Collection: Biography & Memoir

Letters from Italy is a story of true love that spans an ocean. Against all odds, an orphaned girl and a young dreamer find solace in a romance sparked by a single photo and years of transatlantic letters. From a tiny Italian town in pre-WWII to New York City in her golden age, hopeful immigrants take a chance at living the American dream. Set on the Puglian coast, a world comes alive with images of a fishing village, families from different socio-economic classes, and a love born out of chance.

When they finally meet, Nicoletta and Orazio know they are destined to be together. Framed by the letters they wrote to each other, Letters from Italy takes us on a passage back through time with a romantic young couple whose devotion to one another prompted a bold journey in a foreign land.

A stray dog finds her new home at Christmas in this heartwarming true story!

It's two weeks before Christmas, and a stray dog searches for shelter in the snow. Thankfully, the door of one house is slightly ajar, welcoming her inside. But what will happen after she walks in? Will the humans send her back out into the cold? Or will they be her friend and let her stay? Will she find what she's truly looking for . . . a forever home?

Based on the true story of podcaster Jack Jokinen and his family's heartwarming experience with their dog Suzy, A Stray Dog for Christmas captures the essence of the holiday season. This modern classic is a perfect read for both kids and adults, reminding us of the enduring joy of family and the possibility of Christmas miracles.

This touching narrative also sheds light on the significance of dog adoption, inspiring compassion and responsible pet ownership.

Experience the wonder of the season through the eyes of a stray dog, and discover the timeless message that resonates at Christmas and all year long!

What are the lives of America's richest families really like? Their nannies see it all...

When Stephanie Kiser moves to New York City after college to pursue a career in writing, she quickly learns that her entry-level salary won't cover the high cost of living--never mind her crushing student loan debt. But there is one in-demand job that pays more than enough to allow Stephanie to stay in the city: nannying for the 1%. Desperate to escape the poverty of her own childhood and jump social classes, Stephanie falls into a job that hijacks her life for the next seven years: a personal assistant to toddlers on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

At first, nannying seems like the perfect solution--the high pay covers Stephanie's bills, and she's surprised by how attached she becomes to the kids she cares for, even as she gasps over Prada baby onesies and preschools that cost more than her college tuition. But the grueling twelve-hour days leave her little time to see her friends, date, or pursue any creative projects that might lead to a more prestigious career. Soon the shiny allure of the seemingly-glamorous job begins to dull as Stephanie comes to understand more about what really happens behind the closed doors of million-dollar Park Avenue apartments--and that money doesn't guarantee happiness.

Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant is alternately poignant and funny, a portrait of a generation of Americans struggling to find work they love balanced against the headwinds of global uncertainty, overwhelming student loans, and an economy stacked against anyone trying to work their way up from the bottom. In this unputdownable memoir, Stephanie chronicles her journey from newbie nanny to beloved caregiver--and the painful decision to eventually say goodbye to the children she has grown to love.

This is Rossi's wild, queer coming-of-age story. Rossi was taught only to aspire to marry a nice Jewish boy and to be a good kosher Jewish girl. At sixteen she flowers into a rebellious punk-rock rule-breaker who runs away to seek adventure. Her freedom is cut short when her parents kidnap her and dump her with a Chasidic rabbi--a "cult buster" known for "reforming" wayward Jewish girls--in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Rossi spends the next couple of years in a repressive, misogynistic culture straight out of the nineteenth century, forced to trade in her pink hair and Sex Pistols T-shirt for maxi skirts and long-sleeved blouses and endure not only bone-crunching boredom but also outright abuse and violence.

The Punk-Rock Queen of the Jews is filled with wonderfully rich characters, hilarious dialogue, and keen portraits of the secretive hothouse Orthodox world and the struggling New York City of the 1980s: dirty, on the edge, but fully vital and embracing.

Fame. It's like a series of lotteries in life--will you draw a winning ticket? A lot depends on luck, but this book shows it's possible to increase one's chances . . .

Consider the most famous music group in history. What would the world be like if the Beatles never existed? This was the question posed by the playful, thought-provoking 2019 film Yesterday, in which a young, completely unknown singer starts performing Beatles hits to a world that has never heard them. Would the Fab Four's songs be as phenomenally popular as they are in our own Beatle-infused world? The movie asserts that they would, but is that true? Was the success of the Beatles essentially inevitable due to their amazing, matchless talent?

Maybe. It's hard to imagine our world without its stars and celebrity geniuses--they become a part of our culture and history, seeming permanent and preordained. But as Harvard law professor (and passionate Beatles fan) Cass Sunstein shows in this startling book, that is far from the case. Focusing on both famous and forgotten (or simply overlooked) artists and luminaries in music, literature, business, science, politics, and other fields, he explores why some individuals become famous and others don't and offers a new understanding of the role of greatness, luck, and contingency in the achievement of fame.

