Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/28/2010
ISBN-13: 9781400066919
ISBN-10: 1400066913

Gypsy Rose Lee, who became known far beyond the burlesque stage, survived an appalling childhood in vaudeville to become a star. In this "well-informed" (Publishers Weekly) book, author Karen Abbott has created more than a biography--as the subtitle A Nation Laid Bare suggests, she brings the people of the era to life, including the four Minsky brothers, who transformed their vaudeville stage into a fabulously successful burlesque house in the 1930s. If you want to read more about Gypsy herself, you'll enjoy Noralee Frankel's biography, Stripping Gypsy.

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Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/18/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307270191
ISBN-10: 030727019X

Maxine Hong Kingston, well-known author of both fiction and creative nonfiction, reflects on her life up to age 65. Writing in free verse, she recalls personal, literary, and political experiences; she even fills us in on the continuing lives of some of her fictional characters and revisits Chinese village life as her forebears knew it. The result is a compelling "dreamlike journey" (Publishers Weekly) through her life. If you haven't already, you'll also want to read her early memoir, The Woman Warrior.

Publisher: Scribner
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/04/2011
ISBN-13: 9780743288804
ISBN-10: 0743288807

In this vivid portrayal of her home and her chosen surroundings, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Annie Proulx describes building her dream house, setting the details of construction debacles and cost overruns against the grandeur of Wyoming. Her description of the mountainous state includes not just the rugged, arresting scenery, but the humans who have lived there--often more destructively than peacefully. If you can't get enough of Proulx's Wyoming, try her short fiction in Close Range, which also evokes the dramatic scenery and its people.

Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/18/2011
ISBN-13: 9780670022595
ISBN-10: 0670022594

Ron Reagan, son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, recalls his childhood with his father, who later became the 40th President of the United States. He lovingly describes their times together playing touch football and riding horses, giving us a portrait of a father who was both advisor and friend. Ron, now a radio commentator and magazine writer, includes discoveries from his research into his father's earlier life, concluding "that the president was as advertised" (Kirkus Reviews). If you're looking for additional insight into Ronald Reagan's personality, read Dutch, the biography by Edmund Morris.

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/01/2007
ISBN-13: 9780742558212
ISBN-10: 0742558215

Prominent government officials William S. Cohen and Janet Langhart Cohen could never, when they were young, have imagined marrying each other. In fact, fifty years ago interracial marriage was illegal in many states. But through the course of their work in politics and television, they met in 1974, fell in love, and married in 1996. In this joint memoir, the Cohens weave together their own story and that of race relations in America. Those who enjoy this book might also like James McBride's The Color of Water, which describes his own parents' interracial love story.

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Publisher: William Morrow
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780061353871
ISBN-10: 0061353876

Though John Adams was a public figure--a Revolutionary leader and the 2nd President of the United States--his wife Abigail exerted her influence privately. In this engaging account, Stanford historian Edith Gelles presents the first joint biography of the couple. She brings John and Abigail's world and their personalities to life, focusing on the strength of their 54-year marriage. You'll find more about their lives in My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, edited by historians Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor.

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Publisher: Wiley
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/27/2001
ISBN-13: 9780471078647
ISBN-10: 0471078646

In this powerful memoir, NPR commentator Martin Goldsmith delves into the life of his parents, Gunther Goldschmidt and Rosemarie Gumpert, who emigrated to the United States before World War II. Both were musicians in the Kulturbund Orchestra, formed by the Nazis in order to showcase talented Jewish musicians while isolating them from "Aryan" Germans. This amazing story of Gunther, Rosemarie, and their family and colleagues provides a close up view of Holocaust experiences, but it is also "as much a tribute to the power of music as it is a Holocaust memoir" (Publishers Weekly).

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Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/04/2007
ISBN-13: 9781400083039
ISBN-10: 1400083036

Rob Sheffield, a rock critic and contributor to Rolling Stone, met Renee in a bar in 1989. Their backgrounds and personalities were incompatible, but music brought them together. They listened to recordings, discussed bands they liked (or hated), created mix tapes--and fell in love and married. But Renee collapsed and died very suddenly, only five years later. Through this "unbearably sad" (Booklist) but also quirky and funny mix tape chronicle, Sheffield expresses the depth of his love, the devastation of his loss, and the power of music to tell a life's story.

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Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/26/2006
ISBN-13: 9781400066155
ISBN-10: 1400066158

New Yorker staff writer Calvin Trillin often included references to his wife, Alice, in his essays--so much so that his fans came to feel they knew her personally. In this touching portrait, Calvin describes their love for one another and tells about the real Alice--an educator who developed a television series for children and taught in prisons and drug treatment programs. If you want to read more of Trillin's writing, try Alice, Let's Eat, which, though not a biography, often features his beloved Alice.

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