Collection: Biography & Memoir

Part memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfish, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them.

In 2011, three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels for the brilliant and charming Ethan Schuman. Unbeknownst to the others, each exchanged countless messages with Ethan, staying up late into the evenings to deepen their connections with this fascinating man. His detailed excuses about broken webcams and complicated international calling plans seemed believable, as did last minute trip cancellations. After all, why would he lie? Ethan wasn't after money -- he never convinced his marks to shell out thousands of dollars for some imagined crisis. Rather, he ensnared these women in a web of intense emotional intimacy. After the trio independently began to question inconsistencies in their new flame's stories, they managed to find one another and uncover a greater deception than they could've ever imagined. As Anna Akbari and the women untangled their catfish's web, they found other victims and realized that without a proper crime, there was no legal reason for "Ethan" to ever stop.

THERE IS NO ETHAN catalogues Akbari's experience as both victim and observer. By looking at the bigger picture of where these stories unfold -- a world where technology mediates our relationships; where words and images are easily manipulated; and where truth, reality, and identity have become slippery terms -- Akbari gives a page-turning and riveting examination of why stories like Ethan's matter for us all.

"[It's] Montgomery's journalistic eye for distilling the humanity behind the unfulfilled athletic potential that makes this a real home run." - Booklist, Starred Review

Stories of baseball idols and heroes are oft-repeated, but what about those players who everyone thought would be the next "great one" and have since disappeared from the sport? What happened after they failed to meet the weighty expectations placed on them?

In Baseball's Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn't Live Up to the Hype, Patrick Montgomery brings out from the shadows nine of those players who were once poised for greatness. They include a player who received a then-record-breaking MLB Draft signing bonus, a left-handed pitcher who was ordained to be the next Sandy Koufax, the only catcher to go straight from high school to the major leagues during the MLB Draft Era, and more. Drawing from his extensive interviews with the players, family members, general managers, executives, scouts, and more, Montgomery shines a fresh light on these players and provides a candid perspective on the major leagues. Players reflect on their careers, what went wrong, how they feel about baseball now that their playing days are over, and, for many of them, how they have found new purpose in their lives.

Baseball's Great Expectations reveals an often-overlooked side of professional baseball, of the struggles with injury, mental exhaustion, pressure, temptations, and sometimes just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The path to baseball stardom is not as glamorous as it is sometimes made out to be, and this book reveals just how difficult the journey truly is.

An exiled professor's journey from inside and beyond academe

In the summer of 2014, Steven Salaita was fired from a tenured position in American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois for his unwavering stance on Palestinian human rights and other political controversies. A year later, he landed a job in Lebanon, but that, too, ended badly. With no other recourse, Salaita found himself trading his successful academic career for an hourly salaried job. Told primarily from behind the wheel of a school bus--a vantage point from which Salaita explores social anxiety, suburban architecture, political alienation, racial oppression, working-class solidarity, pro-fessional malfeasance, and the joy of chauffeuring children to and from school--An Honest Living describes the author's decade of turbulent post-professorial life and his recent return to the lectern.

Steven Salaita was practically born to a life in academia. His father taught physics at an HBCU in southern West Virginia and his earliest memories are of life on campus and the cinder walls of the classroom. It was no surprise that he ended up in the classroom straight after graduate school. Yet three of his university jobs--Virginia Tech, the University of Illinois, and the American University of Beirut [AUB] --ended in public controversy. Shaken by his sudden notoriety and false claims of antisemitism, Salaita found himself driving a school bus to make ends meet. While some considered this just punishment for his anti-Zionist beliefs, Steven found that driving a bus provided him with not just a means to pay the bills but a path toward freedom of thought.

Now ten years later, with a job at American University at Cairo, Salaita reconciles his past with his future. His restlessness has found a home, yet his return to academe is met with the same condition of fugitivity from whence he was expelled: an occasion for defiance, not conciliation. An Honest Living presents an intimate personal narrative of the author's decade of professional joys and travails.

