a Community, and Building an Organic Movement
by Jack Kittredge Julie Rawson*Northeast Organic Farmers Lifetime Achievement Award: Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson In this heartfelt and unflinching memoir, two activists recount the nearly half century they’ve spent questioning authority while raising a family, building a self-reliant community, starting an organic farm, leading a farming organization, and experiencing the struggles and joys of living a purposeful life. Many Hands Make a Farm traces the journey of organic farming pioneers Julie Rawson and Jack Kittredge from their early years of bright-eyed excitement, through the long slog for economic stability, to the formation of a thriving community and a growing natural farming movement. Along the way, they established relationships with farming leaders across the country during the creation of the National Organic Program. Julie and Jack met while working as community organizers in Boston. After falling in love and starting a family, they decided to use Jack’s irregular earnings as a board game designer to support a move to a rural area where they could grow healthy food and earn their living at home, so they could be present for their four children. What began as a family homestead soon grew into the small, diversified Many Hands Organic Farm. Julie and Jack have intentionally chosen to live their lives differently than the mainstream, prioritizing minimizing energy use, raising food organically, not relying on credit, favoring natural health care, participating in the arts, working creatively, and instilling the values of hard work and responsibility in their children. In a time when society at large was “going along to get along,” Julie and Jack stood out as leaders and iconoclasts. They believe that taking risks and making bold decisions can unlock one’s potential and lead to actions that enrich the spirit, the family, and the community. Many Hands Make a Farm will resonate with fans of original thinkers from Henry David Thoreau and Wendell Berry to Lynn Margulis and Adelle Davis. The book strongly conveys the message of finding roots in a community, respecting the Earth, and combining social justice work with the joys and challenges of raising a family. These themes shine through on every page, making this memoir a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance on finding meaning in their life. "Told in complementary, alternating narratives between husband and wife, this informative and heartfelt memoir is uplifting from start to finish."—Booklist
Many Hills yet to Climb: Memoirs of an Armenian Deportee
by John MinassianVictims of tragedies seldom are able to tell of their experiences objectively and without bitterness. It is usually left to others to interpret—and fictionalize—such events. Many Hills Yet to Climb is an exception because its author is an exceptional man. As a young man coming of age, John Minassian lived through the Armenian genocide from 1895 through 1915, which even today the Turkish government denies ever occurred. Now, nearly a century later, Minassian describes his experiences—the destruction of his home, the loss and scattering of family and friends, the bitter enmity between two cultures—in a unique memoir. He does not attempt to give a global significance to the events, but rather a human document that lets us see things as a perceptive and sensitive teenage boy saw them at the turn of the twentieth century. JOHN MINASSIAN was born in 1895 of Armenian parents in Sivas, in central Turkey. He started school with the American missionaries in Sivas and finished his grammar school education in 1908 in Gurun. In 1913 he attended the American Teachers College in Sivas. His studies ended in 1914 with the outbreak of the first World War. During the war he was deported, with most Armenians, to Aleppo. Concealing his identity, he fled into the Syrian desert where he worked with Turkish, German, and Indian work crews. After the war, he went to Constantinople, where he worked for the post-war British Army. In 1920, he gained passage to the U.S. in 1920. He lives today with his wife, Mary, in Santa Barbara, California.
Many Lives
by Stephanie BeachamStephanie Beacham is one of the leading actors of her generation. In the course of a career which spans over 40 years, the RADA trained actress has treaded the boards of some of the most prestigious theatres in the world from the National Theatre to Broadway, made countless appearances on television in much loved series such as Tenko, Connie, Bad Girls and Coronation Street and starred in feature films alongside some of the greatest actors of their time such as Marlon Brando and Ava Gardner. But it was in her incarnation as the smouldering super-bitch Sable Colby in the long-running blockbuster soap of eighties Dynasty that Stephanie will perhaps be best remembered. It was a role that would bring the celebrated beauty both worldwide fame and awards and would earn her a fortune. But Stephanie’s life has not always been glamour and glitz – for all the highs, she has had her low moments too as she reveals in this extraordinarily candid but heart-warming memoir. Born with just 40% hearing the young Stephanie would have to overcome her deafness to face the world and make it in a profession where hearing meant everything. She would struggle as a young actress, would go through the pain and the heartache of a divorce, raise her children as a single-parent, as well as overcoming a health scare which nearly killed her in her mid-thirties. And it would be this near death experience that would send Stephanie on what she describes as a ‘spiritual adventure’ to arm her with both the tools and knowledge she believes she needed to propel her through the rest of her life.
The Many Lives of Cy Endfield
by Brian NeveCy Endfield (1914-1995) was a filmmaker who was also fascinated by the worlds of close-up magic, science, and invention. After directing several distinctive low-budget films in Hollywood, he was blacklisted in 1951 and fled to Britain rather than "name names” before HUAC, the U. S. House of Representatives’ Un-American Activities Committee. The Pennsylvania-born Endfield made films that exhibit an outsider’s eye for his adopted country, including the working-class "trucking” drama Hell Drivers and the cult film Zulu--a war epic as politically nuanced as it is spectacular. Along the way he encountered Orson Welles, collaborated with pioneering animator Ray Harryhausen, published a book of his card magic, and co-invented an early word processor that anticipated today’s technology. The Many Lives of Cy Endfield is the first book on this fascinating figure. The fruit of years of archival research and personal interviews by Brian Neve, it documents Endfield’s many identities: among them second-generation immigrant, Jew, Communist, and exile. Neve paints detailed scenes not only of the political and personal dramas of the blacklist era, but also of the attempts by Hollywood directors in the postwar 1940s and early 1950s to address social and political controversies of the day. Out of these efforts came two crime melodramas (what would become known as film noir) on inequalities of class and race: The Underworld Story and The Sound of Fury (also known as Try and Get Me!). Neve reveals the complex production and reception histories of Endfield’s films, which the critic Jonathan Rosenbaum saw as reflective of "an uncommon intelligence so radically critical of the world we live in that it’s dangerous. ” The Many Lives of Cy Endfield is at once a revealing biography of an independent, protean figure, an insight into film industry struggles, and a sensitive and informed study of an underappreciated body of work.
