Biography & Autobiography : Historical

A wrenching family saga, Patriotic Treason positions John Brown at the heart of our most profound and enduring national debates. As definitions of patriotism and treason are fiercely contested, as some criticize religious extremism while others mourn religion's decline, and as race relations in America remain unresolved, John Brown's story speaks to us as never before, reminding us that one courageous individual can change the course of history. more...

Price: $17.99

A book on Texas lore. Tells the story of people in the context of a specific place, the author creates a blend of family and regional history This book includes his encounters with famous Texas writers. Excerpts from journals, letters, and other original sources enrich the narrative. more...

Price: $40.00

Michael Ruhlman has enjoyed a long love affair with cooking and food. His explorations of kitchens and the professionals who call them home led Anthony Bourdain to call him ''the greatest living writer on the subject of chefs—and on the business of preparing food.'' But even his vast experience couldn't have prepared him for the profound shift that has occurred in the chef's place in society. Beginning at Per Se, the newest and most expensive of Manhattan's four-star restaurants, Ruhlman takes readers into some of America's most illustrious—and most innovative—kitchens. Throughout his travels, he seeks new trends and phenomena, like Las Vegas's recent elevation to the country's food Gomorrah with the addition of Picasso and Aureole to the Strip's already formidable selection, and returns to legendary haunts like The French Laundry, Le Bernardin, and Café Gray to see what's changed. A dispatch from a new world where chefs are celebrities and culinary school classes are burgeoning, The Reach of a Chef looks at the state of professional cooking in the post-Child, Food Network era. In the end, an audience who loves to talk about, read about, and dine in the finest restaurants in America gets an in-the-trenches look at the professionals whose very life's work is to feed us. more...

Price: $16.00

Gala opera evenings. Sudden wealth and fame. Dangerous undercover missions into the heart of Nazi Germany. Standing up to the perils of the Blitz. No one would have predicted such glamorous and daring lives for Ida and Louise Cook--two decidedly ordinary Englishwomen who came of age between the wars and seemed destined never to stray from their quiet London suburb and comfortable civil service jobs. But in 1923 a chance hearing of an aria from Madame Butterfly sparked a passion in the sisters that became a vehicle for both their greatest happiness and the rescue of dozens of Jews facing persecution and death. Safe Passage is one of the most unusual and inspiring accounts to come out of the cataclysm of World War II. First published in 1950, Ida's memoir of the adventures she and Louise shared remains as fresh, vital and entertaining as the woman who wrote it. The Cook sisters' zest for life and genuine "goodness" shines through every page and explains why the leading opera singers of their day befriended and loved them. Even when Ida began to earn thousands as a successful romance novelist, the sisters never departed from their homespun virtues of thrift, hard work, self-sacrifice and unwavering moral conviction. They sewed their own clothes, traveled third class, bought the cheapest tickets during opera season and directed every spare resource, as well as their own considerable courage and ingenuity, toward saving as many people as they could from Hitler's death camps. Uplifting and utterly charming, Safe Passage is moving testimony to all that can be achieved when conscience and compassion are applied to a collapsing world. more...

Price: $12.55

This is Jack Horner’s personal account of his developing consciousness as a white man involved in Indigenous Australian affairs between 1957 and 1973, in particular, his work with FCAATSI. It is also a tribute to the diverse Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians who dedicated themselves to ‘Aboriginal Advancement’ from 1938 to 1978. more...

Price: $31.00