Biographien

The team of unlikely outsiders bonded together to achieve the unthinkable: Jamie set the record as the first player to score in 11 consecutive Premier League matches and Leicester beat odds of 5000-1 to become champions.

Tells the story of how a tall, shy youth from Weston-super-Mare went on to become a self-confessed legend. In this book, the author describes his nerve-racking first public appearance, at St Peter's Preparatory School at the age of eight; his endlessly peripatetic home life with parents; and his first experiences in the world of work as a teacher.

An unprecedented international publishing event: the first and only diary written by a still-imprisoned Guantanamo detainee.

Building and running a dictatorship, with power of life or death over hundreds of millions, in conditions of capitalist self-encirclement, made Stalin the person he became. This is the story of a political system shaping a personality.

Elizabeth Gilbert is in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, and they're trying for a baby - she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance.

From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. He became identified in the white press as a teacher of race hatred. This autobiography reveals his integrity and the fierce idealism which led him to reject both liberal hypocrisies and black racialism.

WINNER OF THE 2015 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARDWINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2016'A thrilling adventure story' Bill Bryson'Dazzling' Literary Review 'Brilliant' Sunday Express'Extraordinary and gripping' New Scientist'A superb biography' The Economist'An exhilarating armchair voyage' GILES MILTON, Mail on Sunday Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is the great lost scientist - more things are named after him than anyone else. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there's a penguin, a giant squid - even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon. His colourful adventures read like something out of a Boy's Own story: Humboldt explored deep into the rainforest, climbed the world's highest volcanoes and inspired princes and presidents, scientists and poets alike. Napoleon was jealous of him; Simon Bol var's revolution was fuelled by his ideas; Darwin set sail on the Beagle because of Humboldt; and Jules Verne's Captain Nemo owned all his many books. He simply was, as one contemporary put it, 'the greatest man since the Deluge'.Taking us on a fantastic voyage in his footsteps - racing across anthrax-infected Russia or mapping tropical rivers alive with crocodiles - Andrea Wulf shows why his life and ideas remain so important today. Humboldt predicted human-induced climate change as early as 1800, and The Invention of Nature traces his ideas as they go on to revolutionize and shape science, conservation, nature writing, politics, art and the theory of evolution. He wanted to know and understand everything and his way of thinking was so far ahead of his time that it's only coming into its own now. Alexander von Humboldt really did invent the way we see nature.

';The work that brought down a presidency...perhaps the most influential piece of journalism in history' (Time)from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Final Days. The most devastating political detective story of the century: two Washington Post reporters, whose brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation smashed the Watergate scandal wide open, tell the behind-the-scenes drama the way it really happened. One of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Best Nonfiction Books, this is the book that changed America. Published just months before President Nixon's resignation, All the President's Men revealed the full scope of the scandal and introduced for the first time the mysterious ';Deep Throat.' Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing through headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward deliver a riveting firsthand account of their reporting. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post, toppled the president, and have since inspired generations of reporters. All the President's Men is a riveting detective story, capturing the exhilarating rush of the biggest presidential scandal in US history as it unfolded in real time.

A hilarious collection of essays from 'the premier observer of our world and its weirdnesses,' New York Times bestselling author David Sedaris (Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt)Anyone who has heard David Sedaris speaking live or on the radio will tell you that a collection from him is cause for jubilation. A move to Paris from New York inspired these hilarious pieces, including 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', about his attempts to learn French from a sadistic teacher who declares that 'every day spent with you is like having a caesarean section'. His family is another inspiration. 'You Can't Kill the Rooster' is a portrait of his brother, who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers of food and cashiers with six-inch fingernails.Readers say:'Fantastically funny book which gets better and better''Oh how I loved this book. David Sedaris and his adventures in learning to speak French made me cry with laughter, especially the terrifying teacher at the language classes''Why have I not discovered him before'

Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to my Daughter reveals Maya Angelou's path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories: it's part guidebook, part memoir, part poetry - and pure delight.Here in short essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons about compassion and fortitude. Whether she is recalling lost friends, extolling honesty or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice, Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women.Like the rest of her remarkable work, Letter to My Daughter entertains and teaches. It is a book to cherish, savour, reread and share.

The magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his worldIn January 1928 Stalin, the ruler of the largest country in the world, boarded a train bound for Siberia where he would embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He was about to begin the largest programme of social reengineering ever attempted: the root-and-branch uprooting and collectivization of agriculture and industry across the entire Soviet Union. Millions would die, and many more would suffer. How did Stalin get to this point? Where did such great, monstrous power come from?The first of three volumes, the product of a decade of scrupulous and intrepid research, this landmark book offers the most convincing portrait and explanation yet of Stalin's power, and of Russian power in the world. The book is as much about the Russia that Stalin inherits and reshapes as about the man himself. It gives a brilliantly nuanced picture of the sequence of catastrophes that disposed of the social structures, armies, rivals and close colleagues that should have stood in Stalin's way, as he emerged from obscurity to shoulder the terrifying responsibility of upholding Russian power in the world.

