Résultats Éditeur "Charles River Editors" dans Biographies et mémoires

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' Catholic Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of the Church's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Near the end of the 20th century, the American Film Institute ranked the greatest actors and actresses who worked during the Golden Era of Hollywood and the first half of the 1900s, and Sidney Poitier was ranked 22nd among the men. Given the company he was surrounded by, such a distinction could be considered honor enough, but Poitier also happened to be the only minority on the list, an accomplishment made all the more incredible given the systematic discrimination he faced within the industry and the land where he grew up.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) was one of the most famous Romans in his day, and posterity has been even kinder to him. Cicero was a legend in his own time for his oratory abilities, which he used to persuade fellow senators and denounce enemies like Catiline and Mark Antony, but he was also one of Rome's most prodigious writers and political philosophers. Alongside Pericles, Cicero was one of antiquity's greatest politicians, and he has remained one of the most influential statesmen in history.

Together, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the most important partnership in the history of women's rights in America. The women worked seamlessly, with Stanton providing the forceful ideology and Anthony providing the tireless advocacy. Despite their partnership, the two women are often remembered quite differently. Fighting for Women's Suffrage chronicles the lives and partnership of the two women, examining their ideologies, advocacy, and writings.

In the mid-19th century, Romantic literature was still in full bloom across the West, but some American authors began producing literature that, while still Romantic, was unique enough to be considered a different genre. This new genre, Transcendentalism, focused on the spirituality of the self and nature, not rejecting religion outright but concentrating on pragmatism and the importance of individuals as the spiritual center of the cosmos.

Years before comedians like Chris Farley made their reputations with a particularly physical form of humor, there was John Belushi, the legendary comedian known for iconic performances in Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and as one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live. Not surprisingly, posters of Belushi as Bluto Blutarsky wearing a shirt that simply says "College" still adorn the walls of countless dorm rooms over 35 years after Animal House came out, and The Blues Brothers is still a cult classic.

It would be nearly impossible for someone to pack more action into 32 years than Bruce Lee, whose name remains practically synonymous with martial arts excellence and kung-fu movies. He was undoubtedly the forerunner to martial arts stars who came in his wake, including Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that he grew up as a sickly child. His upbringing was simultaneously one of great privilege and hardship, which had a huge impact on his career down the road.

Of all the eccentric and enigmatic men who led during the Civil War, perhaps none had as mixed a record as Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill, better known as A.P. Hill. Hill was a well known and highly respected general on both sides, particularly for his command of "Hill's Light Division" under Stonewall Jackson, which arrived just in time to save Lee's army during the Battle of Antietam.

Among America's presidents, Harry Truman's presidency produced some of the nation's most crucial decisions and left one of the nation's most unique legacies. When President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, Vice President Truman, somewhat unprepared for the Presidency, now had to fill some of the biggest shoes in American history.

Ever since Machiavelli penned The Prince, his 1513 treatise on princely rule and the politics of reality, a work that infamously advises rulers to abandon virtue and morality when necessary, his name has been synonymous with deceit, duplicity, and amoral pragmatism. Since then a sinister reputation has posthumously plagued the controversial Florentine. But is this depiction of Machiavelli as wicked and immoral accurate?

Hepburn acted in some capacity from the start of the 1930s through the early-1990s, and it is important to view how the nature of Hepburn's roles changed from her youth to old age. Aside from being one of the most recognized and acclaimed actresses in history, Hepburn's career is also of great importance because she forced Americans to reevaluate their expectations for female behavior, both in films themselves and off the movie set as well.

Alongside the Renaissance, the Enlightenment is credited with the transition to an adherence to reason, secularism, and promotion of values such as the value of the individual, collective freedom, and liberty. At the heart of the movement in France was François-Marie Arouet, better known by the pen name Voltaire, whose writings advocated for greater liberalism, including freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a biting polemic whose satirical attacks on the Catholic Church were among the fiercest of his day.

Americans have loved traveling circuses for generations, and none represents the country's love of entertainment quite like the most famous of them all, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Circus promoters have long been viewed as somewhat shady hucksters, but none could top Phineas Taylor Barnum, who used a blend of traditional circus entertainment, freak show exhibits, and outright hoaxes to create "The Greatest Show on Earth".

Since Woody Allen has been prolific in his output and transparent in his presentation to the public, it is easy to lose sight of the remarkable breadth of his career. Indeed, over his career, Woody has excelled at slapstick humor while also tackling philosophical themes, often in the same films. His films have appealed to both a mass audience as well as an international art house audience.

Throughout the annals of history, there have been few men as reviled as Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. To this day he is associated with murder, betrayal, violence, and infamy, so much so that in modern English his name provides the root for the words "brute" and "brutal", as it does in several other Romance languages. Indeed Brutus' reputation was so infamous that when Dante composed his timeless Divine Comedy, he relegated Brutus to the very nethermost depths of hell.

Robert E. Lee is remembered today for constantly defeating the Union's Army of the Potomac in the Eastern theater from 1862-1865, considerably frustrating Lincoln and his generals. His leadership of his army led to him being deified after the war by some of his former subordinates, especially Virginians, and he came to personify the lost cause's ideal Southern soldier. His reputation was secured, in the decades after the war, as a general who brilliantly led his men to amazing victories against all odds.

In 1872, during a fight along the Yellowstone River between US troops protecting railroad workers and Sioux warriors, one of the Sioux did something both unusual and inspiring. At the height of the battle, with bullets whizzing all around him, this warrior sat down, loaded his cannupa (sacred pipe), and began to smoke, partaking in his people's religious sacrament.

While performing, Louis Armstrong appeared lost in a reverie. It was a condition that imbued his performances with a kind of mythical flair, as if one were watching a man consumed by a moment of transcendence.

No history of American pop culture in the 1940s would be complete without mention of Betty Grable, the most popular pinup girl of the World War II era. Grable possessed the outstanding fortune of not only having an ideal body, but of arriving at the most fortuitous time imaginable. Not only were her legs famously adored by American soldiers, they were actually insured to the tune of one million dollars. Meanwhile, Rita Hayworth's life and career remain fascinating to both the general public and avid movie fans alike.

Shortly after World War II, Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating Americans across the country for suspected ties to Communism. The most famous victims of these witch hunts were Hollywood actors, such as Charlie Chaplin, whose "Un-American activity" was being neutral at the beginning of World War II. By the late 1950s, the hysteria had waned, recognized in large measure as an overreaction.