The Biography Book

Author : Neal Gabler
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 030726596X
Total Pages : 882 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Walt Disney written by Neal Gabler and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2006-10-31 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S 100 GREATEST FILM BOOKS OF ALL TIME • The definitive portrait of one of the most important cultural figures in American history: Walt Disney. Walt Disney was a true visionary whose desire for escape, iron determination and obsessive perfectionism transformed animation from a novelty to an art form, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films–most notably Snow White, Fantasia, and Bambi. In his superb biography, Neal Gabler shows us how, over the course of two decades, Disney revolutionized the entertainment industry. In a way that was unprecedented and later widely imitated, he built a synergistic empire that combined film, television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise. Walt Disney is a revelation of both the work and the man–of both the remarkable accomplishment and the hidden life. Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography and USA Today Biography of the Year

Author : Walter Isaacson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451648545
Total Pages : 656 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs, as well as interviews with family members, friends, competitors, and colleagues to offer a look at the co-founder and leading creative force behind the Apple computer company.

Author : Arnold Rampersad
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0307788482
Total Pages : 562 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jackie Robinson written by Arnold Rampersad and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-06-08 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The extraordinary life of Jackie Robinson is illuminated as never before in this full-scale biography by Arnold Rampersad, who was chosen by Jack's widow, Rachel, to tell her husband's story, and was given unprecedented access to his private papers. We are brought closer than we have ever been to the great ballplayer, a man of courage and quality who became a pivotal figure in the areas of race and civil rights. Born in the rural South, the son of a sharecropper, Robinson was reared in southern California. We see him blossom there as a student-athlete as he struggled against poverty and racism to uphold the beliefs instilled in him by his mother--faith in family, education, America, and God. We follow Robinson through World War II, when, in the first wave of racial integration in the armed forces, he was commissioned as an officer, then court-martialed after refusing to move to the back of a bus. After he plays in the Negro National League, we watch the opening of an all-American drama as, late in 1945, Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers recognized Jack as the right player to break baseball's color barrier--and the game was forever changed. Jack's never-before-published letters open up his relationship with his family, especially his wife, Rachel, whom he married just as his perilous venture of integrating baseball began. Her memories are a major resource of the narrative as we learn about the severe harassment Robinson endured from teammates and opponents alike; about death threats and exclusion; about joy and remarkable success. We watch his courageous response to abuse, first as a stoic endurer, then as a fighter who epitomized courage and defiance. We see his growing friendship with white players like Pee Wee Reese and the black teammates who followed in his footsteps, and his embrace by Brooklyn's fans. We follow his blazing career: 1947, Rookie of the Year; 1949, Most Valuable Player; six pennants in ten seasons, and 1962, induction into the Hall of Fame. But sports were merely one aspect of his life. We see his business ventures, his leading role in the community, his early support of Martin Luther King Jr., his commitment to the civil rights movement at a crucial stage in its evolution; his controversial associations with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Humphrey, Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, and Malcolm X. Rampersad's magnificent biography leaves us with an indelible image of a principled man who was passionate in his loyalties and opinions: a baseball player who could focus a crowd's attention as no one before or since; an activist at the crossroads of his people's struggle; a dedicated family man whose last years were plagued by illness and tragedy, and who died prematurely at fifty-two. He was a pathfinder, an American hero, and he now has the biography he deserves.

