Classic Biography

Mr. Washington was born a slave. His family, freed after the Civil War, struggled for a livelihood under terrible conditions. Mr. Washington, however, was determined to be educated, and he took advantage of every opportunity to learn available to him. He rose from poverty and ignorance to help found Tuskegee University. This audiobook should be an inspiration to all who listen.

In this exclusive ebook, investigative journalist M. William Phelps asks: Did Son of Sam have an intimate, homosexual relationship with a fellow (serial killer) inmate while in prison? Was Sam's real name Richard Falco? Has Son of Sam-who claimed in 2011 that he does not want to seek parole because he has been “freed” by Jesus Christ-been perpetrating a fraud with his supposed “salvation”?

Hannibal, called by Nepos "the greatest of generals", is most remembered today for being the man who marched a contigent of battle elephants over the Alps. But this was only one of his many victories and strategems. Listen in wonder as Hannibal manages, again and again, to repel the army no other man could repel: the ancient Romans.

Twelve Years a Slave is the autobiographical account of Solomon Northup, an African American who was born free in New York in the early 1800s. In 1841, Solomon Northup was captured and forced into slavery for a period of twelve years. Northup's account is detailed in its account of life on a cotton and sugar plantation and the daily routine of slave life during the first part of the 19th century.

The unresolved and ambiguous details of Robert Schumann’s psychological decline and death have tended to dominate his biography. Yet in his time Schumann was lauded as a protean Romantic literary genius whose writings, as a music critic, poet, novelist and dramatist, eclipsed his musical creativity. How did Schumann reconcile these elements? Does his music suggest he suffered from bipolar disorder? How did his pianist wife, Clara, influence his compositions?

Ten men were involved in the robbery and the gruesome murder of a gold merchant and his two employees. Stolen from them were 120 bars of pure gold. Nine of the men were subsequently found guilty. Seven were hung. Two narrowly escaped the gallows because of their youth. The tenth man, however, escaped death. A fast-paced account that captures the sinister excitement and drama of the plotting, and merciless and savage execution of the victims, by a twisted bunch of felons. Just who betrayed whom?

Wide-ranging yet intimate, The Lives of Isaac Stern is a portrait of an artist and statesman who began as an American dreamer and left a lasting inheritance to his art, profession, and the world.

With the coming of the railroads, the American cowboy's job changed drastically, as the great trail herds became a thing of the past. Many cowboys faded into history, but there was a place in northwest Colorado and northeast Utah that still prized their skills. Val FitzPatrick's family homesteaded in this region, and Val became a rider for the Two-Bar at the age of 14. In later years, Val wrote many accounts of his life, and The Arbuckle Cafe is a collection of the best of his stories, all classic and authentic insights of what life on the range was really like.

Un matin, Gregor Samsa se réveille transformé en insecte. Rejeté par sa famille, il se retrouve isolé et condamné à une vie de misère. Kafka explore l'aliénation, la solitude et l'absurdité de l'existence dans cette histoire poignante.

Entre las dos grandes guerras mundiales se originaron varios movimientos de vanguardia en el arte, incluso en la música, que, al poco de nacer, iban acompañados ya de una posvanguardia; ello explica la diversidad de estilos que configuran la mayoría de las décadas del siglo XX. Un compositor ruso, cuya extensa obra es síntesis del romanticismo e impresionismo, abrió vías hacia el vanguardismo.

Evil doers and thieves beware! The Pinkerton Detective Agency is on your tail. From the archives of the world's most successful agency come tales of daring heists and stories of the brave men who tracked down the bad guys. Train robbers, safe crackers, grifters, and murderers—all brought to justice by Pinkerton Detectives.

This collection of letters forms a fascinating day-by-day account of Steinbeck's writing of East of Eden, his longest and most ambitious novel. The letters, ranging over many subjects - textual discussion, trial flights of workmanship, family matters - provide an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck, the creative genius, and a private glimpse of Steinbeck, the man.

Is there any music more instantly recognizable and beautifully scored than Tchaikovsky’s wildly popular ballet Swan Lake? These and other works have become enduring classics, yet they were not uncontroversial in Tchaikovsky’s day, and there are those that still wonder if his style is fundamentally European or ardently Russian. Find out more about Tchaikovsky’s childhood obsession with music, his turbulent relationships with friends and colleagues, and how he overcame the deepest of personal crises to transcend all with an ambition that has left us with some of the greatest music ever written.

John W. Bubbles was the ultimate song-and-dance man. A groundbreaking tap dancer, he provided inspiration to Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, and the Nicholas Brothers. His vaudeville team Buck and Bubbles captivated theater audiences for more than thirty years. Most memorably, in the role of Sportin' Life he stole the show in the original production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, in the process crafting a devilish alter ego that would follow him through life.

Johannes Wirix-Speetjens realiseerde zich dat de kunstgeschiedenis vol queer iconen zit - van Leonard Bernstein tot Freddie Mercury. Deze ontdekkingen inspireerden hem eerst tot een serie podcasts voor de Vlaamse radiozender Klara, maar al snel groeide het idee: dit onderwerp verdient een boek. Met 'Classical Queers' brengt Johannes levens en passies samen in een kleurrijk portret van de kunstgeschiedenis die we dachten te kennen. De geschiedenis wordt vaak verteld vanuit een beperkt, mannelijk en heteroseksueel perspectief. Maar het verleden is zoveel kleurrijker dan dat!

Shirley Jackson skewered the trials of domestic life in 1950s America with wry wit and uncanny precision. In this sequel to Life Among the Savages, her four offspring have now grown into fully fledged demons. As their house starts to burst at the seams, the Jackson clan somehow manage (without really planning it) to move into a larger home, only to take the chaos - absent furniture, vanishing children, misbehaving refrigerators, an avalanche of books - right along with them.

"Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town" is considered to be the masterpiece of Stephen Leacock. Originally published in 1912, it is a set of tales occurring in the fictional hamlet of Mariposa, on the shores of Lake Wissanotti. Many of the characters in the stories are patterned on locals of Orillia, Ontario. The stories are gems of Canadian small town folklore. Leacock brings the quirks, eccentricities and flaws of these everyday people to life in the most humorous way. Every corner of Mariposa has a story to tell!

Travel back in time to the boyhood of one of the most popular poets of the early 20th century. Author of "Little Orphan Annie", "The Old Swimmin' Hole", and hundreds more poems, "Bud" Riley spent his childhood in mid-nineteenth century Indiana, where stagecoaches were a common sight, rope swings were the only thrill rides, and telling spooky stories by firelight was the best entertainment of all.

Le Portrait de Dorian Gray est un roman gothique qui plonge le lecteur dans un univers sombre et fascinant. Au cœur de l'intrigue, nous retrouvons Dorian Gray, un jeune homme d'une beauté saisissante, qui fait l'objet d'une admiration sans borne. Lors d'une soirée, un peintre, Basil Hallward, réalise son portrait, une œuvre d'art qui capture toute la jeunesse et l'innocence de Dorian.

In 1976, under the guidance of legendary label Stiff Records, he transformed himself into the snarling, spectacled artist who defied the musical status quo to blaze the trail for a new kind of rock star with his debut album, My Aim Is True. In Elvis Is King, Richard Crouse examines how the man, the myth, and the music of this arrestingly original album smashed the trends of the era to bridge the gap between punk and rock ’n’ roll.