Biography Recent Picks

July 2006

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	Gang of one : memoirs of a Red Guard by Fan Shen. (2004) "In 1966 twelve-year-old Fan Shen, a newly minted Red Guard, plunged happily into China's Cultural Revolution. Disillusion soon followed, then turned to disgust and fear when Shen discovered that his compatriots had tortured and murdered a doctor whose house he'd helped raid and whose beautiful daughter he secretly adored. A story of coming of age in the midst of monumental historical upheaval, Shen's Gang of One is more than a memoir of one young man's harrowing experience during a time of terror. It is also, in spite of circumstances of remarkable grimness and injustice, an unlikely picaresque tale of adventure full of courage, cunning, wit, tenacity, resourcefulness, and sheer luck - the story of how Shen managed to scheme his way through a hugely oppressive system and emerge triumphant." (Book jacket)
	The warlord and the renegade : the story of Hermann and Albert Goering by James Wyllie. (2006) "They were the most unlikely siblings - one, Adolf Hitler's most trusted henchman, the other a fervent anti-Nazi. Yet Hermann and Albert Goering shared a fraternal bond that transcended their polarised political ideologies. In this portrait of the brothers, James Wyllie charts a relationship of seemingly irreconcilable extremes set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany." (Book jacket)
	Jack Kennedy : the making of a president by Barbara Leaming. (2006) "Barbara Leaming's groundbreaking biography of the most charismatic of all twentieth-century American presidents reveals Britain's profound, lifelong impact on John F. Kennedy. In British history, literature and values, the young Jack Kennedy discovered an image of the man he wanted to be, and he spent much of his life struggling to become that man. Drawing on extensive new and astonishingly intimate primary materials and original interviews, for the first time a Kennedy biographer succeeds in finding the dramatic line that runs through Kennedy's complicated life, the trajectory of the friendships and forces that led to the White House and shaped his actions there." (Amazon)
	Sex with the queen : 900 years of vile kings, virile lovers, and passionate politics by Eleanor Herman. (2006) "This book is written by the bestselling author of "Sex with Kings". Featured on National radio interviews e.g., "Woman's Hour" and reviewed in national press e.g., "Daily Mail", it will appeal to readers of history, historical fiction, and of women's studies titles. In this follow-up to the bestselling "Sex with Kings", we discover the truth about what goes on behind the closed door of the Queen's boudoir. After all, Queen Victoria, that bastion of virtue, had nine children! You'll read about the notorious Catherine the Great, the passionately foolish Marie Antoinette, the destructively willful Tsarina Alexandra, and many more! Some Queens had numerous lovers, others seldom strayed, but all were full-blooded women who lived and loved under intense public scrutiny. And the men who loved these women sometimes gained riches, and sometimes lost their heads. Once again, Eleanor Herman has combined impeccable research while accessibly telling these fascinating stories. "Sex with the Queen" will both entertain and educate." (Amazon)
	Madame De Stael by Maria Fairweather. (2005) "In her lifetime it was widely said that there were three political powers in Europe - Britain, Russia and Madame de Stael. Byron described her as "the first female writer of this, perhaps of any age," Stendhal as "the chief talent of the age." Germaine de Stael was certainly the most remarkable woman of her time and she remains unique - both for the scope of her artistic and intellectual achievements and the force of her political influence, which helped to bring down Napoleon." "Germaine de Stael became an incomparable salon hostess and the best conversationalist in Europe - she not only drew the men who wielded power to her salons, but also influenced them. Napoleon did not ignore her power and knew her to be his implacable enemy, eventually banishing her from France. Her Swiss chateau, Coppet, soon became the center of liberal resistance. Enforced travels in Italy and Germany led to seminal books in which she discussed issues such as the role of women, and artistic and political freedom. She introduced the new German romantic philosophy to the French, heralding the French Romantic movement. Her friendships with the Tsar, with Bernadotte and among the English ruling class, undoubtedly contributed to the formation of the fourth coalition which brought Napoleon's power to an end." (Book jacket)

