Biographies & True Stories Books

Words of the Dragon is an anthology of newspaper and magazine interviews from 1958 to 1973 revealing Bruce Lee's own fascinating words and explanations about Bruce himself, his art and philosophy. Interesting and insightful, Words of the Dragon provides...

The weekly column "Ask a North Korean" published by NK News invites readers from around the globe to pose questions to North Korean defectors. By way of these provocative interviews, the North Koreans themselves provide authentic, first-person...

Follow the brilliant and hilarious adventures of a mad Zen Buddhist monk who rose from humble beginnings to become one of China's greatest folk heroes! Ji Gong studied at the great Ling Yin monastery, an immense temple that still ranges up the steep...

Long considered a masterpiece of the eerie and fantastic, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is a collection of supernatural-themed tales compiled from ancient Chinese folk stories by Songling Pu in the eighteenth century...

The goals of budo--the martial arts and ways of Japan--lie in refining the body and spirit. The techniques, methods, and rituals of budo can provide invaluable lessons for today's martial artists--and serve as guides to a well-lived life. In Traditions,...

What would it be like to move to Japan, leaving everyone you know behind, to become part of a traditional Japanese household? At Home in Japan tells an extraordinary true story of a foreign woman who goes through an amazing transformation, as she makes a...

So much has been written about Bruce Lee-the martial arts superstar whose combination of strength, agility and charisma are legendary. But seldom are we able to peel back the veneer of Lee's public image to view his true character...

The most enjoyable way to learn about an unfamiliar culture is through its stories-especially when they're told in two languages!This book introduces 40 stories from the Philippines through bilingual Tagalog and English texts presented on facing...

The Three Kingdoms is the epic saga of loyalty and treachery, brotherhood and rivalry-and the deeds of legendary heroes and villains during one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history. This classic tale of brotherhood...

The Three Kingdoms is the epic saga of loyalty and treachery, brotherhood and rivalry-and the deeds of legendary heroes and villains during one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history. This classic tale of brotherhood...

Harp of Burma is Japan's haunting answer to Germany's well-known requiem for the First World War, All Quiet on the Western Front.Winner of the prestigious Mainichi Shuppan Bunkasho prize, and the subject of an acclaimed film by Ichikawa Kon, Harp of...

Cynthia Heimel has been described by the Chicago Tribune as "perhaps our funniest war correspondent on the war between the sexes"; her wisdom on dating includes such gems as: "My new rule is to never believe a person is interested until you feel his...

Jokes change from generation to generation, but the experience of the comedian transcends the ages: the drive, jealousy, heartbreak, and triumph. From the Marx Brothers to Milton Berle to George Carlin to Eddie Murphy to Louis CK-comedy historian Kliph...

Asa Akira (28) has already had an extremely unusual life. Educated at the United Nations International School in Manhattan, she soon was earning a good living by stripping and working as a dominatrix at a sex dungeon. Akira has now built up a reputation...

'With my jingle in your brain, allow the Bridge to arch again'. How are we to understand Leonard Cohen's plea? Who speaks to whom in this oeuvre spanning six decades? Francis Mus considers the different guises or 'demons' that the Canadian...

`I greatly admire the art of Mr Oscar Nemon, whose prowess in the ancient classical realm of sculpture has won such remarkable appreciation in our country.' - Winston ChurchillHis talent was classical sculpture, but his gifts lay in capturing the...

This is the most significant biographical work on the author of Alice In Wonderland  to be published in recent years. Karoline Leach's study contends that Carroll was far from being emotionally  and sexually obsessed...

An inspiring true life story that will resonate amongst those who decry the oppression of women and girls in some areas of the Third World.  In a remote village in Bengal, 11-year-old Rekha and her large family live by rolling handmade...

A penetrating and incisive study of the fanaticism and foibles of some of history's most illustrious names. From Assad to Nero, Gaddafi to Ivan the Terrible, this volume investigates the minds of some of the most powerful...

By the time of his death in 1989 at the age of 48, Bruce Chatwin had become one of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century. Though his career spanned merely twelve years, his impact and influence was profoundly felt; Chatwin's first book In...

Now available in paperback, Julian Barnes is a comprehensive introductory overview of the novels that situates his work in terms of fabulation and memory, irony and comedy. It pursues a broadly chronological line through Barnes's literary career, but...

Bob Dylan's cultural production in the second half of the twentieth century, his songs, but also his changing images and self-fashionings have informed and productively re/shaped certain images of America from outside and within. Refractions of Bob Dylan...

This study examines the full range of Carlos Fuentes' art, from the critical realism of his early novels to his highly experimental novels of the late sixties, and to his novels from the eighties where national identities are playfully evoked and largely...

Drawing on collaborative research from a distinguished team at Harvard and Manchester universities, The age of Obama asks how two very different societies are responding to the tide of diversity that is being felt around the rich world. Guardian...