Inconceivable combines memoir and investigative reporting to reveal an underground community of sperm donors and recipients who have chosen to circumvent traditional fertility avenues and meet up on their own terms. As an active participant in this community, Valerie Bauman uses her own story as a lens into this movement of people attempting to dodge the costly and often discriminatory world of sperm banks and fertility clinics. Inconceivable is a window into the unfair legal, financial, and medical entanglements that compel many single women and LGBTQ+ couples to take their fertility into their own hands.

"This lyrical testament to life as 'a blind date with mercy' will challenge and inspire." --Publishers Weekly [Starred Review]

In 1991, when he was thirteen years old, Lenny Duncan stepped out of his house in West Philadelphia, walked to the Greyhound station, and bought a ticket--the start of his great American adventure. But little did he know that his great American adventure would include a winding path through sex work and drug deals, prison, and eventually ministry and social justice activism.

Now out in paperback with a new afterword, Duncan brings us his deeply personal story about growing up Black and queer in the US. In his characteristically powerful voice, he recounts hitchhiking across the country, spending time in solitary confinement, battling for sobriety, and discovering a deep faith, examining pressing issues like poverty, mass incarceration, white supremacy, and LGBTQ inclusion through an intimate portrayal of his life's struggles and joys. United States of Grace is a love story about America, revealing the joy and resilience of places in this country that many call "the margins" but that Lenny Duncan has called home. Fierce and incisive, Duncan challenges us and America to seek life out of death. "I was born starving for the good," he writes, "and this country can be a feast of good if we open ourselves up to it."

The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain and only successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first larger team, Mimi Zieman's team would climb without using supplemental oxygen, porter support, or chance for rescue. She would accompany the climbers as the doctor--and only woman--although she was still in her third year of medical school. Full of self-doubt, Zieman grappled with whether to go but couldn't resist the call of the mountains. On Everest, when three climbers disappeared during their summit attempt, she reached the knife edge of her limits and dug deeply to fight for the climbers' lives and to find her voice.

Sparkling with suspense and vulnerability, Tap Dancing on Everest is a coming-of-age story about the risks we take to become our truest selves. Zieman weaves her childhood as the daughter of immigrants raised in 1970's New York City, her father a Holocaust survivor, with adventure and medicine, capturing the curiosity and awe of a young woman as she faces down messages to stay small and safe and ventures into the unknown.

From noted cartoonist Rick Parker comes his long-awaited original graphic novel memoir about his time in the United States Army, when he was drafted to serve during the Vietnam War

Drafted is a graphic novel memoir by Rick Parker, a shy, inexperienced, and overly protected teenager who gets drafted into the United States Army at the height of the Vietnam War. The looming threat of deployment informs every aspect of his life, from the most ludicrous experiences to the grimmest tests of endurance. Initially determined to do his patriotic duty, Parker gradually comes to the realization that he is just not cut out for a military career and wants nothing more than to serve his time and return to civilian life to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. In telling this story, he shows how Vietnam was the last war in the United States that instituted the draft; how the draft affected those who served; and how we as Americans think of war and our soldiers once they return from service. Parker also shows how being an artist helped him to survive his time in the army. Drafted is a compelling and unique graphic novel memoir, perfect for fans of Joe Sacco and Derf Backderf, and is sure to appeal to Parker's dedicated followers and new fans alike--already proven by the response to the award-winning short film Rick Parker, I'm Afraid.

It's Not About Perfect is inspirational memoir of the most decorated gymnast in American history, her recovery from cancer, and her miracle pregnancy.

"When the odds were against me, I was always at my best."

When she retired at age 19, Shannon Miller did so as one of the most recognizable gymnasts in the country. The winner of seven Olympic medals and the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in U.S. history, Shannon tells a story of surviving and thriving. A shy, rambunctious girl raised in Oklahoma, Shannon fell in love with gymnastics at a young age and fought her way to the top.

In 1992 she won five Olympic medals after breaking her elbow in a training accident just months prior to the Games. Then, in 1996, a doctor advised her to retire immediately or face dire consequences if she chose to compete on her injured wrist. Undeterred, Shannon endured the pain and led her team, the "Magnificent Seven," to the first Olympic team gold medal for the United States in gymnastics. She followed up as the first American to win gold on the balance beam.

