Historical Memoirs

Frank Sinatra. Dean Martin. Sammy Davis, Jr. Peter Lawford. Joey Bishop. They call themselves The Clan. But to an awed world, they are known as The Rat Pack. They had it all. Fame. Gorgeous women. A fabulous playground of a city and all the money in the world. The backing of fearsome crime lords and the blessing of the President of the United States. But the dark side - over the thin line between pleasure and debauchery, between swinging self-confidence and brutal arrogance - took its toll. In four years, their great ride was over, and showbiz was never the same.

Having found fame and success as a model, Christine's short affair with the minister for war, John Profumo, led to his downfall at the end of Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, and was at the heart of the social and political earthquake that followed. She became the subject of scandal, intrigue and gossip and was tried for perjury and briefly jailed following the death of Stephen Ward, the socialite who had introduced her to Profumo.

In 1971 William Reeder was a senior captain on his second tour in Vietnam. He had flown armed, fixed-wing OV-1 Mohawks on secret missions deep into enemy territory in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, on his first tour. He returned as a helicopter pilot eager to experience a whole new perspective as a Cobra gunship pilot. Believing that Nixon's Vietnamization would soon end the war, Reeder was anxious to see combat action. To him, it appeared that the Americans had prevailed, beaten the Viet Cong, and were passing everything over to the South Vietnamese Army so Americans could leave.

Equiano’s story, by his own admission, was not one that was particularly different from those of other slaves from his place and time; however, he wanted to recount his story as a way to aid others who were living similar lives and provide inspiration for those hoping to eventually purchase freedom themselves.

By the time he was 30, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment.

In the turbulent world of Chicago politics, Boss dives deep into the captivating life and legacy of Richard J. Daley, the influential politician and mastermind behind the city's Democratic Party machine. Mike Royko's scathing and meticulously researched account follows Richard J. Daley's rise to power, from his inauspicious youth on Chicago's South Side through his rapid climb to the seat of power as the city's mayor. This engrossing biography brings to life the most powerful political figure of his time.

In this classic tale of adventure, a young American sea captain named James Riley, shipwrecked off the western coast of North Africa in 1815, was captured by a band of nomadic Arabs and sold into slavery. Thus begins an epic adventure of survival and a quest for freedom that takes him across the Sahara desert.

Embark on an enlightening journey with "My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla". In this intimate memoir, the famed inventor and visionary pulls back the curtain on his remarkable life, offering an unprecedented look at his prolific mind and innumerable accomplishments. Ideal for science and history enthusiasts, engineers, and anyone intrigued by the boundless possibilities of human ingenuity, "My Inventions" offers a profound exploration of a life dedicated to innovation.

Jeanne d'Arc. Anführer, Held, Krieger, Märtyrer. Verfolgen Sie Joans beeindruckende Verwandlung von einer ungewöhnlichen Kriegerin zu einer verehrten Militärkommandeurin, die sich gesellschaftlichen Normen widersetzt und sich unüberwindlichen Widrigkeiten gegenübersieht. Mit unerschütterlichem Glauben und unnachgiebiger Entschlossenheit versammelt sie die französischen Truppen und inspiriert sie mit ihrem Eifer und ihrer strategischen Brillanz. Während Joans Legende wächst, wächst auch die Komplexität ihrer Welt.

Belisarius and Antonina were titans in the Roman world some 1,500 years ago. Belisarius was the most well-known general of his age, victor over the Persians, conqueror of the Vandals and the Goths, and as if this were not enough, wealthy beyond imagination. She made a name for herself by traveling with Belisarius on his military campaigns, deposing a pope, and scheming to disgrace important Roman officials. This unadulterated power and wealth did not mean that Belisarius and Antonina were universally successful in all that they undertook.

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his 16-year old son Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany, where a new concentration camp was being built. It was the beginning of a five-year odyssey almost without parallel. They helped build Buchenwald, young Fritz learning construction skills which would help preserve him from extermination in the coming years. But it was his bond with his father that would ultimately keep them both alive. When the 50-year old Gustav was transferred to Auschwitz - a certain death sentence - Fritz was determined to go with him.

From 1934 until 1944, Mussolini met Hitler numerous times, and the two developed a relationship that deeply affected both countries. While Germany is generally regarded as the senior power, Christian Goeschel demonstrates just how much history has underrepresented Mussolini's influence on his German ally. Goeschel, a scholar of 20th-century Germany and Italy, revisits all of Mussolini and Hitler's key meetings and asks how these meetings constructed a powerful image of a strong Fascist-Nazi relationship that still resonates with the general public.

A biography of William T. Sherman by the military theorist and author of Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon.

Après le coup d'État de Brumaire (novembre 1799), Bonaparte affirme : "Je suis la Révolution", pour ajouter "La Révolution est finie". Trois voies sont alors offertes : le retour au système monarchique, la consolidation des conquêtes bourgeoises et paysannes, ou la satisfaction des aspirations des sans-culottes parisiens. Biographie traditionnelle mais aussi ouvrage de référence, ce Napoléon, ou le mythe du sauveur aura été le premier à faire mentir Stendhal quand il prophétisait : "D'ici à cinquante ans, il faudra refaire l'histoire de Napoléon tous les ans".

On November 22, 1963, the author of Behind the Scenes was a young Dallas Times Herald reporter who sprinted from his newspaper desk to Dealey Plaza minutes after shots were fired at President John F. Kennedy. Eyewitnesses he found at Dealey Plaza included Abraham Zapruder, who insisted from the first moments that the president could not have survived the serious wounds he had seen so clearly through his camera viewfinder.

A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors - the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty - filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII. Near the turn of the sixteenth century, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry Tudor clambered to the top of the heap, a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for 24 years.

“Shines a light on one of the twentieth century’s most amazing untold life stories. ... An essential read—and an unforgettable trip.” —Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley Road “Cahalan details a piece of lost but fascinating history, the story of a woman who embodied an era of...

It's fall, 1959, and Homer "Sonny" Hickam and his fellow Rocket Boys are in their senior year at Big Creek High, launching handbuilt rockets that soar thousands of feet into the West Virginia sky. But in a season traditionally marked by celebrations of the spirit, Coalwood finds itself at a...

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF NPR’S “BOOKS WE LOVE” From the renowned novelist and critic, an exquisite collection of journal entries from the 1980s and ’90s, tracking a young, gay author’s literary coming-of-age in New York during the AIDS crisis In 1983, Thomas...

From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history—the most intimate and richly readable account we have had—of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier...