Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/25/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307595829
ISBN-10: 030759582X

Eva Braun is best known for having been Adolf Hitler's mistress during World War II and married to him during the last days before the Soviet army took over Berlin. Hitler kept her firmly in the background, and there is little documentary information about her life. Biographer Heike Görtemaker has drawn on a variety of resources to produce a fascinating portrait of Braun, including her enthusiastic support of Hitler's agenda and his anti-Semitism, as well as her relationship with him. Given the scarcity of information, this biography provides as much detail as possible about the "monster's lover" (Kirkus Reviews).

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Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/01/2011
ISBN-13: 9781451635089
ISBN-10: 1451635087

Biographer Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, has collected information and anecdotes about President John F. Kennedy ever since the 1950s. Making effective use of insights derived from conversations with Kennedy's friends and associates, Matthews presents a vivid picture of a very complex man. The biography analyses the significance of Kennedy's actions in public life as well as his personal struggles and flaws. Library Journal calls this a "lively overview of Kennedy, the flawed man and inspiring leader." If you're looking for additional political analysis, match Matthews' personal approach with Robert Dallek's An Unfinished Life.

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Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/15/2011
ISBN-13: 9781455504411
ISBN-10: 1455504416

NBA star Shaquille O'Neal was one of the most recognizable figures in sports during his career, both because of his skill as a basketball player and because of his larger-than-life personality. His memoir covers his childhood and youth, his success in college basketball, and his stellar professional career. A skilled entertainer (who even had a brief career in rap), O'Neal presents himself in a very positive light. He also offers insight into what it's like to play a team sport that requires balance among standout players and those who play supporting roles. Publishers Weekly says that Shaq's recollections shed light on "the knotty psychology behind the swagger."

Publisher: Henry Holt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/08/2011
ISBN-13: 9780805086935
ISBN-10: 0805086935

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut came to prominence with the publication of Slaughterhouse-Five, a bestseller that portrayed the firebombing of Dresden, where he was a POW during World War II. Born to parents from two wealthy German families in Indianapolis, Vonnegut drifted into college and the Army after the Great Depression depleted their riches. He was a complex character who struggled to support his family before his first successful novel guaranteed a stable income. Shields focuses more on Vonnegut's personality and relationships with friends and family than on his literary work. This compelling biography provides a fascinating backdrop against which to read or re-read Vonnegut's fiction.

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Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/25/2011
ISBN-13: 9781439157183
ISBN-10: 1439157189

Aaron Burr, one of the founding leaders of the United States, served in several important positions in the young nation, including Vice President. Then he disgraced himself, killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel and later getting involved in a plot that led to his being charged with treason. Much of the information about him comes from indirect sources, but biographer David Stewart meticulously develops a fascinating analysis of Burr's arrogant, ambitious personality, focusing especially on the allegedly treasonous plot. The result is "two parts adventure story and one part courtroom thriller," says Kirkus Reviews. If Stewart's book whets your appetite for the political scandals around Burr, read Nancy Isenberg's Fallen Founder.

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These memoirs and biographies offer a patchwork of insights into the very large and complex continent which is Africa.

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/13/2007
ISBN-13: 9780374105235
ISBN-10: 0374105235

Dirty wars in Africa, which were motivated by greed as much as lust for power, scooped up thousands of boys and turned them into fighters who were forced to commit atrocities against innocent residents of other villages. One of these wars raged in Sierra Leone, and Ishmael Beah was one of these boys. His memoir, A Long Way Gone, describes how he became caught up in the slaughter, how he survived, and how he escaped to safety. This riveting personal account of how a culture of violence affects children belongs to "an elite class of writing: Africans witnessing African wars," says the New York Times.

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Publisher: Mariner Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/23/2002
ISBN-13: 9780618257348
ISBN-10: 0618257349

Famous for her research on primates in Tanzania, Jane Goodall has a personal life as interesting as the chimpanzees she studies. In Beyond Innocence, the 2nd volume of her letters, she recounts her years as a young woman devoting her attention to research and her scientific colleagues while also marrying, caring for her infant child in the field, and maintaining a lively correspondence with friends, family, and other associates. As with the 1st volume of letters, Africa in My Blood, editor Dale Peterson supplies background details to transform the sequence of individual letters into a coherent -- and fascinating -- narrative.

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/13/2009
ISBN-13: 9780812979176
ISBN-10: 0812979176

Sudanese militia attacks on his village in Darfur forced Daoud Hari into exile in 2003. Recalling the days before the war, when people settled ethnic disputes peacefully over meals in one another's homes, Daoud has devoted his life to working as a translator, aiming to tell the world about the genocide in Sudan. Working for journalists (such as Nicholas Kristof), filmmakers, and UN investigators, he has survived imprisonment, life in refugee camps, and other dangers and hardships. This powerfully and simply written memoir offers "a life-changing read," according to Publishers Weekly. You'll find another eyewitness report on Sudan in They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky by Alephonsion Deng.

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Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780061353475
ISBN-10: 0061353477

In 2011, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf shared the Nobel Peace Prize with two other women, thus fulfilling the prophecy she refers to in the title of her memoir, This Child Will Be Great. Johnson-Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia in 2006, after years of civil war that nearly destroyed her country. Speaking out against government incompetence and corruption, she was rewarded with imprisonment and exile but eventually returned to assume leadership and begin to build national identity and cooperation between indigenous Liberians and "American Liberians" -- those descended from African-American slaves who were repatriated to the region beginning in 1822. This eloquent account complements another recent Liberian memoir, The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper.

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Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/14/2009
ISBN-13: 9780812968927
ISBN-10: 0812968921

Isak Dinesen's 1937 memoir Out of Africa acquainted readers with her lover, Denys Finch Hatton, a member of the British gentry who made a name for himself as a pilot and big-game hunter in the early 20th century. No other books on Finch Hatton (portrayed by Robert Redford in the movie adaptation of Dinesen's memoir) existed until Sara Wheeler produced this biography, which evocatively portrays his early years, his adventurous life, and the East African landscape that has attracted so many foreign adventurers. Finch Hatton, it turns out, was fascinating in his own right -- not just as a minor character in Dinesen's life.

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