Biography

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  • Zhou Enlai
    Zhou Enlai

    $15.26

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    From:Perseus Books Group 0

    Document Overview:
    When Gao Wenqian first published this groundbreaking, provocative biography in Hong Kong, it was immediately banned in the People's Republic. Using classified documents spirited out of the China, he offers an objective human portrait of the real Zhou Enlai, the premier of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976. Often touted as "the last perfect revolutionary," Zhou is "a modern saint" who offered protection to his people during the Cultural Revolution, and an icon who allows modern Chinese to find an admirable figure in what was a traumatic and bloody era. But his greatest gift was to survive, at almost any price, thanks to his acute understanding of where political power resided at any one time.
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  • Pale Native
    Pale Native

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    Document Overview:
    Max du Preez has one hell of a story to tell. In his career as a renegade reporter, he's survived three dismissals, seven libel suits, thirteen criminal cases, four aeroplane crashes, a bombing, two assassination attempts and was a regular on right-wing hit lists. He was in Soweto on 16 June 1976, witnessed the debauched parties of apartheid cabinet ministers, and stepped over dead bodies in a bombed Angolan village. He looked into apartheid killer Dirk Coetzee's eyes and published his story of police death squads, and when he visited Vlakplaas himself, he was lucky to get out alive.Max is best known as founder and editor of the Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad, and for his weekly television report on the Truth Commission and the programme Special Assignment. His story takes you on a remarkable journey, from the contradictions of history to the triumphs and troubles of the present, from the halls of parliament to the desert of Namibia, from burning townships to the headquarters of covert operations. You'll meet generals and guerrillas, presidents and hit men. And its all reported with the straight-shooting, uncompromising, outspoken frankness that has won him admiration and got him into trouble with the new government as well as the old.Pale Native is a story filled with drama, about the risks of investigative journalism in the front line. It's controversial, because Max, as always, is not afraid to expose what others want hidden from view. It's insightful, giving a fascinating analysis of southern African politics from a skilled reporter who has seen it first hand.
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  • Doolittle
    Doolittle

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    On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led a flight of sixteen B-25 bombers off the flight deck of the USS Hornet on one of the most daring raids in U.S. military history, a low-level strike on Tokyo and other Japanese cities. For this heroic act, he received the Medal of Honor. But, as Dik Alan Daso convincingly argues, James H. Doolittle should be remembered as much more than a famous combat pilot. With a doctorate in aeronautics from MIT, he devoted his life to mastering the technical and practical intricacies of the most amazing new invention of his time, the airplane. In 1922, Doolittle became the first person to complete a transcontinental flight across the United States in a single twenty-four-hour period. Later he worked with the Shell Oil Company to develop high-octane aviation fuel to enhance aircraft performance. He also won numerous trophies for his record-breaking high-speed flights, and he developed new instrumentation to assist pilots when flying "blind" in poor weather. In jet age parlance, Doolittle constantly "pushed the envelope." After holding several major combat commands during World War II, he was appointed a special assistant to the Air Force chief of staff in 1951 and served as a civilian adviser in scientific matters, including the development of ballistic missiles and the fledgling space program. From the early days of aviation to the space age, Daso provides a concise but expansive overview of the rapidly developing field of aviation and chronicles a pioneer's tireless efforts to be a visionary for the new era.
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  • Demons in the Age of Light
    Demons in the Age of Light

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    From:Perseus Books Group 0

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    A gifted young writer heals her soul from devastating schizophrenia after religion and psychiatry attempt to cure her.
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  • My Heart Became Attached
    My Heart Became Attached

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    From:Potomac Books, Inc 0

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    What would cause an otherwise intelligent, well-educated, and, by all accounts, privileged Californian to forgo an easy life in the United States to struggle for survival in a land of strife and mortal danger? With this question in mind, journalist Mark Kukis retraces the personal and spiritual evolution of the most reviled American traitor since Lee Harvey Oswald. "My Heart Became Attached provides a detailed biographical account of John Walker Lindh's journey, beginning with his childhood in an affluent San Francisco suburb. Kukis then follows Lindh's footsteps to Yemen, where he learned Arabic and radical Islam, and on through the wild hinterlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The journey culminates with the violent prison uprising at Mazar-i-Sharif.While conducting research, Kukis achieved unparalleled access to major players in Lindh's life. In Pakistan, Kukis found the militants from the jihad group that trained with Lindh in a Pakistani camp. Kukis also conducted several rounds of interviews with Lindh's friend who initially settled him in an Islamic boarding school, with Lindh's instructor there, and with fellow pupils in the hardscrabble Pakistani village where he studied the Koran before journeying into Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Kukis interviewed Taliban soldiers who fought at Mazar-i-Sharif and General Dostum, warlord of the region. Ex-roommates, family members, and friends all contributed to Kukis's research, resulting in the most thorough portrait available of the American Taliban.
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  • Murder at the Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club
    Murder at the Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club

