Books: Biographies
 A Spartan GameTerry Tibbetts links to Amazon.com In November 1955, Colonel Earl Red Blaik, the head football coach at the United States Military Academy at West Point, told his team he did not relish the prospect of crossing the field the next day in front of one hundred thousand fans to congratulate the arch rival Navy coach on a victory. Then a player announced, Colonel, youre not going to take that walk tomorrow. His quarterback, Don Holleder, had served notice that he was about to lead his team to the greatest win in Army football history. |  Copies in SecondsDavid Owen links to Amazon.com The first plain-paper office copier -- which was introduced in 1960 and has been called the most successful product ever marketed in America -- is unusual among major high-technology inventions in that its central process was conceived by a single person. David Owen's fascinating narrative tells the story of the machine nobody thought we needed but now we can't live without. |
 Daniel Webster: The Man and His TimeRobert V. Remini links to Amazon.com In almost every respect, Daniel Webster was larger than life, an intellectual colossus, a statesman of the first rank, and a man of towering and finally unfulfilled ambition. In this new biography, Webster is seen as a major player in American politics in the era between the War of 1812 and the beginning of the Civil War, involved with every significant issue confronting the new nation. Webster had no equal as an orator, then or since. Whether in the Senate, before the Supreme Court, or on the political stump, he was a golden-tongued spellbinder, often holding audiences in thrall for hours. In his lifelong defense of the Constitution, and as a constant upholder of the Union, Webster won love and respect. He was often referred to as "the Godlike Daniel". But he was also referred to as "Black Dan" because of his questionable dealings with men of wealth and power, his political conniving, his habitual nonpayment of debts, and perhaps even his somewhat roving eye. |  Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own WordsLynn Sherr links to Amazon.com Failure Is Impossible brings together—for the first time—a wide-ranging, spirited collection of Susan B. Anthony’s speeches, letters, and quotes, linked by contemporary reports and Lynn Sherr’s insightful biographical commentary. By allowing the legendary suffragist to speak for herself, Sherr brushes the dust off of the Susan B. Anthony icon, introducing a new generation to the brave, brilliant, funny, and, most of all, prescient woman she really was. |
 George Eastman: A BiographyElizabeth Brayer links to Amazon.com Now back in print, this life of George Eastman is the first biography since 1930 of the man who transformed the world of photography. In this revealing and informative work, Brayer shows us how such key innovations as roll film and the light, hand-held camera helped the Eastman Kodak Company dominate the world market. More importantly, Brayer draws a vivid portrait of the man behind the money. Eastman worked hard at staying out of the limelight and even insisted that his donations be kept anonymous, prompting the Boston Globe to call him "America's most modest and least-known millionaire." |  Lulu In HollywoodLouise Brooks links to Amazon.com "Louise Brooks (1906-1985) is one of the most famous actresses of the silent era, renowned as much for her rebellion against the Hollywood system as for her performances in such influential films as Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. Eight autobiographical essays by Brooks, on topics ranging from her childhood in Kansas and her early days as a Denishawn and Ziegfeld Follies dancer to her friendships with Martha Graham, Charles Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart, William Paley, G.W. Pabst, and others are collected here" |
 Martha Matilda Harper and the American DreamJane Plitt links to Amazon.com A true rags to riches story of an immigrant girl who transforms her life with her floor-length hair, grit and determination. Ultimately, Martha Matilda Harper launches modern retail franchising, empowers poor women with ownership of her 500 Harper shops worldwide, invents the reclining shampoo chair, is supported by world leaders, suffragists, society leaders, Christian Scientists, and then fades into oblivion. Discover this fascinating tale of how a real Rapunzel rescues herself and then marries a man 24 years younger. Fascinating biography for those who believe in entrepreneurship and the role women have played to shape innovative successful business and humane models.. Marvelous individual and class read about the buried role of women in history. |  Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass links to Amazon.com Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an 1845 memoir and treatise on abolition written by famous orator and former slave Frederick Douglass. It is generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. In factual detail, the text describes the events of his life and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. |
 Notorious VictoriaMary Gabriel links to Amazon.com She was the first woman to run for president. She was the first woman to address the U.S. Congress and to operate a brokerage firm on Wall Street. She’s the woman Gloria Steinem called “the most controversial suffragist of them all.” So why have most people never heard of Victoria Woodhull? In this extensively researched biography, journalist Mary Gabriel offers readers a balanced portrait of a unique and complicated woman who was years ahead of her time—and perhaps ahead of our own. |  Prince of QuacksTimothy B. Riordan links to Amazon.com This is a biography of the controversial and flamboyant nineteenth century doctor Francis Tumblety. The doctor's exploits include arrests for complicity in the Lincoln assassination, selling abortion drugs, killing patients, indecent assault, and scrutiny as a possible suspect in the "Jack the Ripper" murders. Tumblety's sheen of respectability appeared crafted to cover his homosexuality and his provocative fields of practice. |