First, Sunstein examines recent research--on informational cascades, power laws, network effects, and group polarization--to probe the question of how people become famous. He explores what ends up in the history books, in the great religious texts, and in the literary canon--and how that changes radically over time. He delves into the rich and entertaining stories of a diverse cast of famous characters, from John Keats, William Blake, and Jane Austen to Bob Dylan, Ayn Rand, and Stan Lee--as well as John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

How to Become Famous takes you on a fun, captivating, and at times profound journey that will forever change your perspective on the latest celebrity's "fifteen minutes," the nature of memory, success and failure in business, and our enduring fascination with fame.

It was family separation and "kids in cages" that first drove Sarah Towle to the US southern border. On discovering the many-headed hydra that is the US immigration system, she refused to look away. Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands charts her journey from outrage to activism to abolition as she exposes, layer by broken layer, the now global deterrence-to-detention-to-deportation complex that is set up to fail everyone--save the profiteers and demagogues who benefit from it.

Sarah deftly weaves oral storytelling, history, and memoir together to illustrate how US policy has led the charge in flouting post-WWII global commitments to protecting human rights. Yet within the web of criminalization and cruelty, Sarah finds hope in the extraordinary acts of ordinary heroes who prove, every day, that there is a better way. By amplifying their voices and celebrating their efforts, Sarah reveals that we can welcome with dignity those most in need of safety and compassion. In unmasking the real root causes of the "crisis" in human migration, she urges us to act before we travel much further down our current course--one which history will not soon forgive, or forget.

Is there a better place than Japan for a comic artist and a video game composer? Join Julia and Marc as their year in Japan unfolds in a series of short adventures, both heartfelt and hilarious.

Julia and Marc are your average creative millennial couple, full of the anxieties and optimism of their generation. When the economy takes a downturn and Marc loses his engineering job, the pair realize that their relative lack of ties means they can pool their savings and his severance to embark on a new adventure: Moving to Japan! (Until the money runs out, anyway...)

The pair move into a tiny apartment and enroll in a local Japanese school as they begin to acclimate to the local culture. Whether learning about the local fire patrol or the beautiful terror of Japanese toilets, the pair embrace their new surroundings with equal parts fear and wonder.

Their journey is documented lovingly by Julia herself. Fans of anime and manga will notice the cheeky influence of noted mangaka (manga artists) like Akira Toriyama (DragonBall), Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2), and many more throughout the book, alongside thoughtful and heartfelt cultural observation.

Join Julia and Marc as they explore many aspects of Japan, from the culture to the natural wonders, all while growing as people and partners.

English language release includes bonus pages by Julia reflecting on her time in Japan years later.

This is a collection of eight autobiographical visual essays that explore the joys and pains of living in a hypercomplex and uncertain world. In her sprawling and colorful style, Sarah Firth pursues some of life's deepest philosophical questions about happiness, hope, love, sex, death, truth, reality, and the definition of "self." She weaves together a mix of great ideas and silly ones deriving not only from her own lived experience, but also from her daydreams, pop culture memes, and the teachings of science, philosophy, and history. Her musings ultimately lead her to consider how to live more joyously in a troubling world, and how to be more compassionate towards oneself, others, and the planet.

The inside story of the Detroit Tigers' unforgettable 1984 season

In 1984, fantasy became reality in the Motor City. Led by ace Jack Morris, a historic season from lefty Willie Hernandez, and a thumping lineup powered by Kirk Gibson, Chet Lemon, and Lance Parrish, the Detroit Tigers turned a sportscaster's sarcastic "Bless you boys" remark into a rallying cry. The Tigers led the American League East from start to finish - starting the season 35-5 and finishing with 104 wins to take the division by 15 games. They topped Kansas City in the ALCS and the San Diego Padres in the World Series to capture Detroit's first World Series Crown since 1968.

A key cog to this unforgettable season was Parrish, the all-star catcher who slugged a team-leading 33 home runs. Told from the perspective of Parrish himself and the expertise of award-winning Tigers scribe Tom Gage - who covered the 1984 Tigers for the Detroit News -- The Enchanted Season takes readers onto the field and inside the locker room, from the spring training trade for Hernandez to Morris's April no-hitter to Gibson's October home run to seal the Tigers' clinching Game 5. Sharing insight on manager Sparky Anderson's leadership, the magical keystone combination of Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, the power and speed of Lemon and Gibson, and much more, this essential read provides fans a new look back at the year the Tigers roared.

The classic multimillion copy bestseller

Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients.

For over forty years, generations of readers have thrilled to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye.

In "All Creatures Great and Small," we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school. Some visits are heart-wrenchingly difficult, such as one to an old man in the village whose very ill dog is his only friend and companion, some are lighthearted and fun, such as Herriot's periodic visits to the overfed and pampered Pekinese Tricki Woo who throws parties and has his own stationery, and yet others are inspirational and enlightening, such as Herriot's recollections of poor farmers who will scrape their meager earnings together to be able to get proper care for their working animals. From seeing to his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads to dealing with uncooperative owners and critically ill animals, Herriot discovers the wondrous variety and never-ending challenges of veterinary practice as his humor, compassion, and love of the animal world shine forth.

