NEWS ABOUT: nonfiction books
nonfiction books stories: 8 news briefs
glossies
Tireless writer published average of one book every ten years
Newsweek Feb 8, 09 6:56 PM CST
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Lyndon Johnson's biographer takes his work seriously—so much so, he didn't cover LBJ's presidency for 30 years, Newsweek reports. Rising from the tabloid world in the 1960s, Robert Caro first wrote a painstaking biography of New York mogul Robert Moses. Next came a volume on LBJ's youth; Caro even slept outdoors in rural Texas to get a feel for it. History "can be literature in the deepest and highest sense of that term," Caro says.
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Tome details founding father's slave family
USA Today Nov 20, 08 6:31 AM CST
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The heart-wrenching and controversial history of Thomas Jefferson's secret family with slave Sally Hemings took the top prize for nonfiction at the National Book Awards last night, USA Today reports. Annette Gordon-Reed became the first African-American woman to win the prize for her detailed exploration of the lives of three generations of the family in The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family .
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Millionaire's former
staff say abusive son bilked her of $60M
New York Post Nov 16, 08 6:08 PM CST
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A new book about Brooke Astor portrays the New York philanthropist as a frail, paranoid 105-year-old pressured to give up her fortune. Drawing on notes from Astor's former staff, Mrs. Astor Regrets describes son Tony Marshall's alleged bilking of her millions. Astor's staff "filled 30 journals over four years with what they described as abuse, neglect and manipulation of the Alzheimer's sufferer," writes Meryl Gordon in her book, excerpted in the New York Post .
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Couples try to rev romance with daily lovin'
New York Times Jun 8, 08 3:19 PM CDT
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Can non-stop sex revitalize a marriage? Two American couples have books coming out that chronicle their attempts to sex it up, the New York Times reports. Just Do It records 101 nights of romance intended to offset a couple's boredom in Boulder, Colo., while 365 Nights documents a year of whoopee that a Bible-loving Republican wife gave her husband in Charlotte, NC.
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Genre 'the last place you’d expect to find the truth,' humorist says
New York Times Jun 8, 08 10:45 AM CDT
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With his new book of nonfiction essays, Engulfed in Flames , David Sedaris finds himself engulfed in questions of truth and accuracy. In America, the recent explosion of memoirs has been followed with one scandal after another, prompting more scrutiny of the humorist’s work. “I do think Sedaris exaggerates too much for a writer using a nonfiction label," a New Republic writer argued last year.
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Disney tween will hire ghostwriter for tell-all
OK! Apr 17, 08 10:55 AM CDT
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Miley Cyrus has inked a multimillion-dollar deal with Disney Books to pen an autobiography of her short, sweet life, according to Ok! magazine. But don't think it'll read like some 15-year-old's homework assignment. The "hush-hush" tween queen is looking for a ghostwriter to put the young superstar's life to paper.
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Book Review
Ultra-powerful rule the world, author argues, and that's not all bad
Salon Mar 15, 08 5:00 PM CDT
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What do Bill Clinton, Osama Bin Laden, and Bono have in common? All are members of the powerful global elite that’s reshaping the planet, David Rothkopf argues in his new book Superclass. But Rothkopf’s isn’t a conspiracy-laden indictment, writes Salon’s Laura Miller. Rather, he contends that the superclass isn’t all bad—it’s at least competent and, occasionally, generous.
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Agent Zigzag and Foreskin's Lament among best 100
in Book Review
New York Times Nov 22, 07 5:17 PM CST
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Recent write-ups say Americans should read more—but where to start? Try the New York Times ' 100 notable books of 2007, ranging from fiction to poetry, essays to bios. Among the acclaimed page-turners: Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal , Ben Macintyre The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? Francisco Goldman The Bad Girl , Mario Vargas Llosa The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao , Junot Diaz Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism , John Updike
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