Author : Stephanie Li
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313378401
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Toni Morrison written by Stephanie Li and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-12-21 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a revealing look at the life and work of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison: A Biography looks at the remarkable life of an essential American novelist, whose critically acclaimed, bestselling books offer lively, powerful depictions of black America. Toni Morrison follows the life of the woman born Chloe Ardelia Wofford from her culturally rich childhood in Lorrain, OH, through her spectacular rise as a novelist, educator, and public intellectual. The book also serves as a basic introduction to the literary influences that shaped Morrison's writing, from the early novels to the breakout success of Song of Solomon; from the overwhelming achievement of Beloved to her most recent book, A Mercy. The book also examines Morrison's other writing—criticism, essays, edited volumes, children's books—as well as her academic career, her work as an editor at Random House, and her political activism, most notably in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Author : David Meyer
Publisher : Random House Australia
ISBN 13 : 1742751598
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Bee Gees written by David Meyer and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2013 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long overdue, definitive narrative biography of one of Australia's legendary bands, The Bee Gees, by the acclaimed award-winning author of Twenty Thousand Roads- The Ballad of Gram Parsons and his Cosmic American Music. The Bee Gees have outsold everyone- The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Doors and The Kinks, en route to selling more than 225 million records worldwide over their forty-year career. Their numbers are eclipsed only by The Beatles and Michael Jackson. Between 1967 and 1972 the Bee Gees sold twenty-five million records. And during those five years The Bee Gees wrote and sang some of the most memorable, iconic songs of their era; songs that were everywhere, in the air, on the radio and in everyone's head; one Top 5 single after another, in America, Australia and the UK. Songs that included- '1941 New York Mining Disaster', 'To Love Somebody', 'Massachusetts', 'Holiday', 'World', 'Words', 'I Gotta Get a Message To You', 'I Started a Joke', 'Lonely Days'... In 1969 they played the Royal Albert Hall in the UK with a 70-piece orchestra and a 100-piece marching band. Standing room only. The Bee Gees were the first band to play and sell out 100,000-seat sports arenas. In 1971 the brothers wrote and sang one of the most beautiful and enduring pop songs of all time- 'How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?' And in 1972 'Run To Me' became the final #1 of the first Bee Gees era. Pop charts are fickle; pop audiences more fickle still. Bands have always come and gone, bands have always been forgotten. But no band has ever risen as high as The Bee Gees did in 1972 and then fallen as low as The Bee Gees had by 1974. The Bee Gees' saga is the epic story of three men, three brothers, in a unique musical partnership. Unlike, say, The Jacksons, The Bee Gees always needed one another. Each brought a unique gift to the mix, and the others knew it. From that need grew the reality of having to put up with each other. For forty years... Even wth Barry's ambition, he could not succeed without his brothers. Each brother's personality warrants its story told, and all three are caught in this compelling family dynamic. And as weird, human, tragic and compelling as The Bee Gees are as individual characters, the tensions among them provide the core of their amazing drama. David Meyer's highly anticipated biography chronicles the life and career of one of the best known, most enduring, most recognisable, and singular bands of the last fifty years. Their story is the story of pop music over the last forty years, of music that was neither rock nor soul nor country, but an individual sound that fit no genre and that no other artist could emulate.

Author : Anna Pointer
Publisher : Coronet
ISBN 13 : 1473607329
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beyoncé: Running the World written by Anna Pointer and published by Coronet. This book was released on 2014-10-09 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Everything you ever wanted to know about the world's biggest singing star.' 5* - Best Beyoncé: Running The World is the full story of Houston born-and-bred Beyoncé's extraordinary life, which saw her join her first pop group at the age of nine before fronting the girl band Destiny's Child - the biggest-selling female group of all time. After embarking on a solo career in 2003, Beyoncé's status as a superstar was sealed and to date she has won more than 220 awards internationally and the hearts of millions of fans the world over. The most definitive and up-to-date telling of Beyoncé's story ever written, this book provides an intimate close-up on both her professional and personal life, with the inside story on how she and rapper husband Jay-Z became the biggest power couple on earth. With reports that their marriage was crumbling before the world's eyes on their 2014 joint tour, On The Run, it pieces together the split rumours that plagued them at every turn and documents exactly how they coped with such intense public scrutiny. The book also analyses Beyoncé's role as a mother to young daughter Blue Ivy and explores the hidden heartbreaks of her past, including a tragic miscarriage, a lengthy battle with depression and an agonising rift with her manager father Mathew. While celebrating Beyoncé's greatest triumphs Beyoncé: Running The World uncovers the truth behind the headlines, finding out exactly who 'Queen Bey' is and what really goes on behind the scenes... Contains an extra chapter with the most up-to-date information on the world's biggest star.

