Books Online Store Global Online Shopping Center UK | Germany
apparel   jewelry   musical instruments   beauty   health   sports   office  
books   baby   camera   computers   dvd   games   electronics   garden   kitchen   magazines   music   phones   software   tools   toys   video  
 Help  
Books - Biographies & Memoirs - Audiobooks - General

1-20 of 200       1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   Next 20
Favorite ListSimple List

click price to see details     click image to enlarge     click link to go to the store

$25.00
1. Downing Street Years
2. A Dangerous Woman
$24.85
3. Team of Rivals: The Political
$53.86
4. American Sphinx: The Character
$27.08
5. Rich Dad Poor Dad Classics - 3
$24.00
6. A Reporter's Life
$48.00
7. Autobiography of a Yogi
8. Rocket Boys: A Memoir
$48.00
9. Ishi In Two Worlds: A Biography
$27.50
10. Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms
$89.95
11. Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected
12. Women of the Beat Generation:
$29.95
13. America's Queen (Nova Audio Books)
$49.95
14. The Lord God Made Them All
$85.95
15. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President
16. A Coach's Life: My Forty Years
$14.03
17. The Case for Christ: A Journalist's
$18.96
18. Facing the Wind: A True Story
$30.38
19. Flyboys: A True Story of Courage
$26.59
20. His Excellency: George Washington

1. Downing Street Years
by HarperAudio
Audio Cassette (01 September, 1993)
list price: $25.00 -- our price: $25.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 1559948477
Sales Rank: 371898
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Features

  • Abridged
  • Audiobook

Reviews (9)

4-0 out of 5 stars question for those who read thatcher's books - not a review
Hillary Clinton has mentioned that she went blond after reading Thatcher's autobiography.
4-0 out of 5 stars Remarkable Lady

4-0 out of 5 stars Downing Street Years: One View
Thatcher intermingles in-depth policy discussions with informative accounts of her relationships with other MP's and associates in this interesting account of her years as Prime Minister. With Thatcher leading a revived Tory party conservative policies are given an authority that they did not always have with Heath or Major (though to be fair, their periods in office were somewhat different.) Persuasiveness matched with occasional flashes of keen insight characterize this books better moments. What she truly did well is here - a crusader against the Soviet Bloc, moderating union power, and privitizing nationalized industry. Explanations of these and other issues are intertwined among with a heavy dose of historical narrative.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Biography    4. General    5. Great Britain    6. Prime ministers    7. Specimens    8. Talking books    9. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    10. Biography & Autobiography / General   


2. A Dangerous Woman
by Recorded Books
Audio Cassette (August, 1998)
list price: $85.00
Isbn: 0788718746
Sales Rank: 797680
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Features

  • Unabridged

Reviews (28)

4-0 out of 5 stars You'll be annoyed, but keep going . . .
Within the first fifty pages or so, I was totally aggravated by Martha. She has suffered a traumatic childhood and adolescence, sure - but could she be any more annoying? It was easy to understand how the people around her react as they do, and why children still taunt her in the street now that she's a woman of thirty. It's as if there is some socially-deficient fog clouding her brain, making her honest to the point of incurring violence. She remains, to the end, an unlikable character.4-0 out of 5 stars Leaves a Lasting Mark
Compelling and heartbreaking, Morris weaves a haunting tale of a lonely young woman's losing battle to gain social acceptance, love, respect, and a healthy life of her own. Alienated and ridiculed by her small community, the origins of what make Martha Horgan so strange and different from those around her are unknown. The "dangerous" qualities referred to in the title put off those around her and ultimately lead to her undoing: her belief that the truth must always be known, under all cirumstances, her inability to function around others in society, her tempermental outbursts, and her undying fixations on people. Martha is richly drawn in three-dimensions as a character both frustrating and sympathetic, unlikable yet lovable, exasperating yet endearing, and ultimately, all too human. Morris does a superb job of painting those inhabit Martha's world as equally complex and contradictive, particuarly Frances and Mac. These two judge Martha for her abnormalities, yet their own distorted belief systems and foilables are all too abundent, and their own behavior quite questionable at times. In many ways, they see reflected in Martha the qualities they fear the most about themselves. Morris does an elegent job of depicting the culture of their community and the adverse reactions of "normal" society to those who are different. I liked that Martha's mental illness remained undefined....it was an interesting way of highlighting that people are afraid of what they can't label, not all diverse people can be placed in a tight category, and it raised questions of whether or not the base of the problem was biological or the result of her life experience. Overall, a worthy read: thought-provoking and well-written, sensitive yet brutal, yet not a difficult or lenghty read by any means.

5-0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
A Dangerous Woman is a rich characterization of a woman in need of love, support, understanding, security and warmth. This novel is one of the most brilliant that I've read so far this year and it's now the tenth month. The extra-ordinary depth of it's author, Mary McGarry Morris in her understanding of the heroine is outstanding and she delivers her punches with passion and tenacity. We follow Martha through her ordeals, from teenage insecurity through to early thirties bewilderment. We grope blindly along, knowing that there is a tragedy coming and wishing that we could avert it, but it's impending doom is fate and Martha must face hers alone. While Martha can be annoying, gratingly stubborn and insensitive, most of the time she is written about in such a way that you just want to wrap her in your arms and protect her to save her from herself. The novel left me with the huge provocation of how we are in control of our destinies and how we affect those that witness our lives around us. I can't rate this novel high enough. It's compelling, absorbing and brilliantly written and can teach you things about yourself that you may not already know. A must read on anyone's list. I loved it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Women   


3. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Simon & Schuster Audio
Audio Cassette (25 October, 2005)
list price: $35.00 -- our price: $24.85
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 0743539125
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

The life and times of Abraham Lincoln have been analyzed and dissected in countless books. Do we need another Lincoln biography? In Read more

Features

  • Abridged
  • Audiobook

Reviews (204)

4-0 out of 5 stars The Power of Patience
Lincoln has been the focus of seemingly endless analysis, yet Doris Kearns Goodwin offers a fresh and illuminating perspective.By focusing on the men around the president, Goodwin portrays Lincoln as a remarkable judge of human character, a consummate conciliator, and a man of remarkable wit.Goodwin obviously writes well, although her spotlight on so many players does confuse the reader a bit.She is a talented historian, and this is another solid piece of work.

5-0 out of 5 stars Lincoln's strength in humility
Although at first I did not understand why writing about Lincoln's cabinet members was going to be revealing about Lincoln himself, I found myself pleasantly surprised.
4-0 out of 5 stars WHEN THE MEN AND THE MOMENT MET
During this election cycle of 2006 I have been asking myself a question. When was the last time leftist could have unambiguously supported a Republican or Democratic Party candidate. As indicate below the clear choice is the Lincoln-Johnson ticket in 1864. By a happy coincidence Doris Kearn Goodwin's book under review here provides more than enough ammunition to confirm that opinion. Normally, my concerns as a fighter for socialism and hers as a fawning devotee of the New Deal, Fair Deal and New Frontier eras of the Democratic Party are miles apart. Here we can, at least for this moment, agree that Lincoln, as a man and politician was worthy of support by militants and those not so militant. Make no mistake Lincoln and his compatriots were big men who confronted big tasks. And did it. Underlining Goodwin's thesis is a belief that what passes for today's Republican leaders pale in contrast. Again we agree. Here's why.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. General    8. Historical - U.S.    9. Political    10. Presidents    11. Presidents & Heads of State    12. U.S. Political History    13. U.S. President    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / General   


4. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
by Blackstone Audiobooks
Audio Cassette (November, 1999)
list price: $76.95 -- our price: $53.86
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 0786114754
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

Well timed to coincide with Ken Burns's documentary (on which the author served as a consultant), this new biography doesn't aim to displace the many massive tomes about America's third president that already weigh down bookshelves. Instead, as suggested by the subtitle--"The Character of Thomas Jefferson"--Ellis searches for the "living, breathing person" underneath the icon and tries to elucidate his actual beliefs. Jefferson's most ardent admirers may find this perspective too critical, but Ellis's portrait of a complex, sometimes devious man who both sought and abhorred power has the ring of truth. ... Read more

Features

  • Unabridged

Reviews (115)

4-0 out of 5 stars Jefferson Non Scio Vos
"American Sphinx" is not the place to begin a study of the life of Thomas Jefferson. In the introduction, Joseph Ellis comments that before joining the plethora of published analyses and biographies of Jefferson, the historian had better be prepared to bring some new insights to the life of this most revered of the Founders. Ellis chose for his subtitle, "The Character of Thomas Jefferson", and it is Jefferson's character that Ellis explores, in snippets that leap forward from scene to scene in Jefferson's life, as if Ellis were a time-traveler checking in periodically on his subject while Jefferson the man moves through a life that is now considered hallowed history. Ellis assumes that his reader is already familiar with the larger moments of Jefferson's life, as well as the surrounding history, and so skips over these. The reader who is new to Jefferson, therefore, should start elsewhere.
5-0 out of 5 stars A Unique look at Jefferson
Prior to his Pulitzer Prize winning examination of the revolutionary generation in "Founding Brothers," Joseph Ellis tackled the biography of probably the most difficult member, Thomas Jefferson, in "American Sphinx." As Ellis points out in the beginning of the book Jefferson remains one of the most popular founders as well as one that has been adopted across the political spectrum. Ellis sets off to discover what Jefferson's actual beliefs were and how they changed during the course of his life. Rather then presenting a regular biography of Jefferson, the readers are presented with "snapshots" of Jefferson at various times in his life - in 1776 as he is preparing to write the Declaration of Independence, in the 1780s as the first United States minister to France, in the mid-1790s when he returns to Monticello after retiring as Secretary of State, in 1801 at his first inaugural and in the 1810s during his famous correspondence with John Adams. Each "snapshot" is not limited to a specific year but gives a survey of Jefferson's life during the period and how his political thought was evolving.
5-0 out of 5 stars Vintage
This truly is vintage Joseph Ellis. I've enjoyed all of his books, particularly his writing. The fact you are reading this is proof you are interested in Jefferson, so you ought to get this book. Highest recommendation.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Historical - U.S.    4. Political    5. Presidents & Heads of State    6. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    7. United States - Revolutionary War   


5. Rich Dad Poor Dad Classics - 3 Copy Boxed Set
by Time Warner Audio Books
Audio Cassette (01 May, 2001)
list price: $42.98 -- our price: $27.08
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 1586211676
Sales Rank: 248324
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Features

  • Abridged
  • Audiobook

Reviews (16)

5-0 out of 5 stars Best books on the subject of money
This set of books contain all the basic that you need to know about mony. The frist book in the set gives you the basic idea about the money. How to look at it, and how to make more of it. The second book in the set talks about the four type of people when it come to the subject of the money and the world of bussines. The last book is about investing, and it changes the view on where to find them and how to study them.
5-0 out of 5 stars A Great Financial Philosophy Book!
A Great Financial Philosophy Book!
5-0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST!
These CD's are some of the best I've ever listened to!It totally makes sense!I'm very impressed with the lessons learned from his experience!It's quite inspiring.If you purchase these CD's, you won't be disappointed!Thanks for a great product! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Business/Professional    2. Audio - Business / Professional    3. Audio Adult: Business    4. Audiobooks    5. Business & Economics    6. Finance, Personal    7. Investments    8. Personal Finance - General    9. Biography: general    10. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General    11. Business & Management   


6. A Reporter's Life
by Random House Audio
Audio Cassette (27 November, 1996)
list price: $24.00 -- our price: $24.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 067945814X
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

If you're looking for something in between Charles Dickens and James Thurber, try Walter Cronkite'sRead more

Features

  • Abridged
  • Audiobook

Reviews (47)

