Parallel lives (1983)

Beethoven

Maynard Solomon

1977 · 400 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

Presents a comprehensive study of Beethoven, his career, and his music.

The Real Jane Austen A Life In Small Things

Paula Byrne

2014 · 2 reviews

Others: Positive

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

Kate Summerscale

2008 · 384 pages · 3 reviews

Others: Positive

Assata

Assata Shakur

1987 · 274 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (previously known as JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that had claimed the life of a white state trooper. Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover's campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur was incarcerated for four years prior to her conviction on flimsy evidence in 1977 as an accomplice to murder. This intensely personal and political autobiography belies the fearsome image of JoAnne Chesimard long projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Assata Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials. The result is a signal contribution to the literature about growing up Black in America that has already taken its place alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the works of Maya Angelou. Two years after her conviction, Assata Shakur escaped from prison. She was given political asylum by Cuba, where she now resides.

The Hate Race

Maxine Beneba Clarke

2016 · 259 pages · 3 reviews

Others: Positive

Sweltering heat. Three bedroom blonde-brick. Family of five. Beat-up Ford Falcon. Vegemite on toast. Maxine Beneba Clarke's life is just like all the other Aussie kids on her street. Except for this one, glaring, inescapably obvious thing. From one of Australia's most exciting writers, and the author of the multi-award-winning FOREIGN SOIL, comes THE HATE RACE: a powerful, funny, and at times devastating memoir about growing up black in white middle-class Australia.

The Black Count

Tom Reiss

2012 · 432 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

Explores the life and career of Thomas Alexandre Dumas, a man almost unknown today, but whose swashbuckling exploits appear in The three musketeers and whose trials and triumphs inspired The count of Monte Cristo.