Collection: Biography & Memoir

Meeting his brother in Auschwitz, he understood that they are all alone

A young boy's world falls apart! He can trust no one and does not know what his tomorrow holds or if he will live to see it.

Poland 1944, Mjetek finds himself in Auschwitz after taking part in Zionist underground activities trying to fight against the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. He meets his brother and understands that their entire family has been massacred and that their days are numbered. Mjetek decides to not give up and says he is a blacksmith, though he has never worked with metal. At work in one of the factories, a melted piece of iron falls and burns him. He manages to go back to the camp and his brother takes care of him, selling his golden tooth for medical supplies. Staying in the "clinic" was supposed to be the end of Mjetek but this is actually what saves him. When his brother is marched to his death and they have to say their final goodbye.

Mjetek's story of survival is marked with small miracles, determination and unbelievable bravery. This memoir will leave you breathless and heartbroken, yet, inspired.

*A Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of 2023*
*A "Next Big Idea Club" Must-Read Book for January*
*An Essence "Books by Black Authors to Read This Winter" Pick?*
*An Ebony Entertainment "Required Reading" Book for January*
*A Lambda Literary "Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature" for January*
*A Southern Review of Books Best Book of January*

A piercing collection of essays on racial tension in America and the ongoing fight for visibility, change, and lasting hope

"There are stories that must be told."

Acclaimed novelist and scholar Daniel Black has spent a career writing into the unspoken, fleshing out, through storytelling, pain that can't be described.

Now, in his debut essay collection, Black gives voice to the experiences of those who often find themselves on the margins. Tackling topics ranging from police brutality to the AIDS crisis to the role of HBCUs to queer representation in the black church, Black on Black celebrates the resilience, fortitude, and survival of black people in a land where their body is always on display.

As Daniel Black reminds us, while hope may be slow in coming, it always arrives, and when it does, it delivers beyond the imagination. Propulsive, intimate, and achingly relevant, Black on Black is cultural criticism at its openhearted best.

One of Elle's Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2024

A personal memoir in which Lyn Slater, known on Instagram as "Accidental Icon," brings her characteristic style, optimism, forward-thinking, and rules-are-meant-to-be-broken attitude to the question of how to live boldly at any age.

When Lyn Slater started her fashion blog, Accidental Icon, at age sixty-one, she discovered that followers were flocking to her account for more than just her A-list style. As Lyn flaunted gray hair, wrinkles, and a megadose of self-acceptance, they found in her an alternative model of older life: someone who defied the stereotypes, refused to become invisible, and showed that all women have the opportunity to be relevant and take major risks at any stage of their life. Youth is not the only time we can be experimental.

How to Be Old tells the ten-year story of Lyn's sixties, the sometimes-glamorous, sometimes-turbulent decade of Accidental Icon. This memoir is about the hopeful and future-oriented process of reinvention. It shows readers that while you can't control everything, what you can control is the way you think about your age and the creative ways you respond to the changes in your mind and body as they happen. Rather than trying to meet standards of youth and beauty as a measure of successful aging, Lyn promotes a more inclusive and empowering standard to judge our older selves by.

In this paradigm-shifting memoir, Lyn exemplifies that even with its unique challenges, being old is just like any new beginning in your life and can be the best and most invigorating of all of life's phases, full of rebellion and reinvention, connection and creativity.

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.

In this searing memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells the story of the forty-five days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed his life--and his family's--as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation's Capitol, and led the impeachment effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence.

On December 31, 2020, Tommy Raskin, the only son of Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, tragically took his own life after a long struggle with depression. Seven days later on January 6, Congressman Raskin returned to Congress to help certify the 2020 Presidential election results, when violent insurrectionists led by right wing extremist groups stormed the U.S. Capitol hoping to hand four more years of power to President Donald Trump. As our reeling nation mourned the deaths of numerous people and lamented the injuries of more than 140 police officers hurt in the attack, Congressman Raskin, a Constitutional law professor, was called upon to put aside his overwhelming grief--both personal and professional--and lead the impeachment effort against President Trump for inciting the violence. Together this nine-member team of House impeachment managers riveted a nation still in anguish, putting on an unprecedented Senate trial that produced the most bipartisan Presidential impeachment vote in American history.

