Open Road: 9207 books

John Lahr’s stunning and complex biography of his father, the legendary actor and comedian Bert Lahr Notes on a Cowardly Lion is John Lahr’s masterwork: an all-encompassing biography of his father, the comedian and performer Bert Lahr. Best known as the Cowardly Lion in MGM’s classic...

The remarkable life of Paul Robeson, quintessential Harlem Renaissance man: scholar, all-American, actor, activist, and firebrand Born the son of an ex-slave in New Jersey in 1898, Paul Robeson, endowed with multiple gifts, seemed destined for fame. In his youth, he was as tenacious in the...

The shocking true crime story of a beloved Hollywood star gone too soon—told by the captain of the boat on which Natalie Wood spent her last night. Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour is the long‑awaited, detailed account of events that led to the mysterious death of Hollywood legend Natalie...

Drawing on a lifetime of journalistic encounters with the great and the famous, Alistair Cooke profiles the six extraordinary men who impressed him the most Over the course of his sixty-year career as a broadcaster, television host, and newspaper reporter, Alistair Cooke met many remarkable...

The Oscar-winning screenwriter of On the Waterfront recounts his life, his career, and “how Hollywood became the dream factory it still is today” (Kirkus Reviews). When Seymour Wilson “Budd” Schulberg moved from New York to Los Angeles as a child, Hollywood’s filmmaking industry was...

A sweeping biography of one of the greatest and most provocative athletes of all time Decades after his final fight, Muhammad Ali remains larger than life in the imagination of hundreds of millions of people around the world. He won the heavyweight championship at age twenty-two by conquering...

A wonderful entertainment that reflects Alistair Cooke’s love affair with cinema, from his early days as a film critic to his iconic role as the host of Masterpiece Theatre Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, and Marilyn Monroe are just a few of the stars profiled,...

An American icon, Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton is easily acknowledged as one of the greatest filmmakers in early cinema and beyond. His elaborate slapstick made audiences scream with laughter. But, his stone face hid an internal turmoil. In BUSTER KEATON: CUT TO THE CHASE, biographer Marion Meade...

This mesmerizing story of playwright and author Joe Orton’s brief and remarkable life was named book of the year by Truman Capote and Nobel Prize–winning novelist Patrick White Told with precision and extensive detail, Prick Up Your Ears is the engrossing biography of playwright and novelist...

A rollicking, colorfully illustrated history of burlesque as seen through the eyes of its first lady, Ann Corio.

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Bruce Catton’s acclaimed two-book biography of complex and controversial Union commander Ulysses S. Grant. In these two comprehensive and engaging volumes, preeminent Civil War historian Bruce Catton follows the wartime movements of Ulysses S. Grant, detailing...

The Revolutionary War colonel—and leader of the famed Culper Spy Ring—tells his story in this fascinating historical autobiography. When British troops defeated the Continental Army on Long Island, General George Washington was forced to abandon New York in order to save the revolution....

National bestseller: This “harrowing” true story of two Jewish families who survived hiding in the heart of the Nazi capital “honors the human spirit” (Andrea Dworkin). In January 1943, unable to flee Germany, the four members of the Arndt family went underground to avoid deportation...

A critically acclaimed autobiography that exemplifies the American Dream by one of nineteenth-century America’s most philanthropic businessmen. Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie worked his way up from bobbin boy to telegraph operator to railroad man, learning key lessons along the way that...