New Biographies – July 2015

Anchor & Flares: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hope and Service
Kate Braestrup
B BRAESTRUP
The author of Here If You Need Me presents a new chapter of her life and thoughts as a parent and through her work as a chaplain to the Maine Warden Service.  “Bare, unflinching, and very funny.”

 And the Good News Is… Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side
Dana Perino
B PERINO
The former White House press secretary reveals the lessons she’s learned that have guided her through life, led to success, even in the face of adversity.

Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
B COATES
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” Excellent reviews accompany this personal narrative, reimagined history and emotionally charged reporting.

The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief, and Manipulation
Melissa Rivers
B RIVERS
The one person who new Joan Rivers better than anyone else tells the story of her life with the inimitable personality.

Criminal That I Am
Jennifer Ridha
B RIDHA
A memoir from a young lawyer who becomes romantically entangled with the convicted drug felon she represents—Cameron Douglas, son of film actor Michael Douglas  —and who makes the mistake of her life … or not.

The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Líder Máximo
Juan Reinaldo Sánchez
B CASTRO
Fidel Castro lived a simple soldier’s life in the public eye and a luxurious dictator’s life in private.  The author exposes seventeen years of Castro’s secrets.

Einstein: His Space and Times
Steven Gimbel
B GIMBEL
A look at the brilliant scientist who was politically engaged with his times and with a strong moral compass.  Here is an engaging look at another side of the famous physicist.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Ashlee Vance
B VANCE
A look into the remarkable life and times of Silicon Valley’s most audacious businessman.  He is the innovator behind PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and Solar City.

Getting Real
Gretchen Carlson
B CARLSON
Now a television personality, the author is also a former Miss American and a childhood violin prodigy.

Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica
Matthew Parker
B PARKER
For two months every year, from 1946 to his death eighteen years later, Ian Fleming lived at Goldeneye, the house he built on a point of high land overlooking a Jamaican white sand beach.

Joan of Arc: A History
Helen Castor
B JOAN OF ARC
A fresh view of the amazing life of the woman who, 500 years after her death, would be declared a saint.

Jonas Salk: A Life
Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs
B SALK
For decades, poliomyelitis stalked America’s children.  When the announcement of a vaccine was made on April 12, 1955, the nation learned of the man and his team that made this amazing breakthrough.

A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope
Tom Brokaw
B BROKAW
The famous newscaster, reflects on a year of dramatic change, a year spent battling cancer and reflecting on a long, happy, and lucky life.

On the Move: A Life
Oliver Sacks
B SACKS
The noted author and physician, recounts his own extraordinary life.  From the author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings, among other titles.

One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon
Tim Weiner
B NIXON
A history of the presidency of Richard Nixon that includes all of the secret tapes and documents, many that have been declassified in the last two years.

Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
Rosemary Sullivan
B ALLILUYEVA
Born in 1926, Svetlana Alliluyeva spent her youth inside the Kremlin as her father rose to power.  Eighty-five years later, she died alone and penniless in rural Wisconsin as Lana Peters.

The Theft of Memory: Losing My Father One Day at a Time
Jonathan Kozol
B KOZOL
The noted author and children’s advocate now tells the personal story of his father’s life and work as a specialist in disorders of the brain. At the onset of his own Alzheimer’s disease, he was able to explain the causes of his sickness and then to describe what he was going through.

Under the Same Sky: From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America
Joseph Kim with Stephan Talty
B KIM
A heartrending story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by international activists, and success in the United States.

Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime
Scott Simon
B SIMON
Spending their last days together in a hospital ICU, the author and his mother reflect on their lifetime’s worth of memories, with stories of humor and resilience.  From the noted NPR reporter.

A Very Dangerous Woman: The Lives, Loves and Lies of Russia’s Most Seductive Spy
Deborah McDonald and Jeremy Dronfield
B BUDBERG
Spy, adventurer, charismatic seductress and mistress of two of the century’s greatest writers, the Russian aristocrat Baroness Moura Budberg was born in 1892 to a wealthy family. Intrigue!

The Wright Brothers
David McCullough
B McCULLOUGH
On a winter day in 1903, on the remote Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio, Wilbur and Orville Wright, changed history.  Here’s their story from the noted and popular author.