Now for the first time, Congressman Raskin discusses this unimaginable convergence of personal and public trauma, detailing how the painful loss of his son and the power of Tommy's convictions fueled the Congressman's work in the aftermath of modern democracy's darkest day. Going inside Congress on January 6, he recounts the horror of that day, a day that he and other Democrats had spent months preparing for under the correct assumption that they would encounter an attempted electoral coup--not against a President but for one. And yet, on January 6, he faced the one thing he had failed to anticipate: mass political violence designed to block Biden's election. With an inside account of leading the team prosecuting President Trump in the Senate, Congressman Raskin shares never before told stories of just how close we came to losing our democracy that fateful day and lays out the methodical prosecution that convinced Democrats and Republicans alike of Trump's responsibility for inciting insurrectionary violence against our government.

Through it all, he reckons with the loss of his brilliant, remarkable son, a Harvard Law student whose values and memory continually inspired the Congressman to confront the dark impulses unleashed by Donald Trump. At turns, a moving story of a father coping with his pain and a revealing examination of holding President Trump accountable for the violence he fomented, this book is a vital reminder of the ongoing struggle for the soul of American democracy and the perseverance that our Constitution demands from us all.

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   Is Lionel Messi your number soccer player? In this NEWLY REVISED
   edition, we bring you fully up to date with Messi's story so far, featuring
   his stats and achievements since he left Barcelona for PSG after 18
   glorious seasons before heading stateside to Inter Miami in 2023. We
   also cover his achievements on the international stage, including his
   epic Copa América win with Argentina in 2021 and stunning World
   Cup triumph in 2022.
   

   
   

   Did you know that the living legend Leo has played more than 1,000
   matches, scored more than 815 goals for club and country, won 35
   club titles wirh Barca, including 10 La Liga titles and picked up 76
   awards?!
   

   
   

   Discover how Leo went from being the smallest player on the field (as
   a young boy he was so tiny all the other players called him 'Titch') to
   being widely known as the 'Greatest of All Time' with his incredible
   runs, ball control and lots and lots of goals!
   

   
   

   Soccer Superstars is a series aimed at building a love of reading from
   a young age, with fun cartoons, inspirational

   
   

A staggering memoir from New York Times-bestselling author Ada Calhoun tracing her fraught relationship with her father and their shared obsession with a great poet

When Ada Calhoun stumbled upon old cassette tapes of interviews her father, celebrated art critic Peter Schjeldahl, had conducted for his never-completed biography of poet Frank O'Hara, she set out to finish the book her father had started forty years earlier.

As a lifelong O'Hara fan who grew up amid his bohemian cohort in the East Village, Calhoun thought the project would be easy, even fun, but the deeper she dove, the more she had to face not just O'Hara's past, but also her father's, and her own.

The result is a groundbreaking and kaleidoscopic memoir that weaves compelling literary history with a moving, honest, and tender story of a complicated father-daughter bond. Also a Poet explores what happens when we want to do better than our parents, yet fear what that might cost us; when we seek their approval, yet mistrust it.

In reckoning with her unique heritage, as well as providing new insights into the life of one of our most important poets, Calhoun offers a brave and hopeful meditation on parents and children, artistic ambition, and the complexities of what we leave behind.

The Walt Disney Company honors its 100th anniversary in 2023. As part of the festivities, this must-have biography tells the story of Walt Disney's life--told as no other book can!

Walt Disney is an American hero. From Mickey Mouse to Disneyland, he changed the face of American culture. His is a success story like no other: a man who developed animated film into an art form and made a massive contribution to the folklore of the world.

After years of research, respected Hollywood biographer Bob Thomas produced a definitive biography of the man behind the legend of Disney: the unschooled cartoonist from Kansas City who when bankrupt on his first movie venture and developed into the genius who produced unmatched works of animation, and ultimately was the creative spirit of an international entertainment empire that has enchanted generations.


Complete with a collection of rare photographs, Walt Disney: An American Original is a fascinating and inspirational work that captures the spirit of Walt Disney.


This Commemorative Edition includes new:

• introductions from Jeff Kurtti and Marcy Carriker Smothers
• a 32-page photo insert with rare behind-the-scenes photos
• endnotes to add further context and connect Walt's story to today

Searching for more ways to connect with the Disney Parks and films? Explore these books from Disney Editions:

• Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World: Recipes & Stories from The Most Magical Place on Earth
• A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of The Most Magical Place on Earth
• Birnbaum's 2023 Walt Disney World: The Official Vacation Guide
• Birnbaum's 2023 Walt Disney World for Kids: The Official Guide
• Art of Coloring: Walt Disney World
• Maps of the Disney Parks: Charting 60 Years from California to Shanghai
• Poster Art of the Disney Parks
• Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks: Celebrations Around the World from Fall to Winter
• The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic
• The Disney Monorail: Imagineering a Highway in the Sky

"This book will change your life if you let it." -Tom Bilyeu, Co-Founder/CEO of Impact Theory & Co-Founder of Quest Nutrition

We are losing ourselves. We're chasing the wrong things, asking the wrong questions, and polluting our minds. It's time to stop, it's time to resist and it's time to rethink the fundamental social blueprint that our lives are built upon.