5-0 out of 5 stars Modern American History Through the Eyes of Walter Cronkite
To live the life of Walter Cronkite is to live a thousand years.For nearly half a decade Walter Cronkite served as the voice of reason to millions of Americans who looked to his print, radio, and television reports for information and reassurance.This autobiography covers the life of Walter Cronkite from his early life as a lowly radio announcer to his ultimate stand at the pinnacle of journalism.
5-0 out of 5 stars "Revolutionary forces are already at work [outside the US] today, and they have man's dreams on their side."
In a fascinating and thought-provoking autobiography (1996), Walter Cronkite reflects on his career in journalism, from the earliest days in which he listened to radio on a crystal set, through his own participation in world events as a television journalist.Without the ego one usually associates with newscaster-celebrities, Cronkite gives the history of journalism--radio, newspapers, news syndicates, and television--by giving anecdotes from his own long career, always showing what he learned from his mistakes (which he is remarkably candid and often humorous in describing), and giving ample credit to the people who helped him.His thoughtful observations about the impact of television and its negative effects on voting participation, along with his predictions for the future of this country, offer a broader perspective and warning about our national vision.
4-0 out of 5 stars very good but could be better organized
For me who watched Walter Cronkite almost every night from the 1960's to the 1980's when Dan Rather took over, this is most enlightening book. Behind the scene stories were given for a lot of news stories.Unlike Eric Sevaried, Cronkite never stated any of his personal feelings and comments on the air. Quite a lot of them were found in this book.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    7. Journalists    8. Literary    9. United States    10. Biography & Autobiography / General   


7. Autobiography of a Yogi
by Self-Realization Fellowship Publishers
Audio Cassette (01 December, 1996)
list price: $48.00 -- our price: $48.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 0876120850
Sales Rank: 591950
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Reviews (216)

4-0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable but thought provoking
Unbelievable I say not as a skeptic, but as a true rational person. This same skepticism opens up other horizons in one's thinking - is this all true? Yogi Paramahamsa, the author, renders in this charming and lucid storytelling, facts he came across in his life - like his Master being able to 'know' that they will have guests arriving in the middle of the night; another yogi predicting the author's arrival and telling him of what he did miles away and many more such incidents.
2-0 out of 5 stars A fantasy book not a spiritual guide
This book is full of stories, or perhaps lies might be a better word, because nowhere is it indicated that the stories are not the truth.
5-0 out of 5 stars Best book for possibilities of Self Awareness and Spiritual insight
A great introduction to saints, saintly lifestyle, Yogic siddhis, miracles, Krishna Consciousness, etc is easily found in the engaging book of Sri Paramahansa Yogananda - Autobiography of a Yogi . It has given inspiration to do spiritual labour to me whenever I glance at its devotional pages.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Eastern - Gurus    3. Religious    4. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    5. Biography: general    6. Buddhism   


8. Rocket Boys: A Memoir
by Simon & Schuster Audio
Audio Cassette (01 November, 1998)
list price: $24.00
Isbn: 0671582720
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

Inspired by Werner von Braun and his Cape Canaveral team, 14-year-old Homer Hickam decided in 1957 to build his own rockets. They were his ticket out of Coalwood, West Virginia, a mining town that everyone knew was dying--everyone except Sonny's father, the mine superintendent and a company man so dedicated that his family rarely saw him. Hickam's smart, iconoclastic mother wanted her son to become something more than a miner and, along with a female science teacher, encouraged the efforts of his grandiosely named Big Creek Missile Agency. He grew up to be a NASA engineer and his memoir of the bumpy ride toward a gold medal at the National Science Fair in 1960--an unprecedented honor for a miner's kid--is rich in humor as well as warm sentiment. Hickam vividly evokes a world of close communal ties in which a storekeeper who sold him saltpeter warned, "Listen, rocket boy. This stuff can blow you to kingdom come." Hickam is candid about the deep disagreements and tensions in his parents' marriage, even as he movingly depicts their quiet loyalty to each other. The portrait of his ultimately successful campaign to win his aloof father's respect is equally affecting. Read more

Features

  • Abridged
  • Audiobook

Reviews (515)

5-0 out of 5 stars The book is prodigious
I loved the movie, "October Sky." However, the book goes into more depth than the movie. The relationship between Homer and his parents is far more interesting than the movie's depiction. The book and the movie had the space race, the coming-of-age theme, science fair competition, and young love. The book is written very well. The characters come alive. The book is prodigious, to use one of the character's favorite adjectives.

5-0 out of 5 stars Refreshing read
A really interesting and inspiring story, appropriate for people of all ages.You won't be able to put it down.

