I'll Always Have Paris

Sample

Jane Fletcher Geniesse

"With the publication of The Valley of the Assassins in 1934, a legend was launched. Freya Stark had begun the extraordinary adventures that would glamorize her, though distinctly unglamorous, as the last of the great travelers. Hailed as a classic, the book chronicled her travels in remote and dangerous regions of the Middle East, inspiring Lawrence of Arabia to call the audacious, ambitious Freya "a gallant creature.""--BOOK JACKET. "Her reputation had begun in 1927, when she was captured by French military police after penetrating their cordon around the rebellious Druze. She explored the mountainous territory of the mysterious Assassins of Persia, became the first woman to explore Luristan in western Iran, and followed the ancient frankincense routes to locate a lost city."--BOOK JACKET. "At first a thorn in the side of the British colonial establishment for consorting with "wogs," Freya was later extravagantly admired by officialdom. Her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and life aided the military and diplomatic corps, for whom she conceived an effective propaganda network during World War II."--BOOK JACKET. "Throughout her long life - she died in 1993, over a hundred years old, having been knighted at age eighty-two by the Queen - she rejoiced in the attentions of the press and of her audiences. In private she remarked that she put herself in harm's way in order not to fear death."--BOOK JACKET. "This is a balanced biography, rich in sheikhs, diplomats, nomad warriors and chieftains, generals, would-be lovers, and luminaries, with author Jane Fletcher Geniesse digging beneath the mythology to uncover a complex, quixotic, and controversial woman."--BOOK JACKET.

Sample

Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh

When Gregory White Smith and Steve Naifeh stumbled on Joye Cottage, it was love at first sight. They'd just finished their Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Jackson Pollack, and they were fed up with apartment life in New York City. What better way to escape than to sell everything and get a steal on a rundown, turn-of-the-century mansion built by robber baron William C. Whitney in that most exotic of all places, the American South? So what if none of its sixty rooms was air-conditioned? So what if the roof leaked and plaster fell from the high ceilings in murderous chunks? So what if the grand old place was rumored to be haunted? Smith and Naifeh were determined to make their lifelong fantasy of living in a palace come true - and nothing could stop them. . On a Street Called Easy, in a Cottage Called Joye is the story of their three-year adventure transforming this "handyman special from hell" into a home - while adjusting to the rhythms of small-town life in magnolia-shaded Aiken, South Carolina. As the authors of bestselling true crime books, Smith and Naifeh had encountered all kinds of colorful characters, but nothing could have prepared them for the crew that showed up to "help": an ex-Mafia plasterer, brawling painters, feckless security men, randy gardeners, and heavily armed carpenters.

Sample

Philip Callow

"There are many Stevensons behind the initials RLS, but the one that has endeared him to so many readers for so long is surely the fighter, battling to stay alive. Jorge Luis Borges described Stevenson's brief life as courageous and heroic. In Philip Callow's new biography, one can see why.". "Doctors, called repeatedly to what should have been his deathbed, would find a scarecrow, twitching and alive. A sickly child, Louis became in turn a bohemian dandy, a literary gypsy traipsing through the mountains of France with a donkey, and at twenty-eight the lover of an American woman ten years his senior, the fabulous Fanny.". "He escaped his Scottish town, his family, his friends who had mapped out a literary career for him in London, and instead went chaotically across the Atlantic and overland to California in poverty and despair to reach his beloved, wherupon he escaped into marriage and committed himself to being a nomad. He sailed the Pacific and dreamed of being an explorer; his restlessness was Victorian. All the while he was composing some of the most treasured tales in the English language."--BOOK JACKET.

Sample

Stephen T. Powers, Kevin Dennehy

"Just in time for the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings, this compact guidebook not only describes the most critical amphibious invasion of World War II, but features detailed battlefield tours, identifies monuments and locates museums. Learn about the main attractions at both the American and British landing sites, including the airborne operations behind enemy lines... This ... guide features: easy-to-follow maps and tours; where to stay, dine, and shop; describes military museums in Normandy; sections describing the exploits of brave soldiers and units; a special bonus chapter on World War II in Paris"--Back cover.