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by Paul Moore Hardcover, 400 pages Amazon.com Review by Wendy Smith: For too many of us, the season when one year gives way to the next is the only time when we give much thought to our beliefs and to what we might do for others. Paul Moore, by contrast, is a man who lives his faith every day as the Episcopalian Bishop of New York and a committed social activist. Bishop Moore is probably best known as a progressive who opposed nuclear proliferation and the Vietnam war; he supports the ordination of women and gays, and believes his church should act as an advocate for poor people rather than just hand them alms. He doesn't mince words about these controversies in Presences, but his moving memoir is principally concerned with the spirituality that prompted his actions. With matter-of-fact ardor, Bishop Moore delineates his relationship with a God whose presence in his life was so powerful that he could not relegate it to Sundays and occasional good deeds. Born in 1920 into wealth and privilege, he attended St. Paul's and Yale, was decorated as a hero during World War II, yet in 1945 dismayed his father by deciding to become a minister. "The great teachings of faith are a solid foundation for understanding the nature of our lives and the mystery of being," Bishop Moore writes. His psychologically probing yet passionately devout autobiography demonstrates that these teachings have illuminated his own life for him--as he now does for us.
Wendy Smith reviews books for many publications, including the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.
List: $28.00 -- Our Price: $19.60 -- You Save: $8.40 (30%) by Maya Angelou Maya Angelou has had more lives than the proverbial cat, and in The Heart of a Woman she continues the account of her remarkable life begun in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In the first book of her bestselling autobiographical series, she describes her traumatic childhood in the small, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas, during the 1930s. Gather Together in My Name picks up the story in the postwar years, when Maya, a single teenager with an infant son becomes, in short order, a cook, a madam, a dancer, and a prostitute. Next comes Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, an account of her twenties and her unsuccessful first marriage to a white man. The Heart of a Woman, the fourth in the series, takes us through one of the most exciting and formative periods of Angelou's amazing life: her beginnings as a writer and an activist in New York. Angelou has a happy knack of attracting the best and the brightest into her orbit, and The Heart of a Woman offers a veritable cornucopia of black luminaries in its pages. Singer Billie Holiday, writers John Ellins and Paule Marshall, jazz musicians Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, and actors Godfrey Cambridge and James Earl Jones--Maya meets and learns from them all. Political activism soon follows as Ms. Angelou first organizes a theatrical benefit for the Reverend Martin Luther King and then becomes the director of the New York Southern Christian Leadership Conference office. Her involvement in the civil rights movement eventually brings her into contact with African freedom fighters Oliver Tambo and the charming Vusumzi Make, whom she marries and follows to Africa. The Heart of a Woman is as honest, painful, funny, outraged, and outrageous as Angelou herself. From her debut at the Apollo Theatre to her meeting with Malcolm X, Maya Angelou gives us something to cheer about and plenty to ponder as well. Paperback, 324 pages
by Ken Emerson Biographies Expert Editor's Recommended Book, 05/01/97: Aptly subtitled Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture, Ken Emerson's thickly textured narrative features an affectionate examination of American music's diverse strands as well as a perceptive portrait of the nation's first great songwriter. Stephen Foster (1826-64) was born in Pittsburgh and visited the South only briefly, yet songs like "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Oh! Susanna" drew on black Southern culture to create a uniquely American form of popular music. The author is clear-sighted about the complex blend of racism and genuine compassion that infused Foster's "blackface" compositions. Hardcover, 416 pages
by Jay Sekulow, Keith Fournier Hardcover, 276 pages
by Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Bryan Biographies Expert Editor's Recommended Book. With the charm, intelligence, humor, and honesty which have endeared him to his many fans, Cal Ripken, Jr., tells the story of his life, from a childhood spent literally in the chalk dust with a father who was a baseball manager through 15 years of his power-hitting, all-star career with the Baltimore Orioles. Ripken also dissects the dedication to craft it takes to be a shortstop, stands up for what's good--and looks square in the eye what's not so good--about baseball today. In this surprisingly introspective biography, Ripken's love of family comes across as strongly as his love of baseball. Hardcover, 320 pages
by Katharine Graham An extraordinarily frank, honest, and generous book by one of America's most famous and admired women -- Kay Graham, publisher of the Washington Post -- Personal History is populated with a cast of fascinating characters, including 50 years of presidents (and their wives), Thomas Mann, Warren Buffett (Graham's longtime adviser and protector), Robert McNamara, Woodward and Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, and many others. Photos. Hardcover, 688 pages
by Billy Graham One of the world's most beloved and respected leaders tells his inspiring life story in a momentous work of faith and insight. In five decades Graham has led his ministry around the globe, speaking in person to more than 200 million people. Yet his message has remained singular and strong, as Graham continually implores his audience to "choose Christ, as I did." Billy Graham is truly the world's pastor--"the man who has preached to more people than any human being who has ever lived" (Time). Hardcover, 736 pages
by Frank McCourt Frank McCourt reads his own unforgettable story of growing up in depression-era Ireland. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes. "Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Welcome, then, to the pinnacle of the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. It turns out that prospects weren't so great back in the old country either -- not with Malachy for a father. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting cliches about drunken Irish manhood are based. This critically-acclaimed bestseller, touchingly conveys the constant pains and occasional soaring joys of an impoverished childhood.
by Walter Cronkite 
Awash as we are these days in prurient and sensational tabloid TV journalism, A Reporter's Life is a refreshing story of the medium's heyday, when newspeople comported themselves with dignity and earned their audience's respect. During his 31-year tenure at CBS News, Walter Cronkite set the standard for integrity and compassion. In this autobiography, Cronkite turns his reporter's eye on his own life and times, providing a wealth of details about both his public and private sides. He describes his childhood in Kansas City, how he met his wife--and how she almost missed the wedding! We learn of his love of auto racing and sailing; and, of course, Cronkite delivers behind-the-camera stories from the earliest days of TV news, when no one knew just what to do and so they made it up as they went along. 
by Maya Angelou (Reissue Edition) "Thoroughly enjoyable . . . an important document drawing more much-needed attention to the hidden history of a people both African and American."--Los Angeles Times Book Review.
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