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    There has been a murder in the posh locker room of the Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club. After a bad set of doubles, popular nice guy Shig Manabe is found floating in the hot tub, turning pink, and beginning to bubble crimson. Captain Tim Kawamura, family man and hero of the American Club murder case, is sent on the trail of the racketing-wielding murderer in tennis whites. The solution to the crimes lies in the secret memoirs of the victim, but will Captain Kawamura unravel the riddle before the rising body count includes himself, his wife and his children?
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  • Hospital Sketches
    Hospital Sketches

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    Although best known as a writer of fiction who produced such classics as Little Women, Louisa May Alcott lived a fascinating life that included a stint as a Civil War nurse. This collection includes several essays, letters, and other pieces that outline Alcott's experiences serving to the needs of the war wounded. It's a fascinating account that will enthrall Civil War buffs or those with an interest in the history of medical practice.
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  • Herbert Read
    Herbert Read

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    An impressive portrait of one of England's most distinguished twentieth-century critics.
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  • Gatekeeper
    Gatekeeper

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    From:Potomac Books, Inc 0

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    John F. Sullivan was a polygraph examiner with the CIA for thirty-one years, during which time he conducted more tests than anyone in the history of the CIA's program. The lie detectors act as the Agency's gatekeepers, preventing foreign agents, unsuitable applicants, and employees guilty of misconduct from penetrating or harming the Agency. Here Sullivan describes his methods, emphasizing the importance of psychology and the examiners' skills in a successful polygraph program. Sullivan acknowledges that using the polygraph effectively is an art as much as a science, yet he convincingly argues that it remains a highly reliable screening device, more successful and less costly than the other primary method, background investigation. In the thousands of tests that Sullivan conducted, he discovered double agents, applicants with criminal backgrounds, and employee misconduct, including compromising affairs and the mishandling of classified information.But Gatekeeper is more than Sullivan's memoirs. It is also a window to the often acrimonious and sometimes alarming internal politics of the CIA: the turf wars over resources, personnel, and mandate; the slow implementation of quality control; the aversion to risk-taking; and the overzealous pursuit of disqualifying information. In an age when the intelligence community's conduct is rightly being questioned, Sullivan contributes a fascinating personal account of one of the Agency's many important tasks.
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  • In the Crossfire
    In the Crossfire

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    From:Perseus Books Group 0

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    A stunning autobiographical account of the fight for freedom in Ho Chi Min's Vietnam.
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  • I Pray Hardest When I'm Being Shot At
    I Pray Hardest When I'm Being Shot At

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    After the attack on Pearl Harbor, eighteen-year-old Robert Stuart had a decision to make: keep working at the steel mill in Warren, Ohio, or volunteer to serve his country. Anne Davis had a decision of her own to make. The girls in her high school were going to send letters to alumni who were going off to war. She looked at the list of soldiers and saw a familiar name: Robert Stuart.The letters Anne sent would mark the beginning of a relationship that would span sixty years, two marriages, two children, and three wars.Over half a century after those first letters were sent, the Stuarts' grandson, Kyle, began chronicling their life together. He would discover pieces of a family history that only he dug deep enough to learn. But in the back of his mind, one concern lingered: the story of a person's life can only have one ending, and his grandfather's health was deteriorating.
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  • I Was There
    I Was There

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    Military memories were recaptured and told to the author by the men and women residents at Clifford C. Sims Veterans' Nursing Home in Panama City, Florida. Some of these outstanding individuals were ones who put themselves in harm's way as they fought for their country. Others recall being on the sidelines with assistance that come in the form of: financial clerks, nurses, truck drivers, ambulance drivers, ground crews, personnel sergeants and many more. None felt as though they were heroes. Their stories will touch your heart.
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  • My Asakusa
    My Asakusa

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    From:Perseus Books Group 0

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    Written near the end of Sadako Sawamura's remarkable life, My Asakusa (Watashi co Asakusa) is a charming collection of autobiographical essays by a truly self-made woman. Recalling Japan at a time of great political turmoil and rapid cultural change, Sawamura shares with us her vignettes of growing up in Asakusa—one of the last of the old downtown Shitamachi neighborhoods of incessantly modernizing Tokyo—and her keen insight into the characters of those who populated her world.
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  • Frank Capra
    Frank Capra

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    Document Overview:
    Moviegoers often assume Frank Capra's life resembled his beloved films (such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life). A man of the people faces tremendous odds and, by doing the right thing, triumphs! But as Joseph McBride reveals in this meticulously researched, definitive biography, the reality was far more complex, a true American tragedy. Using newly declassified U.S. government documents about Capra's response to being considered a possible "subversive" during the post-World War II Red Scare, McBride adds a final chapter to his unforgettable portrait of the man who gave us It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe.
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  • Short Circuits
    Short Circuits

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    Lambda-nominated author Dorien Grey (The Dick Hardesty Mysteries, The Elliott Smith Mysteries) knows more than just how to write a great murder novel. He's also had amazing life experiences in the military and around the world. Here, for the first time, are the collected blog and journal writings of this prolific author. As Grey notes, "Sometimes things are more clearly seen through the eyes of others." The hope is that the reader will see similarities to his/her own life, and recognize the commonality of the human condition.
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