5-0 out of 5 stars WOW!
Rocket Boys/October sky, by Homer H. Hickam (jr), tells about the writer's life when he was a teenager. Set in the mountains of West Virginia, this best-selling book truly expresses what it is like to be traped. Whith its twisting plots and great writing I don't thing anybody wouldn't love this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1943-    2. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    3. Aeronautics & Astronautics    4. Aerospace engineers    5. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    6. Audiobooks    7. Biography    8. Biography & Autobiography    9. Hickam, Homer H.,    10. Historical - U.S.    11. Scientists - General    12. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   


9. Ishi In Two Worlds: A Biography Of The Last Wild Indian In North America
by Books on Tape, Inc.
Audio Cassette (01 January, 1990)
list price: $48.00 -- our price: $48.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 0736616896
Sales Rank: 765299
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Reviews (12)

5-0 out of 5 stars An anthropologist on Mars
At the beginning of the 20th century a half-starved 50-year-old Indian was found in a remote farm in California. He was the last surving Yaki Indian. Before the arrival of white settlers there had been probably more than 2000 Indians of that tribe in the area. They were wiped out in less than 80 years by the diseases carried by europeans, the reduction of their natural environment and periodical retaliatory expeditions organized by band of vigilantes to revenge a stolen cow or horse or the killing of one white settler. The last surviving Yaki was lucky enough to be "adopted" by the curators of the Museum of Berkeley University. There the Indian lived happily for 5 years, working as janitor and a sort of living exhibit. The anthropologist studied him and his world, and he studied the world of whites, showing a remarkable degree of adaptability to modern American society. He was called Ishi (=man) by the staff of the museum because he always refused to say his own name. Loved by everybody and friend of everybody, he died of the tubercolosis that his natural defence did not recognize. The story was written 50 years after his death by the daughter of the museum's director through the notes of her father (she had never met Ishi). Even being a perfectly scientific book, it has the power of moving of a novel and contains a terrible caveat for the modern man.

3-0 out of 5 stars The Story of a Man and an Epoch
This is a very important book and a very sad book.It tells an extraordinary story of a man who was last man of his tribe.It also an honest history of the white man's inhumanity to the red man in California during the second half of the ninetheenth Century.
4-0 out of 5 stars Great Book
"Ishi in Two Worlds" tells the tale of an Indian man who was used to living a normal (to his people) way of life and then was pushed into the full brunt of modern American life by a cruel accident. This book looks at how it is the story of a man who dwelled in two worlds, how he spent most of his life in the ways and sphere of the Yahi Indians, and how, after his tribe's eradication, he was forced to live in modern civilization, in the context of the modern American university among well-meaning anthropologists who wished to study and learn from him.
Read more


10. Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms
by Random House Audio
Audio Cassette (01 August, 1996)
list price: $27.50 -- our price: $27.50
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 0553477366
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

A consummate political operative, Ed Rollins has ridden high and ridden low. The political director of Ronald Reagan's White House in 1981, he enjoyed overwhelming success. But the weirdness of the Ross Perot campaign sent him reeling, and his stint running Christine Todd Whitman's gubernatorial campaign resulted in a grand jury investigation. Through it all, Rollins picked up a wealth of juicy and humorous material, which he is willing to share--holding nothing back. He calls Perot a "paranoid lunatic on an ego trip" and Arianna Huffington "ruthless and unscrupulous." An enjoyable and educational book from an outspoken insider who reveals the viciousness of modern politics. ... Read more

Features

  • Audiobook

Reviews (17)

5-0 out of 5 stars Ed Rollins sets the record straight
In Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms: My Life in American Politics, Ed Rollins details his careers as a Political Operative learning the trade from California Democratic Speaker Jess Unruh, his philosophical transformation into a conservative Republican, alignment with the Reagan revolution and his time as a Senior White House Staffer and heavyweight Political Consultant.
5-0 out of 5 stars The Real World
Being a political operative seems like a glamorous profession.While there certainly are perks -- there are an equal number of disadvantages to this career choice.Rollins' depiction of what it's like to be a campaign manager is the truest I've read.It's not always a glamorous lifestyle.Even the best campaigns are full of fast food, headaches and heartaches (now there's a title)! Rollins does a great job of telling "the real" story of being a campaign manager...the good, the bad, and the ugly...

