Other books that might interest you

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  Catherine Cookson - The True...

  Liam Dale

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  Interested in Catherine Cookson, the renowned author, but short on time for lengthy biographies? Join The History Journals for a concise, hourly history tour of her life. 
   
  Catherine Cookson's name conjures images of a bygone era, as she masterfully depicted her North East England upbringing in her literary works. Often labeled a romantic novelist, her stories offer unique insights into Tyneside life during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, transcending traditional love tales. 
   
  Set against the industrial backdrop of South Shields' Dockyards, Coal Mines, and Northern factories, Cookson's resilient heroines defy poverty's grip. Characters like Kate Hannigan, Tilly Trotter, and Hannah Boyle inspire hope amid adversity that drove others to early graves or perilous paths. Cookson's heroines, strong and determined, often find love with heroic figures from different walks of life, contributing to her romantic reputation and unmatched book sales. 
   
  Yet, fact sometimes outshines fiction. Explore Catherine Cookson's life: 
  - Her birth, family, and challenging childhood 
  - The Industrial Revolution's impact, alcoholism, and changing landscapes 
  - Interwar years, workhouses, and her departure from the North East 
  - World War II, her love story, miscarriages, and battles with depression 
  - Characters like Kate Hannigan, The Fifteen Streets, and her relationship with her mother 
  - Catherine Marchant, her return to the North East, and lasting legacy 
   
  Unearth the captivating life and times of Catherine Cookson in this condensed historical journey.

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  Raised by the Zoo - My Life With...

  Gerry Creighton

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  People have been enchanted by elephants for centuries. For Gerry Creighton, this fascination began at an early age. His father was a keeper at Dublin Zoo, and he instilled in Gerry a love and respect for animals. It wasn't long before Gerry followed in his footsteps, joining the zoo at 15, where he would spend the next 36 years.
  Joyful and life-affirming, Raised by the Zoo is the story of a life spent in service to elephants, and how by watching and listening to them – how they interact and care for each other, form relationships and teach the next generation – they can show us what it really means to be human.

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  Portrait of an Addict as a Young...

  Bill Clegg

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  Bill Clegg had a thriving business as a literary agent, a supportive partner, trusting colleagues, and loving friends when he walked away from his world and embarked on a two-month crack binge. He had been released from rehab nine months earlier, and his relapse would cost him his home, his money, his career, and very nearly his life.What is it that leads an exceptional young mind want to disappear?  Clegg makes stunningly clear the attraction of the drug that had him in its thrall, capturing in scene after scene the drama, tension, and paranoiac nightmare of a secret life--and the exhilarating bliss that came again and again until it was eclipsed almost entirely by doom. He also explores the shape of addiction, how its pattern--not its cause--can be traced to the past.Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is an utterly compelling narrative--lyrical, irresistible, harsh, honest, and beautifully written--from which you simply cannot look away.

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  Trotsky on Lenin

  Leon Trotsky

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  “Fascinating . . . full of insight and a perceptive portrait of Lenin’s single-mindedness and his relentless, all-consuming drive towards revolution in Russia.” —The Guardian   Combining Young Lenin and On Lenin in one volume, this is a fascinating political biography by Lenin’s fellow revolutionary, Leon Trotsky. Trotsky on Lenin brings together two long-out-of-print works in a single volume for the first time, providing an intimate and illuminating portrait of the Bolshevik leader by another of the twentieth century’s greatest revolutionaries.   Written shortly after its subject’s death, On Lenin covers the period of revolutionary struggle leading up to 1917 as well as the early years of Bolshevik power. We see a man totally committed to the revolutionary cause, whose legacy was later corrupted under the Soviet Union’s Stalinist degeneration. Young Lenin, meanwhile, describes his early years and conversion to Marxism, dispelling many of the myths later created by Soviet hagiography in the process. This is the essential guide for anyone wanting to understand Lenin as a thinker, active revolutionary, and personality.

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  To Sir With Love

  E. R. Braithwaite

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  This schoolroom drama that inspired the classic Sidney Poitier film is “a microcosm of the racial issues . . . A dramatic picture of discrimination” (Kirkus Reviews). With opportunities for black men limited in post–World War II London, Rick Braithwaite, a former Royal Air Force pilot and Cambridge-educated engineer, accepts a teaching position that puts him in charge of a class of angry, unmotivated, bigoted white teenagers whom the system has mostly abandoned. When his efforts to reach these troubled students are met with threats, suspicion, and derision, Braithwaite takes a radical new approach. He will treat his students as people poised to enter the adult world. He will teach them to respect themselves and to call him “Sir.” He will open up vistas before them that they never knew existed. And over the course of a remarkable year, he will touch the lives of his students in extraordinary ways, even as they in turn, unexpectedly and profoundly, touch his.  Based on actual events in the author’s life, To Sir, With Love is a powerfully moving story that celebrates courage, commitment, and vision, and is the inspiration for the classic film starring Sidney Poitier. 

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  From Yellow Star to Pop Star -...

  Dorit Oliver-Wolff

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  When Dorit Oliver was just four years old she sang and danced in front of the future king of Yugoslavia. By six years old she was in hiding from the German soldiers who were rounding up and transporting her fellow Jews to concentration camps around Europe.
  
  Years of terror follow, with narrow escapes from capture and bombing raids plus betrayals by those she thought were her
  friends until, at last, she and her mother are rescued from the basement flat in which they are hiding. Singing helps her
  survive those dark days. But the Holocaust is only part of Dorit’s amazing story. After the war, stateless and without papers, she joins a touring dance troupe in order to be permitted to travel. She studies by day and sings and dances in seedy clubs by night until a talent scout spots her… and then her story really begins.
  
  Tense, moving and inspirational, Dorit’s remarkable story moves the reader through fear and horror, to freedom and joy
  and shows how the bravery and fortitude of one little Jewish girl helped her survive the Holocaust and become a star.

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