Traces the career of abstract expressionist Willem De Kooning, discussing his personal life with wife Elaine Fried, and his battle with alcoholism and Alzheimer's disease. The first major biography of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed, and...

Despite--or rather because of--all the veneration that has surrounded the figure of Jesus for centuries, historian Baigent asserts that Jesus and his death have been heavily mythologized. Using his access to hidden archives, secret societies, Masonic records, and the private collections of antiquities traders and their moneyed clients, he explores the religious and political climate in which Jesus was born and raised, examining not only the conflicts...

"The saga of the legendary Los Angeles band Little Feat is one of rock 'n' roll's great stories. Formed in 1969 by ex-members of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, Little Feat created groove-heavy music that was an irresistible mix of rock, blues, R & B, country, jazz, soul, and funk. Fronted by the charismatic but doomed vocalist and brilliant slide guitarist Lowell George, the band recorded such classic studio albums as Sailin' Shoes and Dixie...

"An accessible and fresh biography boldly arguing that Muhammad's entrepreneurial mindset helped unleash the modern world. 'A beautifully written, immaculately researched meditation on the impact of the Prophet Muhammad on the modern world. I loved this book!' -Reza Aslan, author of No God but God and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. A six-year-old cries in his mother's arms as she draws her last breaths to urge him: 'Muhammad, be...

Few American artists in any medium have enjoyed the international and lasting cultural impact of Duke Ellington. From jazz standards to his longer, more orchestral suites, to his leadership of the stellar big band with which he toured and performed for decades after most big bands folded, Ellington represented a singular, pathbreaking force in music over the course of a half-century. At the same time, as one of the most prominent black public figures...

Watteau, one of the most mysterious painters who ever lived, is the inspiration for this delightful investigation of the tangled relationship between art and life.

When Charles Dickens died in 1870, The Times of London successfully campaigned for his burial in Westminster Abbey, the final resting place of England's kings and heroes. Thousands flocked to mourn the best recognized and loved man of nineteenth-century England. His books had made them laugh, shown them the squalor and greed of English life, and also the power of personal virtue and the strength of ordinary people. In his last years Dickens drew adoring...

Carly Patterson, winner of a gold medal in the all-around gymnastics competition at the 2004 Olympics, describes the sacrifices she made and the strength it took to realize her goal.

The first full-scale biography of the "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the fire of the sun for his country in time of war. After Hiroshima, he became the most famous scientist of his generation--an icon of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress. He created a radical proposal to place international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen...

Chronicles the life and career of Mary Wallstonecraft who is considered to be the founder of modern feminism, and describes her life and work in eighteenth-century Europe.