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Prison Journey - To Hell and Back
by Lara Love Hardin'Lara Love Hardin shares compelling and important truths in her beautifully told personal story.' PIPER KERMAN, author of the no. 1 New York Times bestseller Orange is the New Black'Thrilling, funny, heartbreaking and moving. I'll return to this book when I need to be reminded of the power of the human spirit.' DAVID SHEFF, author of the no. 1 New York Times bestseller Beautiful Boy'Compelling and timely' BRYAN STEVENSON, author of the New York Times bestseller Just MercyThe Neighbour From Hell is the astonishing tale of Lara's descent from middle class soccer mum with an enviable lifestyle, beautiful home and family to an opiate addict and identity thief. Convicted of 32 felonies, her children are taken away and she is placed in a local jail.In this strange and frightening new world, she has to get grips with life behind bars. Lara becomes known in prison as Mama Love. She helps the women around her get to grips with their own troubles, writes letters for them, acts as an advocate, and comforts them in their darkest moments. Soon she climbs the jailhouse social ladder to become 'the shot caller' showing that jailhouse politics and PTA politics are not that different.Through her incarceration, Lara reveals a world where makeshift furniture is made from tampon boxes and snicker bars are currency, a world of brutal corruption and abuse, and of surprising humanity and tenderness.Her story gives us a rare glimpse into the lives of the women in jail she spent time with and the very real challenges they, and she, faced trying to make it out of prison, regain custody of their children and start life afresh.
The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club): A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing
by Lara Love Hardin&“Once you start reading, be prepared, because you won&’t want to stop.&” —Oprah Winfrey OPRAH&’S BOOK CLUB PICK • New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.No one expects the police to knock on the door of the million-dollar two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors&’ credit cards. Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She finds that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes, and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly learns the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder and acquires the nickname &“Mama Love,&” showing that jailhouse politics aren&’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend. When she&’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she&’s legally co-opting other people&’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with the Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, and prove to herself that she is more good than bad, among other essential lessons. The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.
The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg: Innovation, Money, And Politics
by Eleanor RandolphWith unprecedented access, the veteran New York Times reporter and editorial writer who covered New York City and state politics offers a revealing portrait of one of the richest and famously private/public figures in the country. Business genius, inventor, innovator, publisher, philanthropist, activist, and sly wit Michael Bloomberg.Michael Bloomberg’s life sounds like an exaggerated version of The American Story, except his adventures are real. From modest Jewish middle class (and Eagle Scout) to Harvard MBA to Salomon Brothers hot shot (where he gets “sent upstairs” and later fired) to creator of the machine that would change Wall Street and the rest of the world and make him a billionaire (a description by the author makes the invention clear to non-engineers). Randolph’s account of Bloomberg’s life and time reads almost like a novel, a quintessentially American story. She explains the “machine” he invented that gave and continues to give instant access to an infinite amount of information to bankers and investors on how, what, and where to invest, and how it changed the financial universe. Randolph recounts one day not long ago when the Bloomberg machine briefly blipped and the whole world’s financial marketplace came to a halt. Randolph recounts Mayor Bloomberg’s vigorous approach to New York city’s care—including his attempts at education reform, contract control, anti-smoking and anti-obesity campaigns, green climate control, and his political adventures with both aides and opponents. After a surprising third term as Mayor, Bloomberg returned to his business and doubles its already tremendous worth. The chapter that describes this is one of the most revealing of his temperament and energy and vision as well as how he spends his “private” time—private but convivial. Bloomberg’s philanthropies are education, anti-NRA, and supporting a cleaner environment. He is a moderate liberal in a time when that quality holds the future of the Democratic Party and the country to account.
The Many Lives of Miss K: Toto Koopman - Model, Muse, Spy
by Jean-Noel Liaut Denise Raab JacobsA life of glamour and tragedy, set against the watershed cultural and political movements of twentieth-century Europe. "Toto" Koopman (1908-1991) is a new addition to the set of iconoclastic women whose biographies intrigue and inspire modern-day readers. Like her contemporaries Lee Miller or Vita Sackville-West, Toto lived with an independent spirit more typical of the men of her generation, moving in the worlds of fashion, society, art, and politics with an insouciant ease that would stir both admiration and envy even today. Sphinxlike and tantalizing, Toto conducted her life as a game, driven by audacity and style. Jean-Noël Liaut chases his enigmatic subject through the many roles and lives she inhabited, both happy and tragic. Though her beauty, charisma, and taste for the extraordinary made her an exuberant fixture of Paris fashion and café society, her intelligence and steely sense of self drove her toward bigger things, culminating in espionage during WWII, for which she was imprisoned by the Nazis in Ravensbruck. After the horrors of the camp, she found solace in Erica Brausen, the German art dealer who launched the career of Francis Bacon, and the two women lived out their lives together surrounded by cultural luminaries like Edmonde Charles-Roux and Luchino Visconti. But even in her later decades, Toto remained impossible for anyone to possess. The Many Lives of Miss K explores the allure of a freethinking and courageous woman who, fiercely protective of her independence, was sought after by so many but ultimately known by very few.