5-0 out of 5 stars ROTFLMAO!!!!
Warning: There's quite a bit of foul language in this book.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 1989-1993    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. Political consultants    6. Politics and government    7. United States    8. History / General   


11. Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life (Rumpole Crime)
by BBC Audiobooks America
Audio Cassette (March, 2003)
list price: $89.95 -- our price: $89.95
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 0792728602
Sales Rank: 709960
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Reviews (218)

5-0 out of 5 stars So good, I almost cried
This book puts a lot of the middle east politics and US politics and policies into a clearer light and is an amazing story of the daughter of the head of the FAA marrying a direct decendent of Mohammad, King Hussein. I really couldn't believe when people like Ted Turner would pop up out of nowhere in this book and show up in Jordan. It's a small world...
4-0 out of 5 stars A Kept Woman
This is a pretty long autobiography, but Queen Noor has led a pretty interesting life so it makes sense. The story is not simply about her and King Hussein, but her role as a Queen and what she was able to accomplish during her time in Jordan. Although she talks about her husband very lovingly, I didn't `feel' the romance in this story. It wasn't a fairy tale to me - it seemed more as though she was subservient to her husband and that she basically did as she was told. I don't think it was a great as we are led to believe by the media. Thankfully, the focus is mostly on the Middle East region and its struggles. The book was a good way to learn about the region and was a pretty interesting read.

4-0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly informative...
I had not realized to what extent these memoirs would actually provide a historical, and yes, to some degree, subjective prospective of the crisis in the Middle East.As someone already with an interest in Arab culture, I enjoyed it.(I live in an area possessing the largest Arab population outside of the Middle East, and went to school with many kids from this background.)
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   


12. Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution
by Audio Literature
Audio Cassette (October, 1996)
list price: $25.95
Isbn: 1574530690
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

Female Beats wrote poetry, took drugs, went on the road, listened tojazz, and lived on the fringe just as the men did, but their accomplishments are not as widely recognized. This volume attempts to correct this oversight by profiling 40 women of the Beat generation and publishing samples of their work. Well-known poets Diane di Prima and Denise Levertov appear in the volume, along with the muses of male writers and other women who never became famous at all. As Brenda Knight notes in her introduction, counterculture women in the 1950s and 1960s faced difficult obstacles: "To be unmarried, a poet, an artist, to bear biracial children, to go on the road was doubly shocking for a woman, and social condemnation was high."The first portion of the anthology is devoted to women who were not Beats but who set the stage for the movement. Josephine Miles wrote poetry and mentored the younger Beat poets at Berkeley, while Madeline Gleason founded the San Francisco Poetry Festival. In the "Muses" section are short biographies of wives and girlfriends of famous male writers such as Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. It's widely known that William S. Burroughs shot his wife Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs; this book fills in other details of her wild and short life. Profiles of writers such as Joyce Johnson, Hettie Jones, Janna McClure, and Janine Pommy Vega account for the rest of the anthology. The lives these women led are as interesting as their writing, and Read more

Features

  • Abridged

Reviews (5)

5-0 out of 5 stars Should not be missed
Any interested in the history of the beat era must have WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION: THE WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSES AT THE HEART OF A REVOLUTION. Much has been written on famous beat men but comparatively little on the women who also made their mark during the time: long overdue but better late than never is an exploration of the histories of these women, from Barbara Guest and Diane DiPrima to Jan Kerouac and Anne Waldman. A literary and social history which should not be missed.
5-0 out of 5 stars Women Writers Rule!
Yes, there were women writing as well, and doing all the other cool stuff at the time. Many of them are still writing or continued to write long after their affair with the "beat" generation. This book is a great introduction to these writers. It's very informative, has just enough of the good gossip and lots of really great writing.