Author : Albert Rolls
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313345732
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stephen King written by Albert Rolls and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-12-30 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now known worldwide for his horror creations in best-selling books and popular film adaptations, Stephen King spent years in obscurity trying to find his voice and his audience. For much of his career he chose to remain in the small-town Maine of his youth, far from glittering publishing and film centers, yet few American writers can now equal his hold on audiences worldwide. This biography traces King's evolution from would-be pulp magazine writer to master of his craft, whose work both epitomizes and transcends the horror genre.

Author : Harry Crews
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143135333
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Childhood written by Harry Crews and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of the Finest Memoirs Ever Written” –The New Yorker The highly acclaimed memoir of one of the most original American storytellers of the rural South A Penguin Classic Harry Crews grew up as the son of a sharecropper in Georgia at a time when “the rest of the country was just beginning to feel the real hurt of the Great Depression but it had been living in Bacon County for years.” Yet what he conveys in this moving, brutal autobiography of his first six years of life is an elegiac sense of community and roots from a rural South that had rarely been represented in this way. Interweaving his own memories including his bout with polio and a fascination with the Sears, Roebuck catalog, with the tales of relatives and friends, he re-creates a childhood of tenderness and violence, comedy and tragedy.

Author : William Donati
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813196868
Total Pages : 351 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ida Lupino written by William Donati and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2023-01-31 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: British-born actress, singer, director, and producer Ida Lupino (1918-1995) cut one of the most alluring profiles of any Hollywood persona during the forties and fifties. The star of classic films such as They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941), and Road House (1948), she was a stalwart of the screen throughout her early career and frequently received top billing ahead of stars such as Humphrey Bogart. While her talent was undeniable, her insistence on taking only roles she felt would challenge her professionally often put her at odds with the demands of studio executives. It was in those periods of frustration and suspension as an actor that Lupino fostered a talent for the filmmaking process. In a bold decision for a woman of the era, she founded her own independent production company where she became widely regarded as one of the most prolific filmmakers working at the height of the Hollywood studio system. She has been described by fellow directors such as Martin Scorsese as "resilient, with a remarkable empathy for the fragile and heartbroken." William Donati's Ida Lupino: A Biography chronicles the dramatic life of one of Hollywood's most substantive and innovative artists who lived her life unapologetically both behind and in front of the camera. Now considered a classic biography of an amazing talent, Vanity Fair praised the book as "masterful." Celebrating 27 years in print, this edition has a new cover, all new photographs, and a poignant preface by the author.

Author : Robert Hilburn
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 0297866583
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Johnny Cash written by Robert Hilburn and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Johnny Cash ... Every man could relate to him, no man could be him, and only one man could get inside his head - Robert Hilburn' BONO People don't just listen to Johnny Cash: they believe in him. But no one has told the Man in Black's full story, until now. In Johnny Cash: The Life, Robert Hilburn conveys the unvarnished truth about a musical icon, whose colourful career stretched from his days at Sun Records with Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to his remarkable, brave and deeply moving 'Hurt' video, aged sixty-nine. As music critic for the Los Angeles Times, Hilburn knew Cash well throughout his life: he was the only music journalist at the legendary Folsom Prison concert in 1968, and he interviewed Cash and his wife June Carter for the final time just months before their deaths in 2003. Hilburn's rich reporting shows the remarkable highs and deep lows that followed and haunted Cash in equal measure. A man of great faith and humbling addiction, Cash aimed for more than another hit for the jukebox; he wanted his music to lift people's spirits. Drawing upon his personal experience with Cash and a trove of never-before-seen material from the singer's inner circle, Hilburn creates an utterly compelling, deeply human portrait of one of the most iconic figures in modern popular culture - not only a towering figure in country music, but also a seminal influence in rock, whose personal life was far more troubled, and whose musical and lyrical artistry much more profound, than even his most devoted fans ever realised.