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BIOGRAPHIES

A DEI COLLECTION OF PEOPLE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

Posts tagged autobiography
The Shark Net

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

Robert Drewe

Aged six, Robert Drewe moved with his family from Melbourne to Perth, the world's most isolated city – and proud of it. This sun-baked coast was innocently proud, too, of its tranquillity and friendliness.

Then a man he knew murdered a boy he also knew. The murderer randomly killed eight strangers – variously shooting, strangling, stabbing, bludgeoning and hacking his victims and running them down with cars – an innocent Perth was changed forever.

In the middle-class suburbs which were the killer's main stalking grounds, the mysterious murders created widespread anxiety and instant local myth. 'The murders and their aftermath have both intrigued me and weighed heavily on me for three decades. To try to make sense of this time and place, and of my own childhood and adolescence, I had, finally, to write about it.'

The result is The Shark Net, a vibrant and haunting memoir that reaches beyond the dark recesses of murder and chaos to encompass their ordinary suburban backdrop.

London. Penguin. 2001. 343p.

Up from Slavery: An Autobiography

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

Booker T. Washington

"Up from Slavery" is a powerful autobiography written by Booker T. Washington, a prominent African American leader and educator. In this compelling book, Washington shares the story of his incredible journey from his childhood as an enslaved person to becoming a leading figure in the fight for racial equality and education.

Through his personal narrative, Washington provides valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs faced by African Americans during the post-Civil War era. His determination, resilience, and commitment to education serve as an inspiration to all readers.

"Up from Slavery" not only chronicles Washington's life but also offers a profound reflection on the importance of perseverance, hard work, and the pursuit of knowledge in overcoming adversity. This autobiography is a timeless classic that continues to resonate with readers and remains an essential read for anyone interested in American history and the ongoing struggle for equality.

Protect Gutenberg. The Outlook Magazine. 1900. 198p.

The Autobiography Of Bertrand Russell. 1872-1914.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP.

FROM THE PROLOGUE: “ Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that ter- rible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because ni the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last I- have found. With equal passion I have sought knowledge…”

London. George Allen And Unwin Ltd. 1967. 240p.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Le Ly Hayslip with Jay Warts

FROM THE COVER: “-Le Ly Hayslip was just twelve years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her tiny village in central Vietnam. As the government and Viet Cong troops ravaged the area, both sides recruited children as spies and saboteurs. Le Ly was one of those chil- dren. Before the age of sixteen, she had suffered near starvation, imprisonment, and the deaths of beloved family members--but miraculously found the strength to keep going, ultimately fleeing to the United States. Almost twenty years after her escape, she returned to the devastated country and loved ones she'd left behind. Scenes of this joyous reunion are interwoven with the brutal war years, creating an extraordinary portrait of the nation, then and now--and of one courageous woman who held fast to her faith in humanity. First published in 1989, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places was hailed as an instant classic. Now, more than two decades later, this indispensable memoir continues to be one of our most important accounts of a conflict we must never forget.

NY. Anchor. 2017. (1989). 460p.

Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

Selected and Edited with an Introduction by L. Jesse Lemisch

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “In the following pages we meet the many-sided Franklin. We see him through his own eyes and sometimes through the eyes ofothers: bis wife, his son, Abigail Adams, fellow-scientist Joseph Priestley, to name a few. H e is father, son, brother, husband, lover; he is scientist,in- ventor,educator, diplomat, propagandist, politician, hu- morist; he reveals his own ambition and advises us on the way to wealth and in the art of conversation; he explains his religion and tells us how he did good. Franklin introduces himself to us in his Memoirs- as he always called his autobiography. We meet him at the punchbowl where, from time to time, he steps aside from the ball to hurriedly relate his reminiscences. He comes to aquiet corner of the halland speaks candidly, but he is still dressed for a public ball. He tells us the truth but is careful to keep his distance: "Let all Men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly," said Poor Richard…”

NY. Signet Classic. 1961.

Box Man: A Professional Thief's Journey

By Harry King . As told to and edited by Bill Chambliss

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “From approximately 1910 until 1960 Harry King lived a life of crime. For the better part ofthose years he was a professional thief specializing in safe-cracking. This is his story. Through it we are provided a glimpse into a life style, a philosophy and a pattern of living that is ordinarily obscured from our vision. By coming to grips with Harry's life we learn a great deal more about America, Law, Order and Being.”

NY. Harper & Row. 1972. 186p. USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

Agathat Christie. An Autobiography.

By Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie began to write this book in April 1950; she finished it some fifteen years later when she was seventy-five years old. Any book written over so long a period must contain certain repetitions and in­consistencies and these have been tidied up under the watchful and sympathetic eye of her daughter Rosa­lind. Nothing of importance has been omitted, however: so, substantially, this is the autobiography as she would have wished it to appear. She ended it when she was seventy-five because, as she put it, “it seems the right moment to stop. Because, as far as life is concerned, that is all there is to say.”

NY. Ballantine Books. 1977. 660p.

Fifty Years a Detective

By Thomas Furlong.

Late Chief of the Secret Service of the Missouri Pacific Railway, known as the Gould System; the Allegheny Valley Railway of Pennsylvania, and first Chief of Police of Oil City, Pa. 35 real detective stories, hitherto unpublished facts connected with some of Mr. Furlong's greatest cases—Other interesting incidents of his long and strenuous career which really began on September 14, 1862, when he was detailed from his company, (Co. G., 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, better known as the Pennsylvania Bucktails) for special service.

Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. (ca. 1870) 284 pages.