Equally intense, heroic and gratifying is the story of her brutal but successful battle with ovarian cancer, a disease from which fewer than fifty percent survive. Relying on her faith and hard-learned perseverance, Shannon battled through surgery and major chemotherapy to emerge on the other side with a miracle baby girl.

Her story of trial, triumph and life after cancer reminds us all that its life's bumps and bruises that reveal our character. From early on in her career, Shannon knew that life wasn't about perfection. In this incredible and inspirational tale, Shannon speaks out so as to be seen and heard by thousands as a beacon of hope.

I was 14 years old when I lost faith in everything. The year was 1998, and I had already been thrown in the psych ward, sent to adult prison, force-fed antipsychotics, and subjected to a bona fide exorcism from my own mother. The watchful eyes of God, my family, and the Lisle Police Department were so cruel and unrelenting that I felt like a captive even when I was free. I was spiraling into sex, drugs, and self-mutilation, and as the days went by, I started to believe that my mother was right; maybe I was the Antichrist.

How I Learned to Hate Myself is a case study on the roots of my trauma. It is a roadmap through the cause and effect nature of abuse and mental illness. It is a collection of my most vulnerable childhood memories, and a journey through the ways that they changed me.

Sometimes the only way to become whole is to break yourself apart and reassemble the pieces. Writing this book was a way for me to gather up the wreckage and turn it into something that felt like strength. If you find this book and you know what it is to feel broken, I hope that these stories will help you to do the same.

More than 140 single-page comics from artists the world over, documenting humanity's retreat into COVID-19 lockdown and imagining our eventual, boisterous reemergence, gathered by the founder of the annual Comic Arts Brooklyn festival and owner of the beloved indie comics shop Desert Island

On April 1, 2020, the Instagram account of Desert Island, Brooklyn's celebrated alternative comics shop, put out a call. By then Desert Island had been shuttered indefinitely, and cities all over the world had been locked down as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

"We all need something positive to think about, and a lot of us have time on our hands," the post read. "Who wants to make something?"

What happened next was nothing short of remarkable, as hundreds of short comics from more than fifty countries poured into Desert Island's inbox. Some came from notable cartoonists. Most, astonishingly, came from amateur artists just looking for an outlet to create in the midst of tragedy--for a chance to join the rescue party that leads us out of isolation.

Collected in this book are more than 140 notable entries from the Rescue Party project, capturing the loneliness and the surprising comforts of early lockdown; the mania of its middle days as the mind begins to fray; and the many paths forward toward humanity's future, as we re-enter a world wracked with injustice.

Bracing, beautiful, and conspicuously optimistic, Rescue Party is part graphic diary, part time capsule, and part field guide: a grassroots project that tells the collective story of lockdown from a chorus of global voices and charts a course toward a more just future.

From the internationally acclaimed artist, a stunning collection of portraits of ground-breaking women--Joan of Arc, Josephine Baker, Greta Thunberg, Misty Copeland, and many more history-making women whose names have been forgotten and are finally being brought to light. - With a Foreword by Roxane Gay.

"This book, as a whole, offers the reader possibility and promise ... You will be introduced to many of these women for the first time, because history is rarely kind to women until it is forced to be. You will learn about artists and activists, rulers and rebels." --Roxane Gay, from the Foreword

Original Sisters was born from the COVID-19 quarantine. In early March 2020, locked down in her home-studio in Toronto and longing for inspiration, artist Anita Kunz started researching women on the Internet. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she soon found an array of astonishing people who had done amazing things--some of whom she had heard of, but most of whom she had not. And then she began to paint their pictures and write down their stories. The result is a jaw-dropping feat of historic and artistic research. The wide variety of lives, occupations, time periods, and achievements is absolutely mind-bending.

From Joan of Arc to Josephine Baker, from Hippolyta to Greta Thunberg, from Anne Frank to Misty Copeland: these women made and changed history. But there are just as many whom you've never heard of, who were never recognized in their lifetimes, whose achievements need to be brought to light. They include the anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl, who was executed at age twenty-one by the Third Reich, and Alice Ball, a young African American scientist who discovered a treatment for leprosy but died tragically before she could receive credit for it.

This is not only a breathtaking art book. Original Sisters also recounts a secret history that must be told so that it is a secret no more.

