Today's (9/3/2010) New Book Releases on Biographies & Memoirs

The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal by Jan Marsh - 256 pages

In The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal, first published fifteen years ago, Jan Marsh enlarged on the life of one of the subjects of her earlier work, Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, and delineated the true story of Elizabeth Siddal as an artist in her own right separated from the ubiquitous historical images. Examples were drawn from the Freudian revolution in the 1920s, the cinematic melodrama of the 1930s, the social awakening of the 1940s and the sexual liberation of the 1960s. Each of these eras fostered its own Elizabeth Siddal myth, and in the process the coppery-haired poet and painter changed from suicidal waif to ideal gentlewoman to feminist. Re-issued and with a new introduction, and following the success of Desperate Romantics, the BBC's series on the Pre-Raphaelites last year, Marsh brings The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal up to date.

Wilber "Bullet" Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs by Phil S. Dixon - 227 pages

$39.95

Both a biography of Wilber "Bullet" Rogan and a history of his great Kansas City Monarchs teams, 1920-1938, this detailed work pays tribute to a man considered by some to be baseball's greatest all-around player. During his career, the Monarchs won two negro league World Series and five pennants, in addition to launching the careers of several outstanding players and conducting many barnstorming tours. The author, who interviewed many former players, covers Rogan's Hall of Fame career in-depth and brings to light one of baseball's greatest but often forgotten talents.

Paul Robeson: Film Pioneer by Scott Allen Nollen - Paperback

$45.00

This is the first book-length study of the 12 films starring African American Renaissance man Paul Robeson (1898-1976). Singer, actor, author, lawyer, athlete, pacifist and civil rights activist, Robeson was also the first African American to receive top billing in motion pictures, delivering unforgettable characterizations in such classics as The Emperor Jones (1933), Sanders of the River (1935), Show Boat (1936) and The Proud Valley (1940). Original research is provided from primary materials housed at the Schomburg Center for Black Culture in Harlem and from Robeson's family and friends, including his son Paul Robeson Jr. and his godson, singer-composer Eric Bibb. Two appendices cover Robeson's film work as offscreen narrator and singer and his many stage appearances.

One Step Ahead of Hitler: A Jewish Child's Journey Through France (Mercer Tillich) by Fred Gross - 213 pages

$12.15

Fred Gross knew much about the history of the Holocaust, but he didn t know his own, being a young Jewish child during those terrible years. In the late 1980s, he asked his mother to tell him the story of his family s flight from the German invasion of Belgium and the Nazi policies that would become the Holocaust. Later, his two older brothers added their memories. But this story is not simply an account of the years spent one step ahead of Hitler. It is about a little boy then grown man coming to know his own story and realizing the tenuousness of memory. Most of the Grosses flight takes place in France during its defeat and collaboration with the Nazis, rounding up more than 75,000 Jews for deportation to the death camps. Gross and his family made it through these anguished years because of their fortitude and ingenuity and the help of brave men and women of other faiths, reverently referred to as The Righteous Among the Nations, who risked their lives standing up to their collaborationist government. One Step Ahead of Hitler is a story of survival told in words and in photographs of a journey beginning in Antwerp and ending with his freedom in America. It is an important memoir, David P. Gushee, Distinguished Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University and author of Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust, writes in the foreword. Some of the most shameful moments of German, French, Swiss and human history are recorded here, not for the first time, but in a deeply personal way by someone who experienced their effects as a small child.

Make the Night Hideous: Four English-Canadian Charivaris, 1881-1940 (Canadian Social History Series) by Pauline Greenhill - 272 pages

$47.30

The charivari is a loud, late-night surprise house-visiting custom from members of a community, usually to a newlywed couple, accompanied by a quête (a request for a treat or money in exchange for the noisy performance) and/or pranks. Up to the first decades of the twentieth century, charivaris were for the most part enacted to express disapproval of the relationship that was their focus, such as those between individuals of different ages, races, or religions. While later charivaris maintained the same rituals, their meaning changed to a welcoming of the marriage.

Make the Night Hideous explores this mysterious transformation using four detailed case studies from different time periods and locations across English Canada, as well as first-person accounts of more recent charivari participants. Pauline Greenhill's unique and fascinating work explores the malleability of a tradition, its continuing value, and its contestation in a variety of discourses.

Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) by Jonathan Soffer - 544 pages

$27.96

In 1978, Ed Koch assumed control of a city plagued by filth, crime, bankruptcy, and racial tensions. By the end of his mayoral run in 1989 and despite the Wall Street crash of 1987, his administration had begun rebuilding neighborhoods and infrastructure. Unlike many American cities, Koch's New York was growing, not shrinking. Gentrification brought new businesses to neglected corners and converted low-end rental housing to coops and condos. Nevertheless, not all the changes were positive& mdash;AIDS, crime, homelessness, and violent racial conflict increased, marking a time of great, if somewhat uneven, transition.

For better or worse, Koch's efforts convinced many New Yorkers to embrace a new political order subsidizing business, particularly finance, insurance, and real estate, and privatizing public space. Each phase of the city's recovery required a difficult choice between moneyed interests and social services, forcing Koch to be both a moderate and a pragmatist as he tried to mitigate growing economic inequality. Throughout, Koch's rough rhetoric (attacking his opponents as "crazy," "wackos," and "radicals") prompted charges of being racially divisive. The first book to recast Koch's legacy through personal and mayoral papers, authorized interviews, and oral histories, this volume plots a history of New York City through two rarely studied yet crucial decades: the bankruptcy of the 1970s and the recovery and crash of the 1980s.

Art Blakey Cookin' and Jammin': Recipes and Remembrances From a Jazz Life by Sandy Warren - 208 pages

$16.95

A culinary memoir of the famous New York jazz drummer Art Blakey, written with love and candor by the woman who knew him best, shared his life for 22 years and helped raise his son Takashi. Foreword by Dr. John (Mac Rebennack). Interspersed between anecdotes are dozens of recipes that Art and Sandy developed and used, on and off the road. Twenty photos complete this fascinating look at the life of a jazz great. You will want two copies of this 5x7 hardcover book -- one for the kitchen and the other for your library. "Off the charts! This intimate portrayal of Art Blakey...is jam packed with honesty, rich with sweet vignettes, and his recipes, and spiced with intimate and personal stories. It is exceedingly readable and presents new facets of this brilliant, complex, and creative soul who shaped jazz artists and American music for over half a century."-- Jelly Roll Justice of WWOZ-FM, New Orleans. Dr. John says, "This ain't just another book of recipes. It's the sweet 'n sour story of a woman and her man makin' a home, raisin' a son, and turnin' up the flame everyplace they went."

Lyndall Urwick, Management Pioneer: A Biography by Edward Brech, Andrew Thomson, John F. Wilson - 256 pages

$67.09

Lyndall Urwick was the dominant figure in British management between the late 1920s and the early 1960s. His writings and his passion in pursuit of management as a scientific and systematic activity rather than the rule-of-thumb approach to decision-making all too prevalent in Britain exercised a huge influence on management at the time; and ultimately management as we know it today.

Urwick was greatly affected by his experience of the First World War and at Rowntree's. He went on to become Director of the International Management Institute between 1928-33, before forming a very influential management consultancy, Urwick Orr and Partners, which he chaired for the rest of his career. He was also deeply involved with almost all the institutional developments in British management up to the 1960s, including the Management Research Groups, the Institute of Industrial Administration, the British Institute of Management, the Administrative Staff College, and the management education side of the Anglo-American Council on Productivity.

In pursuit of what he called his 'mission at large', he gave hundreds of talks in his lucid and charismatic style, many of which were published as articles or booklets. These talks were not only in Britain but in Australia after his emigration there in 1961, in America, where he became the best-recognized foreign exponent of management, and in a range of countries around the world. But he will probably be best remembered for his writings, not only on organization theory, where he is recognized as a great synthesizer and leader in the classical school, but on a wide range of other topics, including the history of management, leadership, marketing, and management education and development. Truly he was a man of many parts.

Hockey Now! by Mike Leonetti - 176 pages

$16.47

All the stats and stories on the star players that make NHL hockey the great game it is.

Hockey Now! provides hockey fans with the most up-to-date insider information on key players, every team and all the latest trades.

Like the previous editions, the sixth is jam-packed with 140 colorful action photos of star players in the heat of game competition. There are profiles of the top 70 players, including such stars as:

Sidney Crosby
Alex Ovechkin
Chris Pronger
Martin Brodeur
Miikka Kiprusoff
Jarome Iginla
Jonathan Toews
Patrick Kane
Danny Heatly
Joe Thornton
Mike Green

Many of these players are also regular members of their national teams, where so many up-and-coming stars make their names.

Hockey Now! features stars from both Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams: the game breakers, the impact players and all the hot, new talent that keeps the NHL in the top ranks of professional sports.

Fast-paced, totally up-to-date and strikingly illustrated, Hockey Now! is the ultimate fan's book on the superstars playing the "world's fastest game."