 Radical FriendNancy A. Hewitt links to Amazon.com A pillar of radical activism in nineteenth-century America, Amy Kirby Post (1802@–89) participated in a wide range of movements and labored tirelessly to orchestrate ties between issues, causes, and activists. A conductor on the Underground Railroad, co-organizer of the 1848 Rochester Woman's Rights Convention, and a key figure in progressive Quaker, antislavery, feminist, and spiritualist communities, Post sustained movements locally, regionally, and nationally over many decades. But more than simply telling the story of her role as a local leader or a bridge between local and national arenas of activism, Nancy A. Hewitt argues that Post's radical vision offers a critical perspective on current conceptualizations of social activism in the nineteenth century. |  Susan B. Anthony Rebel, Crusader, HumanitarianAlma Lutz links to Amazon.com Download for Free: html | kindle As one of the leading figures in women's rights during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Susan B. Anthony was responsible for the formation and organisation of several groups instrumental to women eventually gaining the vote in the United States. A tireless campaigner and speaker, Anthony would average between 75 and 100 speeches each year. Many of the more famous examples of her oratory are chronicled in these pages. |
 The Devil and Daniel WebsterStephen Vincent Benet links to Amazon.com Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stephen Vincent Benét was one of America's greatest storytellers, most famous for his witty and moving tribute to American history, The Devil and Daniel Webster, where a trial for a man's soul becomes a trial of America itself, of all that is best and worst in a great and tumultuous new country. In addition, this collection includes six more of Benét's best short stories, which in a similar vein, depict compelling and diverse elements in America's great social tapestry, with memorable and often amusing characters: a man whose toothache leads him to encounter Paul Revere on the eve of the American Revolution; a Jewish immigrant who discovers a new experience of life as a trader on the American frontier; a woman brought from Africa as a slave who teaches her grandson the price of freedom; an old confederate colonel, hateful and unwilling to accept the loss of his old world; and an adventurous young man who discovers the folly in all walks of human life. |  The Great FireLou Ureneck links to Amazon.com The harrowing story of a Methodist Minister and a principled American naval officer who helped rescue more than 250,000 refugees during the genocide of Armenian and Greek Christians—a tale of bravery, morality, and politics, published to coincide with the genocide’s centennial. The year was 1922: World War I had just come to a close, the Ottoman Empire was in decline, and Asa Jennings, a YMCA worker from upstate New York, had just arrived in the quiet coastal city of Smyrna to teach sports to boys. Several hundred miles to the east in Turkey’s interior, tensions between Greeks and Turks had boiled over into deadly violence. Mustapha Kemal, now known as Ataturk, and his Muslim army soon advanced into Smyrna, a Christian city, where a half a million terrified Greek and Armenian refugees had fled in a desperate attempt to escape his troops. Turkish soldiers proceeded to burn the city and rape and kill countless Christian refugees. Unwilling to leave with the other American civilians and determined to get Armenians and Greeks out of the doomed city, Jennings worked tirelessly to feed and transport the thousands of people gathered at the city’s Quay. |
 The Life and Times of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass links to Amazon.com Born around 1817 in Maryland, Frederick Douglass was a former plantation slave who went on to become a brilliant writer and eloquent orator. In this amazing first-hand narrative, published in 1881, he vividly recounts his early years, which were filled with physical abuse, deprivation, and tragedy; his dramatic escapes to the North, recapture, and eventual freedom; his work for the Anti-Slavery Society and influential role in speaking for other African-Americans; his abolitionist campaigns, and crusade for full civil rights for former slaves. |  Up from Slavery – An AutobiographyBooker T. Washington links to Amazon.com Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856–1915) was an American author, orator, educator, and adviser to numerous U.S. Presidents. He belonged to the last generation of Black Americans born into slavery and became a prominent mouthpiece for ex-slaves and their descendants. “Up from Slavery” is Washington's 1901 autobiography, within which he recounts his astonishing journey from slave child during the Civil War to presidential advisor and leading political figure. Highly recommended for those with an interest in American history and the abolitionist movement. Contents include: “A Slave Among Slaves”, “Boyhood Days”, “The Struggle for an Education”, “Helping Others”, “The Reconstruction Period”, “Black Race and Red Race”, “Early Days at Tuskegee”, “Teaching School in a Stable and a Hen-House”, “Anxious Days and Sleepless Nights”, etc. Other notable works by this author include: “The Future of the American Negro” (1899), “Character Building” (1902), and “Working with the Hands” (1904). Read & Co. History is proud to be republishing this classic memoir now in a new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author. |