John Osborne : a patriot for us by John Heilpern. (2006)
"John Osborne (1929-1994), unapologetic rebel and original Angry Young Man, defined England in many controversial ways. As iconoclastic as Shaw or Wilde, he 'blow-torched his way into our lives', changing the face of modern British theatre in 1956, with "Look Back in Anger". An actor turned playwright, there was about him the public showmanship of his own tragic invention, Archie Rice in "The Entertainer". But, Osborne hid his anguished nature and immobilizing depressions from the outside world in his secret notebooks. This startlingly candid, authorized but intimate and informal biography is the first to have access to these sensational notebooks and private letters. Osborne was born in rented rooms in Fulham, in 1929, to a tubercular father and a barmaid mother. An ailing child, he learned to box and was expelled from school for hitting his headmaster. At fifteen, he began as a lowly journalist for Gas World and fled to join a repertory theatre company, where he learned not only the craft that would change his life and revolutionize British theatre, but also how to reinvent himself." (Amazon)

Wilfred Thesiger : the life of the great explorer by Alexander Maitland. (2006)
"Wilfred Thesiger, the last of the great gentlemen explorer-adventurers, became a legend in his own lifetime. This authorised biography by a long-standing friend and associate, delves into his little-known character and motivations, as well as recounting the details of his extraordinary life. While Wilfred Thesiger's own classic writings, (including "The Marsh Arabs", "Arabian Sands", "Desert, Marsh and Mountain", "The Life of My Choice" and "My Kenya Days") comprehensively cover his classic journeys amongst the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, across the Empty Quarter in Arabia, they fail conspicuously to shed light on his character and motives, which have remained an enigma. Maitland's biography had Thesiger's support before he died in 2003, and has been written with full access, granted to no one else, to the rich Thesiger archive - vivid, intimate family correspondence, and his own letters, diaries and notebooks, which are far more confiding than his scrupulously edited published accounts. Maitland investigates in depth Thesiger's parents and family influences; his wartime experiences and the ethos of conflict; his philosophy as a hunter and conservationist; his development as a writer and photographer; his close friendships with the Arabs and Africans, amongst whom he lived; and his sexuality. In all, this major biography of a great and unusual man will take its place on the shelf of outstanding lives of the great explorers." (Amazon)

Tea with Einstein and other memories by William Frankel. (2006)
"If William Frankel were to choose a motto he could do no better than carpe diem. He seized each opportunity that came his way; escaping the blitz led to his reading law at Cambridge and a chance meeting in New York led to him becoming general manager and then Editor of the Jewish Chronicle. Born into the Hasidic community in London's East End, Frankel's life expanded immeasurably beyond these confines into ever-wider social, professional and intellectual circles. In this book he describes vividly his childhood, his professional development and his encounters with prime ministers, political leaders, writers, artists and musicians." (Amazon)

Florence Broadhurst : her secret & extraordinary lives by Helen O'Neill. (2006)
"This is an incredible biography of the life of an extraordinary woman. It includes full colour, rarely seen prints from the Broadhurst archive, as well as a collection of her most popular designs. Born on an isolated Australian farm in 1899, at 15 she wrote an article for her school paper that read like a mission statement - "I am resolved to do great things." By 19 she was singing her way around Australia, and by 25 had toured much of Asia. After decades of travelling the globe, she returned to her homeland posing as an English aristocrat and became the darling of the elite social set. At 63, she set up a wallpaper company "to put the colour back into people's lives...". She created over 800 hugely popular patterns and designs that defined the swinging sixties around the world. And then, in October 1977, it all came to an abrupt end with her still famously unsolved ritualistic murder." (Amazon)

The sailor in the wardrobe by Hugo Hamilton. (2006)
"In The Sailor in the Wardrobe, Hugo Hamilton explores a moment in his early life, the summer he spent working at a harbour close to his home in Dublin, at a time of tremendous unrest." "Hugo longs to be released from the confused identity he has inherited from his German mother and Irish father, but the stories of his mother's shame at the hands of Allied soldiers in the aftermath of the Second World War, along with his German cousin's mysterious disappearance somewhere on the West Coast of Ireland, seems determined to trap him in history. His job at the local harbour, rather than offering him respite, entangles him in a bitter feud between two fishermen - one Catholic, one Protestant. Against the background of the spiralling troubles in the North, Hugo listens to the missing persons bulletins going out on the radio for his cousin and watches the unfolding harbour duel which ends in a tragic drowning. Only then is he finally able to escape the ropes of history." (Book jacket)

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