As an 18-year-old, black, broke, lonely, insecure, university drop-out, from a bankrupt family, I wrote in my diary that I wanted to be a 'Happy Sexy Millionaire' by the age of 25. By 25 I was a multi-millionaire having created a business worth over $300m dollars. Ironically, in achieving everything I set out to, I learnt that I was wrong about almost everything... The world had lied to me. It lied to me about how you attain fulfillment, love and success, why those things matter, and what those words actually mean.

In this book, I'll dismantle the most popular, unaddressed lies about happiness that we've been led to believe. I'll expose the source of these lies, examine the incentives that fuel them and replace them with a practical set of scientifically proven and unconventional ideas that will help you to live a truly fulfilled life, a life full of the love you seek and the success you deserve.

The author of the New York Times bestseller Nowhere for Very Long continues her story with this deeply honest, moving account of a woman walking the line between independence and isolation when she moves to the Southwest desert with nothing and no one but her four dogs.

In her debut memoir, Nowhere for Very Long, Brianna Madia reflected on her life as a nomad, free to roam some of the most beautiful land in America. Now, in Never Leave the Dogs Behind, the van life adherent faces the unfathomable darkness that comes from a life blown apart, her only solace the support of her dogs.

In the wake of a painful, public divorce and the ensuing fallout, Brianna moves from a pared-down van into a pared-down trailer. She reckons with her decision to be alone in the desert, living on a nine-acre plot of undeveloped land on the dusty outskirts of a small town in Utah, accompanied only by her four precious dogs: Bucket, Dagwood, Birdie, and Banjo. As she grapples with the anger, despair, and delicious freedom that comes from being wholly on her own, Brianna wonders where, exactly, the road less traveled has led her.

A powerful and poignant portrait of rebuilding and surviving, Never Leave the Dogs Behind is about finding the courage to start over when the dream life you thought you were living collapses around your feet.

A chapter book edition of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai's bestselling story of courageously standing up for girls' education.

Malala's powerful memoir of risking her life for the right to go to school is now abridged and adapted for chapter book readers.
Raised in a changing Pakistan by an enlightened father from a poor background and a beautiful, illiterate mother, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. Her story of bravery and determination in the face of extremism is more timely than ever.
In this edition, Malala tells her story in clear, accessible language perfect for children who are too old for Malala's Magic Pencil and too young for her middle-grade memoir. Featuring line art and simplified back matter, Malala teaches a new audience the value of speaking out against intolerance and hate: an inspiring message of hope in Malala's own words.

Born in rural Mexico, Eduardo "Lalo" García Guzmán and his family left for the United States when he was a child, picking fruits and vegetables on the migrant route from Florida to Michigan. He worked in Atlanta restaurants as a teenager before being convicted of a robbery, incarcerated, and eventually deported. Lalo landed in Mexico City as a new generation of chefs was questioning the hierarchies that had historically privileged European cuisine in elite spaces. At his acclaimed restaurant, Máximo Bistrot, he began to craft food that narrated his memories and hopes.

Mexico City-based journalist Laura Tillman spent five years immersively reporting on Lalo's story: from Máximo's kitchen to the onion fields of Vidalia, Georgia, to Dubai's first high-end Mexican restaurant, to Lalo's hometown of San José de las Pilas. What emerges is a moving portrait of Lalo's struggle to find authenticity in an industry built on the very inequalities that drove his family to leave their home, and of the artistic process as Lalo calls on the experiences of his life to create transcendent cuisine. The Migrant Chef offers an unforgettable window into a family's border-eclipsing dreams, Mexico's culinary heritage, and the making of a chef.

Read the remarkable true story of a young boy's journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University.

Following his father's advice to "treat all people-even the most unsightly beetles-as though they were angels sent from heaven," Mawi overcomes the challenges of language barriers, cultural differences, racial prejudice, and financial disadvantage to build a fulfilling, successful life for himself in his new home.

