Biography & Autobiography

On February 28, 2009, Nick Schuyler, a twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, left for a deep-sea fishing trip with three friends: NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and Will Bleakley, his best friend, who once played football for the University of South Florida. It was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation aboard Cooper's twenty-one-foot boat, which anchored seventy miles west of Tampa, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. The friends were out to catch some amberjack and grouper and maybe a few sharks. They planned to drink a few beers, have some laughs, and get home before an approaching cold front hit. As the seas began to swell and the winds picked up in the late afternoon, they packed their gear and decided to head to shore. One problem. The anchor was stuck. Inexperienced boaters, they made what would become a fatal mistake, tying the anchor rope to the stern of the boat and hitting the throttle. The anchor did not yank free. Instead, the stern sank and filled with water, and the boat capsized. And so the nightmare began. The men had to forage for life jackets beneath the boat. They had no emergency beacon to alert authorities, and their cell phones didn't work so far out in the Gulf. With no food or water, the men clung to the overturned hull through the night as the seas roughened and the cloudy sky became inky black. They were continuously tossed from the boat by brutal waves, and sometimes found each other only by swimming toward their friends' voices. During the rare lull, they would pray and talk about the ones they loved, what they would've done differently with their lives, and what they would do once they returned home. As the hours passed, the four friends, who had grown up as athletes, worked as a team in their desperate bid to survive. They battled hypothermia, hallucinations, hunger, dehydration, and huge waves. A witness to incredible heroism and unspeakable tragedy, Nick remained at sea for more than forty hours, holding more...

Price: $19.99

Carlin pens this thrilling, inspiring account of one of the greatest charm offensives in history--Nelson Mandela's decade-long campaign to unite his country, beginning in his jail cell and ending with a rugby tournament. more...

Price: $16.00

What would you give up to protect your loved ones? Your life?. In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini's brutal Islamic Revolution. In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just sixteen years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on Andre, the young man she had met at church. But when math and history were subordinated to the study of the Koran and political propaganda, Marina protested. Her teacher replied, ''If you don't like it, leave.'' She did, and, to her surprise, other students followed. more...

Price: $14.00

“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.” --Warren Buffett   In March of 2006, the world’s richest men sipped champagne in an opulent New York hotel.  They were preparing to compete in a poker tournament with million-dollar stakes, but those numbers meant nothing to them. more...

Price: $27.00

Rosa Parks grew up in the strongly segregated Southern United States. One day, she had had enough. She would not give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus and was taken to jail. This act inspired the movement for equal rights in the U.S. Find out how this quiet, modest woman had a strong impact on the world. Learn about her struggle to fight for what was right. Guided by Time Magazine's list of 100 most influential people, this series of softcover 64-page biographies focuses on the leaders, scientists, and icons who shaped our world. These people, many from very humble beginnings, changed how the world works. Each biography includes a glossary, timeline and illustrations. An individual guide for each title provides reproducible activities to extend the text. more...

Price: $7.95