Raised in poverty as an illegitimate child, Jack London dropped out of school to support his mother, working in mind-deadening jobs that would foster a lifelong interest in socialism. Brilliant and self-taught, he haunted California's waterside bars, brawling with drunken sailors and learning about love from prostitutes. His lust for adventure took him from the beaches of Hawaii to the gold fields of Alaska, where he experienced firsthand the struggles...

This is more than a biography of the great humorist from Niles, Michigan. In a penetrating full-length portrait, Donald Elder has explored Ring Lardner's whole world-the vibrant and inventive times in which he lived, the unforgettable people who surrounded him, and the impudent words that came from his typewriter. At the height of Lardner's fame in the middle twenties he was known simultaneously as a baseball reporter unlike any the world had ever...

Presents a collection of true stories and nonfiction pieces, spanning nearly three decades, that, read together, paint an intimate portrait of a literary legend's life and career.

In a memoir written with his brother, the popular author describes how the two of them dealt with their grief over the untimely deaths of their parents and only sister by embarking on a three-week odyssey around the world.

Using family photographs and quotes from her books, the author provides glimpses into her life.

A man describes his life growing up amidst his father's financial ruin and his mother's nervous breakdown, seeking to answer questions about how a person can balance life obligations.

The author describes her movements across Europe's scrambled post-war borders, including trips to empty castles and ruined cathedrals and a stint in bombed out Warsaw in the midst of the Communist takeover.