Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Biographies & Memoirs

As lead singer and songwriter for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis has lived life on the razor's edge. Much has been written about him, but until now we've only had his songs as clues to his experience from the inside. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis proves himself to be as compelling a memoirist as he is a lyricist, giving us a searingly honest account of the life from which his music has evolved.

Here is the intimate untold story of O. J. and Nicole Brown Simpson's tragic, turbulent marriage. Author Sheila Weller was granted unprecedented cooperation by Nicole's family and exclusive access to friends who revealed private information about the couple. Raging Heart is filled with gripping revelations and shocking scenes from the lives of the dangerously romantic couple—Nicole, the beautiful, devoted wife and mother, and O.J., the charismatic football legend whose dark side was ignored by his worshipping buddies.

During World War II, in a Lithuanian ghetto, three comrades took courageous action against their German invaders: Abba Kovner, a Jewish partisan leader, produced a manifesto that called for his fellow Jews to take up arms against the Nazis; his future wife Vitka Kempner joined the FPO, a resistance organization; their friend, Ruzka Korczak, also joined the FPO, eager to strike back at their oppressors. Together, this trio served at the center of the underground movement in Lithuania.

The Pleiadians, a group of enlightened beings who have come to Earth to guide us to a new stage of evolution, offer new insights into human existence. Culled from over 400 hours of channeling by noted trance medium Barbara Marciniak, the Pleiadians advise humans to free themselves from the mass media, work cooperatively, and eliminate the words "try" and "should" from their vocabularies.

Fun While It Lasted is the story of Bruce McNall's life as a player. McNall started in the ancient coin business. Soon, he branched out into horse racing, movies, and major league sports as owner of the L.A. Kings hockey team. Ultimately his empire collapsed amid charges of fraud and deception, and he was sent to prison for admittedly bilking banks out of more than $200 million. Here is the tale of how he played fast and loose in Hollywood.

George Dawson was a slave's grandson who learned to read at age 98 and lived to the age of 103. In this remarkable memoir, he reflects on his life and shares valuable lessons in living, as well as a fresh, firsthand view of America during the entire sweep of the twentieth century. Dawson's irresistible voice and view of the world are captured here as he offers insights into humanity, history, hardships, and happiness. From segregation and civil rights to many other defining moments in history, George Dawson's account and assessment of the last century inspires listeners.

Ever since Debbie Reynolds won a Miss Burbank beauty contest and a Warner Brothers screen test, her fans have identified with her and called her "the kid"—the kid sister, the kid with personality, the kid with guts. Throughout her career she has embodied fresh-faced American grace and gumption in such classic films as Singing' in the Rain, How the West Was Won, Tammy and the Bachelor, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

While Pang-Mei Natasha Chang was a Chinese Studies major at Harvard University, she stumbled across the name of her 83-year-old great aunt Chang Yu-i in a history book. Over the next several years, Pang-Mei spent long afternoons drawing forth her aunt's story. Born in Shanghai to a well-to-do family, Chang Yu-i lived a life of defiance, continually breaking class and culture barriers.

More than 75 years after his death, Irving Thalberg remains a celebrated Hollywood figure. In this definitive biography, his legend comes to life - from his beginnings as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood," when at age 25 he was an MGM mogul, to the creation with Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to his tragic death at the age of 37. With his remarkable talent for developing stars and doctoring scripts, this architect of the motion picture film created some of America's best-loved movies

When Dave Barry writes funny, you write back. And when you write funny, Dave Barry talks back! Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist Dave Barry gets more response from readers than any other writer in the United States. And now the absolute best of Dave Barry is available, complete with those items sent in by Dave's legion of Alert Readers all across the country. But Dave Barry doesn't only talk back to readers. He talks back to traffic cops, dentists, doctors, Congress, and his very dumb dogs.

More than once, friends of Carl Reiner said, “You ought to write those things down.” And at the age of eighty, Carl finally did. In this funny and engaging memoir, Reiner recounts his show business life in short comic takes....

Thirty-five years ago, Wayne Huizenga rose before the sun to run his garbage collection route. Today, the sun never sets on the international Blockbuster Video empire he created, and he has emerged from the spoils of the Paramount/Viacom merger one of the most powerful and wealthy figures in the entertainment and sports businesses.

Tupperware ladies, eighties people, and leisure concept salesmen beware: Dave Barry is on the loose and no one is safe! Tune in for the latest hilarious update on American culture. This collection of anecdotes includes sound-offs on gambling ("Off-Track Betting parlors are the kinds of places where you never see signs that say, 'Thank you for not smoking.' The best you could hope for is, 'Thank you for not spitting pieces of your cigar on my neck'"), the Big Apple ("New York has more commissioners than Des Moines, Iowa, has residents"), and more.

Dublin-born actor Gabriel Byrne shares his life in this frank and absorbing collection of memories and episodes. He leads you from his youth through his career on stage and screen and his current work as a producer and actor. His unique narrative style, a blend of colloquial dialogue with evocative descriptions, provides an intimate account of the man - and the writer - behind the actor's many faces.

In you are fan of action—adventure movies with the accent on action—then you no doubt love watching Jackie Chan risk his life to create sensational cinema. As one of the biggest stars to burst into U.S. theaters, Jackie has put America's hottest heroes to shame, wowing audiences with the breathless death-defying stunts that are the highlight of such movies as Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop, Operation: Condor, and his newest blockbuster Rush Hour. But who really is the boyishly handsome, lightening-fast Charlie Chaplin of martial arts movie making?

This is the only authorized biography of the charismatic superstar, Frank Sinatra. Told by his daughter, Nancy Sinatra, with unabashed love and surprising candor, this memoir captures the understanding and depth of feeling that could only come from someone so closely linked. Accounts of her father's rise to fame as a hit singer, movie star, and international celebrity are as detailed as the stories of scandalous divorces, her brother's kidnapping, the false rumors of Mafia connections, and more.

In this long-awaited autobiography, one of the most beautiful women in the world tells her story, from growing up on a mink ranch in Newfoundland with six brothers and sisters to raising two children with a rock star in Beverly Hills. One of the most popular and best-known Playboy pin-ups ever, Shannon Tweed burst on the scene in the 80s as Playmate of the Year and Hugh Hefner's love interest. She soon became a successful actress, appearing in countless movies and television series.

Davy Jones was a young aspiring actor when he was cast in a new television series called The Monkees. In this upbeat, entertaining autobiography, he recounts his career from its beginnings through the 1980s Monkees reunion and revival.

Gallo Be Thy Name is the portrait of an American dynasty that rose from poverty in the early 1900s to become the most successful wine company in the world through toil, cunning, and crime. From selling ³Dago Red² to Al Capone during Prohibition to conquering America¹s wine market, and from the Great Depression to the roiling farm labor movements of the 60s and 70s, the Gallos rode the turbulent currents of history to triumph, with iconic brothers Ernest and Julio steering the ship.

The Seven Storey Mountain is the extraordinary spiritual testament of Thomas Merton (1915-1968), a man who experienced life to its fullest in the world before entering a Trappist monastery. By the end of his life, he had become one of the 20th century's best-known and beloved Christian voices. This autobiography deals...not with what happens to a man, but what happens inside his soul.