Birth Memoirs

My story of being a writer begins the day I vowed I would never write.

From his early career as a printer and journalist to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth, he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world, where he fought many battles with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of 41, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Bunker goes behind the legend to reveal the sources of his passion for knowledge.

From the beginnings of big-city police work to the rise of the Mafia, Rogues' Gallery is a colorful and captivating history of crime and punishment in the bustling streets of Old New York.

It is 1965, and Swinging London is coming into its prime years. The streets are alive with mods and rockers, playboys and good-time girls, all revelling in the blossoming artistic, creative and cultural energies of the decade. Amid the colour and chaos is a boy sporting drainpipe jeans, an immaculately tailored sports coat and a half-inch wide tie. A devoted fan of The Who, he looks the part in his pristine mod gear. As the lead singer of the Lower Third, his talent is shaping itself into something truly special. His name is Davie Jones.

Enrico Fermi is unquestionably among the greats of the world's physicists, the most famous Italian scientist since Galileo. Called "the Pope" by his peers, he was regarded as infallible in his instincts and research. His discoveries changed our world; they led to weapons of mass destruction and conversely to life-saving medical interventions. This unassuming man struggled with issues relevant today, such as the threat of nuclear annihilation and the relationship of science to politics.

A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism offers a spirited introduction to the life and work of this legendary but underappreciated musician, composer, and poet. Paul Youngquist explores and assesses Sun Ra’s wide-ranging creative output - music, public preaching, graphic design, film and stage performance, and poetry - and connects his diverse undertakings to the culture and politics of his times, including the space race, the rise of technocracy, the civil rights movement, and even space-age bachelor-pad music.

A deeply researched account of the life and legacy of the man who defined the profession of private eye. Allan Pinkerton, the world's most famous private detective, has been an enduring source of fascination since the nineteenth century. But the details of his impact, business empire, and private life have been incomplete. Drawing on overlooked primary sources, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones provides an authoritative account of the man and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (PNDA).

Joseph Leslie 'Squizzy' Taylor was many things to many people: a kind and caring husband, father and stepfather, a reliable son and brother, a generous and considerate neighbour and patron. He was also a criminal willing to consider any type of crime, provided it supported his lifestyle and his ego. Squizzy graduated from teenage pickpocket to adult murderer, from organizing smash-and-grab raids on jewellers to corrupting juries and suborning witnesses.

In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband's death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the university to inculcate her values, steered Stanford into eccentricity and public controversy for more than a decade. In 1905 she was murdered in Hawaii, a victim, according to the Honolulu coroner's jury, of strychnine poisoning.

Augustin Fresnel (1788–1827) shocked the scientific elite with his unique understanding of the physics of light. The lens he invented was a brilliant feat of engineering that made lighthouses blaze many times brighter, farther, and more efficiently. Battling the establishment, his own poor health, and the limited technology of the time, Fresnel was able to achieve his goal of illuminating the entire French coast. At first, the British sought to outdo the new Fresnel-equipped lighthouses as a matter of national pride.

Handsome and charismatic, Albert Hicks had long been known in the dive bars and gin joints of the Five Points, the most dangerous neighborhood in maritime Manhattan. For years, he operated out of the public eye, rambling from crime to crime, working on the water in ships, sleeping in the nickel-a-night flops, drinking in barrooms where rat-baiting and bear-baiting were great entertainments. Rich Cohen tells the story of this notorious underworld figure, from his humble origins to the wild, globe-crossing, bacchanalian crime spree that forged his ruthlessness and his reputation.

From late 1872 to 1876, H.M.S. Challenger explored the world's oceans. Conducting deep sea soundings, dredging the ocean floor, recording temperatures, observing weather, and collecting biological samples, the expedition laid the foundations for modern oceanography. Following the ship's naturalists and their discoveries, earth scientist Doug Macdougall engagingly tells a story of Victorian-era adventure and ties these early explorations to the growth of modern scientific fields.

From the ghetto paved and unpaved streets of Indianapolis, Indiana this book begins telling the story of one fat kids rise from the projects, to his fall serving over 7 years in as many prisons, and how he was able to come out a Prison scholar that led to him writing 18 phenomenal books about redemption and attending Georgia State University graduating No.1 in his undergraduate class earning a 4.13 GPA and going on to grad school where he excelled graduating at top of his class, before becoming a very popular African-American Studies professors at Georgia State University.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PLUTARCH AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHY WINNER OF THE ASJA AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY A riveting history about the little-known rivalry between Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett that profoundly shaped reproductive rights in America In the 1910s, as the birth control movement...

This absorbing and poignant book is not merely the story of one writer's flawed heart. It is a history of cardiac medicine, a candid personal journey, and a profound reflection on mortality. Born in 1966 with a congenital heart defect known as the tetralogy of Fallot, Gabriel Brownstein entered...

This is a true love story of the romance and emotional trauma of a 20-year-old college student set on an international stage in 1965. It is based on the hundreds of letters she sent to her parents in Palo Alto, California while she studied in Denmark and Germany. Her experiences matured her from a typical naive teenager to a world leader who helped identify the need for, and implement an international social movement that as impacted millions of families and professionals. It inspires the listener by showing how truth trumps secrecy and can lead to health and happiness.

Through Adopted Hearts explores the world of adoption from the viewpoints of both birth and adoptive parents. In this follow up to Through Adopted Eyes, author and adoptee Elena Hall guides listeners through a diverse collection of true stories filled with powerful insight into the rest of the adoption triad. If you are an adoptive parent, birth parent, adoptee, or just curious to learn more, this audiobook provides thoughtful and challenging perspective into how adoption shapes and changes lives.

"In December 1776, a small boat delivered an old man to France." So begins a dazzling narrative account of Benjamin Franklin's French mission, the most exacting, and momentous, eight years of his life.

In "Cursed at Birth," author Jenna Burda takes listeners on a poignant and gripping journey across the highs and lows of her life. Through vivid storytelling and raw emotion, Jenna recounts her experiences fending for herself, migrating to freedom, and navigating the complexities of love and loss. As she grapples with betrayal and heartbreak from the depths of despair to the heights of joy, Jenna's story invites listeners to join her on a journey of self-discovery, healing, and ultimately, redemption.

The story of how Hip Hop got its start as told by Gene "Poo Poo Man" Anderson, the promoter at the center of it all. From "Rapper's Delight" and the first rap concert ever, to the introduction of break dancing and scratching, take an insider's tour of the crazy stories, culture, and challenges of the time.