New Biographies Memoirs

A late-night visit to his Shanghai laneway house by China’s notorious secret police triggered a diplomatic storm which abruptly ended Michael Smith’s stint as one of Australia’s last foreign correspondents in China. After five days under consular protection, Smith was evacuated from a very different China to the country he first visited 25 years earlier.

The most seminal event of the last millennium might also be its most controversial. As schoolchildren have been taught for over 500 years, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Like Christopher Columbus before him, Hernán Cortés was lionized for his successes for centuries without questioning his tactics or motives, while indigenous views of the man have been overwhelmingly negative for the consequences his conquests had. Just about the only thing everyone agrees upon is that Cortés had a profound impact on the history of North America.

A Paw Partnership charts a path toward hope and healing, through partnerships between pet parents and the professionals who care for their pets. Author, Neha Taneja, knew the statistics. From her vantage point as veterinary practice manager, she’d watched the industry take its toll on her peers. Now she, too, was on the brink of burnout. By stepping away from the profession, Taneja found the compelling perspective offered in A Paw Partnership. Through deeply personal storytelling, A Paw Partnership diagnoses an ailing industry’s symptoms.

Thomas Alva Edison: a frontiersman in modern science. He was no armchair scientist. He converted all his scientific discoveries into inventions that help the common man. Learn all about him by listening to this fascinating audiobook.

Enter the world of 'Damned Immigrants,' a compelling account of the modern immigrant experience. This story offers a unique perspective on the trials and triumphs of those who've embarked on a journey of hope, resilience, and adaptation. Discover the complex and diverse lives of these newcomers, and gain insight into the challenges they face as they navigate the uncharted territory of a new homeland.

In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in.

On June 13, 2013, as she drives to work, Tyila Cooks comes to the scene of an accident and quickly learns that the driver of the mangled vehicle is one of her six children - her oldest son. Years later, her oldest daughter’s long-term health condition worsens, and she finds herself in a fight for her own life. As this family journeys through two of the biggest storms of their lives, this mother’s faith is stretched, and her hope is shaken. With God’s grace, Tyila learns how to face grief, fear, doubt and a host of other emotions head on.

In Karen Hermann-Cacioppo’s dating memoir Swiping For Love in All the Wrong Places, we are taken on a whirlwind adventure filled with restaurants, travel and most importantly, a dreadful series of men who just don’t fit the bill for a successful relationship.

Every Step Is a Gift: Caregiving, Endurance, and the Path to Gratitude explores Josh Lasky’s 11-year journey as a caregiver to his father who battled Parkinson’s disease. Josh was just 21 when he took on this Herculean responsibility, and although his story is unique, it is also universal. In his uplifting and life-affirming journey, Josh’s service to his father turns into a personal source of strength for him after deciding to ride his bike, alone, from Washington, DC, to Portland.

Tiyo Attallah Salah-El died in 2018 on “Slow Death Row” while serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison. He was a man with a dizzying array of talents and vocations: author, scholar, teacher, musician, and activist: he was the founder of the Coalition for the Abolition of Prisons. He was also, as is apparent from the letters written over a decade and half to his friend Paul Alan Smith that make up this book, an extraordinarily eloquent correspondent.

Life is full of labels that limit, but God has a new name He longs for you to hear - a name that boldly declares freedom from your past and hope for your future. Join Esther Fleece Allen, bestselling author of No More Faking Fine, in this profound exploration of your God-given identity that no...

In the fall of 1865, the United States Army executed Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson for his role in murdering fifty-three loyal citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War. Long remembered as the most unforgiving and inglorious warrior of the Confederacy, Ferguson has often been dismissed by historians as a cold-blooded killer. Here, biographer Brian D. McKnight demonstrates how such a simple judgment ignores the complexity of this legendary character.

A new American cuisine is forming. Animals never before considered or long since forgotten are emerging as delicacies. Parts that used to be for scrap are centerpieces. Ash and hay are fashionable ingredients, and you pay handsomely to breathe flavored air. Going out to a nice dinner now often precipitates a confrontation with a fundamental question: Is that food?

He was a dreamer. Che dreamt big, he dreamt of the impossible, the incredible, as incredible as the chapters of his life.

In Recapturing the Oval Office, leading historians and social scientists forge an agenda for returning the study of the presidency to the mainstream practice of history, and they chart how the study of the presidency can be integrated into historical narratives that combine rich analyses of political, social, and cultural history. The authors demonstrate how "bringing the presidency back in" can deepen understanding of crucial questions regarding race relations, religion, and political economy.

In The Tao of the Side Hustle, Don shares this martial arts wisdom, blends Buddhist Martial Arts stories with strategic business, tax and legal principles, and explains how anyone interested in a side hustle or small business can follow in his footsteps.

Peter Mandelson is one of the most influential politicians of modern times. The Third Man is his story – of a life played out in the backroom and then on the frontline of the Labour Party during its unprecedented three terms in government. Much of the book is devoted to the defining political relationships of Peter Mandelson’s life – with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Charting what he terms the ‘soap-opera’ years of the Labour government, his book is certain to ruffle many feathers.

Boyhood is the second book in the Childhood, Boyhood, Youth trilogy. Childhood was the first published novel by Leo Tolstoy, released in November 1852. It was the first in a series of three novels and was followed by Boyhood and Youth. Published when Tolstoy was just 23 years old, the book was an immediate success, earning notice from other Russian novelists including Ivan Turgenev, who heralded the young Tolstoy as a major up-and-coming figure in Russian literature. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

James Capuano's BEAST delivers the author's highly idiosyncratic, inspiring and informative take on his diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer, and his long journey to remission. The book is sure to provide entertaining reassurance to others diagnosed with cancer in its various forms, as well as those who care about and for them. In the end, his message is this: No matter how hopeless or dire a situation may seem, nothing is inevitable, and the will - no, the conviction - to fight counts for a hell of a lot.

A look back at the cultural and political force of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, in celebration of her hundredth birthday Artist–Rebel–Pioneer Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the great American literary icons of the twentieth century, a protégé of...