5-0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!
For a group that is now remembered as a progressive voice in the ultra-conformist wilderness of the 1950s, the Beats were a surprisingly chauvinistic bunch of guys, all too ordinary for their time.That unfortunate fact helps explain the relative obscurity of most of the women who ran with, influenced and, in some cases, loved them.(You probably know that William S. Burroughs accidentally murdered his common-law wife while playing William Tell, but do you know her name?)This wonderful volume goes a long way towards correcting that oversight.Featuring previously unpublished letters, rare pictures and - best of all - a generous sampling of creative works, it's a near-perfect survey of the Beats' female contemporaries, lovers and even a few of their precursors.Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Historical - General    4. Women   


13. America's Queen (Nova Audio Books)
by Nova Audio Books
Audio Cassette (23 October, 2000)
list price: $29.95 -- our price: $29.95
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 1587881446
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan

Editorial Review

Fresh from her well-received life of Queen Elizabeth II, the Englishhistorian and biographer Sarah Bradford turns her hand to America's own answerto royalty, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Painstakingly detailed, impressivelyfair, the result is the most definitive account yet of a woman who captured theimagination of the American public like no First Lady before or after her.Bradford seems to have interviewed almost everyone who had ever been intimatewith Onassis, including George Plimpton, Gore Vidal, Joan Kennedy, and even afew ex-lovers. Most notably of all, Jackie's sister Lee Radziwill speaks withunexpected frankness about the mixture of rivalry and affection that markedtheir relationship since childhood. Jackie-lovers, take note: this is nohagiography, and its subject certainly comes off as no saint. As gracious asthis American icon could be, she also had moments of coldness and even greed,including a particularly shocking moment by the bedside of Ari Onassis's dyingson. Yet, in the end, non-airbrushed anecdotes like these only serve to makethis most private of public figures even more fascinating. Jackie was, asBradford writes, "a complex woman of many facets, concealed insecurities andintricate defense mechanisms, a strong urge toward the limelight contrastingwith a desire for privacy and concealment.... Behind the mask of beauty and famelay a shrewd mind, a ruthless judgment of people, antennae finely turned to anysign of pretentiousness or pomposity, and a wry, even raunchy sense of humor."The figure who emerges from subsequent pages is as compelling as the heroine ofany novel, and it is to Bradford's credit that she doesn't seem to have fallencompletely under her subject's spell. Her approach is sympathetic, but neverfawning; candid, but never sensationalistic. For those who are curious not aboutJackie's glamour but about its source, Read more

Features

  • Abridged
  • Audiobook

Reviews (33)

5-0 out of 5 stars American Royalty
Jackie Kennedy was the closest thing that America ever got to home-grown royalty. Her birth and upbringing in New York City, refinement, etiquette, and Olympian cool ... Jackie radiated a deep mystery that remains. She was iconic in her need for privacy and protectiveness of it. A woman of another era who remains enigmatic and unique in her persona ... an American icon who seems both American yet not typical of the United States. A sophisticate, debutant of the year, equestrienne, well-manner, posh Park Avenue social doyenne who intrigued the world until she died in 1994. Fluent in several language, a writer of poetry, political wife, patron of the arts, native New Yorker, and poised like any Queen in Europe. She wasn't perfect but she was Jackie. America may never see another quite like her.

3-0 out of 5 stars Audio CD
My comments concern the narrator of the audio cd who felt that she had to change her voice inflection when she read quotes of various people.She talked in a soft wispery tone when quoting Jackie, however, she continued to use that same voice for any of the females quoted.She then attempted a deeper tone for the male voices.Due to all the voice shifting it was disruptive and the reading did not flow.Since it was a narrative and not a play it would have been more pleasing to the ear if the narrator did the entire reading in her natural voice.

4-0 out of 5 stars Jacqueline not Jackie
It was fantastic to be able to grasp a better understanding of the stoic, graceful beauty that was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was great to see the different facets of her personality from political darling to yacht hopping party girl. Her desire to control and veneer everything that happened in her life was inspiring. Couldn't put it down, was consistantly interesting throughout. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Celebrities    8. First Ladies    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Presidents' spouses    11. Rich & Famous    12. United States    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   


14. The Lord God Made Them All
by Audio Renaissance
Audio Cassette (15 November, 1996)
list price: $49.95 -- our price: $49.95
(price subject to change: see help)
Isbn: 1559274026
Sales Rank: 230098
Average Customer Review: