Staff Picks
Examined Lives: Recent Biographies and Memoirs
- Friday, February 15, 2019
Collection
Here's a list of recently published biographies and memoirs that may have escaped your notice.
My Brother Moochie
Regaining Dignity in the Face of Crime, Poverty, and Racism in the American South
Published in 2018
Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely
Published in 2019
"A vivacious biography of the prophetic and sympathetic philosopher who along with Voltaire and Rousseau built the foundations of the modern world, and travelled as far as Russia to enlighten the Tsarina Catherine the Great. Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world's first comprehensive Encyclopédie into existence. But his most compelling and personal writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his most daring books for posterity-for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings that he left behind after his death, Diderot dreamed of natural selection before Darwin, the Oedipus complex before Freud, and genetic manipulation centuries before Dolly the Sheep was born. Even more audaciously, the writer challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of slave trade, to the limits of human sexuality. He was also keenly aware of the dangers of absolute power, about which he wrote so persuasively that it led Catherine the Great not only to support him financially but also to invite him to St. Petersburg. In this thematically organized biography, Andrew Curran vividly describes Diderot's tormented relationship with Rousseau, his feud with Voltaire, his tortured marriage, his passionate affairs, and his often-paradoxical stand on art, morality, and religion. But what this book brings out most brilliantly is how a man's character flaws and limitations are often the flip side of his genius and his ability to break taboos, dogmas, and conventions"-- Provided by publisher.
Inhuman Land
Searching for the Truth in Soviet Russia 1941-1942
Published in 2018
"In 1941, when Germany turned against the USSR, tens of thousands of Poles--men, women, and children who were starving, sickly, and impoverished--were released from Soviet prison camps and allowed to join the Polish army being formed in the south of Russia. One of the survivors who made the difficult winter journey was the painter and reserve officer Józef Czapski. General Anders, the army's commander in chief, assigned Czapski the task of receiving the Poles arriving for military training; gathering accounts of what their fates had been; organizing education, culture, and news for the soldiers; and, most important, investigating the disappearance of thousands of missing Polish officers. Blocked at every level by the Soviet authorities, Czapski was unaware that in April 1940 the officers had been shot dead in Katyn forest, a crime for which Soviet Russia never accepted responsibility. Czapski's account of the years following his release from the camp, the formation of the Polish army, and its arduous trek through Central Asia and the Middle East to fight on the Italian front is rich in anecdotes about the suffering of the Poles in the USSR, quotations from the Polish poetry that sustained him and his companions, encounters with literary figures (including Anna Akhmatova), and philosophical thoughts about the relationships between nationalities"-- Provided by publisher.
Josef Albers
Life and Work
Published in 2018
While Josef Albers' Bauhaus colleagues Klee and Kandinsky are household names, Albers himself has remained inscrutable. He is best known as the painter of the 'Homages to the Square', a series of over 2,000 seemingly tightly controlled experiments in the interaction of colour. Yet he did not begin these pictures until he was in his sixties, already several decades into his career as an artist, maker and theorist, much of it pursued in the United States following the Nazi dissolution of the Bauhaus in 1933. Drawing on extensive unpublished archival writings, documents, and illustrations, this is the first full-scale biography of one of the 20th-century's great artists. Among Albers's unpublished papers are letters from friends John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, and Eva Hesse, as well as fans and collectors ranging from the composer Virgil Thomson to the cartoonist Saul Steinberg. If his network of influence was surprisingly wide, so too, were his interests.
The Only Girl
My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone
Published in 2018
"A brutally honest, intimate memoir of the first girl on the masthead of Rolling Stone magazine, The Only Girl chronicles the beginnings of Robin Green's career. In this voice-driven humorous careening adventure, Green spills stories of stalking the Grateful Dead with Annie Liebowitz, sparring with Dennis Hopper on a film set in the desert, scandalizing fans of David Cassidy and spending a legendary evening on a water bed in the dorm room of Robert F. Kennedy Jr." -- provided by publisher.
Lady First
The World of First Lady Sarah Polk
Published in 2019
An exploration of Sarah Polk's political savvy and contributions to American feminism details the contradictions attributed to her character, her wartime achievements, and her influence in Washington politics during her husband's presidency.
Late-life Love
A Memoir
Published in 2019
"'Tender, unsparing, poignant. . . . [A] love story that braids together intimate self-revelation with a rich meditation on the literature of aging.'-- Stephen Greenblatt. On Susan Gubar's seventieth birthday, she receives a beautiful ring from her husband, a gift that startles her into an appreciation of their luck. As she contemplates their sustaining relationship, Susan considers how older lovers differ from their youthful counterparts--and from ageist stereotypes. When her husband encounters age-related disabilities, Susan procrastinates over moving from their burdensome house in the country to a more manageable town apartment by searching out literature on the longevity of desire by authors from Ovid and Shakespeare to Toni Morrison and Marilynne Robinson. During subsequent months of care-giving, her own ongoing cancer treatments, and apartment-hunting, Susan studies the obstacles many older couples overcome and marvels at the passion that buoys her own relationship. A memoir proving that love and desire have no expiration date, Late-Life Love is a resounding retort to negative valuations of old age and a celebration of second chances"-- Provided by publisher.
The Despair of Monkeys and Other Trifles
A Memoir
Published in 2018
Fançoise Hardy shares her iconic life and memories in this brutally honest memoir of love, loss, and wisdom.
Maeve in America
Essays by a Girl from Somewhere else
Published in 2018
"An essay collection about life, love, and becoming an American from comedian and podcaster Maeve Higgins"-- Provided by publisher.
The Banished Immortal
A Life of Li Bai (Li Po)
Published in 2019
"From the National Book Award-winning author of Waiting: a narratively driven, deeply human biography of the 8th century poet, Li Bai--also known as Li Po--one of the most beloved poets ever to emerge from China. With the instincts of a master novelist, Ha Jin draws on a wide range of historical and literary sources to weave the life story of Li Bai (701-762), whose poems--shaped by Daoist thought and characterized by their passion, romance, and lust for life--rang throughout the Tang Dynasty and continue to be celebrated today. Jin follows Li Bai from his birth on China's western frontier through his travels as a young man seeking a place among the empire's civil servants, his wanderings allowing him to hone his poetic craft, share his verses, and win him friends and admirers along the way. In his later years, he becomes swept up in a military rebellion that alters the course of China, and his death is surrounded by speculation and legend that continues to be spun to this day. The Banished Immortal is an extraordinary portrait of a poet who both transcended his time and was shaped by it, and whose ability to live, love, and mourn without reservation produced some of the most enduring verses in the world"-- Provided by publisher.
Bluff City
The Secret Life of Photographer Ernest Withers
Published in 2019
"The little-known story of an iconic photographer, whose work captured--and influenced--a critical moment in American history. Ernest Withers took some of the most legendary images of the 1950s and 60s: Martin Luther King Jr. riding a newly integrated bus in Montgomery, Alabama; Emmett Till's uncle pointing an accusatory finger across the courtroom at his nephew's killer. But from his position at the heart of the cultural revolution, Withers was simultaneously gathering information for the FBI. Withers traversed disparate worlds, from Black Power meetings to raucous Memphis nightclubs where Elvis brushed shoulders with B. B. King. In this gripping narrative history, Preston Lauterbach examines the complicated political and economic forces that supported Withers' seeming betrayal of those he witnessed, and suggests that Withers' attention to nuance--so arresting in his photography--also made him essential to the FBI. Bluff City culminates with a riveting account of the 1968 riot that led to Dr. King's death, and investigates how Withers may have altered the course of this momentous event"-- Provided by publisher.
Code Name
Lise
Published in 2019
"The extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II--perfect for fans of Unbroken, The Boys in the Boat, and Code Girls."--Provided by publisher.
Eliza Hamilton
The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton
Published in 2018
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Irena's Children comes a comprehensive and riveting biography of the extraordinary life and times of Eliza Hamilton, the wife of founding father Alexander Hamilton, and a powerful, unsung hero in America's early days" -- Provided by publisher.
Jane and Dorothy
A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility
Published in 2018
Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth were born just four years apart, in the 1770s, in a world torn between heady revolutionary ideas and fierce conservatism, and both were influenced by the Romantic ideals of Dorothy's brother, William Wordsworth, and his friends. This book compares their upbringing and education, home lives and loves and, above all, their emotional and creative worlds. Original insights include a new discovery of serious depression suffered by Dorothy Wordsworth, a new and crucial discovery about Dorothy and William's relationship, and a critical look at the myths surrounding the man who stole Jane's heart.