Postcolonialism has become one of the most exciting, popular and stimulating fields of literary and cultural studies in recent years. Yet the variety of approaches, the range of debate and the critical vocabularies often used may make it challenging for...

This book assesses Joss Whedon's contribution to US television and popular culture. Examining everything from his earliest work to his most recent tweets and activist videos, it explores his complex and contradictory roles as both cult outsider and...

Paul Auster provides the first extended analysis of Auster's essays, poetry, fiction, films and collaborative projects. It explores his key themes of identity; language and writing; metropolitan living and community; and storytelling and illusion. By...

This book offers a comprehensive account of the work of J.G. Ballard, regarded by critics as one of the most significant fiction writers of recent times. Ballard's early science fiction writing earned him plaudits as one of the most innovative and...

Trevor Griffiths has been a critical force in British television writing for over three decades. His successes have included the series Bill Brand (1976), his adaptations of Sons and Lovers and The Cherry Orchard (1981) and his television plays, The...

Alan Bennett is one of the UK's most well-known and successful writers. His oeuvre is one where populist art forms and intellectually complex arguments co-exist seamlessly, allowing the work to appeal to a wide audience. Bennett's familiar voice combines...

This is the first full-length study of the screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, whose work for film and television includes Z Cars, The Italian Job, Kelly's Heroes, The Sweeney, Reilly - Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness. With a career spanning six decades...

Lynda La Plante is Britain's most successful and well known screenwriter and the first woman to win the prestigious Dennis Potter writer's award. Attracting millions of viewers, the popular and critical success of La Plante's work is central to...

In this volume, leading Burke scholars offer new and challenging essays which allow us to reconsider the historical context in which Reflections on the Revolution in France was written. The essays consider its reception, its engagement in the discourses...

This study discusses Angela Carter's fiction in chronological order, and notes that although her themes are fairly consistent throughout her work, consistency of theme is not the same as repetition. The angles and emphases that develop are partly from...

"The Period of Consolidation, 1871-1880, Volume II" opens at a time when Bismarck had become the dominant figure in German and European politics and the new German Reich the most formidable power on the continent. Questions arose. What new goals would...

Named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time by the Modern LibraryAnne Carson's remarkable first book about the paradoxical nature of romantic loveSince it was first published, Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson's lyrical meditation on love in...

The extraordinary life story of the celebrated naturalist who transformed our understanding of evolution.Enchanted by Daphne is legendary ecologist Peter Grant's personal account of his remarkable life and career. In this revelatory book, Grant takes...

A vivid historical imagining of life in the early United States.Set amid the glimmering lakes and disappearing forests of the early United States, The Forest imagines how a wide variety of Americans experienced their lives. Part truth, part fiction, and...

How California's counterculture of the 1960s to 1980s profoundly shaped-and was shaped by-West Coast artistsThe 1960s exert a special fascination in modern art. But most accounts miss the defining impact of the period's youth culture, largely incubated...

The extraordinary life story of the celebrated artist and writer, as told through four decades of intimate letters to her beloved motherBarbara Chase-Riboud has led a remarkable life. After graduating from Yale's School of Design and Architecture, she...

A major new biography of the brilliant naturalist, traveller, humanitarian, and codiscoverer of natural selectionAlfred Russel Wallace (18231913) was perhaps the most famed naturalist of the Victorian age. His expeditions to remote Amazonia and southeast...

Translating Myself and Others is a collection of candid and disarmingly personal essays by Pulitzer Prizewinning author Jhumpa Lahiri, who reflects on her emerging identity as a translator as well as a writer in two languages.With subtlety and emotional...

Celebrated artist Keith Haring (19581990) has been embraced by popular culture for his signature bold graphic line drawings of figures and forms. Like other graffiti artists in the 1980s, Haring found an empty canvas in the advertising panels scattered...

Leading historians provide perspective on Trump's four turbulent years in the White HouseThe Presidency of Donald J. Trump presents a first draft of history by offering needed perspective on one of the nation's most divisive presidencies. Acclaimed...

Derek Parfit (1942-2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual. Yet his ideas have shaped the way...

From their acclaimed biographer, a final, powerful book about how Emerson, Thoreau, and William James forged resilience from devastating loss, changing the course of American thoughtIn Three Roads Back, Robert Richardson, the author of magisterial...

Words for the Heart is a captivating treasury of emotion terms drawn from some of India's earliest classical languages. Inspired by the traditional Indian genre of a 'treasury' - a wordbook or anthology of short texts or poems - this...

One of the most groundbreaking artists to emerge in American art in the 1960s, Hannah Wilke consistently challenged the prevailing narratives of women's bodies and their representation throughout her career, until her untimely death in 1993. Wilke...