This is the first and most complete collection of all 136 humorous sketches and tales that Samuel Clemens (1835–1910), a.k.a. Mark Twain, started writing as a young reporter for various newspap
The naturalist recounts his experience spending a year isolated in a crudely built cabin, where he studied the surrounding wildlife and pondered life's questions
First published in the mid 1960s, How Children Fail began an education reform movement that continues today. In his 1982 edition, John Holt added new insights into how children investigate the world,
This enduring classic of educational thought offers teachers and parents deep, original insight into the nature of early learning. John Holt was the first to make clear that, for small children, R
On June 23, 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armée, over 500,000 men strong, poured over the Russian border. An equally massive Russian army faced them. The ensuing campaign was a catastrophe for Napoleon. Alt
It is the summer of 1976 and Salvo Ursari, a man of retirement age, is walking on a taut wire strung between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center, almost fourteen hundred feet above the ci
"Nowhere is the complex and destructive painter Jackson Pollock (1912?1956) revealed with more compassion and insight than in this exemplary biography. Friedman, a friend of Pollock's and active in th
A nine-and-a-half-hour documentary on the Nazi extermination camps, Shoah (the Hebrew word for "Holocaust") was internationally hailed as a masterpiece upon its release in 1985. Shunning any re-creati
Journal of the Waterloo Campaign remains one of the most famous personal accounts of the climactic three days which ended the military career and empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. Captain Cavalie Mercer (
Celebrating the Duke offers readers a perceptive, panoramic survey of jazz as revealed, in illuminating detail, through the lives and music of its heroes (and heroines), from its founding fathers to t
It was the greatest single battle the U.S. Army ever fought. More than a million GIs were involved and nearly 80,000 became casualties. The Allied generals had to rally beaten, dispirited troops in t
The life of the very private and media-shy Ella Fitzgerald has long been shrouded in a mixture of half-truths and fiction. What emerges in Stuart Nicholson's groundbreaking biography is a remarkable s
In August 1945 Great Britain, France, the USSR, and the United States established a tribunal at Nuremberg to try military and civilian leaders of the Nazi regime. G. M. Gilbert, the prison psychologi
Surrealist painter, author, filmmaker, lecturer, performance artist, charlatan, genius, clown, Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) once asked himself, "Where does the deep and philosophical Dalí
Max Brod, a successful novelist, was a boyhood companion of Kafka's and remained closely tied to him until Kafka's death in 1924. He was undoubtedly the one man whom Kafka trusted more than any other
The Beach Boys have been rolling, like the tide their great songs evoke, for more than thirty years, reaching professional peaks and tragic personal depths. In this electrifying account Steven Gaines
"With impeccable timing, outrageous humor, irreverent wit, and a superb sense of the ridiculous, Groucho tells the saga of the Marx Brothers: the poverty of their childhood in New York's Upper East S
Human memory starts to decline at age 16, and can drop 30 percent by the time we reach 70. Fortunately, by keeping our minds actice as we grow older, we can develop a superior ability to organize fac
The first book-length, critical evaluation of the Black Panthers and their place in the civil rights movement offers compelling evidence to show that the Panthers were ruled by gangsterism and greed.
For thirteen violent months in the 1930s, John Dillinger and his gang swept through the Midwest. The criminals of the Depression robbed almost at will (the Indiana State Police had only 41 members, in
Parker Tyler (1904-1974), one of the few great American film critics, was intimate with and enormously respected by many of the underground and experimental filmmakers of his time. In this book, Tyle
This fascinating collection of intimate letters from and to Jefferson Davis (1808?1889) illuminates the character and personality of the President of the Confederacy. These letters (the majority appea
In January 1863 the Union War Department authorized the creation of "a special corps" composed of "persons of African descent"—the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. Robert Gould
There have been many Mexicos: the country of varied terrain, of Amerindian heritage, of the Spanish Conquest, of the Revolution, and of the modern era of elections and the rule of bankers. Mexico was
One of the twentieth century's greatest composers, Duke Ellington (1899–1974) led a fascinating life. Beyond Category, the first biography to draw on the vast Duke Ellington archives at the Smi
Following Pablo Picasso's death in 1973, André Malraux was summoned by Jacqueline Picasso, the artist's widow, to her home at Mougins in the South of France. There, surrounded by Picasso's power
From the vaudeville era, through the Astaire-Rogers movies, to the intricate artistry of bebop, tap has dominated American dance with its rhythm, originality, and humor. This book collects the voices
Alabama Governor George Wallace captured the national spotlight in fiery opposition to Civil Rights. But biographer Stephan Lesher suggests Wallace's more lasting significance is that of working class
A well-known pediatrician treats thirty problems--from bedwetting to tantrums--that accompany the turning points in children's development over the first six years of life, with additional sections on
A look at children's major emotional milestones--from age five to puberty--explains how "playground politics"--rivalries, rejection, pecking orders, and triumphs--destroy children's view of the world
Packed with case histories and profiles of history’s most infamous secret agents, plus a comprehensive glossary, The Guinness Book of Espionage will appeal to armchair spies everywhere. The Guinness B
Harold Rosenberg was undoubtedly the most important American art critic of the twentieth century. It was he who first coined the term ”Action Painters” to refer to the American Abstract Expressionists
Sarah Vaughan possessed the most spectacular voice in jazz history. In Sassy, Leslie Gourse, the acclaimed biographer of Nat King Cole and Joe Williams, defines and celebrates Vaughan’s vital musical
Here is Jake LaMotta discussing his career as a hoodlum; Floyd Patterson on growing up in the ghetto; Gunboat Smith on the Jack Johnson era; Jack Dempsey on the Willard fight and the Tunney ”long coun
Washington Irving’s Life of George Washington (published in five volumes in 1856?59) was the product of his last years and remains his most personal work. Christened with the name of the great general
By 1982 Francis Ford Coppola had won five Academy Awards; at the same time he was over $20 million in debt following the disastrous failure of One from the Heart. This astute biography critically exam
Francois Truffaut (1932-1984), perhaps the most respected member of the New Wave group of French moviemakers, left a legacy of beloved and influential films that include The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim,
With over 1000 entries and 400 illustrations, this volume is the most fact-packed history of the West ever assembled. Crime historian extraordinaire Jay Robert Nash has left no stone unturned in his
No gangster has ever been more powerful than Charles ”Lucky” Luciano (1897–1962). By the mid-1920s, he had taken over the New York bordellos and was making more than a million dolla
