Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

• 

  Typee

  Herman Melville

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Typee is Herman Melville's first book, recounting his experiences after having jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands in 1842, and becoming a captive of a cannibal island tribe. It was an immediate success in America and England, and was Melville's most popular work during his lifetime. It was not until the end of the 1930's that it was surpassed in popularity by Moby Dick, more than thirty years after his death. The story provoked harsh criticism for its condemnation of missionary efforts in the Pacific Islands. Many sought to discredit the book, claiming that it was a work of fiction, but this criticism ended when the events it described were corroborated by Melville's fellow castaway, Richard T. Greene, who appears in the story as the character Toby

  Mostra libro

• 

  Dock Boss - Eddie McGrath and...

  Neil G. Clark

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront is the fascinating account of one gangster's ascension from altar boy to the leader of New York City's violent Irish Mob. 
   
   
   
  Eddie McGrath's life and crimes are traced through the tail-end of Prohibition, the gang warfare of the 1930s that propelled him into the position of an organized crime boss, the sordid years of underworld control over the bustling waterfront, McGrath's involvement in dozens of gangland murders, and finally the decline of the dock mobsters following a period of longshoremen rebellion in the 1950s. 
   
    
   
  Like walking into the backroom of a smoky West Side tavern, the book also features all the other unsavory characters who operated on the waterfront, including McGrath's brother-in-law, John "Cockeye" Dunn; the gang's hitman of choice, Andrew "Squint" Sheridan; racketeers such as Mickey Bowers, Timothy O'Mara, Charlie Yanowsky, Joe Butler and Albert Ackalitis; as well as a plethora of corrupt union officials, robbers, enforcers, shakedown artists, loan sharks, boss loaders, and bookies. 
   
   
   
  This is the real-life story of the preeminent racketeer on Manhattan's lucrative waterfront and the bloodshed that long haunted the ports of New York City.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Just Jen - Thriving Through...

  Jen Powley

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Jen Powley was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at fifteen. By thirty-five, she had lost the use of her arms and legs. 
  Just Jen is a powerful memoir that tells the story of Powley’s life at the time of her diagnosis, and the infinite, irrevocable ways it has changed since. Powley’s writing pulls no punches. She is lively, bold and unapologetic, answering questions people are often afraid to ask about living with a progressive disease. And yet, these snapshots from Powley’s life are not tinged with anger or despair. Just Jen is a powerful, uplifting and unforgettable work by an author who has laid her life — and her body — bare in order to survive.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Joan Crawford: The Last Word -...

  Fred Lawrence Guiles

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  For most of her adult life, Joan Crawford was a star who dedicated herself entirely to her career. But since her death, her luster has been tarnished. Here, at last, is a biography that sets the record straight. In her heyday, Joan Crawford was probably the most imitated woman in the world. Magazine covers featured her face, and high-school and college girls copied her makeup and clothing.
  
  Born Lucille Fay LeSueur in Kansas City, she spent her childhood on the edge of poverty. But an iron will developed in adolescence drove her to New York City and eventual work in a chorus line. Spotted by a Hollywood talent scout, she was soon on her way to the film capital. Four times married (to actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Franchot Tone, and Philip Terry and Pepsi-Cola executive Alfred Steele) and driven by powerful sexuality, Joan Crawford lived her life on the razor’s edge. Yet she was a woman of great generosity who cared deeply for her four adopted children, although her ideas about discipline were colored by her own harsh upbringing. Her professional career spanned more than forty years and included such classics as Grand Hotel, Mildred Pierce, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Her remarkable progression from silent films to talkies to television exemplified her ability to adapt, chameleon-like, to the ever-changing demands of the industry that in many senses invented her. A supplemental PDF is included with this audiobook.

  Mostra libro

• 

  The Call of the Wild

  Jack London

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush—a period in which strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into service as sled dog in Alaska, he reverts to a wild state. Buck is forced to fight in order to dominate other dogs in a harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild. The terrible, never relenting work of pulling sleds in sub-freezing temperatures combined with little food and rest quickly killed any dog not extremely tough. It almost kills Buck but his fierce determination to survive finally brings him through.London lived for most of a year in the Yukon collecting material for the book.

  Mostra libro

• 

  At Any Price - How America...

  Patricia Roush

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A mother recounts her interactions with the US government as she struggled to bring home her abducted daughters from Saudi Arabia. 
   
  Patricia Roush’s girls were kidnapped more than 16 years ago and taken by their Saudi father, who they hardly knew, to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They were three and seven at the time. At Any Price is the story of her fight to get them back from a father with a documented history of severe mental illnesses and violent tendencies. Amid this tragic set of circumstances was a bigger problem—an ongoing, demoralizing struggle with the U.S. government and the Saudi kingdom to reunite her with her children. 
   
  At Any Price reveals the desperate and risky attempts for rescue that slip again and again from Patricia’s grasp. This personal story of bravery, courage, and faith will warm and inspire readers.

  Mostra libro