James Herriot's memoirs have sold 80 million copies worldwide, and continue to delight and entertain readers of all ages.

Two men in love. A world ready for change.

THE WAY FROM ME TO US is the story of two pioneers. It's the true account of a love that began nearly 50 years ago in a Nashville gay bar called The Other Side. It was 1977, when coming out could mean you lost everything. Your job. Your friends. Your family.

Mike and Ted were all too aware of the risks at the bar that night. It was literally a step to the other side for Mike, who was nowhere near as accepting of his true self as Ted was of his. "I like being gay," Ted told him. "I'd like to find somebody who likes being gay with me."

Mike accepted the challenge. With no instruction manual, the two of them staked out a life together at a time when such things "just weren't done." Theirs is a story of two men battling the toughest challenges, some external, some that sprang from within. It's the story of the triumph of an undeniable love that has lasted nearly half a century.

This uplifting memoir will move and inspire you. It's living proof that, no matter how vehemently the world works against it, love wins.

A Palestinian Woman's dazzling exploration of heritage, gender and the idea of home.

I may not be brave enough, but somewhere deep inside of me there is, perhaps, the kernel of someone who is.

That brave someone was the legendary Nusayba bint Ka'ab al Khazrajia, who fought alongside the Prophet Muhammad at the dawn of Islam, the author N.S Nuseibeh's ancestor. In drawing on Nusayba's stories, Nuseibeh delves into the experience of being an Arab woman today and in the distant past--taking her from superheroes and the glorification of violence to the rise of Arab feminism, to what courage looks like in the context of interminable conflict. By seeking to understand her namesake in the context of her own twenty-first century concerns, Nuseibeh links our current ideas of Muslims and Arabs with their origins, exploring myth-making and identity, religion and nationhood, feminism and race.

As intimate as they are thoughtful, these linked essays offer a dazzling exploration of heritage, gender and the idea of home, while also showing how connecting with our history can help us understand ourselves and others today.

From Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, a singular story of discovery and embrace of Indigenous identity.Growing up in Western Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian. While the representation of Indigenous people was mostly limited to racist depictions in toys and television shows, and despite the fact that his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indians alluring, often recalling his grandmother's consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage.When La Tray attended his grandfather's funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. "Who were they?" he wondered. "Why didn't I know them? Why was I never allowed to know them?" Catalyzed by the death of his father two decades later, La Tray embarks on a sprawling investigation. He takes a DNA test, which offers the first key clue to his heritage: a family tree. He scours the archives of used bookstores, interviews family, and travels to powwows, book fairs, and conferences. Combining diligent research with a growing number of encounters with Indigenous authors, activists, elders, and historians, he slowly pieces together his family history, and eventually seeks enrollment with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.As La Tray comes to embrace his full identity, he discovers the rich history of his people. He learns of Métis origins and border crossings, usurped territories and broken treaties, exile and forced assimilation, poverty and food deprivation. He also encounters the devastating effects of settler colonialism rippling through surviving generations today, from the preservation of blood quantum laws and the trauma of boarding schools for Indigenous children to the ongoing crises of homelessness, addiction, and missing and murdered Indigenous women. And eventually he is moved to take part in their 158-year-long struggle for federal recognition, unflinchingly documenting past and present along the way.Brimming with propulsive, vibrant storytelling, Becoming Little Shell is a major contribution to the burgeoning literature of Native America.

"We made it!" I cried. "We're here. The North Pole! We're on top of the world! The first men ever to stand here in all of history."

When eleven-year-old Matthew Henson ran away from his cruel stepmother to find a new life in the big city, no one could have predicted that he would become the first man to reach the North Pole. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, Matthew found a life of adventure on the high seas and in the Arctic. But back home in America his achievements were largely overlooked because he was Black.

Race to the Frozen North tells his remarkable true story.

Union Square & Co.'s EVERYONE CAN BE A READER books are expertly written, thoughtfully designed with dyslexia-friendly fonts and paper tones, and carefully formatted to meet readers where they are with engaging stories that encourage reading success across a wide range of age and interest levels.

After decades of bouncing between hope and despair, Evangelical, Baptist-raised Julie Rodgers found herself making a powerful public statement that her former self would have never said: "I support same-sex marriage in the church."

When Rodgers came out to her family as a junior in high school, she still believed that God would sanctify her and eventually make her straight. Wanting so intensely to be good, she spent her adolescent and early adult years with an ex-gay ministry, praying for liberation from her homosexuality. In Outlove Rodgers details her deeply personal journey from a life of self-denial in the name of faith to her role in leading the take-down of Exodus International, the largest ex-gay organization in the world, to her marriage to a woman at the Washington National Cathedral. Through one woman's intimate story, we see the larger story of why many have left conservative religious structures in order to claim their truest identity.

Outlove is about love and losses, political and religious power-plays, and the cost to those who sought to stay in a faith community that wouldn't accept them. Shedding light on the debate between Evangelical Christians and the LGBTQ community--a battle that continues to rage on in the national news and in courtrooms across the country--this book ultimately casts a hopeful vision for how the church can heal.