Biography – Autobiography- Memoir

I Want To Live: The Diary Of A Young Girl In Stalin’s Russia

Recently unearthed in the archives of Stalin’s secret police, the NKVD, Nina Lugovskaya’s diary offers rare insight into the life of a teenage girl in Stalin’s Russia–when fear of arrest was a fact of daily life. Like Anne Frank, 13-year-old Nina is conscious of the extraordinary dangers around her and her family, yet she is preoccupied by ordinary teenage concerns: boys, parties, her appearance, who she wants to be when she grows up. As Nina records her most personal emotions and observations, her reflections shape a diary that is as much a portrait of her intense inner world as it is the Soviet outer one. Preserved here, these markings–the evidence used to convict Nina as a “counterrevolutionary”–offer today’s reader a fascinating perspective on the era in which she lived.

Robert H. Jackson: New Deal Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice, Nuremberg Prosecutor

This engaging biography of Jackson, a New Deal lawyer, Supreme Court Justice, and chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trial, details the personal journey of this extraordinary man who had never attended college nor earned a law degree.

Yellow Star

From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland’s Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 1

Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism during the Holocaust

Jaap Penraat can’t understand the Germans’ hatred of his Jewish neighbors in his hometown of Amsterdam. As the restrictions multiply and the violence escalates, Jaap knows he must take action to help his friends. He begins by using his father’s printing press to forge identification cards and papers for Jewish neighbors and refugees, but as the Nazi grasp tightens, he is forced to take a more drastic path leading twenty Jews on the dangerous first leg of a journey to Paris, the start of the underground pipeline to safety.This initial group of twenty men is only the beginning; the number eventually grows to over four hundred Jews saved from certain death by Jaap Penraat’s heroic efforts, brought to life in this vivid retelling.

The Secret World of Hildegard

Hildegard was a scientist. She studied plants and made medicines. Hildegard was a musician. She wrote hymns and sang harmonies. Hildegard was a writer. She spoke to priests and popes and the people. But before all of that, Hildegard was a girl with a secret world. Flames danced. Flowers blossomed. God said, “Write what you see.” And she could only become all she was when she let her light shine.

 

 

A Song for Cambodia

The true story of Arn Chorn-Pond, Cambodian American musician and human rights activist, who as a young boy survived Khmer Rouge work camps by learning to play a musical instrument.

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

Peter Sis draws us into the world that shaped him–Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. World War II had ended, and the Germans had left, but Czechoslovakia was still an occupied country, this time by the Russians. As tensions between Eastern Europe and the free world intensified, borders to the West were fortified with fences and walls–the Iron Curtain had descended. Behind it were many people who wanted to be free. And as Peter grows up, he becomes one of them.

Through annotated illustrations, journals, maps, and dreamscapes, Peter Sís shows what life was like for a child who loved to draw, proudly wore the red scarf of a Young Pioneer, stood guard at the giant statue of Stalin, and believed whatever he was told to believe. But adolescence brought questions. Cracks began to appear in the Iron Curtain, and news from the West slowly filtered into the country. Sís learned about beat poetry, rock ’n’ roll, blue jeans, and Coca-Cola. He let his hair grow long, secretly read banned books, and joined a rock band. Then came the Prague Spring of 1968, and for a teenager who wanted to see the world and meet the Beatles, this was a magical time. It was short-lived, however, brought to a sudden and brutal end by the Soviet-led invasion.

Surfer of the Century: The Life of Duke Kahanamoku

The true story of Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, six-time Olympic swimming champion and legendary surfer who popularized surfing around the world.

In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry

On August 4, 1940, an unassuming American journalist named Varian Fry made his way to Marseilles, France, carrying in his pockets the names of approximately two hundred artists and intellectuals – all enemies of the new Nazi regime. As a volunteer for the Emergency Rescue Committee, Fry’s mission was to help these refugees flee to safety, then return home two weeks later. As more and more people came to him for assistance, however, he realized the situation was far worse than anyone in America had suspected – and his role far greater than he had imagined. He remained in France for over a year, refusing to leave until he was forcibly evicted. At a time when most Americans ignored the atrocities in Europe, Varian Fry engaged in covert operations, putting himself in great danger, to save strangers in a foreign land. He was instrumental in the rescue of over two thousand refugees, including the novelist Heinrich Mann and the artist Marc Chagall.

The Redheaded Princess

Growing up, Elizabeth fears she can never be Queen. Although she is the King’s daughter, no woman can ever hope to rule over men in England, especially when her mother has been executed for treason. For all her royal blood, Elizabeth’s life is fraught with danger and uncertainty. Sometimes she is welcome in the royal court; other times she is cast out into the countryside. With her position constantly changing, the Princess must navigate a sea of shifting loyalties and dangerous affections. At stake is her life—for beheading is not uncommon among the factions that war for the Crown. With the vivid human touch that has made her one of the foremost writers of historical fiction, Ann Rinaldi brings to life the heart and soul of the young Elizabeth I. It’s a portrait of a great leader as she may have been as she found her way to the glorious destiny that lay before her.