Biographies Power

This is the story of Zev Yaroslavsky, the son of Ukrainian Jews who immigrated to the United States in the early 1920s. His memoir charts the journey of a young social activist who battled to free Soviet Jews before becoming one of the most consequential elected officials in Southern California. Fiercely independent, he combined an activist's passion with a seasoned politician's skill to challenge the region's power brokers.

Inspiring, revealing, and deeply relatable, Being a Ballerina is a firsthand look at the realities of life as a professional ballet dancer. Through episodes from her own career, Gavin Larsen describes the forces that drive a person to study dance; the daily balance that dancers navigate between hardship and joy; and the dancer's continual quest to discover who they are as a person and as an artist.

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton is a friend of failure. In the 1970s, he brought the Minnesota Vikings to the Superbowl three times - and three times his team was crushed. The first two companies he founded both quickly folded. But by learning how to deal with defeat, Tarkenton discovered the key to success.

As lead presenter for Sky Sports Formula One live coverage, Simon Lazenby is at the centre of Grand Prix race-weekend action. In this book, he takes us off camera to give us exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to the people who power this multi-billion-pound sport. Drawing on over a decade's accumulated first-hand knowledge and connections across the paddock, Simon talks to key experts and professionals within the teams and the overall organisation, who each reveal how they operate, how they compete, the skills they've learnt to navigate the challenges they face.

Born into upper-class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano (later to become the mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Jennie Jerome (later to become the mother of Winston Churchill) refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. Instead, both women concentrated their energies on enabling their sons to reach the epicenter of political power on two continents. Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons is a captivating dual biography of two famous women whose sons would change the course of the 20th century.

Are you interested in philosophy? Do the greatest thinkers from the past influence the way you think and act? Philosophers have been shaping the world for centuries. Their ideas have shaped the way we act as individuals and groups for as long as we can remember, and their deep thought processes have been marveled at and replicated by millions across the world.

Cleveland Indians pitcher Paul Byrd gives an honest account of how he has kept his faith in God despite all the trials and temptions associated with the Major League Baseball lifestyle.

Times of great change did not occur by man's desire for change, but through protest and persistence. Across the globe, it seems we are in an era of protest and drive. Not since the '60s have we seen political divides and awareness of this magnitude, and it is shaping all aspects of our day to day life. While some feel lost in despair and fear, we can look to the past and rise up ourselves. Protest changes the world like nothing else has to date. What change do you want to fight for?

At stake in 1896 was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively, permanently owned by a democratic government. Although many people today think of public lands as an American birthright, their very existence was then in doubt and dependent on a merger of the talents of these two men. Natural Rivals examines a time of environmental threat and political dysfunction not unlike our own and reveals the complex dynamic that gave birth to America’s rich public lands legacy.

No team in American sports has as storied a history as the New York Yankees, winners of 27 World Series. As the strength and conditioning coach for the Yankees for parts of three decades, Jeff Mangold was firmly imbedded in building the dynasty of the 1990s and 2000s. In Power and Pinstripes, Mangold shares priceless stories from his 14 seasons behind the scenes in the Bronx.

Blackwildgirl begins her life as a queen superpower. When she is still a child, however, her parents strike a bargain that leads to her dethronement—and sets her on a forty-five-year journey to become the warrior she was born to be: Blackwildgoddess. Join an interactive adventure exploring the private life and journals of a young Black girl, beginning at the age of eight, as she struggles and evolves from a tennis player, musician, and college student to become a wife, mother, lawyer, scholar, and writer.

From the ashes of collapsed democracies to the fear-fueled rise of totalitarian regimes, The Rise of Dictators is a riveting exploration of how authoritarian leaders seize and sustain power. In this powerful audiobook, bestselling historian Isabella C. Hayes takes listeners on a sweeping journey through the minds and methods of history’s most dangerous rulers—from Hitler and Stalin to today’s emerging strongmen.

When COVID-19 hit the United States, New York governor Andrew Cuomo was thrust onto the national stage, hailed around the globe for his leadership. Alongside him every step of the way, Melissa DeRosa quickly became a household name. In her riveting memoir, DeRosa details her journey as a young woman in politics rising to the highest levels of government, writing with raw honesty and vulnerability about the personal challenges she faced—a failing marriage, infertility, death threats, misogyny—while navigating unprecedented professional landmines along the way.

The only book-length account of the life of Wendell Scott, the one-time moonshine runner who broke the color barrier in stock-car racing in 1952 and, against all odds, competed for more than 20 years in a sport dominated by Southern Whites.

On January 21, 1998, the night before his 38th birthday, federal prosecutor Stanley Alpert was kidnapped by a car full of gun-toting thugs. Hoping to make a large withdrawal with his ATM card, they took him, blindfolded, to a Brooklyn apartment, and improvised. All night, his captors alternately held guns to his head, threatened his family, engaged him in discussions of "gangsta" philosophy, sought his legal advice, and even offered him sexual favors from their prostitute girlfriends as a "birthday present."

The Grind Line is one of the most successful units in hockey history, and without peer among so-called fourth lines, for those who insist on numbering them. Kris Draper, flanked by Kirk Maltby and Joe Kocur, and later Darren McCarty, deserve their rightful place in Detroit shoulder-to-shoulder with the Production Line, the most famous forward unit in National Hockey League history: Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay alongside Sid Abel, and later Alex Delvecchio, four men whose numbers hang from the rafters at Little Caesers Arena.

It was history's most successful political partnership - as sensual and fiery as it was creative and visionary. Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin - wildly flamboyant and sublimely talented - was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, defining the Russian empire to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving Potemkin free to love his beautiful nieces, and Catherine her young male favourites.

New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and political drama of the twentieth century's most storied presidency.

"Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation's out of breath. We ain't running no more.” (Stokely Carmichael). In the town of Greenwood, central Mississippi, on the evening of June 16, 1966, one of the most influential speeches in modern American history was delivered on the grounds of Stone Street Negro Elementary School. Earlier in the day, as a body of marchers tried to set up camp on the grounds of the school, they were approached by local officials and law enforcement with instructions to move on.

Power Chord is the story of one man’s epic pilgrimage to gain rock enlightenment from the gods and guitar heroes of the Golden Age of heavy metal. Author Scott McKenzie set off to make contact with the legendary metal superstars he worshipped in his rural Kentucky youth - men like George Lynch of Dokken, Glen Tipton of Judas Priest, and Ace Frehley of KISS - hoping to gain wisdom and a better understanding of the electric guitar mystique.