Meet Vanessa Salomon, a privileged and misanthropic French-American translator hailing from a wealthy Parisian family. Her twin sister is a famous movie star, which Vanessa resents deeply and daily. The only man Vanessa ever loved recently killed himself by jumping off the roof of her building. It's a full life. Vanessa has just started working on an English translation of a titillating, experimental thriller by a dead author when she's offered a more prominent gig: translating the latest ...

The true story of the fourth-grade teacher in Dayton, Ohio, who created one of the most influential bands of our times.Devoted fans have followed Guided by Voices for decades—and critics around the world have lauded the band's brain trust, Robert Pollard, as a once-in-a-generation artist. Pollard has been compared by the New York Times to Mozart, Rossini, and Paul McCartney (in the same sentence) and everyone from P. J. Harvey, Radiohead, R.E.M., the Strokes, and U...

Shirley Chisholm lived most of her life in secrecy and made a special effort to protect herself from the public, especially her personal and private life. She lived a very painful and lonely life surrounded by few friends and family. When Congresswoman Chisholm retired as a politician in 1983, she completely removed herself from political life. Hundreds of mass media people, film writers, book publishing companies, producers and authors have sought information about her personal and privat...

Meet Vanessa Salomon, a privileged and misanthropic French-American translator hailing from a wealthy Parisian family.Her twin sister is a famous movie star, which Vanessa resents deeply and daily. The only man Vanessa ever loved recently killed himself by jumping off the roof of her building. It’s a full life.Vanessa has just started working on an English translation of a titillating, experimental thriller by a dead author when she’s offered a more promine...

'I too wanted to forget that girl. Really forget her, that is, stop yearning to write about her. Stop thinking that I have to write about this girl and her desire and madness, her idiocy and pride, her hunger and her blood that ceased to flow. I have never managed to do so.' In A Girl's Story, her latest book, Annie Ernaux revisits the summer of 1958, spent working as a holiday camp instructor in Normandy, and recounts the first night she spent with a man. When he moves on, she re...

The New York Times Bestseller**One of Rolling Stone's 10 Best Music Books of 2015"Petty and Zanes have decided to tell the unvarnished truth, and the result is not only the definitive account of Petty's life, but one of the best rock biographies in recent memory."** — Rolling StoneAn exhilarating and intimate account of the life of music legend Tom Petty, by an accomplished writer and musician who t...

The legendary man recounts his journey from a childhood in Oklahoma to an Presidential Medal of Honor–winning African American historian."An astonishing beautiful, deeply intelligent record of an extraordinary life. Required reading lest we forget what is possible in a race-based society." —Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature"John Hope Franklin's story is the stuff of American legend." — ...

**“In this authoritative, unsparing history of the biggest rock group of the 1970s, Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling.” —PEOPLEFrom the author of the iconic, bestselling history of The Beatles, the definitive account of arguably the greatest rock band of all time.**Rock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page...

As a young college student in Atlanta, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. had a summer job driving a white banker around town. During the man’s post-luncheon siestas, Jordan passed the time reading books, a fact that astounded his boss. “Vernon can read!” the man exclaimed to his relatives. Nearly fifty years later, Vernon Jordan, now a senior executive at Lazard Freres, long-time civil rights leader, adviser and close friend to presidents and business leaders and one of the most charismatic figures in...

The definitive account of the most famous music festival of all time: Woodstock."[A] vivid and lively account of those hectic and historic three days….The best fly-on-the-wall account, tantamount to having had a backstage pass to an iconic event."— New York PostThe Woodstock music festival of 1969 is an American cultural touchstone, and no book captures the sights, sounds, and behind-the-scenes machinations of the historic gathering better t...

A vibrant biography of the woman who shaped the political climate of Daytona Beach with her civil rights, women's rights, and education activism.Mary McLeod Bethune was often called the "First Lady of Negro America," but she made significant contributions to the political climate of Florida as well. From the founding of the Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls in 1904, Bethune galvanized African American women for change. She created an e...

Now in paperback, after five hardcover printings, Tommy James’s wild and entertaining true story of his career—part rock & roll fairytale, part valentine to a bygone era, and part mob epic—that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas” (The Denver Post).Everyone knows the hits: “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion.” All of these songs, which epitomize great pop music of the...