"Engaging and immensely relatable, while at the same time offering deeply profound insights into Adam Nimoy's personal relationships, particularly with his famous father." --Eugene Roddenberry Jr., CEO Roddenberry Entertainment

Living with Dad was like living with a stranger--as a kid I often had trouble connecting and relating to him. But I was always proud of him.

Even before Star Trek I'd see him popping up in bit roles on some of my favorite TV shows like Get Smart, Sea Hunt, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. And then one night he brought home Polaroids of himself in makeup and wardrobe for a pilot he was working on. It was December 1964 and nobody had heard of Star Trek. Still, the eight-year-old me had watched enough Outer Limits and My Favorite Martian to understand exactly what I was looking at.

Spock's popularity happened quickly, and soon the fan magazines were writing about dad's personal life, characterizing us as a "close family." But the awkwardness that defined our early relationship blossomed into conflict, sometimes smoldering, sometimes open and intense. There were occasional flashes of warmth between the arguments and hurt feelings--even something akin to love--especially when we were celebrating my father's many successes. The rest of the time, things between us were often strained.

My resentment towards my father kept building through the years. I wasn't blameless, I know that now, but my bitterness blinded me to any thought of my own contribution to the problem.

I wanted things to be different for my children. I wanted to be the father I never had, so I coached Maddy's soccer, drove Jonah to music lessons, helped them with their homework--all the things dads are supposed to do. All the things I wanted to do. So what if my Dad and I had been estranged for years? I was living one day at a time.

And then I got his letter.

That marked a turning point in our lives, a moment that cleared the way for a new relationship between us.

Picture a Crow Indian elder, his wizened eyes catching yours in the ancient flicker of firelight. His mesmerizing stories span the ages, from Custer to World War II to the 21st Century. He is the last traditional chief of his people. He is over 90 years old. Now picture that same man lecturing at colleges nationwide, and addressing the United Nations on the subject of peace.

National Geographic presents the amazing life story of Joseph Medicine Crow, the man who begins life as Winter Man. Trained as a warrior by his grandfather, Yellowtail, he bathes in icy rivers and endures the ceremony of "counting coup"--facing fierce combat with an enemy Sioux boy.

An operation at the local hospital brings the young Crow face-to-face with his worst fears: a Sioux, a ghost, and a white man. He excels at the white man's school and is raised in the Baptist faith. He translates the stories of the elder chiefs, becoming the link to the ancient traditions of the pre-reservation generation. His own dramatic and funny stories span both ages, and the ancient Crow legends are passed on in the storytelling tradition.

Joseph Medicine Crow's doctorate degree was interrupted by the call to arms of World War II. On the battlefields of Germany he earned the ancient status of War Chief by completing the four war deeds required of the Crow warrior.

In 1948 the Crow Tribal Council appointed Joseph Medicine Crow (now called High Bird) their Tribal Historian and Anthropologist.

Counting Coup is a vibrant adventure narrative, bringing Native American history and culture alive for young readers. Joseph Medicine Crow's story illuminates the challenges faced by the Crow people as hurricanes of change raged through America. His epic story and its lessons are an essential legacy for us all.

Explore the extraordinary history of Van Halen through the groundbreaking band's 50 most important moments, brought to vivid life with photos and memorabilia.

Formed in Southern California in 1974, Van Halen became one of the best-selling bands in rock history and one of the highest-grossing tour acts with their rock-solid rhythm section, the histrionics of outrageous frontman David Lee Roth, and the wildly inventive and until-then unimaginable guitar heroics of Eddie Van Halen. In Van Halen at 50, prolific rock journalist Martin Popoff pays tribute to the band on the occasion of their 50th anniversary by curating 50 significant milestones, from their formation in 1974 to the passing of Eddie Van Halen in 2020. This volume features:

• Stunning concert and candid offstage photography
• Images of memorabilia, including gig posters, vinyl record sleeves, ticket stubs, period ads, and more
• Gatefold Van Halen timeline

Across five decades, Popoff covers it all:

• The band's formation in Pasadena, California, and early years as a So-Cal party band
• 13 best-selling studio albums and the tours undertaken in support of the LPs
• The departure of Roth and his replacement by "The Red Rocker" Sammy Hagar
• Notable appearances like Texxas Jam, Farm Aid, and Monsters of Rock
• A selection of their greatest singles, like the classic-rock standards "Runnin' with the Devil," "Hot for Teacher," "Jump," and "Why Can't This Be Love?"
• Awards such as MTV Music Video Awards, platinum and diamond album certifications, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Eddie Van Halen's battle with cancer
• Bassist Michael Anthony's replacement by Eddie's son, Wolfgang

In addition, Popoff includes a selection of sidebars covering specialized topics like Eddie's finger-tapping technique, the band's album art, and the eternal Dave vs. Sammy question. Every page is illustrated with incredible images, including on- and off-stage photography, gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, ticket stubs, and more. The result is an apt tribute to one of the most popular bands in rock history.

A heart-wrenching and beautifully crafted memoir about a woman who escaped years of domestic violence--and her sister, who did not.

In April 2002, Janine Latus's youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved, it read, but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...

That same spring Janine Latus was struggling to leave her marriage--a marriage to a handsome and successful man. A marriage others emulated. A marriage in which she felt she could do nothing right and everything wrong. A marriage in which she felt afraid, controlled, inadequate, and trapped.

Ten weeks later, Janine Latus had left her marriage. She was on a business trip to the East Coast, savoring her freedom, attending a work conference, when she received a call from her sister Jane asking if she'd heard from Amy. Immediately, Janine's blood ran cold. Amy was missing.

Helicopters went up and search dogs went out. Coworkers and neighbors and family members plastered missing posters with Amy's picture across the county. It took more than two weeks to find Amy's body, wrapped in a tarpaulin and buried at a building site. It took nearly two years before her killer, her former boyfriend Ron Ball, was sentenced for her murder.

Amy died in silent fear and pain. Haunted by this, Janine Latus turned her journalistic eye inward. How, she wondered, did two seemingly well-adjusted, successful women end up in strings of physically or emotionally abusive relationships with men? If I Am Missing or Dead is a heart-wrenching journey of discovery as Janine Latus traces the roots of her own -- and her sister's -- victimization with unflinching candor. This beautifully written memoir will move readers from the first to the last page. At once a confession, a call to break the cycle of abuse, and a deeply felt love letter to her baby sister, Amy Lynne Latus, If I Am Missing or Dead is an unforgettable read.

Foreword by Steve Doocy

Turn up the heat and crack open a cold one with this smokin' hot, flavor-packed cookbook from Fox News' favorite father-son duo, packed with more than 100 mouthwatering barbecue recipes for families to gather, grill, and enjoy together.

Working in the grilling and smoking industry for a half century, John McLemore is a master of barbecuing and developing simple, delicious recipes. Now, for the first time, the bestselling cookbook author and nationally known personality teams up with his son, John II, to create this sensational cookbook that brings their homespun comfort food to the great American outdoors.

In Gather and Grill, the McLemore Boys provide kickbutt, budget-friendly recipes for smoking, grilling, and frying, as well as tips on all your family's cookout needs. Here are more than 100 classic barbecue recipes using rubs and seasonings that will have every member of the family licking their fingers in delight. Combining Southern charm and bold flavors, this father-son duo serves up DADGUM GOOD irresistible deliciousness with recipes such as:

Reverse Seared Tomahawk Steaks

3-Step Smoked Brisket

Fox & Friends Traditional Smoked Ribs

Good Ole Boy Chicken ThighsGrilled Pork Tenderloin Sliders

Smoked Jalapeno Bacon Mac'n'Cheese

Johnboy's Smoked Bourbon Glazed Salmon

Honey Glazed/Brown Sugar Ribs

Red, White, and Blue Chicken Wings

In addition to a wide variety of barbecue staples, The McLemore Boys offer healthy options, price-saving techniques, leftover masterpieces, and more to add spice to any cookout or gathering. Whether you're a seasoned barbequer or just got your first grill, this cookbook offers straightforward recipes and helpful techniques everyone will find useful--after all, the McLemore Boys designed the grills and smokers, and will show you how to get the best out of them!

Head outside, start the fire, and get ready for some of the tastiest finger-licking food you'll ever make!