Perfect for fans of The United States vs. Billie Holiday, this is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred memoir of the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation—a fiftieth-anniversary edition updated with stunning new photos, a revised discography, and an insightful foreword by music writer David RitzTaking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Billie Holiday’s rough-and-tumble Baltimore childhood (where she ran errands at a whorehouse in exc...

The most remarkable double agent of World War II, Eddie Chapman was witty, handsome, and charming. Too bad he was also a con man, womanizer, and safe-cracker. To the British, though, he was known as ZigZag, one of MI5’s most valuable agents. To the Abwehr-German military intelligence-he was known as Fritzchen (Little Fritz), and was believed to be one of their most valued and trusted spies. For three long years, Eddie played this dangerous double game, daily risking life and limb to help t...

We all want to be happy but what is happiness? Haim Shapira navigates the terrain of happiness, exploring and contemplating an eclectic range of theories and insights into the conflicts we face on our journey to creating our own happiness.What is your happiest moment? How can you know it? Do we waste time or does time waste us? Are questions about meaning truly meaningful? What’s really important? Drawing on literary and philosophical sources ranging from Alice in Wonderland and Th...

A history of the Manhattan building and its famous tenants, from Lauren Bacall to John Lennon, by the New York Times–bestselling author of "Our Crowd".When Singer sewing machine tycoon Edward Clark built a luxury apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side in the late 1800s, it was derisively dubbed "the Dakota" for being as far from the center of the downtown action as its namesake territory on the nation's western frontier. Despite its remo...

In this tour de force, master storyteller Gregory Maguire offers a dazzling novel for fantasy lovers of all ages.Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been dead for years. One of her brothers has been conscripted into the Tsar’s army, the other taken as a servant in the house of the local landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying u...

A frank examination of Aretha Franklin, Mark Bego’s definitive biography traces her career accomplishments from her beginnings as a twelve-year-old member of a church choir in the early 1950s, to recording her first album at the age of fourteen and signing a major recording contract at eighteen, right up through her headline-grabbing 2010 health scare. Originally positioned to become a gospel star in her father’s Detroit church, Aretha had a privileged urban upbringing-stars such as Mahali...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “[This] absorbing, affectionate portrait manages to bring [Newman] back to us. . . . Paul Newman leaves readers with a surprisingly cheering message. If the rest of us can’t aspire to having Newman’s life, we can at least take inspiration from the way he lived his.”—The Washington Post“A graceful tribute to a one-of-a-kind man.”—The Seattle Times“Newman’...

For the first time, the full story of what happened when Frank brought his best pals to party in a land called VegasJanuary 1960. Las Vegas is at its smooth, cool peak. The Strip is a jet-age theme park, and the greatest singer in the history of American popular music summons a group of friends there to make a movie. One is an insouciant singer of Italian songs, ex-partner to the most popular film comedian of the day. One is a short, black, Jewish, one-eyed, singin...

Thrilling, heartbreaking, and, at times, absurdly funny, The Last Resort is a remarkable true story about one family in a country under siege and a testament to the love, perseverance, and resilience of the human spirit.Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Douglas Rogers is the son of white farmers living through that country’s long and tense transition from postcolonial rule. He escaped the dull future mapped out for him by his parents for one of adventure and excitement in Europ...

Voice. That IT Factor. The Holy Grail. Every writer has one.Every writer knows what it is, but not everyone can put their finger on how to develop it.Join Jeannie Lin and Bria Quinlan, two award-winning, bestselling authors, as they chase down this elusive element.This book discusses the hierarchy of developing a professional voice as well as concrete tips and techniques for discovering and enhancing your writing voice so that it emerges as a unique and compelling f...

A superb history from the mouths and pens of the men who fought on that first day of the battle for Normandy. 'This is a masterful work. I am so grateful for Howarth's dedication to capturing the experiences of those who were there that fateful, historic, world-changing day.' – Good Reads "That morning, the fleet had sailed. He could not possibly count the ships or even guess the numbers…Wallace stood on the head of the cliff, entranced and exalted by a pageant of splendour which nobody ha...

"Whatever dreams he was having, Jason knew they had nothing to do with his physical body. His eyes were firmly shut and his consciousness withdrawn from his senses when all this was going on. Yet in his dreams he experienced sights, sounds and even visceral sensations much more intensely than when he was awake.From this he understood that you didn't need a physical body to see, or smell, or endure any kind of experience with an acuteness that was more real than reality...