Biography and Memoir July 2010 "I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity." ~ John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), American oil magnate and philanthropist New and Recently Released! Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea - by Linda Greenlaw Publisher: Viking Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2010 ISBN-13: 9780670021925 ISBN-10: 067002192X If you've read Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm or seen its film adaptation, you might remember Linda Greenlaw, the captain of the Hannah Boden. Soon after the release of that book and movie, Greenlaw gave up swordfishing for the relatively less-risky life of lobstering, and she also began writing memoirs (The Hungry Ocean, etc.). But ten years later, Greenlaw was saddled with debts and needed a new challenge, so she decided to go back to swordfishing. Seaworthy is her account of her first trip back to sea, which was complicated by bad weather, an inadvertent arrest, and the dilapidated condition of her vessel. Fans of adventure stories won't want to miss this salty and inspiring chronicle. Henry Clay: The Essential American - by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler Publisher: Random House Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/04/2010 ISBN-13: 9781400067268 ISBN-10: 140006726X In his day, Henry Clay (1777-1852) was a giant of American politics: he transformed the office of speaker of the house, served as secretary of state, and made five--unsuccessful--runs for the presidency. He also had an infamous rivalry with Andrew Jackson and he was Abraham Lincoln's political idol. This in-depth biography documents Clay's political career and personal life, from the founding of the United States through the eve of the Civil War. If you like reading biographies of Founding Fathers and are interested in the antebellum period, don't miss this comprehensive look at the man who famously declared, "I had rather be right than be president." First Chapter The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents--A Memoir - by Dr. Connie Mariano Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/22/2010 ISBN-13: 9780312534837 ISBN-10: 0312534833 What kind of a physician does it take to look after the health of arguably the most powerful person in the world? In The White House Doctor, Dr. Connie Mariano, who served under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, shares the story of her life as a presidential doctor. Mariano--the first woman and first Filipino-American to care for a commander-in-chief--traveled all over the world with her charges, often putting aside her personal life for that of her patients. If you want to read another book by a woman who worked behind the scenes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, check out Letitia Baldrige's A Lady, First: My Life in the Kennedy White House and the American Embassies of Paris and Rome. Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo - by Vanessa Woods Publisher: Gotham Books Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/27/2010 ISBN-13: 9781592405466 ISBN-10: 1592405460 In 2005, Australian science writer Vanessa Woods and her fiancé, scientist Brian Hare, decided to devote themselves to researching bonobos, which resemble chimpanzees and share 98.7 percent of human DNA. Woods and Hare moved to the only bonobo sanctuary in the world--in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo--and there they learned a great deal about bonobo behavior while strengthening their own relationship, too. Readers who enjoy Bonobo Handshake and want to read more memoirs by naturalists should grab Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir or Roger Fouts' Next of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me about Who We Are. Born in July Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. - by Ron Chernow Publisher: Vintage Books Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/01/2004 ISBN-13: 9781400077304 ISBN-10: 1400077303 July 8, 1839. Having completed books on financier J.P. Morgan and the Warburg banking family, award-winning author Ron Chernow draws on John D. Rockefeller's own papers to provide this comprehensive biography of the legendary oilman, capitalist, and philanthropist. Titan, which The New York Times calls "wonderfully fluent and irresistibly compelling," shows both the good and the bad in Rockefeller's character and career; like so many other moguls of his time, he was neither as good nor as bad as his contemporaries portrayed him to be. If you want to read another biography of an American capitalist from the same time period, check out David Nasaw's Andrew Carnegie. First Chapter Table of Contents The Legs Are the Last To Go: Aging, Acting, Marrying & Other Things I Learned the Hard Way - by Diahann Carroll Publisher: Amistad Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/01/2008 ISBN-13: 9780060763268 ISBN-10: 0060763264 July 17, 1935. In The Legs Are the Last To Go, barrier-breaking actress Diahann Carroll--the first African-American woman to have her own TV show and the first to win a Tony Award--speaks candidly about her life in and out of the Hollywood spotlight. Now in her 70s and still a working actress (most recently with recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy and White Collar), Carroll discusses her four marriages, the racial and sexual politics of show business, and the personal cost of her career. Fans new and old alike are sure to enjoy this "radiant" autobiography that is "bubbling over with sincere self-insights" (Publishers Weekly). First Chapter Table of Contents Thank Heaven - by Leslie Caron Publisher: Viking Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/25/2009 ISBN-13: 9780670021345 ISBN-10: 0670021342 July 1, 1931. Even aside from her professional successes as a dancer and an Academy Award-nominated actress, Leslie Caron has led a fascinating life. The daughter of an American dancer and French chemist, Caron endured a difficult childhood in occupied France, complete with rationing and shortages that caused her to have lifelong issues with food. She went on to marry three times, had relationships with