The Receptionist

Author: Janet Groth

Category: Biography & Memoir

Regular price: $9.99

Deal price: $0.99

Deal starts: August 21, 2024

Deal ends: August 21, 2024

Description:

In 1957, when a young Midwestern woman landed a job at The New Yorker, she didn’t expect to stay long at the reception desk. But stay she did, and for twenty-one years she had the best seat in the house. In addition to taking messages, she ran interference for jealous wives checking on adulterous husbands, drank with famous writers at famous watering holes throughout bohemian Greenwich Village, and was seduced, two-timed, and proposed to by a few of the magazine’s eccentric luminaries. This memoir of a particular time and place is an enchanting tale of a woman in search of herself.

The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz

Author: Thomas Geve

Category: Biography & Memoir

Regular price: $12.99

Deal price: $1.99

Deal starts: August 20, 2024

Deal ends: August 20, 2024

Description:

A real account of a boy’s life during the Holocaust in Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald, recorded in his own words and color drawings.In June 1943, after long years of hardship and persecution, thirteen-year-old Thomas Geve and his mother were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Separated upon arrival, he was left to fend for himself in the men’s camp of Auschwitz I.During twenty-two harsh months in three camps, Thomas experienced and witnessed the cruel and inhumane world of Nazi concentration and death camps. Nonetheless, he never gave up the will to live. Miraculously, he survived and was liberated from Buchenwald at the age of fifteen.While still in the camp and too weak to leave, Thomas felt a compelling need to document it all, and drew over eighty drawings, all portrayed in simple yet poignant detail with extraordinary accuracy. He not only shared the infamous scenes, but also the day-to-day events of life in the camps, alongside inmates’ manifestations of humanity, support and friendship.To honor his lost friends and the millions of silenced victims of the Holocaust, in the years following the war, Thomas put his story into words. Despite the evil of the camps, his account provides a striking affirmation of life.The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz, accompanied by fifty-six of his color illustrations, is the unique testimony of young Thomas and his quest for a brighter tomorrow.

Abigail Adams (A Biography)

Author: Phyllis Lee Levin

Category: Biography & Memoir

Regular price: $9.99

Deal price: $1.99

Deal starts: August 19, 2024

Deal ends: August 19, 2024

Description:

“[Abigail Adams] is a pleasure to read, and Levin’s rich documentation makes this the most complete biography we have on this remarkable First Lady.” —Betty Boyd Caroli, author of First LadiesWife of one president and mother of another, Abigail Adams was an extraordinary woman living at an extraordinary time in American history. A tireless letter writer and diarist, her penetrating and often caustic impressions of most of the major persons of her day—including Ben Franklin, George and Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and King George III, among others—provide one of the best first-hand accounts of the American Revolution. This biography, researched and written over a fourteen-year period, is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant woman at the center of the founding of the American republic.“After 200 years, thanks to Ms. Levin, Abigail Adams can speak her mind to what will surely be a large audience.” —The New York Times“Abigail Adams has much to say to us about her world; Phyllis Lee Levin has helped her convey this in a compelling book and has produced a close and believable portrait of the woman within.” —The Washington Post“Full of wonderful, immediate dailiness, the biography . . . [presents] an altogether personal account of the events presaging and following the American Revolution, perceived by a woman with the ability to record and interpret her era for posterity with uncommon verve and wisdom.” —Los Angeles Times“A biography that reads much like a diary . . . Levin’s touching book presents interesting insights into the life of revolutionary America.” —UPI

Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer

Author: Jeffry D. Wert

Category: Biography & Memoir

Regular price: $17.09

Deal price: $1.99

Deal starts: August 19, 2024

Deal ends: August 19, 2024

Description:

George Armstrong Custer has been so heavily mythologized that the human being has been all but lost. Now, in the first complete biography in decades, Jeffry Wert reexamines the life of the famous soldier to give us Custer in all his colorful complexity.Although remembered today as the loser at Little Big Horn, Custer was the victor of many cavalry engagements in the Civil War. He played an important role in several battles in the Virginia theater of the war, including the Shenandoah campaign. Renowned for his fearlessness in battle, he was always in front of his troops, leading the charge. His men were fiercely loyal to him, and he was highly regarded by Sheridan and Grant as well. Some historians think he may have been the finest cavalry officer in the Union Army.But when he was assigned to the Indian wars on the Plains, life changed drastically for Custer. No longer was he in command of soldiers bound together by a cause they believed in. Discipline problems were rampant, and Custer's response to them earned him a court-martial. There were long lulls in the fighting, during which time Custer turned his attention elsewhere, often to his wife, Libbie Bacon Custer, to whom he was devoted. Their romance and marriage is a remarkable love story, told here in part through their personal correspondence. After Custer's death, Libbie would remain faithful to his memory until her own death nearly six decades later.Jeffry Wert carefully examines the events around the defeat at Little Big Horn, drawing on recent archeological findings and the latest scholarship. His evenhanded account of the dramatic battle puts Custer's performance, and that of his subordinates, in proper perspective.From beginning to end, this masterful biography peels off the layers of legend to reveal for us the real George Armstrong Custer.

A Very Punchable Face

Author: Colin Jost

Category: Biography & Memoir

Regular price: $14.99

Deal price: $1.99

Deal starts: August 19, 2024

Deal ends: August 19, 2024

Description:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In these hilarious essays, the Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor learns how to take a beating.“I always wanted to punch his face before I read this book. Now I just want to kick him in the balls.”—Larry DavidNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Cosmopolitan • Vulture • ParadeIf there’s one trait that makes someone well suited to comedy, it’s being able to take a punch—metaphorically and, occasionally, physically. From growing up in a family of firefighters on Staten Island to commuting three hours a day to high school and “seeing the sights” (like watching a Russian woman throw a stroller off the back of a ferry), to attending Harvard while Facebook was created, Jost shares how he has navigated the world like a slightly smarter Forrest Gump. You’ll also discover things about Jost that will surprise and confuse you, like how Jimmy Buffett saved his life, how Czech teenagers attacked him with potato salad, how an insect laid eggs inside his legs, and how he competed in a twenty-five-man match at WrestleMania (and almost won). You'll go behind the scenes at SNL and Weekend Update (where he's written some of the most memorable sketches and jokes of the past fifteen years). And you’ll experience the life of a touring stand-up comedian—from performing in rural college cafeterias at noon to opening for Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall. For every accomplishment (hosting the Emmys), there is a setback (hosting the Emmys). And for every absurd moment (watching paramedics give CPR to a raccoon), there is an honest, emotional one (recounting his mother’s experience on the scene of the Twin Towers’ collapse on 9/11). Told with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, A Very Punchable Face reveals the brilliant mind behind some of the dumbest sketches on television, and lays bare the heart and humor of a hardworking guy—with a face you can’t help but want to punch.

The Good Neighbor

Author: Maxwell King

Category: Biography & Memoir

Regular price: $14.99

Deal price: $1.99

Deal starts: August 19, 2024

Deal ends: August 19, 2024

Description:

The New York Times bestseller: “A superb, thoughtful biography” of the creator and star of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (David McCullough).Fred Rogers was an enormously influential figure in the history of television and in the lives of tens of millions of children. Through his long-running television program, he was a champion of compassion, equality, and kindness. Rogers was fiercely devoted to children and to taking their fears, concerns, and questions about the world seriously.The Good Neighbor, the first full-length biography of Fred Rogers, tells the story of this utterly unique and enduring American icon. Drawing on original interviews, oral histories, and archival documents, Maxwell King traces Rogers’s personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work. King explores Rogers’s surprising decision to walk away from his show to make television for adults, only to return to the neighborhood with increasingly sophisticated episodes, written in collaboration with experts on childhood development. An engaging story, rich in detail, The Good Neighbor is the definitive portrait of a beloved figure, cherished by multiple generations.