From Andrew Roberts, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Storm of War, this is the definitive modern biography of NapoleonIt has become all too common for Napoleon Bonaparte's biographers to approach him as a figure to be reviled, bent on world domination, practically a proto-Hitler. Here, after years of study extending even to visits paid to St Helena and 53 of Napoleon's 56 battlefields, Andrew Roberts has created a true portrait of the mind, the life, and the military and above all political genius of a fundamentally constructive ruler. This is the Napoleon, Roberts reminds us, whose peacetime activity produced countless indispensable civic innovations - and whose Napoleonic Code provided the blueprint for civil law systems still in use around the world today.It is one of the greatest lives in world history, which here has found its ideal biographer. The sheer enjoyment which this book will give anyone who loves history is enormous.Andrew Roberts is a biographer and historian of international renown whose books include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (winner, the Wolfson Prize for History); Masters and Commanders; and The Storm of War, which reached No. 2 on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of Literature and Arts. He appears regularly on British television and radio and writes for the Sunday Telegraph, Spectator, Literary Review, Mail on Sunday and Daily Telegraph.

SOON TO BE A NETFLIX SERIES Deborah Feldman's bestselling memoir of escaping from a strict Hasidic community includes a new afterword by the author detailing her life after leaving her husband and forging new beginnings for herself and her young son.

Searching for the book of love letters from the Sex in the City movie? This book contains those letters as well as some of the most passionate and romantic poems and love letters ever written. Explore the private longings and passions of the greatest men in history and the women they loved. Find yourself in the middle of torrid love affairs, undying devotion, and scandalous betrayal as you uncover long-lost correspondences between lovers.From great Kings to War Heroes to Philosophers, spanning a period of five centuries, this collection illustrates that the human desires of sex and love were as powerful then as they are now.

The Lonely City is a captivating book by Olivia Laing, published in 2017 by Canongate Books. This book explores the subject of loneliness in a unique and profound way, taking the reader on a journey through the busy streets and crowded apartments of the city. The author uses her personal experiences and observations to illuminate the complexities of isolation and solitude in the urban environment. The Lonely City is a thought-provoking read that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt alone in a crowd. Despite being set in the hustle and bustle of the city, it is a book that speaks to the universal human experience of loneliness. Published by Canongate Books, this is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary literature.

'The figure looking back at me was little more than a skeleton with just a thin layer of tissue paper for skin, drawn over the stick-like bones. I stood staring for a good couple of minutes, considering what I'd become. And my verdict? Brilliant, I thought. It's been worth every moment of all that hard work.'

A celebration of the process and artwork created for the Radiohead albums Kid A and Amnesiac

A View from a Front Seat in Football. bA manifesto for change and the state of the game by one of the UKs most recognisable figures in football/b

A ROUGH TRADE, MOJO, UNCUT & LOUDER THAN WAR BOOK OF THE YEARA redemptive, myth-shattering biography of one of the twentieth century's most underestimated creative and artistic forces.'Here is the Odyssey of Nico . . . a scholarly and detailed chronicle of this brilliant artist, who was spurned and tortured for her trouble.'IGGY POP'At last, a comprehensive and compelling book about Nico.'VIV ALBERTINE'Absorbs from start to finish.'OBSERVERThe real story of Nico is one of determination, self-destruction and belief in one's artistic vision, at any cost . . .You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone is an empowering reappraisal of an underappreciated icon. Drawing upon new interviews and rare archival material Bickerdike defies the sexist casting of Nico's life as the tragedy of a beautiful woman losing her youth and fame, and instead cements her legacy as one of the most vital artists of her generation.'Gripping.' THE TIMES'[This] book gets closer to understanding Nico than most.' GUARDIAN'Deserves to sit with the great biographies.' RECORD COLLECTOR'A compassionate portrait of a musician whose artistry has often been overlooked.' MOJO'Valuable . . . Bickerdike gives Nico her due as an artist.' THE SPECTATOR'Entertainingly written and insightful.' INDEPENDENT'The best music book you will read this year.' LOUDER THAN WAR

**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**A deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train. More than 365 images chart Smith's singular aesthetic - inspired by her wildly popular InstagramIn 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message "Hello Everybody!" Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. Followers felt an immediate affinity with these miniature windows into Smith's world, photographs of her daily coffee, the books she's reading, the graves of beloved heroes - William Blake, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Simone Weil, Albert Camus. Over time, a coherent story of a life devoted to art took shape, and more than a million followers responded to Smith's unique aesthetic in images that chart her passions, devotions, obsessions, and whims. Original to this book are vintage photographs: anniversary pearls, a mother's keychain, and a husband's Mosrite guitar. Here, too, are never-before-seen photos of life on and off the road, train stations, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby. In wide-ranging yet intimate daily notations, Smith shares dispatches from her travels around the world.With 365 photographs, taking you through a single year, A Book of Days is a new way to experience the expansive mind of the visionary poet, writer, and performer. Hopeful, elegiac, playful - and complete with an introduction by Smith that explores her documentary process - A Book of Days is a timeless offering for deeply uncertain times, an inspirational map of an artist's life.

A FINANCIAL TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEARAn exhilarating new biography of John von Neumann: the lost genius who invented our world'A sparkling book, with an intoxicating mix of pen-portraits and grand historical narrative. Above all it fizzes with a dizzying mix of deliciously vital ideas. . . A staggering achievement' Tim HarfordThe smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Self-replicating moon bases and nuclear weapons. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable man: John von Neumann.Born in Budapest at the turn of the century, von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived. His colleagues believed he had the fastest brain on the planet - bar none. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first ever programmable digital computer. He prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.Taking us on an astonishing journey, Ananyo Bhattacharya explores how a combination of genius and unique historical circumstance allowed a single man to sweep through so many different fields of science, sparking revolutions wherever he went.Insightful and illuminating, The Man from the Future is a thrilling intellectual biography of the visionary thinker who shaped our century.