Diary Biography

"Le nouveau monde ne sera pas construit par ceux qui restent à l'écart les bras croisés, mais par ceux qui sont dans l'arène, les vêtements réduits en haillons par la tempête et le corps mutilé par les événements." Arrêté en 1962 par le gouvernement d'apartheid d'Afrique du Sud, Nelson Mandela a passé vingt-sept ans en prison - du 7 novembre 1962 au 11 février 1990. Au cours de ces 10 052 jours de détention, il fut un épistolier prolifique, écrivant des centaines de lettres aux autorités inflexibles, à ses compagnons de lutte, aux gouvernements officiels, mais aussi à sa femme Winnie, à ses cinq enfants et, plus tard, à ses petits-enfants.

A poignant, funny, and lively memoir of sexual awakening, music, and discovering one's true self. Pete Crighton came of age in the early/mid 1980s in the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Growing up in Toronto, he was terrified that his friends and schoolmates would find out that he was “different” at a...

This unique and gripping document contains the recently discovered diaries of a German businessman, John Rabe, who saved so many lives in the infamous siege of Nanking in 1937 that he is now being honored as the Oskar Schindler of China. As the Japanese army closed in and all foreigners were ordered to evacuate, Rabe mobilized the remaining Westerners in Nanking and organized an "International Safety Zone" which guaranteed safety to all unarmed Chinese by virtue of Germany's pact.

The world changed on Sept 11th 2001 and again May 2nd, 2011 but for me, the real transformation unfolded over months of training, deployment, and the long journey home. This war diary is not just a record of events but a reflection of the duality of life in service—a world where chaos meets connection, where exhaustion coexists with resilience, and where longing for home becomes both an anchor and a driving force.

Paul Theroux celebrates fifty years of wandering the globe by collecting the best writing on travel from the books that shaped him, as a reader and a traveler. Part philosophical guide, part miscellany, part reminiscence, The Tao of Travel enumerates “The Contents of Some Travelers’ Bags”...

At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks...

Friedrich Reck might seem an unlikely rebel against Nazism. Not just a conservative but a rock-ribbed reactionary, he played the part of a landed gentleman, deplored democracy, and rejected the modern world outright. To Reck, the Nazis were ruthless revolutionaries in Gothic drag, and helpless as he was to counter the spell they had cast on the German people, he felt compelled to record the corruptions of their rule.

No one could have predicted even two years ago that an African American would take the oath of office as president of the United States in January of 2009. For many, the occasion marks the climax to the civil rights movement and the fulfillment of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream that Americans could be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin. This collection, with about 400 letters from Americans of all walks of life, is being created to stand as a symbol of this exciting moment in history.

This classic sports book takes listeners inside the 1967 season of the Green Bay Packers, following that storied team from training camp to their dramatic victory in Super Bowl II. Candid and often amusing, Jerry Kramer describes from a player's perspective a bygone era of sports, filled with blood, grit, and tears. No game better exemplifies this period than the classic "Ice Bowl" conference championship game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, which Kramer, who made the crucial block in the climactic play, describes in thrilling detail.

Preparing for the first winter in his new home, ready to embrace the slower pace of early retirement, he soon discovers that it’s not working. From floods to explosions, from protection rackets to hospitalisations, from coping with the death of his hero to trying to find solace in a confusing and abstract relationship, this is a frank, funny and always heartfelt story of how not working doesn’t always work out, and it might just be Graham’s wildest ride yet.

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Pull up a chair, pour some eggnog, and enjoy the Christmas spirit with friends… From the wind-swept, snowy ranges of Wyoming to Florida beaches glowing with Christmas lights, All American Christmas traces holiday traditions across the United States. In this...

A meditative and inspiring diary of Derek Jarman's famous garden at Dungeness. In 1986 Derek Jarman discovered he was HIV positive and decided to make a garden at his cottage on the barren coast of Dungeness. Facing an uncertain future, he nevertheless found solace in nature, growing all manner of plants. While some perished beneath wind and sea-spray, others flourished, creating brilliant, unexpected beauty in the wilderness. Modern Nature is both a diary of the garden and a meditation by Jarman on his own life.

An inspirational and truly dedicated servant of the lord, David Brainerd endured hardship after hardship while maintaining a singularly devoted heart and mind for God. Not only did his faith remain true and steadfast, but his determination to bring God’s light to others provided an even greater element of encouragement even to the pastors and missionaries working alongside him. Traveling thousands of miles and struggling with illness and physical hardships, Brainerd brought the word of God to remote Native Americans despite the many limitations of his day and of his own health and wellbeing.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library, Minneapolis Star Tribune Part memoir, part sweeping journalistic saga: As Casey Parks follows the mystery of a stranger's past, she is forced to reckon with her own...

From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize­–winning author Alice Walker and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and...

Brutally Honest, Honestly Brutal. Skinhead Diaries is a record of 20th century social history when young people aligned themselves with youth cults. There were punks, rockabillies, rockers, teds, new romantics, mods, scooter boys, heavy metallers, hippies and goths. At the age of twelve Paul Burnley followed his older brother into the ranks of London skinheads. It was a path that lead to violence, under age drinking, police cells, family abandonment, hard core oi music and far right fantatisism. Written from the viewpoint and reckless attitude of the time, the author pulls no punches.

A flicker of light almost appears at the end of the tunnel for prisoner FF8282, as he is transferred to North Sea Camp near Boston, Lincolnshire, a D-category prison. Under a less strict regime, the prisoners can enjoy a more relaxed set of rules, while slowly preparing to someday rejoin the world outside the walls. However, a minor breach of conditions gets him sent off to the notorious HMP Lincoln facility for twenty-two days, where more traumatic experiences await. "Heaven" is the third book in Jeffrey Archer’s bestselling series The Prison Diaries.

On June 12, 1994, the lives of Nicole Brown Simspon and Ronald Goldman were violently ended. From the spectacle of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Nicole's friend Faye Resnick attempted to capture the life of Simpson and the two women's relationship to each other. Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted offers a tragic view of a woman trapped in a violent cycle of fear and abuse.

Fetish Girl has made a regular passive income in the most bizarre ways. From standing on toy cars, financial domination, crushing bananas, vacuuming, sneezing, and spitting, she has experienced the strangest fetishes out there. This book details her strangest messages, funniest requests, and hilarious situations while fulfilling the needs of the slightly perverse.

Beginning in 1987, as she embarks on an affair that she knows will be all-consuming and ending in 1995 with the publication of The First Stone and the furore that followed it, Garner reveals the inner life of a woman in love and a great writer at work. With devastating honesty and sparkling humour, she grapples with what it means for her sense of self to be so entwined with another - how to survive as an artist in a partnership that is both enthralling and uncompromising.