"There are more than one billion Hindus in the world, but for those who don't practice the faith, very little seems to be understood about it. Followers have not only built and sustained the world's largest democracy but have also sustained one of the greatest philosophical streams in the world for more than three thousand years. So, what makes a Hindu? Why is so little heard from the real practitioners of the everyday faith? Why does information...

"A comprehensive and engaging biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the beloved classic The Yearling. Washington, DC, born and Wisconsin educated, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an unlikely author of a coming-of-age novel about a poor central Florida child and his pet fawn--much less one that has become synonymous with Florida literature writ large. Rawlings was a tough, ambitious, and independent woman who refused...

Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character contained in the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. Spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But important themes emerge, not least that there is an art to knowing...

After his December 2003 arrest, registered nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media. But Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favorite son, husband, beloved father, best friend, and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history. Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession...

In an unexpurgated exploration of Bowie's kaleidoscopic personal life, biographer Leigh reveals his star-crossed inheritance--his mother was once an acolyte of the British Fascist party; his father, the PR genius who masterminded his early career--in a dramatic contrast to those family members grappling with mental illness, fears that would haunt Bowie for most of his life. Above all, there is Bowie's hard won rise to fame and fortune, his astounding...

""The only art I'll ever study is stuff that I can steal from." --David Bowie // Three years before David Bowie died, he shared a list of 100 books that changed his life. His choices span fiction and nonfiction, literary and irreverent, and include timeless classics alongside eyebrow-raising obscurities. // In 100 short essays, music journalist John O'Connell studies each book on Bowie's list and contextualizes it in the artist's life and work. How...

"This biography explores the life of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), a major nineteenth-century American poet and one of the first African American writers to garner international attention and praise in the wake of emancipation. While Dunbar is perhaps best known for poems such as 'Sympathy' (a poem that ends 'I know why the caged bird sings!') and 'We Wear the Mask,' he wrote prolifically in many genres, including a newspaper he produced with...

The first thoroughly researched biography of Meryl Streep -- the "Iron Lady" of acting, nominated for nineteen Oscars and winner of three -- that explores her beginnings as a young woman of the 1970s grappling with love, feminism, and her astonishing talent.

Father Greg Lockwood is unlike any Catholic priest you have ever met, a man who lounges in boxer shorts, loves action movies, and whose constant jamming on the guitar reverberates "like a whole band dying in a plane crash in 1972." His daughter is an irreverent poet who long ago left the Church's country. When an unexpected crisis leads her and her husband to move back into her parents' rectory, their two worlds collide. In Priestdaddy, Lockwood interweaves...

"What makes someone a hero? Despite what our culture typically celebrates, it's not fame, power, money, creative talent, athletic ability, or good looks. No, heroism springs from character, the critical element that defines a person. The good news is that character is something every one of us can mold; it is simply the sum of the choices we make as we face new challenges and opportunities. And here's even better news: this lively, accessible book...