Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Women

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.

In a grand and sweeping biography that will stand as the ultimate authority on this singular star, Steven Bach reveals the fascinating woman behind the myth. Based on six years of meticulous research and hundreds of interviews—including conversations with Dietrich—this is the life story of one of the 20th century's greatest movie actresses and performers.

She is the most popular novelist in history. Yet the drama and torment of Agatha Christie's private life remains a mystery even to her most ardent fans. She made no secret of her disdain for the press and for those who wished to intrude on her private life. In this immensely listenable and intimate biography, best-selling author Richard Hack reveals the romance, scandal, and betrayal that drove one of the 20th century's most celebrated literary figures.

One of the most popular and best-known Playboy pin-ups ever, Shannon Tweed burst on the scene in the 1980s as Playmate of the Year and Hugh Hefner's love interest. She soon became a successful actress, appearing in countless movies and television series. She met Gene Simmons at a party at the Playboy Mansion, and they lived happily ever after with their two children.

Blanche Wiesen Cook recreates Eleanor Roosevelt in all of her roles -- as a visionary, an activist, a political wife, and a woman far more independent than we knew. No other First Lady has had a greater influence in the course of democracy in this century, and no other book about Eleanor Roosevelt captures the complexity of her character - her wit, her passion, her boldness, and her commitment to greater dignity and security for all women and men.

In the same vivid, eloquent style that earned Ronald Reagan the designation "the Great Communicator," Peggy Noonan delivers a candid portrait of the Reagan White House in this stylish, sensitive memoir that pursues the question, "Who's running things here anyway?"

Picking up where her successful autobiography Enter Talking left off, Joan Rivers delivers a searing and funny account—as only she can—of private tragedy, a public fall from grace, and triumph against all odds. In Still Talking, Joan opens up about her rise to the top, dishes on fellow celebrities, and recounts the end of her treasured friendship with mentor Johnny Carson. Still Talking details Joan's courageous battle with life's obstacles and how she overcame the terrible circumstances that plagued her, surviving it all through laughter.

In this memoir, the pseudonymous author, Ruthie Bolton, tells how she overcame tremendous obstacles to find her place in the world. Born into poverty in a rural Southern town, Bolton was abandoned by her 13-year-old mother and raised by her step-grandfather, an abusive tyrant who beat his wife to death and terrorized his children. With remarkable candor yet no trace of self-pity, Bolton describes how she used alcohol and drugs to try to escape her nightmarish existence.

No one looked like her. No one walked like her. No one talked like her. Sexy, yet vulnerable, and unexpectedly talented, Marilyn Monroe was no ordinary screen goddess. But few really knew her. On June 1, 1962—Marilyn's 36th birthday—famed photographer and reporter George Barris visited Marilyn on the set of what would be her final, unfinished, film. For the next six weeks, Barris photographed and interviewed the actress. "Don't believe anything you read about me except this...." she told Barris.

This haunting memoir tells the brutal story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of an innocent victim whose childhood was dominated by violence, devastation, and conflicts between the teachings of her culture and the realities of war. Le Ly Hayslip—the youngest in a close-knit Buddhist family—was 12 years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her village. She was raped and "ruined" for marriage by Viet Cong soldiers, imprisoned and tortured by the South Vietnamese, and sentenced to death by the Viet Cong.

Not long ago it occurred to Carol Leifer that she had to stop telling one of her favorite stories – seeing The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium – because it dated her. But then she thought: what’s that about? “I see now that when you deny your age, you deny yourself,” she says, “and when you lie about your age, you become your inauthentic twin. But most importantly, when you lie about your age, they win. (And of course by ‘they,’ I mean the terrorists).”

The first woman in nearly half a century to host a prime-time game show and the highest-paid female journalist in British history, Anne Robinson warranted fan mail, death threats, unqualified admiration, and unabashed hatred. From pioneering journalist to overnight phenomenon, Robinson shares the events of her formative upbringing by a sensitive father and a driven, hardworking mother who was "part magic, part monster."

Susanna Kaysen takes on another taboo subject: her vagina—which suddenly and inexplicably starts to hurt. The Camera My Mother Gave Me takes us through Kaysen's often comic, sometimes surreal encounters with all kinds of doctors—internists, gynecologists, and "alternative health" experts—as well as with her boyfriend and her friends as she seeks a cure—but nothing works. As sex becomes more and more painful, Kaysen's relationship with her boyfriend disintegrates and she turns to her best friends, her wicked sense of humor, and her wry self-reflection to cope.

Widely admired author, biographer and journalist Peter Donnelly tells the remarkable story of Diana's unhappy childhood, of her fairy tale marriage and the recriminations and unhappiness attendant on her divorce, and of how she captured hearts all over the world to become the people's princess.

In A Year by the Sea, Joan Anderson documented her brave decision to take a year of solitude away from her marriage. In this moving sequel, Anderson gives fresh hope for all women and men negotiating their own marital passages. Using the same approach, she explores the challenges of rebuilding and renewing a marriage with her trademark candor, compassion, and insight. Anderson shows us her own rocky path to renewing a marriage gone stale and charts the new journey that she and her husband began, seasoned by years of marriage but awakened to the possibilities for their future.

For seven years, Hannah Nyala and her two children were physically and psychologically abused by her husband. Although they escaped, he soon found the trio and abducted the children. Seeking solace in the desert wilderness to make sense of her loss, Hannah joined a search-and-rescue team. In doing so, she developed skills as a tracker and dedicated herself to saving the lives of lost children. Becoming attuned to nature's messages, she can read the history of a footprint and the clues in stones and desert sand. But one day, she made a chilling discovery—someone was tracking her.

Though celebrated playwright Wendy Wasserstein was firmly rooted in New York's cultural life, her appeal is universal. Shiksa Goddess collects her urbane, inspiring, and deeply empathetic essays, all written when she was in her forties, and all infused with her trademark irreverent humor. The full range of Wasserstein's mid-life obsessions are covered in this eclectic collection— everything from Chekhov, politics, and celebrity to family, fashion, and real estate.