Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/18/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307262899
ISBN-10: 0307262898

Spencer Tracy was one of Hollywood's most successful actors, appearing in 73 films, many of them co-starring Katharine Hepburn. Biographer James Curtis illuminates Tracy's life and career, describing his Broadway and movie triumphs, his personal struggles, his affairs with several actresses, and his long professional and intimate relationship with Hepburn. Bringing together details from the public record, information from Tracy's personal papers, and material provided by Tracy's daughter and Hepburn's niece, this is a "monumental, definitive biography," according to Kirkus Reviews.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/20/2011
ISBN-13: 9781400041626
ISBN-10: 1400041627

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway died 50 years ago last July, and biographer Paul Hendrickson frames the last 27 years of Hemingway's life with his love of fishing and boating, and -- most of all -- his boat Pilar. Avoiding literary criticism in favor of a study of the man himself, Hendrickson sympathetically weaves a tapestry of Hemingway's later life, his relationships with family, friends, and lovers, and his eventual loss of the ability to write. Library Journal calls this "one of the most satisfying Hemingway assessments in many years."

First Chapter  Table of Contents  

Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/04/2011
ISBN-13: 9780385523530
ISBN-10: 038552353X

President Dwight D. Eisenhower appears in many accounts as an agreeable man but fumbling leader who often delegated decision-making to his aides. Journalist Jim Newton offers a different impression in this biography: that of an intelligent, thoughtful, and effective leader who often reined in more belligerent advisors. Newton illuminates Eisenhower's presidency with descriptions of how he worked with other military commanders during World War II and presents a thoroughly researched account of the White House years. For a rather different assessment of the Eisenhower presidency, read Tom Wicker's Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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Publisher: Walker & Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/27/2011
ISBN-13: 9780802717931
ISBN-10: 0802717934

Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus developed a new scientific theory of the cosmos, publishing his work On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres in the mid-16th century shortly before his death. The controversial nature of his work, which overturned the church-sanctioned view of the Earth as the center of the universe, made this publication extremely risky. Author Dava Sobel presents Georg Joachim Rheticus, a Lutheran who convinced the Catholic Copernicus that he should publish his work. Portraying the conversations between Rheticus and Copernicus in the form of a play, Sobel frames their interaction with well-researched accounts of Copernicus' life and work in this "meaty-while-mellifluous story of science" (Kirkus Reviews).

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/04/2011
ISBN-13: 9780345521330
ISBN-10: 0345521331

Mary Boleyn was sister-in-law to Henry VIII, but she survived her less fortunate younger sister, Anne Boleyn. In this engaging portrait of the more obscure Boleyn sister, historian Alison Weir fills in the gaps in Mary's life, piecing together hard evidence with clearly labeled, well-informed speculation to present a complete biography. Mary remained an obscure figure until the recent popularity of literature about the Tudor period brought her onto center stage in novels such as Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. Weir's "nuanced, smart, and assertive biography" (Publishers Weekly) accurately positions Mary in her true place in history.

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Publisher: W. W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/30/2010
ISBN-13: 9780393069624
ISBN-10: 0393069621

Earl Biggers was inspired to write his Charlie Chan detective novels in the 1920s after he met a Chinese-American detective in Hawaii. Chang Apana worked as a paniolo, or cowboy, in the 1890s and eventually became a police detective whose beat was the drug-ridden gambling dens of Honolulu's Chinatown. Poet and literature professor Yunte Huang illuminates Apana's life and career while portraying the lives of Chinese people in Hawaii and explaining how Biggers' Charlie Chan both contradicts and reinforces racial stereotypes of the period. This "most compelling" (Library Journal) account provides a thought-provoking and informative study of Chinese immigrants and American popular culture.

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Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/01/2000
ISBN-13: 9780449003718
ISBN-10: 044900371X

New Yorker contributor Susan Orlean learned about the theft of orchids from Florida's Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve and decided to find out what drives people to steal and collect these beautiful and unusual plants. Focusing on John Laroche, who developed an illegal scheme to propagate the "ghost orchid" from stolen samples, Orlean details not only the criminals but the orchids' native landscape and the collectors willing to go around the law to get their hands on rare specimens. This is both an intriguing biography of a thief driven by unusual motives and a group portrait of a whole culture of orchid maniacs.

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Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/26/2007
ISBN-13: 9780812969528
ISBN-10: 0812969529

ATF special agent William Queen went undercover for two years to join a California motorcycle gang called the Mongols. Since the members of this gang are fiercely protective of their culture and are willing to kill those who betray them, Queen's assignment was extraordinarily risky. In this memoir he relives the excitement and the risks while describing in detail how the gang culture operates. Rough language, degradation of women, and generally antisocial behavior may make this book difficult for some to read, but it's an enthralling account of how this agent became a true member of the gang and close friends with some of them, even while planning to make sure they were arrested for their crimes.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/27/2010
ISBN-13: 9780307264817
ISBN-10: 0307264815

In the Place of Justice is the memoir of a former prisoner in Louisiana's notorious Angola prison, where administrative mismanagement, racism, and violence among the prisoners make life unpleasant and dangerous even for men labeled "hardened" criminals. Author Wilbert Rideau, convicted of murder and imprisoned for 44 years, taught himself to be a journalist. He wrote for and eventually edited the prison magazine, the Angolite, using his self-taught writing skills to expose mismanagement in the prison system. Publishers Weekly calls this a "compelling reminder that rehabilitation should be the focus" of the criminal justice system.

First Chapter  Table of Contents  

Publisher: Avon Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2003
ISBN-13: 9780060095284
ISBN-10: 0060095288

Crime fiction and true crime author Joseph Wambaugh presents the surprising story of John Orr, an arson investigator who caught several arsonists but couldn't track down a prolific serial arsonist -- until a piece of evidence turned up with a fingerprint on it. Wambaugh assembled a huge amount of information to produce this book, which starts as a detective story, builds to the discovery of the arsonist's identity, and finishes as a psychological profile of the arsonist himself. If you find this account compelling, try Wambaugh's first true crime publication, The Onion Field, which became a popular movie.