Of Beetles and Angels is at once a harrowing survival story and a compelling examination of the refugee experience. With hundreds of thousands of copies sold since its initial publication, and as a frequent selection as one book/one school/one community reads, this unforgettable memoir continues to touch and inspire readers. This special expanded fifteenth anniversary edition includes a new introduction and afterword from the author, a discussion guide, and more.

How did a little girl who loved horses become the longest reigning monarch in England? Find out in this addition to the #1 New York Times best-selling Who Was? series!

In 1936, the life of ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth of York changed forever. Although she was a member of the British Royal Family, she never expected to become queen. But when her uncle Edward gave up the throne, suddenly her father was the new king, which meant young Elizabeth was next in line!

Queen Elizabeth reigned for seventy years, and while there were palaces galore, the crown jewels, and trips around the world, her life was one of strict discipline and duty.

This riveting chronicle follows the life of a woman who was both a public figure and an intensely private person and explores how she kept the monarchy together through good times and bad.

"Lace up your hiking boots! Let Griffin guide you over granite mountains, through thunderstorms, and wildflower-studded meadows." -Barbara Olson Lawrence, author of the forthcoming Drawing Water

Three friends, women in their fifties, set out to hike "the most beautiful long-distance trail in the world," the John Muir Trail. From the outset, their adventure is complicated by self-inflicted accidents and ferocious weather, then enriched when they "adopt" a young hiker abandoned by her partner along the trail.

The women experience the terror of lightning at eleven-thousand feet, the thrill of walking through a towering waterfall, and the joy of dancing among midnight moonshadows. For a month, they live immersed in vast natural beauty, tackle the trail's physical demands, and find camaraderie among an ensemble cast of eccentric trail characters. Together, they are pulled forward toward the trail's end atop the highest peak in the High Sierra, Mt. Whitney, and the culmination of their transformative journey.

Force of Nature is equal parts gripping adventure tale, personal memoir, and vivid nature writing.

Sports legend Kobe Bryant's guiding principles

Nelson Peña's Kobe: Life Lessons from a Legend offers court-side seats to the breathtaking highs and game-changing lows of Kobe Bryant's life and reveals valuable insights for anyone who wants to make their own lofty dreams come true.

Kobe Bryant's incredible, record-shattering basketball career reads like a road map for the pursuit of greatness. Though he came onto the NBA scene brimming with talent, it was his relentless work ethic, his tireless pursuit of knowledge, his unflappable confidence, and his turbo-charged ambition--his "Mamba mentality"--that drove him to become an icon with a lasting legacy.

-Powerful quotes from The Black Mamba himself
-A look at Kobe's unique upbringing, his early start, and his long, celebrated career with the Los Angeles Lakers
-Original artwork and illustrations throughout that captures Kobe's unique spirit on and off the court
-Timeless truths and uplifting life lessons to inspire your own path to excellence

Baseball's history is full of inspiring people and stories. Whether you're a player or a fan, the lessons in this book will help you thrive on the diamond and off it.

Every time you watch or play in a baseball game, you learn something. Sometimes, you learn something about baseball. Other times, you learn something about life. The 12 inspirational baseball stories in this book provide a fast track to realizing the immutable secrets of success in both.

Learn from some of baseball's greatest heroes and athletes, like Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, Jim Abbott, and, of course, Jackie Robinson. Find out their secrets to success and how to use their experiences to succeed in your own life.

The purpose of these inspirational stories is simple: educate the next generation of baseball players and fans on the importance of hard work, setting and achieving goals, overcoming the odds, and defeating challenges.

Within these pages you'll discover:

● 12 inspirational stories that will change how you think about baseball and life.

● Quotes and experiences from some of the best players to ever step on an MLB field.

● Many of the mental secrets to success in the game of baseball.

● Ways to connect baseball's history and inspirational lessons to your own life and experiences.

● The importance of challenging yourself through hard work and goals.

● A deeper understanding of why baseball is considered America's Pastime.

With a detailed recounting of some of the game's most inspirational players, teams, and events, you'll be gripped from the first chapter to the last. Each section is full of player quotes, facts, and captivating details to help young and old baseball fans appreciate the significance of the most inspirational stories in baseball.

This book contains all of the life lessons young baseball players need to both inspire and be inspired. If you follow the advice and knowledge from this book, you'll be on the correct path to reaching the MLB!

For anyone that plays, watches, or just simply loves baseball, this book will reinvigorate your passion for the game and provide valuable lessons on navigating life's most challenging obstacles.