By Jo Ivester “Many Americans live on the outskirts of hope,” President Lyndon Johnson said in his historic 1964 War on Poverty speech. “Some because of their poverty and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity.” The Outskirts of Hope: […]
By William Doyle PT 109: An American epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy makes a strong case that Kennedy might never have become President of the United States without the publicity generated by the saga of his war heroism. William Doyle, a New York Times bestselling author and historian, expands […]
By Bill Medley, with Mike Marino In 1963, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were singing together in southern California. They decided to record a few songs and they needed a name. “At that time, Orange County was about the whitest place in the country,” recalls Bill Medley in The Time Of My Life: A Righteous […]
By Nina Ansary Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran reveals “how a full-blown feminist movement developed and grew in the patriarchal climate of post-revolutionary Iran,” says author Nina Ansary. To illustrate the opposite lifestyles and beliefs portrayed in the book, she mentions her two grandmothers. One was a devout woman “who […]
By Ann Dunwoody, with Tomago Collins A Higher Standard: Leadership Strategies From America’s First Female Four-Star General is the story of General Ann Dunwoody, United States Army (retired). As a retired U.S. Navy captain myself, I found her impressive and someone I would enjoy knowing. We were both commissioned in 1975, and she summarizes our experiences […]
By Laura Ingalls Wilder, with Pamela Smith Hill, editor Laura Ingalls Wilder told an audience in 1937: “I realized I had seen and lived it all—the successive phases of the frontier, first the frontiersman, then the pioneer, then the farmers and the towns. Then I understood that in my own life I represented a whole […]
By Michael Jarrett Producing Country: The Inside Story of the Great Recordings examines how the process of recording country music has changed since Ralph Peer began capturing performances on acetate in 1927. “Musicians make music. Producers make recordings,” explains author Michael Jarrett, an English professor at Penn State University. He interviewed 51 record producers for […]
By Tamara Saviano When I saw the title of Tamara Saviano’s memoir, The Most Beautiful Girl, I immediately thought of the Charlie Rich song from my young Navy days: “Hey, did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world? And if you did, was she crying, crying?” And it is the song […]
By Tanya Tucker with Patsi Bale Cox Tanya Tucker, with the assistance of celebrity biographer Patsi Bale Cox, wrote her autobiography in 1997, at age 39. Nickel Dreams: My Life tells the story of this feisty gal with a powerful voice and a personality to match. She had her first hit at age 13, and […]
By Robert Gottlieb Great expectations were what Charles Dickens had for his ten children, and he was mostly disappointed. Seven sons and two daughters grew to adulthood under the influence of a father who tried to direct how they lived their lives. He expected them to possess his tenaciousness and energy level, not realizing the […]