notables like Warren Beatty, and even reinvented herself as both a short-story writer and the owner of a French bed-and-breakfast. Caron talks about all of these events and more--such as her roles in Gigi and An American in Paris--in this charming and revealing memoir. Table of Contents Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia - by Elizabeth Gilbert Publisher: Viking Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/16/2006 ISBN-13: 9780670034710 ISBN-10: 0670034711 July 18, 1969. After a devastating divorce and a subsequent failed love affair, author Elizabeth Gilbert felt lost and needed to do something drastic--so she left the familiar and traveled to three countries that begin with the letter "I." In Italy she ate and enjoyed life, in India she meditated and quieted herself, and in Indonesia she meditated even more and learned about love, health, and balance. Eat, Pray, Love, the bestselling book about her life-changing year abroad, is the perfect read for people who want to make a change but who need inspiration and courage to do so. Don't miss Gilbert's follow-up memoir, the recent Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. First Chapter Focus on: Spies Spies : a narrative encyclopedia of dirty deeds and double dealing from biblical times to today - Jay Robert Nash Publisher: M. Evans and Co., Inc. Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/01/1997 ISBN-13: 9780871317902 ISBN-10: 0871317907 Containing stories of hundreds of patriots, turncoats, sell-outs, and heroes, an extensively illustrated, informative reference features accounts ranging from the story of Caleb from the Old Testament to the sordid and at times astonishing career of Aldrich Ames, a KGB mole in the CIA. A spy at the heart of the Third Reich : the extraordinary story of Fritz Kolbe, America's most important spy in World War II - Lucas Delattre Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/28/2005 ISBN-13: 9780871138798 ISBN-10: 0871138794 A fascinating account of Fritz Kolbe, a German bureaucrat who worked secretly with the Allies during World War II, describes his harrowing espionage work relaying valuable information on high-level Axis meetings and munitions factories to the Allies. First Chapter Table of Contents Wild Rose: Civil War Spy: A True Story - by Ann Blackman Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/09/2006 ISBN-13: 9780812970456 ISBN-10: 0812970454 Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a grande dame of Washington society, was one of the Confederacy's secret weapons during the U.S. Civil War. Thanks to her charm and her connections, Greenhow was able to secure valuable military information about the Union, which she then turned over in support of the Southern cause. Greenhow's luck ran out when she was imprisoned by President Lincoln; she was later released to the South, but she died in a shipwreck while returning home from a diplomatic mission for Jefferson Davis. Drawing on a previously unpublished travel diary, Wild Rose documents and explores the life of a remarkable woman and spy. For another look at a female spy during the Civil War, pick up Elizabeth Varon's Southern Lady, Yankee Spy. First Chapter Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy Program in America After the End of the Cold War - by Pete Earley Publisher: Berkley Books Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/06/2009 ISBN-13: 9780425225622 ISBN-10: 0425225623 Comrade J is the riveting life story of Russian intelligence officer Sergei Tretyakov, who headed Russia's post-Cold War spy program in the United States and who also worked as a double agent for the FBI. Former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley documents everything from how this master spy recruited and planted agents to why he made the astonishing decision to defect to the United States during the Clinton administration. There are also several surprising revelations in this book, including that a Canadian politician and an American deputy secretary of state worked for the SVR (the successor to the KGB). Espionage fans with an interest in the post-Cold War period won't want to miss this amazing tale. Table of Contents A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII - by Sarah Helm Publisher: Anchor Books Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/04/2007 ISBN-13: 9781400031405 ISBN-10: 1400031400 Vera Atkins (the woman believed to have inspired Ian Fleming's Miss Moneypenny) was a top spy in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British secret service agency that aided resistance efforts throughout Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. In this biography, British journalist Sarah Helm uses recently released government files and private Atkins family papers to describe Atkins' life and espionage career, including her personal quest to uncover the fate of 12 female agents who vanished during the war. Helm also reveals that Atkins' own life was shrouded in secrecy (even her family did not know the truth about her past). Library Journal says that A Life in Secrets is "an absolutely spellbinding story." First Chapter Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal - by Ben Macintyre Publisher: Harmony Books Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/04/2007 ISBN-13: 9780307353405 ISBN-10: 0307353400 At the beginning of World War II, British adventurer and con man Eddie Chapman was recruited as a spy for the Germans, who proceeded to train him in France and send him back to England, where he was supposed to commit sabotage. But upon his arrival back home, Chapman instead immediately turned himself over to the MI5, becoming one of the most successful double agents of all time. As "Agent ZigZag" for the Brits, Chapman fed the Nazis an incredible array of bogus information and managed to avoid being unmasked for the entirety of the war. If Ben Macintyre's thrilling biography of Chapman makes you hungry for more information about double agents, don't miss David Vise's The Bureau and the Mole: The Unmasking of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Dangerous Double Agent in FBI History. 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