Self Biography

Author of the groundbreaking number-one New York Times bestseller This Town, Mark Leibovich returns with a masterly collection of portraits of Washington's elite, and wannabe elites. Hailed by The Washington Post as a "master of the political profile," Leibovich has spent his career writing memorable, buzz-worthy, and often jaw-dropping features about politicians and other notables.

King Henry IV survived at least eight plots to dethrone or kill him in the first six years of his reign. However, he had not always been so unpopular. In his youth he had been a great chivalric champion and crusader. In 1399, at the age of 32, he was greeted as the saviour of the realm when he ousted from power the tyrannical King Richard II. But Henry had to contend with men who supported him only as long as they could control him; when they failed, they plotted to kill him. Adversaries also tried to take advantage of his questionable right to the crown.

When Mark and Gus first met, they had no way of knowing they would one day be the owners of the largest home service company in Dallas–Fort Worth! From the onset of their first meeting, these two men knew they were part of something unique, something bigger, something they hope can be an example for others. Discover the elements they put in place to create a company that works not just for its customers but for its team members and its community.

They told me I wouldn’t live to be two years old because they found me starving on someone’s porch.... I’m 55 now.... They told me I wasn’t smart enough and that I didn’t need a higher education. I have an AA, BS, and MS. They told me I would never be part of anything worthwhile. I’m a member of MD-Military-Holding-Lodge No. 122 - MWPHGL of Maryland, The Monday Cub (Oldest Social Club for African-American Men in Delaware and maybe the Nation - 1876) recently resigned, The Drill Sergeant Association, and Bethel AME Church, to name a few.

As first responders and military, we are the heroes for everyone else. We are first on the scene to emergencies at home and abroad. So what then do we do when we are drowning and searching for breath? What do we do when we can't escape the shadow that follows us in the sun and the darkness? What do we do when our world is spinning out of control and our world is falling apart? I know this world. I lived under the rough seas and the shadow of PTS(D) for 10 years. As a Navy Rescue Swimmer with service in the special operations community and as a firefighter, I embraced the suck!

Richard Branson, one of the world's most famous and admired business leaders, argues that it's time to turn capitalism upside down - to shift our values from an exclusive focus on profit to also caring for people, communities, and the planet as he writes: "People often associate me with challenges, with trying to break records while sailing the Atlantic or flying in a jet stream in a balloon or going into space with Virgin Galactic. But this audiobook isn't just about fun and adventure and exceeding one's wildest dreams."

A raw and intimate memoir of one woman’s experience navigating infidelity and divorce, Andrea Merkl illustrates what it means to heal trauma individually and collectively as she gave birth, endured a year-long social media detox, ran a triathlon and discovered a dissociated childhood trauma of sexual abuse.

In addition to her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel contributed for years to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. “Ink is a generative fluid,” she explains. “If you don’t mean your words to breed consequences, don’t write at all.” A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four decades.

With Chris at his side, Joe takes us from his beloved son’s gravesite where a trusted friend might sometimes leave an empty Landshark bottle to his bedroom (now Joe’s office) in Winnetka, Illinois which still smells of sage and teen sweat, to the Florida Gulf beaches at night where Joe has found hope and affirmation of his son’s everlasting love through shared dialogues, to In Balance Ranch Academy in Arizona, where Chris was a shining star and a leader for troubled youth, and where he also found healing and the love of an American paint horse.

The Girl with the Self-Esteem Issues is the remarkable story of Rosie Mercado’s journey from helplessness to becoming a model, life coach, and daytime celebrity and one of the “top 25 most powerful Latinas” (People). But as Rosie reveals, that success came after years of pain.

This compelling, heart-to-heart true story leaves its listeners inspired with a speechless sense of wonder. Bipolar Firsthand is a gift to humanity. People with manic depression are like the epicenter of an earthquake; no one nearby is left untouched. Living and breathing in this book, the author shines light on her soul's darkest hours and highest highs. She states that bipolar illness can be a learned condition, not necessarily a genetic, inherited disease.

Everybody wants it, but few know how to get it. Put an end to fear and self-doubt and gain all the self-confidence you need to live life the way you want to! Ever wonder why life doesn’t seem to work out for you? Are people always telling you that you will never amount to much? Do you want lasting happiness and to be able to reach all of your goals? Unshakable Self-Confidence will teach you everything you need to know, once and for all, about how to get an unlimited supply of the self-confidence you need to be happy and reach all of your goals and dreams.

Written with the passion of an obsessive, Nicotine addresses a lifelong addiction, from the thrill of the first drag to the perennial last cigarette. Reflecting on his experiences as a smoker from a young age, Gregor Hens investigates the irreversible effects of nicotine on thought and patterns of behavior. He extends the conversation with other smokers to meditations on Mark Twain and Italo Svevo, the nature of habit, and the validity of hypnosis.

Here is a story like no other: The unforgettable chronicle of a season spent walking the razor-sharp line between painful innocence and the allure of the abyss. David Sterry was a wide-eyed son of 1970s suburbia, but within his first week looking for off-campus housing on Sunset Boulevard he was lured into a much darker world - servicing the lonely women of Hollywood by night. Chicken - the word is slang for a young male prostitute - revisits this year of living dangerously, in a narrative of dazzling inventiveness and searing candor.

Celina Caesar-Chavannes digs deep into her childhood and her life as a young Black woman entrepreneur and politician, and shows us that effective and humane leaders grow as much from their mistakes and vulnerabilities as from their strengths. Both memoir and leadership book, Can You Hear Me Now? is a funny, self-aware, poignant, confessional, and fierce look at how failing badly and screwing things up completely are truly more powerful lessons in how to conduct a life than extraordinary success.

In 2010, at the age of 37, he began feeling a constant ticking inside his body, not knowing that what he was feeling was a virtual time-bomb that could explode at any moment. Seven months later, he was diagnosed with a rare and malignant form of cancer. In From Fear to Faith, author Matt Talford takes you on a journey through his personal war on cancer and shares the physical, mental, and spiritual tools that inspired him to reverse what he referred to as “a slow death”.

Wendy Tamis Robbins offers a window into the mental illness of an all-star athlete, Ivy League-graduate, and successful attorney. At just six years old, Wendy’s first panic attack sparked a 40-year struggle with a variety of anxiety disorders. Avoiding anything that could trigger her symptoms, she retreats into a box to contain and hide her condition. After years of living in the prison she originally constructed as her safe place, Wendy is no longer willing to limit her life to accommodate her disorders.

Join Emmy-winning comedy writer Ken Levine as he attempts to grow up in the most exciting and turbulent decade of the 20th Century. From the California Myth, to the Sunset Strip, the war, the Beatles, the hippies, the riots, the drugs, and the sex - Ken Levine has lived it (although not as much sex as he would have liked). He shows you what a profound and indelible effect the '60s had on him and the world through a series of hilarious (and sometimes harrowing) first-hand recollections that will put you right there with him.

After spending a few moments on heaven's front porch with God, he is thrust back into his old life. In the moments that follow, he struggles to find purpose and meaning in the day-to-day grind of life. On his quest he meets some wonderful individuals who support him as he uncovers five principles necessary to move him from just living again to being fully alive. Back from Heaven's Front Porch is about one man's struggle to be alive again after an accident claims the life of his friend and nearly his own.

At 23, Isa Mazzei was just like any other college graduate: broke, lacking purpose, and searching for an identity. She was also a compulsive seductress with a reputation as a slut and heartbreaker. One day, while working a low-paying retail job, she had a revelation: why not embrace her salacious image and make some money off of it?